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skzleeknow12 · 3 years

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Love Conquers All - Hyunjin

Genre: Angst, Fluff, Idol au, Set at MAMA

Word Count: Approximately 4k

“So my next question will go to Cindy,” the presenter said and Cindy immediately froze as the camera panned to her. She looked at her members, who were giving her worried looks, and her leader subtly asked her with her eyes if she wanted her to help. Cindy pressed a strained smile onto her face and subtly shook her head before trying to relax her smile more as she looked at the presenter. Her group was currently being interviewed at the red carpet at their fourth MAMA of their professional career. She took the mic hesitantly handed to her by one of her members, who smiled at her as a source of comfort.

“Cindy, I understand you were meant to have a collaboration this year with Hwanwoong of Oneus and San of Ateez which was supposed to be a highly anticipated part of today’s show? What are your thoughts on not being able to do it?”

Cindy knew the presenters has a script to follow and she could see the guilt in the presenter’s eyes so she simply smiled at her as if to tell her it was ok. What made things worse was that when she looked towards the backstage, she saw all of eight of the boys standing there, looking at her with worry, but his face stuck out the most. She knew it wasn’t his fault, but she was the one who had to pay the price for the both of them. She needed to show she was strong so she brought the mic towards her mouth so that she could speak clearly.

“Obviously, I was looking really forward to the collaboration, I don’t know if this information was shared with the public or not but we had already started to rehearse it and were quite a way through it, so it was a bit frustrating when it was cancelled due to specific reasons.” She made sure her voice didn’t waver as she looked at the fans of many other groups behind the camera. Her eyes suddenly caught a certain fan who was waving a large banner with the writing “WE LOVE YOU CINDY!” and that gave her the strength to continue. “I understand that everything happens for a reason though, so I’m sure that the reason the collaboration was called off was the best thing for myself and the other parties. The time that would have been spent in practice gave me a chance to reflect on myself and improve more as well as think back on everything to ensure I don’t make any mistakes in the future.”

“Ah yes of course, at least there was a positive outcome,” the second presenter said, but her eyes were still glued to Cindy which she took as another question about to be thrown her way. “You also wrote one of the songs that your group will be performing today, would you like to tell us about what inspired you to write it and your train of thoughts?”

“The song I wrote, to be honest I related it to myself quite a lot,” she said. “I’ve been misunderstood a lot; when you’re in the public eye, you don’t get a chance to explain yourself, one wrong move that may be made with a pure intention could cost you your mental health as well as your career. The song is basically talking about how no one knows what we’re going through unless they actually go through it the way we have to. I know a lot of people know what I mean when I say life as an idol isn’t always rainbows and sparkles, but unless you actually live this life, then you can’t imagine the hardships it takes to even stand here. We’re humans too, so I guess I was just trying to portray how not everything is as it seems.” She let out a small laugh which the presenters mirrored in order to lighten the mood, but her members and the eight boys on the side could tell how forced and bitter it was.

“But there are obviously fulfilling moments?” the presenter asked, trying to stir the conversation back to a lighter topic. Cindy was aware their group had probably gone overtime by a minute so they had to wrap the interview up to move onto the next group.

“Yes of course, our fans and the members are the most rewarding part,” Cindy said and she smiled with the other members as she heard a loud chorus of screams of delight from their fans.

The interview ended quickly after that and the girls made their way off the red carpet, but obviously fate was not being good to her today. As Cindy walked off the stage, she heard a voice call out to her from the crowd.

“CINDY YOU B****!” a fan cursed, causing her and her members to stop in their tracks, shocked. “FIRST YOU DATE OUR HYUNJIN FOR FAME, AND THEN YOU USE HWANWOONG AND SAN TO MAKE YOURSELF LOOK BETTER. YOU’RE SO DESPERATE. WE HATE YOU!” The words didn’t hurt as much as the noises of agreement coming from the audience, and the angry protests and comforting cheers of her fans did not help drown them out. She turned to look at the eight boys, one of them particularly who looked as if someone had just slapped his face. He noticed how her facial expressions showed how she was trying to stop herself from crying and he wanted nothing more than to just engulf her in a hug and tell her it would all be alright. Cindy’s leader quickly ushered her off the stage as her members followed, and they were glad to see their seniors as well as close friends, Oneus, waiting for them at the end, out of sight of the cameras. The members gave her encouraging smiles as Hwanwoong gave her a brotherly hug. Xion and Keonhee immediately came to her and put their arms around her, quickly engaging her in a conversation sure to make her laugh, whilst her members and the rest of the Oneus members talked quietly about what had just happened. Whilst they were walking away, they heard the presenters call the next group onto the stage.

“Please give a warm welcome to… Stray Kids!”

(Time Skip)

The stage erupted into flames as BTS’ Fire started playing and that sent the crowd into a frenzy of screams, not to mention how all the other idols, who were meant to look professional and show minimum reaction, jumped out of their seats as the performers on stage got into formation. Cindy and her members were no exception and she, along with her other member, started energetically dancing, living up to their positions as main and lead dancer. The Oneus members next to them were singing the lyrics loudly and if any outsider came in they would have thought they were at a concert instead of an award show. Cindy happened to turn to her left and was immediately surprised and freaked out when she saw Hyunjin’s eyes trained on her, and it looked so extremely obvious. She panicked and looked around when her heart stopped. Right in the front row of where the fans were seated, she saw a camera pointed towards them, catching the whole interaction. She just felt so overwhelmed at that point that she tapped her leader and told her she was going out for some fresh air. They knew they couldn’t just leave halfway through but her leader saw how troubled she looked so she helped sneak her backstage. This did not go unnoticed by the Stray Kids members and Hyunjin quickly turned to Bangchan to ask him for permission to leave. Noticing Bangchan’s hesitance, Minho patted Hyunjin’s back, as if telling him to go. Hyunjin smiled gratefully before disappearing backstage, not knowing about the camera still recording him, the one that had caused Cindy to leave so suddenly.

