the song started, and the boys began to sing and rap their love song. while kihyun was dancing, he saw y/n, who was sitting where she always sat when she came to watch. it was a bit hard to see her since she blended with all of the other girls in the audience.

she was also nervous about the boys because the performance before also surprised her with how good it was. she kept looking at kihyun, who eventually looked back. he sweetly smiled at her and looked back at the cameras.

his solo part in the bridge came up, and he tried his best to look at her as well.

would you know the feeling of having your heart flutter every day?

i'm curious about you.

listen carefully, i want you a lot.

for the whole day from the afternoon tonight.

the first two times were hard to believe,

but the third time was fate.

there isn't a way out

i like you a lot

my lips are saying i like you

i can't stop.

the words that smoothly fell from his mouth made her hypnotized. his sweet vocals and the lovely lyrics made her fall for him even more, and she felt like melting in her chair.

the song ended happily, and the audience clapped and cheered loudly. she did the same as the others, feeling proud of the group, especially kihyun. the boys spotted her in the crowd and smiled, almost laughing at how cute she was.

"wonderful song and performance group b! group a, please come back." hyungwon announced in the microphone.

group a walked out and stood in a line, lining up with the others. the audience quickly grew silent, letting hyungwon talk without raising his voice a bit.

"you two did wonderful today. i can't say that i'm proud of each and one of you." he started. "you've all done so well today, and i appreciate all of your hard work."

"but unfortunately, only one group will announce to debut soon. it will take a while for me to think who should be that winning group, so i would like to ask if you could all leave the stage for a moment."

the trainees bowed and thanked him and walked offstage. new feelings filled them all, such as excitement and anxiousness. meanwhile, all the fans that attended had to leave so no spoilers would be out. y/n was the only one who was there, and she crossed her fingers in hoping that her dad lets kihyun's group debut.

they all sat on the chairs in the dressing room, waiting for hyungwon to call them on the stage again.

"you know what, i'm gonna say this." gunhee announced to his fellow trainees. they all looked at him, giving him their attention. "no matter what happens tonight, we should all remain as friends. we might have had those quarrels in the past, but we have to keep this bond. i'll be sad if we break this friendship."

"i agree." jooheon admitted. "one of our groups will be breaking apart today, and whoever they end up with for the next trainee group, we should still keep in touch."

"group hug?" minkyun asked, holding his arms out. all the trainees got into a group hug, hugging each other tightly. although they weren't close before, that didn't matter to them; what gunhee said before mattered to all of them at the moment.

"i'm getting emotional already!" minhyuk exclaimed, wiping tears off of his cheeks. kihyun smiled and wiped some of minhyuk's tears as well.

"all trainees, please enter back to the stage." the backstage crew said. they all looked at each other again and grabbed their hands, walking back onto the stage.

once they came back on, the audience was empty, except for y/n, who stayed in the same seat.

"it took a while for me to think about this, but i know for sure who will be debuting." hyungwon announced into his microphone. everyone gripped to each others' hands tighter, eager about the result.

"and the group that is debuting will be..."

some trainees prayed that their group got chosen, and the others closed their eyes shut. the whole warehouse grew silent, everyone anticipating who will be the next ones to debut.

"group a!"