The atmosphere in the dorms hadn’t been looking good for these past few days. The IZ*ONE members were excited about having their comeback just days before. They were giving out spoilers, talking about the upcoming album with fans. The fans were hyped too as this will be their 1st Album after their debut for a year. However, the news of the results of Produce 48 as well as Produce x 101 were manipulated broke out. Just then, everything came falling into pieces for them. The comeback showcase they just left hours ago got cancelled, the comeback got postponed, variety shows they spent hours to record won’t be air on television. Attacks and hate comments coming from left and right. The members were devastated, and exhausted.

 

Nako had been crying the whole day, her face became very swollen that people might not be able to recognize the idol if she walks on the streets. Hitomi, the most disciplined member in the group, had been binge eating her favourite breads in her bunk. Yuri had been sleeping in her soaked bed the entire day, refusing to get out, refusing to face the cruel reality. The oldest two in dorm 2 were in the living room with their maknae. Sakura and Chaeyeon stayed on the sofa with Chaeyeon laying her head on Sakura’s lap. The main dancer had been sobbing until she felt asleep and when she wakes up, the tears starts to form uncontrollably on her face again. Meanwhile, Sakura sat in silence; hands caressing Chaeyeon’s sleeping face while staring at nothing. On the other hand, Wonyoung was laying on the floor as she carelessly let those tears rolled off her face, she’s too tired to wipe them away.

 

Dorm 1 was having the same situation too. Yujin had been crying in her bunk, she curled herself into a ball; head buried in her knees as she thinks about her future. The 16-year-old teenager dropped school for her idol career, she dreamt of becoming an MC for shows. Now, her job is at borderline danger, the show that she hosted is going to edit her out from the episode. The only emotions Yujin had were sadness, fear, and remorse. Yena had been declining phone calls from her parents, fingers shakily move towards the red button when her phone lights up. She was panicking, despite her parents’ objection of her becoming an idol because things didn’t turned out well for her brother. The young Yena chose to ignore them and went on the training journey, she made a promise to her beloved parents that she will be fine, she won’t end up getting bad things like her brother in this career as she wasn’t her brother. Now that this happened to her and her group members, she refused to face her parents, she wasn’t ready to hear what her parents were going to tell her. Chaewon and Minjoo cuddled on the sofa, with Minjoo bawling her eyes out and Chaewon sighing the nth time that day.

 

Eunbi sat in the kitchen, hands holding the 7th Sprite can she had gulped down today. The leader was exasperated, she hated how she couldn’t make the situation better, she loathed those malicious comments on the Internet that made her and her members’ life miserable. Most importantly, she hated how useless she is as the leader of the group. She couldn’t do anything when things went downhill, she couldn’t save her members from getting attack. Eunbi crushed the can she was holding in her hands and groaned out of frustration. Hyewon walked out from her room and seated herself beside Eunbi in the kitchen. The girl wore a blank face as she scrolled through her phone.

“Hyewon-ah, stop reading those articles.” Eunbi attempted to grab the phone out of Hyewon’s hand to stop her from reading those bad news.

“Unnie, I’m not reading those. Calm down.” Hyewon dodged the leader’s hands.

“Are you okay, Hyewon-ah?” The leader tilted her head as observes the expression on Hyewon’s face.

“Are you? Unnie.”

Eunbi stay muted. Of course, she was not okay at all. Who would be?

“Unnie, I’m fine don’t worry. I was about to break down just like the rest of others too but then I discovered those tweets from wiz*one on Twitter. It really gave me a lot of strength, unnie you should read some too!” Hyewon said as she shoved her phone towards Eunbi’s face. The phone showed the Twitter webpage where #WIZONESLOVEIZONE was trending on the website. Eunbi frowned a little.

“Hyewon-ah, I don’t understand Japanese, English, nor Chinese.”

“Just tap those translate buttons! Are you too old to use social media, unnie?” Hyewon made the comment which earned her a glare from the leader.

‘Girls! Please stay strong! We love you!’

‘Wiz*ones will always be by your side no matter what happen!!’

‘I became a wiz*one because of IZ*ONE, not because of Produce 48.’

‘Wiz*one! Let’s get together and protect our precious girls!’

‘IZ*ONE please don’t be sorry! It’s not your fault!’

‘My world! My light! IZ*ONE! Wiz*one will keep on support you!’

‘Wiz*one! Let’s stay positive and give love to our IZ*ONE!’

‘Guys! Let’s buy them off of the company! We make ourselves a company to let them stay together FOREVER!’

Eunbi chuckled at some funny tweets posted by their fans.

“Eunbi unnie, look at our fans. They always trust us and care for us. I don’t care about what the others think of us, as long as we have wiz*one, we will be just fine. Our comeback album was titled BLOOM*IZ. Which means we shall look blooming when we are meeting the fans again. So, let’s not be like a dead fish here and cheer up!”

“You’re right Hyewon-ah. Let’s gather the rest of them and have a big dinner tonight!”

“Heck yeah! I’ve waited so long for this!”

“Wait, so you cheer me up just to have a di – ” Eunbi hadn’t finished her sentence when Hyewon already went out to gather the members.

 

All the IZ*ONE members gathered in the living room of dorm 2 since the dorm was … cleaner. Most of the members were still drowned in sadness. Dried up tear stains were visible on their faces as they had a blank face on. Eunbi stood up so she could have a better view on all members’ faces.

“Kids, I know these days have been tough for us. Some of you might think you have cheated to debut, you’re nothing; you might feel sorry that you have dragged the group down. It’s not your fault, please stop thinking that you’re worthless or untalented. Who are we? IZ*ONE, a group of colleagues, a group of good friends, a family. As a family, We WILL get through this together! Through thick and thin, we won’t leave each other! We also have wiz*one, our fans who always give us support and love! We should believe and have trust in them. And in return for their support, we shouldn’t make them worry, so instead of sitting here crying. Let’s stay positive and happy, let’s work harder in our dance so we could give them better performances and show them a better us in the future! Our time is limited; therefore, we should share only blissful moments and memories with wiz*one! Everybody cheer up! Let’s wait patiently for further updates about our comebacks while stay happy and healthy!”

 

After Eunbi’s words, all the members put a sincere smile on their faces. What the leader said, had gave them hopes and encouragement.

“Yes, we should stay positive for wiz*one!”

“I wanna show a better me for wiz*one in the future!”

“Wiz*one’s our happiness.”

 

“Thanks for cheering us up Eunbi unnie, you’re the best leader IZ*ONE could ever have.” Suddenly, Chaeyeon went behind Eunbi and tackled her into a bear hug as she thanks the leader. The other members then followed Chaeyeon and soon it turned into a group hug. They were thanking and showing appreciation to the leader while giving hugs and kisses. Eunbi nodded her head while shedding grateful tears, she was enjoying this lovely moment; the warmth they all share in the embrace. After a good couple minutes of group hug, Hyewon was the first one to break off as she announces.

“By the way! A big dinner treats by our leader Eunbi unnie tonight! Woo!!”

“Hyewon you little brat!”