Hyunjin walked down the corridor of dressing rooms, ignoring the looks of surprise the staff members were giving him, all of then wondering why he was backstage and not in the idol sitting area. He finally reached Cindy’s groups dressing room, just as her manager walked out. She was evidently surprised as she quickly pulled him away from the door to the room and took him behind the vending machine, out of sight.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” she hissed in fear as she looked around.

“Please let me talk to her, I’ve not heard from her since Dispatch outed our relationship,” Hyunjin pleaded. Cindy’s manager had been one of the first to find out about their relationship, other than his manager. The members and the company as well as the rest of the staff ended up finding out only a few days later than the two managers.

“Hyunjin, please understand,” her manager said desperately, “I know you both love each other, even someone as inexperienced as me can see that. But you need to be prepared that maybe you won’t be able to go back to how you were. Think about the reputation of your groups too. And think about her. That stunt at the red carpet today didn’t help her at all, especially because it only targeted her.”

“I need her to know I still love her; I’m willing to go through the hardships for her.” He looked at her manager desperately and she sighed in defeat as she patted his shoulder lightly.

“Don’t take too long, you need to get back,” she said sternly and he nodded his head. He thanked her with a hug before quickly rushing towards his initial destination. He paused a bit before he opened the door, slowly peaking his head in. the sight in front of him broke his heart. Cindy was sitting on the floor against the wall and her cheeks were tearstained, but she was no longer crying. She hadn’t realised the door had opened and her hands were playing with an unopened bottle of water. Hyunjin stepped in and lightly cleared his throat, and that’s when she looked up. Her eyes widened so fast that if they had been in a different situation it would have looked comical. She stood up and the bottle of water dropped from her hands, rolling around on the floor without a care in the world. Time stopped as the two stared at each other, none of them knowing what to say. There were so many unspoken words between them, yet the speech Hyunjin had prepared in his head completely vanished. He decided to make the first move and he stepped a bit closer to her, checking to see if was uncomfortable. She didn’t show any signs of discomfort, so he carried on walking towards her until all she had to do was lift her hand and he would be within her reach.

Cindy’s tears cascaded down her face, soft sniffles following them. She hesitated for a second before slowly closing the distance as she walked into his embrace, crying against his chest. Hyunjin paused for only a split second before holding onto her tightly as if scared that she would be ripped away from him, whilst running his fingers through her hair. He kissed the top of her head as her cries turned to small hiccups. She gripped onto his shirt tightly before slowly pulling away, eyes filled with fear.

“You need to go,” she said and Hyunjin’s heart broke as he watched her take a step away from him, “our groups will get ruined-” She was about to continue rambling on when Hyunjin captured her lips in his, muffling any more words coming out of her mouth. His hands were loose around her waist and his eyes shut as he moulded his lips against hers, but after a few seconds he noticed she wasn’t kissing him back. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he looked at her teary eyes, and she took that as an opportunity to push him away harshly.

“What’s wrong?” he started but she immediately cut him off.

“What are you doing?” she asked as her eyes darted around the room fearfully, and it dawned on Hyunjin just how scared she was. “Hyunjin, we can’t-”

“But why can’t we?” he asked exasperatedly looking as if he too was going to break down into tears. “What’s so wrong with us being together if it makes us happy? Why can’t people just accept that you’re the only one for me and I can’t live without you in my life?” His words made her feel so heartbroken because she knew he was right, and she knew that she couldn’t live without him either. But there was no way they would be able to avoid the hate they would get from both fandoms collectively, not to mention how it could have a huge toll on their groups considering how well they were doing at the moment.

“Hyunjin, you were fine before we dated,” she said gently but he shook his head firmly.

“But I always knew that something was missing from my life,” he said as he took her hand in his, slightly smiling as he felt hers tighten around his, “when you came into my life, I knew that you were the one. You were the one who completed me, and no one but you can take that space in my heart. Please.” He closed his eyes as he felt the tears run down his cheek. He suddenly felt something soft against his skin and when he opened his eyes once more, he saw her wiping his tears away with her thumb. She held onto his cheek and he melted into her touch, but the moment was short-lived as she took her hand away.

“Hyunjin, I… I think we should officially break up.” Her tone was soft and she was no longer crying, but Hyunjin could hear how she strained her voice as she tried to keep it steady, and he noticed how it faded out at the end as she breathed deeply.

“You… you don’t mean that,” he said brokenly as he tried to read her face, but she maintained her expression, keeping it emotionless.

“As hard as it is for us,” she whispered, “this is the only way to keep everyone off our backs, and to save our careers. We have our groups to think of, we can’t be selfish.”

“But what if I want to be selfish for once?” Hyunjin burst out and Cindy looked at him, surprised. When the two had started dating, they had agreed that they would work their relationship around their schedules so as not to mess anything up for their groups. He was probably one of the most selfless people she had ever met. To hear him say that he wanted to be selfish for once, for her, made her heart leap despite her dejected mood.

“What if I want to become selfish, for us?” he asked again and she looked at the ground, trying to avoid his gaze. He sighed deeply and she knew he was trying to hold his tears back for the umpteenth time. “But if that’s not what you really want, then… then I’ll let you go.” Cindy looked up at him and he bit his lip, swallowing the lump in his throat. “But only on one condition.” Cindy’s heart was tearing apart as she looked at him, waiting for him to speak again. She couldn’t believe that they were ending everything, even though none of them wanted to.

“And that condition is?” she asked, sniffling slightly.

“Look me straight in the eye. And tell me that… you no longer love me.” His words struck her hard and for a second all she could do was blink at him.

“W-what?” she whispered.

“Tell me that you don’t love me anymore, and that that’s the reason you want to end us,” he said, his voice wavering a bit. “If you do that, then I’ll believe you, but if you don’t, then I know that you still want me just as I want you. And if you still love me like I love you, then we will get through all the hardships together, and I’ll always fight for you no matter what.” If Cindy hadn’t been such an emotional wreck at that point then she would have rolled her eyes at how hard he made the decision. On one side was her love for Hyunjin, and on the other was the harsh industry.

