A New Start || Seventeen

Chapter 9

Joshua continued dragging Daena all the way to the elevator. Only letting go of her wrist at last to press the button to call the elevator.

He hadn't said a word on the walk so far and Daena wasn't sure why he was acting like this. It wasn't in line with his usual character.

The elevator arrived and Joshua stepped inside gesturing for Daena to do the same. Which after a seconds hesitation she did.

When the elevator arrived at the floor for the cafeteria Joshua just got off still silent.

Daena decided he must just be tired from the day and went to grab a seat at their usual table while Joshua went to go grab them drinks.

As soon as she was alone she couldn't help but remember what had just happened. Not her finest moment embarrassing herself like that in front of Joshua's friends. Actually she was incredibly grateful Jeonghan had caught her as it would have been far more embarrassing if she had landed in a heap on the floor.

Just then she remembered her dad and called and she quickly sent him an apology text explaining she was busy and she would call when she could.

As she was putting her phone away Joshua came to the table.

"Here" he said handing her a bottle of water and then placing a bowl of instant ramen in front of her.

"I was hungry and I knew you wouldn't of eaten yet" Joshua explained as he sat opposite her with his own ramen and water.

"Thanks, you were right, I am starving" Daena replied.

After a minute or two of devouring the food in front of her she realised Joshua hadn't even moved to start eating his.

"Are you okay?" She asked full of concern.

"Huh? Yeah sorry just tired, long day" Joshua replied finally picking up his chopsticks to eat.

The pair finished their food in record time, clearly they had both been starving.

"Sorry I didn't really properly meet your members" Daena said realising she had said less than 10 words to them.

"Oh no its fine, I'm sure you will see them again, plus I didn't realise practice would overrun so much" Joshua mumbled.

He then sighed and pushed his hair back off his face with his hand.

"Are you sure you are okay Joshua, you don't seem like yourself" Daena said reaching across the table for Joshua's hand.

But before she could grab it he retracted his hands and placed them under the table out of reach.

"Yeah, like I said just tired from work. Hey I'm really sorry to do this after making you come all the way over here but can we call it a night, I want to head back and shower and sleep" Joshua explained.

"Oh" Daena exclaimed sounding shocked, she had thought even with practice overrunning they would spend more than the half hour they had so far together. "Um yeah, sure, you do what you need to" Daena said standing up.

"I'll see you soon" Joshua replied as he headed for the door.

"Yeah, see you soon" Daena called after Joshua's retreating figure.

The whole event had her seriously confused, she wanted to take his word that he was just tired but she knew him well and knew he could always put on a smile no matter how exhausted he was.

On the other hand maybe he really was just tired and didn't feel like he needed to put on an act in front of her.

Either way Daena needed to head home and sleep too, so she did just that.

-

Joshua made it back to the dorm and really wanted nothing more than to have a quick shower and go to sleep.

All day he had been anxious about Daena meeting the other members and had been sure he would feel better after she had. But now he felt worse and he wasn't sure why.

He felt awkward as soon as she had walked into practice and didn't know how to act with her in front of the other members.

He didn't want them asking questions he didn't want to answer. He wasn't even sure he knew the answers to the questions they might ask.

Since Daena had come back into his life by moving to Korea he had felt torn between his old life and his new.

He would never tell her and probably would never admit it to anyone but there were some days he was over the moon she was here and they could spend time together and then there were the days where he wished she had never come. He didn't want to delve any deeper into those feelings and try and get to the bottom of why he felt like that. He couldn't afford to be distracted right now he needed his focus to be on work.

And then there was the moment Jeonghan had caught Daena after almost knocking her over. He wasn't sure why but in that moment he had felt like an intruder watching a private moment.

Joshua shook his head trying to clear his thoughts. He really wasn't sure why he felt so terrible but hoped sleep would help and he would feel better in the morning.

Joshua pushed the door open to his room only to find he would not get the relaxing night he had planned and desperately needed because laying on his bed clearly waiting for him to return was Jeonghan.