subtle|skz

-eight-

Felix's POV

"We'll meet in the practice room in twenty minutes. I have to touch up some of the recordings." Chan instructs as he clicks away at his laptop.

My eyes shift toward ChangBin as everyone starts to chatter and slowly slip out of the studio. ChangBin doesn't seem to notice. He's too busy typing on his phone. I go to slip passed him and nudge his foot hopping he gets the message. He doesn't even glance up at me—he just pulls his foot back as if he had been in the way. I lower my gaze and continue out of the room.

I didn't want to draw attention to myself. Everyone has been a little off today. SeungMin and JeongIn aren't messing around as much. JiSung still isn't feeling the best, so he hasn't said much. MinHo isn't snippy like usual. Chan's less clingy and playful. HyunJin just seems distant and distracted. But ChangBin worries me the most.

His rapping wasn't as smooth as usual. He had to re-record more than he ever has before. I'm worried I did something—but I don't know what it would've been. When he was recording, he was staring at me. His eyes didn't leave me unless I tried to meet his gaze—then he'd quickly look away as if he'd never been looking at me to begin with.

I don't like it. Everything seems wrong. It feels like the entire group is falling apart. We're broken into pairs and no one communicates outside of that pair unless they absolutely have to. I can't be the only one who notices it. It seems so obvious—yet no one has said anything. It's almost as if they're secrets hidden within the dorm that no one wants to let out.

Why was HyunJin so upset last night? He and Chan seemed fine when I went to bed. Why was JeongIn so jumpy this morning when it came to SeungMin? Why did JiSung look so exhausted and uncomfortable despite going home to sleep early? There's so many questions—but I don't know who to ask them to. The only one not in one of the other pairs is ChangBin. I just wanted to know if he noticed, too—but he's clearly too preoccupied to really care.

I press my back to the wall just outside the studio and sigh. I don't know where to go for the next twenty minutes. I saw HyunJin make his way toward the practice room. SeungMin and JeongIn made their way down the hall toward one of the vocal practice rooms. I didn't even get a glimpse at where MinHo and JiSung ended up—they left so quickly I didn't stand a chance. I decide to make my way after HyunJin. I at least know why he and Chan are a little awkward. Maybe he'll give me a bit of an update on what happened last night.

I peek in the door and smile as I see him running through one of his own choreographies he put together for the fun of it. He looks so pretty when he dances, but he's always convinced he's not good enough. I push the door open and slip inside. He jumps the moment he notices me.

"Oh—hey, Lix." HyunJin hurries to turn off his music.

"Question." I sit down in the center of the room and he moves to join me.

"What's up?" HyunJin mumbles as he falls down next to me. He lays on his back—his chest rising and falling rapidly from the intense dance he had been doing.

"What's going on with everyone?" I let my question fall from my lips without much thought.

"What do you mean?" HyunJin turns toward me confused. Had he really not noticed anything? I mean I knew he looked distracted earlier—but I was hoping it was because he was trying to figure out what was going on, too.