She looked him in the eye and her heart tore apart as she saw the hope vanish from his eyes. Taking a shaky breath, she opened her mouth to speak.

“Hyunjin, I…” she tried to get the words out, but it was harder to lie when the person she loved more than anyone was looking at her as if his whole world had ended. “I… oh, screw it!”

Before Hyunjin could even react, Cindy grabbed his face with both of her hands and smashed her lips onto his, surprising him. He stood still for a moment before quickly snaking his arms around her waist and bringing her impossibly nearer to him. The kiss somehow made their hearts flutter yet thump loudly at the same time. Cindy could feel the butterflies in her stomach as Hyunjin gently tilted her head back, deepening the kiss with his soft lips. The kiss was desperate, yet slow and meaningful, passionate but not too steamy. The two finally broke apart, panting a little from the lack of air. They closed their eyes, savouring the feeling of being in each other’s embrace. Hyunjin kissed her temple as she hummed softly, before sharing a heart-warming smile.

“Well, I did not think that was how you would answer my question,” Hyunjin said teasingly as Cindy lightly slapped him on the arm. But then she realised a big problem.

“Hyunjin, this will be so bad for our groups-” she tried to explain but was cut off by a voice at the door.

“Don’t worry about us,” Chan said as he walked forward with Cindy’s groups leader, “what matters is that the two of you are okay. Thankfully, none of us have to deal with a depressed Hyunjin anymore!” Hyunjin scowled at Chan playfully as they all laughed.

“Cindy wasn’t any better,” her leader said, smiling fondly at the couple in front of her, “but I’m glad you two are back together now. And don’t worry about the antis, haters are gonna hate, we already knew we would get backlash for these kind of things when we first became trainees.”

“Exactly,” Chan agreed, “as long as you two are happy, no one has any right to say anything to you. Besides, you have all of us with you. And our true fans will accept your happiness.”

“But, um, I think we should get your guys’ makeup done again, you both look like a mess,” her leader said and Hyunjin grabbed onto Cindy as the girl was about to playfully throw herself at her leader for her comment. Chan and Cindy’s leader gave the couple equally motivating smiles and told them to come straight back to the seating area after their makeup was done. Hyunjin’s stylist came into the room along with Cindy’s and they busily started reapplying the makeup onto the two idols, not fussed about them ruining it as they too were happy the couple were back together again. Throughout their makeup reapplication, Cindy and Hyunjin held each other’s hands, sitting in a comfortable silence while the two stylists chatted to each other.

As they got closer to the seating area, Cindy suddenly remembered what had caused her to go running off.

“Hyunjin, we were being filmed,” she whispered to him as they stood outside the entrance. He turned to look at her and for a second he looked panicked before he showed her his signature smirk.

“Good, now we can give them something more to film,” he said as he held her hand. Her eyes widened but after looking at Hyunjin’s reassuring smile, she felt most of her nerves slip away. The two walked in and Cindy was glad to see that Oneus were just about to perform; she didn’t want to miss their stage. As they made their way to their seats, the other idols stood up to bow respectfully as they were all colleagues, and the looks on their faces when they saw the couples entwined hands was the most comical thing Cindy had ever seen. Many of them whispered words of encouragement whilst others gave them envious but approving looks. Hyunjin walked Cindy to her seat and to everyone’s surprise as well as delight, he gave her a small but sweet kiss on the cheek as he squeezed her hand tightly before making his way towards his members, all who were looking at him in astonishment as well as pride.

Cindy sat down next to her leader, who was trying not to laugh.

“When I told you not to care about other’s reactions, I didn’t mean this, but I’m not complaining,” she laughed and the rest of the members grinned at Cindy happily. Then, Oneus’ performance started and they were all too preoccupied with singing and dancing along to think of anything else.

…

“And the Album of the Year Award goes to… Stray Kids, congratulations!” The stadium erupted into loud cheers and screams as the Stray Kids members looked around in shock, not being able to believe that the MC had just called their name. Bangchan recovered first and quickly ushered the boys to the main stage, whilst bowing and thanking the other idols who congratulated them. Hyunjin looked dazed as he walked past, but as he passed Cindy he gave her a playful wink as she enthusiastically gave him two thumbs up. The members reached the stage and gratefully accepted the award before going on to making their speech.

“Hello, we are Stray Kids!” Bangchan started thanking everyone for helping them and expressed how grateful they all were for the award, and the members smiled as they heard their fans cheering for them. After he finished, he looked around at the others, asking if anyone else wanted to say anything. To their surprise, Hyunjin stepped forward, even though he never gave acceptance speeches. Bangchan stepped to the side as Hyunjin came in front of the mic, and the audience started cheering once again as they saw him.

“Stay, thank you so much for giving us this award, I have no words to be able to thank you enough for this,” he began as he looked around the audience. Finally, his eyes went to the idols seating section, where he sought out a particular face. After finding it, he smiled as he saw the happiness and pride on Cindy’s face and quickly continued. “I also want to thank a special person who has made this past year one of the best years of my life. We’ve come across a few hardships, and I’m so glad we were able to overcome them. I love you.” Cindy was beyond relieved when she heard the audience scream for the umpteenth time that night, and that made her so happy.

The Stray Kids members made their way back to the seating place and by chance there were seats right next to Cindy’s group so they sat down there. The group reshuffled so that Cindy and Hyunjin ended up sitting next to each other. Hyunjin bashfully put an arm around her shoulders and Cindy laughed at his playfulness before she spotted the same fan-camera filing them. She turned towards Hyunjin and he followed her gaze, before leaning to whisper something in her ear.

“Just wave and then they’ll get confused,” he said, trying not to laugh, and so they did just that. After a few seconds of them smiling and waving at the camera, the fan hesitantly put it down and turned her attention towards the stage instead. Hyunjin and Cindy grinned at each other before also focusing on the stage. And when Cindy’s group won an award for, Hyunjin made sure to clap for them the most, to many of the idol’s amusement.

