Jeno liked to think that he knew his members pretty well. They have been together for over a decade, and, as NCT Dream’s captain, he was almost 100% sure that he knew every move his members would make.

That is until they got to Kansai International Airport.

Everything was okay at first, aside from the fact that their bags were a little delayed from release, so the eight members of Dream decided to wait in a cafe while things got sorted out.

It was when Mark was doing a silent headcount when they realized one tiny little detail.

“Um, guys?” The leader called everyone’s attention. “Where’s Hannah?”

Jeno looked up in alarm while Jaemin’s eyes widened. The sound of slurping stopped from where Haechan and Jisung were seated, and Chenle smacked the table. 

Renjun looked up from his book. “Didn’t she go to the bathroom?”

A quick glance down at the purse in his lap made Jeno shake his head. “She’s on her period, she would have taken her bag with her.”

“I thought I only had one girl in my life that gets lost at airports,” Haechan mumbles while standing up. “I’ll take Chenle and check the Duty Free, she might be looking at perfumes again. We’ll be back in twenty minutes.”

Jeno nodded, getting up as well. “I’ll retrace our steps.”

“I’ll go with you, hyung,” Jisung picks up his drink. “After we find her, maybe we can check the gachapon.”

Mark nods. “Be here in twenty minutes. Jaemin, Renjun, stay here in case she comes back. I’m gonna go tell the managers.”

Just like that, they each went their own directions.

He wasn’t worried. No, Hannah was a fully-grown woman who had her wallet on her despite leaving her phone in her purse with him. It was more of amusement pooling in his and the rest of the members’ minds that, after years of her shepherding them together in the airport, she had suddenly gone missing.

The two boys had made it a point to keep their eyes peeled at pastry stalls or gift shops in case they find her, knowing she spends a little more impulsively on sweets and cute trinkets when on her period.

Within eight minutes, something started vibrating against Jeno’s torso. Something from inside Hannah’s purse. 

“Her phone is ringing,” he mutters and goes to open the purse before his eyes catch Jisung’s. The younger boy gave him a sheepish smile, pulling his phone away from his ear, showing Hannah’s contact details on the screen.

“I just thought I’d try…” Jisung trails off before his eyes narrow. He perks up and points. “There! The gachapon!”

“We can check the gachapon after we find—” Jeno cuts himself off when his eyes fall on a familiar hoodie standing in front of one of the machines.

Jisung excitedly runs forward, a laugh escaping him as he arrives at his noona’s side. Jeno shook his head and fondly made his way over to them.

“Hey, Jen,” Hannah smiles at him while twisting the knob. “Look what I found.”

The sound of the ball rattling in the machine pulled his attention, similar faces plastered on the side of the glass.

An NCT Dream gachapon machine.

“You have the real NCT Dream with you on almost a daily basis,” Jeno chuckles, opening her purse for her to put the little capsules she already had into.

“I thought it would be cute if I could get all of us,” she places the ones she’s holding into her purse before opening the one she pulled just then. “Yes, finally! This one’s you, Jisung.”

She hands the maknae a small hamster charm, making his smile reach his ears.

“Thanks, noona,” he clenches it into his fist. “This was really nice of you.”

“But,” Jeno interjected, “you could have told us you were going to go here. Haechan and Chenle are looking for you in the perfume section in Duty Free. Jaemin’s getting you a hot mocha. Mark hyung’s checking with the managers to get them ready to talk to security.”

“Aw, I’m sorry,” a small chuckle escapes her lips as she reaches up to ruffle both the boys’ hair. “It just slipped my mind. I’ll make it up to you guys, our dinner’s on me tonight.”

Jeno chuckles as well, throwing an arm over her shoulder and leading her away, back to the cafe. “You don’t have to. I’m sure the others won’t mind once you give them those little figures.”

“If you got everyone,” Jisung catches up to them quickly. “Which, you did, right?”

“I did, yours was the last I needed.” Her arm looped through his, the three of them falling into step together. “But, for some reason, I got like six Marks. I’m giving them away at the concert.”

“You good, Hans?”

Mark’s voice pulled Hannah back down to earth. As soon as he sat down next to her, she leaned into his side and glanced at Donghyuck, who stood a few steps away on the phone with Taeyong. She was the last of the three of them who’d be on the phone with him since they decided to go by age.

She groaned while pulling her hat down by the visor. Next to her, Mark was shuffling in his seat until he had his arm around her, lightly patting her shoulder.

