letting y'all know now this'll be a convoluted one with long paragraphs.
i wanted to portray a longterm relationship that slowly wore down and degraded. it's so rare to find relationships that began in adolescence and last into adulthood. naturally, there are going to be growing pains for the relationship. add in the shit they go through being trainees and a lasting relationship is damn near impossible.
my aim is to do ryun and chan's relationship some justice. i made it so one-sided in the initial breakdown in their relationship and while i'm not going back to change that, i can make it better in another timeline!
in this episode we explore the question: what if ryun and chan stayed together? (meaning she never got with woozi or rebounded with hwasa!)
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they wouldn't have broken up before her debut, instead after the months a part chan would've reach out. he would apologize and explain his feelings.
he would explain that he felt shocked when she told him about her upcoming debut. he panicked and shut down, instead of explaining himself to her. he said he wanted to be happy for her and he was deep down, but he more scared. he was afraid she would debut and leave him. she would find success and be surrounded by other successful people, and forget about him. he confessed that he was afraid that she wouldn't want to be with an "old" trainee anymore and would chose to let go of the dead weight (him). there were also feelings of envy that he had been a trainee for so long and all his friends had debuted before him, and now his girlfriend was getting to debut but he still wasn't. he was proud of her and her hard work, but couldn't help but resent the fact that his efforts weren't paying off.
they would have an honest conversation about them and where their relationship would go from there. ryun would be tired of the drama and suggest a break up, while chan would want them to work out. however, he understood that as the person who ultimately did wrong, he had no choice but to respect her decision.
she would choose to stay with him, but would take a long time to forgive him. they would attempt to slowly repair their relationship but it would never be the same. they would struggle to get past the issue and she wouldn't be able to fully trust that he wouldn't leave her again.
despite new issues, they would love each other enough to continue to work through their relationship.
ryun would develop a friendship with the kids. she would grow particularly fond of felix and seungmin. felix, naturally as both are extremely outgoing and friendly people who are close to chan. while seungmin would grow to become a wise younger brother figure she could go to as a confidant.
unlike their trainee days, they would be intensely more private about their relationship. they would be unable to go out on dates or see each, so much of their time together would be on video chat or through cellphone conversations. it would be a constant sore spot for the pair who'd want to do the things they'd been able to do as trainees, but now feared the consequences of (jyp catching chan) getting caught.