After the award show ended, the two groups, along with Oneus, decided to go out for a celebratory meal in happiness of all of them winning an award that night. Cindy leaned her head on Hyunjin’s shoulder as they watched their friends talk excitedly with each other, and for the first time in their relationship, they felt truly and blissfully at peace. They finally didn’t have to worry about Dispatch or any other reporters, anti-fans etc. They could finally be with each other the way they wanted. Of course, there was bound to be backlash, but as the saying goes, love conquers all.

A.N// Thank you for taking the time out for reading this. I also wanted to say a big big big thank you to everyone who read my Lee Know Final Escape au, it felt amazing when I saw how many notes it had, I genuinely expected that it wouldn’t be liked too much but THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!! I am writing more au’s and I’ve thought of writing some series too (I’m in the middle of writing a Minho au Mafia/ Gang etc series so if anyone has any ideas for that plsss let me know :) ) so I will try harder to improve in the future. Thank you once again!!!

#straykidsfanfiction #straykidsstory #hyunjin fanfic #hyunjin #idolau #stray kids fluff #straykidsangst

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skzleeknow12 · 3 years

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Betrayal - Stray Kids

Summary: After years of losing touch after a harsh betrayal, CEO Park Seolhee is reunited with her best friends as they sign a business deal. However, she is not the same as she was all those years ago, so how will she react when the members of Stray Kids ask for her forgiveness as well as a rekindling of their friendship?

Warnings: None (this is my first time writing a fanfic/drabble/scenario idk what to call it lol, so it’s not as good as the other stories on Tumblr but I think it will be enjoyable to read so please do read it and maybe repost it too! Also, the summary is not to good and makes the story seem more boring than it actually is hehe. Thank you in advance for reading this :)

Word count: Approximately 6k

…

“Miss Kim, please tell me my schedule for next week,” Seolhee said as she tiredly leaned back in her chair. This week had been anything but relaxing; calling it chaotic would be an understatement. Seolhee was just glad that after this she got to go home; her plan for the weekend was simple: sit in bed and watch kdramas whilst stuffing her mouth with pepperoni pizza.

“Of course Madam,” Yoojin said as she took out the timetable. The two were close friends but they had to act professional at work; the last thing Seolhee needed was for her position as CEO to be taken away due to something as small as her not talking formally. She had built this company from scratch, sleepless nights and a diagnosis of depression had been the consequences but at the end of the day, she was satisfied with what she had achieved. Of course, Yoojin had been by her side the entire time, making it more worthwhile. “JYP Entertainment recently got in touch with our advertising team and they really wanted their boy group Stray Kids to wear our outfits from the Cle clothing line for their latest upcoming comeback. At 9:00 am on Monday, you have a meeting with them, all the final details will be discussed then and our fashion directors will bring the samples to see which member would suit which one. After that -” She had been about to continue when Seolhee had cut her off, startling her as she immediately sat upright in her seat, staring with wide eyes. “Madam, are you alright?”

“Did… did you just say Stray Kids? As in JYP’s boy group?” Seolhee asked with a shaky voice.

“Yes, Madam I did… oh no,” Yoojin said and she instantly realised why Seolhee had reacted the way she had. She poured her a glass of water and sat down as she watched her gulp the water down in three big takes. “Seolhee, it’s them, isn’t it? Your old friends?” Seolhee didn’t say anything about her dropping the formalities as she reluctantly shook her head.

“Yoojin, what do I do?” she asked her best friend desperately, “I never wanted to see them again, now I have to work with them? I can’t do that.” Flashbacks appeared before her and she swallowed the lump in her throat, trying not to cry at the pain of the hurtful memories.

“Listen, this could be a good thing,” Yoojin said, holding her hand across the desk, “this could finally give you the coverage you need. You left without letting them apologise, you basically disappeared from their lives. I know this has always tormented you, so this could be the perfect opportunity to end everything once and for all. And if not, maybe you could become friends again?” Seolhee immediately stood up, slamming her hands onto the desk in front of her, a scene which was not uncommon to Yoojin as she just sighed at her friends agitated state.

“No,” Seolhee began, staring out of the big window, “I don’t need any coverage. Cancel this business deal; we will not be taking part in it.” Yoojin widened her eyes and tried to think of a different approach.

“Seolhee, listen to yourself,” she said urgently as she took her friend by the shoulders. “You would be letting go of such an amazing opportunity. If Stray Kids advertised our clothing line, think of how popular it would get. This is such an amazing offer; it would help our company so much.” Seolhee thought about it for a second before she walked towards the window, her back facing Yoojin.

“No Yoojin,” she said quietly, “I’ve managed to make our company the top in the whole of Korea; I did that myself. In the past years, we’ve been able to extend our business all the way to the western markets, everyone knows us. We don’t need Stray Kids to help us out, we are perfectly fine by ourselves.”

“Listen, I know that our company is the top one, I’m not denying your hard work,” Yoojin said softly, “but this could help us maintain our position at the top. We have a lot of competitors who would always be willing to let Stray Kids advertise them. This offer has fallen right into our laps without us even having to do anything. We can’t let it go.”

“We’ve had BTS, Twice, Itzy and so many more advertise for us,” Seolhee said, “and they’re the biggest things at the moment. We’ll be fine, we don’t need Stray Kids.”

“But Seolhee, Stray Kids are the highest wanted group for brand ambassador at the moment,” Yoojin pleaded, “we could benefit from them so much. Listen, you need to think as a CEO, ok? What would you tell everyone if asked why you rejected this business deal? That you’re still hurting from your broken friendship? You need to make sure your personal life doesn’t affect your professional life, and you know I’m right.” Seolhee looked back at her, and she didn’t want to admit it, but Yoojin was right. All of her hard work could go to waste if another company partnered with Stray Kids, they would go to the top and her company would lose its top position. She couldn’t let that happen. With a hesitant nod, she looked at Yoojin, who seemed beyond satisfied that Seolhee had listened to her. She didn’t want to see her best friend’s hard work go to waste just because of her past.

