Scandal

4: Crush

I fumbled with my phone for the hundredth time, wishing I had Taehyung-ah's naturally friendly charisma with people. I still didn't have an excuse to call Jiyoung, and I didn't even want to think too deeply as to why I wanted to call her.

I couldn't really say we were friends; we've been super comfortable with each other but then again so did the other members. Suga-hyung had more of a relationship with her, though being her enemy wasn't something I envied hyung.

"Aish," I muttered, tossing my phone across the polished wooden floor. At this rate, I would have to wait for the next company party to talk to her again.

"Ya Hoseok-ah. What's wrong with you?" Jin-hyung wanted to know, plopping down beside me. We were the first two to arrive at the dance studio to practice, and I'd completely forgotten that our eldest was in the same room, probably watching me wage a silent war with my cell.

"I'm trying to figure out what to say to a girl I wanna call," I responded.

I watched Jin-hyung's water bottle, towel, and jaw simultaneously drop. "What did you say?" He demanded, eyes bulging out.

I snorted. "Kidding," I lied, grabbing the towel and giving our madnae a playful whip. If I were to ask any of the members any girl advice, this fellow was the last one I'd go to, even if he was the oldest. He had as much as experience with dating women as my mother.

Jin-hyung scrambled away from my towel attack. "Ya hajimallagu, it's too early for your shit," he complained, settling down on the other end of the mirrored wall, spreading his long legs to stretch.

I snickered, but decided to leave him alone. I needed to save my energy for the new choreography for the coming Japanese tours, and if the tentative setlist was of any indication, we'd be murdering ourselves by the end of the season.

My mind strayed back to Jiyoung. She was a good dancer—ani, I'd even say she was great. She said she didn't have practice for years but the way her body moved...whoa.

I briefly wondered how she ended up behind the scenes instead of debuting as an idol or a professional dancer. She certainly had the moves, and she didn't look too bad, either.

No sir, she most definitely did not. I internally sighed, remembering how she looked during Bang PD-nim's party three days ago. I couldn't believe I never noticed how pretty she was.

Maybe because she usually wore baggy hoodies and jeans with her old sneakers. I smiled in spite of myself, picturing her daily 'uniform.' She only traded her ratty kid clothes with simple black dress pants and long-sleeved button-downs when she had meetings with the bosses.

"Why is this one smiling like an idiot?" Sungdeuk-hyungnim bellowed from the door, throwing his snapback to my face.

I cut back to reality, catching the cap just in time before it slammed against my nose. "Seonsaeng-nim," I whined, hoping my ridiculous pout could distract them enough to forget about seeing me daydreaming about a girl. "We're the only ones here; I didn't even get to eat breakfast!"

Our performance director eyed me drily. "Don't y'all live together? How do you manage to not get here in one group? Where's your manager?"

I shrugged, internally smiling. Crisis averted. "Myungwoo-hyung took us here. We thought the others were behind us."

"Seonsaeng-nim, might as well start with me first," Jin-hyung suggested hopefully, still stretching.

Our choreographer nodded, huffing. "Araseo. C'mon."