Taste | Changbin

Chapter Ninety-Five

"Are you okay?" Hyunjin asked. 

Since the two of them got in the car, Chan had been silent. It was starting to make Hyunjin restless. Chan always had something to talk about. He stared off further down the road and continued to drive. 

"Chan?" Hyunjin tried again. 

"Hm?" 

"Are you okay?" 

"Yeah, sorry. I'm just thinking about some stuff." He blinked a few times knocking himself from his trance and gripped the wheel tighter. 

"Would you like to talk about it?" 

"I'm really upset with our fans. I know they mean well and they want the best for us, but the video with Lennon, that was way too far. I don't ever want to see our fans tell people to kill themselves. I don't think the worst person on Earth should be told to kill themselves." 

"Are you going to hold a live stream?" 

"Yep." 

"Without management's permission?" 

"Of course. This is something that needs to be addressed immediately. I can't stay quiet about this. How am I supposed to? She is Changbin's girlfriend er...was. She's our makeup artist. How many times has Lennon gone out of her way to talk to us about our problems while she does our makeup? She makes the process bearable for the members that hate it. How am I supposed to ignore that?" 

"Whatever you want to do, the guys and I will support you. I know you want to do what's best, but I'm sure our management will be pissed." 

"For once, I don't give a shit. I'm tired of being told to ignore the problems. People are fans of us, we should take some responsibility for that, shouldn't we? If we don't talk about these problems, they're going to continue." 

"You'll probably have to apologize." 

"Who gives a shit? So I'll post a stupid meaningless apology for lecturing the fandom. The most important thing is making sure that this never happens ever again." 

Back at the dorm rooms, Lennon swung open the bathroom door and was instantly tackled in a hug. She yelped at the sudden feeling of her feet leaving the floor. Han's arms had wrapped around her waist and he squeezed her tightly as he picked her up. 

"I missed you so much!" He cooed. 

"Can't breathe," Lennon barely got out. 

He lowered her back to the floor with an apology. He took his hands off of her and took a step back. "I missed you a lot." 

"We missed you a lot," Seungmin corrected him. "Come on, come see the others." 

Before she could disagree, he grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the living room. Upon seeing her, I.N and Felix hurried out of their chairs. I.N rushed over and wrapped his arms around her, pinning her arms to her sides. He was so glad that she was okay, tears nearly came to his eyes. 

Caught off balance by the sudden movement, Lennon tried to take a step back to regain her footing. She didn't realize that Han's bare foot was close to hers. She tripped, still off balance, down she went. I.N tumbled down with her. 

The two of them landed on the floor with a thud. 

"Shit, are you two okay?" Changbin quickly hurried over. He glanced down at them with a worried face.

A loud laugh broke through Lennon's lips. The whole thing was so bizare. An hour ago, she was feeling awful in her apartment, and now she was being attacked by everyone. I.N soon joined her. Felix made his way onto the floor and scooted next to her. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it between the two of his. 

"We missed you." 

"Yeah, I missed you guys too." 

"Puppy pile!" Seungmin called out. He dropped to the floor and quickly crawled over to lay on the three of them. 

Han didn't have to be told twice. He hurried over to I.N and sprawled his upper half over his. 

"You guys are trying to kill me!" I.N pouted. 

Lee Know stood up from the couch. He looked at the group with a certain fondness. Hands placed on his hips with a timid smile on his face. 

"Hey, don't forget about me!" Changbin yelled. 

"No!" 

"Wait!" 

Changbin took a running start before he dove into the pile. Lennon's eyes squeezed shut in pain. One of his elbows poked into the soft flesh of her stomach. I.N and Han shared matching groans. 

Felix was the first to speak. "Hyung, I think you forget how much muscle you have. You're so much bigger than us." 

"It's not my fault you're built like twigs! If you all joined me in the gym once and a while, you'd have muscles to protect yourselves!" 

"Please remove your elbow from my stomach," Lennon begged. 

"Oh shit, sorry! I thought that was Han's stomach." 

"You would have heard me complaining if it was mine." 

"Do you have room for one more?" Lee Know asked. 

A chorus of "no's" filled the room. Changbin was on his stomach on top of all of them. With a glint of mischief in his eyes, Lee Know hurried over to the pile, bent down, and used both hands to smack Changbin's ass." 

"Hey!" He cried out. 

Lee Know laughed and lowered himself to the pile. 

"I bet your cats are more behaved than you," Changbin grumbled. 

"Leave my cats out of this!" 

I.N groaned from the added weight. 

Beneath it, Lennon closed her eyes and smiled. She had forgotten how nice it was to be around people she adored. As much as she felt like she couldn't breathe, she loved it. 

This was what home felt like.