𝔹𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕐𝕠𝕦//_[𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧]

45: ʟᴀꜱᴛɪɴɢ ᴇꜰꜰᴇᴄᴛꜱ

This God telling y'all to communicate for Valentine's. 

Several weeks had passed since the incident. 

Chan's been joined at Althea's hip, of course she asks for space when she needs it, but he's been very supportive as usual. While everyone else is elated at her being out of Leon's grasp, Althea's had all types of anxiety trips. And between Chan, Hyunjin, Felix and Lorraine, they've been privy to all of them. 

It goes without saying that having someone like Leon out of her life is a relieving feeling. But the influence and the trauma that he's caused will not go away just like that. Part of her thinks she should start therapy and another doesn't want to burden everyone after the journey she just took them on. It took a lot for them to coax her into the breakup. Now they have to coax her from the aftermath? 

When she spoke to her friends at the 'Comfort Party' they were all celebratory and happy. Even though they just heard the details of everything that was going on. Well save for Aaron who was rather pensive and a bit remorseful that he didn't see Leon's actions sooner. Though that quickly changed once Renee posed the question of her mystery suitor. Something she had to disclose very vaguely. Even though the event was supposed to be in good fun, she felt a bundle of nerves inside. It was like...

...what is she supposed to do now?

It just makes her anxious at the thought of it. The best she's done is allow her friends and family to help her whenever she gets dazed or has a particularly bad dream about Leon; she's gotten a sudden surge of nightmares lately. Chan's always available to help her or just lay down with her as she word vomits some of her more morbid thoughts. And part of her feels guilty that he's still having to help her like this when he's done so much already. 

Plus it's not only thoughts like these plaguing her though. She also has thoughts...about Chan. And those are the ones that hurt her the most. 

So, for the most part she's tried to distract herself--her means of falling back into unhealthy habits to avoid the issue--but Chan seems to have some kind of hidden ability to tell whenever she's bullshitting by now. He doesn't press or force her to talk but his openness to listen and willingness to change for her comfort sets her at ease enough to give him some insight. 

Though not all. 

And the same goes for him. In the process of trying to distract herself, she's noticed that she tries to cater to him more. Get him to talk whenever he's obviously starting to get frazzled or even open up on how he's generally feeling. Every time she does it, it makes her feel a bit more bitter at herself. She wants to make sure he's alright, but at the same time it feels like a cycle repeating a bit. 

"Jagi? I'm okay you know. You don't have to worry about me."

He says that only to later come and mention how he's continuously read STAY's comments online, he doesn't turn off Instagram notifications on his phone, and feels increasingly guilty when they beg for their safety and return. It's an improvement from when he used to hide their feelings, but it's not enough. 

The production of the vaccine is progressing more and more by the day. In fact they just made an announcement that by the end of this month, December, they'll be dispatching batches all over the U.S. It's really amazing how much time has flown by.

And yet Althea feels like she's been stuck in limbo ever since her breakup. 

The temperature's gotten colder but it seems like the boys haven't felt it. Reasonable considering it snows in Korea and not The Bahamas. The coldest it ever gets here is 60 degrees. Some of them still try to go in the pool by Camila always warns them that it's too cold. Meanwhile Jermaine just stares at them like they're crazy.