my boy •mark tuan•

[20] Hurt

Park Eun-Bi, Olivia

I wipe the sweat on my forehead as we continued practicing. I was having some trouble with the choreography which frustrated me, seeing that we only had a week left until the tour.

I wasn't the best dancer, that's for sure. I'd only dance if I knew the choreography at a party. Other than that, I'd just bop my head along with the beat of the music. I wanted to try my best to get the choreograph. Even during the breaks, Yugyeom patiently taught me the dance. We were in the studio for at least 12 hours of the day, which took a huge toll on how we spoke. We were more irritable because of the lack of sleep.

"Hi Oppas!" I heard voices. I turned around, breathless and exhausted as I saw about nine girls walk into the room without knocking. "That's twice." Yugyeom explains, I assumed he saw the confused look on my face. Oh.. I saw them on weekly idol. Sana was 'A' in the teasers as well.

"Hey guys, meet Eun-Bi." Jb says, gesturing over to me after they made their greetings. I bowed and said, "Annyeonghaseyo." They smiled and introduced themselves.

"Unnie, let's take a break. We should talk to the girls." Yugyeom tells me. "Huh? Oh okay." I responded as he leaves. I went to my bag and drank some water. Don't get me wrong, I was exhausted. But.. I wanted to practice today. The tour is coming soon yet they prioritised them.

I eventually learned that they were here for practice as well, so they decided to stop by. I look at the group of all of them, trying to spot Mark. He was nowhere to be seen. My eyebrows furrowed.

Then the door opens, revealing Sana and Mark. Her arm was interlocked with his as she laughed at something he said. I diverted my attention to my phone, scrolling through twitter. I saw that some fans were extremely excited for the tour. I bit the inside of my cheek, forcing myself not to look up when the room got silent. "Unnie! Come join us!" Yugyeom calls. "O-Oh. It's okay. I'm going to buy something from the vending machine. Text me if any of you want something okay?" I said, grabbing my wallet as I gave them a forced smile as I walked out.

I inserted my coins into the vending machine, pressing the option for a bottle of orange juice. What am I doing? I hate orange juice. Eun-Bi. What's gotten into you?

I sighed, as I looked around and I saw the counter. "Hi Unnie. Do you want this? You've been working since the morning. I bought it by accident." I said, placing the juice on the counter. "Sure!" She says, giving me a smile. "Hey, you're usually with the GOT7 boys, where are they?" She asks. "Oh. They're occupied with some visitors so I went out to just walk around." I said.

Liar. You came out because you couldn't bare to see Mark with Sana. How pathetic are you?

"Oh.. Okay. Are you alright?" She asks me. I look up and nod my head, giving her a small smile. "Just really tired." I said, scratching behind my neck. "Oh! Here then. I'll make a nice cup of coffee. I'm not taking no for an answer!" She says, standing up and walking over to the coffee machine behind her. She gives me a paper cup with steam coming out of it. "Thank you." I say, giving her a smile. "No problem. Work hard okay? Your tour's coming soon!"

Even she knows about the tour. So why are the boys so easygoing once TWICE stepped in.

"Do you listen to our music?" I ask, letting out a chuckle. "Yeah. I loved Crush by the way. I know you wrote it." She tells me. I was confused, but how?
"I've seen you using that piano." She says, pointing to the one I've been using while I played the song as practice before I gave a copy to the boys. "Oh. Sorry I didn't notice you earlier." I told her. "I need to get going. Thank you for the coffee Unnie!" I said, throwing the empty paper cup into the bin. She waves.

I enter the studio to see that the boys were no longer talking to the twice members. "Oh did they leave already?" I asked, as I put my stuff back into my bag. "Yeah. They went for their own practice." Jr says. The room smelled of cheese. I assumed the girls brought in cheese crackers of some sort.

I went back to my position as Jb prepared the music. I stayed quiet while the boys talked softly. Soon, the music started playing and we started dancing. Sweat rolled down our faces again as we vigorously practiced. I stayed quiet during the breaks. Yugyeom wanted to teach me again, which I politely declined. Saying that if he keeps helping me, I'll just be copying and not learning. He gives me an unsure smile before joining the boys. I kept earphones in my ears and my phone in my pocket. I danced until I could no longer breathe and I felt light headed. I went to my bag and gulped down some water. I took off my earphones only to hear the voices of the TWICE members.
"Eun-Bi. Come join us for dinner. The Unnies are treating!" Yugyeom says. I look over to them and shake my head. "I'm going to go by the company. It's been awhile anyway." I said. "Thanks for the offer though." The boys looked confused as to why I was acting this way but none of them bothered to ask.

I rushed to the counter. "Lie to the boys. Tell them I left early." I said to the Unnie from earlier as I hid under her table. She gives me a quick nod.

I tried staying as quiet as possible. "Hey Noona." The boys greeted. "Have you seen Eun-Bi? The girl who's always with us?" Mark asks. "Oh, she already left." She answer as she stacks papers. "Oh is that so? Thank you anyway."

I sigh.

•
•

I ended up going to the piano in the studio after they left, singing quietly to myself. Unnie and I talked some more. She had two sets of food, she gave one to me so I wouldn't get hungry. "Eun-Bi. Why were you hiding from them?" She asks. "I don't want to embarrass myself in front of the TWICE members." I lied, as I finished the food almost immediately. I was extremely hungry.

I stayed a bit more, working on new music as I suddenly had High School Musical flashbacks.

"Once in a lifetime, means there's no second chance. So I believe that you and me, should grab it while we can." I sang, smiling at all the memories.

"Make it last forever and never give it back."

•
•

I unlocked the gates and the door, letting myself in and taking off my shoes at the entrance before locking them behind me.

"Eun-Bi. Where were you?"