After Dusk || Im Changkyun

6. Countless Lies and Fake Smiles

Chapter Six

"Can I steal you for dinner, Peachy?" Yuta tapped you on the shoulder right before you were about the leave the building. He gave you his signature smile, the one that made you never want to say no to anything he asked. You hadn't had a meal with him in ages. You looked to your manager, Saera, begging her with your eyes.
"I'm not so sure, Y/N..." she trailed off while staring at the two of you giving her your best puppy dog eyes.
"We haven't met in over a year. I'll go straight back to Suhyun's after." You pleaded with her. She narrowed her eyes at you but that didn't stop you from placing your palms together and coming closer to her. You could tell she was hesitating, a lot at that, but eventually she sighed and looked to Yuta.
"How long do you want her for?"
"Two and a half hours seems like enough time." The corners of his lips were tugged even higher. Saera checked her watch.
"I'll be at Suhyun's house at 10:30. If you're not there by then you'll get it from me, understand, Y/N?"
The two of you met eyes and took each other's hands, squealing as you bounced up and down. When you two were together, you honestly acted like a pair of high school girls.
"Make sure to call me." Saera spared you one last glance before walking through the glass doors, still staring at the two of you as she walked towards your van. You could almost feel her eagle eyes on you.
"To the dorms, aye?" Another voice chimed in. You both turned to see Jungwoo with his bag slung around his shoulder, standing next to his manager.
"Now that I think about it, I can't believe you offered to let me live with eight boys."
Jungwoo snorted which made you cackle at his dorky self.
"I probably would've just bought you an apartment and pretended like it was an extra."
Yeah, you didn't even bother being subtle. Your jaw literally dropped to the ground. His words seemed fake but for some reason you knew they weren't.
"He honestly would've." Yuta backed up while snickering at your shocked expression. He graciously closed your mouth for you and snapped in your face a couple of times to return you back to reality.
"Ah." You finally breathed out, turning to face Jungwoo again.
"So, I suppose we're going to the same place?"
He shook his head with a small grin.
"Lucas wanted to meet for dinner. Despite the timing, I had to say yes. I haven't seen him in forever, you know?"
Yuta nodded with a sad smile. You noticed.
"Why? What happened to Lucas? Last time I checked he was roommates with Kun and Ten a couple floors down from where you guys used to live."
Jungwoo looked a bit shocked, probably because you seemed to know everyone. You couldn't not. They were all your friends one way or another.
"You know that project I was talking about? The one Sicheng was put into?"
You nodded, recalling the brief conversation you had at the very beginning of the day.
"Lucas, Kun, and Ten were all put in it too. They debuted in January."
"We see them less cause they go back and forth from Korea and China a lot, but I'm just happy they all have a solid unit now." Jungwoo chimed in.
You agreed. From what you remembered of Kun, he always seemed a bit sad and almost anxious to not have a set unit. You and him got along quite well, despite the fact of you only seeing each other every now and then.
"So, they made a Chinese unit and no one ever told me?" You rolled your eyes at Yuta who rolled his eyes back at you in return.
"You should've known. Shouldn't you know what happens to your friends?"
"I was busy."
What you were doing at the beginning of the year, it took up a whole lot of your time.
"I'll get going now." Jungwoo secured his bag on his shoulder and waved at the two of you.
"I'll see you later." He grinned before walking off with his manager, which you almost forgot was there since he was so quiet.
"We should go too."
It didn't take long for you and him to get to his dorm. His new manager was an incredibly fast driver, or it was that filming for over 15 hours straight had gotten to your brain and your time perception had been majorly messed up.
Just by looking at the door, you could tell this place was a very big step up from their old one. You didn't know how the nine of them lived in that tiny excuse of an apartment for so long.
You were greeted by the sounds of someone belting out a song from another room, yet the voice resonated in the open area.
It was probably Haechan.
It sure did sound like him.
"I still can't believe you stole me for dinner but brought me to your dorm."
"Taeyong's cooking tonight."
"Never mind, I'm happy."
He chuckled at your sudden change of heart. Taeyong was one of the best cooks you knew. He was physically incapable of making anything that wasn't the definition of delicious. He used to sneak you his home cooked meals whenever the company made you go on diets. You remember how you used to wait in the area between the girls and boys bathroom because it was a blind spot from the security cameras. He'd put the food in his clothes bag to make it seem less suspicious and watch as you ate it all in a heartbeat.
Trainee days were rough.
We were all young and just wanted to chase our dreams.
Yuta pushed you by the shoulders and you ended up right in front of a door.
"Taeil hyung and I's room." He grinned before opening the door to darkness. He confusedly huffed before turning on the lights and both of you let out a startled yelp.