“This isn’t fair,” she ran her hand down her face. “Is it so hard to say no to even just one event so we could have all come home yesterday?”

She could feel the 99-liner squeeze her shoulder, “You know how it is, Hans. Hyung knows, too.”

“We tried so hard,” she slumps further into his side, “and we don’t even get a glimpse of him in real life before he leaves!”

The two of them could only sit in silence after that. The three 127 maknaes had taken it upon themselves to rearrange their schedule in order to reach their leader’s send off, but they were beat.

That’s how they found themselves in Jeju.

The stress of trying to make it in time was something she didn’t think she’d ever go through. Months ago when their leader first told them he was enlisting, she thought she’d be right there with the rest of 127 (and maybe all of NCT) to send their leader off.

She didn’t expect to look at their managers’ itinerary only to find they wouldn’t even be in Korea on the day of.

“Hyung wants to know why his princess is pouting.”

“I’m not pouting,” Hannah looked up to glare at Donghyuck until she realized who was on the small screen looking at her. “Oppa!”

The older 00-liner snickered while handing her the phone and placing the bluetooth headphones over her ears. In her excitement to stand up, she elbowed Mark in the ribs.

“I gotta take this,” she jogged over to the isolated corner for a semblance of privacy then looked at the smiling man on the screen. “Boss! How are you? Are the oppas treating you okay? Did you get my present? Have you met any other people you’re entering with?”

“Calm down, Haeeunie,” Taeyong chuckled, “breathe. I’m alright, missing you kids. Everyone’s treating me the same, I haven’t really met anyone yet, and what present?”

A grin made its way to her face, “I snuck something into your backpack last week when I helped you pack some stuff.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” he smiled at her.

Seeing him smile pulled at something in her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut, slipping her sunglasses on. She did not want to cry in front of Taeyong, but it felt impossible to do. She went for the second best option: not letting him see.

“Hey,” Taeyong held his phone closer to his face so she could only see one of his eyes on the screen, “I want to see your face before I go.”

That did it. A tear escaped.

“Oh,” she sighed while taking off her hat and moving her sunglasses up her head to hold her hair back, “I hate that we’re not there with you!”

He gave her a sad smile once he held his phone at a normal angle again, “Don’t worry about it. We know how hard you three worked to get here, and I love you for it. You did everything you could, and that’s what matters, alright?”

“Alright,” her voice came out as a whisper. “I’m really sorry, Oppa.”

“Nothing to be sorry about, Haeeunie,” he reassured her. “I promise. And you know I don’t take my promises lightly, especially not with you.”

She bit her lip, nodding instead of talking. Talking would just make her cry harder. But Taeyong wasn’t done talking.

“You know what?” His tone brightened, “I’m going to make you another promise right now. After basic training, when I get my phone back, you’ll be the first person I call after my mom and my sister. Sound good?”

“Sounds great,” to her luck, her voice didn’t shake, “and I’ll have Hyuck and Markie with me.”

“Good, good,” Taeyong nodded.

Hannah smiled, “And you bet I’ll drop any schedule I have then and there and drag those two with me so we can talk to you.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t expect any less.”

“Unfortunately?”

“As your leader,” he shrugged with a mischievous smirk, “but, as one of your big brothers, I say have at it, Boss Lady.”

Laughs slipped past her lips, in time with his. “You better look out, oppa, because I’m planning on doing something to anger the company for not having the balls to reschedule or say no to one event.”

He grinned at her, “Can’t wait for you to tell me all about it. Don’t give your oppas too much grief.”

She was about to retort when a muffled voice caught Taeyong’s attention. His frown told her all she needed to know.

“How much time you got there?” she asked him.

“Not a lot,” he admitted, “but I’m gonna tell you what I need you to hear right now before I leave, okay?”

“Okay.”

“First of all,” he began, “it’s not your fault, okay? We can put the blame on the weather. Second, I miss you, and I’m going to miss you, but this’ll pass and either you’ll be able to visit me or I can go on leave. Watch over the boys, you know most of our brain cells rest in you. But also don’t forget to allow them to take care of you. I love you, Haeeunie, a lot.”

“I love you, too, Oppa,” she smiled at him, wiping away the tears that were starting to fall. “You stay safe. Don’t get sick, don’t get hurt.”

“I’ll try my best,” he nodded, “now go and get the other two with you so I can say bye to all of you!”

With a nod, she walked back to the two boys with her, sitting on Donghyuck’s lap and throwing her legs over Mark’s. She handed the phone to Mark, who turned the bluetooth off.

