the disbandment

pov: minju
my hands trembled as the other members and i were outside the room, waiting for the meeting to end. sweat formed all over my body as i looked around and saw everyone's anxious faces. i closed my eyes, and let out a shaky sigh.
"minju, it's gonna be okay. no matter what, we will always be together, all twelve of us. you and i, forever," said chaewon in a soothing voice. i opened my eyes and looked into hers, finding a calm but nervous gaze. her beautiful smile spread the tiniest bit of warmth into my almost frozen heart. i smiled back, forced, but legitimate as she pulled me into a cozy hug. the warmth she gave me spread further; but was stopped by the cold and negative thoughts circulating in my head. 'what if we really disband? what will i do then? how am i supposed to live on without these people in my life, and chaewon...' i thought as i hugged her tighter, burying my face into her shoulder, trying to stay composed.

chaewon whispered to me, "even if it does happen, we'll still stay together, right?"
"right" i said, pulling away from her embrace. i looked at her, sorrowful, as tears started to form in my eyes, on the verge of dripping down my face. i tried to smile but as i did, a tear fell, "yah minju-yah, it was our one rule not to cry" she said jokingly with a tint of sadness in her voice as i laughed, trying to stop more tears from falling.

pov: general
"guys lets not feel sad no matter what the result is. its gonna be a fresh start for all of us" said eunbi, smiling as yuri, who had been looking down at the floor for thirty minutes looked up at her. "lets all be happy, yeah?" eunbi said, directing her words towards yuri who had been crying nonstop for the past week. the mood was slightly lightened by eunbi's reassuring words, but immediately brought down by yujin's loud cries "unnie, what if we can't be together anymore, what happens then?" sobbing louder and louder at every word. yuri dropped her head back down, playing with her fingers, as wonyoung, who was next to yujin patted her and said, "it's gonna be okay unnie, at least you'll have me, we can stay strong"
"thanks wonyoung" yujin said, with a muffled but glad voice "at least i have you" she smiled.

chaeyeon and yena were talking to each other, both with serious and worried looks, looking as if they were having an extremely severe conversation. nako and hitomi had been hugging each other for who knows how long, and quiet whispers were delivered between them every now and then. nako's eyes were closed and her mouth was slightly frowning, as her body leaned against hitomi, arms wrapped around her waist. hitomi's cheeks that were once filled with strength and hope, were now saddened and lost. hyewon stomped her foot and stood up, "GUYS STOP LOOKING AS IF THE WORLD ENDED! WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHATS GONNA HAPPEN YE-" her words were interrupted by a door creaking open, "the meeting has finished, you are all welcome to enter now" said a staff.
everyone froze, unable to stand up for a couple of minutes until the staff said, "cmon we don't have all day, i know you guys are scared but just come in." eunbi stood up, and tapped sakura's back, motioning her to get up, and eventually signalling everyone to go into the room. yuri was the last one to walk in, hesitant before entering.

the members sat down one by one, each ceo of their companies in front of them with grim looks. the room was silent except from a few anxious ruffles from sakura. "now before we continue, i'd like to hear one of your opinions on disbandment", said the ceo of stone music entertainment, jung hyungjin, "why don't we go with our leader, eunbi". eunbi had a few seconds of thought, then said, "i believe we should stay as a group even if our contract says otherwise. all twelve of us have built such a strong bond and friendship, and we have such amazing chemistry which shows in all our performances. our fans are devastated that we are set to break apart, and all of them say that we should stay as a group for a longer period of time. for the past two weeks us members have also been devasted, and it will really take a toll on our mental health too." "i see" the ceo said while nodding his head.

they asked the members to leave the room for a short time to discuss eunbi's argument, as yena complained "they shouldn't have made us come in if they were just gonna kick us out again," she said, the members nodding their heads in agreement, still with uneasy looks. they waited for around another 5-10 minutes in silence until the staff said they could enter the room. this time, not as much hesitation, but the members still clearly feeling unstable by their facial expressions. chaewon and minju were holding hands as they entered, hoping the worst wouldn't come out of this meeting. they sit again, in different spots than last time, the ceo of stone music sighing and saying, "you girls have worked extremely hard for us and your fans, and we would really like to thank you because of that. you have spent days without even eating and just practicing, and you managed to keep a great image and bond between all of you."

the members were rightfully shaking; their future was going to be determined in a matter of minutes.
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"due to 8d creative and starship entertainment's plans to debut new girl groups with members kang hyewon, jang wonyoung, ahn yujin and choi yena; and stone music entertainment's plans to debut member jo yuri as a solo singer,

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the group will officially disband on the 29th of april, 2021"

the already down-spirited room filled with a more depressing atmosphere, and every member instantly started to cry. eunbi. sakura. hyewon. yena. chaeyeon. chaewon. minju. nako. hitomi. yuri. yujin. wonyoung.
izone was no longer going to be one, no longer twelve, no longer a group.

"i-i can s-still b-be a sol- solo a-artist while be-being in izone r-right" yuri said, almost inaudible due to her stutters and breaths. "i suppose so, but our other members here are going to have to debut in other groups" said the ceo. "i don't want to be in another group! no one can replace the eleven of them! no one!" screamed yena, tears vividly streaking down her bright cheeks and puffy eyes. "it is not your choice as to whether you get to stay or not yena, please sit down" he said. yena streamed down more tears as the members around her also showed sorrowful expressions.

it was a shattering moment for all of them, but they knew it was coming. they were just in denial. complete denial that it was actually going to happen.
they all had a spark of hope, a spark that made them think it wasn't going to happen. but it did.

they were no longer going to be IZ*ONE

a/n: well thats the end of the short story that i just thought of writing because i was thinking about the disbandment and got emotional. i'm sure this definitely isn't how the process would go in real life and yena would NOT scream at her ceo like that. this is my first story so sorry if it was bad (i changed tense like fifty times sorry) and idk if i'll be writing more in the future. if izone disbands then probably not because i don't really stan any other group. let's all just hope that it won't happen and they'll have a contract extension bc i'm still in denial that they even like have a chance of disbanding. bye! thanks for reading!

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