Byeol's anxiety has been at an all-time high
Byeol groaned in frustration, smashing the keys of her keyboard with her fist. She was working hard, harder than normal. She'd been at her studio the past few days without going home. Yugyeom had been kind enough to bring her some clothes and things to wash up with. JB, Jinyoung and Mark had been leaving her food.
BamBam, Jackson and Youngjae had been trying to get her out in the fresh air for at least two seconds but had yet to accomplish that task. She was frustrated with herself. Producing was the one thing in her life that she could truly pride herself on. It always seemed to come easy to her like riding a bike would for others.
But her anxiety had been rising the past few weeks. Chisol had made a few attempts to reach out and try to "mend" things but Byeol had left her on read. Yugyeom had actually told her if she showed up to the apartment one more time he was calling the police and filing a complaint.
Her last few messages from Chisol hadn't been the nice, apologizing, "I want to fix things" ones she had been getting since she left her in the café. She had been using things Byeol had told her in confidence to try and scare her into meeting her. She had pictures that her and Byeol had taken on what was supposed to be friendship outings.
She literally had the power in her hands to turn all the information over to any press she wanted; yet she still hadn't. And her last few threats were that it would all be out in a few days. Byeol didn't know what to do; their comeback had just finished and she didn't want to ruin it.
But she didn't want to worry her members either. None of the pictures were bad but Byeol knew enough to know that any reporter would twist it for ratings and views. She was still refusing to speak to Chisol and on top of the mounting anxiety of wondering if she'd wake up tomorrow and all her dirty laundry would be exposed (well, not all of it) she was already working on their new album.
She was stressed, frustrated and tired. But most of all, she was afraid. She really had thought Chisol could be someone she trusted and she did. Maybe with a little too much about her early childhood; before she was a trainee. None of the boys knew much about it and they knew better than to ask.
But if it aired, it would be a cesspool of reporters and cameras and not for anything good. She hung her head in her hands, pulling on her hair to try and rid her of the headache that was coming on. She was shaky and she figured that was a mixture of lack of food, sleep and anxiety all at once.
"You look terrible." She jumped, banging her knee on her desk and groaning. "Jiminy cricket, Yugyeom!" She rubbed her—now—throbbing knee, turning to glare at him. "Do you ever knock?!" He shrugged, chuckling at her and taking a seat in one of the bean bag chairs. "I'm busy, what do you want?"
She turned back towards her monitor, gritting her teeth at the screen. Yugyeom frowned. They all knew something was going on; sure, Byeol loved to work and would lock herself away, but this was different. She was shutting them out. She was ignoring phone calls, pretending she didn't hear them when they came in, ignoring their protests of taking a break.
It had been about a week and a half since she'd even been home and Yugyeom was tired of bringing her clothes here. "Noona," he said softly and her shoulders dropped a little. She knew if Yugyeom was calling her noona he was going to get serious. Or sentimental. Or both. Neither of which she could handle right now.
She didn't say anything, fingers still flying over her keyboard and clicking the mouse. Yugyeom sighed, watching her work. She played the song and he thought for a first draft that it sounded pretty damn good. What he didn't expect was her to literally rip her keyboard out and throw it across the room, screaming in anger.
His eyes were wide. Byeol could get mad, she could get frustrated. They were all human, of course. But never—never—had he seen her mad enough to throw something. Not even a stuff doll. "Moon—I think—you need to come home." Her hands were covering her face as she was trying to calm herself down.
"That's something Mark-hyung would do. Not you. You need to come home. Just for today. Please." He was desperate and already had JB on speed dial if it didn't go his way. "Fine." Her voice was emotionless as she stood up, stretching. "C'mon. I'll get us a taxi." It was silent the whole back and Yugyeom was biting his lip in worry.
Byeol and him were close, almost as close as him and BamBam. Hell, the lived together. But right now, he felt utterly helpless. It was usually Byeol helping them calm down, talking things through. But he had no idea how to help her right now and he did not want him to end up like her keyboard.
She was silent as she walked up to their apartment, only muttering she was going to shower. Yugyeom sighed, immediately texting everyone an SOS. They were all there before she was out of the shower and Yugyeom had explained what happened. "I want to know how you got her out of there? We've been trying all week!" Youngjae said and Yugyeom chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. "Just lucky."
Byeol grimaced at the dark bags under her eyes and was inwardly thankful that she'd be able to sleep in her own bed tonight. Maybe sleep would help a little. At least until tomorrow. Then the cycle would start all over. What she didn't expect when she walked into the living room was all her members to be sitting around, JB standing there with his arms crossed and lips pressed into a thin line.
"Care to tell me why we have to buy you a new keyboard?"
