Nct's Coconut || ²⁴ᵗʰ ᵐᵉᵐᵇᵉʳ

🥥⤷ ep 25 | sleepy child

"Hey Chen, are you okay?" Chen's vision was blurry as she fought to keep her eyes open. Every time she blinked she felt her body trying to force her asleep. Her head kept dipping down as she fought to stay awake.

Nct 127 were currently at a fan signing event after their Cherry Bomb comeback. Around one week later nct 127 had also garnered their first win and the response to the song was overwhelmingly positive.

However, none of that was in Chen's mind right now as Taeyong repeated his question. She knew she was about to pass out and it seems he figured the same because he called over a staff member. Chen couldn't hear what they were saying but all she remembered was being helped out of her seat and guided out of the room before immediately collapsing onto the couch in their changing room.

Around 20 minutes later the girl felt herself being gently shaken awake. Chenyug opened her eyes and was met with Chyou. "Here, sit up," she helped the teenage girl up and handed her a bottle of water.

"Sorry, I couldn't stay awake," Chenyug quickly apologised after drinking almost half the bottle. "Don't worry, I know you've had it very tough lately. However, in the future I'd like you to tell me these things beforehand so we can deal with them appropriately and avoid things like what happened today," Chyou scolded as she took back the bottle, placing it aside.

"Here, drink this," this time she handed Chenyug a small vitamin bottle which would help wake her up. "We'll quickly fix your hair and makeup and then you'll go out again. There are only around 2 hours left so I hope you can hold out till then, after that I want you to go immediately home". Chyou was a lot like an older sister, not only to Chenyug but to everyone around her.

Chenyug moved to a chair and someone quickly fixed her hair and makeup as Chen ate a sandwich before she was ushered out of the room again. "I know you're tired but try not to show it. It's just 2 hours and then you're done, okay?" Chen nodded her head before opening the door and walking out onto the stage again.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Taeyong asked as she returned to her seat which was at the end of the row next to the leader. Luckily there weren't any fans by him at the moment so they could talk freely.

"I'm okay, just tired. Sorry for worrying you," Chen apologized but of course, Taeyong shut her down much like Chyou. "No need to apologize, make sure you get some rest tonight," he added quickly as a fan approached him.

The fan meeting continued on like normal after that and thanks to the power nap and food Chenyug was able to stay awake with a smile for the rest of the evening, hoping desperately that she had not worried the fans too much. Of course, she saw some posts and an article on a kpop gossip sight about her fainting, but in general, it did not excite that big a reaction and the whole thing was quickly forgotten.

Or well, it would have if it didn't happen again, twice. It didn't matter how many times she was told to rest more or to take it easy, because there simply was no time. Nct 127 were promoting, Nct Dream preparing for a comeback and Loona 1/3 for yet another song. On top of that school had now started up again and were showering Chenyug with assignments. So no matter how much the girl wanted to relax, she couldn't.

"Chloé, you have a bad habit of overworking yourself," Johnny said one day as Chenyug was sitting in his room. She was sitting by his desk, since her's was occupied, working on her math homework.

"Uhuh," she answered absent-mindedly, hearing his remark but not registering it in her mind. "Chen," he repeated again, the serious tone in his voice causing the girl to look over.

"Striving for perfection was fine when you only had to worry about school and extracurriculars, but it's too much now. It's imposible for you to be perfect at everything and it's going to drive you into a wall," he warned. Chen knew that he was right, but she just couldn't admit to it.

"You don't achieve greatness by being sub-par," she defended as she turned back around in her seat and returned to her work. "Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you if something happens, and something will happen," he finished but Chen only hummed and ignored his warnings.

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Another short chapter but it's mostly cause I wanna divide up different events into separate chapters :3

x // Cece