"Oh."

"My."

"God."

"Does that say...?"

"Yeah, yeah it does."

All of the team was gathered at the bulletin the next day, looking for the rankings. Hyemi was too nervous to look and stayed by the wall with Jaehyun.

"HYEMI!" They all screamed as they ran back to the pair.

"Oh god how bad is it?"

"HYEMI. YOURE A NATIONAL CHAMPION!"

"I'm a what?"

"You won!" Jaemin grabbed her shoulders and shook her vigorously.

"I... I won?" Hyemi was in shock.

"I'm so proud of you, I knew you could do it!" Jaehyun shoved Jaemin away and Hyemi felt his muscular arms wrap around her small frame, pulling her into his chest in a tight embrace.

"And the team has moved up to 3rd now because of it!" Sana announced proudly.

"Really?"

"Yeah! You did perfectly Hyemi!"

"Thanks guys!"

"Come on, they're about to announce the next challenge."

They all quickly ran to the stage with the other no -eliminated teams to find out what the next challenge would be.

- - -

"The second round of competition will be... male freestyle solo! Each team select your best male solo to compete to stay in the competition. For this challenge, teams will have 3 hours to prepare, good luck!"

"So Jae," Sana said as they walked back into their dressing room. "Are you gonna do our solo again? I mean, you won last year so..."

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure." He relied, throwing his bags down.

"Are you sure you're up to it? Yuta also has a solo ready." Sicheng commented, nodding to the Japanese boy.

"I'll uh, I'll be fine. Don't worry about it."

- - -

He was not fine.

The whole team watched nervously as Jaehyun rehearsed. Everyone, including himself, was aware that it wasn't his best work. Not even close. After finished another sub-par run through of his number, Sana walked over.

"Jaehyun, I'm gonna have Yuta warm up and run his and then we'll decide who's looks better okay? You know you're not dancing at your best right now, so figure it out." Sana dipped her head to Yuta who began to stretch for his solo.

As the Japanese boy ran his routine, everyone could see how much cleaner it was. He was dancing sharp and strong. He had something to prove and he was focused on winning, Jaehyun wasn't at the moment.

Hyemi felt crushed as she watched Jaehyun slump against the wall and watch Yuta dance, already knowing he'd lost. As she stared at how upset Jaehyun looked, Hyemi couldn't take it anymore and grabbed his arm, dragging him out of the room.

"Jaehyun, what's up? You've been holding something back from me and it's obviously screwing with your head. You're gonna lose this chance to compete a solo if you don't figure this out, so what gives?" She demanded once they were alone in the hallway.

"I booked a job as a backup dancer on NCT's world tour." He blurred out, unable to hold back as he nervously waited for her response.

Hyemi looked shocked for a moment as she processed his words, but soon her face broke out into a huge smile.

"Oh my god, Jae! That's amazing! Congratulations, I'm so happy for you!" She quickly threw her arms around him in a hug.

Stunned, Jaehyun slowly put his arms around her as well, giving her a quick squeeze before letting go.

"You're not... mad?"

"Mad? Why would I be mad? This is huge for you! This is everything you've been dreaming about! I'm so proud of you!"

He let out a sigh of relief.

"You know, you really are the best girlfriend ever."

"Oh stop with all that. How long is the tour and when do you leave?"

This was the part he was wanting to avoid talking about but she was looking up at him with her sparkling eyes full of excitement. He had to tell her.

"Well, we don't leave for another 4 months and then the tour lasts 10 months but... they want me to pull out of school when we get back and move to the dorms for the 4 month rehearsal time...."

"Oh wow... so you're gonna be gone for 14 months then?"

He saw the way her face fell a bit despite her trying to hide it with a smile.

"Yeah... I'm so sorry Hyemi.

At his words she shook her head, immediately peeking up again.

"Don't be sorry, silly! This is amazing beyond amazing."

"But, what about us?" He asked nervously gripping her hand.

"Us? Well make it work. I'll see you whenever you're free while you're still in Korea and then we'll just talk on the phone everyday while you're gone."

Jaehyun still looked sad and upset.

"Jae," she made him look at her, "the last thing you should be concerned about is our relationship. This is your future, your career! You need to celebrate this! We'll be okay, I promise."

He let out a sigh, pulling her into a tight hug again, the two of them just silently holding one another.

"So this is what's being screwing with your dancing this whole time?" She asked as he released her.

"Maybe...?" He said with a nervous chuckle.

"Ugh you're such a weirdo, you should've just told me and everything would've been fine!"

"I know, I was just nervous about your reaction."

"Well, don't be anymore. Everything is fine and now it's time for you to go and win your solo." She said, dragging him back over to the door. "Plus, I'm sure all the others will be excited to hear the good news!"

Her last sentence hit him like a bucket of cold water. He was glad she knew now, but he knew it was fucked up that he waited to tell her, or that he was thinking of not telling her at all. He just nervously nodded as they walked in, dreading her reaction.

"Guys guess what!" Hyemi said as they walked in, getting everyone's attention. "Do you want to tell them?" She whispered to Jaehyun.

"Uh... it's uh it's fine."

"Okay then, Jaehyun is going on a world tour with NCT!" She said excitedly, expecting all the others to jump up and celebrate but they all just nodded their heads.

"Jaehyun finally broke the news to you, did he." Yuta said, walking over to the pair.

His words shocked Hyemi. She turned to see Jaehyun staring at the ground with a guilty expression. Her jaw dropped as realization hit her.

"You knew already?" Yuta nodded. "Did all of you know already?" Everyone else did too. "You told all of them before me?" She continued, turning to Jaehyun with a glare.

"Yeah, I just didn't want it to mess up your dancing this week, so-"

"Wait, this week? we're you gonna tell me at all? Or were you just going to wait until I saw you leaving the school for a year for me to find out." She exclaimed angrily.

"I'm sorry, Hyemi, you should've been the first person I told-"

"Yeah, I should've been. But I wasn't. You said it yourself that we're in this together, through all of it, the good and the bad."

"I'm sorry." He hung his head, feeling horrible.

She just let out a sigh, brushing it off with an angry wave of her hand.

"Whatever. It doesn't matter, you have to rehearse. I'll be back." With that she stormed out of the room, Jaemin quickly following after her.

"Hyemi, wait up!" Jaemin grabbed her arm.

"When did he tell you guys?" She demanded as she spun around.

"About two days ago..."

"Am I overreacting?" She asked, slumping against a wall. "I just feel hurt that he wouldn't tell me..."

"I mean, Jae is a good guy, he didn't mean any harm but I get where you're coming from. If Yeji pulled something like that on me, I'd be so pissed off." Jaemin said, just shaking his head at the thought. "But you know Jae was just nervous."

"Yeah I know, I'm just frustrated."

"It'll be okay. You guys will fix this so let's go back, hmm?"

"Fine. But I'm still mad."