forty eight.

                                    

                                          
ㅤ
forty eight.
                          
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ㅤ"justin!" i shouted his name making him wake up and lift his head from the table of the cafeteria. "you should rest on your bed not on the table of the cafeteria" 
                          
ㅤ"if i go to my bed, i won't be able to sleep because i'll be thinking about tomorrow all the time" he answered.
                          
ㅤ"should we pull an all-nighter?" chengcheng asked. he was sitting next to me.
                          
ㅤ"in your room?" ruibin asked him.
                          
ㅤi was too focused on finishing my noodles to reply. it was at night, almost bedtime. they'd been rehearsing all day and it was time to rest. the next day they'd have rehearsals on stage and be all day preparing for the finale.
                          
ㅤ"no!" zhengting exclaimed. "we have to sleep today. no sleepover parties"
                          
ㅤ"you heard the mom" i said, taking the noodles to my mouth. 
                          
ㅤ"i'm not going to be able to sleep all night anyway" xukun said. he was sitting on my other side as he watched me eat with concentration, as if watching me eat was the most interesting thing in the world. but he had told me that it made him happy to watch me eat. i figured it was because of that time that i didn't eat well for days and when i came back i was very thin, worrying him.
                          
ㅤ"neither do i" i replied. "but you're all together and i'm alone in my room"
                          
ㅤ"sleep in mine" xukun replied. "or in one of theirs" he then pointed to the others. "many rooms have free beds"
                          
ㅤ"in mine there's one extra bed" ruibin said cheerfully.
                          
ㅤ"in ours too" ziyi said.
                          
ㅤ"i can' t" i replied. "imagine if they found out that a mentor had slept in the trainees' room"
                          
ㅤ"it's not like you don't spend all day in our rooms" justin replied, resting his elbow on the table and then his head in his hand.
                          
ㅤ"and it's not like you won't be sleeping with one of us soon" chengcheng added with a mischievous smile, referring to yanjun.
                          
ㅤi made a ball out of the napkin i had and threw it at him mercilessly, but he dodged it.
                          
ㅤ"the later the better" xukun said and everyone looked at him in confusion. "what? i'm just protecting my xinyue"
                          
ㅤ"so sweet of you" i told him, laughing. 
                          
ㅤ"by the way" ruibin said. "we should do something special tonight since it's our last night in the dorms"
                          
ㅤi stopped paying attention to them and took the last noodles left in the bowl. 
                          
ㅤ"let's play hide and seek" chengcheng suggested.
                          
ㅤ"no" zhengting quickly answered.
                          
ㅤ"how about tag?" justin asked.
                          
ㅤ"absolutely not" zhengting answered again.
                          
ㅤ"karaoke?" ruibin asked.
                          
ㅤ"i really want to sleep tho" zhengting replied tiredly.
                          
ㅤi finally finished the noodles and let out an exclamation because my mouth was burning with the spiciness of the noodles, surprising everyone. 
                          
ㅤ"i'm full" i said. 
                          
ㅤ"now you have to rest" xukun told me and i shook my head. 
                          
ㅤi put my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. i was feeling tired but i didn't want to go to my room. in addition to that, i really wanted to go see yanjun.