“Fine,” Seolhee said, “but don’t tell them that I know they’re coming, and don’t tell them that I’m the CEO. I’ll stay professional during the meeting and leave immediately after, ok?” Yoojin walked towards her and engulfed her in a hug.

“Of course,” she said as she patted her back, “don’t worry, it will all be fine. No one is forcing you to talk to them. You do what makes you comfortable, ok?”

It was Sunday night and Seolhee had been tossing and turning in her bed for what felt like an eternity. She was beyond nervous about having to meet the members again, what would she even say to them? No, she wouldn’t talk to them about anything apart from the business deal. She would leave immediately after to make sure they wouldn’t be able to say anything to her. Why would they want to talk to her anyway? They were the ones who grew tired of her. Even though it was so long ago, the pain was still fresh whenever Seolhee thought about it.

(Flashback)

Seolhee excitedly rang the doorbell at Felix’s house as she held her self-baked cake in her hands, making sure the card was stuck at the bottom of the box. She couldn’t believe that after so much hard work and pain, the boys were finally debuting. She knew how much they had waited to hear this news and she was beyond happy for them. She was a bit weirded out by the fact that none of them told her and that she had to find out through her classmates congratulating them on Instagram, but she shrugged it off as she saw a figure approaching the door. The door opened and there stood Felix’s mother, smiling brightly at her.

“Seolhee, it’s so good to see you!” she said as she carefully hugged the girl, making sure not to accidentally ruin the cake in her hands. “Is that for the boys? They’re in the living room, come with me.” She led her to the living room and whilst they were walking there, Seolhee heard the voice of all of them laughing, as well as the sound of an unfamiliar girl. Miss Lee’s phone suddenly rang so she excused herself as she answered it. Seolhee put the cake down on the small table in the hallway as she checked her appearance. She picked it up and was about to enter the room when they all erupted into another fit of loud laughter, and she peeked through the door and saw the girl laughing at a picture from one of the boy’s phones. Of Seolhee. Their backs were towards her so they couldn’t have known she was there, and the girl was too busy laughing to notice her too. Seolhee quickly stepped back, not wanting to be seen but she still decided to eavesdrop on their conversation.

“The amount of confidence she has to post these kind of pictures!” the girl laughed and to Seolhee’s horror, the boys were laughing alongside her. “And what is this?! She literally looks like a pregnant woman filling herself because of her cravings!”

“I know, we always told her to eat less but she never took us seriously!” Seolhee’s heart broke as she heard Chan dissing her weight. Chan, the one who had always told her she was perfect no matter what.

“Yeah, she could easily eat 10 boxes of pizza and at the end of it whine about being hungry, just like a fat pig I swear to god!” she never thought she would hear such things come out of Minho and Jisung’s mouths, sure they teased her but she thought they did it in a friendly way. And she always thought she ate the right amount, not just living off of air like the girls at school.

“Her visuals remind me of a warthog!” Hyunjin laughed and Seolhee felt her heart rip apart. The others joined in with equally insulting observations, mostly about how fat she was and how out of place she looked. She looked down at herself and instantly shuddered. They were right, she was ugly. She had never paid much attention to it, she always thought she was average among the class of overly-skinny girls at school, but after hearing her own friends say those things about her, she couldn’t help but think how stupid she had been to think she was fine. She had allowed them to see her in her worst states, for instance during the many movie nights they had she never wore makeup, always opted to wear baggy sweatpants and t-shirts as well as keeping her hair in a messy bun. She didn’t realize how awful she had looked to them; she always thought they didn’t care about those kind of small things. Her mother wasn’t in the world anymore to be able to tell her these kinds of things, so she had never tried. From the brief seconds she had looked at the girl in the room with them, she had noted how gorgeous and petite she was; of course the boys would prefer her. Just at that moment, Felix’s mother came back, and noticing the silent tears dripping down Seolhee’s face, she immediately became worried.

“Seolhee, why are you crying?” she asked and Seolhee immediately heard the others turn silent. She heard someone curse lowly and the next second she saw Felix standing in the doorway of the living room, panic all across his face.

“Seolhee I -” he started but was cut off as she hurriedly mumbled to his mother that she had to be somewhere. In her hurry to leave, she accidentally dropped the cake and felt guilty that Felix’s mother had to clean it up, but she didn’t turn back. She could hear the boys shouting after her but she didn’t listen to them. She heard them running after her and quickly crossed the road whilst simultaneously waving down a taxi. The taxi came at such a high speed and somehow managed to stop only a few seconds before reaching her. In her fright, she fell to the ground as she screamed, and she heard the boys from the other side of the road. To her horror, they were about to cross the road and the last thing she wanted was to hear their excuses, so she quickly stood up and ran to the side of the taxi, stopping the driver as he got out to check if she was ok.

“Please… start driving,” she said quickly and he gave her a worried look but obliged. They zoomed off and the last thing Seolhee saw was the faces of the boys as they looked distraught, some of them running their fingers through their hair frustratedly.

Her phone had been blowing up with messages from them, both from their group chat as well as privately; even Felix’s mother had asked her what had happened, and their phone calls seemed never-ending. Finally after she could take it no more, she blocked all their numbers and left the group chat, as well as not bothering to listen to the countless voicemails they had sent. She would never trust them again, no matter what they said. They came to her house many times, but she never answered the door, and after growing tired from knocking, they would eventually leave, telling her they would be back the next day. She hated this, so after the 5th day she decided to phone her friend from a business camp she had attended a few months ago.

“Yoojin?” she said brokenly as she ignored the girls energetic greeting.

“Seolhee? What happened, are you ok?” she asked urgently and her heart broke as she heard her friend completely break down in tears. “Listen where are you right now? I’m coming to your apartment ok; it will take 45 minutes but I’ll try and get there as fast as possible, ok?”

“No… no, don’t come, I’m f-fine,” Seolhee stuttered and she heard Yoojin groan agitatedly.

