Alone | Jake Sim x OC

I Think

It had been an hour since Bella left him. 

Jake was forced to head off and practice, though time seemed to crawl through a thick mud, uphill, with 300kg weights strapped to each foot. That is to say, without the constant, slightly worrying thuds he heard when Bella was around, it was lonely. 

I think I'm going crazy. It was the fourth time his head had whipped around at some imaginary sound in the hopes that Isabella might be at the door, asking to see them perform Hey Tayo for her. He heard a snap.

"I think you need to focus. Are you okay, Jake? And you're not going crazy." Oops, he didn't realise he said that out loud. Jungwon waved a hand in front of his face to make sure he was awake. "What are you thinking about? We have to practice for the comeback too so please keep said thinking to a minimum." Jake flushed slightly, hoping to blame it on the hardcore dance practice they were in the middle of.

"Hey hey hey hey hey hey hey-" He could hear Sunoo chanting in the background.

"Nothing." He forced a smile at Jungwon, who didn't believe him for a second.

"Okay then, when she gets back I'll tell Izzy you think she's nothing." 

"Wha-no-" 

"Just get back to practicing please." Niki sidled up behind him, scaring him as he grabbed Jake's shoulders. 

A few hours later, Jake had messed up the steps more than all the other members combined, Heesung had almost shouted at him twice, and the members were approaching him, all sharing extremely concerned expressions.

"Hey, I think it might be best if you sit out today. Are you okay?" Jake shook his head frantically, air coming out of him in short bursts.

"No, I'm sorry I can do better, I promise-" Jay rested a hand gently on his shoulder.

"We're not saying that you can't, but you're worrying us. We're asking you to rest for a bit so you can give us your best later." He couldn't argue with his family in front of him, so with a resigned sigh, he retreated out of the dance studio. His head dropped in self-disappointment, thoughts sprinting around his head in a whirlwind of confusion.

Why couldn't he focus? It's not like he couldn't work without Bella near, he'd done that for a year before she'd come. So why? Why couldn't he focus on his responsibilities with his best friends around him, why was she on his mind when he'd seen her less than five hours ago? It must be something else.

As soon as Jake reached his room he grabbed a notebook and pen and plopped down onto his bed. He scribbled the title 'Why can't I pay attention for goodness sake' at the top and tapped his pen against the page in thought. 

Starting with Lack of Bella he crossed that out. There's no way, because no. A few more items went on the list.

1) Lack of Bella

2) Not enough food     

3) Not enough sleep

4) Boring choreography

5) Not active enough

6) Niki drugged me this morning at breakfast

Jake couldn't really think of any other options, and after crossing out the non-plausible ones he was left with numbers 2, 3, and 6. 

"I think this isn't working." Jake mumbled out loud, scribbling a line through number six after a moment of hesitation. 

"I think you're overthinking this." Jay knocked on his door, letting himself in. He perched next to his member on the bed, gently taking the notebook and pen from him. "And number seven can be Sunoo decided to become a unicorn and number eight can be I suddenly had the realisation that we're in the matrix and number eight can be Aliens sent me a message that they're going to crash on Belift tomorrow  and number nine can be-"

"Okay okay, I get it." Jake snatched the notebook back, shooting a dirty look at his hyung. Jay sighed.

"Honestly, the most likely ones are number 2, 3 and 6 but really? I think it's number one." Immediately Jake shook his head.

"No that's not possible, see? She wasn't here a month ago and I could work just fine-"

"Mhm, yes I totally believe every word you just said." Sunoo walked through the door, signature sarcasm following on his heels. Jake could almost hear fingernails clacking.

"Honey, take a look at yourself-"

"Drop it Sunoo." Jay sighed and the little sunshine just grinned.

"Okay, but be real Jake. If you've never had water, then you don't know that you're thirsty-" Jay snickered. 

"Ha, Jake is very thirsty right now." Both Sunoo and Jake cringed.

"-yeah, that was a bad example. Hm." They sat quietly for a moment while Jake wondered why on earth he was getting advice from these two crackheads. Why was he sitting here anyway, he should-

"Got it! I think it's like pancakes." 

"Pancakes." Jake and Jay deadpanned at the same time, staring at Sunoo's proud smile with looks of complete incredulity. 

"Yes, pancakes; you don't realise how amazing they are if you've never had them, and then when you have you realise they taste too good to live without. And then you can't stop thinking about them all day, which draws your attention to every smell that kind of smells like pancakes, any small sign that could mean you can eat more pancakes, and you can't focus." Jay blinked in disbelief.

"Wow, that actually kind of makes sense. Thanks, Sunoo." 

"No problem, pancakes are delicious aren't they? Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go talk to Sunghoon about breakfast tomorrow." They heard a thud from outside, and a muffled complaint of 'no' before the rapid thudding of footfalls down the stairs as Sunoo opened the door. Jay turned back to Jake.

"I'm going to be real blunt with you buddy. If what Sunoo said was right and you do have feelings for Izzy, then I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you'll either have to embrace them or repress them. Please don't say anything now and just think about it; scandals and all that can be a pain." Jake stayed silent, watching Jay. He raked a frustrated hand through his hair, and Jake watched it flop back onto his forehead, silently contemplating what his hyung had told him.

"Okay. I've thought about it." Jay shook his head, unsurprised at the few seconds of thought. 

"I figured you wouldn't take too long. What do you think?" Jake looked up, chocolate eyes steely and completely sure with his next words.

"I think I love her."

Did you guys get your pillows

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!

No way! Jake loves Bella?!?! 😱 Who'da thunk it?

ANYway, sorry this chapter is shorter than I was going to make it- just means there will be more 😏 

Thanks for reading BTW, I hope you're enjoying it :D