You Rock My World

I'm on your side

Felix finally pulled away and moved to stand.

"Well, we should probably head back and face our obligations, shouldn't we?" he said with a smile.

"Wait—you didn't tell me why you were hiding. Are you sure you didn't want to talk about it?"

"No, it's okay. That's kind of why I came here. To be alone. Until you ruined that."

Hongjoong gave a shy smile, looking at his hands.

"Sorry about that."

"Come on, we should head back."

Felix offered him a hand and he took it, standing up stiffly. The two made their way to the door, stepping back into the hallway.

Hongjoong couldn't help but notice that Felix's face didn't seem to have any tears.

Not that crying was a requirement for a breakdown. But it seemed a little odd to him.

"We've got to stop running into each other under such sucky circumstances," Felix laughed and Hongjoong laughed as well, trying to cover his suspicions.

"We really do. Thanks for talking with me, Felix. It means a lot."

"Of course. I hope you guys are alright."

"Me too."

They parted ways and Hongjoong walked back to the practice room.

So he was right.

It had to be Felix.

But if Felix was the spy...he and Seonghwa would be in trouble. He'd made sure not to say anything too personal about Seonghwa since it seemed like JYP had used that against him before. He'd considered leaving their relationship out of it but he was sure Felix had connected the dots when they had their double date at the dorm.

And if he had tried to hide something that big, Felix would know he was onto him.

But Felix didn't seem to be doing it of his own accord. He seemed like such a sweet kid. What could JYP possibly have on him?

And he couldn't rule out the possibility that he wasn't acting alone. There could be someone else keeping tabs on them too. They really had to be careful if they wanted to pass their big audition next week.

The audition that Hongjoong had already fucked up by neglecting to inform his members.

He sighed, shaking his head as he neared the practice room. He couldn't afford to beat himself up about it. They only had a week to prepare. He knew they were good but a week wasn't enough time.

He hated the idea of enforcing long hours again but...

He stepped into the room, causing everyone to stop playing.

"Hey guys, I'm sorry I—"

"Don't worry about it. We're all worried about Seonghwa hyung, too," Wooyoung smiled and the others nodded.

"We're going to make sure we practice hard so we can pass this audition. For him," Yunho said with a firm nod.

"You guys..." Hongjoong felt tears forming but pushed them down. "Thank you. You're the best bandmates—the best friends I could ever ask for."

They all smiled and set down their instruments, coming in for a group hug. After a few moments, they all pulled apart just slightly, their arms across each other's backs in a circle. Hongjoong smiled at them.

"Everyone ready?" he grinned. They smiled, in realization and nodded, each placing one foot in the center.

"Eight makes one team!" they yelled in unison and headed to their instruments to finish out practice.