『Galaxy』 || ↜ Dodam

Starry invite.

YEDAM

Being with him at that moment made me forget about everything, all of my worries and stress disappeared, everything was erased from my mind. I could only see him. God, how much I wished time would stop right now. But a voice coming from the near end of the corridor brought me back to reality.

"Yedam! Can you come here for a second?" Mashiho called out, head peaking from the practice room door. "Ah, yes. Coming, Hyung!" I replied before looking back at Doyoung with a sad smile. "Looks like I have to go.." I said, bummed out. "Ah.. Oh, wait! I almost forgot-" He grabbed my arm in a hurry as I was leaving. "Actually, I-" But he was cut off in the middle of his sentence.

"Yedam-ah! Hurry upp" Junkyu Hyung whined from inside the room, as his voice resonated through the empty halls. "Sorry, I really have to go.." I told him in an apologetic tone. "See you at the bus stop tomorrow, Doyoung!" I waved goodbye at him while running to the end of the hallway. I guess I'm now the one doing this.

I walked into the room, seeing everyone sitting in the middle of it with serious faces. They all looked at me and Mashiho signaled me to sit at the empty spot next to him. "We need to make a clear practicing schedule and stick to it, we're not going anywhere with this pace." He said, as we all nodded in agreement. "We can't keep calling it a day each time we get a bit tired, you know." Mashiho continued while Junkyu looked away.

"Right, so how's the schedule gonna be?" Jeongwoo asked before we all looked at Mashiho waiting for an answer. "We have to practice at least 2 hours everyday after classes, I already spoke with our teacher and he's okay with us using this room." He stated, just gaining another nod from us. "And we also need to practice on the weekends, so we can do that at my studio." Mashiho Hyung owned a dance studio which once was his home's garage, he manages it and gives lessons to other people as a part-time job while studying.

"We only have a week left before the festival, so this is the least we can do.. You guys can also practice your solo performances at my studio anytime!" He informed us, receiving smiles from each one of us this time. "For real?" We all said at the same time, confused as he never let us use his precious working space by ourselves before. "Yeah, for real!" He replied while laughing at our reactions.

We already couldn't thank him enough, such an experienced dance major accepting to join and help us for our performance was already a huge surprise to us. Junkyu Hyung somehow convinced him as we were forming our group during the first assessment, saying he knows him all too well and kept telling us not to worry about the dancing one bit. I met Junkyu during last year's Summer Festival, he was a senior I respected a lot and looked up to.

While I knew Jeongwoo since high school, this is his first year here, and I wasn't surprised at all when he said he got selected to perform for this festival. He was a bit shaken up and scared at first but he eventually accepted it and said he would try his best to represent our campus.

"Then.. Can we go home now?" Junkyu Hyung asked before Mashiho gave us the allowing nod we were all waiting for. We quickly got up and packed our stuff before leaving the building.

Morning came around, and today is Thursday, the only day both Doyoung and I take the same bus at the start of. Getting close to it's stop, I noticed him looking around while holding two pieces of paper in his right hand. He then looked down at them and I realized that was my chance. I snuck up behind him and put my hands on his shoulders to scare him, "Boo!" I exclaimed, making him jump up and let out a surprised "Oh!" on the spot.

I looked at him, smiling wildly which he did as well after seeing me. "Hyung!" He said while hiding the papers behind his back. "Hey, Doyoung!" I greeted him back. Of course I was curious about what he was holding but I didn't feel as if I was in the right place to ask.

The bus came right then and we both hopped on it, paying our fees and walking over to the nearest seats. He offered to me to sit first by the window, I couldn't really say anything so I just did before he sat down next to me.

Well, this is more awkward than I thought it would be. "You seem in a good mood today, Hyung!" He started the conversation first, a few minutes after we left the bus stop. Yes, I was in a good mood, and being around him was  probably the main reason for that.

"So.. I have something to ask you.." Doyoung said, seeming hesitant. "Hm?" I looked at him with a smile, encouraging him to speak. "You see, I kind of managed to get two tickets for the opening of the new Observatory by the university.." He brought out the two pieces of paper he was holding earlier from his backpack, handing them over to me.

I stared at them, baffled. "How did you get these?! I tried so hard to put my hands on one of them but I couldn't win any!" I informed him, wondering what he did to get a couple of them. Only 10 lucky people were selected randomly after signing up for the draw.

"I signed up with multiple accounts, and I guess luck was on my side!" He started smiling along with me, probably not expecting this reaction. "So, what I wanted to ask was.." My thoughts started running wild at that moment, was he really.. No way.

"Would you like to come with me, Hyung?" He looked at me in the eyes, waiting for an answer as my brain stopped for a few seconds. I stared back at the ticket to make sure my memory was still right and yes, the opening was indeed going to be this Saturday. Practice, I had practice on Saturday.

I let out a sigh while biting my lip and gazing down, not knowing what to do. I of course would miss this opportunity for nothing in the world, but I also couldn't deceive the rest of the group.

What should I do?