“You’re not ok, I’m on my way,” she said firmly and all Seolhee could do was nod, “I’m already in my car and I’m leaving now, I’ll be there soon ok? Love you.”

As soon as Yoojin ended the phone, Seolhee immediately went to her room and locked herself inside, shrinking down in front of the mirror as she looked at herself. She had never been girly, but she thought she was fine the way she was. She never thought her friends would focus on something so materialistic like weight and looks rather than her heart. She had been so mistaken. After what felt like an eternity of crying, she didn’t know what force overcame her but she found herself walking towards the washroom and frantically started searching through the drawers to find a razor. She had never self-harmed before, she had never even thought of doing it, not even when her parents died, but at that current moment it looked so appealing. Without thinking twice, she slid the razor down her arm and winced as she felt the sharp pain. She watched the blood drip and it strangely satisfied her. She heard frantic knocking on the front door and realised that Yoojin had arrived. She felt numb and gave no reaction when Yoojin freaked out over her bloody arm, but she finally opened up about what happened as Yoojin tended to her wounds on the sofa. She expected Yoojin to get up and leave, but instead she saw her go to her bedroom. She didn’t feel like following her and just stayed on the sofa, staring off into the distance. Yoojin snapped her out of her trance when she gently pulled her up, and when Eunji looked around, she saw that Yoojin had packed most of her stuff.

“You’re coming with me,” she said firmly and started dragging her towards the door. Seolhee looked around her small apartment, she had made so many memories here and she felt emotional to depart from it so suddenly. “Don’t worry, we’ll come back after a few days to get the rest of your stuff. But you’re not staying here yourself. You’re living with me in my apartment now.” Seolhee didn’t even protest and watched Yoojin in silence as she locked her apartment door whilst dragging her suitcase, as well as simultaneously pulling her along with her. When they reached the ground floor and were making their way to Yoojin’s car, Seolhee suddenly heard someone shout her name and recognized her friends running towards her. She heard Yoojin curse under her breath as she quickly put Seolhee’s suitcase into the boot of the car.

“Seolhee!” Felix called as they ran up to her. To their pain, Seolhee turned her face away from them and didn’t answer, but not before they all caught a glimpse of her puffy tear-stained cheeks. Yoojin glared at all of them before guiding Seolhee to the passenger seat, gently yet firmly pushing her inside.

“Leave,” she harshly told the boys, who looked surprised and confused. They had met Yoojin only a few times but they knew her to be bright and energetic like Seolhee; this person looked different. “You have no right to talk to her.”

“Let us talk to Seolhee,” Changbin said but Yoojin shook her head.

“No way,” she hissed, “and don’t ever come here again. Seolhee’s going to live with me now, and if I see you again in front of her I won’t hesitate to beat you all up.” Changbin looked like he was about to say something back but Jeongin’s timid voice interrupted him.

“Y-you’re leaving Seolhee?” he asked painfully, talking to Seolhee who had somehow forgotten to close the car door. She sniffed softly and Yoojin quickly shut it and glared at the boys again.

“Really I’m shocked,” she snarled at them, “I thought you guys were different, but you’re all just jerks. She’s leaving, and don’t even think about coming in front of her again. You’ve hurt her enough, both physically and emotionally. Go to your friend who you so easily talked crap about Seolhee with.” With that she turned around and got into the driver’s seat, and the boys watched as she gave Seolhee a hug whilst wiping the tears from her face before reversing and leaving. That was the last time they saw or heard from her.

Seolhee stood outside her company’s building and was genuinely considering phoning in ill just so that she could avoid the meeting, but she later decided against it.

“You need to get over it once and for all,” she told herself, “show them how great you’ve become.” She took a deep breath before walking inside. She checked the time on her vintage watch. 8:39 am. She still had 20 minutes left so she decided to go to her office, hoping Yoojin would be there, and she was right. As soon as she entered, Yoojin engulfed the younger girl in a big hug.

“I’m really proud of you for going through with this,” she whispered, “I’m here for you, ok?” Seolhee nodded and accepted the bottle of water Yoojin had handed over to her. The two sat down and talked and before she knew it, Seolhee realised it was 8:50 am and she had to make her way to the meeting room, as well as check in on her colleagues and workers on the way there. She greeted anyone she saw and they greeted her back with a big smile. She was known for being a cold but kind, firm but soft CEO, and this dynamic of hers caused her to be loved by everyone for it. She reached the meeting room and she could already hear the boys talking and laughing loudly. She sighed deeply and put her cold CEO gear on before opening the door. She strode in as the boys quickly scrambled up to greet her and avoided the looks on their faces as they looked at her in shock. She greeted her fashion team and engaged in small talk with them as she set her things on down on the table before turning to look at the boys, who were all frozen in place.

“Do you usually just stare at CEO’s who you partner with or do you actually show some respect?” she asked coolly and their manager immediately apologized on their behalf whilst hissing at them to bow in respect. They did so clumsily and Seolhee bit back a smirk; maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. She sat down as her workers followed suit and she impatiently gestured for them to do the same.

“Madam, these are the outfits for our new line that you chose,” one of her workers said as she passed Seolhee a folder. Seolhee looked through it, humming whenever she saw a good design.

“Hmm, these are good, well done,” she said, smiling as she handed the folder back, causing the fashion team to sigh with relief and smile back at her. Seolhee turned to look at the boys, all who were looking at her expectantly. She raised her eyebrows and they quickly diverted their gazes to the table. “This is your 2nd year as a group, am I correct?” she asked and they looked confused as to why she asked a question to which she already knew the answer. Their manager nudged Chan, and she knew enough about them to know that he was their leader. She never had the heart to find out more about their group so other than their names, positions and debut she didn’t know anything about the group.

“Um, yes, it’s our second year,” Chan said, trying to sound smooth and stable. Seolhee nodded in acknowledgement and gave him a forced smile.