“You kids take care of each other,” Taeyong began with a smile. “I’ll see you when I see you. It won’t be too long.”

The three 127 maknaes said their goodbyes and watched as Taeyong clicked out of the call. They sat in silence for a few seconds, staring at the black screen.

That was it.

That was them sending their leader off. That was the first time they were sending off one of their big brothers, and this was how it ended.

“This isn’t fair,” she muttered, leaning her head on Donghyuck’s shoulder.

Her twin flame sighed, “It really isn’t.”

“It’ll be okay,” Mark gave her knee a squeeze. “Hyung knows we love him and that we’d do anything to be with him right know. He’ll be okay.”

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Practice ran late, considering their performance was the next day. Hannah was worried about Mark seeing as he was performing for three units in a row, and he never seemed to stop going full out. Now, as they were heading to their dorm, Hannah, Haechan, and Mark were silent in the car.

She looked over at the other two, just in time to see Haechan check his phone like he got a notification, and Mark asleep, somehow still muttering the lines of his raps even unaware.

“He needs to take a break,” Hannah muttered.

“I agree,” Haechan put his phone down, shocking her because she didn’t think he was paying attention, “I already reported him to Yoonmi. I’m also taking him up to Taeyong hyung because he wants to leader-talk him. Will you be okay going up to the sixth floor on your own?”

She nodded at him, “I’ll make us a good dinner. Any requests?”

“I trust the chef,” he gave her a tired smile. “I also want you in bed by midnight, so something quick.”

“Got it, oppa,” she chuckled and looked out the window.

The rest of the trip was silent, and so was the elevator ride. Mark was half-asleep on his feet, so Haechan gave her hand a squeeze before helping Mark off the elevator on the fifth floor. She, on the other hand, felt like she was hallucinating.

Once the elevator doors opened, she could smell food. She was tired, but was she tired enough to hallucinate the smell of food? Or hungry enough?

Shrugging off the fact that the smell got stronger the closer she got to the dorm door, she quickly punched in her code and walked into her safe space.

The sound of clinking in the kitchen caught her attention, so she looked through the window between the living area and her kitchen to find a familiar figure clumsily yet carefully going over multiple pans on the stove.

“Yangyang?” She smiled and quickly dropped her coat and bag before she made her way into the kitchen as he turned around to face her, “Schnucki, what are you doing here?”

“I spent the afternoon with Kun-ge helping me cook a nice dinner for our two years,” he pressed a kiss to her cheek before turning the stove off.

Hannah froze as she realised what day it was. Christmas eve. It was their two year anniversary, and she still hasn’t greeted him!

“Oh my god,” she rushed to her room and grabbed the box she had wrapped up and rushed back into the kitchen, showing him the box.

“What is this?” Yangyang gently took the box from her with a smile.

She raised an eyebrow at him, “A present, obviously.”

“I’ll open it in a bit, but for now,” he placed it on the kitchen counter before picking up a spoon, scooping some soup up, and blowing it while holding it for Hannah to try, “I want you to tell me if this is heated well enough for you.”

She smiled at him and tried the soup, humming as she savoured the flavours. “It’s heated well enough. And it tastes amazing.”

“Really?” Yangyang placed the spoon down on a small spare plate. On her hum of approval, he tucked a finger under her chin, tilting her head to face him, “Let me try.”

To Hannah’s delight, Yangyang pressed his lips against hers, tilting his head and wrapping his free arm around her waist to pull her closer to him. But he pulled away too quick for her liking.

“I think it tastes good,” he leans down, just so their noses are touching.

“You think so?”

“Yeah.”

“Why don’t you try again just to make sure?”

With that, she reached up, holding his cheek with one hand and resting her other on his shoulder, pulling him in and slotting their lips together.

For a blissful moment, she let herself melt into her the way her boyfriend's hands felt warm on her waist and how soft his lips felt against hers. She suddenly felt light on her feet once again, all the exhaustion leaving her body as a subtle buzz took its place.

A laugh slipped past her lips as soon as she felt his tongue poke them, making her pull back and give him a look. He just shrugged in mock innocence.

“You told me to try it!”

“You’re being opportunistic,” she took some plates and bowls from the cupboard, placing one of each in his hands and starting to scoop food onto his plate and into his bowl.

He simply placed a kiss on her temple, “But you love it.”

“Mhmm, sure,” she moved to fill her dishes, “why don’t you go on over there with your food and your present, and see what I got you. I’ll be right there with you in a minute.”

