in the past few weeks the drama club members had been working hard and practicing diligently in each session.

jieun managed to finish their costumes earlier than expected which is why they could already try on their outfits and even wear them during rehearsals.

their outfits suited each of them perfectly. even though yejoon disliked his role, he hated to admit that he loved his furry costume.

besides, they hung out a lot during lunch break in the theatre hall.

it was quieter (more or less when they didn't banter or shout at each other for fun or laugh their asses off) and more comfortable for them to be there than in the canteen, particularly for jaemin.

the pink haired boy was glad and relieved that he could escape the gossip about him — even though it was just temporary.

he tried to avoid other students and ignore the rumors as good as possible, however, it didn't work out as good as he hoped so.

wherever he headed to, he felt all eyes on him. their judgemental glances were digging and burning into his skin. the faint whispering about him and the devilish giggles behind his back — it was hard for him to pretend like nothing's going on.

he had never thought that the students of his school can be that shady and two-faced.

they treated him so kindly before. they used to greet him with warm smiles and chat with him occassionally.

now it was the complete opposite. cold expressions, silent judging, prying eyes and ridiculous gossip — god, how much he despised that.

so, jaemin was more than thankful to be away from that in his lunch breaks.

the time passed by in a blink of an eye and their winter play was just around the corner.

today was the last drama club session before their very first play. everyone was either hyped, nervous or both at the same time.

"guys, stay focused. it's our last rehearsal before the winter play", mark expressed tiredly and let out a sigh, watching his younger friends messing around.

the rest of the crew were goofying around since mrs. cha left with jieun to pick up the costumes. it hadn't been five minutes and they were already chaotic.

let me describe what each of them was exactly doing. first at all, chenle did cartwheels on stage while jisung and jaemin tried to stop him due to the possible dangers.

they couldn't risk him getting injured before the performance. particularly the male junior warned him several times as he had made some negative experiences with the stage.

however, the orange haired chinese did not give a duck and continued doing cartwheels for fun, sometimes accidentally hitting his best friend who was done with him.

besides, renjun was strangeling yejoon once again because the sophomore let out a snarky and devilish comment about the older boy (no one's surprised anymore).

donghyuck observed them in amusement instead of helping yejoon, resulting in receiving glares from the younger male.

haewon was exchanging tea with jeno or more like she exposed all the teachers and jeno listened attentively all the time.

"it's okay, mark! mrs. cha will arrive sooner or later and will end that mess", sooyun spawned next to the canadian and placed her hand on his shoulder as a sign of comfort.

the black haired boy turned to face the younger girl who was sending him a reassuring smile.

the stressed out senior heaved a sigh before nodding in response. "yeah, you're right...", mark answered with a little smile, his gaze shifted back to his chaotic friends.

"imagine they come back now, would be really funny", sooyun mentioned jokingly and let out chuckles. however, she stopped giggling when the door opened and two people entered the room.

"oh my god. you jinxed it sooyun", mark gasped loudly, watching the older woman and her niece returning with their costumes.

"woah... i really did... what the—", the blonde girl expressed in shock, her eyes following the two people.

"hello, beloved students! we're back with your costumes", mrs. cha announced happily and stopped the mess with her presence.

"let's not waste time and go back to practice. we need to work hard since it's our last rehearsal", the teacher noted determinedly while jieun handed out the assigned costumes for each person.

[ 🎭 ]

"let's rehearse scene seven. yejoon and jaemin, get on your positions!", the teacher commanded as jaemin stood in the center of the stage while the sophomore was on the sideline in the back of the stage.

after mrs. cha had given them a sign, they began to act out the scene.

"we need to hurry up! we can't waste any time! christmas is around the corner", the curly brown haired boy exclaimed in distress and entered the stage.

he ran towards the male junior and wanted to put his hands on jaemin's shoulders to push him gently forward to symbolize that they should get going.

however, it didn't go as planned.

on his way to the pink haired boy yejoon slipped badly and lost his balance. as a result, he had pushed fiercly jaemin forward and caused him to trip as well. the two of them tumbled and fell off the stage, leaving everyone in shock as everything happened in a split of second.