“Congratulations, I understand this is a hard field to get into. I actually used to know some people who wanted to become singers too.” she said coldly, but masked it with a smile. “Ok, getting back to business, I assume you’ve chosen the designs you prefer for yourselves?” the boys looked at each other before nervously shaking their heads. They saw the way she rolled her eyes and knew she wasn’t only angry due to this. There was a lot more to that eye roll. Their manager immediately stood up, bowing repeatedly as he apologized.

“I’m extremely sorry Madam, we will make sure not to waste your time again in the future,” he said and Seolhee signaled for him to sit down, smiling a little.

“Don’t worry, people can make mistakes,” she said with a steely gaze, “however please don’t let this happen again, some mistakes can never be forgiven.” She didn’t miss the look the boys gave each other and smirked again. She was enjoying this. With a tilt of her head, she signaled for one of her workers to start the presentation on the big screen. She stood up, casually taking her blazer off, and throwing it on the chair whilst rolling her sleeves of her dress shirt up. The boys couldn’t deny how well she fitted the title of CEO, with her white shirt, black blazer, black pants with matching black heels as well as her hair falling over her forearms in smooth waves. She was very petite, not to mention how her light makeup made her glow. None of them missed the flash of a long bandage on her arm, but she quickly turned her body so that it wasn’t visible. “Focus please,” she said as she directed them out of their trance. “Ok, we have been working on this clothing line for a while and your CEO seemed to think that your comeback concept would go well with the clothes. My colleague will pass you around folders with the samples so you can see how they feel, and the designs are in there too, so please decide what you would like. But before we start that, your CEO asked us to design the set for your music video, so my colleagues read your lyrics and were able to come up with images like these.” She gestured towards the screen where a series of pictures as well as drawings of different sets were displayed, and the boys couldn’t deny how good they looked. Seolhee led them through the presentation and before she knew it, it was already 12:00 pm.

“Please look at the clothing designs and let us know by the next meeting which will be…” she said, looking at a girl at the back of the room.

“This coming Friday, 9:00 am,” a steely voice said and the boys turned in surprise to look at Yoojin, who glared back at them.

“Thank you, Miss Kim,” Seolhee said, smiling. The fashion team bowed in respect and left the room, leaving only Seolhee, Yoojin, Stray Kids and their manger in the room. Their manager received a call so he left the room to take it. Seolhee’s smile disappeared as she looked at the boys. “It was a pleasure meeting you, I’ll take my leave now. Please feel free to eat your lunch in our canteen if you feel the need to do so.” She bowed respectfully and made her way towards the door, not before she felt a hand grab onto her. She looked at Jeongin, who looked like he was about to cry and she felt her heart clench for a second before she harshly pulled her arm from his grasp.

“Mr Yang,” she said, trying not to stutter, “I don’t think this behaviour is very appropriate.”

“Seolhee, please,” Jeongin pleaded and Seolhee simply sighed deeply as she looked at the others, all who had the same desperate look on their faces.

“Seolhee, we need to talk,” Seungmin said and Seolhee just scoffed, shocking all of them. She had always been so sweet, this new, cold person was not their friend they remembered.

“It’s Miss Park to you,” she said coldly, “and we have nothing to talk about.” At that moment Stray Kids’ manager came in with an apologetic look on his face.

“Boys, I’m sorry but I have to go home urgently, you’ll be able to get back yourselves right?” he asked and they nodded so he quickly left. Seolhee gestured towards the door, but the boys didn’t move. She sighed deeply and looked to Yoojin for help. Yoojin stepped forward and held onto Seolhee’s hand protectively.

“We have been kind enough to sign a business partnership with you,” Yoojin said, “but please do not get too comfortable, you can leave now. We will meet at the next meeting.” The two girls turned around but Jeongin grabbed onto Seolhee’s arm tightly, accidentally gripping her where her razor cut was still not fully healed. She had cut it in such a harsh way that one of her veins had been ruptured and therefore, it had never closed up properly. If any harsh force was put on the bandages, it would start to bleed. Seolhee winced loudly and Jeongin quickly let go of her. She cursed under her breath as she felt her sleeve slowly get wet, and Yoojin realised what had happened.

“Sit down,” she told her quickly and led her back to her seat, “I’ll bring the first aid kit, ok? I’ll be back soon, don’t worry,” and then whispered in her ear “ignore them.” Seolhee nodded as she took her blazer off again, wincing as she saw her white dress shirt’s sleeve covered with blood. She briefly looked up and saw the look of horror on the boys faces as they looked at the scene in front of them.

“Did… did I do that?” Jeongin whispered, and Seolhee sighed as she shook her head, and pulled her sleeve up. The boys seemed unsure of what to do so they decided to sit down again and opted to stare at her. She finally grew annoyed and spoke up.

“Stop staring at me!” she snapped, shocking all of them with the bitterness in her tone.

“You look well,” Hyunjin started but stopped as soon as she shot him a glare.

“Are you sure I don’t look too overweight or ugly?” she mocked and they all looked away in guilt.

“Seolhee, about that-” Chan started but was cut off as she waved her hand in dismissal.

“Shut up, I don’t want to hear it,” she said coldly. At that moment, her phone rang and she saw Yoojin’s caller ID. “Yoojin? What happened? Oh you have got to be kidding me! How did the bandages run out? No, there is no way I’m staying in this room! No way… urgh fine, I hate you by the way.” She ended the call and harshly threw her phone on the carpeted floor, watching it bounce off but no damage was done.

“We’re really-” Felix started but was cut off.

“I said,” she started coldly, “I don’t want to hear it. Leave, the meeting is over.”

“No, we won’t leave until we sort this out,” Minho said firmly and Seolhee scoffed.

“What is there to sort out, huh?” she demanded. “The fact that you guys talked crap about me behind my back, when I thought you were by best friends? I showed myself to you in my most vulnerable positions and you took advantage of that and ruined every ounce of self-confidence I had. You lied, saying how I was perfect the way I was but as soon as you found someone prettier and more desirable than me it didn’t even take you a second to replace me like that. You didn’t tell me about your debut, I had to find out through our classmates on Instagram.” She took a deep breath, realising her outburst ruined her calm CEO image. She began with a softer yet firmer tone as she said, “There’s nothing to sort out, we had a friendship, we made good memories that were probably only good for me and probably burdensome for you all. But that’s in the past now, we are colleagues for a few months, and that’s it.”

