“Did you know… that Inhan likes me, hyung?”
Yuho asked Taylor just in case. Given Inhan’s personality, he didn’t think he would have confided in him first.
“Yeah.”
“Since when?”
“From the beginning.”
“……How?”
“Why don’t you know? It was plain as day.”
At Taylor’s reaction asking why he was questioning something so obvious, Yuho was at a loss for words. It seemed strange that the things he had thought were misunderstandings all this time were now becoming sincere.
“You know now too, don’t you?”
“……I’m not sure.”
Still in Yuho’s mind, he could clearly see Inhan looking confused at the confession he had conveyed. The past events that had only ended after he forcibly concluded them as lies still made Yuho anxious.
“I just thought he cherished me a little more specially.”
“You must have been confused for a while too. Whether your feelings were really love or not.”
Taylor’s words were right. Acknowledging the fact that he liked another man was by no means an easy thing.
Even after Yuho realized he liked Inhan, he constantly doubted his own feelings. There were countless moments when he rather wished it wasn’t love.
“He took longer because he doesn’t know how the world works. I was selfish enough to hope that time would come as late as possible.”
“……”
“So I want to apologize to you too. Because I pretended not to know even though I knew how much you were struggling these past few years. I became the leader and only thought about myself.”
Taylor thought it was time to let go of his greed. With their sixth debut anniversary approaching, opposing the two’s romance at this point was excessive.
“No. Why should hyung be sorry? Hyung must have suffered mentally because of us.”
“So now do what you want to do. Nothing else in your life should be more important than you, right?”
At Taylor’s unexpected words, Yuho drew in a breath in surprise. He barely held back the tears that almost came from being choked up.
“……Hyung. Thank you. I’ll do better. I’ll really do well so the group doesn’t suffer.”
“If you’re done talking, disappear. I have to work on songs.”
Taylor started treating Yuho like a peddler, waving his hand dismissively as if annoyed. Noticing Taylor was embarrassed, Yuho obediently decided to exit the studio. Then he suddenly turned around with a thought and threw out a question.
“How are you doing these days, hyung?”
“What?”
“That Domyeong sunbae you mentioned last time……”
“Why are you curious about that?”
“Then I’ll get going.”
Lest he get scolded by Taylor, Yuho hurriedly left the studio. It had been an ambitiously asked question, but it ended without gaining anything.
Yuho headed straight to the practice room without regrets. He had been somewhat anxious about how to persuade Taylor, but he felt fortunate it was resolved easily.
Now all that remained was to sort out his own feelings.
Inhan – [Lunch?] [Did you eat well?]
Inhan – [Watched the V Live well ㅋㅋㅋ I was suffocating just watching]
In the meantime, messages from Inhan had been left on Yuho’s phone.
Yuho – [I really thought I’d die from how hard it wasㅜㅜ]
Yuho immediately replied with a faintly smiling face.
Taylor, left in the studio, started concentrating on song work again. It might be his last chance for a solo album, so he couldn’t help but work with his nerves on edge.
Then a message from a specific person, the only one whose notifications he had set, appeared on his phone screen.
Taylor flipped over his phone without checking it.
At 9 PM, Yuho was sitting on the living room sofa at the dorm watching the Entertainment Awards ceremony with Raulie and Jueon.
“Jung Inhan. He put some effort into his hair today?”
“Yeomin dressed up nicely too.”
Raulie and Jueon exchanged comments upon discovering Inhan and Yeomin caught on camera.
Yuho was silently appreciating Inhan’s outfit. He thought Inhan looked remarkably good in all-black formal fashion with his hair completely slicked back.
“Will he win an award today?”
“Still, they attended, so wouldn’t they give him something?”
“There are too many strong candidates to receive the Excellence Award.”
“They’ll give him the Popularity Award then.”
Jueon and Raulie continued their conversation. The three had just ordered chicken and were waiting for the awards ceremony to end. They planned to do a live broadcast as soon as the broadcast ended.
“Isn’t Inhan confirmed for Best Couple Award at the Acting Awards?”
Then Raulie suddenly said. Jueon reacted immediately.
“With actress Son Eunseol?”
“Yeah. That drama exploded overseas so it’s still a big deal these days.”
The topic of conversation had suddenly changed to the Acting Awards.
At the familiar name he heard after a long time, Yuho’s heart became unsettled. It was already a public fact that the two were candidates and likely winners of the Best Couple Award at the public broadcast channel’s Acting Awards.
Thinking that the two-shot would be broadcast on TV on the last day of the year, Yuho already felt dizzy. He thought he should probably not watch the Acting Awards.
“The two of them really looked good together.”
He didn’t know why they had to talk about Inhan’s dating rumor partner while watching the Entertainment Awards, but Yuho decided to close his ears and focus on the TV screen.
However, Raulie tactlessly wanted Yuho’s agreement.
