OPEN YOUR EYES (BLIND I) - MUSIQ SERIES PART 2

90. JEALOUSY

Back at the training site, all C1K joined them instead of staying in Seoul. Except for Axel, who still had to be an MC for Breakthrough the others had a free week, so they chose to pay them a visit and stay with them during that time. That time they had free beds as there had been several elimination rounds for the other program, Cosmos, so they could sleep there instead of having to sleep with the girls, but some of them still had to sleep in pairs as they were just too many, as it was ResQ, Stray Kids, Chengcheng, C1K, Kasai, Hikaru and A.Jin.

When they arrived there, they found Kasai, A.Jin and Hikaru were there as well. Their time off was over as well and they had to get back to working with the girls by sharing their knowledge and tips and monitoring how they were doing, so by that point they all knew they were there to work.

"We sadly missed the performances!" A.Jin told the girls as they hung out in their dorm's common room to chat about how they were doing. "I bet they were incredible."

"More than incredible, I would say," Lou admitted. "We were all beyond surprised."

"We should have been there to watch..." Hikaru said, sounding irritated. "But what's done is done. We'll have to wait to see the videos once they are uploaded."

"Once they edit it all with the camera work I bet it will be even better if possible," Axel pointed out. "I was there to watch it but still I can't wait to see it!"

Although he was usually better at concealing it, that day Heejin could easily tell that Hikaru kept sending Axel not so pleasant glances and she was not happy about it at all. She did not know whether there was some animosity between them or not, but the fact that Axel had not really done anything yet he was getting glared at was starting to anger her a lot. Axel seemed to notice that too so, since they were sitting beside each other, he pretended to lean back and held her hand for a moment, trying to assure her everything was okay. 

That only seemed to make Hikaru fume even more, but Axel was having way too much fun with it stop, so he instead rest his arm on the back of the couch, right behind Heejin. They were pretty tight on that couch so it seemed like he was just trying to get more comfortable, but they all knew otherwise.

"Stay still," Axel told Heejin as he saw she had an eyelash stuck on her cheek. "Close your eyes."

Once she did, he tried blowing it away, but it didn't budge so he leaned it closer and picked it up with his fingers before putting it on the back of his hand.

"What's your wish?" he asked her.

"I don't really do these things," she admitted.

"Come on, do it just for fun. Manifest! Isn't that how they call it?"

Going along with his strange antics, Heejin wished to be able to debut with her best friends and blew the eyelash away, which made Axel smile. She had not said it aloud, but he knew what she had wished which was what mattered.

They had already agreed to keeping their relationship more open and not hiding it as much as they did before, but what Axel wasn't expecting was for Heejin to lean on him at that moment when cameras where around and when the staff was going to surely air that as they were back with their mentors and commenting on their performance. Still, he did not mind it and just threw his arm around her to be more comfortable. Everyone else was shocked by it, but they were surprisingly calm.

"The cameras, Heejin," Juiyu reminded her, in case she had not realise.

"I know, don't worry," she assured her. "I'm just tired and wanted to lean on anyone and he was the closest."

It was technically the truth, so they let her be and just continued chatting as if nothing happened, but Hikaru was growing a bit restless. So much so that, after a few minutes, he stood up and excused himself so he could get some fresh air.