Another two weeks had passed, quietly all of NCT Dream had stalked Somin when they could. Quietly they would follow her in the halls even if she was with Stray Kids. From the rooftop, Renjun would watch as her and the rest of Stray Kids ate lunch together outside. During class Jeno and Haechan would observe her, more of Jeno intensely staring at her to which she would turn back to and glare at him to get him to stop which he wouldn’t. Chenle had the managers of different bars and cafes book Stray Kids so that he could monitor her during her performances. From time to time Jaemin would go into the security room where all the security camera footage was kept and monitor her movements, paying the security guard side money to keep it as a secret. Jisung was more straightforward with Somin, whenever he saw her he would wave at her, earning glares from the rest of Stray Kids, but he didn’t take notice of their glares. Jisung would continue to try to approach Somin during school even if most of the time she ignored him in annoyance of his numerous questions.

“So what do we have?” Jaemin clapped his hands together. NCT Dream were all in their usual hangout room.

“Well for starters, her and her band have a gig every Saturday, they perform at any place that’ll pay them. There’s one place in particular they always perform at, a small cafe, Danbin, they play there once every month, been like that for nearly a year now,” Chenle stated.

Jaemin clapped in approval, “What about you guys?” he turned to the others.

Haechan raised his hand, “She’s an A-cup,” he stated, earning him a slap in the back of his head by Jisung.

“She’s good at math,” Jisung said, to which Haechan gave him a slap in the back of his head.

“What did you find Jaemin?” Haechan asked.

Jaemin in his teeth, “She has a younger brother in elementary she takes care of.”

“She depends on that er Felix,” Renjun said annoyed, his tone colder than usual. The boys turned over to him, his eyes were focused on glaring at the wall, he clenched his jaw as he continued, “They’re practically inseparable.”

“I think that was pretty obvious,” Chenle spoke up.

Renjun glared at the younger male, “If we want her to join, we have to find a way to separate them.”

“But how?” Jisung asked.

The six males quietly stared at one another thinking of what to do.

“Welp, let’s call it a day, I’m hungry,” Jaemin stood up and stretched his arms out wide.

“Already?” Jisung looked up startled.

Jaemin’s stomach growled and he laughed, holding onto his stomach, “I have to feed her or else she’ll keep rumbling,” he patted his stomach with one hand.

That lunch period Renjun was seated on the roof overlooking the school and observing Somin as he had been for the past few weeks.

“What are you thinking about?” Jeno sat down next to him.

Renjun side eyed Jeno before looking back down at Somin who was laughing at something Jeongin had said. “Nothing,” Renjun shrugged.

Jeno took a sip of his canned apple soda, “I think we both messed up with her,” he was watching Somin now, seeing her smile brightly as she stared at Felix who was sitting next to her. “We both started off on the wrong foot with her,” he took another sip of his drink. Him and Renjun had both talked to each other of how they had met her after Jaemin revealed who he wanted to recruit for the band.

Renjun just shrugged again, “Nothing we can do to change it.”

“You think she’ll ever trust us?” Jeno asked.

“Hard to say. The more important question is will she ever like us?” Renjun questioned to which Jeno shrugged, but inside the both of them hoped that she would grow a liking to them.

Weeks had passed and NCT Dream made no progress in convincing Somin to join their band. The tension between the Wangyun and Seoul Central students lightened a bit, there were less fights, but the two schools still did not mingle with one another. Somin’s home situation didn’t get any better, she had begun to spend more time at Stray Kids’ apartment than she had liked, but she didn’t have anywhere else to go that was safe.

It was Monday and Stray Kids were planning on practicing after school, Somin separated from the group having to take Sohun home from school. The rest of Stray Kids had agreed to go on ahead first and to meet her in the practice room, they had just started to practice a new song and wanted to perfect it before their performance that weekend. Somin looked over the music sheets Minho had given her prior to leaving school as she walked to the practice room.

“What are you doing?” Somin asked when she came into the practice room, seeing Jiyun’s lips locked with Felix’s. She pulled Jiyun away from him and asked the same question, “What are you doing?” The rest of Stray Kids weren’t there, it was only Felix and Jiyun that were in the practice room before Somin had came.

