Idol Next Door

27

Article upon article came up, spreading photos of the incident. The highlight was a photo of Taehyung and Dahyun, side by side and hands intertwined. The media added some inciting details to spice up the story and draw interest from the general public. In no time, the incident rekindled the flames that had supposedly died down and suddenly, Taehyung and Dahyun's names were all over the main headlines of articles for the second time.

It led the public to believe that the two idols were dating regardless of their company's refuting statements. JYPE and BigHit couldn't do much at this point. No matter how many times they'd try to release statements and deny the news, no one would simply believe them. They won't be able to cover for their artists anymore, because Taehyung and Dahyun themselves had conspicuously given away their 'relationship' to the public.

"Dahyun unnie?" Chaeyoung knocked twice before carefully swinging open the door to Dahyun's room in the SMC dorm. The room was dim-lit, a grim gloomy atmosphere looming around as Chaeyoung carefully padded her way inside.

She was carrying breakfast on a tray and placed it on Dahyun's bedside. The bottled water they had put there earlier was still left untouched.

Chaeyoung drew the curtains slightly open so that some light can enter the depressed-looking room. Her blonde unnie was still buried deep in the comfort of her blankets.

Tzuyu and Chaeyoung had agreed to give her space but it was already 1 pm and Dahyun had been camping inside her room since last night.

"Unnie, we made you sweet potato fritters and toasted bread. We brought Twix chocolates, too," Chaeyoung said, sitting on edge of the mattress and softly stroking the blanket that had covered Dahyun.

"I'm not hungry." Dahyun's voice sounded raspy and rough, muffled by the pillows she had sunk her face in.

"Your stomach's empty for nearly 20 hours now." Tzuyu entered the room with a glass of chocolate milk. "At least drink some water or milk."

"You can leave it there. Thank you, Chae, Tzu."

"Unnie, you really have to eat. We won't get out until you do," Chaeyoung urged. They understood that Dahyun wanted privacy in times like these, but they were also worried that she might get sick if this went on.

Dahyun sighed deeply. It took her a few moments before she decided to slowly sit up. Her hair was disheveled, and as she brushed some locks to the sides of her face, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu become more worried seeing her her miserable state.

The black circles below Dahyun's eyes were evident. Her monolid eyes became sore bloodshot and puffy due to excessive crying and she wasn't even sure what she was crying for.

Chaeyoung had been with the pale girl for nearly a decade but she hadn't seen Dahyun this messy.

"Dahyun unnie... what happened to you?" Chaeyoung asked carefully, anxious. "Why are you crying?"

"I don't know," Dahyun shrugged weakly, sinking herself back to the mattress.

"Did something happen last night when you went to your unit? Did Saesangs attack again? Unnie, you're making us worried." Tzuyu's voice cracked as she was concerned with Dahyun's condition. Being the group's maknae, Tzuyu gets a lot of pampering from her members, and seeing one of her unnies crying like this hurt her as well.

Sensing that Tzuyu was on the verge of tearing up, Dahyun tilted her head to look at the younger, finding the right words to say and assure her that she was fine. "No. I was just..."

"It's because of Taehyung-ssi right?" Chaeyoung asked more seriously, cutting her off.

Dahyun paused, her chest clenched. Hearing his name made her recall last night's argument that ended up in a messy confession, and the urge to cry came yet again. She bit her lips harder. Why was she this affected? Why was she even crying over him? She was the one who chose to stay away. Why was she regretting it now?