past, present, and future | hwang hyunjin

f i f t e e n

c h a p t e r   f i f t e e n

I was back from my adventure around the old trainee area, and now I was walking back to where all the dorms of the idols were. My route included the dance practice rooms. However, I didn't expect myself to get tangled up in what happened next.

I was walking by the dance practice rooms when suddenly I started to hear music. Was someone practicing in there? I walked faster so I could check, and I immediately froze as I saw the unmistakable blonde hair of Hyunjin.

He was dancing to something. I didn't know what it was, but all I knew was that he looked good while doing it. It was as if it came naturally to him. I stared through the window, watching as his body moved as if it were one with the music. He seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself so much as well.

I didn't notice that I had been standing there for a long time until the music stopped and I snapped back into reality. I watched as Hyunjin crouched down to wave at something. Then I noticed he was on a live with fans.

Oh, shit.

I immediately ducked underneath the ledge as quickly as possible, praying to all the deities that existed that he hadn't seen me yet. It'll be completely fine.

Yeah, I was probably just making myself delusional, wasn't I?

His voice sounded up and it came through the door, which happened to be open. "I think someone is outside, I'm going to go check."

Oh shit, shit shit. He knew I was here, I had to run-

A warm hand slipped around my wrist as I was about to make a dash for it. I turned around, already feeling my cheeks heat up as I turned around to see Hyunjin retract his hand quickly after realizing who it was. "Oh," He said awkwardly, scratching his neck as he looked down at me. "It's you. Well, do you want to join my live? The fans really want to know who it is, and I would feel really bad for them if I just said there wasn't anyone there."

I considered it for a moment but then shook my head. "Sorry, but I need to go bac-"

Hyunjin cut me off. "Okay, you're coming inside," He looked at me in the eye and smirked again. Where was this new attitude coming from? "Come on, dancing will be fun, don't you think? Hey!" He dragged me inside, then waved towards the small phone camera on the floor. "Guess who it is?" He excitedly told me to wait as he read the comments. "Felix? Bang Chan? Nayeon? Yeji? Good guesses but you're all wrong. Oh no, wait! Which STAY said an Island-I member? Because you're right."

I smiled at his enthusiasm. It really warmed my heart to see idols so genuine with their fans.

Oh, yeah. Right, so genuine. His true personality was definitely much less caring. Towards me, at least. I didn't know about his groupmates or anyone else.

"So, would you like to reveal yourself?" He smiled at the camera, then at me. 

That smile was definitely contagious. His beautiful eyes sparkled as they gazed at me, waiting for my response. I felt a slow heat beginning to build on my cheeks, and I hoped it would go away soon. I soon found myself smiling back at him, which was uncalled for. I didn't know if he forgot that we weren't exactly on speaking terms or if he was just doing it for the camera. Nonetheless, I was affected by it. And not in a good way.

"Hi STAYs!" I popped into the camera screen with a small smile, waving enthusiastically. I crouched down to look at the phone and the fans' response. The warm, encouraging comments that flooded the comments section really helped me a lot, so the occasional "why are you barging into my Hyunjin oppa's live" didn't really affect me much. Conversely, it just disgusted me because they didn't even know who Hyunjin was in real life, only from videos and computer screens.

That's when I noticed that Hyunjin was crouched down right next to me, and he was barely an inch away. As he shifted around, the occasional touch sent tingles down my body and my stomach churned. I felt my heartbeat speed up and my cheeks flush redder, as if it wasn't already red enough. I hoped the phone's bad quality would erase the redness.

"I was just walking around the building, and I happened to stumble upon this live. So I stopped by to say hi!" I told the fans. It was kind of the truth. I was going to refuse his offer, but he forced me to come here. I turned to Hyunjin. Just the sight of his princely face was enough to make me want to faint. I honestly wished that he wasn't as handsome as he was, so I could think more about how annoying he could be sometimes-

Hold on, did I just call him handsome?

I thought back again to when I almost called him hot and I wanted to die of embarrassment. 

"So, what were you doing before I came here?" I asked him in an attempt to clear up my mind.

"I was just dancing. It's my dance practice room which I always do my lives in," He answered almost immediately. He raked a hand through his blonde hair, showing off his charm, charisma, and confidence in a very subtle way.

I almost fell for it. Almost. 

"Well now that you're here," Hyunjin added with a small smirk that only I was meant to see. "The fans can decide what to do." He turned towards the camera again and smiled.

"Yeah, sure!" I responded casually, leaning in to look at the phone. As Hyunjin did the same, I turned my head around, only to find his face barely an inch from my own.

In a startled state, I jumped back, landing with a thump on the hard dance floor. I had been surprised with the close proximity. My heart was definitely working overtime now, trying to keep up with what was going on. "Sorry!" I panicked, cheeks immediately flushing red again. "I was just surprised!"

I looked back at Hyunjin, worried. But he only chuckled, covering his hand with his mouth to smother his laughter. To be completely honest, it was kind of cute. In a half-joking manner, I got up and threatened him. "You wanna get hit?" I yelled at him while raising my hand. It only caused him to laugh harder, and his breath was coming out in snorts at this point.

I soon found that it was not only his smile that was contagious, because soon, I was rolling around on the floor in an attempt to get myself to stop laughing.

Hwang Hyunjin, you have really outdone yourself today.