━━━ ❝ 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐔𝐋 ❞

❝ 𝐌𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍 ❞

Iseul squeezes herself around all of the applicants, all hugging each other for the last time, congratulating regardless if they made it or not, emotions taking over themselves. It was finally over, the debuting group was decided.

I need to find him, where is he? The tears lining the edges of her eyelids blurred her vision, making it difficult to properly see. "K?" She asks around, catching the eyes of Daniel, bloodshot and nose stuffy from crying.

"Oh, Dani..." She feels her voice waver at the heartbroken youngest and opens her arms wide, "Congratulations, noona." He chokes out, burying his face in the crook of her neck with his eyes clamped shut, tears running down regardless, just like all of the others.

She strokes the back of his head, looking up at the tall ceiling behind the stage where all had gathered. "I'm so sorry, Daniel." She gulps down the lump forming in her throat, feeling the young boy pull away. "Don't be. I will debut another time, I can promise." He smiles, albeit painfully.

"Iseul?" She stops, her breath hitches. She turns around to see where the familiar voice comes from and sure enough, there he was. "K-nii." Her voice breaks and for the first ever time, i-landers see Do Iseul bunch up her face and... cry.

"K-nii." She jogs over to his side and throws her arms around his neck, "I am so sorry." He breathes out shakily, making Iseul heave out a broken sob. It sends a shiver down their spine, never having seen the strong girl ever break down in front of anyone and some turn away, feeling a second wave of tears spring up.

"I really, really wanted to debut with you." Iseul weeps for what could have been, making Kei finally lose his composure, shoulders racking as he hugs her tighter and puts a hand behind her head. She closes her eyes, hearing the beat of his heart, the way he desperately breathes in for air. "I really wanted to do this with you, too."

"Oh no," Sunoo turns away from the sight, feeling the throb above his nose and the sting behind his eyes yet again at the display. The two inseparable forces were being teared apart after months of struggling through thick and thin together, after going through so much together.

"Don't cry, don't cry." He comforts the younger, though his voice doesn't hold up, breaking before he could get it all out. He sniffles, eyelids fluttering while looking up as a means to stop the tears from continuing to flow.

She pulls away gently, and he dares himself to look into her eyes one more time, "K-nii," she starts, not trusting herself to say anything else. K brushes away the strands of brown hair.

He shouldn't have.

"Oh, Seul-ie." His round eyes instantly close shut, warm, salty tears drip on his shoes and he crouches down, all becoming too much. "I thought you told me not to cry, why are you doing this?" she whines, sitting down right next to him, watching as he silently tries to put it to a stop.

"K-hyung." Jay puts an arm around his shoulders, squeezing them tight to reassure him, struggling to calm down from the previous rush of emotions as everyone else. Sunghoon doesn't know what to do when he is pulled into a tight hug by her, opting to sway right and left, "I'm so proud of you, hoon-ah."

He blinks slowly, feeling the warmth spread inside his heart, the fatigue and drain from the day forgotten, shyly meeting her puffy eyes, still taken aback since it was his first ever time seeing her in this state in the last three months. "Thank you, I couldn't have made it if it wasn't for you."

"You know that isn't true, it was all of your own hard work." She puts a firm hand over his shoulders, giving it one last squeeze before turning around to find the others.

"You better debut soon or I will personally run back and drag you with me, you guys got that?" She narrows her eyes at the boys she had grown to love and cherish so much, those who had become her family, K, Hanbin, Taki, Daniel, Geonu. They laugh good naturedly, the 23 applicants of I-Land pull in for a group hug one final time.