“Seolhee, we really miss you,” Jisung said, “we miss your friendship. It was hell when you left, but we didn’t even know where we could find you. Please, let’s restart everything.”

“We don’t know what happened, we just became close with Dahee whilst you were at camp and we hung out every day but-”

“Shut up, I’m not here to find out about your friendship with that girl, ok?” Seolhee’s tone was beyond harsh and the boys felt upset that they were the reason behind it. “I genuinely don’t care, I stopped caring about you guys on that day. You don’t owe me any explanations.”

“We promise we didn’t mean anything we said, you were and are perfect!” Chan exclaimed, walking towards her. His heart broke as he saw the way she flinched and held onto her arm. And that was when he realised. “Are… are we the reason for that?” he asked, gesturing towards her arm. She didn’t reply and his suspicion was confirmed. “Seolhee I’m-”

“Don’t apologise,” she said with no expression, “I wasn’t good enough, you were just telling the truth.”

“No, we weren’t, we were stupid and reckless!” Seungmin said and the others nodded desperately. “We were just having a good time with Dahee before and she suddenly started saying those things and we just carried it on, but we didn’t mean any part of what we said.”

“We had no idea you were standing there either,” Felix said and Seolhee scoffed for the umpteenth time that day.

“So you’re saying if I wasn’t there you would have said those things and not been sorry?” she asked, cocking her head to the side. “Wow, backstabber much. You’re all pathetic. Anyway, I’m not upset anymore. What hurt was how you constantly lied to me and made fun of me. You broke my trust, forever. You can say you didn’t mean it as much as you want, it doesn’t change the fact that when you found a girl better than me you immediately replaced me, in the most harsh way too. If you had just told me you didn’t want to be friends it wouldn’t have hurt this much. I even baked a cake for you, even though you all know how much I hate baking. I spent ages on the card too, all for nothing.”

“Dahee is in no way better than you,” Jeongin assured desperately, tears running down his cheeks. Seolhee wanted to hug him, but she had been hurt too much. “We’re not even friends anymore, she wanted to be friends with us just because we were in the debut line-up. She’s fake, she doesn’t care about how you do. Please, come back to us.” They saw different emotions pass over Seolhee’s face and they all expected her to accept, but their hearts dropped when she hesitantly shook her head.

“Did.” She muttered.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Minho asked, confused.

“You said Dahee doesn’t care about you the way I do,” she said, keeping her head down so that they couldn’t see the hurt in her eyes, “I did care about you. Past tense. Not anymore. Never again.”

“Seolhee, we regretted it immediately. You’re our best friend, we can’t live without you,” Hyunjin said, his voice cracking as he cried.

“THEN WHY DIDN’T YOU THINK ABOUT THAT BEFORE YOU SAID THOSE THINGS?! HUH?! YOU ONLY REALISED WHEN I LEFT!” It felt good to finally scream and after seeing the guilty looks on their faces as well as their tears, she felt a bit more satisfied. They deserved to feel pain how she had. “You guys all had each other, I had no one after that. Only Yoojin was there to help me. You had each other, but you didn’t think about that once. Screw you, all of you.” At that moment, Yoojin came running in and paused after she saw everyone in tears. She glared at the boys before making her way to Seolhee, putting an arm around her protectively.

“I told you not to hurt her again,” she spat as she helped the crying girl up, “leave, now!” She pressed a cloth to Seolhee’s bleeding arm, trying to stop the blood flow.

“Yoojin, pass me my phone,” Seolhee suddenly said, taking Yoojin by surprise. She took her phone from Yoojin and quickly dialled a number, wincing as her hurt arm contacted Yoojin’s. “Hello? Yes, this is CEO Park speaking from Korea, how are you? I phoned to tell you, I’ll be coming to our base in the USA for a bit. We still have the Blackpink collaboration to think about, as well as Tiffany Young.” she eyed the boys as she said that and their hearts shattered; she was leaving again, because of them. “Yes, I will leave somebody else in charge of the Stray Kids collaboration, it’s not a problem. My flight should be after a few days, I’ll book one today. Ok, see you. Good. Thank you, take care.” She turned her phone off and looked at Yoojin. “We’re going to the USA, make sure to pack ok? We’ll be gone for a while.” She turned to look at the members, whose eyes were red and puffy as they tried to form words to stop her from leaving. “This collaboration will be given to one of my colleagues, we have no reason to talk anymore, I’ll be leaving after a few days. Take care and good luck.” She quickly left, not giving them a chance to say anything. Before she walked out the door, she turned around and said “This is our last meeting. And please do not try and revive our friendship, it died and left a long time ago.” Then the door closed and the boys were left, suffocated in their own wrong doings. They couldn’t believe they had messed up so badly. None of them had wanted to let go of Seolhee, they hadn’t meant a word of what they had said about her to Dahee, but they knew they would never be forgiven.

“I- I don’t want to lose her,” Jeongin wept as he cried into his hands.

“Im afraid we already have,” Seungmin said as they all stared at the door with broken hearts. Broken hearts that no one but that girl could cure, but she would never do that. She would make sure they suffered just as she had. The only difference was that they had each other to hold onto when she had only had herself. They had screwed up, and now they had to face the consequences.

A.N// Thank you so much for reading the story, please give me some feedback if you can! I am currently working on a Stray Kids Mafia series and it will be a Minho fanfiction with the other members as well as many other groups making small entrances. I hope you all support that story of mine too and I will release it soon, maybe after I release a few more short stories/drabbles like this one :)

#bangchan #leeknow #changbin #hyunjin #felix #han #seungmin #jeongin #straykidsfanfiction #straykids #straykidsstory

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