A New Start || Seventeen

Chapter 11

Joshua had never been more grateful for how busy his schedule got in the lead up to a comeback. The comeback was still weeks away but the closer they got the busier and busier his days got.

He still made time for Daena but since the day she had come to practice to meet the members he had really been able to make time once a week for her.

He felt bad but he was slightly relieved this was the case. It made it easier to put the strange conversation he and Jeonghan had had out of his mind. He didn't want to dwell on what it meant, what Jeonghan had meant when he had asked about Joshua's feelings or what Joshua's reluctance to answer had meant.

But as a result he had not been sorry for a bit of distance between himself and Daena. On the times he could see her he had made sure it was just the two of them and that none of his members tagged along or even knew where he was going.

He had used the distraction of work to his advantage. To the point where some of the members had mentioned to him how he seemed to be working extra hard on this comeback.

He heard his phone go off from his bag across the practice room.

As they were currently on a 15 minute break he decided to check what the notification was.

Picking up his phone he could see a text from Daena had arrived.

'Don't work too hard.' It read.

Joshua was about to put his phone back without responding when Daena sent another text.

'Miss you'

He couldn't ignore that, it made him feel bad to even think about ignoring it. So he quickly responded.

'I won't, I promise, me too, dinner at yours after practice?'

Daena's response came almost immediately. A thumbs up.

Joshua quickly put his phone away. He turned around to find Hoshi standing directly behind him.

"Was that Noona?" Hoshi asked tilting his head to the side.

"Yes" Joshua sighed, he couldn't very well lie he was pretty sure Hoshi had been reading his messages over his shoulder.

"It's been a while since I saw her, are you hanging out later? Can I come?" Hoshi asked excitedly.

Hoshi was like a little puppy. He was such a happy ball of energy most of the time Joshua felt bad letting him down.

"Sorry not this time, maybe next time?"

As soon as Joshua said this Hoshi's smile vanished from his face.

"Sure, umm I actually had an idea I wanted to run by you, it's about Noona"

"Oh" Joshua responded with surprise.

"Well I've been thinking that I could do with some more lessons in Japanese and now Noona is here we wouldn't even have to video call and it would mean I could see her more without intruding on your time" Hoshi's smile returned as he explained his idea.

Joshua mulled this over for a second, before responding.

"So you want to ask Daena to teach you again?" He asked

Hoshi nodded. "I even spoke to the managers and they said we could have a room here in the building once a week and they would pay Noona for her time" Hoshi was practically vibrating with excitement as he continued explaining.