Hua had taken her bag and ran to an empty practice room. She kept the light off so no one would see her and used the silence to cry, leaning against the wall and sliding down until she hit the floor. She was shocked that Donghyuck stooped to that level. She knew that what he said was due to the heat of the moment and a rush of emotions, but it still hurt, and it caused her to think his words over. Was she actually Jaemin's replacement? Were they boys pretending to care but actually couldn't wait to get rid of her? She remembered all the hate comments she had received after joining and slowly began to tear herself apart. She wanted to prove them wrong.
Hua got up and turned on the lights before opening her phone and putting the song they were practising on. She got into position and began to dance. She could feel she was aggravating her injury, but she didn't care.
On the other side of the building, Mark was icing Haechan's face to prevent a bruise from forming. They had a comeback soon and didn't want the fans to see he had been hit in the face. The rest of the Dreamies began to hunt through the building, trying to find Hua. Jisung popped into the studio and saw Taeyong. He tried to sneak out again but was noticed. Taeyong stepped out of the booth and looked at Jisung.
'What are you doing here? I thought you were all practising.' Jisung winced before clearing his throat.
'About that... Have you seen Hua anywhere?' Taeyong shook his head, growing concerned.
'No, why? Has something happened? Is her ankle okay?'
Jisung winced once again. 'Nothing has happened to her ankle as far as we are aware, although if that changed in the past 5 minutes, I couldn't tell you as she has disappeared.' His words picked up speed towards the end, causing Taeyong to lean closer to the younger boy to hear better.
'What do you mean disappeared? Tell me exactly what happened. She could be anywhere in the building, and her ankle could have gotten worse again.'
As Jisung explained to Taeyong what happened, Taeyong was texting in the NCT 2018 Groupchat. Asking for help to find her. All the boys were quick to get to the building and were soon set on the task to find Hua.
Hua was panting as she danced. The pain was getting worse in her ankle as she was beginning to overwork it. She was on the 4th repeat of going full out, and it was taking its toll. In her head, she was fighting it. How was she going to improve her dancing if she dipped out at some pain? Professional dancers continue even if they are injured, so why can't she.
She had gotten 3 more full run-throughs done before her ankle gave way. Her body dropped to the floor, and she curled into a ball as she cried, a mixture of pain and frustration. Her ankle was once again swollen and bruising slightly, but she didn't care. Donghyucks' words ran through her head as she lay there. The lights turned off automatically as it sensed no movement in the room, and Hua was left in the dark with her swirling emotions once more. The song was still on repeat.
It wasn't long before Johnny had burst into the practice room. He rushed to her side and cupped her tear-stained face. His face crumpled at the sight of her being so dejected.
'Oh baby mouse, look at you. Your ankle must be in a lot of pain.'
But Hua didn't feel the pain anymore. She had gone numb. Her eyes opened, and she looked at Johnny, and her eyes watered once again, but no tears fell. Johnny scooped her up gently and sat her in his lap. He opened his phone and texted the group chat to let them know she had been found before he put on funny videos for her, to try and distract her, stopping the music that was playing from her phone. He sat there rocking them from side to side silently, stroking her hair as he waited for everyone but the Dreamies to arrive. They had split up between themselves to calm Renjun down to a state where he can face both Hua and Donghyuck without starting another fight with the latter and the others were sat with Donghyuck giving him a lecture on the predicament. Deciding it would be best to keep them apart for a while.
