It Just Happened That Way || JEONGIN from skz!

13

Yeona's POV

Numbness. Is that just me being dramatic, or did I really feel this numb from having betrayed a friend I had just met, only a month ago?

I get up and go to work. I blindly work on my tickets for the day, go into meetings,ol and feel empty as I listen to design reviews. I go to the climbing gym, in no mood to talk with others. My headphones are in. I stay in the training area where I can be alone. I come home. I feel like a zombie, trudging through my apartment, into the shower, into my bed. My eyes have barely closed, when the alarm goes off and I do it all over again. There's still no word from Jeongin. He hasn't been home — I hear no movement from his apartment. No doors slamming, no toilet flushing, no TV playing.

There's nothing I can do but wait for myself to recover.

Jeongin's POV

The first thing I did was pack a bag with the essentials and a couple of days' worth of clothes. Chan and Felix invited me to stay over while I thought over what had happened. I needed space, uninterrupted space, away from Yeona, to organize my thoughts.

"Jeongin..." Chan said when he opened the door. He could tell that Yeona meant a lot to me, and immediately pulled me in for a hug. Felix stood awkwardly behind, waiting his turn. I tried to give them both a smile. I know I was failing to hide how much this was affecting me, but I still didn't want them to be burdened by my own sorrows.

We all went to the kitchen, where Felix had baked a batch of cookies and set out cups for coffee.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Chan looks at me with concern as Felix put out plates for the cookies, and filled the cups.

"I don't know. No...It's okay."

The two of them frown concerned and sigh. I grab a cookie and the cup of coffee ("thanks yongbok") and headed to the living room. I wanted to just sit and think, and listen to music.

A couple of days go by. Each day, I blindly go to the company, and focus on dancing and singing and working out, all without much energy. I come home to Chan and Felix's apartment, and sit on the balcony, looking at the view, before going to sleep and waking up to do it all over again.

On one of the nights, I was finally feeling well enough to want to spend quality time with the guys. I asked in the group chat what their plans for dinner were, and they responded that they wanted a BBQ night.

Yeah, I guess that would be nice — it's been a while, and we had been working hard on new music.

I started setting up the kitchen for the BBQ while waiting for the others to arrive. Minho hyung arrived first, and looks at me before patting my shoulder and walking past me to the kitchen. He knew to not bother me when I was in a mood. Anyways, he had bought all of the vegetables, and went to prep them. Next, Chan and Felix returned from the meat shop. The atmosphere was becoming livelier. The rest of the boys came in a big group, bringing drinks and snacks and desserts. I couldn't help but to smile a little bit, and get swept away by the bustling energy of all of us crowding into the apartment for a yummy dinner. It reminded me of the times when we lived in the dorms and found time to actually sit down all together to eat. Everyone was talking over each other, bantering, dissing each other ("Aw hyung, why did you bring dessert, I baked stuff!" whines Felix, as Changbin replies with, "Sorry Bokkie, sometimes we want something other than cookies and brownies!" "Ohhhh!!!" shouts Hyunjin, as Han goes on to say "Bokkie it's been so many years, where's the cake!") Time goes by quickly, and we all become a little tipsy.

As the night winds down, I feel the buzz of alcohol in my ears, and the heat from the blood rushing to my cheeks. Chan and Seungmin are cleaning up the table, while the others are having side conversations about other things. Felix comes to sit by me on the floor in front of the couch, and asks, "Are you doing okay?"

With that question, I feel like the wall holding me up has cracked. I can't look at him — I just shrug and try to smile.

"Do you want to talk about Yeona?"

I sighed, and a rush of memories went through my mind. Yeona...

I finally began talking. I could hear the conversations in the background dying down as the boys leaned in to listen.

"So, Yeona and I first met coincidentally at a cafe. She was just a pretty girl who caught my attention."

Han and Minho whoop a little — I wasn't one to have my eyes caught by a girl.

"A couple weeks later, a new neighbor moved in next door — lo and behold, it was Yeona."

A couple of the guys say, "What..." in awe, some with suspicion.

"I don't know, guys, isn't that sketchy? It just seems too coincidental, now that I think about it."

"I think that it could go both ways. Either she's a Stay who got lucky and found this apartment that was next door to yours, or she's just someone who is being wrongfully suspected because of this coincidence," said Changbin thoughfully.

Everyone nodded in agreement. "She might not be a bad person. She's just unlucky to be in a situation where she could be suspected."

"Well, based on your interactions with her, do you think she's a bad person?" asked Hyunjin.

"She never told me that she knew about Stray Kids, first of all. I never told her I was part of the group either just because...well you guys know. It's awkward."

All of the guys nodded and voiced their agreement. I continued.

"We hung out almost every day." Some of the guys raised eyebrows. "I will say she seems really normal. She's from California, and moved here because she was sick of the US."
"Who wouldn't be, with Trump and all..." muttered Felix.

"She has friends from the climbing gym, but they don't seem to have talked about me at all." I paused. Hang on...based on Jaewoo and Jessi's [lack of] reaction to me, they don't seem to have talked about me at all.

"Doesn't that mean that she hasn't told anyone about you? So she's not like...malicious, as far as I can tell..." Seungmin said thoughtfully.

"Okay but what if she's just a selfish and greedy Stay who doesn't want to share you?" countered Minho.

"Or what if she's a Stay who wants to protect you and respect your privacy?" replied Seungmin.

"Guys she might not even be a Stay, but rather someone who doesn't live under a rock," says Hyunjin.

"...impossible," mutters Minho.

While they argued about Yeona's merits, all I could think about was how she must be feeling right now. I have all of these guys to support me and to talk to about this, and she had nobody. She especially had nobody because the problem was about me, a celebrity, and as far as I could tell, she did seem to respect my privacy.

"What are you thinking about, Jeongin," asked Chan.

"I'm...thinking about how alone she must feel right now."

Everyone goes quiet.

"Ha...You must really like her, beyond friendship," remarked Changbin.

Everyone laughs a little, patting my shoulder, lovingly cooing, "our little maknae is all grown up."

I roll my eyes and push off the hands patting my shoulders.

"But is it a good idea? With her?"

"I think it's fine to continue being friends. You make the call as far as anything more than that," Chan said wisely.

"Yeah, I think that, if I were in her shoes, I would also avoid saying that I know who you are, just because I don't want to seem like some psycho fan who moved in next door because of celebrity you, but rather like a normal person who happened to move in next door," added Seungmin.

The guys left me with a lot to think about, and I knew I had to do something about it.