It's Always You || Jakehoon √

Chapter 19.

Hey beautiful(s), I just wanna tell you that you are pretty, important and valid :)

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2 years later (Year : 2023)

Jake's POV [suprise ;)]

      We are preparing for our fifth comeback. This past years have been so blissful, receiving love from Engenes gets me so happy. I even learnt so many things. Its been two years since we debuted, 7 months since I started knowing my feelings for a certain ice skater and two weeks since he started spending more time with Sunoo and mostly ignoring me. Don't take me bad, I'm really happy that they both are interacting without much bickering now but I feel like I somehow lost him.

      We were at our dance practice room right now, going through the choreography for our title track. Throughout the whole practice, Sunoo and Sunghoon kept having fun with themselves. It was not hard to miss since they both were being too loud than usual. I still wonder why did I have to have feelings for someone who couldn't be mine.

      "Jakey, which one will suit me best?" Sunghoon asked holding two caps which were apparently Jake's. "The white one." Jake replied. Jake was watching Sunghoon putting on the white cap and then it was in the spur of the moment when Jake realised his feelings for him but tried to act cool in front of him.

      I sighed at the memory. If only it was easy to ignore my feelings. It also doesn't help the fact that Sunghoon is partially ignoring me. He would only talk with me whenever it is anything work related. At first I thought that maybe he is stressed but then I saw him talking normally with the members and maybe much normally with Sunoo.

      At the corner of the room, I noticed our maknae looking at the duo with pained eyes and I might know what if going on but I will have to talk with him to confirm my suspicion. If over the years I have been immensely close to someone, he would be Ni-ki. I have a soft spot for him and consider him as my dear younger brother.

      I went up to him, "Ni-ki, can we talk?" Since it was our break time, I took it as an opportunity to talk with Ni-ki. When he nodded, we both went to the bathroom. "I am going to be straightforward with you. Do you like Sunoo?" I asked. I maybe wrong too and may have read the room wrong.

      "Will you hate me if I say yes?" He asked. I was suprised, not because he said that he likes Sunoo but because he thought that I would hate him which I can never. "Why do you think that I would hate you, Ni-ki? You did nothing wrong if you like Sunoo. Stop overthinking okay? I will never hate you. You can talk to me." I assured with the softest voice.

        But I went into full panic mode when Ni-ki suddenly started crying, "I don't know what to do hyung. It hurts. It hurts seeing Sunoo hyung so happy with Sunghoon hyung." I just hugged him letting him rant out all the things he bottled up in himself. Hearing him sob made my heart clench. He is too young to be so heartbroken.

       "Since when do you start liking him?" I asked our maknae. "Since our second comeback." He answered wiping his eyes. My eyes widened at his answer, "That's almost two years, Ni-ki." I wonder how did he manage to act so normally. "I was okay with just being friends with him but nowadays when Sunoo hyung started to spend more time with Sunghoon hyung, I couldn't keep up. It hurts so much seeing them two together."

      Ni-ki was again on the verge of crying so I quickly hugged him again whispering out sweet nothings. When he calmed down a bit, we broke our hug. "We should get going, hyung. They might be searching for us." Ni-ki said. I knew that he didn't want to see Sunghoon and Sunoo together since it is the same case with me. Ofcourse no one in our group knows about it. I can't tell anyone about it or they will start worrying. I can't tell Ni-ki knowing how much he is passing through so I will just bottle things up.

      "Are you sure you want to go? I can talk with the manager and tell him that you are not feeling good and we can go back to our dorm." I suggested. Ni-ki thought about it for a while, "Will you do that for me?" My eyes softened at his question. "I would do anything for you, Ni-ki. You are my small, adorable brother." I said.

      "If someone's small, it would be you hyung. I have grown much taller than you." Ni-ki teased. This kid, I swear. But I was somewhat relieved knowing that Ni-ki was smiling back. "Let's go. I will tell manager and then we will go to our dorm." I said lifting him up as we sat on the ground while crying. I told Ni-ki to wash his face as the members would immediately know that he was crying.

      We were going back to the dance room when Ni-ki stopped me, "Hyung, can you promise me not to tell anyone about my feelings for Sunoo hyung?" He was looking at the ground while speaking so I made him look up at my face, "I promise. I will not tell anyone until you decide what do you want to do. And now, act like you are sick though anyone will clearly believe by looking at your face." I said to which he nodded.

      When we entered the room, as usual Sunghoon and Sunoo were sitting in the corner, doing god knows what om Sunghoon's phone which was in Sunoo’s hands while the other three were having their own conversation. "Where did you both go? I was looking for you." Our choreographer asked. "I am sorry, hyung but can we go home. Ni-ki is not feeling so well. I promise we will catch up." I tried to talk to him.

      "Hm. Ni-ki doesn't ditch dance practices so I am guessing that he really is not feeling well. You can go but make sure to catch up." Our choreographer said. "Thank you, hyung. We will make sure to catch up. Ni-ki, pack your things." I said while Ni-ki nodded and went to pack his things up. "What happened to Ni-ki?" Jay, Heeseung and Jungwon came to me while I was packing my bag. "Um.. He's just having stomachache maybe because he ate too much last night
Don't worry, I will take care of him." I answered.

      I don't know what I was supposed to amswer since I promised Ni-ki that his secret will be safe with me. "I know you will good care of him, Jake." Heeseung hyung said while smiling at me. I smiled back at all of them. Ni-ki came to us after packing his bag. "Let's go, hyung?" He asked to which I nodded. "Take care, Ni-ki. We don't like seeing our maknae ill." Heeseung hyung said to which Ni-ki replied with 'I will."

      While we were exiting the room, I made a mistake of looking at Sunghoon and Sunoo. They both had a worried face but as soon as I looked in their direction, they were again back to talking and smiling with each other. Maybe I saw something wrong. And with that Ni-ki and I were on our way to the dorm with Ni-ki sleeping on my shoulder on the way.

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Can you forgive me for the short chapter? It's just that my health is getting worse. But I promise to give you long chapters once I'm completely fine again. And also, this was my first time writing someone's POV so I hope it was good. Please ignore mistakes or grammatical errors or kindly correct me :)