He walked over to her coffee table with his plate stacked on top of the present and the bowl in his second hand, carefully but quickly making his way. She chuckled and filled up her own dishes, jumping slightly in surprise as an extra set of hands took her plate and bowl from her and pressing another kiss to her cheek.

She raised her eyebrow at him. “You’re very kissy today.”

“Can’t help it,” he placed her dishes down and helped her sit on the carpet before sitting next to her, “I now officially have been dating you a year longer than my unrequited crush era.”

She lightly shoved him to the side. “You are way too corny. Open your present.”

Yangyang grinned at her, tearing away the wrapping paper to reveal a Nike box. With his love for sneakers, he excitedly threw the box open, only for his eyes to widen when he saw what was inside.

“No way,” he picked up the shoes, a grin on his face, “Did you do this? Did you paint the WayV pets on these?”

The fascination on his face at the realistic images of his pets on the shoes made her grin, “I did. Do you like it?”

“I love it,” he gave her a quick kiss then took pictures, sending it to the WayV group chat.

“Alright then,” she placed a fork in his hand, but he stopped her.

“Nope,” he reached under the couch and pulled out a paper bag, “you didn’t think I came here giftless, did you?”

She looked curiously at him, “I thought the surprise anniversary dinner was your present.”

He just shook his head and gestured to the paper bag. Hannah complied and pulled the bag open, peeking past all the crepe paper to find something she could recognize a mile away.

“You didn’t,” she pulled the jacket out, unfolding it and missing the grin he gave her. “No fucking way, Yangyang! You got me the Diesel L-Kriti coat?”

Yangyang gently took it from her, helping her slip it on over her shirt, “You’ve been talking about it for a while now.”

“This is, like, 2 million won,” she looked at him in slight concern.

He simply untucked her hair from the jacket, resting his hand on the side of her face. “No jacket or amount of money can compare to how much you mean to me.”

Yangyang gently pulled her closer to him and into a kiss once more, trying to express how genuinely he meant his statement through his actions.

“I love you,” he murmured as soon as they took a moment to breathe.

She smiled, leaning towards him, leaning her head on his shoulder while he wrapped his arms around her in a hug, “I love you.”

They sat, basking in each other’s presence for a moment before Hannah sat up and looked at him questioningly. He looked at her as well.

A smirk made its way onto her face, “You kicked Mark and Hyuck out for this, didn’t you?”

“They’ll be back by midnight, and I swear we made food for everyone else, too!” He then looked at their table then back at her. “I think we might need to reheat our food…”

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“It’s not that bad!”

“Lee Haeeun, you will get your ass over here right now and treat that.”

Hannah rolled her eyes at Haechan while he dragged her to the rest of the 127 members. On their way to practice, she had tripped over her shoelaces, which wouldn’t have come undone if it weren’t for the rush the two were in, and her arm had hit the corner of a door frame. She didn’t even notice it was bleeding until Haechan looked at it and practically screamed.

“Honestly, Duckie,” she laughed to hide her wince while she pressed her hanky a little harder onto the gash, “you’re already overreacting. What more would the others do if they just see me turn up with blood on my arm?”

Haechan simply looked at her with a serious face before pulling the door open and bringing her inside. “This. Hyungs! Haeeun’s dying!”

“I’m not dying!”

Her words were drowned by the sound of worried calls of her name and footsteps running in their direction.

Jungwoo had reached her first and gently pulled her hanky away to see the damage. His eyes widened when he saw that, although slowly, blood still dripped from the slightly deep cut.

“Mark, Jaehyun, call someone from the medical facility.” Taeyong’s voice rang clear as he took a spare towel he had and rolled it up, pouring a bit of water on it. “Somebody look for the emergency kit in here.”

Doyoung and Taeil immediately began to look around the room for the kit the staff had placed there in case of emergency injuries.

“What did you do, Kitsune?” Yuta lightly thumped the side of her head, making Jungwoo swat the older’s arm away. The Japanese boy merely resorted to having her stand for a bit so he could place her on his lap.

She sighed while handing her arm to Taeyong who had gestured for her to place it in his hand. “I just tripped and hit a corner. It’s nothing big, I swear! You can ask Duckie!”

The 127 members sitting by her all turned towards Haechan. The other maknae crossed his arms and frowned at her.

“It is big,” he pointed out the wound Taeyong was cleaning the blood out of, “it looks really bad! I don’t understand how she’s not writhing in pain right now!”

She was about to speak up, but Johnny beat her to if. “Hate to break it to you, kiddo, but that does look like it might need stitches.”

