Stay - Yang Jungwon 양 정원

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄

We were given the whole day as a small break before the test songs were revealed tomorrow.  However, around night time when the sun was completely down we were called into the living room.

"God, what could it be this time?" I asked sitting down next to Jungwon.

The screen turned on and we were all surprised to see the I-Land MC, "Hello, everyone, how's preparation for the third test going?  We have something special for you tonight.  Please go to the outside of the building now."

I chuckled, crossing my legs, "Oh this can't be good, now can it?" I jumped when Sunoo suddenly stood up and gasped.

"What is it?" Heeseung asked looking just as alarmed.

"Wait we're going outside?" I laughed as Jungwon stood up from his seat as well.

Daniel jumped in his place, "We're going outside!"

"Guys, I know I always say this, but this can't necessarily be good," Jay pointed out as we were all soon standing.

"But his face looked kind of happy!" Heeseung argued.

"For the three seconds he was on screen?" I laughed. "Maybe they're going to do a jumpscare on us for content," I guessed.  "I say we sacrifice Sunghoon first."

"Why me?" Sunghoon complained.

"You were the first name to come to mind!" I excused.

It quickly became chaotic as we all tried to figure out what was going on. "Wait, I'm going to change out of this then," I decided.  Special occasions call for special outfits.

Everyone seemed to agree so we quickly went to our rooms to change.  When I came out, I was wearing the pink hoodie that Jungwon had gotten me instead of my black polo.  "Fit check?" I asked the boys who were in the living room.

Jungwon grinned, "You look pretty.  That's the hoodie I got you right?"

I nodded, "It's really soft inside," I said, pulling my sleeve over my hands.

Once everyone had finished changing, we all went downstairs to see what the surprise was, "It would be legendary if our parents are here," Jungwon chimed.

Jake shook his head, "My parents can't come from Australia." I nodded in agreement. It was probably unlikely since a bunch of our parents who were out of the country would have a hard time coming back due to COVID and just the long flights in general.

"There's a light on!" Daniel said as the door opened to the outside.  I noticed a bunch of cameras set up along with a bunch of lights outside on the lawn.

Jungwon pointed around the corner as we stepped outside for the first time in a while, "Oh there's benches! What's that?" We all looked up and gasped seeing the projection on the side of the building.

"Are we watching a movie?" I asked excitedly as we sat together on the benches.

"Oh!" The screen changed and showed a map of the world.  All the different countries that were watching the show. "Global fans from over 173 countries who are rooting for you have sent messages for you."

"Wait really?" I was having a hard time comprehending the number 173.  Fans from all over the world sent us messages? It was hard to imagine.  Most of the time our votes were just numbers, I struggled to remember that they were real people voting for us. 

━━━━━━━ •♬• ━━━━━━━

To: Chaeri

I grimaced.  So far all the messages have been absolutely lovely to the other boys.  But I was mainly worried about crying or at least tearing up.  The video switched to a view of a girl in her room.  She looked about my age, or maybe younger. "Unnie!" It was from a girl named Aera and she was fourteen.  So two years younger than me. "Chaeri unnie, I've been a big fan of I-Land since the start and you're my favorite! It's so fun seeing you sing and dance!"