Byeol deals with the aftereffect she feared the most
Byeol hadn't left her bed in days. She had locked her bedroom door, ignoring every knock that was left on it. She was happy that her phone was broken; at least she couldn't read what was being said or get calls from random news reporters.
She knew Yugyeom had been leaving food outside of her door, but she hadn't gotten up to eat any of it. She didn't have an appetite. There was a knock on the door and Byeol held her breath, hoping she could feign off as she was still sleeping. She heard Yugyeom's deep sigh from the other side.
"Moon," her heart broke a little at how sad his voice sounded, "I'm going to the company for a bit. Please, eat something?" She didn't say anything and while her brain and heart were telling her to run and open the door and just let him hold her, her body was screaming to stay put.
She had no energy and as much as she was craving the comfort of her members, of anyone, she couldn't bring herself to face the reality yet. She heard the front door close and let out a sigh of relief. She laid there a little longer, staring at the white ceiling above her. She didn't even know what time it was.
She heard the doorbell ring. She groaned. She was going to have to get up. Leave it to Yugyeom to forget his key to get back in. The doorbell went off a few more times, the shrill ring of it starting to give her a headache. "Get your panties out of a bunch, I'm coming," she muttered, forcing herself up and to the door.
She didn't bother looking at the screen, just buzzing Yugyeom in and turning to scurry off towards her room before he came in. However she paused, confused as to why there was frantic knocking on the door. He knows the code to open the door, why would he knock?
She didn't make a sound as the knocking increased, slowly making her way towards the door and peering out the peephole. She almost collapsed. Chungho was pounding on her door, looking like a mad man. "Sihyuk Byeol, I know you're in there! Open this damn door before I break it."
Her body started trembling. She was scared, she was alone and she had no phone. This was probably her biggest fear of this coming out. The backlash of Chungho. Everyone else may not know how he was behind closed doors, but Byeol did. She knew what he was capable of.
How he knew where she lived she had no idea, but she could only imagine that a certain someone had easily given up the information. Her eyes were wide as she scrambled back to her room, slamming the door and locking it, curling into herself in a corner.
He was now pounding so loud on the door that she swore it was going to fly off it's hinges any second. She needed to let someone know, she needed someone. This was one thing she couldn't handle on her own. And like a miracle, a lightbulb went off in her head.
She scrambled to the kitchen, doing her best to ignore the pounding (or maybe kicking) of the door. She reached for the phone. It was directly linked to the security office for their building and while she wondered how Chungho had gotten past security, she had no time to ponder.
"Dongmin!" She whispered yelled. It was her favorite security guard, the nicest one that would actually have conversations with them. "Byeol! Nice to hear from you! I was actually about to tell you that—"
"Tell me later! There's someone trying to break in at the front door. Please help me."
She heard the click of the phone and ran back to her room, not bothering to hang up the phone. She locked the door, covering her ears and trembling in the corner hoping that Dongmin would get there soon and make it all stop. She heard yelling and screaming but the words didn't register in her head.
She was trying to breathe, trying to stay as calm as she could. Soon as he was gone she'd go to the company. Get Jackson. She didn't care how she looked but she couldn't be here alone. She whimpered at a sharp knock on her door. "Byeol?"
It wasn't Dongmin's voice, but it wasn't Chungho's either. "Byeol, it's Hyunwoo and Jooheon. Could you open the door?" She crawled over, unlocking the door and then back to her corner, curling into herself again. The door opened and Jooheon's eyes wildly searched around till he found her in the corner.
"Yeah, we got her. . .she'll be okay. . .yeah. . .we'll wait here. . .no problem." She didn't know how but it registered in her head that he was probably on the phone with Jackson. She felt a hand brush over hers and she flinched back.
"Hey, it's just me. Shownu. I just want to get you off the floor. Can you do that? I'll hold my hand out here. Take it when you're ready." It took a few moments, but when it registered in her head that Shownu was safe, she grabbed his hand, practically crawling into his chest and wrapping her arms tight around his neck.
He flushed a little and was taken aback by the sudden skin ship, but he wrapped his arms around her, standing up and walking into the living room and sitting on the couch. "Do you want water? Or a blanket? Or music? Or something?" Jooheon asked and she shook her head. "Thank you." She breathed, still clinging to Shownu like he was her lifeline.
"Jackson asked me to check-up on you and we were on our way to a schedule so Shownu-hyung came with me. But I'm glad we did come." She nodded, voice shaking that she was glad they did too. "Where—is he—did you—is he gone?" She started trembling again and Shownu rubbed comforting circles on her arm.
"He's gone, don't worry." It was silent, Jooheon anxiously pacing around and glancing at the door every two seconds until it was thrown open and 7 very worried and sweaty boys were sprinting into her apartment. "MOON!" Jackson ran up to her, yanking her out of Shownu's grasp.
"Are you okay?! Why didn't you call one of us?! Did he hurt you?!" Shownu placed a hand on Jackson's shoulder, shaking his head. "Calm down, Jackson. She's alright, just shaken up." Jackson nodded, pulling her into a tight hug that she gratefully accepted, sinking into him.
"Thank you. For being here." JB said to Jooheon and Shownu. They nodded. "Of course. We have to go, but please, let us know if you need anything." JB nodded, seeing them off. "Wait!" Byeol ran up, wrapping her arms around Shownu's waist who, was again, caught off guard.
He flushed a little, awkwardly hugging her back. "Thank you, oppa." She said quietly before running back to Jackson and hiding herself away in him. He smiled slightly, leaving. JB sighed, feeling the stress and worry go away and exhaustion take its place.
He turned around, seeing everyone doting on Byeol. He walked over, sitting next to Jackson who she was still curled up into. He tapped her arm, waiting for her to look at him. She managed to peek an eye out.
"Before we talk about this, I think we need to get you a new phone."
