You Rock My World

We can't stay here

They assembled in the hallway and Seonghwa and Hongjoong made rounds to ensure everyone was awake and dressed. Once they were satisfied, the eight of them walked down to the conference rooms to meet with JYP.

Hongjoong was sure Seonghwa felt the same but his legs were shaky and his heart was thumping in his chest. Though he'd practically already offered to let them perform under JYP, it still felt like this was the official test.

As they reached the door he took a deep breath and locked eyes with Seonghwa. Seonghwa gave a light smile and Hongjoong nodded back, opening the door.

"Good morning, Ateez!"

They each filed in, bowing deeply as they moved to take a seat. JYP sat at a table, watching them.

"Thank you again for having us, we're honored," Hongjoong smiled.

"Of course, thank you for coming all this way. I'm looking forward to hearing what you guys sound like in person. I've got a bit of logistics to talk about first but then I'll lead you around the facility. How does that sound?"

Everyone smiled and nodded eagerly.

"That sounds wonderful," Seonghwa responded.

"Great. Alright, first things first—I'm sure you're wondering about money."

They all laughed awkwardly. Of course they were but he didn't have to be so blunt...

"It's alright, I get it. I was in your place once. I have a plan that I start each of my artists on. Since you've already debuted you'll start later down the track and be paid as a full-time band, but only a starting value which will increase every four months."

He pushed forward a piece of paper and Hongjoong's eyes widened at the numbers. It was a lot more than they were getting before.

A lot more.

"So, what do you think?"

"Yes—I mean—it's more than enough," Hongjoong stuttered, at a loss for words. He did not expect to be compensated well.

"Great, I'm glad. I want to make sure you get fair treatment. That brings us to the next order of business, rules and regulations. I have a complete list that will be outlined again in your contract, but I figured you'd want some time to look it over so I'll hand them out now and you can take them back to your dorms tonight. And you've got all the time in the world to think about them so don't rush."

They all nodded, grabbing their handouts. It was a bit dense but they had expected that from such a big company.

"Alright, onto the fun part," JYP smiled as he stood and the group followed him into the hallway.

"I'll start with your living spaces although I'm sure you've figured a lot of it out already. Each room holds two occupants and has its own bathroom. There's a communal kitchen on every floor—so one for all eight of you—as well as a lounge. On the bottom floor of the dorms you'll find a large group hangout space and convenience store. These are accessible to any group but floors are restricted to the members who reside there. Just for your own privacy."

Everyone nodded, following as he led them past their housing and towards the music studios.

"Over here we have many, many recording studios and music mixing stations, so feel free to use them whenever you feel inspired. Some of my bigger groups have specific rooms they use so try to be aware of that when selecting a space. But I'm sure after you've been here for a while you'll find your own space."

Hongjoong looked into the studios and his heart rushed with excitement. They were so nice. The equipment was so new and up-to-date. He wanted to play with it so badly. But they moved on towards the practice rooms.

"Here we have different studios for large and small group rehearsal as well as multipurpose practice rooms for vocal or instrumental work. These spaces are typically reserved in advance but we have one practice room reserved for your group—should you choose to stay," JYP said with a smile and Hongjoong smiled back.

He definitely felt pretty convinced at the moment.

Finally the tour ended and they finished at the conference room. After thanking JYP and giving a final set of bows, the group headed back to their rooms, energy high.

"This place is epic," Mingi sighed.

"So epic," Yunho echoed.

"Did you see how many different practice rooms there were?? We only had a hallway length of them before!" Jongho said excitedly.

"And the tech—it looks so new! I'm definitely going to have to try it out," Hongjoong smiled looking to Seonghwa.

But Seonghwa didn't seem quite as excited as the rest of them.

"Aren't you excited to try out the recording studios, Hwa?" Hongjoong asked, playfully wrapping an arm over his shoulders.

"I don't know, they might be confusing to get a hang of."

"But nothing a little practice won't fix! Once we get the hang of it imagine how much more we can do with our arrangements!"

"I guess."

Finally they reached their rooms and each separated, Hongjoong and Seonghwa entering their own room.

Once inside, Hongjoong turned to Seonghwa, still confused about his indifference.

But as he was about to speak, he remembered all of their precious conversations. Seonghwa had been standoffish since they'd gotten here and he didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it. And as annoying as it was, Hongjoong wasn't sure if pressing the issue would help the situation. So he held his tongue.

"Why don't we take a look at the regulations?" he asked instead and Seonghwa nodded, almost eager.

Hongjoong didn't understand but followed him to the bed, cozying up in his lap, his head sitting on Seonghwa's chest.

He pulled open the packet, leafing through it.

"Hmm. These aren't that bad. The diet plans don't even seem too severe. A little harder than the last ones but not unbearable. What do you think, Hwa?"

Just then, Seonghwa's whole body lurched forward, knocking Hongjoong forward onto his face.

"Ow—what?"

"We can't stay here."

"What? Do you not like it?"

"This—this right here. We can't agree to this."

"What are you pointing at?" Hongjoong groaned, sitting up.

"Look—here."

Hongjoong scooted closer, looking to where Seonghwa's finger was pointing. And his heart sank.

"No dating."

He read the words aloud. That was definitely a big problem.