You were greeted by someone with a blue blanket wrapped around his head and entire body, hissing at the light. You clutched onto Yuta's pale yellow dress shirt out of fear. Yuta just sighed at the person.
"Doyoung, how many times do I have to tell you, if you want to read stories on your phone, do it in your own room."
You let go of his shirt and watched as Doyoung unraveled himself from the blanket, waving his phone at the two of you.
"Your room is perfect for reading stories."
He threw the blanket at Yuta's face before storming out the room, muttering to himself.
"Jaehyun was about to get down."
You unfortunately heard him. Yuta obviously didn't since he didn't look anywhere near disturbed.
You didn't think Doyoung was the type...
"Did you miss me?" You heard a familiar voice exclaim in... Mandarin?
You turned around to see Sicheng standing with a plastic bag wrapped around his wrist, wearing an long pink short sleeved shirt that you were quite sure that you bought him for his birthday a couple of years ago. You watched as Yuta gasped, dropping the blanket to the ground before running over to him, pulling him into a hug. Sicheng chuckled as he dropped the bag to the floor and wrapped an arm around his slightly smaller body, his other stroking through his hair. You awed at their cute interaction.
Is this what Yuta and you looked like this morning? No, probably not.
Sicheng and Yuta were cuter.
One hundred percent certain.
Sicheng whispered something into Yuta's ear and he nodded, reluctantly letting go of his torso. Sicheng out stretched his arms.
"Don't think you don't get one too."
You chuckled before coming in for a short but sweet embrace.
"It's been forever." You grinned at him. He smiled back. He rested his elbow on your head, making you huff. He'd always been taller than you, so he took it upon himself to use you as his personal arm rest. You remember it really bothering you when you were younger. You didn't have the energy to disagree with it now.
"Yuta! Win! Y/N! I finished dinner! Come and grab some!"
The way you darted away from them as soon as you heard Taeyong's shout. You could hear the two chuckling as you sped down the hallway. You didn't know where you were going, but thankfully, the kitchen was in the giant open room. Well, it wasn't so open, it just felt that way since their old dorm was a cramped mess.
When you locked eyes with Taeyong, you couldn't help but notice his new light pink hair slowly gently down into his face.
"Woah." You exclaimed as you went to the other side of the kitchen island and gently wrapped a strand of his hair around your pointer finger.
"Yes, hello to you too, Y/N."
"You look good with pink, Yong." You were completely dazed by his pink hair. He'd had a lot of crazy colors, but there was just something about the pink that looked so good. So different. He wrapped his arm around your shoulder and rested his chin on the top of your head.
"Ouch." You said nonchalantly,
"Your chin is too sharp."
"That made zero sense."
"Shut up, Sicheng."
"Sicheng Gege to you."
You glared at Sicheng, who was leaning up against the wall, wiggling his eyebrows at you. "One of these days I'm going to hit you with a chair and I'm not going to regret it." You seethed in Mandarin just so no one but him could understand, making sure not to blink as you stared into his soul.
He wasn't fazed whatsoever.
"As if your weak self could pick up a chair." Sicheng scoffed. You were about to go beat his sorry self up but Taeyong pulled you back. He probably had no clue what you were saying but Taeyong had a great intuition.
He was incredible at reading people.
"Can you two be normal for like two seconds?" Yuta muttered in Japanese, but he was loud enough for you to hear.
"As if you act normal." You snapped back.
"Korean, please." Taeyong begged, putting his hands together.
"I don't have the energy to translate languages into languages and back into another language."
You sighed and looked to Yuta again, who was heading to the cupboard where you supposed all the plates were.
"Who's home?"
"Doyoung, Donghyuk, and Johnny. Everyone else is out."
That was a surprise to you. They were normally always around. Plus their managers would never let them leave the dorm unless it was for like groceries or stuff like that. You guess it had been a while since they'd debuted. It was just weird not seeing them all at once. Normally, where one was, the other eight followed.
"I see long hair. Who brought their girlfriend here?"
You turned around to see Johnny in a white sleeveless shirt, his burgundy hair was all over the place, as if he had just woken up.
"Y/N? You're alive?" He instantly grinned as soon as you met eyes.
But did he just indirectly reveal that some of them had girlfriends? You needed to get in on this information. It was crucial to your wellbeing.
"You signed with Oracle, right?" He asked in English curiously.
"It was unexpected news to me. They're good though from what I've heard. I have friends that are signed there and they never complain."
You grabbed a couple of the plates from Yuta and help place them on the table.
"They've been nothing but wonderful so far. Everyone there is so welcoming."
Haechan and Doyoung came into the room not long after. Donghyuk didn't even bother to acknowledge your existence. That little brat. You should've never taken care of him when he was younger.
