star | stray kids female member

十一┊nightmares

eunbyeol sat in the corner of her closet, knees up to her chest and arms wrapped around herself. her pounding heart got louder with every shout that emitted from her parents, and it was starting to fill her ears completely. she wanted nothing more than for the ground to swallow her up and take her to renjun's home.

"how are we supposed to pay the bills if you're always spending money on alcohol and drugs?!" her mother screamed. "we're going to be homeless by next month if you keep this up!"

she heard a shatter and a yell out of frustration from her father. "that little rat is supposed to be giving us money! but all she does is take, take, take! where is she?!"

the girl's eyes widened once she realized that her parents were coming down the hall to get her. as quietly and quickly as she could, she opened the rusty window and climbed out, not forgetting to close it behind her.

with teary eyes and bruised skin, eunbyeol ran to renjun's house in the city. her bare feet padded against the pavement and her breathing became heavy. it was one in the morning, and the streets were almost entirely vacant.

her legs were aching by the time she reached renjun's. the faint light coming from his room let her know that he was still awake. remembering that they were playing with plastic pebbles earlier that day, eunbyeol looked around for the yellow pail they would be in.

when it came into view, she ran towards it, grabbed a handful of pebbles, and started throwing them at renjun's window.

"renjun-ge! please!" eunbyeol shouted.

she didn't expect it, but she began to hear her parents in the distance, calling her name. she continuously mumbled, "no," under her breath and kept trying to get renjun's attention.

the voice of eunbyeol's father yelled, "xiao!"

and she stopped. not once did her parents ever call her "xiao" or give her a nickname. nonetheless, she was terrified and resorted to banging on renjun's back door.

"xiao—"

"stop!"

jisung's worried expression was the first thing she saw when her eyes opened. he was slightly blurry due to the tears that threatened to fall. the other boys were behind him, the younger few slightly startled by her outburst.

despite flinching when jisung opened his arms, he still wrapped her in a loving embrace and let her cry into his chest.

"it was a dream," he softly murmured into her hair. "it's all over now. you're okay."

"renjun wouldn't answer, and they were so close," eunbyeol choked out, clenching jisung's shirt in her fists.

the rapper looked back at chan, wordlessly telling him something that the others couldn't decipher. chan nodded and gestured for the members to follow him out of the room.

jisung let eunbyeol cry as much as she needed to until he pulled away and wiped his thumbs over her tear stained cheeks.

"come, let's go and wash your face," he suggested, standing from the bed and pulling her up with him.

with their fingers laced together, the two walked over to the bathroom and jisung gestured eunbyeol to sit up on the counter to which she obliged. he grabbed the hand towel off of its place on the rack and soaked it with water before wringing it out until it was damp.

the softness of the material met with eunbyeol's cheek as jisung wiped away all the traces of her breakdown. when he finished, he laid the towel out to dry and fixed her messy hair.

"are you okay?" he asked in a quiet tone.

she stayed still for a moment then nodded her head. "i think so," she said. "thank you, oppa."

jisung sent a smile her way. he took her hand in his once again and they made their way into the living room. there, some of the other boys were sitting on the couch, eager to see their girl. the title page of a studio ghibli film was shown on the tv screen, and eunbyeol couldn't help but grin.

"come here, come here," felix opened his arms and made grabby hands at her.

she felt jisung gently unlace his fingers from hers, motioning her to go. eunbyeol jumped between felix and minho, a blanket soon draped over the three. jeongin, seungmin, and hyunjin who were missing from the room had entered with snacks and drinks in their hands.

for the rest of the night, the group spent their time together watching animated movies, and the boys succeeded in their mission one more time: keep eunbyeol happy.

➥ 終 [fin.]
➥ i can't believe how much i cry over how pretty these boys are