"oh my god! jaemin, yejoon, are you good?", mrs. cha called out worriedly, approaching them quickly to look after them.

the others followed in suit, feeling worried about the two boys who had fell off stage.

jeno and donghyuck were particularly concerned about the well-being of their best friend as he had already once fell off the stage and thus, had broken his arm.

jaemin and yejoon groaned in pain as they laid on the carpeted wooden floor. "goodamn, that was a pain in the ass", the sophomore mumbled complaining before noticing that he was lying on top of jaemin.

yejoon's face became all flushed when the realisation of their current positions hit him. his heart was racing while his mind was a mess, making him forget about his pain.

it didn't get any better when he realised that the older boy had suffered more from the tumble as he cushioned yejoon's fall.

his eyes widened in shock as he got himself off of him, sitting up and glancing concernedly at him.

"oh shit... jaemin, are you alright? oh hell, please don't tell me you have broken your arm or leg or anything... oh my god, i'm so sorry", yejoon blurted out in panic.

guilt washed over his face. he didn't want to be at fault for ruining the winter play. he didn't want it to be cancelled due to his clumsiness.

jaemin sat slowly up and rubbed the painful parts of his arms. a quiet groan left his throat while pain was visible on his face.

nevertheless, he gave the younger boy a little smile. "it's alright... just a little bit painful but not too serious. it's bearable", the male junior replied softly and reassuringly.

jaemin didn't want to worry yejoon once again. he hated worrying his friends — that's more painful and hurtful than getting himself injured.

the pink haired boy was able to endure the pain. when he recalled the memories of him having broken his arm, he realised that he had it worse.

in the meanwhile, everyone was gathered around them, sharing concerned glances and bombing them with questions about their well-beings.

"god, jaem! yejoon! have you hurt yourself?", renjun inquired full of worries, kneeling to check up on the two of them.

"i'm okay... but i'm worried about jaemin since he received more pain than i did", yejoon replied and glanced sadly at the older boy.

"i am alright, i really am", the pink haired boy reassured and gave renjun and yejoon a soft smile.

"it sure hurts at some parts and i might have some scratches or little marks but i'm not badly injured. it doesn't feel like anything's broken fortunately."

everyone sighed in relief that no one got seriously hurt. renjun helped the two of them to get up and let them sit on the seats of the auditorium.

"i'm glad that you are all safe and sound. you could have injured yourself badly since falling off the stage could be dangerous", mrs. cha mentioned and felt relief washing over her face. she didn't want the incident of the previous year to happen again.

"please take care on the stage, everyone. always consider your safety and health first! the play comes secondly", the teacher reminded her students before looking at the two sitting boys.

"are you sure that you're alright? don't you want to visit the nurse office? feel free to go there", mrs. cha checked up on the two boys, her eyes displayed her growing worries.

"it's fine, we just need a break", jaemin answered gently and yejoon nodded in agreement.

"alright, you can rest here or at the nurse office... but please be careful the next time. please don't get hurt again and stay safe", the older woman added cautiously.

jaemin and yejoon nodded, sitting there and taking a break while watching the other members practice.

renjun wanted to force the two of them to go to the nurse office but they refused to. yejoon stated that 'pain is just temporary', causing the chinese junior to be totally done with them.

the pink haired boy felt lucky that he didn't get seriously injured unlike last year. he didn't want not to participate in the winter play once again, especially after having the main role.

however, the feeling of suspicion and worry bothered him inside. it was scary and strange that he got almost into danger once again on stage.

all the incidents that occured in the past few weeks since the roles announcements can't seem to be coincidental — particularly when he was targeted and endangered all the time.

might sooyun's theory be true? that someone was targeting him?

jaemin shook his head, denying the idea as it seemed impossible that one of the drama club members might be behind it. he couldn't imagine it and yet, he couldn't help but feel doubtful of everything and everyone.

[ 🎭 ]

"we did it guys! we've finished our last rehearsal and then we're gonna perform our winter play this week! can you believe it?", donghyuck exclaimed happily, grinning from ear to ear.

"it feels so unreal... time flies by too fast, dude", mark agreed in fascination while the group of friends left the theatre hall, heading out of the school building.

"i'm so hyped for the winter play. literally can't wait for it", chenle added joyfully and clapped excitedly his hands.

afterwards, the drama club members (feat. jieun) discussed some things about the play and recalled funny memories during rehearsals

"omg remember when renjun had the biggest voice crack during rehearsal?", yejoon brought up and couldn't hold back his laughter.

the two-toned haired boy gave him a glare and a smack on his arm. "shut up, furryjoon!"

the friend group bursted out in laughter when they watched the two of them bantering.

