A Dream and A Bonus || BANGCHAN

25. "He just makes me happy."

At 6am I was home again. Chan had to go in to work earlier, and I couldn't stay at his place alone, so I came home. He promised to come later, but by our lack of communication during the day, I wasn't sure about that. The date for their comeback was in a few days, and they were packed.

But that day, our TikTok with the boys was posted, and we had to turn our notifications off and stay offline due to all the hate we got. We got messages and even phone calls from stalkers, and we called the police multiple times to warn them in case anything happened again. We sent the police the numbers of those who called and sent messages. Ross, who was so worried, was trying to get Twitter to take down some posts because it was horrendous.

"We know what's going to happen. We know what happened last time. But we're at a new address, and hopefully nothing will happen." I started as we put our phones on silent to ignore all calls, emails, and messages. This time was worse than last, as more stalker fans were actually calling us.

"Yeah. Just let's hope no one goes to the hospital this time." Vic whispered as my shoulder tingled with the memory.

"Yeah. Let's just stay strong and ignore the hate. They're lifeless people whose words mean nothing." I said more to myself as well as to them. Because both last time and even now, their comments really hurt to see.

Ross then gave us the idea to buy different phones for personal use and not for social media, so we could put our phones off and not be bombarded with calls and emails but still talk to him, our parents, or the boys. So we went and bought us a phone, and by dinner time Felix said he and the boys saw the hate, and he said something on Bubble to defend us as the fans now knew we knew each other. Then Jeongin created a group chat for us all, and they decided to all say something nice about our video as if to encourage the fans to leave us alone.

Chan didn't come that night, as they ended up still at the company until 11pm. We still talked on the phone and would try to always text, and even in the group chat, we'd keep talking, and despite them being busy, they'd always send a meme or a gif expressing how tired they were.

***

"What about this? If I do this?" Madi asked as she pressed something, and a piano and guitar melody started playing.

It's been a week now since our videos were posted, and shockingly, nothing happened. No hospital visits, stalkers, or anything. We just kept getting messages or phone calls that we ignored. Chan came over twice in the week and would sleep over and leave early again, and the other nights, he'd call and we'd talk for two to three hours before sleep. The group chat was always busy, and it was so funny. And sometimes Leeknow and Vic would team up and mock Changbin, Chan, or even me.

Listening to it, I really liked it. As it played, I started adding to it as Vic was on a call with Jen, as they were still trying to decide if we should have choreo for this. Well, I think they were just catching up also.

"This sounds amazing." I whispered as we continued. Just then, Chan called.

"Hey baby." He spoke gently, and my heart dropped. A smile formed at the name. Madi hit me as she silently screamed.

"Hey you. What's up?" I asked as Madi continued with the beat.

"Just checking in to see if you're okay. You know, with all the internet drama. Are you okay? And the girls?" His voice was gentle, and I put the phone off speaker to talk.

"I mean, we have to be, you know. We're okay, and we're just taking advantage of the nothing that happened."

"I get it. But if you need to talk, I'm here. You don't have to be strong in front of me." My eyes welled up with tears as I nodded to myself, as he couldn't see me.