Light A Flame || Hoshi (editing)

Chapter 7

"Wow, your girl sure managed to put on quite the show," Jeonghan smirked, watching everyone vacate the practice room once more. His voice was calm but had a certain teasing edge.

"She's not my girl. And anyway, who comes to practice about to faint?" Hoshi growled, slightly resembling a particularly not frightening tiger cub.

"You do. Don't act like you wouldn't have put a bounty on her head if she didn't show up today," Jeonghan laughed, watching a scowl creep up on Hoshi's face. The pair began walking in silence to the elevators. Despite his apparent apathy for the situation, Hoshi couldn't lift the weight in his chest. He wanted to check up on her, see how she was doing-

No. You and her are done for. You hate her, remember? Don't think otherwise.

"Dokyeom told me about your little countryside getaway next week," Jeonghan cut through the silence.

"Yeah. You can come, if you want to," Hoshi responded half-mindedly without even consulting Dokyeom. Not that he would mind. The elevator jolted, promptly arriving at the bottom floor, opening up to the luxurious dark lobby. Hoshi's eyes wandered around before landing on an annoyingly familiar figure.

"Yep, I've told my grandma. I'm comi- sorry, hold on one second," she lowered the phone and glanced up at the pair.

Jeonghan jogged over to her, forcibly dragging Hoshi along with him. "Jang-mi! Are you okay?" he asked with an air of concern.

"I'm fine. Turns out it was an overdose on some med I haven't taken, and there's this creepy message-"

"We lost 30 minutes of practice because of you," Hoshi remarked in monotone.

She turned to face him, a piercing gaze in her eyes. "I'm sorry for your loss," she responded, her tone so flat it could level mountains. Hoshi was annoyed, no doubt. He loathed seeing her. Loathed that he had to bear the brunt of the hate spewn towards the both of them. Loathed how well she danced, loathed her-

You're doing it again. Stop.

"Well that's great to know." She twisted back around, hovering the phone near her ear. "Yeah, as I was saying. Next Tuesday-"

Jeonghan eyed Hoshi curiously, the ghost of a smirk lining his lips. "Let's get going. Dinner's in an hour and we gotta get to the dorm before that," he grabbed Hoshi's sweaty wrist and made a beeline for the van awaiting them outside.

"God, I hate this," Hoshi scowled, his face buried in his palms.

"I can see that. It's like your eyes just change when you look at her. Is it anger? Passion? Both?" Jeonghan teased.

"Some of the former. None of the latter. Wow I'm craving barbecue," he suddenly exclaimed, an uncomfortable oscillation making itself heard in the pits of his stomach as he attempted to change the subject.

"Dinner's on Mingyu tonight, so you can have all the samgyeopsal in the world. Or so I'm told anyway."

"Uhhuh."

"Well, if you ask me, they'll probably come up with some convoluted drinking game and do that to figure out who's paying," Jeonghan mused.

"Great," Hoshi's thoughts echoed. He didn't mind the free meat, of course. But he did mind the girl that, by his own shortsightedness, he now had to see almost every day. At least he'd get some respite in the countryside with Dokyeom's grandparents.

**

"Let's dig in, guys," Mingyu rubbed his hands together, either unaware or in denial of the gargantuan bill he'd have to pay after the dinner was consumed.