Ari's POV 🌸
💤😴 I'm in an empty room I don't recognize, and then Lily is falling in front of me, her eyes unblinking, the sparkle in her eye fading fast. I reach out to help her, but an hourglass appears in my hands, obstructing my view. I try to rid myself of the hourglass by tossing it out of my hands, but it disappears, and grains of light brown sand starts falling through my fingers at a rapid pace. Lily has disappeared, and the room is filling with sand..as if I had fallen in quicksand, I feel myself sinking; it's going to consume me.... 😴💤
"JOOOOON!"
I wake up, a blood-curdling scream ripping from my throat. My heart is pounding, and I clutch my chest, which is rising and falling quickly. I'm so wound up I can barely breathe, trying in earnest to unclench my jaw and start to relax the tension that is gripping me. I've been having night terrors every night since Lily's incident, and each night the result is the same; I wake up screaming for my Joonie. I feel lost without him.
💜
After a few weeks of Nabi and Heyon finalizing the final mixes for Lily's album, it is now ready to be released. When we first started this venture, my anxiety attacks had kicked into high gear. Still, I kept showing up every day, working through my issues, and telling myself to have confidence and that it is okay that my body keeps responding like this as long as I don't quit on myself.
"I can't believe we did it," I breathe out.
Tae shoots a boxy smile my way, "Are you ready?"
I smile at him and nod and he takes my hand and leads me down to the conference room. Tae agreed to control the camera for Heyon, Nabi, and myself so that I could record an initial message about the release of Lily's album.
We sit together, and I channel all my inner "badass Lilyness" to speak for our group. I take a deep breath and explain that we are fulfilling Lily's wishes to release her album, how 100 percent of the sales will be donated, to what charities, and why. In the end, I ask folks to click the link to purchase her album.
It takes me a few takes, as I became tongue-tied a few times, but finally, I get it down. "There is that confidence!" Tae nods proudly, and I smile happily that he was there to support us as Ha-Kun has spent quite a bit of time conducting his business remotely so he can be with Lily.
"Are we ready?" I ask the group.
"We are," Nabi replies, patting my shoulder.
"Okay, I'm going to edit this footage quickly, and then we launch. Let's get it!" I reply.
An hour later, without warning, we launch. I start sending out information on all our social media, and we release Lily's album for sale. I take a deep breath in and think about all the work we have put in over the last few weeks.
"I hope Lily will be proud of us," I tell Tae. My words are full of my desire to make Lily happy after all she has been through.
"She will be, come on, she said I could go in her studio. Come with me," he has a grin on his face that I haven't seen for a long time, and it feels refreshing to see his personality slowly returning to normal after such a long time.
He pulls me down the hallway, and we enter Lily's studio. He turns the lights on and turns around. "Awe, Miss Ari! We've been expecting you!" he says in his best French accent.
I realize quickly Tae is going into one of his characters, and my heart feels so full. I've missed this playful side of him so much!
"Oh well, I'm glad you have been..." I fumble around, wondering what game he is playing.
YOU ARE READING
Siren Song | KNJ ✅
FanfictionCan Namjoon change the trajectory of his life? 💜 When Joon returns from his enlistment, his outlook on love and life as an Idol completely shifts. He begins to question who he is and if being an idol is what he wants any longer. Joon turns to Lily...
