Our Palace

Chapter 3

                                                    "Don't worry"  

The next day...

Kyungil woke up to the sound of loud music. Their music. In fact, it was their new song "Queen". Their manager usually wakes them up with music on days where they have some special activity planned or unplanned. It was supposed to be one of those days when all of them could relax and pretty much do whatever they'd want (not exactly "whatever" but you know..) but today was not that kind of day apparently...The leader sighed and tried to go back to sleep. He wasn't feeling very good this morning. He had too much on his mind. His head was spinning even when laying down. "Wtf is happening to me?" ..." I haven't been sick in months..", he thought to himself before drifting off to sleep again, not paying attention to the loud music that was playing throughout their dorm.

The other members also woke up to the loud music and one by one, they entered their living room area. There's where the music was coming from. They sat down on the floor, their eyes barely open. Yawning and scratching their necks in confusion. They were so tired that they didn't even know who was in the room and who wasn't, until their manager shut off the music. "Where is your leader?", the manager asks in a concerned voice. The members snapped out of their sleepy-state for a minute and looked around the room, both confused and concerned. Kyungil is usually the first one to wake up and he also wakes the others up if he feel like it. But this morning he wasn't. None of the members gave an answer. They continued to look confused. The manager raised his voice and for the second time asked "Where is your leader?"..."Why is he not up yet?" ... Still no answer from the members, who were practically falling asleep.

The manager was getting tired of not getting any answers. This time he yelled.."Can someone tell me where your so-called leader is?!" .. The members jumped back in surprise of their manager's sudden strict and loud voice.

Kyungil woke up in shock by their manager's suddenly loud voice. He quickly got up out of bed, his head still spinning. He put on a hoodie, since he was freezing all of a sudden. He continued walking in to their livingroom area

"I'm here. Please stop yelling, manager-nim", the leader said in a soft and gentle voice, while scratching the back of his head. He sat down, unknowingly next to his ongoing crush (atleast that's what he's calling it for now), Yijeong. Yijeong notices how exhausted and tired the older looks. He can't ignore the fact that their leader looks extra adorable in his extra large hoodie this morning. The younger leans in closer to the leader's ear and whispers "Hyung, are you okay?" .. Kyungil's body shivers in surprise to the sudden warm and tender breath that gently grazed his ear and neck. He turned his head and noticed that it was Yijeong. The leader instanly got flustered and got more nervous by each breath he took. He quickly turned his head the other way, feeling his face turn warm and probably red. Yeah, now he was full out blushing. Kyungil didn't want the younger to feel ignored so he quickly answered in a super low and shy voice "Yeah...I'm fine" .. "You don't look fine, are you sure?", the younger once again whispered into the leaders ear, sending shivers down his spine. Kyungil didn't want to be a burden to him, the other members and manager by telling them how he really feels, so he played it off by whispering back "I said I'm fine, don't worry."

Yijeong knows that there's something Kyungil's not telling him but he doesn't want to annoy him by asking more questions. The younger lets him be for now. He still worries about him though, even more now when he's not being honest with him. "I should keep an eye on our precious little leader today", he thinks to himself.

One hour later, in the car to their unknown destination...

"WOOHOO!! A CAR TRIP!!", yells Jaeho out of pure excitement. "Where are we going, driver-nim?", he asked in an excited voice. "Sorry but I can't tell you that.", their driver answers in quite a strict and serious voice. "Oh, come on..", Jaeho pouted his lips and crossed his arms in his usual cute way. "Jaeho, shut up", said both Sihyoung and Dokyun. "Hmpff..", was the only sound that came from Jaeho in response.