𝓒𝓱𝓸𝓲 𝓑𝓮𝓵𝓵𝓮 | NCT's 24th Member ☆

♔ | pain

January 2020

As the music ended, Belle sprawled out on the floor near the mirror, her chest rising and falling with quick, heavy breaths. She turned her head and looked at herself, chucking slightly when she saw her reflection. Her hair was all over the place, the hair and holding up her hair no longer high up. Her cheeks were flushed a dark shade of red and sweat brad slowly dripped down her forehead.

"Okay, that'll have to do for tonight." Taeyong announces to the rest of NCT 127, going towards the speaker and unplugging his phone. Belle watched as her members packed up their things, some fling out towels to rid themselves of sweat, some just flinging their stuff into the bag and eagerly wanting to get out the door.

Just as Mabel started to sit up and reach for her water bottle, she heard Johnny say her name from the door.
"Hey, Belle. You coming?" He spoke in English.
"No, I just want to talk to Taemin before I leave. I'll meet you guys back at the dorm, I'll only be 10 minutes but you should all go and sleep." She replied, shooing them away. The rest of her members, at least the ones who understood, nodded and went out the door. However, Jungwoo lingered for a moment before speaking.

"Don't be too long, it's quite late. If one of the managers can't bring you home, sleep here and I'll get you in the morning." He softly smiled at her.
"I won't be long, I promise. I love you." Mabel replied, still sat on the floor.
"Love you too."

Once she was sure that everyone had gone, she picked up her bag and swung it over her shoulder. As she trudged towards the company's gym, she felt a small pain in her chest. Shrugging it off, she carried on her way, quietly humming Pandora's Box.

Belle didn't really need to speak to Taemin. She knew he wasn't at the company on Wednesdays. Even if he was, he wouldn't be there at 1am, at least she hoped he wouldn't.

Looking into the gym and being glad it was empty, Belle pushed open the door and threw her bag near the door. She took out her phone, earphones and water and headed over towards the treadmill. Today was her cardio day, even though she'd just danced for hours. As she took a sip of her drink, she felt the same slight pain in her chest she did earlier.

Maybe I should just not do it today.

Hmm but you should. Do you want to look good for the comeback or not?

She spent 10 minutes sat, thinking about if she should do it or not. Her phone binged multiple times but she ignored them all and stood up, wanting to get on with exercising.

Mabel stepped up onto the treadmill and clipped the clip onto the band of her leggings. She set the speed to 5, starting at a steady walking pace and gradually got faster. Within 2 minutes, Belle was running with the speed at 11, which wasn't too bad but also not easy.

10 minutes later, and Belle knew she needed a break. How stupid was she for doing all this? Extremely yes, but she doesn't want to be fat when they go promoting Neo Zone. She already noticed that she didn't look too great during the filming of Kick It.

After a very short break, she pulled herself back into the machine and started running again. Belle was so determined to get her 1 hour done that she didn't even realise that she had been running for another 30 minutes with no break. Only then, did she become aware that she was struggling to breathe.

She couldn't take it anymore.

A huge pain shot through her chest again as it had done several times throughout the day. She clutched it, holding her necklace along with her shirt and attempted to slow down the treadmill. She struggled to press the speed button quick enough to stop it, but eventually she did. She quickly unclipped the clip from her and stumbled off the belt, holding out her left hand to try find something to stable herself.

Her breath came rapid and short, and her chest felt like it was on fire. Her vision blurred as her head spun and made the room distorted. The last thing she saw was a faint figure at the door and then...

Black.

~~~~~~~~~~

Taeil sat on the couch infront of the TV, unable to sleep. Usually after a hard dance practise like that, he's be out like a light and most likely wouldn't wake up until 9pm. However, he had the feeling something was wrong with their youngest.

She said she wouldn't even be 10 minutes. And the ride from the company to the dorm was only around 5 minutes. That's 15 minutes. It was now 1:43am and Mabel stil hadn't arrived back.

He slowly stood up and made his way to Jungwoo and Jaehyun's room. He heard slight snores coming from inside and knew that it was Jaehyun. Carefully, he peered in and thankfully Jungwoo was still awake and on his phone.

"Yah, Jungwoo."
"Taeil-hyung? What is it?"
"Did Mi-Ok say anything to you when you stayed behind?" Taeil asked, albeit a bit quiet.
"No. I just told her to get home safe and if it's too late she should to sleep at the company and I'll go for her in the morning." the younger boy replied, staring slightly at confusion.
"Oh okay. Thanks."

Still, Taeil couldn't shake the feeling of something being wrong. He went to the front door and slipped on his sneakers. As he picked up his keys, he heard a somebody rustle around in the kitchen. Disregarding whoever it was, he put his hand on the door handle and was about to go out when;
"Where are you going?"

Taeil turned to see Mark holding a bag of Doritos and a pot of salsa, his mouth full of chips.

"The company. I'm not sure why but I don't think Mi-Ok is alright."
"But doesn't she sometimes sleep there?"
"Only if she's practising more. She said she would speak to Taemin then come home. Now that I think about it, Taemin's not usually there on Wednesdays." Taeil replies. He slammed the door shut behind him, leaving Mark stood there dumbfounded.

After 2 minutes of walking, he could hear someone running up behind him.
"Taeil-hyung! Wait!" Marks voice echoed through the streets of Seoul.

12 minutes of walking later, the 2 finally arrived at the SM building, surprised to see the lobby so dark. Without hesitation, they went in and took the elevator to the practise room they were using earlier. They found it empty.

"Where could she be?" Mark muttered to himself. The boys thought for a moment before something popped into Mark's head.
"The gym! She's been telling me that she wants to lose some weight before we promote."

The boys scurried up to the gym and sure enough there she was. But she wasn't right. They watched as she grabbed onto a weight lifting machine. Taeil shoved the door open as Belle went tumbling to the ground.

He ran over as quick as he could, with Mark hot on his heels. He looked at her face. Pale. Her cheeks flushed red and her chest barely rose with each breath she took.

He scooped her up in his arms and told Mark to get the spare keys to one of the company's cars that had been left out back.

They could only hope she would be okay.