The UNIQ boys next door

A burgundy sort of start

'Heeelllloooo?' A large hand waved in front of my face. I pulled my head back and snapped out of my daze. Joowon was right in front of me, resting his elbows on the counter and leveling his head with mine with a warm smile on his face. The cafe was relatively quiet with a couple in the far corner of the store. It was only Joowon and I on the floor whilst Sungho was busy baking out in the back.
'Is something wrong?' He leaned in closer and tried to meet my eyes.
'Nope.' I said heavily and continued to wipe down the counter. Who am I fooling... I wasn't surprised he picked up that I've been feeling out of it the past couple of days. He reached forward and flicked my forehead lightly.
'Don't frown,' He said as I rubbed my forehead to ease the tingling sensation, 'you don't look pretty when you're frowning.' I just brushed off his comment with an eye roll. Because he was always spouting such statements, I couldn't tell whether he was being genuine or just joking around anymore.
He suddenly lifted my hand up and hooked his small finger around mine and put our thumbs together to make a pinky promise.
'What's this for?' I asked with a quizzical look on my face.
'A promise to go out on a lunch date with me tomorrow.' A lunch date...?
'I don't think that's how...'
'Ah..what to do?' He sulked and then raised our hands up, 'You've already made a promise though.' His grin was so infectious, I couldn't help but reciprocate it with a smile of my own.
'Are you five years old?' I retorted. Before Joowon could reply, the bell at the door rang and we were both greeted by the sight of Hyojin strolling in.
'Oh, Hyojin!' Joowon cried out. I noticed a slight glower on Hyojin's face before her face brightened with a smile which made me uncomfortable. As of late, I could sense Hyojin was becoming more cold towards me for some reason. It wasn't a drastic change but it was still noticeable. I tried retreating my hand but Joowon's finger refused to let go.
'What are you guys up to?' She asked us with a subdued tone of irritation, her eyes swiftly glancing down at our entangled hands.
'Oh, Joowon was just suggesting - '
'Ssshhhh, let's keep it a secret.' Joowon cut me off with a wink. I wasn't sure whether he was extremely dense and oblivious to how awkward the atmosphere had gotten or if I was just worrying too much about Hyojin. I quickly withdrew my hand and walked away from the counter to help some customers.

~ Next Day ~

sunghot: are you there yet?
you: nearly

Last night, Sungho had suddenly asked to meet up in the morning which was strange because we usually only hung out if we knew we were going to head off to the Starship building or were meeting up with the others later on. I got out of the conversation window and returned to looking at the map Sungho had (very badly) drawn for me. The further I walked, the more uneasy I felt as I neared the meeting spot he had marked down. I was walking near a riverbank with a huge bridge arching over it and towards what looked like a construction site. This can't possibly...

you: hey
you: are sure you gave me the right directions?
you: im at a construction site?

I impatiently waited for a reply but didn't receive any. I continued to walk around until I spotted something peculiar in the near distance. It seemed like a photography or filming crew was setting up in the middle of the site. Out of no where, a group of tall guys walked by, each knocking into my shoulder and pushing me aside without even bothering to look back and apologise. Just as I was about to burst into a raging fit, the guy with short brown hair turned around.
'Yi-Yibo!' I cried out, in shock. The rest decided to turn around to surprise me and greeted me with huge smiles planted on their faces. They had all gotten new hair styles and colours to the point I could barely recognise them.

Yibo had cut his long blonde hair and dyed it a light chocolate brown. Yixuan had part of his sides and back shaved and his hair was now a dark blonde instead of the pitch black I had gotten used to. I wasn't too surprised by Seungyoun's hair change because he changed the colour and style the most often out of all of them. He had a pretty arrangement of purple, green and blue tips on his ashy brown hair. Wenhan had completely shaved the side and back off of his head, which was now a brownish-red colour. Sungjoo's hairstyle remained more or less the same but looked frizzier than usual and was coloured a bright burgundy.

~

You: you!
You: you are so dead!!!
sunghot: im sorry! im sorry!
sunghot: they bribed me!

'You guys bribed him!?' I cried out, looking up from my phone. I had found out that they had used Sungho to get me to come to the site.
'With food.' Seungyoun held up the peace sign against his face as if he was really proud.
We were all hanging around whilst Wenhan was taking his individual shots. Sungjoo and Yibo were stuck in one spot as they got their hair and makeup done.
'Now, now, let's not spend our energy being angry.' Yixuan rested his arm on top of my head.
'Why did you guys want me here anyway?'
'We just wanted to surprise you,' Seungyoun said, 'as to how much more handsome we can get.' I started laughing as soon as he started wriggling his eyebrows.
'You guys could've just shown me when we're at home...'
'But then it wouldn't have been as fun.' Seungyoun pouted.
'Well I did say it was a bad idea...' Yixuan added, 'You're okay to stay right? I can get you a taxi home otherwise.'
'Oh, no, it's fine.' I waved my hands in the air, 'I was free this morning anyway. But please do tell me beforehand next time...'
'YAH!' We both turned towards Wenhan who had called out. He was desperately trying to hold in his laughter. 'Stop making funny faces!' Sungjoo and Yibo who were crouching sneakily behind the photographer. Sungjoo was pulling his nose upwards to look like a pig whilst Yibo was crosseyed and stretching his mouth with his fingers. They both fled as soon as Wenhan looked like he was about to chase them off which caused an uproar of laughter.

