[A Cat's Secret]

First Stage

Y/N POV:

     "Man. I'm giddy. We can finally perform! Woonhak, you excited too?" "Of course I am! We finally debuted and it's our first time performing. It's bound to get everyone excited!"

Deciding to do a rehearsal before we finally went on stage, we went to our green room and went on about our game plan. It was quite simply really. We were going to do exactly what we did during practice, except we needed to get a little closer and be mindful of our positions. Sooner or later, it was already time for our first ever performance and our first step to becoming a world class idol.

Haerin POV:

(Ahh. I'm so excited!)

Me and my members were currently waiting in our inkigayo green room, waiting for our turn to perform. And seeing that we still had 5 other groups before we went on, we decided to watch the others perform. As we were watching, I couldn't help but feel ecstatic and I started to smile uncontrollably. ECSTATIC that I can finally see my friend perform on stage. While I was thinking about that though...

     "Look at her. Being utterly in love with her so-called 'friend'. She definitely likes him. She just needs to realize." The first one to speak was Hanni unnie, followed up by our leader.
    
      "I know right? Oh to be in love. And Y/N definitely likes her too. But just like Haerin," "...he just needs to realize it."

Hearing the two oldest converse, the maknae decided to give her own opinions about the subject.

     "I wonder what she'll look like when we finally meet and perform at an award show. Maybe something like MAMA or AAA. She would be the talk of the country depending on how her facial expressions woiuld look like and how she would react to him."

The two oldest members agreed with what their maknae said, but then Danielle unnie decided to add a little flame to the already heated conversation.

     "You know, I've been thinking. Why has she been keeping secrets from us when it comes to Y/N? Is one of them courting the other? Or are they already dating?" "Unnie actually makes a good point. Now I'm curious."

Now that they had reached their conclusion, they all had one thing in mind. They didn't even need to say it out loud since they were all thinking about the same thing.

     "Haerin-ah. I...no, we have a question." "What is it Minji unnie?" "Are you dating Y/N?"

There it was. She dropped the nuke. It had an explosion so big, it made her stomach and heart drop while also making her mind go overboard. Not to mention, she went as red as a bell pepper. This was a question that would make any boy and girl pair question their own friendship. Making them ask questions like "Do i like him/her?" or "What if he/she actually does like me and I just didn't notice?" But luckily for our main heroine, she didn't think like that. Her main priority was to diffuse the situation and explain their relationship.

     "U-unnie! Wh-what do you mean 'are you dating'!? Of course we aren't! He's- he's just my friend! And I'm just excited to finally see him perform live! That's all! I promise!"

But sadly that wasn't enough. They didn't believe her one bit. But they decided to forgive her for now. But not with payment. So to pay for not saying what they wanted to hear, they decided to tease her until they met them in the halls of the back stage of ingkigayo.

Y/N POV:

     "Omo omo! Who is this! Is it THE Shin Y/N that Haerin just so happened to like?"

(What? Does Haerin like me?) Is what I thought while blushing. But alas...

     "Y/N-ah! Don't listen to her! She's just playing around! Unnie! Why did say that in front of him! I didn't even say that I liked him!" "You might not have said it, but it sure does look like it with that reaction." "Unnie! Sorry about her Y/N. Hanni unnie may be older than me but she's one of the more playful and teasing members. Sorry again for disturbing you. See you later!"

...that moment only lasted for a moment until Haerin turned down her accusation in an embarassed but...how should I put it? Cute manner? I didn't know what to call it but all I knew was that I was getting even redder than I already was and that my heart was doing summersaults. But that little moment ended when I came back to my senses. Why you ask? It's because my members were all behind me and heard everything, and I mean EVERYTHING they said.

     "So Y/N, can you explain yourself?"

(I'm screwed. I'm screwed. I am sooo screwed.)

*10 minutes later

I tried my best to explain and diffuse the situation, but it was really hard especially if they keep teasing me about how I should reciprocate her feelings since they think that I 'fell for her too'. But sooner or later, I finally diffused the situation. But now that they have even more dirt on me, the only choice I had was to live with it. Anyways right now, we're in our green room, waiting for NewJeans to go on stage.

Everything went normal except for the fact that whenever Haerin was on screen they keep on telling me how my 'girlfriend' was on the screen. While I did hate it, it also made me feel...warm and cozy. My heartbeat started to beat faster and sooner or later, I found myself getting enchanted by her charms. She was like a cat that I wanted for me and me only. She was so...majestic, I was speechless. After their performance, my mind finally returned and soon became aware of my surroundings. Though when that happened...

     "Would you look at that. He really is head over heals for her. Look at him just staring at Haerin sunbae-nim." Songho hyung was the first to start the train. "I know right? He's smitten." Then Riwoo hyung added even more coal to the already running train.

With all my members joining in, par Leehan hyung who was taking a nap, it was getting quite tiresome so I just drowned them out by wearing my airpods and putting it on max volume.

(Well, it looks like this journey is just gonna get worse. Might as well make the most of it and have as much fun I have.)

*Back at the BND dorm - 10 p.m.

(I can't get what Hanni sunbae-nim said. She said Haerin likes me but Haerin immediately denied it. Well it can't be helped. That sentence could make any man's heart skip a beat or two. I'll just do my best to find out what I feel.)

*NewJeans'Dorm - 10 p.m.

(Y/N was so cool. But he was cute at the same time. He looked like a bunny in "Serenade". But I need to find out what I think of him first. I cant make rash decisions because of what Hannie unnie said. I'll just take my time to know what I really feel about him. But eh. I'm tired.)

Y/N and Haerin:

     "I want to get to know you more. But let's do that some other time. I'm heading to bed."

~~~~~~

Dang...I had so much fun writing this chapter. And this chapter alone has 1.2k words as well. I hope you guys had as much fun reading as I had when writing this.

Thank you so much for reading and as always, tips and criticisms are very much appreciated. Peace

:r.ceus_has_left_the_chat: