SONG ABOUT US || Lee Juyeon || Singer AU

Chapter 32; Persona

"We have a winner," Hyunjun's voice, "as  I, the mighty Heo Hyunjun is crowned as beer pong champion once again, and the crowd goes wild...!"

The noisy applause broke out at the other end of the room, and I pulled away, remembering where we were. And who might be watching?

"What's wrong?" asked Juyeon.
"It's just...all these people."

Across the room, a delighted group of fans was watching Younghoon balance a ping-pong ball on his nose.

Juyeon smiled. "Oh yeah... people."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pen and a business card.
"I've got something for you."

He scribbled a few words on the plush, cream card, and handed it to me. It was for Johwa hotel, on the back, he'd written, "Black suite. 11th floor. xx."

"What's this?"
"It's my room. You can stay tonight if you want."

"Juyeon, I can't."
"We'll order Chinese food, talk, stay up all night and watch movies."

My shoulders dropped, no matter what how much I longed to, I knew I couldn't stay.

"Changmin's here, besides-"
"He can have a room too," Juyeon said, with a shirt. "I'll book her a penthouse."

"She said no, Juyeon."
We both froze. I could see Hyunjae standing just beyond Juyeon, watching his every move.

At first, no one spoke, and then Juyeon slipped down off the tables and rose to his full height.

"What'd you say?"
It wasn't a huge room, and it only took seconds for people to stop whatever they were doing and shift their attention to us. Silence fell.

"What did you say to me?" demanded Juyeon.

"She said no," repeated Hyunjae. The faintest flicker of doubt crossed his face, but he stood his ground. "So leave her alone."

"How is this any of your business?"
Hyunjae threw me a glance. "You're not listening to her. She isn't interested."
I slid off the table.

"Hyunjae, it's fine-"
"It's not, Yoona."

"You're full of it, you know what?" said Juyeon, red wine sloshing in his bottle. Hyunjae squared up at him.

"Look at yourself- you're a mess. You shouldn't have been on stage tonight."
"Sorry, what?"

"You think you can get away with anything because you're Lee Juyeon, but you can't. You're not invincible."

"I don't have to listen to this," said Juyeon, turning back to me. He was about to grab my hand when Hyunjae grabbed him from behind and started dragging him across the floor.

Juyeon lashed out, but he'd been caught off guard and Hyunjae had him in deadlock.

They scrambled together for several seconds, wine spilling from the bottle until Hyunjae eventually let go and Juyeon stumbled away.

Hyunjae spoke calmly, eyes fixed on our teammate. "I think you should go."
"What? Are you kidding?" Nobody said anything.

Juyeon turned to Sunwoo and Younghoon. "Boyz...?" Hyunjun stared right back at him but said nothing.

Sunwoo avoided his gaze and looked down the floor. Younghoon didn't even spare a glance.

The fans behind them kept a wide-eyed silence. Clenching his jaw, Juyeon straightened his T-shirt, discarded his bottle in a nearby table, and walked to the door.

Just before he disappeared, he looked over his shoulder and caught my eye. It was a look that, despite everything, I found it hard to resist.

I wanted more than anything in the world to go with him.