A groan escaped past her lips. Not Johnny, too! She was already being coddled by Jungwoo and Yuta while Taeyong cleaned her wound. Doyoung was also freaking out, from what she could see through the corner of her eye. Not to mention Haechan was on his phone, searching for a way to help take care of her wound.

It’s not like she didn’t like the fact that they took care of her. She did promise that she’d act more like a maknae than an older member, but it almost felt like too much especially for a simple cut on her arm. It’s not like she had fractured anything, one bandage and she’ll be fine!

Yet they had Jaehyun run to the other side of the building, still. It’s not like they hadn’t treated wounds before. Thankfully Mark still kept his head on straight.

“I called manager hyung,”

She stood corrected.

“Mark Lee!” Her incredulous look was met with a stern look.

“Hannah, that’s not just a shallow cut.” Mark approached her and looked at the wound alongside Taeyong. “Taeyong’s been wiping away at it, but the blood isn’t stopping.”

The eldest member took the towel from Taeyong and gently pressed it onto the gash with more pressure than even she did a while ago. This made her flinch.

“Oh, my poor baby,” Jungwoo patted her cheek. “It must hurt a lot, huh?”

“You don’t need to hide it,” Yuta had nuzzled his cheek onto her head and lightly squeezed her around the waist.

She scoffed. “I’m 22 this year. I don’t think I should be fazed by something as minor as this.”

“Is it really minor, though? Mark, try lifting her arm.” Doyoung came with a clear box in his hand. Haechan took it from him and quickly looked through the contents.

Lifting her arm? It’s not like that would be a problem since it wasn’t broken or anything. They were seriously underestimating her, if they thought that something as small as a cut would stop her from—

Her thoughts were cut off by a sharp pain that made her jolt.

“Exactly my point,” Doyoung noted. “Look, there’s even some bruising going on around it.”

“I knew the metal on the doorframes was a bad idea.” Harchan grumbled as he handed Mark an antibiotic cream to put on her wound. He found the gauze and the medical tape as well and began opening them.

Johnny lightly ruffled her hair. “You’re gonna be resting from dance practice for a while.”

Her eyes widened, but Taeyong spoke. “Hannah, that gash is about 2 and a half inches long. It looks deeper than what you make it out to be, and Doyoung’s right. You’re bruising and can barely lift your arm above 45 degrees.”

“It’s like getting my vaccine again,” she snorted.

“Hey,” Mark tapped her temple before taking the gauze from Haechan, “serious time. Jaehyun come back with a medic, we’ll have you checked over and see if you can take a painkiller. After that, we’re going to the hospital because you genuinely might need this stitched up, okay?”

She groaned and threw her head back onto Yuta’s shoulder. The Japanese boy laughed and pinched her cheek.

“Fine,” she huffed out, “but no one’s telling my boyfriend about this. He’s gonna freak.”

Johnny’s sheepish smile caught her attention. She narrowed her eyes as she watched him slowly tuck his phone into his pocket.

“You didn’t.”

“You can poke it. It won’t hurt, Sungie”

“It’s actually so long…”

Hannah merely chuckled while guiding Jisung’s hand towards the scar on her arm. It had been four months since she acquired the embarrassingly large wound, so it had completely closed into a long scar without any hint of pain coming from it. In those four months, her maknae never once came close to it out of fear he’d hurt her.

An amused smile formed on her face as the younger’s eyes widened in wonder while he lightly ran his fingers over the scar. To her, it was as if he wasn’t an adult yet despite being 21. The childlike wonder in his eyes never disappeared.

For five minutes, she sat as still as she could while the younger examined the scar. It was getting uncomfortable keeping her arm in that angle, but she could last a little longer.

“Noona,” Jisung’s voice questioned her with his eyes meeting hers, “are you sure it doesn’t hurt anymore? What if I accidentally press it too hard? Is it going to look like this forever?”

His questions made her laugh while she took her arm back from him while pressing on her own scar. “Yes, I’m sure it doesn’t hurt even when I press it. And, no, I’m considering getting it surgically fixed so it isn’t a weird bump, even if it stays discoloured. It’ll be easier to cover with makeup if it were flatter.”

The younger boy tilted his head in confusion as he looked back to her arm. This was strange to her. Sure, she caught each of the other members staring at her scar at least once, but they were mostly pained or concerned stares. Jisung, on the other hand, had no trace of these. Pure confusion was painted on his face as a slight pout formed on his lips.

