After the interim evaluation and a short talk with their sponsors, these high-level people all left because of their busy schedules. The team also underwent a short interview about their progress and many random things.
Binh, Renjiro and Minho wanted to invite the others to grab something to eat at the cafeteria. However, Yeo Haru was missing, and Rayen wanted to have a conversation with Liam.
Unfortunately, Liam wasn't being cooperative.
"We only have few more days to prepare. The sponsors told us so many things to work on," Liam said before running away in haste.
He was able to come up with another reason!
With nothing else to do, Rayen ended up joining the others to the cafeteria. But as they were eating, their phones buzzed with a message.
[Yeo Haru: Where are you? Hurry back to the dance studio.]
Rayen didn't want to reply, but he noticed the others seemed equally reluctant. During their hesitation, another message came from Yeo Haru again.
[Yeo Haru: We need to talk about the feedback we got. Hurry back.]
"Brother, you should have been the leader," Binh said out of nowhere.
Rayen frowned. What were they saying? He didn't want to be a leader. With a D- on his team stats, how could he even qualify? Yeo Haru was doing fine as the leader, so why were they saying this?
"You were good at teaching and taking care of us than Yeo Harry," Renjiro added.
"It's Haru, not Harry," Minho corrected.
Meanwhile, Rayen blinked in confusion.
'When did I take care of you?'
All along, Rayen thought that their team's atmosphere was quite good. Whenever Yeo Haru urged them on something, they would just go along with it, but these three apparently felt differently, huh?
When the three set aside their phones without replying, Rayen sighed and took it upon himself to respond. As they were together with him and had watched Rayen typed with a scowl, they ignored the buzzing of their phones when he sent it.
[Rayen: We're still eating. Want to come?]
[Seen by Yeo Haru and KLi.]
'I got seen-zoned...'
A few moments later, Yeo Haru finally replied.
After reading it, Rayen thought about it for a moment and also sent something to beckon Liam. It would be bad if only him was missing and the production team decided to include this scene.
[Rayen: I'm not going to ask anything anymore. Just come.]
Yeo Haru immediately sent a puzzled message.
[Yeo Haru: ??? I already said I'm coming?]
Liam finally sent three dots to confirm his presence. Rayen noticed his stage name and finally determined who the "KLi" on his friend's list was.
'Why am I the only one without a stage name?'
Rayen complained unfairness even though Yeo Haru and the others also had no stage names.
A few more minutes later, they saw Liam enter the cafeteria with a clean lyrics sheet in his hand. He ignored Rayen and sat beside Renjiro, who was silently staring into space after eating his fill. After Liam joined him on spacing out, the two looked like a pair of stone statues.
'So you're just going to stare at the air?'
Shortly after, Yeo Haru also approached them with a tray of food. However, there was something off about him. The members, even Liam and Renjiro, who hadn't moved an inch, widened their eyes as they noticed his puffy, red eyes.
Yeo Haru halted his steps under their stares. "Why are you looking at me so strangely?"
Binh and the others didn't say anything to avoid saying something wrong. They still weren't comfortable enough with Yeo Haru to speak honestly with him. Despite his outgoing demeanor, Liam's words the other day had made them cautious about interacting with him.
The table fell into awkward silence.
When no one answered, Yeo Haru sat at the corner of the table, slightly away from the group. He didn't want the others to clearly see his pitiful emotional state, but it came across differently for the three members.
The lively chatter from before vanished.
Rayen noticed the shift in atmosphere, but had no idea what to say to fix the situation.
At the same time, from the corner of Liam's eyes, he saw Rayen's gaze flitting between Yeo Haru and the other three members.
Realizing the situation, Liam broke the silence. "I thought we'll talk about the performance?"
Yeo Haru had no energy to be carefree right now, so he just meekly nodded at Liam's question.
"Then, what do we do?" Liam asked again.
Yeo Haru stopped eating and bit onto his chopsticks.
"What do you think?" he muttered lifelessly.
"Should we take a look at the lyrics?" Binh suggested.
Minho also joined in on the conversation. "Why don't we also find some videos of idol's performances for inspiration?"
"Do what you want," Yeo Haru responded without thinking.
Rayen glanced at him, who looked completely out of it.
'Dude, you sound like an ass...'
Noticing Rayen's gaze, Yeo Haru was surprised with his expression. "Did I say something wrong?"
Binh also couldn't take Yeo Haru's attitude anymore and finally spoke up. "You wanted to gather to talk about the performance, but you were being ."
"Oh... I was just a bit disappointed, sorry."
"Huh?" Yeo Haru looked genuinely confused.
He was disappointed with the feedback from the sponsor about his dancing, of course. So why were they acting like there's another reason?
"Are you disappointed with us?"
'Well, at first.' Yeo Haru thought, but didn't say it aloud.
Instead, he said, "No. You... where is this coming from?"
Suddenly, Liam's voice interjected the brewing arguement before it could escalate.
"I'm sorry, it was my fault," he said.
Everyone stared at him.
"I noticed Yeo Haru staring at them the other day and mentioned it. I must have worded it badly," he further explained.
"What did you even say?" Rayen asked, blinking.
'Why am I the only one that doesn't know anything?'
"I told them that Haru looked at them disappointingly."
"Oh, I..." Yeo Haru stuttered, still perplexed how easily he was seen through by Liam.
It wasn't as if he was like Rayen, whose thoughts were always showing on his face. He thought it hadn't shown.
"So, was it true?" Minho also asked.
'That could be true... I could feel him slight me after learning how badly I danced,' Rayen thought.
But who would even admit to that? There were several cameras here and there in this cafeteria. Only a fool would admit to that, and Yeo Haru wasn't a fool.
Rayen wanted to laugh. Maybe inviting everyone here wasn't a good idea. He thought a single hearty meal could solve the brewing issue of who was the better leader.
'I don't want to be called the leader at all, but what the hell is happening right now?!'
Renjiro finally snapped out of his daze after sensing what's going on. "Guys, let's not talk about this here. The other teams could see us."
Yeo Haru abruptly stood up, his food unfinished.
"I'll just wait for you guys at the dance studio. Take your time."
With those words, he left with his tray in hand. Rayen sighed.