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“Hyungs, I’m leaving!” Chan announced in a loud voice to let everyone know he was leaving now. It was actually everyone’s day off but the choreographer decided to call Chan to the company to practice the last minute so he had to get ready very quickly after eating dinner. At first, other members didn’t really want to let Chan go since they were busy these days and couldn’t spend time as a whole group in a while because of their schedules. But in the end they had to let him go.
As “Okay”s and “Be careful”s were coming out of different parts of the dorm, Joshua and Soonyoung decided to send off Chan. “Don’t overwork, Dino.” Joshua said. “Come home early, we want to spend time with you.” Soonyoung followed. Chan chuckled as he wore his dance-practice shoes. “Okay, I’ll be home early. You still don’t sound like you want me to go?” Joshua and Soonyoung both frowned but they were cut off by Minghao even before they started to speak.
“Why would we want you to leave on a day that everyone is home? Also, It’s almost the time for snacks and movie but you’re leaving.” The other two nodded to show they agreed with Wonwoo. “I have to go now, don’t do anything stupid without me!” he shouted as he left. There was some shouting at the door before he heard the door closing.
He sighed and secured his bag to his shoulder. He didn’t want to leave and stay at home too but he couldn’t turn down the choreographer. Since he was going to dance and needed to stretch anyway, he decided to walk to the company to hopefully make the stretching session a little bit shorter and easier. Well, at least he hoped it would help. After arriving he quickly ran to the dance practice room because he just noticed that while walking he got distracted and ended up running late.
“Hello, hyung!” He called to the room, out of breath. The choreographer didn’t even take a glance at him. “You’re late.” Chan tried to smile to make the situation a little less awkward but it was not working. “Yeah, I thought walking would be a good idea but apparently it was not.” He laughed at his own words and put his bag down. After not getting an answer from the other man, he cleared his throat and walked up to him. “Hyung, what are we doing today?” The older man turned around to face him, “I want to monitor your dance, and I need to talk to you about something.”
He was serious, well, he was always like this to Chan anyway. Ever since their old choreographer left and a their current one replaced, the new choreographer was always acting cold and in the worst way possible for an idol to Chan. He would be ignored when they were all together so it wouldn’t be noticeable but it kind of hurt him that how clearly obvious it is when they are together and alone. After Chan took his place in the middle of the room, the music started and just like that their awkward practice began. They went through songs over and over again but the choreographer didn’t say anything about it.
He was on a small break when the choreographer approached him. “Hi hyung!” he said, exhausted but still smiling. But his smile met the opposite. “You really like the attention you get, don’t you?” Chan was confused, he got up from the floor and put his water bottle next to him. “Hyung, I don’t understand. What do you mean by that?” The older man exhaled loudly and chuckled. “You’re trying too hard to be in top, Dino. Stop stealing the spotlight.” Chan felt his eyes get teary, was he actually stealing the spotlight? The older man walked up to him as Chan took steps back, until his back hit the wall.
He felt his lips move to say something, his body shivering at the thought of the quilt of doing something like that. “What, are you going to talk back to me?” The man shouted, only making Chan’s ears ring even more. “Hyung, I’m sorry, I didn’t know-“ His sentence was cut of by a sharp sound filling the room, immediately making both of the men stop talking. His head was turned to the side, his cheek was burning, slowly turning a light shade of red. He slapped Chan. No one talked, the room was silent, the breathing sound of the two were able to hear. “They deserve someone better than you.” He spit out, turned around and walked out of the practice room.
Chan’s legs gave out, hitting the hard wooden floor with his knees. A whimper full of pain came out of his mouth, tears were pouring down his cheeks, making his right cheek burn in pain. He sobbed, breathing was becoming harder and harder by every sob he let out. “Stop stealing the spotlight.” Was he actually doing that, why the members didn’t say anything? He didn’t want attention. He just wanted to cry and be alone. His sobs turned into heavy breathing after a while.
He tried to wipe his tears away, but new tears replaced it as soon as he dried his cheeks. He stood up on his shaky legs and walked up to his bag as he silently cried. He grabbed all of his stuff as quick of possible and took a look at his cheek on the mirror before he left. His cheek was bright red, some places were even darker than others. He also noticed that there was little cuts around his cheeks. The choreographer’s ring was probably the reason why he has little bleeding cuts. Even the thought of the man made Chan’s body shiver.
