The Brightest Star in the Night Sky || 时代少年团

🖤CHAPTER 13💛

"Uh no I never played this before", said Meiqi. She was still confused about what was happening. Jackson turned to Chengxin, "I'm sure you've played this before right". Chengxin replied with a nod. "Explain to Meiqi", Jackson said with a smirk.

"Two people interlock hands and stare into each other's until one looks away or laughs. First to do that loses", explained Chengxin quietly.

What the hell kind of game is this, thought Meiqi. Meiqi's face gave it all away that she was not ok with this game. "Yup. Now you two are gonna play it because I need to see chemistry in this dance. Chemistry, you heard me? I really can not keep watching you two dance like this".

Meiqi pulled her cap down her face. Maybe if I pretend like I'm looking at him, he won't notice. "Meiqi take your cap off. How are you supposed to play when you can't even see Chengxin?". Dammit, he knew.

Chengxin quietly extended his hand out. Meiqi took a deep breath and accepted it. It won't be that long, Meiqi said to herself, trying to herself that it wouldn't be that bad. "Ok, you two are going to look into each other's eyes for a minute", said Jackson. "One minute!!!???", exclaimed Chengxin. Even when he played together with TNT none of them lasted more than 30 seconds, and that was the very max. Meiqi was even more nervous after seeing Chengxin's reaction. Seems like neither of them wanted to do it.

"Yes. An entire minute. Ready, start"

They began "looking" into each other's eyes. Except Meiqi was very obviously staring at the ground while Chengxin was staring at the ceiling. It didn't help that their height difference was almost an entire foot. "Stop. I need you to look into each other's eyes. EYES. Not the ground, not the floor. Do you understand?" Jackson asked coldy. This startled both Meiqi and Chengxin. Every time Jackson spoke like that, he meant business. Chengxin quietly turned over to Meiqi, "Let's just get it over with. It's only one minute. Before Jackson explodes", said Chengxin shuddering. Last time that had happened, it did not end well for TNT. Meiqi nodded in agreement; she was also quite scared of Jackson now.

"1 2 3 Start"

This time Chengxin squatted down so he could be on the same eye level as Meiqi. Meiqi gritted through the minute, this was the second time she looked into Chengxin's eyes since they fell down the first day. He seemed to have gotten cuter... Meiqi's thoughts began to trail off.

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Yaowen had ran down the hall to get Jackson because it was time for him to teach TNT. He peered through the door, and just when he was about to burst in, Jackson gave him a death stare, signaling him to stop. Yaowen looked over to Chengxin and Meiqi and saw them staring at each other.

"GUYSSSSS HURRY UP AND COME', he called down the hall as he dragged all of TNT over to observe what he'd seen. TNT gathered around outside, eyes wide open. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. Both Meiqi and Chengxin were too focused to have noticed them. But too many of them leaned on the door so... they fell forward and pushed open the door. Meiqi and Chengxin immediately let go of their hands and turned over. Jackson smacked his hand to his forehead, "You idiots. Yaowen, I told you not to make noise".

Jackson turned back to Meiqi and Chengxin. "Good job, I didn't stop you guys. Do you know how long you guys did it for?".

No wonder it had felt longer than a minute; Meiqi thought she was just zoning out for too long. Both of them shook their heads. "Almost 3 minutes. I expect you guys to dance better tomorrow if you guys can stare at each other for that long".

"OOOO DING GE", exclaimed some members of TNT. They began teasing him and laughing. Yaowen turned to Jackson, "Let me look into her eye's too", he exclaimed. Jackson unapprovingly shook his head, "When you get the chance to perform on 东方风云榜音乐盛典, then you come back to talk to me". Yaowen pouted, "Just he wait", he said to Yaxuan. Jackson was supposed to teach TNT for their upcoming performance, but he had a schedule pop up, meaning they got to end early again.

"Let's go to the supermarket and prepare for our party on Saturday then", said an excited Junlin. Chengxin looked at Jiaqi for approval, and he nodded. "Ok, let's go now so you guys can shut up". "Ooooo Ding Ge no need to be shy", said Haoxiang.

Jiaqi went over to Meiqi and gave an apologetic look, "Sorry about that. They're always like this". Meiqi hadn't said anything since the abrupt interruption from TNT but it was nice for someone to relieve the embarrassment.

Just as they were about to head off, a staff member came in and called Jiaqi and Meiqi into the office. They looked at each other with curiosity. TNT's manager told them to take a seat, "Jiaqi, this morning your vocal teacher told you you have an upcoming performance for QQ Music right?". Jiaqi nodded in reply. "They want you to have a partner for the song, and I spoke with Meiqi's manager. He approved and said Meiqi could be your partner". Wait what? Another performance?

"Um, thank you for the opportunity, but I don't think I'm ready. I'm also still practicing with Chengxin for the other performance", Meiqi explained, panicking. "That's fine. We know you have the performance with Chengxin, but because during your first day you sang really well, we wanted to pair you with Jiaqi for his performance. You finally showcase your vocal abilities to the world", TNT's manager said with a grin.

Meiqi stood there, unsure of what else to say; it's not like she could decline. "On Monday, you're going to start splitting your practice time between Chengxin and Jiaqi. His performance isn't too far after Chengxin's. Any questions?" Meiqi shook her head, trying to process the fact that she now needed to practice for both performances and also have another male partner. As they left to go to the supermarket, Jiaqi patted her on the back and with a grin said, "Don't worry, we got this, Xiao Mei".

Xiaomei? No one ever called Meiqi that, besides her family members and close friends. But she was only called that when she was a child. Where'd he get that from?