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

🖤CHAPTER 22💛

Meiqi woke up extra early the next morning, mostly because she couldn't sleep. She went downstairs and was startled when she saw Chengxin on the couch. Why's he sleeping here? He has a bed.

"BOO", Meiqi jumped and turned around to see who was trying to scare her. Yaxuan was busy trying to suppress his laugh, "Shhh, your Ding Ge is still sleeping", she said pointing to Chengxin. Yaxuan looked over in curiosity and whispered, "Why's he sleeping there. He has a comfy bed he could be sleeping on. That couch is as hard as rocks. I hurt my back sleeping on that last time". Meiqi shrugged, she wanted to know too.

The rest of TNT came rushing down the stairs, yelling at each other causing Chengxin to wake up. He groaned, his back was killing him. Meiqi saw him hitting his back and waist with a painful expression, he must not have slept well.

"Ding Er, why are you sleeping there?", Junlin asked. Chengxin just got up and didn't reply. They could all sense the tension from last night. They were all in a rush so there was no time for breakfast, everyone rushed to the car for practice. The car ride was filled with silence between Meiqi, Chengxin, and Jiaqi. Although the other members tried to get them to talk they wouldn't budge. "Man, I hope they make up soon", Yaowen whispered to Yaxuan. "This is so uncomfortable to watch".

They headed off to their usual dance rooms which means Chegnxin and Meiqi were together again. Chengxin started with his warm-ups without a word to Meiqi, and Meiqi couldn't help but feel slightly hurt and also guilty. She tried to strike up a conversation with him, "So how was sleeping on that couch. I heard it's as hard as rocks", she was trying to make a joke but Chengxin coldly replied with "It was fine". Meiqi proceeded to ask if he was ok from yesterday and it was yet another "I'm fine" response. She figured she was not going to be able to get any more of a response out of him so she stopped and just quietly did her warm-ups.

Jackson had been watching this whole time and could sense the coldness in the air too. He glanced at Chengxin and gave him a look, Chengxin was usually never like this but Chengxin just gave him a nod indicating he was fine. Jackson decided to ignore it for now and just observe how it would be when they went over the moves.

"Alright let's start, 5 6 7 8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8". Jackson observed as they did the climax of the dance. Chengxin was doing surprisingly well, he was able to get close to Meiqi while doing the head move. So close that even Jackson was surprised, they looked like they were about to kiss but as long as they were able to do what the rehearsal teachers wanted, Jackson didn't have much else to say.

Meiqi was startled by how close Chengxin moved in, she could hear his breathing pattern. She could also see the micro expressions in him today and he looked extremely angry. He was using all his energy and force to do the dance, when it ended Chengxin was panting.

"WOOOO GOOD JOB", Jackson exclaimed proudly clapping. "This is what I'm talking about. Nicely done, looks like these past few weeks practice paid off".

Chengxin was still breathing heavily. "Chengxin, you need to control your energy and force a little better. Definitely good but you went a little overboard today. That's why you're panting now". Chengxin nodded, while flinging his hair and drinking water. Meiqi couldn't help but stare at him, he looked like a model advertising for some sports drink.

"I'm gonna let you guys practice on your own for now. You guys seem to have got it, I'll be back later", Jackson said as he grabbed his things and left the room.

The silence was back once Jackson left. Meiqi really wanted to fix the situation but didn't know what to do. "Nice job today", she quietly said. "Thanks. You too".

"About yesterday... I don't think Jiaqi meant it like that. He just overreacted a little but I'm sure he didn't mean to yell at you", Meiqi tried to explain.

"He's never ever put his hands on me before", Chengxin coldly responded. "Never. Not even when I pissed him off when we were trainees"

Meiqi could see the fury in Chengxin's eyes, it was honestly scary. But she could also see that he was hurt. Maybe I can talk to Jiaqi about this later...

"I don't get it. He knows I wouldn't purposely hurt you, he's very logical." Meiqi nodded. She also didn't expect Jiaqi to react like that. Chengxin suddenly looked at Meiqi with a very serious face, "Meiqi, I have a question for you. You have to answer honestly". Meiqi had never seen Chegnxin like this before, so she nodded. "What question?".

"What happened the day you hurt your ankle. I know Jiaqi took you somewhere but I have a feeling something happened or else he would not react like this". Meiqi did not know how to answer. Jiaqi had told her not to say anything and she didn't want to tell others what had happened either. She stared back at him in silence.

"Are you not gonna say anything?", Chengxin stared back. She thought for a moment, do I tell him or not. In the end, she shook her head. "I promised Jiaqi I wouldn't tell anyone". What they had done wasn't a big deal but she didn't want others to know, it was kind of like her and Jiaqi's secret.

"Fine. I won't force you. But I want to tell you that..."

"I like you".

What?! What is he saying. Meiqi had no idea where this came from. "And you may think it's random or out of nowhere. But I asked you about Jiaqi because I can guess that 99% of whatever happened when he took you out means he likes you too, or else he would not have reacted like that when I hurt you".

What the heck is this dude saying, there's no way both of them like me. Meiqi's face was filled with confusion. "He... he doesn't like me", Meiqi said very unconfidently.

"See, you can't say with confidence that he doesn't like you. I know he does. We've been brothers for all these years, there's no one that knows him better than me". Chengxin let out a sigh.

"Why are you telling me this...? If you know he likes me"

"Because... I need to tell you before it's too late. I know you get along better with Jiaqi. I can tell through your interactions. But I still want you to know that my feelings for you won't change even when there's competition".

This was too much for Meiqi to handle. And she couldn't even confirm if it was true that Jiaqi liked her... but he did kiss her that day. Jackson came back in to check on them one last time for that day with the rest of TNT trailing behind. He wanted them to observe and comment on how they think the actual live performance would be.

He came back in and found Meiqi and Chengxin staring at each other in a way that even he couldn't describe. It looked like confusion/anger/and awkwardness. The feeling in the air did not seem too great was all he felt. He tried to make it slightly better so they could perform.

Jiaqi had been staring at Meiqi ever since he got into the room, he just couldn't help but keep his eyes on her. Meiqi caught his stare and immediately looked away. She was now thinking about what Chengxin had just said to her.

"Alright, I want you guys to go to the auditorium downstairs and do a practice run. They're going to watch and comment on what they think", Jackson said.

They all headed downstairs and on the way, they bumped into Roy and Karry. "You guys wanna watch their performance, give some comments too?", Jackson asked. "Sure", they replied.

They got all the lighting and music set up and the performance began. Manta was a rather upbeat song and in the moment both Chengxin and Meiqi were heated up, so they used all the power they had to dance. Members looked on, clapping and cheering, it seemed great to them.

They got up to the head move part where they had struggled so long to be able to dance to. Chengxin moved in flawlessly, ridding all of the awkwardness that had happened during practice. Jackson and the rest of them were just about to burst into clapping and cheering but Chengxin did something that none of them would have imagined...