“I get the removal thing,” he began, head tilting to the other side, “but why would you want to cover it with makeup? I think it looks cool.”

Cool? That was a first.

Usually, people would have told her that it was a shame for her practically porcelain skin to have been damaged like this. This combined with her own embarrassment of receiving the scar in the silliest and most careless way made her want to cover it up, so to hear it looked cool sounded different.

She glanced at the mirror by her dask and lifted her arm. The contrast that the scar made against her skin was intriguing. It almost looked like she got it in a fight or while doing some sort of stunt.

“Huh. I never thought about it as cool.”

Jisung simply shrugged at her. “I think it makes you look more human. Not that you don’t look human, it’s just that the company has been forcing you to keep your physical appearance perfect, so I think this is a good reminder that you aren’t some manufactured doll or something.”

Hannah looked at him in surprise. Just moments ago, her maknae was looking at her with childlike wonder. Now, she was looking at someone with a matured mindset about her scar that she didn’t even think about despite her priding herself in her maturity.

It was new to her, but, as much as she was proud of his maturity, she couldn’t help wishing he wouldn’t be too mature yet. A brief wave of sadness washed over her as she thought about him losing his naivety. Was this how the 127 members felt whenever they spoke to her?

“The fans think it looks cool, too,” the younger continued with a grin on his face. “They think it makes you look like a bad girl in the best way. I’ve seen the tweets. They don't know how you got it, right? What if we play along with their theories?”

There was the immaturity she was worried he had completely lost.

“You know what?” She ruffled his hair, making him attempt to remove her hand from his head and fix the mess she made. “Let’s try it on bubble.”

With an exchange of mischievous looks, they got their phones out and started sending out messages on bubble asking about how the fans think she got her scar. Amidst Hannah’s snorting and Jisung’s giggles, they were silent. Until Jisung spoke up.

“How long do you think the company’s gonna ban us from bubble after this?”

“They’ll try about two weeks I bet,” she looked at him but gave him a reassuring smile, “but let’s lessen that to five days. Leave it to me.”

Noise never really bothered Hannah.

In all honesty, she welcomed it. Being in a group with 23 men and having the 20 of them who don’t live there crash in her dorm on a daily basis, it felt weird to not have noise around her. It was some type of reassurance that her members were still there and that they weren’t uncomfortable with her. This was why she welcomed the noise.

Unless it was in a situation like this.

“Where is she?!” Her frantic boyfriend had burst into the practice room, immediately scanning the whole perimeter before spotting her. Of course, he was followed by Ten, who was probably the most vocal a out claiming her as a baby out of all the members.

She facepalmed with her uninjured hand and glared at Johnny, who simply shrugged at her. “See what you did?”

“Hey,” Yangyang’s hands cupped her face before he proceeded to look over her to see if there were more wounds than the one the medic had properly cleaned and covered, “are you okay? Does anything else hurt? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

Ten, on the other hand, had shoved Haechan away from her side (playfully or not, she wasn’t so sure) and cradled her head to his chest. She blinked once before rolling her eyes at him.

“My baby is hurt,” he squished his cheek to the too of her head before giving the 127 members a look. “Who let this happen?”

“Doesn’t matter,” she shook her head out of Ten’s grip, “I’m fine! I just have to go to the hospital real quick and get this patched up. Nothing much, really.”

She was met with a silence of everyone staring at her with wide eyes. The last time something like this happened was in 2018, so the feeling of everyone looking at her like she was some type of new attraction at a zoo made her feel unsettled.

“Excuse me?” Yangyang looked at her weirdly. “I got a papercut and put a bandaid on that. That was nothing much. This? Babe, if you’re going to the hospital for this, this isn’t nothing much.”

“Please,” Doyoung snorted, “this just proves she’s the stronger of the twins. Haechannie so much as lightly bumps his head, and he’s crying to Taeil hyung.”

This was followed by a yelp of pain, which Hannah could tell was from Haechan smacking the elder in retaliation for the comment. She chuckled and nodded at Doyoung gratefully just as manager Kihyun walked in and nodded at her.

“Exactly.” A smile made its way to her face as she stood up from where everyone was crowding her and walked towards her manager. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a hospital to go to and a wound to get checked out. Kihyun oppa, do I need to bring anything?”

Her manager shook her head at him. “No, just an id. Oh, and Johnny, too. Technically, he’s still recognized as your guardian.”

A huff escaped her lips as she watched Johnny pick up her stuff and walk towards them. “22 in this country, but I still have to take him with me.”