One by one, they did their individual photoshoots in different outfits and locations. The whole process was definitely a lot more intensive than I expected. Yixuan had given me a DSLR camera to play with so I strolled around the site, taking photos and capturing footage of the dorkiness that happened behind the scenes.

~

Their shoot had finally finished and we were waiting around for the crew to finish up packing and cleaning up. Seungyoun and Yibo were still filming each other's crazy shenanigans with their phones. Yixuan was stuck in a serious discussion with one of the managers on site whilst Wenhan was busy helping the crew pack up. I was casually walking back and forth alongside the riverbank waiting to head back with everyone when Sungjoo joined in beside me.
'Ah, I'm so tired.' He said, stretching his arms into the air.
'Tired from what? You just kept your lips slightly apart and put on a smoulder for like two hours.'
'Hey, it's a lot of work. I make it look easy.' He boasted loudly.
'Doing this,' I tried my best to put on a smoulder, 'is not hard work.'
'Was that supposed to be sexy?' Sungjoo snickered, holding his fist to his mouth as if to hold back laughter. Irritated, I punched him on the shoulder but nearly lost my footing. I hadn't realised how close to the edge I was.
'Careful, we wouldn't want you to fall into the river...' Sungjoo slyly said as he firmly placed a hand on my shoulder.
'You better not push me in...'
'Is that something I would do?' Sungjoo asked, trying his best to put on a serious face. He caught me by surprise when he actually lightly shoved me to the side towards the river bank.
'Hey...' I sternly warned him by defensively holding my arms up despite the smile on my face. He attempted to push me again and this time, I unintentionally rolled my ankle. Even though Sungjoo quickly reached out to grab onto my arm, it was too late and I fell into the riverbank with a huge splash. The water was fairly shallow where I had landed but I still ended up completely soaked from head to toe. As soon as I was able to stand up properly, I flipped my wet hair back and forced my way forward through the water with my eyes narrowed at him.
'Yah..come here.' I sternly said.
'No, I'm good thank you.'
'Come...here.' I repeated with a forced smile. I extended my arm out, pretending I needed a hand to get back up. As soon as I grabbed onto his hand, I tried pulling him in which didn't work but then I saw Wenhan and Yibo creeping up behind Sungjoo. They simultaneously pushed him forward, forcing him to fall into the river bank and I swiftly moved aside to make sure he didn't fall on top of me. We all started laughing uncontrollably as Sungjoo splashed around and struggled to find footing in the water. They both pulled me up onto the pathway and Wenhan immediately wrapped his jacket around me whilst Yibo squatted down on the edge of the pathway and shook his head disappointingly at Sungjoo.

~

I was sitting in front of one of the portable heaters on site with a towel wrapped around me when something fell over my face. I quickly took it off and realised it was another towel. Sungjoo came around from behind and sat down on the crate in front of me. He placed the towel back onto my head and pulled himself closer in order to start drying my hair for me.
'It's okay, I can do it myself.' I tried pushing his arms aside but they didn't budge.
'Sorry, I didn't think you would actually fall in.' He said with a grin cracking his apologetic expression, 'I didn't know you were so clumsy.'
'Well if you hadn't pushed me...' I lifted my feet up to lightly kick him but he swiftly dodged it and started quietly chuckling. I ended up just letting him dry my hair whilst I absorbed the radiating warmth from the heater.
'Oh sh*t!' As soon as the thought of time crossed my mind, I stood up in a panic. 'I forgot I had to meet Joowon for lunch...' I grabbed Sungjoo's wrist and looked at the time on his watch. 1PM, I'm already an hour late. I was only able to take one step before Sungjoo abruptly grabbed me by my wrist and held me back. I just stood there, at a loss for words, and then calmly sat back down in front of him. I waited for him to say something but was instead just met with an unmoving and bewitching gaze. He continued to slowly massage my head.
'I'm sure Joowon...' His lips curled into a smile, 'can have his lunch by himself today.' I just sat there quietly.
'Besides,' he slid his large hands down to hold my cheeks and pull my face slightly closer to his, 'I don't want you to leave yet.' Ah, too close, too close! Flustered, I moved back a little, hoping Sungjoo wouldn't notice the sudden warmth in my cheeks.
'Otherwise, you'll catch a cold!' He said loudly with a goofy grin on his face. As he casually resumed drying my hair, my eyes wandered off on their own, intently glossing over Sungjoo's face from his thin lips to the tip of nose and then to his big soft brown eyes. I sat still with clenched fists in my lap.

I must admit I didn't want to leave either.

Author's Note: Gyyyyaaaaaaaahhhh, sorry it's been a while! I've been a bit busy but I'm back now...with a long (?) chapter! And I'm brewing up the next chapter already so an update is not too far away. So, did you guys like it? (๑•́ ₃ •̀๑) Forgive me for any mistakes, I just don't have the time to extensively edit anymore (but I still try)! is the video this chapter is loosely based on if anyone was curious. Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and like I said, I'll be back soon. Lots of love to everyone! ╰(✿'⌣'✿)╯♡