𝖲𝗎𝗋𝗏𝗂𝗏𝖺𝗅 | 𝖧𝖺𝗈𝖻𝗂𝗇

Chapter 31:

5 months to disbandment

Time.

Time was a crazy concept.

There's endless of it, but people always have none.

It flies by fast when you're living your best time, having fun, enjoying yourself.

And it goes by so slowly, when you want it to go by fast.

It was clear that they had enjoyed their time too much, because, there were only 5 months left.

It was too fast. Too early.

And Zhanghao was sure he was going to live these next five months with a heavy pit in his stomach.

Everyday he'd wake up with that sensation which made his heart face fast, his hands clammy and his thoughts all over the place.

Zhanghao wasn't ready. None of them were. "What can we do?" Yujin had asked them some days ago, nearly crying. It hurt all of them to see the youngest in such a state, but they sadly didn't have any answer to the question either.

"Hao, Manager Noona said me and you have to go to the main building. She said it's urgent" Hanbin snapped Zhanghao out of his thoughts, shaking his shoulder slightly.

He had been staring out of the window for a while now, spacing out.

Zhanghao nodded, following the younger boy. The air was kind of cold, but comfortable.

"Are you okay?" Hanbin asked him, and Zhanghao didn't know what to answer to that.

He didn't know himself if he was truly alright.

"I don't know" he responded sincerely, avoiding Hanbin's gaze while entering the main building.

The look on Manager's face told them they were in trouble.

She looked distressed, her blouse messy and her eye bags clearly visible.

She clasped her hands in front of her chest, inhaling deeply.

"Care to tell me what this is?" Taking a paper out of her bag, she slid it in front of the two boys, on the table.

When both boys realized what they were looking at, their first instinct was to look at each other.

Fuck.

It was a printed out picture of them kissing.

The day they had sneaked out without permission, and Hanbin had kissed him freely on the lips reassuring that nobody had seen them.

They had been wrong.

"It's all over the internet. This is a serious matter, this is big trouble" Manager spoke, her gaze fierce.

"Listen, I don't care what's going on with you two, and I don't want to know, but how many times have I told you to be careful? Do you realize how big of consequences this will have?"

Hanbin hung his head low, and Zhanghao was struggling not to cry. The younger reached out to hold Zhanghao's hand under the table, but the older pulled away.

Ouch.

"We're working on taking it down. All the posts and re-posts. But I'm sure half of the world has already seen it."

"Can't we convince them that it wasn't us?" Zhanghao asked, hopeful.

"You can't really see my face, and only if you look closely you notice that's Hanbin"

"Nobody's gonna believe that" She shook her head negatively.

"What if we tell them it's edited? They could believe that, right?" Hanbin suggested, trying to stop his hands from shaking.

"It could work, but we would need someone to play out the 'real people' like two boys posting something in your exact clothes" The man who had been standing besides their manager spoke up, answering.

"This is ZB1's media director"

Zhanghao and Hanbin bowed slightly, still ashamed to have been so reckless.

"It shouldn't be too hard finding two boys who are nearly the same stature. Search for some, and offer a generous amount of money as a reward" Manager noona told him, as the director exited the room, going to fix the matter.

"You messed the whole thing up" She stated.

"Do you know, there were offers from other companies to continue ZB1's contract and make you a permanent group. I don't know if they're still interested after this whole thing"

And just then, Zhanghao's and Hanbin's hearts had shattered in a billion of microscopic pieces.

It was all their fault.

Their fault because now ZB1 can't become a permanent group.

Their fault because maybe they ruined everyone's reputation for a long time.

They were done.

Zhanghao felt his breath get stuck in his throat, as he let out a loud cry.

—-
I like making myself cry
Sorry for the late update!