Her muttering was put to a halt when she noticed a set of eyes looking at her with hope. Well... multiple sets of eyes, but she only really addressed one.

“No, Yangyang. You can’t come. He said Johnny oppa.”

Yangyang turned towards her manager with a determined look in his eyes. Now, Kihyun would have been able to say no to any of the 127 members quite easily considering he had been seeing them for years now. Yangyang, though, her manager had only known and interacted with for a few months.

“Hyung, please? I just want to make sure she’s okay!”

“... I guess there’s space in the car for one more.”

And that’s how Hannah found herself being helped into her manager’s car by her boyfriend who immediately slid in next to her. She gave him a look while he started trying to find ways to make it more comfortable for her injured arm.

“You know I would’ve been fine going without you or Johnny oppa with me, right?”

“Just give this to me,” he pressed a light kiss to her cheek. “You’re my girlfriend, and I will worry about you.”

She couldn’t help the smile that made its way up to her face. “Fine. But never burst into my practice room yelling like that ever again.”

Hannah wasn’t prepared.

With the amount of promotions she had gone through in the year, as well as a SuperM concert, she felt as if she didn’t prepare enough for the release of Sticker. It was bad enough that she felt like she couldn’t do her best during recording, so she needed to make up for it through dance.

Which is why she was practicing in her living room, furniture all pushed to the side, curtain that covered the floor to ceiling mirrors pushed to the side.

It probably wasn’t her best idea considering one of the others could wake up at any given moment, but she took all the precautions. Practicing using bluetooth earphones and holding them in place with in-ear tape, wearing thick fuzzy socks that Jaemin had bought for her with the bottoms lined with a small grip, double checking if everyone’s actually asleep, and keeping Minnie in hers and Mark’s room. Everything was set, and she’d just put everything back into place by three in the morning and shower then go to sleep.

So maybe it wasn’t the healthiest thing to do considering the busy schedule her day had in store for her, but it was a necessity to show her best side as much as possible.

The sound of a door opening reached her hears through the soft volume of her music. She quickly took her earphones off as a dazed and slightly confused Shotaro walked out into the living room.

“Hannah?”

“Hey,” she placed her earphones to the side, “what are you doing up?”

The Japanese boy rubbed at his eyes before approaching her. “I was just thirsty. Hannah, it’s two in the morning. What are you doing up when you’re busy tomorrow?”

Two in the morning? A quick look at the clock was enough to confirm what her friend said. She had thought it was only midnight, not two. Her mind instantly started calculating how much time she’d have to sleep if she just continued practicing and slept on the couch by five.

“I’m just practicing.” Her voice held just the slightest hint of a yawn, which made Shotaro frown. “Gotta be prepared, you know?”

“But you are prepared.” Shotaro lightly grabbed her wrist and pulled her over to the kitchen. “Come on. We’re drinking some water, then we’re going to sleep.”

Hannah had no plans of sleeping while she still felt unprepared, but she let Shotaro pull her along. The least she could do was keep him company.

She watched in silence as her Japanese friend pulled out two mugs from the cupboard and filled them with water from the fridge. No words were exchanged between them until he took her used mug and placed it with his in the sink.

“Come on,” he tugged on her arm, “let’s go sleep.”

Hannah let out a loose chuckle and lightly removed his hand from her arm. “I’ll stay back and clean up.”

She was met with his contradictory hums and head shaking, some things she found endearing about him.

“No,” her arm was in his grasp once again, “you’re gonna stay up still. I don’t even know why you need to when you know this dance by heart at this point.”

“I just have to stay prepared and show the best sides of myself on stage.” She paused after saying that.

A glance at Shotaro made her hands curl up in the slightest. It was no secret that he had been feeling bad about not really being that active while it seemed everyone else, even Sungchan, were quite busy.

At that moment, there was just the smallest bit of silence as the boy pulling her along seemed to wake up even more.

“Roo, I’m sorry.”

“No,” he sighed, “it’s fine. I know that the company has different things planned for me.”

Hannah lightly pulled her arm out of his grip and brought him over to the couch. This action made him shake his head at her.

“No, we are not talking about this right now.”

“Might as well.” A slight grunt escaped mouth her as she threw herself on the couch. “You don’t think the company’s treating you badly, do you?”

“I mean, I’ve posted content recently.”

She cut him off. “But you haven’t been performing. Which is what you came here to do, perform! You work just as hard as all of us, I think you should be given your own performances, too.”

Shotaro only shook his head at her. “It’s not really a big deal. Sungchan doesn’t perform either.”

