Chapter 22

Kim Jongin

Background Music

The past four days were full of screaming girls from the performances, which were becoming more frequent. The Fist had tweaked their schedules, adding in two concerts a day. They were beyond exhaustion, and Kris started taking medicine to stay on his feet. Kai worried about that along with the girls.

The girls seemed to have it way worse. At least they bought a ton of food. Each concert they were done at, all five would sprawl out and watch dramas while stuffing their faces with as much food as they could. Kai helped Aisha as much as he could. Chanyeol gave the other boys advice for dealing, telling them to stay out of the way and to do exactly what they asked of them in order to survive. Xiumin just hid out with the other boys.

They learned very quickly to stay away from Minji, because she snapped at everyone and only tolerated Suho, Kris, and Lay. Kai didn't understand why...he assumed the leaders thing, but why Lay? He was extremely clueless. If anything, Lay's cluelessness would get on her nerves.

SunJung was just hungry all the time, and as long as she had food she was perfectly normal. During one of the concerts she actually got off the stage and set off homemade fireworks again, ticking off the Fist even more. It made the headlines, gained more popularity for Jewelz and SunJung earned the nickname "Mischevious One," because no one knew what kind of prank she'd pull next, especially with Chen, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol around.

Aisha was a lot more open to snuggling, which made Kai extremely pleased, and only suffered minor cramping and got irritated easily. Minha let them start taking naps together between concerts as long as she was keeping an eye on them, which strengthened their relationship. As the days passed, Aisha updated her videos and her journal, taking pictures of everything and anything, and getting extremely embarrassing photos of everyone.

Sage needed constant attention, a heating pad, and painkillers. Luhan did his best to take care of her by rubbing her stomach and planting kisses on her face. She would also lash out and there were a few more cat fights between Minji and her, sometimes leading the two to be in separate rooms and not speaking for hours on end.

HeeYoung was a crying mess. Anything cuter than a smile and she'd burst into tears, sputtering in Japanese about how adorable everything was. Most of the boys didn't know what to do about that. Tao, who couldn't stand to see her cry so much, cared for her even though she continuously pushed him away.

On the worst day of the pains, all five were groaning on the couch, clutching pillows to some extent. The painkillers weren't subduing any of the pain and the boys were in shock that day. It was also the day that changed the mood of the trip entirely.

"How long will this last?" Kai said, Aisha's hair.

Today is my last day. So is SunJung's. But the last day is always the worst. The other three have two more days after today. Fifth day equals worst day.

"Fantastic." He mumbled. He looked around the room and saw that Baekhyun and Chen were messing with SunJung's puffy curls as she sat, holding a pillow to her stomach.

"Guys, please stop. Today is the worst day for me. I'll plot and scheme tomorrow." she said patiently. The two looked like sad children who realized their playmate was sick. Chanyeol nodded.

"Yeah guys, give her some space." he said. The three boys instead sat next to her and talked, clearly knowing that she didn't want any teasing.

Kai looked over to the other side and saw Minji and HeeYoung cuddling while watching a very sappy romance movie. They had found a chocolate stash and were feeding each other chocolate pieces as well.

"It'll be okay, it'll be okay." Minji kept saying to her in Chinese.

"But it huuurrrrrts." HeeYoung sniffled back in Chinese. "And that boy finally finding his way back to her...it's just so beautiful...."

Minji grabbed a heating pad and placed it on HeeYoung's stomach, then she grabbed a pillow for herself. Tao entered the room and saw HeeYoung's sniffling and immediantly rushed over.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, cautious to come any closer. Instead of pushing him away like he expected for her to do, she took his hand and gently had him sit down next to her. She curled up against him and cried some more. Tao, utterly bewildered of the new behavior, gathered her up and she rested her head against his chest.

"There, there. Don't cry." He said softly, still confused but more concerned about the crying girl he obviously liked. Kai assumed Tao was secretly loving the behavior change.

He looked to another side of the room and saw Sage holding the other heating pad up to her, head in Luhan's lap, making groaning noises while Luhan played with another Rubik's cube Sage specialized for him again.

"What. Is. This." A voice boomed out, disturbing the silence. The Fist made his way into the train-bus, holding a couple of magazines and his work tablet. The girls sat up, confused. The other boys filed in, wondering what was about to happen.

"What is it?" Minji asked, pausing the movie. He tossed a magazine to her. She gasped. "How did they-"

"You four." He said, keeping his tone as even as possible. He was looking at Kai, Aisha, Sage, and Luhan. "Are the most irresponsible and unprofessional people I've ever known." SunJung stood up, holding back a gasp.

"Now wait just a minute, what are you talking about?"

"Their little food run a few days ago." He growled at her.

"Well, if you let us get some food, you would'nt have had to deal with the publicity." Minji snapped. "We are people, you know."

"Not one word, princess." He said to her. Minji glared at him.

"It's unwise to mess with bleeding girls." Sage said, crossing her arms. "These boys can vouch for that."

"You know, before you and your American habits came to this industry, they would actually listen to me. Maybe if you left, they'd actually start obeying again." He sneered. Sage stuck out her tongue at him.

"Sorry big scary guy, but you don't have jurist diction over me." She sassed, cocking her eyebrows up. The others looked at her in astonishment. "And I was just following orders. Everyone else was in on this too, not just me, Luhan, Kai, and Aisha." She continued. "We were hungry, we offered to get food, they made the distraction. Sorry, but we get hungry."

"It was still highly unprofessional. How can I trust you, especially you four, if you keep pulling publicity stunts?" He asked sternly. Aisha rolled her eyes. Kai spoke up.

"Uh, sir, it wasn't a publicity stunt." He said.

"Yeah, you're overthinking this." Luhan added.

"Look at this thinking...this is not how you were taught, was it? Defying your superiors? This isn't normal." It was slightly unnerving to hear his voice even yet so serious.

"It's normal if you realize what's right and wrong." SunJung spoke up, daring to walk closer to her superior. "I may be raised in two different cultures, but even then I can realize what needs to be said and what doesn't." Sage, Chen, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol nodded in approval.

"This foreigner is putting bad thoughts into your heads." He said, pointing to Sage. She snuggled close to Luhan.

"How many times to I have to say that my name is Sage? S-A-G-E. It's not that hard to remember. C'mon. You're killing me." She said, rolling her eyes.

Suddenly he lashed out, grabbing her wrist tightly and yanking her away from Luhan. The groups gasped, Aisha's the loudest. She was too familiar with that action. "I'll call you what I want." He said through gritted teeth. Sage's eyes grew wide with fear.

"L...let's not fight..." HeeYoung stammered.

"You stay out of this." He sneered. HeeYoung's eyes teared up.

"B...but...sir...you're hurting her..." She said, tears leaking from her eyes. Sage was trying to escape his grasp. He gripped tighter.

"Shut up, Japanese twit. This doesn't concern you. And stop crying, you're such a baby." HeeYoung, scared out of her mind, began to cry harder.

"I said, STOP. CRYING." Without warning, his hand hit her face. Skin slapping skin. Everyone stared. You could hear a pin drop in the silence. A red mark began to swell on her face. was open in shock.