Together As One

Stronger

[Hwasa's POV]

Today we were having another fanmeeting. I love our moomoos. I love them so much but because I couldn't express myself well and didn't like to appear vulnerable, I struggled with showing my love for them. I knew some of them were disappointed that I was barely active on social media platforms and I've heard some moos asking if I could post more in the fancafe. I felt bad. It wasn't that I didn't want to repay our fans but I just... just didn't have the confidence to go online and post things even if it were on the fancafe.

I was excited for today though. It was the first fanmeeting we were having since our comeback but at the same time I was extremely nervous since it was also the first fanmeeting we were having since I addressed my self harm tendencies publicly. Since then, I've receive multiple texts and messages of support and encouragement from fellow artistes as well as lots of love from our fans. But still, I wasn't sure how ours fans would react in person.

/TIMESKIP TO DURING THE FANMEETING/

I smiled at each and every fan earnestly, giving them warm handshakes and writing the most heartfelt messages I could write on their albums. The many small conversations made me smile. But there was one fan that caught my attention.

"Hyejin unnie... I think you're really brave to have talked about your issues publicly..." The young girl starts softly.

I smile slightly. "Oh really? Thank you hahaha..." I look up at the girl while multi-tasking, writing a short message on the album cover.

"Yes unnie... and thank you for doing that. Because of you, I'm gaining courage to recover as well..." She looks up shyly, then she did something I didn't expect.

She cautiously pulls up her sleeve and there on her arm were some scars and writings. I tried to hide my surprise as it had caught me offguard.

"Dearie..." I start, not knowing what to say to her.

"No unnie, it's okay. I thank you for giving me the courage to recover. Unnie... you're the strongest person I know. I love you for everything you do." She smiles and thanks me for signing her album before walking off back to her seat.

I was stunned in a good way but I continued to sign the rest of our fan's albums and finished the fansign smoothly.

[Wheein's POV]

I saw the whole scene unfold before my eyes. I winced a little at the scars knowing how much they must have hurt. As the fan walked away I gently grabbed Hyejinnie's hand under the table and squeezed it to show that I was there for her if she needed anything. I knew seeing such things could have triggered her negative emotions so I reminded myself to keep a lookout on her.

When we got to the Q&A segment of our fansign, I was taken aback. One fan raised their hand slowly.

"Good evening unnies. I have a question to ask. How do each of the members deal with stress?" She asks before sitting back down.

I look at our unnies. We weren't expecting such a question.

"Ah... thank you for the question. Byulie do you want to start us off?" Our leader very comfortably carries on the segment.

"Okay. For me... hmm... I personally destress by gaming and meeting my friends for drinks." Byulie unnie answers simply.

"Ohhh... then for me, I like to relieve stress by watching movies!!! I'm the movie fanatic!" Yongsun unnie answers as well.

Oops... it's my turn now.

"I don't think I've got a way in particular to destress but I like to drink." I slowly answer, careful with the idea of drinking.