Bittersweet

41

The moment it was decided that your comeback would be postponed, Seo Yoon terminated her contract and left. By the end of the day, none of her belongings remained in the Big Hit building. It meant more space for Soo Jin and Jae Hwa but neither of them were very happy about it.

Despite being notoriously short-tempered and an extreme neat freak, Seo Yoon had taken care of the rest of you like you were babies. It made sense, considering she was the oldest in your group. Out of everyone, you thought she and Soo Jin would stick around longest. Not including yourself, of course.

The next day, it was Jae Hwa's turn. Your group of five turned to three. There was palpable tension between the three of you that remained. On one hand, this was getting closer and closer to Soo Jin's mother's dream. On the other hand, you knew Ji Woo was also planning to leave. You just didn't know when. Ji Woo had promised to stay until after the next comeback, and depending on how it went, she'd decide whether to stay or leave. But with so many top tier companies scouting her every time she step foot out of the Big Hit building, you wondered how long her loyalty would last.

Considering the changes in the members, you ended up having to spend extra time redoing the songs. The three of you re-recorded each song, splitting the lines differently to make up for the lack of the other members.

During lunch one day, you overheard your managers worry about a group that wasn't really a group anymore. Hardly any groups existed that had only three members, and it would be a struggle to rise to popularity with two key members missing.

With the boys busy with prepping for their comeback, you found it difficult to talk to them about what was happening with your group. Their schedules were so tight that the only time they has free was time they were either eating or sleeping. Taehyung was suffering the most. Not only was he practicing for the comeback, but he was also constantly out for days at a stretch filming a drama he had been casted for.

You knew talking to them about your group wasn't a great idea; they were already stressed out and exhausted. They didn't need extra worries to worry about. But despite that, Jimin and Hoseok found time at least once a day and check up on the status of your group members and your comeback.

You sighed, staring at the empty room reflected in the mirror before you. You had hardly any motivation to prepare for your comeback, yet you always found yourself wandering to the dance rooms, itching to dance to something, to anything. Day by day, you found yourself going back to the choreographies you learnt in college, absentmindedly dancing to rhythms that were etched deep into your muscle memory.

As the music started again, you felt your body automatically moving to the choreography. You were glad you didn't need to think. The music came to an end and you stilled, ending in the position you were taught to. Just as you were preparing to redo the choreography from the start, you heard muffled clapping.

You turned to see you favorite orange-haired human, Hoseok, standing outside the studio. The members had all dyed their hair again, and you were quite interested to see Jin in bubblegum pink, Namjoon in a mysterious green, and of course, Hoseok in a bright orange. Their date for the comeback was close, now. Only a week away. And of course, with a comeback so close, they were busier than ever, something you thought wasn't possible.

Hoseok pushed the door open and stepped inside, flashing you his usual bright smile.

"You're doing different choreographies every day, huh?"

You blinked.

"How do you know? This is the first time you dropped by while I was dancing."

"We all hear different music blasting from your practice room every day. They're not your songs, so we guessed you were revisiting old choreos."

You shrugged.