It Just Happened That Way || JEONGIN from skz!

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A/N: What is up, my dear few readers :) I just finished moving into the new house, but there's so much to unpack and clean and organize. On top of that, I'm on-call at work, so I have to fix whatever breaks right when it breaks, and let me TELL you about how our stuff decided to break this weekend more than once. I got paged 30 times while inside Ikea, and ended up sitting in one of the fake apartments with my laptop out LOL. Anyways, enjoy the next chapter. Next weekend, i'll be back on my bullshit of writing more than one chapter a week. Love you all for the support! Vote, comment, add to your library, whatever it is that is customary in Wattpad culture. :) Read to the end for good news that I just wanted to share!  

Jeongin's POV

It was already our first concert on tour. I twisted the ring around my pinky as the boys and I waited backstage. My heart was pounding, and I looked around at each of the guys. We were at our designated platforms, which would raise us up to the stage. I could hear screams from the fans who crowded the arena. Finally, the beat started. We stepped onto the platforms, and readied ourselves for the jolt of the lift. I took my hand off of my ring, adjusted my mic, and stood tall, ready to perform.

YEAH! YEAH! STRAY KIDS IN THE BUILDING!

Jisung-hyung began rapping the first song, 3RACHA having been raised up first, and the rest of us took our places for the intro dance.

The concert went by in a blur. I was tired but energized from Stay's energy -- it was exhilarating. When we finally got back to the dressing rooms, I picked up my phone and saw one new message from Yeona. I smiled and felt full of love from Stays, from the guys, and from Yeona.

How was the first concert!!

I quickly typed back, It was amazing. Insane. I can't believe we're performing again. Ugh I wish you were there!!

She reads the message right away and replies, Me toooo. Europe leg of your tour, I'm there. You know it.

I smiled, and looked up as the staff members called me over for something. I quickly put my phone away and went over to film a clip for MNET's fan event video. We all took a bunch of photos afterwards, and I could feel my eyelids begin to droop from fatigue. I could see that the other boys were in the same boat (all except Chan — crazy man, he was on his laptop doing God's work).

Every day was spent in a different city, jumping from bus to bus, plane to plane. I felt a twinge of guilt for not being able to be as present in Yeona's life. It became increasingly difficult as we moved from city to city, and to different timezones. The feeling of guilt began to tug at my heart more and more. But it was hard to do anything about it. Every day would be spent traveling, rehearsing, filming interviews, filming skztalker, performing. It went on continuously. I wasn't tired yet, but I knew that it would happen soon — the burnout.

One day, after so many consecutive days without a proper rest, I looked at my phone and realized that I hadn't replied to Yeona's message after 3 days. I panicked and replied, profusely apologizing for not replying sooner. She read the message, and simply said, "It's fine, I know you're busy." I sigh. I didn't want to make her feel neglected, but that was exactly what I was doing. It was hard enough when we were in Korea doing comeback performances — throw in a tour, and it's just...impossible. I called her at that moment, knowing I had about 5 minutes to spare. She didn't pick up, and texted, "busy, sorry." I felt crushed, but felt like I deserved the cold shoulder. I text back that I'll call again later, but when later came, the call slipped my mind, and I went to bed.

The next morning, when I realize what I had forgotten to do, I apologized to her ardently again, and she responded with another curt, "It's ok, you're busy."

At this point, I felt a mixture of emotions. A real rollercoaster, to be honest. I would be in the highs when on stage or at fan signs. It was amazing to see so many happy people. But every time I had time to think about anything else, it was about how I was treating Yeona poorly.

I felt like I needed to talk to someone about it, so I went to Felix. He would know what I was going through.

"Yongbok, can we talk?"

"Sure, what's up?"

We both sit down on a couch in the dressing room.

"How are you and Jason dealing with this?"

"The tour?"

"Yeah, I just...am having a hard time being a good boyfriend to Yeona. I feel like I'm neglecting her a lot, and I am, but I just don't know how to be better because we're just so so busy."

Felix gives me a tight smile with sad eyes. He nods, props his elbows onto his knees, before leaning his his face into his hands. He rubs his face a little, before pushing his hands through his hair.

After exhaling sharply, he says, "It's...hard. To say the least."

I chuckle a little.

"We made it a point that we wouldn't be texting often at all. To not depend on it. Instead, we are doing one email per week."

I raise my eyebrows at him.

"Don't laugh, it's just more time effective that way, and we get more into our letters that way. I mean, even sitting down to write the email is kinda hard, but it's easier if I write it throughout the week, and send it to him like a bunch of diary entries."

"Huh. That's actually a pretty good idea."

"Yeah, it's been working pretty well so far. Oh, and we call once every two weeks." My eyes widen. 2 weeks?!

"It's a long time period, right?" I nod at him, frowning a little.

"It's just...also what works. We don't schedule it or anything, we just try to find a time every two weeks to call and talk and hear each others' voices."

"Wow. You guys really have a system. Me and Yeona didn't really set any system except that we should expect too much communication because of the tour. But I guess we never set a boundary on what it means to have little or a lot of communication."

Felix reached over to pat my shoulder. "It's tough, but we love them, so we need to make it work."

I nod. He's told me a lot of wise things. "Thanks, Felix. Really. This was really helpful for me."

"Of course. You can always talk to me about these things."

I smile, and start to get up.

"Oh wait, also, I'm going back to Seoul to visit Jason once the Asia leg ends — you saw on the schedule we get 2.5 days off, right?"

"Oh my god. What? I didn't see that. What?? Okay. Wow. Okay. I'll do that too."

He laughs at me. I feel like a kid again, the maknae making silly mistakes. We both get up, and Felix swings his arm around my shoulders. "It'll be okay. Just get through these next weeks and we'll be back in Seoul to make amends." 

I laugh with him, but still feel a little guilty. I knew I would have to do my best to make it up to Yeona. 

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A/N good news about myself, but I haven't shared with a lotta people so I wanted to share here! I got approved to work remote from Korea for 6 months so i'm going from April to October! I'll get to see Korea for the first time since 2003, and see all of my extended family for the first time since then. Very excited.