Exactly As It Sounds • Young K • Day6

xi.

A/N: Not gonna lie, this chapter was so much fun to write.

"Whoa!"

You wake up to the sound of boys laughing raucously and the bright flash of a phone camera in your face.

"Caught in the act!" exclaims Jae, looking a little too pleased with himself, while DoWoon stares at the picture over his shoulder, his mouth slanted in a goofy grin.

"This is gold!"

Blinking your eyes groggily, you raise your head and try to make sense of the situation. Your eyes land on Wonpil, who's leaning over slowly, one hand lightly shaking your shoulder.

"Hey, Chaerin," he says quietly. "It's time to wake up."

To your left you also notice Sungjin, his normally cheerful smile replaced by lips pressed together neutrally, a slight frown puncturing the space between his eyebrows.

Shaking Younghyun gently, he quietly murmurs, "Younghyun, wake up. You shouldn't be here when everyone gets up."

Yawning and rubbing his eyes, Young K sits up slowly, his cheek marked by the pillow it had been resting on moments ago.

Leaving the boys in the living room, you pad quietly down the hall and slip back into the room you share with Bora, relieved to find that she's still sleeping. Slipping back under the covers of your bed, you stare at the ceiling for five minutes until the piercing sound of her alarm clock rings through the air.

You're glad that things worked out the way they did, but you don't need anyone to tell you what a close call it was. You shudder to think what would have happened if it had been anyone other than Day6 who had caught you and Young K snuggled up together in the early hours of the morning.

/-/

Putting the finishing touches on Wonpil's makeup, you can't ignore how uncharacteristically quiet and withdrawn he's been. You can tell he's been thinking, and by the look on his face, you know that when he's ready to speak, whatever he has to say won't be good.

Focusing on blending out his highlight, you startle when you realize he's looking directly at you, his mouth set in a determined line.

"Chaerin...I want to talk...about last night," he begins hesitantly.

"Wonpil, I know you're worried, but I explained it to you already. It was a complete accident. A series of unfortunate events. Nothing happened."

Wonpil bites his bottom lip, but the determined look is still on his face. You know he needs to get something off of his chest, but he's so considerate it always takes him a long time to put his thoughts into words, worried about saying the wrong thing and hurting your feelings.

So you continue to dab concealer onto his face, waiting patiently.

"I don't want to say anything bad about Young K, you know how I feel about him. He's practically my family now, but you're my best friend."

Wonpil looks at you earnestly.

"He's not a bad person, but he used to be serious about this girl, back before we were trainees. I don't know the details, but she broke his heart, badly. Since then he's never been serious with anyone, he just flirts with them continuously. Leads them on, but it never really turns into anything."

Catching your eye, he hurries to explain.

"It's not that he's doing it intentionally. It's just he takes his career seriously, and there's the dating ban, and the fact that girls are always getting crushes on him, because he's good-looking and charismatic, and good at everything..." he trails off, biting his lip again.