“Hyung thinks so too, right?”
“Huh?”
“Son Eunseol-nim and Jung Inhan look good together.”
“Well. I’m not sure.”
Yuho answered awkwardly. He couldn’t bring himself to outright say they didn’t look good together.
“Jung Inhan, I don’t know why that frustrating guy doesn’t properly date even once with such a good work environment. He’s really spoiled.”
“Right.”
Yuho thought so too. Looking back, it was really strange behavior that Inhan hadn’t dated until now because he was watching his reactions. Only now did he properly see that fact.
‘The TMB Entertainment Awards Popularity Award winners are Jung Inhan-ssi from ‘Run to Live,’ and Lee Yeomin-ssi. Congratulations.’
“See. They won the Popularity Award.”
As Raulie said, Inhan and Yeomin won the Popularity Award side by side. The two went up on stage together and Inhan gave his acceptance speech first.
‘I’m so grateful to the program production staff. I also want to always say thank you to Jeong noona, Seonwoo hyung, and Unseong hyung who were with me for two years.’
Inhan rattled off conventional words as if he wasn’t even nervous. He didn’t forget to mention the 7SPOT members last.
‘And our 7SPOT members. Jueon hyung, Taylor hyung, Yeomin hyung, Raulie hyung……’
Inhan said the four names and paused briefly to catch his breath. Then he looked straight at the camera and continued speaking.
‘And Yuho hyung, I love you. I hope we can be together for a very long time.’
Yuho became embarrassed and bowed his head deeply.
When listing the members’ names, doing so in name order was their rule. They had been doing that for five years, so getting confused now made no sense. Yuho felt both freshly aware and hot with embarrassment at Inhan’s obvious move.
“He must have been nervous. He even got the name order mixed up.”
“Seems like he almost forgot to mention your name, Yuho?”
Sure enough, Raulie and Jueon immediately questioned Inhan’s actions.
“Right. I almost felt left out.”
Yuho pretended to be nonchalant as he responded to Jueon’s words.
‘And soon I really want to visit you all as a complete 7SPOT. Please wait just a little.’
Inhan even expressed his aspirations for the next album. Following that, Yeomin also started his acceptance speech.
‘I really love our 7SPOT members so much. Next year we’ll all come back with an even better stage, so everyone please wait. Thank you.’
Yeomin also threw out a meaningful comment as if not to be outdone by Inhan. At the two’s statements thrown out conspicuously, silence briefly lingered in the dorm.
“They’re really going to make us release the next album, aren’t they?”
The first to speak was, as expected, Raulie. Yuho fully agreed with those words. If it was Inhan, he would definitely make it happen. It was unknown how many sacrifices there would be in that process.
7SPOT (7SPOT)
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- LIVE | Merry Christmas! Juen & Hyo & Raul
45:34 >
The live broadcast that started right after the Entertainment Awards ended past midnight.
Perhaps due to the aftermath of the awards ceremony, most ONESPOTs were curious about 7SPOT’s comeback schedule. It somehow felt like the broadcast ended with just explanations.
It had gotten too late and the three were about to wrap up and get up.
“Yeomin has arrived.”
Opening the front door, Yeomin came home. Jueon immediately welcomed him and spoke.
“Yeomin’s here? Congratulations on the Popularity Award.”
“Yep. I’m back. Thanks for the congratulations.”
Yeomin answered brightly as he entered the house. He was carrying a suitcase in his hand.
Raulie asked, puzzled.
“What’s with the suitcase?”
“It’s Inhan’s.”
“Why did you bring his?”
“Because I came with him too.”
Inhan answered Raulie as he entered the dorm following Yeomin. He was carrying a large suitcase and a big luggage bag. Anyone could see he intended to move back into the dorm.
At that sight, Yuho was flustered. He had called Inhan because it was Christmas so he shouldn’t be alone, but he never thought he’d come with all his luggage packed.
“Our youngest came too?”
“Yes, Jueon hyung. I missed you.”
“What’s this, Jung Inhan? Is this a lodging business?”
Unlike Jueon who immediately welcomed him, Raulie expressed dissatisfaction as he spoke to Inhan. Inhan responded right away.
“Just for a while. It’s the end of the year, so it’s lonely to be alone.”
As expected, his excuse was flawless. Raulie continued to pick a fight.
“When you left, it was up to you, but coming in isn’t up to you.”
“How about beef tripe set and soju-beer mix tomorrow night? I’ll buy.”
“Welcome, our youngest. The dorm was dreary without you.”
The argument with Raulie was simply concluded with Inhan buying a round of drinks.
“Yuho hyung. I’m here.”
Inhan quickly changed his attitude and spoke to Yuho in an affectionate tone. A pleasant smile hung on his face.
“Yeah. Welcome back.”
Yuho also welcomed Inhan with a smiling face.