He quickly grabbed his bag and got out of the practice room. Thoughts filled his mind as he walked out of the company in the middle of the night. How is he going to hide his cheek? Putting makeup on will only work when they have schedules since no one wears any makeup product in the dorm. He didn’t want to tell them what happened, he was bothering them enough by having all the attention to himself. At least that was what the choreographer told him about.
This wasn’t the first time this happened. While they were dancing and practicing, th choreographer would always make sure to remind him that he was trying too hard, was dancing with too much energy and adding move to the choreography to catch more attention than he already did. His thoughts started to leave his mind one by one when they cold air hit his face, He didn’t notice that he was in the company for that long.
He quickly started to walk to the dorm. He didn’t want to disturb anyone and catch more attention by getting dropped off at the dorm by a car. He started to walk with fast steps to arrive at the dorm sooner. He shivered from the cold and the pain from the cold ait hitting his cheek. He just hope that it won’t form a scar and the redness will go away overnight. He looked up to the sky and took a deep breath. The shy was beautiful, th the stars were more noticeable since it was night and surprisingly there wasn’t any a lot of lights on, it was quiet shocking if you consider they were in a busy city actually.
The stars were surrounding the darkness, giving the dark shy some shine. He arrived to the dorm pretty quickly since it was not that far away from the company. He sighed and opened his bag to get his keys, after a quick search, he was able to find the keys. He put the key in the hole and tried his best to be as quiet as he can when he twisted it. Surprisingly he managed to be quiet and got in the dorm. He got his bag inside too before closing the door behind him.
He silently fell on his knees, his cheek hurt as the warm air hit his face. Tears formed in his eyes, his vision got blurry. He walked to his room on his shaky legs, closing his mouth with his one hand to muffle his sobs. Once he got to his room, he dropped his bag and closed the door. He was glad that he had a room to himself. A sob escaped between his lips, tears making his cheek burn in pain. At the time Chan let out sobs he couldn’t stop anymore, Seungcheol was waking up.
Since he was thirsty, he decided to go to the kitchen to get a glass of water. He got out of the bed and yawned. slowly making his way to the kitchen with sleepy steps. He switched on the lights and got a glass, then filling it up with water. He leaned on the counter and drank his water, but something else caught his attention. He frowned and out the glass on the counter. He walked up to Chan’s rooms door. He knocked.
“Dino, are you awake?” There was no answer but he could clearly hear his sobs. “I’m coming in, Chan.” He opened the door, looking to the dark room. Chan immediately closed his mouth, trying to silence himself. Seungcheol quickly closed the door behind him and walked up to the youngest. “Chan, are you okay?” He didn’t receive an answer again, instead, Chan got closer to him and opened his arms. wanting to hug. Seungcheol wrapped his arms around Chan’s waist as Chan hugged his neck.
Seungcheol laid down next to him and pulled the younger to himself, still cuddling. “Channie, what happened?” Chan’s sobs quieted down as they cuddled close together. “Hyung, am I trying too hard to get attention?” His voice was shaky, but Seungcheol could figure it out after a moment. He frowned, “Of course not, who told you that Channie?” Chan could only bury his face in the nape of Seungcheol’s neck. “The choreographer.” It looked like Seungcheol was going to have a very long talk with the company as Chan explained what happened.
“Let’s put some cream on your cheek before sleeping Channie, okay?” Chan whined, not wanting to let go of his hyung. Seungcheol chuckled before getting out of the bed and pulling Chan out too. Chan whined but stood up at the end. They held hands as they walked to the bathroom together. “You should wash your face, i’ll bring the cream.” Chan nodded, Seungcheol kissed his forehead and got out of the bathroom to go grab the cream. When Chan finished washing and drying his face, Seungcheol was back. They put the cream on his cheek and made their way to the bed again. They laid down together and cuddled together the rest of the night.
In the morning, Seungcheol had a pretty long conversation with the company. That choreographer ended up getting fired.