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

Ch. 24: The Senior's Strange Attitude

Somehow, the lights in the company's cafeteria were left on, illuminating the whole place despite it sitting empty with how late it already is. Almost any and every movement inside it echoes as they occur, and that would be the case for Doyoung and Nayeon who enter the dining area with slow footsteps.

Doyoung's steady footsteps, especially, echo loudly the most while Nayeon follows behind her with her soft, hesitant ones. And then they reach a certain table on the corner of the cafeteria, and Doyoung invites Nayeon to sit down before she follows.

"The food should arrive here in a few minutes, so let's talk while we wait," Doyoung invites her junior in a friendly tone as she settles in her seat.

Nayeon, still in hesitation however, fidgets in her seat, not knowing where to look or what to do, most especially when she still finds it surprising and puzzling that Park Doyoung would ever come and help her when she was looking for comfort. "Uhm... Thanks... sunbae. But, really, I don't need the food–"

All of a sudden, Nayeon's stomach rumbles loudly, and she freezes, before she feels heat rising up to her cheeks, and she looks at Doyoung to see the young woman widen her eyes in surprise.

"Ack! This is embarrassing! How much worse can today get?" Nayeon panics internally, wishing that the floor would just open up and swallow her, only to suddenly hear a held-back laughter from her companion. Nayeon's eyes widen and she looks at Doyoung once again, just in time to see her senior smiling warmly as she tries to keep her laughter from coming out. And in the next moments, her embarrassment us replaced with confusion once again. "Oh... she's not mad?"

"You really don't need to pretend that you're not hungry," Doyoung then assures Nayeon after she had calmed down a bit. "After all, I believe it's better for you to eat now before you go home. Otherwise, you might pass out on the way if we're not careful."

"... Oh... right," Nayeon agrees eventually, before she looks away awkwardly again, directing her eyes towards the empty cafeteria.

Meanwhile, Doyoung looks at her as the smile on her face turns into a sad one. Well, she never expected that things would turn out this way. Nayeon being criticized and mistreated for something she never even meant to happen nor had any hand in doing, it all seems almost...

Unfair.

The word Doyoung had been repeating all her life and referring to her own. If it weren't for Nayeon, she would have never thought that that could be the case for other people.

And well, if it weren't for this whole life switch event, she might have never even thought that way for Minho, either.

It's just unfortunate that it seems all of them were unlucky. All of them had to go through unfair treatment, no matter who or what they were. Perhaps that's just what the world is really like.

"Where did your fellow group members go?" Doyoung eventually asks Nayeon, looking towards her with concern since she might even already know the answer.

"Hmm?" Nayeon responds alertly at first, before she realizes the question she had just been asked, and her smile falters for a moment before she smiles nervously while responding. "Oh, they all went home already. I stayed behind because I wanted to practice more. After all, I was making a lot of mistakes a while ago, and I really didn't want to drag the group down, and most importantly, of course, I promised the fans I'd show them the best side of me and that I'd keep shining, and- and-" Nayeon suddenly stops talking when she realizes that she's already said quite a lot, and she pauses, before she feels heat rising up her cheeks before she quickly looks away in embarrassment. "S-sorry... I started rambling and saying too much."