the idol suicides | txtzy

vii

Before anyone could react, a figure lunged from the shadows, their presence scattering the smoke that made up the ghostly woman.

Cold, clammy fingers gripped Yuna's wrist, icy dread coursing through her as she instinctively yanked her arm back.

She couldn't see the saesangs face beneath the hoodie that shrouded them, but she could tell when somebody was pissed.

"Get away from her!" Ryujin shouted, grabbing Yuna and dragging her behind the small wall her and Beomgyu formed to protect their maknae's.

The two bodyguards descended upon them before the situation could escalate any further, the saesang restrained and writhing in an instant. Chaos erupted as the saesang's screams filled the night, spit flying, her words intertwining with the ghost woman's eerie screams, sending shivers down the idol's spines.

"Tell them to unhand me! You goddamn sluts, urgh, dammit! GET AWAY FROM TXT BEFORE YOU SULLY THEM. THEY ARE EVERYTHING TO ME. I WON'T LET YOU RUIN THEM."

RUNNNNNNNNNNN!

"You're not even pretty enough to be in their presence, both of you let yourselves go. Did you eat cows? You look like you're fattening yourselves up for slaughter."

RUNNNNNNNNNNNNN!

"You probably think you're so good and so special after that one trashy hit song, but you have a trail of flops behind you. You don't deserve to collab with TXT, fucking gold-diggers!"

RUNNNNN!

"You would be better if you were dead. At least dead people don't dirty the legacy of TXT's hard work!"

The bodyguards led the saesang away.

━━━━━━ʕ•㉨•ʔ━━━━━━━

HueningKai and Beomgyu thanked the bodyguards and went to the van they all shared, bearing blankets they wrapped around the girl's trembling shoulders.

They had offered them water, tea, various flavored chips, a crushed Pepero HueningKai had found in his pocket. With blank stares, neither girl seemed willing to put anything past their lips.

They arrived back at their crummy apartment and told Lia, Yeji and Chaeryeong what happened. The girls thanked them, then they all disappeared into the girl's designated bedroom for the rest of the day.

"I hope they don't take their words too seriously." Yeonjun muttered disapprovingly. 

Although some would say the saesang's words were technically uplifting TXT, in Yeonjun's opinion it was doing nothing but dragging someone else down.

HueningKai went up to Beomgyu and showed his hyung how his hands were shaking. Beomgyu tried to smile comfortingly, but it ended up looking more like a grimace. He took the maknae's shaking hands into his own and the two of them leaned on each other.

"The people who say those kinds of things are not our fans, because our real fans are excited for this collab." Beomgyu told him. "Let's not focus on the wrong thing."

"It's hard to take my mind off," HueningKai admitted, "and I wasn't even the one being trash talked."

Yeonjun looked at the closed door of the girl's dorm with furrowed brows. "We should do something."

━━━━━━ʕ•㉨•ʔ━━━━━━━

While Yuna had never felt quite safe trapped with no company except her own thoughts, now everything was spiraling out of control. She held her unnie's hands, the only tangible comfort in the domain of terror she'd forgotten how to escape from.

Lia's was limp, like she might've still been in shock.

Yeji held her firmly, almost a little too firmly, like her rage had a bottle lid about to rocket off.

Chaeryeong's hands were too cold. She still hadn't eaten lunch.

Ryujin's were shaking too much. She hadn't eaten anything at all.

Yuna couldn't even tell what was real anymore. Her vision went in and out of focus, her only consolation being her mind staying firmly rooted in consciousness. 

Still, everything looked like it belonged in some alternate dimension, swirling and causing nauseating waves to roll through her stomach.

All things that tended to happen when you cry for three hours straight, Yuna was sure.

"Ryujin..." she croaked. 

Ryujin knelt down, "I'm here."

Yuna shook her head. "What about you? Why is everyone comforting me when that saesang also said awful things about..."

Ryujin's eyes glistened. "Yuna, I care about you and want to support you right now. But don't think that means I'm neglecting myself. It just means I'm putting you first."

The room felt so still after Ryujin's statement the sudden knocking at the door nearly made her fall over. 

Everybody flinched at it.