“He’s an MC. That’s a performance in its own way.”

“You would know. You were supposed to be MC, and you were excited, too.”

A silence rose in between them once again. Ever since she was given the news that Sungchan would go to Inkigayo instead of her, she never really talked about her almost-role. The whole of NCT knew how excited she was because she took her own steps forward to be less introverted, but the company took it away from her. They all knew how disappointed she was, which is why Sungchan clung onto her for the longest time after that.

Shotaro placed a hand on her knee, bringing her out of her thoughts. She pressed her lips together into a tight smile before placing a hand on his.

“It’s for the better,” she shrugged. “I have way too much going on, anyway, with all the units and SuperM having activities. Not to mention the collaboration early this year.”

The Japanese boy squeezed her knee. “I’m surprised you’re still up on your feet.”

“So am I. You know, I wish I could share my projects with you. Maybe then I’d get a longer break and you’d be on stage more.”

He only gave her smile and shook his head. The same thought ran around their heads. That’s not how things work. In the industry, you’re either overworked or hidden away, especially in their company. She already knew Shotaro was just grateful to be doing youtube content and posting on his instagram.

Shotaro scrunched his nose before tossing a few pillows on the floor. She watched curiously while he stood up and grabbed the quilt that they always had folded at the end of the couch and spread it on the floor.

“I don’t want us to talk sad,” he began while pulling her to the makeshift bed he created, “I want to sleep, and I want you to sleep instead of practicing, so we’re sleeping out here.”

She laughed but settled next to him on the floor. “Want me to play a soft playlist?”

“Yes, very much.”

Hannah grunted when Yangyang’s body hit hers. He picked her up in a hug, squeezing her a little tighter than she expected.

“Hey, Yangyang,” she laughed, “don’t act so surprised. You’re the one who asked me to come here today.”

That was true. Yangyang had spent the night in her dorm, but he had to leave early to prepare for their Inkigayo stage. He had woken her up and asked her to come later before she nodded and went back to sleep. Just so she didn’t forget, he left a note on her bedroom door.

That’s how she found herself asking her manager to drive her to Inkigayo.

“It’s White Day!” He handed her a little paper bag.

She snorted as she took it. “Not according to your instagram. Valentine’s Day? Really?”

“He forgot,” Ten snickered from the corner.

Hannah laughed at Yangyang’s pout then proceeded to greet the other members in the room. She handed Sungchan the food he had packed for himself but left back at the dorm and narrowly avoided Ten’s affectionate assault. She gave Kun and Xiaojun quick hugs while eyeing their snack table. Hendery tossed her the biggest bag of chips he could find.

“What’s up, Han?”

“What’s up, Hen? Aside from trying to fatten me up...”

“You deserve to binge after yesterday’s showcase.”

She felt arms wrap around her waist and Yangyang tucking his face in her neck. Ten was cooing, and it took both Xiaojun and Hendery to keep the Thai man from standing and smothering the two out of fondness.

“No,” Yangyang groaned, “you’re supposed to only pay attention to me today.”

She laughed and patted his hand. “Not today, Schnucki. It’s White Day. That’s the day the guys chase after the girls.”

She felt his grip on her tighten, and she saw him silently giving the other members looks through the mirror. It was as if he was giving them warnings.

“Okay, okay,” she turned around and gave him a quick peck on the lips. “No need to get territorial.”

In the blink of an eye, Yangyang had his hand on her cheek and lips pressed on hers. She smiled a little and kissed him back just as she felt a towel drape over her head, effectively making them pull apart. She slid it off to find Kun pulling Yangyang by the ear to the other end of the room, scolding him with Ten’s help.

“But we’re literally dating! I can kiss her when I want to!”

She laughed and settled in between The two present 99 liners. She wished Sungchan good luck when he headed off to set and opened up the paper bag.

“He kept that in his bag under his bed for a week,” Xiaojun noted while pointing towards the paper bag. “Wouldn’t let any of us near it at all.”

“It was kinda funny,” Hendery added.

Hannah pulled out one of the multiple chocolate bars. Oreo Dairy Milk. She pulled it open and handed a few pieces to Hendery and Xiaojun. The latter tried to decline for the sake of his throat.

“One piece won’t hurt.” She smiled at him and handed him the piece.

He patted her head in thanks and ate the piece. A voice could be heard from across the room.

“Well, don’t share it with them!”

She could only laugh while Hendery took another piece and ate it while making direct eye contact with Yangyang.