Before I'm Gone | Stray Kids FF

Leaving

3rd Person POV

The bullying continued. She was fighting her way through. Often, she would come home, collapsing before she could even make it to the living room. Her heart ached. It ached for her family, for no pressure, for happiness... for love.

She was sick and tired of the people who came after her. Those who thought she was a threat to getting Stray Kids to notice them. The ones who were jealous of her connections. The ones who knew nothing about the connections but just saw her as pathetic anyways. She wanted them to stop, but she did not want the boys to worry or get into trouble because of it.

On top of that, her mother had recently gotten sick. She spent her time wishing that she could go home to her mother. Though, her mother told her not to and continue school. That she would be okay and that Areum could see her another time.

A month had gone by. Multiple birthdays were celebrated. She was still able to find the time to get gifts for the three birthday boys and come join the parties. Though, she was often the first to leave. She did her best to stay connected to the boys, but it was hard. Her nights were spent tending to her new cuts and bruises, trying to finish the latest assignments, studying and trying to get a good night's sleep. Mornings were spent groggily getting out of bed, skipping breakfast and hurrying to school. Afternoons were spent after school in a practice room training the boys, then herself, going on "dates" and just trying not to die.

She had to keep up the act with Hwan. In reality, he was a great guy. He too had been forced by Duri to do these things. Just because he had beaten her in a sporting event and gotten onto a team. He and Areum had gotten to be good friends, he told her that he wished that he could stand up for her sometimes. Though, he knew if he did, he would be in so much trouble.

One time, when she had come to the birthday celebration for Jisung and Felix, the boys had swarmed her and it was the happiest she felt in a while. However, she realized that it would not last, that she would have to go eventually. That happiness was not forever. The boys had noticed something was up with her that day. Something that they had not noticed before. "Noona! You're so thin!" Jisung had exclaimed. Areum had shrugged and looked at herself. She had gotten really thin. Though, it did not affect her too much. Other than she always had to wear her smaller clothes and a belt all the time. Haneul had been kind enough to lend her some of her clothes that were from a while ago so that she had something to wear. Back at the party, the boys tried to force her to eat. She, as always, had a hard time eating too much, but she tried to eat a bit. Until she had to leave.

~*~

Hyunjin POV

We were all sitting around in the practice room, waiting for Areum to finish her phone call. She was standing in the corner, facing away from us and facing the mirror instead. Suddenly, we all heard a thud, she had hit her head on the mirror. She was completely conscious, she was not passing out like has countless times. This time, she was totally aware. We all turned our heads to watch her, though, the boys went back to talking to each other after a minute of nothingness. Her shoulders slumped, clearly unhappily. I watched as she lifted her head and ran her hand through her hair. I looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her face showed so much hurt. Tears were streaming down her face and her eyes were red. She blinked away a few tears but opened her eyes to make eye contact with me through the mirror. When she realized I was watching her, she turned away more, still on the phone.

Jeongin was trying to get my attention, but I was too caught up in what was happening with Areum. He was waving his hands in front of my face and trying to get me to listen to him. Instead, I stood up and he sighed, getting up and going over to bother Chan and Woojin. I walked over to Areum, putting my hands on her shoulders. Instead of pushing me away, she ended her call, put her phone in her pocket, turned to me and leaned in for a hug. My arms instinctively went around her, taking me back to that day where I had seen that sketchy man and protected her. It was not the same situation, but I felt like I had to protect her, just like then. I felt her tears soaking my shirt a little, but I did not care. All I wanted was for her to feel okay. Her sniffling started to die down a little, even so, neither of us let go.

"What's wrong?" I whispered. "Do you want to go outside?"

The only response was a nod. I shifted so that I could put my arm around her, and she could still bury her face into my side. We walked to the door, gaining stares from the boys around us. They were about to ask, until I put my hand out, telling them, not right now, through my body language. We made it outside and she sat down on the ground. I crouched right beside her, bringing my hand up to her face so that I could wipe away her tears.

"What's wrong?" I asked again.

"My..." She looked up at me. "My mom... I have to go home."

"What?" I stared confused. "Did she..."

"Not yet." She stopped me from finishing the sentence. "But she could. Any moment now."

"Oh..." I stood up and put my hand out to her. "Let's not talk more. Right now, we need to get your things, get you home to pack, and find you the next flight to Canada."

"Thank you..." She took my hand and I pulled her up. "What would I do without you Hyunjin?" She walked inside, still holding onto my hand.

~*~

Minho POV

"Ugh." I scooted over to Jisung who chuckled.

"Jealous?" Jisung laughed as he looked at my face.

"No." I turned away. "Why would I be?"

"It's obvious that you like her." Jisung made room for the guys who were starting to gather around. "Is it not?"

A few nods were shared, but some confused faces were there too. Just as they were asking me for details, the door was opened. They did not seem to care that someone was coming in, but I had stopped saying anything.

The two quietly went inside. We had already resumed chatting in different groups, but once they were noticed, we all fell silent. We watched as Areum packed her stuff, one of her hands was in Hyunjin's. He looked to her, asking for her permission to say something. She nodded as she continued to clean up.

"Guys." Hyunjin got our attention. "Areum is leaving."

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I'm sorry, I feel like this story is getting really crappy ;-;

Anyhow, I'm going to be posting Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays now!

Thank you to kpopforlife121 for supporting me as I write!

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