My Star | Im Changkyun {COMPLETE}

Chapter 32

October 2019. A day that many wouldn't forget. Change. Everything had flipped in a split second. One accusation led the group to be scrutinized by the public, even going as far as involving an official police investigation. Wonho had been caught up in a drug scandal, which was huge considering that drugs, specifically marijuana, were highly illegal in Korea.

Many times over, he had stressed his innocence and of course, his members all trusted him completely. To be quite frank, he wasn't the type at all. Unfortunately, the public was harsh and despite the company wanting to keep him in the group, ultimately the decision to depart had weighed so heavily on Wonho's mind that he went through with it to save the group from criticism.

Being the close-knit group they were, Changkyun had been noticeably down lately from the stress of the whole situation. He didn't want anything bad to happen to his friend. There wasn't much Hyebin could do except comfort him in the midst of it all. Although her birthday was close approaching, she didn't care much to bring it up. Her members could always celebrate her birthday with her so it wasn't like it was an issue.

For Changkyun, he chose to focus on her birthday and prepare something nice for her to keep himself from thinking the worst of the situation. Since she was selfless, he was almost certain she wouldn't speak out about her birthday any time soon so it would probably be a surprise and a pleasant one at that considering the chaos of this past year.

At first, Changkyun had planned on reaching out to Sooyeon outside of their group chat so they could plan together, however, the more he thought things out, the more he realised Sooyeon's expertise might be of better use to help out with the whole Wonho situation. The two had recently rekindled their friendship and were previously lovers therefore she appeared to be the best person to support him through this rough time right now.

Fortunately, Sooyeon instantly agreed to help out and had already reached out to Wonho as soon as everything hit the fan, remaining by his side and keeping his mind off everything as best she could. It seemed to be working well considering he'd often skipped out on meeting with them to spend time with her instead since she had a busy schedule meaning that it was harder for them to see each other.

He was glad that Wonho wasn't suffering alone. So far, the whole investigation seemed to be going positively well and in Wonho's favour. It was an enormous weight lifted off his shoulders and helped Changkyun to remain positive also, helping him to focus on a birthday surprise for Hyebin and be more at ease overall.

Tonight, Hyebin and Changkyun had been feeling nostalgic so they'd decided to go to the park they'd gone to last year. Drawn to the swings once again, they found themselves joking around and having a lighthearted conversation as they played around on the swings a little. Still, there were certain unspoken words which they had been putting off but seeing as they were planning to reveal their dating news tomorrow, it didn't seem fitting to do it at all with all the chaos going on at his agency and the uncertainty of their group's future.

Often, losing a member would either make or break a group as their success depended on the public image, individual member popularity as well as whole group popularity. No matter what, the factors so far were all looking against their favour. Wonho had racked up quite a large following after the tour as he often went viral for his physique and moments on stage. Would all those new fans stay and support the group? What about his solo fans? His popularity was no joke. Their public image... basically on the ground being stomped on over and over again. No thanks to Wonho's ex-friend. 

This was a turning point. Neither of them wanted to rock the boat, plunging Monsta X into icy waters. 

"I've been thinking..." Hyebin spoke up as Changkyuns eyes widened, his head snapping around to look at her. "Nothing bad." She let out a nervous laugh, finding his actions distracting. "I think it'd be better to postpone exposing our dating news. Everything is on edge right now, it's unstable and I don't want to push any more bad news onto fans. The whole point of this was so that they could digest it easily but I think it's too much at the moment."

"Thank you."

"For what?" Her eyebrows furrowed, causing a small crease to form between them.

"For being understanding." He replied, a warm smile gracing his face. "I know it's not ideal but I'm thankful."

"You don't need to thank me," she smiled back, reaching out as did he, their arms swinging backwards and forwards as they did. "Just as you're always on my side, I'm on your side."