Make Me STAY

Awkward Silence

The members of Stray Kids don't know how they made it through the next few weeks. It took a little while for Chan to tell Changbin and Jisung what had happened and even longer to say why. Jisung did his best to comfort their leader while Changbin was in shock. He couldn't believe that his sweet Rosie-Noona had said all those horrible things to her soulmate.

When Felix and Minho arrived back from Japan, they were the only two that hadn't heard about what had happened. Changbin took Felix aside, while Jisung spoke to Minho. Felix couldn't believe what he was hearing. There was no way that Rose had left them, left him.

The young dancer stormed out of the room and started searching for her. Changbin followed him, telling Felix that Rose wasn't at the company. He started phoning her but got no answer. When he headed for the stairs, the older rapper asked him what he was doing, and Felix replied that he was going to Rose's apartment.

Meanwhile, Jisung was caught by surprise when Minho collapsed to the floor after he told the dancer what Rose had done. The rapper crouched beside him and waved his hand in front of the dancer's face as he sat zoned out on the floor. When he came back to reality, he grabbed Jisung's arms and looked up at him.

"I didn't want to be right."

"Oh, Hyung."

The younger wrapped Minho in a hug as a couple of tears ran down the dancer's cheek.

When the other two Idols comeback from their search, they both had red eyes. They hadn't found Rose at her apartment, but a neighbour had seen her leave the day before with a suitcase. They didn't mention her anymore after that.

That night, Jeongin couldn't sleep and shuffled into Seungmin's room. The older singer accepted the Maknae into his bed even though he preferred sleeping alone. Neither of them wanted to be alone at the moment.

Hyunjin lay awake in his room staring at a painting on the wall. It was the one he had done of Rose when they had spent the morning together. He stared at it until his vision blurred.

"How could you do this to us? To Chan-Hyung, to Lixie and Binnie-Hyung. To Minho-Hyung, Sungie, Minnie, and Innie. To me. Why?"

They had schedules to get through over the next few days, but their main worry was their leader. However, as they got ready to go to ISAC, Idol Star Athletics Championship, Chan appeared and acted as if nothing had happened. As if his soulmate hadn't broken his heart and disappeared.

Jisung couldn't pretend though. Since Rose had started working with them, he had felt calmer, less anxious, and more secure knowing that she was taking care of them. In the loud stadium, it got to be too much for him. Grabbing hold of Seungmin he managed to ask for help before his anxiety took over. Once Seungmin had taken him inside and made sure he was alright, the singer left Jisung with their staff.

Rose had been good at watching out for him and noticing if things started to get too much. She would take him aside and sit with him quietly and had even shown him some exercises to do to help him not go all the way into a full-blown anxiety attack. They were things that she used to do a lot as she had bad anxiety as a teenager, and he had felt closer to her after she had shared that with him.

The next day was STAY's birthday. By focusing on their fans, they managed to get through the V Live. If it was a little more chaotic than usual because they were trying to hide that something was wrong, then thankfully it wasn't that noticeable. Chan was a little quiet, but the younger ones had no problem being extra loud and causing distractions.

As the days passed, Stray Kids continued to work hard despite their busy schedules. It would have seemed like things were back to the way things were six months ago before Rose came into their lives if it hadn't been for Felix. The dancer hadn't been acting like himself at all.