𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 ˢᵛᵗ

thirty ♬

It was, in fact, not good news.

"Today we are going to do some team building exercises to strengthen the bonds between you trainees!" Young-pil announced happily.

All of us groaned in unison.

"You woke us up early for that?" Vernon huffed, blearily rubbing his eyes. Beside him, Jihoon and Jeonghan were struggling to stay awake too.

"Enough complaining! I thought you guys could use some fun after all your hard work, but since you're all so opposed to it... hmm....maybe Yoona is free - she can can do a dance workshop with you guys-" Young-pil had began to offer an alternative but everyone jumped to stop him.

"Please! No more dance!" Wonwoo cried out, a panicked look in his face.

"I love Yoona-nim but she is insane! If I dance anymore, my body will most definitely shatter into smithereens!" Seungkwan sassily protested. "I'm too young to die!"

"Bit dramatic there Boo," Mingyu muttered quietly.

"Thanks, I try," Seungkwan flashed him a smile and pretended to do a hair flip, oblivious to Mingyu's sarcasm.

"Great! Since we are all in agreement now, let me put you in the teams that you will be working in today!" Young-pil said. "Oh and the team with the highest score at the end may or may not win a prize."

"It's a competition?" Minghao's head perked up at the last comment. "I'm so in."

"You all are going down! Soonyoung on top!" He struck a pose, flexing his muscles.

"Soonyoung on top....hehehe," Jun giggled to himself immaturely. Soonyoung immediately stopped and stared at the boy in disbelief.

"Oh grow up Jun," Joshua lightly smacked the back of this head, scolding him affectionately.

Once we had all settled down, the staffs put us into 4 teams.

1. Vernon, Wonwoo, Minghao and Mingyu
2. Seungkwan, JJ, Seokmin and Soonyoung
3. Seungcheol, Jihoon, Joshua and Jun
4. Jeonghan, Chan, Bo-ri and I.

"Of course I get put with little miss freak show," Bo-ri hissed under her breath, loud enough for me to hear.

"Got something to say, four eyes?" I provoked.

"Ladies," Jeonghan came between us, mediating the developing argument. "As much as I love to watch a good cat fight, this is kind of a team building exercise - that means we have to work together."

"I don't know about you guys, but I think we might win!" Chan excitedly told us, smiling like a happy puppy.

From afar, I watched JJ and Seokmin sidle up to one another and chat away enthusiastically. It boiled my blood that they were on the same team and I wasn't.

The whole of last night was spent with me deliberating over what my anger in that moment yesterday could've meant. Part of me began accepting the idea that I could have feelings for him and that's why I hated him being close with another girl, and the other part vehemently denying that preposterous thought and excusing it as a moment of weakness.

My annoyed expression must've been obvious as Seokmin tilted his head at me in confusion when he looked my way. He seemed upset at my reaction, so I guiltily turned away and ended up facing Jeonghan.

"What is going on with you?" Jeonghan asked with a concerned tone. "You have been acting off since yesterday."

"Nothing is going on, why would anything be going on?" I laughed nervously, catching Chan's eye. He gave me a reassuring smile.