"IT WAS FUNNY, ADMIT IT."

"NO, IT WASN'T. YOU DUMBFUCK."

"HEY, DON'T CALL ME LIKE THAT RUDEJ—"

however, their bickering stopped when a random guy approached them, interrupting their conversation and making them all stop in their tracks.

"hey", the unknown male greeted, his voice sounding craggy while his eyes were glued on a specific person.

"you are jaemin, right?", he asked straightforward, his gaze never left the pink haired boy.

"um... yeah? why?", the male junior responded visibly confused and surprised. the encounter of the unknown guy was quite unexpected.

a little smirk was seen on the stranger's face. "okay, good. was afraid that i couldn't catch up on you", he added before clearing his throat, "let me get straight into business."

the unknown male leaned closer to the group, his eyes remained on jaemin who seemed to be totally confused. the rest of the group felt just like the pink haired boy.

"i have heard you're selling the good stuff. can you give me some? i will pay for it, promise", he asked quietly and seriously.

jaemin raised his eyebrow, not getting the idea. "what do you mean by 'good stuff'? what are you talking about?", he inquired in confusion.

the guy scoffed, grinning slightly again. "oh, come on. you don't need to play dumb. you know exactly what i mean", he said mockingly before whispering, "besides, you're safe. i ain't gonna tell anyone about it."

the pink haired boy felt irritated by his comments and so were his friends.

"i have no idea what you're talking about. there must be some misunderstanding... i think you're mistaken. i'm probably not the one you're searching for", jaemin declared softly, however, the guy didn't let him turn him down that easily.

"no, there is only one junior in our school with pink hair whose name is jaemin and is a member of the drama club. i'm definitely not mistaken", the stranger claimed coldly, sending jaemin the shivers when he called him by his name and described him precisely.

"and by 'good stuff' i mean drugs. they say that you sell them. that's why i'm here", the unknown guy explained quietly and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

pure shock and confusion were written on the faces of the drama club members. they were clearly irritated about the words, particularly jaemin.

"what?? wait a second— who claims that?"

"rumors. i don't know who said that but i've heard that somewhere."

oh, how enraged jaemin felt about the rumors and the person who started all that. how could someone tell and spread false information about people?

"sorry to disappoint you but i'm not selling anything, particularly no drugs. the rumors about me are wrong", the pink haired boy declared once again.

"what? really?", the unknown guy responded in surprise, "damn. okay. guess that was really a mistake."

afterwards, the stranger turned around and left without saying goodbye.

"what was that...", mark wondered, frowning.

"what the hell...", renjun whispered as confusion was displayed on his face.

"i am too stunned to speak right now", yejoon added and was speechless.

"what... was that encounter?", sooyun asked in irritation, tilting her head.

"no idea but that was a strange one", haewon replied quietly as her lips pursed into a thin line.

"what a weirdo", chenle commented whispering, brows furrowed.

"i know right... i hated his attitude too. i was ready to attack him if he had insulted jaem", donghyuck agreed.

"but what was he talking about? jaemin and drug rumors? i think we are in the wrong world", jeno mentioned irritatedly.

"jaemin would never deal and sell with drugs... the most absurd and dumbest rumors i've heard in my entire life", hyuck added and shook his head.

"i'm so confused right now", jieun commented and jisung agreed with her words.

"everyone is..."

the pink haired boy looked into the direction where the stranger walked off and vanished.

jaemin couldn't help but overthink the situation. first the stage incident, now that encounter.

"everything's so strange."

━━━ ☆★☆ ━━━

[ author's note ]
a long chapter with a lot happening... how are we feeling??

but omg so many news in ncity ⁉️⁉️

first ten's solo album is out,
soon taeyong's solo album is going to be released too
then apparently doyoung is going to make his solo debut too
then nct dream is going to make a comeback around end of march AND nct dream will have a world tour and they're coming too europe too?!?@?×*×??×
WHAT IS HAPPENING AKDJSJSJ

I'M NOT OKAY GUYS IT'S A WIN FOR NCTZENS AAAA
I'M SO EXCITED YALL QIYBSKSB