“Passengers, we are about to land so please, fasten your seatbelts. Thank you,” the soothing voice of the flight attendant calmly woke you from your slumber. You looked up at him, saw his soft features twitch in his sleep. You leaned over and buckled his seat belt, before glancing back at the rest of the members and Alex. You wondered what it would be like for him when you all stepped off the plane. He had been acting strangely and the fight between the two of them this morning was too serious for you to think it would blow over. You sat back in your seat and tried your hardest to focus but yet thoughts of the inevitable kept creeping back into your mind. You found yourself twitching, your leg shaking fervently as you looked back at him. You still felt guilty and all you could do was think of ways to make it up to him because you knew you were at the center of it. You hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to him much since the morning since the only thing passed between the two of you was brief. He was by himself most of the day as was everyone else, so you couldn’t blame his distance. His eyes fluttered open and he looked at you, breaking your heart. You bit your lip because what were you to do? His words replayed in your mind and you sighed, your leg aching even more. You then felt the plane meet the ground below and you knew everyone’s time was coming.

“Are you ready?” he asked coldly. You tried breaking a smile, but to little avail. You couldn’t remember anything between the time you landed and you stepped off the plane. You could only remember being jostled around as the other people made their way off of the plane.

“Shinwoo-“ “Boo~” “I hate you, you pi-“ “Go back to America, you fu-“ “ing -“Mexican slu-“ along with other insults barraged you. You looked at both of them and only one of them looked back. He tried to smile, but instead, he only shielded you from the bombs being thrown at you. Sandeul and Alex, eager as they were, tackled anyone in the way with the help of the security guards. Baro and Jinyoung were calm as ever, swatting away any antifans and fangirls that got too close. All of you were marked and social pariahs for the piranhas in front, to the sides, and behind to eat you alive. None of you were safe to anyone else but you were safe with each other, or as you hoped. He grabbed your hand you flinched away, not wanting to cause even more controversy. You only wanted to hide and go back on the plane, fly away, or just stay there away from the world.

Then, you felt yourself fall off balance and into someone’s arms. You looked around, there was Jinyoung, Baro, Sandeul, and the other one, all concerned in their own right, but not holding you. You looked up and there was a world of trouble ahead of you. You didn’t want to give him any ideas, but there you were. There was the water bottle that had struck you rolling away from your feet. Security immediately went after the girl who had thrown it. With that, you tried making your escape with the others to get your luggage and leave as if the outside world was any better. You finally made your way to the van waiting outside, the seven of you exhausted but you mentally exhausted. He tried sitting next to you, but you only wanted Alex next to you. She was the only one that could try to make you feel better. You didn’t want to see him or anyone else. You simply weren’t in the mood to be reminded of the problem you had brought upon the members. All you wanted was to get into the bath and wash the sins away and go to sleep. Alex didn’t say a word, but only let you rest your head on her shoulder. She didn’t say a word to Sandeul and the night was nearly silent except for the soft breathing of the sleeping members and the terrible thoughts buzzing around in your mind.

“If there is anything that you need, just let me know,” Alex called as she and Sandeul headed off to their shared room.

“You better not be doing anything terrible in there, maknae. I am still in charge,” you reminded her playfully, the closest to a joke as you could get for the day. It felt great to relax, to be yourself, if only for a brief second, but you still had to wash away the grime that stuck to your heart. You didn’t have the heart to try to share a room with Shinwoo anymore, so you decided to use the bathroom in the hall. The others bid you a good night with Jinyoung and Baro trudging to their rooms, exhausted.

Immersed in the nearly scalding hot water, you let the steam consume you and you tried to clear your mind. You tried to think back to a simpler time and wondered if you would trade in all this pain and yet all the joy you had over the last few months to go back to how it once was. You had a family, extensive and annoying as it was sometimes. You had friends that you could spazz about the dream you were living now. You had school and not the instability of having to run all over South Korea with the silly boys you fondly called your children. You had a simple enough job that hailed in comparison to the long nights here. Yet, you had everything you thought you had ever wanted here. But then, there was him. How could he not help you through this? What was the promise he made and would he keep it? Then there was the other boy that you could only know was hurting. You had sensed it from the very beginning, but you tried not to think about it, but this was not only a scandal for you but it was a scandal for the two boys, one at the center and one on the sidelines, hurting more than ever. Of course, no cared about his feelings because he was only the face, but not the face of it all. Who was there to care for him? Would you?

You heard a knock at the door and sunk down to your nose, hoping somehow this would deter them from entering. You thanked yourself for putting bubbles in the bath, but you still hoped they would not enter. Unfortunately, upon not hearing a response, he walked in and froze, blushing wildly before scampering out like a puppy with his tail between his legs. You sighed to yourself and figured he had come in for something important so you dragged yourself out of the bath, only half of your fears washed away as others came as you dressed yourself. You saw him sitting on the couch, waiting for you though he looked away as soon as he saw you.

“So are we going to talk about this or not?” you asked sternly.

“I guess it’s time that we start.”