If I Were You (Stray Kids Lee Know X Female OC)

Ch. 11: Old Hopes and Promises

"Melodine is set to debut in two weeks, but there's really no need for you to be so worked up about this. I mean, it's not like you'll be having any contribution in their debut, so wHY IN THE WORLD ARE WE HEADING TO THEIR PRACTICE ROOM INSTEAD OF GOING STRAIGHT TO YOUR SHOOT?"

Well, Miyeon looks stressed. And that's all because Doyoung seems to be getting more and more stubborn nowadays, too. Not that any of the things she had been doing were necessarily bad nor do they disturb her schedule, but for one, Miyeon is a manager who definitely prefers if her idol were to take detours on the way to her schedules.

"It's just a quick greeting. I'll be dropping in, congratulating them on their debut, and then we'll be back on track to the shoot," Doyoung tells her, her mood obviously in a much better state for today.

Miyeon notices just that, and she sighs, not really knowing what to do about that. "Well– I mean, it's good to see that you're in a much better mood these days, but seriously, are you forgetting that you used to be in Melodine's line-up?"

"So what? It's not like we fought before I left now, did I?"

"Yeah, but still–"

They eventually made it to Melodine's practice room just as Miyeon said those words, and she couldn't even continue as Doyoung knocked on the door, before she opened it only to be greeted by the members inside turning to her... before the atmosphere suddenly turns icy cold.

All of the members of the group look shocked to see Doyoung, but it seems only Nayeon is even just a bit happy to see her.

"S-sunbae–" Nayeon starts as she begins to stand up, only for Kyungjoo to grab her arm and stop her from further approaching the idol at the door. "W-what... Unnie..."

"What are you doing here?" Kyungjoo then asks Doyoung, not at all addressing her younger member's question.

Doyoung hesitates when she senses that something is wrong, but a second later, she clasps her hands together and forces a smile onto her face. "I just... wanted to come by and congratulate you guys on your upcoming debut."

The atmosphere doesn't change at all, and Doyoung slowly begins to realize that something's definitely off.

Nayeon keeps glancing back and forth between her and her groupmates. And as it seems, it's only the two of them that are unaware of the situation. Though Doyoung should probably know... there's no way she could since this is a life she borrowed after all, isn't there?

"Thanks. But we don't need your congratulations," Kyungjoo replies coldly, almost frowning but keeping a straight face instead as she slowly lets go of Nayeon, the latter seemingly now realizing that it would be best to stay in her place. "You must be enjoying your career a lot, Doyoung. You get to be called 'sunbae' by us, and now you're even helping Nayeon's friend debut after you got him kicked out of the company? Ha! The industry must be a playground for you at this point, huh?"

The other members keep their head down as Kyungjoo speaks. They don't seem to want to intervene, yet most of them look like they share the same sentiments as their leader.

Doyoung suddenly freezes in her place as she begins to realize what's going on. After all, if, in the original world, she used to be in Melodine's line-up, wouldn't that be the case here, too? But how different could things have been in this world?... Did they really have a misunderstanding before she was removed from the line-up?

"Kyungjoo–"

"Park Doyoung, you better stay away from my members and our matters if you want to stay away from trouble," Kyungjoo suddenly tells her with an intimidating tone. "Especially Nayeon. It's so shameless of you to even take advantage of her naivety to get close to her."