Before I'm Gone | Stray Kids FF

In Trouble

Jeongin POV

I did not trust what Areum said. Sure, she was trustworthy, but she could lie when she wanted to. She said she was having a girl's night. Honestly, I could not believe it, and I was right not to. I had told Hyunjin about the unsettling feeling I was having. He nodded and we both ended up following the girls. Woojin texted me, asking where I had run off to. I told him I was with Hyunjin. He then told me that we were not with Seungmin, which we should have been. So I was forced to tell him what we were doing. He told us to stay safe and that the rest of the guys would be coming by shortly after he told everyone.

We watched as the girls walked to the park. They lost their happiness, were clearly afraid. They definitely had lied when they said they were going to go for a girl's night. We watched as they walked towards a part of the park where people were not normally found. There, a few girls and guys were there. I recognized a few of them. Hwan and Duri were there. So were some girls from my grade.

"You're so pathetic you know?" Duri said. "You can't even do as you're told."

"What do you want from us?" Areum said shaking her head.

"We want you gone." She said, pushing Areum to the ground. Beside me, Hyunjin was about to go to her, but I grabbed his arm. We could not go in just yet. We would be hurt if we did go in.

"Stop that!" Haneul put herself between Hwan, Areum and Duri.

"Don't tell me what to do." Duri slapped her cheek.

Hwan was helping Areum up and was putting himself in front of Duri. He was telling them not to hurt the girls. The girls around Duri stepped up and started to speak.

"Y'know... if we don't get what we want.... You guys might be in trouble." One girl said. "Our parents can get you in a lot of trouble."

"Yeah." Another said. "And you know what I want too. I want it as soon as possible." They said, closing in on them.

They made a circle around the three and seemed to be like a pack of wolves, circling around their prey. They closed in on the three, pushing them around. Again, Hyunjin was about to go up there and protect them. Yet, he knew he should not and told me to make sure he did not. Finally, after a very long wait, I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Woojin and the other hyungs.

"What's going on?" Minho asked as he looked at the crowd. "Woojin didn't say anything and made us run here."

"I just had this feeling," I explained. "That when they said they were having a girl's night, they actually meant we're in big trouble and we won't tell you, but we're gonna like, get ourselves in trouble."

"Uhm..." He looked questioningly at me.

"Okay, those girls are in trouble. And those are Areum's bullies." I simplified what I was saying.

"Let me at them." Changbin went up to the front, but Chan was there to stop him.

"Don't be stupid." He said. "We need to make a plan rather than just go up there and do something dumb."

"Fine." Changbin backed up and waited for the plan.

~*~

Changbin POV

I was the first to go in. Yelling out to the group, I walked to the center, helping Areum and Haneul off the floor. The group watched, stunned. They seemed to be stunned that I had shown up but they never let their guard down.

"Stay away from her," I said, looking at the person who seemed to be the leader of this bully group.

"Changbin," Areum whispered in my ear. "Why'd you come? I don't need you guys to help me."

I turned my head a little, signalling her to be quiet. She backed away and went over to Hwan. I looked to the right, where two more of the guys were coming from. They came to the center, forming a bit of a barrier between the group and Areum, Haneul and Hwan.

"Stop hurting her." Jeongin stood in front of the girl in his grade.

"Is that how you want to be noticed?" Seungmin stood in front of a girl in his class.

The others ended up coming and standing in front of the people that were either in their grade, or class. Chan was in front of Duri. Woojin was in front of a girl named Jihoo. Minho was in front of someone named Sara, Hyunjin was in front of a girl named Nari, Jisung was in front of Hana, Felix in front of Kyunghee, Seungmin in front of a Misuk, Jeongin in front of Myeong and I was in front of my classmate, Seongmin.

"Guys..." Areum said behind us. "You really did not need to do anything." She looked over at Duri.

"Yeah, boys." She scoffed as she nervously looked Chan up and down. "You have Hwan don't you?"

"Yes..." She said, putting her hand in his.

I looked to my left, I saw both Minho and Hyunjin tense up a bit at the sight of Areum with another guy. Duri got my attention again before I could investigate Minho and Hyunjin.

"Why don't you show them?" Duri smirked. "Prove it." She pointed at her lips.

Hwan put his arm around Areum's waist and pulled her in. Areum let it happen and she kissed Hwan. She seemed surprised, I guess because it was sudden, but she did not seem to be too affected by it either. Again, I looked to my left. Both Minho and Hyunjin seemed to have fire in their eyes. Both looked as though they wanted to beat Hwan up.

"So, why are you guys here?" Duri laughed. "She doesn't need you." She looked at each of us. "She has her boyfriend."

I took a glance at Areum. She did not seem to be proving it anymore. She was breathing hard and her eyes refused to look up. Hwan was looking at her, not even as if she was his boyfriend, rather just in sorrow. He seemed sorry. Something was up. I knew that this was not part of the plan, but I had to say something.

"You made her," I said stepping away from Seongmin. "You forced her to be in a relationship."

She looked to the side. "And what if I did?"

"That's wrong." Chan piped up. "Why would you."

"See," She confessed. "We all like one of you. Each of us like one of you." She pointed at the girls. "And this... girl was getting in our way." She looked at Chan. "Don't you think we'd be perfect Chan?"

"No." He said bluntly. "I will never match with someone who does this to someone." He looked back at the three. "Plus, I have my eyes set on someone else." His eyes shifted to look at Haneul before looking back at Duri.

"You're..." Duri looked at us wide-eyed. She clearly was the "daddy's princess" and not in a good way. She seemed to always get what she wanted. Until now.

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Again, I want to thank you guys for all the reads. I really am so thankful for all of them!

Thanks to Sheepysheepypeepy for supporting my book!

So I already have a few other SKZ story ideas... do you think I should post those stories once I'm done with this book?

On another note, I'm reaching the climax in my writing, but that is still a little far from now (I write behind the scenes, then post the chapters later).

See you in the next one!