ꜱʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴏᴜᴛ _ ᴇɴʜʏᴘᴇɴ 8ᴛʜ ᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀ

= leader mode =

*Requested*

When Jungwon is in his leader mode, you best believe that he's super scary. Most of the time, Jungwon is this soft, cute guy who everyone loves but the second someone messed up and lose their professionalism, Jungwon's leader mode is on.

Even the older members fear him when he's in his leader mode out of respect. Despite being so young, he have the capacity of leading a group to success and no one does it better than he does.

And while Jungwon is serious, the members usually doesn't play around as much because mad Jungwon is a big no no but that day, Lily was playing around with Niki during dance practice. They took the time lightly and does the dance half heartedly. Surely, they have a lot of time before the real performance but playing around when they should be focusing and serious is just a waste of time.

Still, Jungwon doesn't want to cause a commotion so he called out for Lily and Niki gently the first time. "This is not the time to play around, Lily and Niki. You guys can do that when we have a break but for now, let's be serious," warned Jungwon as he glanced at them through the mirror. "Got it, Jungwon."

That lasted for an hour before the two are up to their shenanigans again. Jungwon huffed tiredly as stood up. "Last warning, Lily and Niki. If you can't be serious, please leave." Niki nodded his head. He felt bad for causing Jungwon so much stress and Lily feels the same. "Sorry. We won't do it again."

They did stick to their promise afterwards and became professionals during practice but Jungwon's mood was already ruined. He was not smiling, even after they finished their practice. Instead, he was the first one to leave the room to get some fresh air at the rooftop. "Uh oh," said Jay with wide eyes. Lily gnawed on her lower lip. She doesn't know what to do to make it up to Jungwon because it seems like he's really mad at her and Niki.

"What do I do now?" She looked over at Niki in expectation, hoping he would have an answer to that. The maknae gets on Jungwon's nerve all the time that the leader wasn't even bothered by it anymore. He's super pissed today because he didn't expect Lily who's always so serious during practice to mess around like that. In a way, he's more mad at Lily than Niki. He knows it's wrong but he expected better from Lily.

Niki shrugged his shoulders, "I usually let him be for a day or two and we'll always go back to normal. Of course I apologize but he's never this mad before. I wonder if this is because it's you." Lily glared at the maknae in dissatisfaction. "That doesn't help, Niki." He smiled. "I'd recommend you to just let it be. He'll come around. You're just worrying too much, nuna."

Just when he least expected it, he got smacked in the arm by Jake. "Yah you! That will just make things worse." He rubbed the part that has been slapped by Jake while frowning. "What the heck, hyung? That hurts."

Sunghoon sighed, "we believe you know what to do, Lily. You've always been good at communicating with others so take advantage of that but don't give empty promises, of course."

"Oh."

——

It took a lot of courage and encouragement from the members for Lily to go up to the rooftop and apologize to Jungwon. The thing is, she's used to apologizing. That's not quite the problem here. The problem is she's afraid of how Jungwon will react to it. She bought a latte for Jungwon, just in case. Entering the rooftop's garden, she sees Jungwon sitting by himself at the bench, looking stressed.

She took a deep breath and made her way to him. "Here." Lily placed the latte down and stood next to him, not even sitting down. "I'm sorry about earlier. I should've listened to you the first time. I'm sorry."

Jungwon sighed, "forget about it. I'm not that mad at you. It's bound to happen you know? I mean, who am I, right? We're the same age. It just doesn't make sense." Lily shook her head quickly. She had never looked down on Jungwon. He's the right person for the leader position and she looked up to him and his ways of doing things. "You're doing great. Today was my fault. I was playing around when I should be serious but that's not because I don't respect you, Jungwon. I admit that what I did was out of line but I really admire you as the leader."

She rubbed the nape of her neck. It's bad enough that it seems like he just had a rough day and then she made it even bad. "I don't know, Lily. It feels like I don't deserve this position."

"What do you mean?"

He shook his head, not wanting to elaborate it but he turned to Lily and looked up at her with tears brimming in his eyes. Jungwon never once complained being a leader, even if it's hard. He told the members that it's easy to keep everything in check but it was all a lie to ease their mind. Lily steps closer to her and let him pull her into a hug. His head is resting against Lily's stomach as she plays with his hair gently.

"I'm sorry for being such a baby." Lily smiled, "it's okay. I'm thankful that I can offer you some comfort, even if it's not much. By the way," she cups his face in her palms, "you're doing great, leader nim. Please keep being our leader and lead us to success. Just like how you're doing right now. And we'll trust you all along the way."

Jungwon chuckled. He is truly touched by what Lily said. Maybe Lily was right. He was doing great and he was the only one who didn't notice it because he spent all his time criticizing himself. "I will. Thank you for believing in me, Lily."

"Anytime, Jungwon."

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