𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 | csc

𝙭.

There was pure tension in the hospital room. Aerin's members sat in anxiousness, a few tears leaving Yuna's eyes as Xia tried assuring her of the best.

"I'm here! Where the hell is she?" Jihoon stormed into the waiting area with pure adrenaline. He had practically smashed his phone upon hearing the news his cousin who was practically his sister had fainted. He was even more mad the staff waited until the award show finished before he was even notified. 

How fucked up was that? His family member had been in a life-threatening situation and the company kept that from him simply for their "image". 

Jihoon looked at the faces of the eclipse members. They all seemed to feel the same way he did and so he quit his blaming. It wasn't their fault from what he knew so why hold a grudge over something her members couldn't control either?

There was uncomfortable silence before one of eclipse's members--Aki--Jihoon assumed, spoke up.

"We tried contacting you but the company stopped us, sorry." At least they tried contacting him. Jihoon only shook his head in dismissal towards the girl on his right.

"Yeah, it's all good I understand." The producer slumped back in the hospital seat, staring into nothingness. His mind was blank.

He sometimes had nightmares that Aerin, his family, would get hurt someway or somehow. But now that it actually happened and he wasn't there to prevent it, everything felt unreal. They were incredibly close and had gotten even closer ever since Aerin moved to Seoul. He was the only person she had.

. . .

30 minutes passed and Jihoon didn't mind the fact he was still in his expensive suit from the award show. In fact, it hadn't even crossed his mind. He was lucky enough to not cause a ruckus nor attract any attention seeing as he threw a large black coat over the extravagant blue suit.

Jihoon knew how their company worked though. Depending on the severity of Aerin's situation, there was a potential the PR team would shrug this under the rug and have her back to work in no time. That's one of the main things Jihoon had grown to hate about Pledis. 

No matter the intensity, it had clearly been enough for Aerin to completely black out. Not to mention that her members expressed she had fallen right on the hard floor, who knows how hard that could have impacted her body.

The boy's thoughts were put to a stop as the door to the operation room opened.

"Are any of you family members of Kang Aerin?" Jihoon bolted out of his seat and jogged towards the doctor without a second thought.

"I'm her cousin Lee Jihoon. How is she? Is she okay? Is it vital?" His questions poured out and the doctor simply waited for his mini ramble to be put to a pause before continuing. She made her voice loud enough for the girls to hear, assuming they had some relation.

"Ms. Kang suffered a type of food poisoning, one that proved to be quite serious, which was what caused her to faint. Due to her fall though, she has a minor concussion putting her into a coma. We can predict she will wake up in either the next few hours or days, no need to worry Mr. Lee." The information hadn't hit Jihoon until a few minutes after the doctor had invited him to see Aerin. She had the nerve to tell him not to worry when his actual family member was in a coma.

He jogged into the room and his eyes met those of Aerin's. Although, hers were closed. Her head was bandaged and there was a few IVs attached to her. 

It hurt Jihoon, it hurt him so incredibly much to see someone he cared about like his own sister to be in such a condition.

He wasn't too fond of crying in public, nor crying in general, yet at the sight of Aerin's limp body, tears rolled down his face. 

Sure it wasn't serious at all and much worse things could have happened, but the fact that he was in the same building yet he had no idea something was up, nor was he able to make it to her in time to prevent anything happening at all in the first place, made him all the more guilty. His tears were of internal guilt.

"Sunbaenim?" Aki cautiously entered the hospital room and was met with the sight of Jihoon sat in a chair, holding on tightly to Aerin's hand as he stomped his foot rhythmically.

His head turned to the girl and he gave her a sad smile, one that urged her to continue.

"The three of us are going to get going...it's really late, you should probably head home as well." At first, Jihoon was going to reply but stopped himself when he processed that Aki had said the three of them.

"Three of you?"

"Yeah, Hyunjae unnie went home early. She said the company called for her? Yeah something like that. Why do you ask sunbae?" Woozi shook his head, as if saying his question had no important intention.

"t's nothing. Get some rest, don't worry about me." Despite his smile, his sadness was still very evident. Regardless, Aki nodded and excused herself, leaving Jihoon and his cousin by themselves.

He didn't want to leave but he knew that the company would force him to be on his best for the second day of the award show, causing him to be up bright and early in the morning. Not only was it that, but Jihoon just dashed off without informing his members of where he was going at all. He had been gone for 6 hours now and came to the conclusion he should head home. It was already 5 in the morning.

The producer sighed and slowly stood up. He had written down his phone number on the clipboard for the hospital to notify him if anything were to happen, so he left with some sense of assurance.

Now, time for him to be bombarded by his member's questions.

𝘈 / 𝘕 !

I don't know if all of you have seen, but Moonbin of Astro has sadly passed away this morning. I am not personally a stan of astro, but i have enjoyed their music since day 1 and this feels absolutely surreal and it still hasn't completely processed. This truly proves we fans don't know what's going on behind the scenes and we must be kind to all. I send my prayers to all of Moonbin's family and friends. May he rest in peace 🕊