“What?” Jiyun crossed her arms over her chest, “What does it look like? I’m giving him a break like he deserves.”

“What?” it was Somin’s turn to ask, she was at a lost for words.

“It must be exhausting for him to have to be your boyfriend don’t you think?” Jiyun began to ask, “Hasn’t he ever asked you for space? Have you ever respected any of his wishes?” she stared at the girl in front of her that was at a shock for words, rooted to her spot, “It’s like you constantly need him and if he’s not with you all the time you’re gonna fall apart. Don’t you think it’s exhausting for him to be with someone who is so ing needy?” Jiyun kept on pressing.

“Felix?” Somin looked over to the male who was silent. “Is this all true?” she asked, her voice coming out to be just above a whisper.

“Of course it’s true,” Jiyun answered her.

“No, it’s not it can’t be,” Somin shook her head, “Don’t you remember the words you told me, ‘love me til the day I die’?” her mind flashed back to the day they had confessed to each other. Somin’s mind was quick to turn desperate, she was afraid of the truth if it meant hurting her. But soon enough the gears began to click into place, “You used to call me baby, and now you just call me by my name,” Somin paused trying to recall the last time Felix had called her baby, it had been too long that she couldn’t even remember. “It’s the small things Felix, I noticed them, but I chose to ignore it because of how much I love you, but did you not feel the same?” Over the past few months since Stray Kids had transferred to Seoul Central High Somin noticed how Felix stopped calling her cute nicknames and instead called her by her actual name, but she didn’t say anything. It was a minor detail that Somin thought she shouldn’t take too much into consideration, but after seeing Felix kiss Jiyun it started to make sense to her and the worse situations kept running through Somin’s mind.

The male in front of her stood still, quiet. The two of them were used to telling each other that they love the other, but the way her tone came out this time, desperate, caught him off guard, even shattering him on the inside.

“Was everything a lie?” she asked him.

He shook his head but no words managed to come out.

“You were everything I wanted, everything, I thought I knew you. Was it me? Was I not good enough? Were my problems too much of a burden for you?” A sigh escaped her lips when he didn’t say anything, “I know I’m a lot to handle but at least tell me so I can fix myself.” Inside, Somin hoped that whatever it was that bothered Felix she could fix and it wouldn’t ruin the flow of their relationship. She stood there waiting for him to respond, “Are you even going to try to defend yourself?” her eyebrows scrunched together, hopeful that he would. But the male just stood there, unable to propel himself to do anything. Stray Kids had walked in in the midst of Somin’s outburst, carefully treading around them to get to their positions to start practice, they were unsure of exactly what had happened but hoped that it was something that could be easily fixed through talking.

“I’m done then I guess, I quit,” Somin threw the music sheets in her hand down and grabbed her bag, heading to the door, tears beginning to stream down her face. In front of him she did her best to compose herself so that she wouldn’t cry, as soon as she stepped out of the room they escaped from her eyes.

“Say something man,” Seungmin said from across the room. 

Somin had already left the practice room.

“Are you not going to go after her?” Chan asked the younger male, when he saw that the male didn’t even flinch or attempt to move he got up from his drum set, “Fine then, I will,” he grabbed his jacket and went out the door, rushing to catch up to the girl whom was already in the elevator on the way down.

“Somin,” Chan called, sliding into the elevator with her as it was closing, “Will you talk to him about it? I’m sure there was some reason for his actions,” he tried to catch his breath as he talked.

Tears were rolling down her cheeks, “No Chan, I gave him a chance to speak and he even didn’t take it.” Seeing her cry tore Chan to pieces.

“Are you really going to leave the band like that?” his voice came out soft.

Somin sniffled before looking at him in the eyes and nodding, “I can’t be around him right now.”

Chan nodded knowing that there wasn’t going to be a way to convince her until Felix and her mended their relationship. “You can still talk to the rest of us, we’ll be here,” he gave her a smile.

“Thanks,” she sniffled once more and gave him a smile as best as she could even though she was broken inside.