Lee Saemin

Many things could happen in 1 week. All I knew was that Raena had stopped coming into the hospital, Go Yi Jung knew something about it but he kept his mouth shut pretty well. Even when he was drunk, he wouldn’t tell me a single thing.

His face was red from all the alcohol that I had poured for him, taunting him to tell me.

“So are you going to tell me why Raena isn’t answering my calls?”

“Shhhh! Rae Rae told me to keep it down for her.”

“You can tell me, I’m her best friend.”

He squinted at me,” If you are her best friend, why wouldn’t you know?” And he passed out, right there, after he taunted my friendship with her accompanied by that teasing drunken smile.

All I knew was that Jiwon had gained consciousness, and Raena had read the message when I sent it out to inform her. I was pretty sure she knew way before I had sent out the message since Yi Jung was her current best friend. Eun Hee and I had been busy around the hospital, Jina was no longer anywhere visible near us.

All I knew was that, Yi Jung was nowhere to be found when I had gone hunting for him, another day to try and pry his mouth open about the missing Raena. But his department’s doctors had said that he had called a leave for today. Where did that little chicken go?

And then I heard it, on the radio. It was the segment where listeners send in their own recordings and wait for it to be broadcasted. I was in Jiwon’s room with the rest of the iKON boys when it appeared. I didn’t think much of why Jiwon’s radio was on today when it was off half the time. But the nurse just shook me off and smiled as she walked off.

“H-hey, you’re awake now? I’ve heard about it. You know, I think I’m attracted to you too, but I can’t remain there to see you when you’re awake. It kills me to know that all those things were caused because of me. I’m a coward but throughout this week, I had been getting brochures and getting my transfer done. Are the rest of you there? I really love all of you, I just want to thank you all for being there during my spiral of emotions, especially after she had passed away. I needed time to myself, and that was I did in the past 1 week and I realized that I couldn’t do that peacefully here. So I’ve gotten my plane tickets, if you’re listening now, I’m on my way to board the flight. Many things happened, and we were all slightly messed up at one point. Please, don’t come, I’d come and find all of you when I’m ready. Thank you, and goodbye for now.”

Raena’s voice came through the soft speaker. Everybody was stunned, we knew she wasn’t running away since she had broadcasted about it.

“The last time she had talked to us, she ended with ‘I’ll leave you all for now, see you soon’ who knew that those words held so much?” Yun Hyeong whispered.

“Are we really not going after her?” Eun Hee demanded.

The silence lingered in the air, nobody moved. We all knew the answer, we weren’t going to go after her, when she had almost begged us to leave her for now, until she’s ready. She wasn’t emotionally stable when Jiwon’s accident happened, she was still recovering from her depression and maybe all she needs was a new location to try it all out again.

“That sickening bastard, Go Yi Jung, he knew about this all along but kept mum about it.” I muttered, cursing at the older male.

Jiwon? He had gain consciousness and we were supposed to celebrate today, but he had to hear it all. He looked away from us, tilting his head, to mask his emotions.

“Did you hear it all, man?” Han Bin whispered.

“Y-yeah, I did.”

“Are you not going after her, Hyung?” Jun Hoe asked.

“She had practically told us to give her space, if I love her, how could I not abide?” Jiwon whispered. His eyes were masked of emotions, I knew that he was hurt that she had left him, when he was at his weakest point.

Because sometimes, we need some time on our own to solve and clear up our mind. And that was exactly what Raena needed at this point. None of us had the heart to stop her from doing what she thought was best for herself.

-

Third Party

“Are you not going after her?” Woo Hyun asked the male, who was listening in to the broadcast.

“Why should I?” Myung Soo muttered.

That was the last straw, Woo Hyun pounced onto Myung Soo who was lying on the practice room floor. Sunggyu screamed at Woo Hyun for his actions as the younger members were all trying to get him off. Myung Soo laid there, not bothering about the weight on him. Woo Hyun grabbed