"Oh. Hi." He didn't even look you in the eye. His attention was on whatever Taeyong was carrying over to the incredibly long table. You didn't blame him, but seriously?
He instantly plopped down on the seat and eagerly waited for the food. You rolled your eyes at him before sitting down beside him, placing your phone on the table. Johnny's massive self took the seat beside yours. He'd always been tall but you felt like he got taller every time you saw him. It made your tiny self sad. Taeyong placed a bowl of soup beside your plate and set some chicken on it. You didn't know what it was, but it smelt like perfection.
You couldn't eat this much though. Thank god you were here of all places, Johnny would probably finish it all for you if you asked.
Your phone buzzed.
Hyuk was quick to grab it. You tried to snatch it from him but he held it away from you, almost hitting Doyoung in the face while doing so. He stuck out his tongue before looking at the phone, his cheeky expression dropping as soon as he read the notification.
"Who on earth is Mr. Annoying Hypocrite?"
Everyone's head turned to you in an instant. You groaned, throwing your head back onto Johnny's shoulder because his face was in your head again. His stupidly perfect, but aggravating face.
"Don't ask me about him."
"Who do I need to beat up?" Doyoung cracked his knuckles and stretched out his neck, making your burst out into laughter. You shouldn't though. Although, Doyoung seemed like a gentle person just by looks, he could do some serious damage. You remembered that one time when he got super aggravated with Ten, so he completely pummeled him in the face. Four people had to hold him back from doing anymore damage.
Ten still doesn't let him forget it.
Doyoung gets embarrassed whenever someone brings it up.
And Jaehyun 100% still has the picture of Ten's face after, despite the fact of it happening over five years ago. Jaehyun would be the type to keep that sort of stuff.
"Is it, Kyun?"
You nodded at Yuta.
"Give him a bit. The fact that he's going out of his way to talk to you is big in itself."
"Eggo, why aren't you responding? I want to make your life harder." Donghyuk recited robotically.
"He seems like a bitch to me." He handed your phone back with an incredibly unamused expression.
"Hyuk, you can't say that about someone you don't know." Taeyong reprimanded, waving the soup ladle at him.
"And language!"
"I don't know. I agree with Haechan." Sicheng chimed in. He gently stabbed his chopsticks into his rice, seeming as if he was lost in thought.
"No ones going to question to the nickname he used?" Johnny scoffed while rolling his eyes.
"Why, Eggo?"
"Anyways." You cut in, not feeling like answering Johnny's reasonable question.
"I have to take these videos for like a behind the scenes show. Can you guys be filmed?"
"Not me."
You looked to Sicheng, who was sitting at the very end of the table on the opposite side. He pouted gently but immediately smiled after.
"I can't be physically affiliated with them. As one of your friends, I'm kind of offended. I thought you'd know this by now." He joked, looking to Yuta and Taeyong who just laughed along with him, not knowing what they were laughing at.
"She didn't know anything." Yuta started,
"The rants I had before two months ago. I guess she didn't remember. She didn't know about Jungwoo either."
"You didn't know Jungwoo?" Doyoung gasped, his eyes widened and almost looking confused. You played with hem of your skirt, feeling awkward.
"I've walked in on Yuta hyung on the phone talking about him. Did you just forget Jungwoo hyung?" Hyuk asked while Doyoung fed him a piece of omelette. Donghyuk smiled happily at him.
"When was this?" You questioned because you didn't have a single recollection of his name ever being brought up in your conversations.
"Five months ago? Earlier this year I think."
You knew why.
"I was pretty out of it back then. I had a lot of on my mind."
You could feel that they were ready to make you elaborate so you grabbed your phone and went to the camera, standing up in front of the boys, but you could feel Taeyong's gaze lingering on you. He looked different through, almost like he was empathizing with you.
But what for?
"Sorry, Sicheng. We'll go for like five minutes. I don't need a lot of content."
Sicheng nodded and switched seats with Johnny so the camera wouldn't see him. Before he sat, he stopped.
"Wait."
He placed his phone at the edge of the table where Taeyong was seated. He walked all the way back around and looked at your phone. He adjusted your hand slightly and finally sat down.
"If someone catches my phone case, then it's not exactly my fault." He slyly grinned.
Sicheng was so smart sometimes it scared you.
"I'm starting!"
You clicked the red button and instantly smiled at the camera.
"Hi, everyone!" You waved at the phone before moving it so that everyone at the table could be seen. They all waved and greeted with the same enthusiasm.
"I'm having dinner with a couple of friends. You might find them familiar."
Taeyong looked at the boys before counting down from two.
"To the world, 여긴 NCT. Hi, we are NCT 127!"