Tender Boy

~ Chapter 10 ~

Alex tried to roll over to get comfortable but she had someone wrapped around her, when she attempted to wriggle away her muscles screamed and she whimpered.

Whatever was holding her woke with a start and sat up, "Alex! Are you okay? You collapsed, we were all so worried... you should have told us you weren't doing well! How can we help if you don't ask?"

Upon closer inspection the person in bed with her was Taehyung and he had tears running down his face. Alex yawned, "What happened?"

There was movement around the room and Alex realized she wasn't in the Bangtan dorms, it looked like... a hospital?

The movement was due to all the other members waking up from Taehyung's worried voice, "Alex! Oh my God you're awake!" Jungkook approached the bed and knelt down while hugging Alex's waist, "Don't do that again."

Alex felt uncomfortable, she didn't want them to pity her. She needed to show them she was good enough, at least they didn't know she was a girl, she couldn't imagine the reaction to her collapsing.

Yoongi glared at her, "Why didn't you tell us about Chul?"

Alex returned his gaze, "I could handle it. If I couldn't deal with it how would I be able to handle being an idol?"

"This isn't about handling it, he was abusing you."

"I don't care. I needed to learn the dances."

Namjoon stood up, "We have time Alex." He was sharp, "It won't help if you're on the ground passed out from overworking."

"I. Need. To. Work. For. This." growled Alex

Namjoon raised his voice, now losing his patience, "We all do Alex! You let us watch you work yourself half to death for five days and wouldn't let us help you! WE ARE A TEAM, YOU PUSHED TOO HARD."

Jimin stepped in to stop the argument, "Joonie calm down," Jimin turned to Alex with sad eyes, "Don't keep secrets from us Alex. Tae told us you haven't been sleeping or eating."

Alex tensed and her muscles complained. Some things needed to stay a secret.

"If you promise to stop doing this to yourself we can move on. Chul has been fired and we're filing a law suit against him for physical abuse and abuse of power." Jin leaned against a wall, "Alex it's ripping us apart to see you like this."

A tear escaped a rolled down her face, "I'm sorry."

"We are here for you Alex, I thought I told you that." J-Hope looked sad.

"I'm sorry." Alex felt like she was cracking, "I wanted to be good enough... I need to make you proud, I need to make ARMY proud."

"From now on we will help you with the dances, we're getting our old trainer back too." Taehyung smiled through his tears, "You already are good enough Alex, we wouldn't choose anyone else to be the eighth member."

Jin told a joke and for once everyone was laughing, they were at the dorms because Alex was allowed to leave and everyone was a lot happier.

They had known Alex for only a week but somehow she had made a place for herself in their hearts. Something would be missing if she was gone.

They all stopped laughing as there was a knock on the door. Jin got the door and PD-nim and Su-Min stormed in.

When Su-Min walked in she grabbed Alex's arm and pulled her up. "Don't make me worry so much Alex!" Her anger crumbled and she hugged Alex, "Why would you let Chul do that to you? I want to fucking punch him in his sorry excuse for a face."