Her alarm clock rang, startling Hyoyeon out of her dream. She sat there in her still room for a few seconds, blinking. Her eyes felt puffy and her cheeks were wet.

Was I… crying?

In confusion, she looked around and realised all of the eight other members were scattered everywhere across her room, some in the most ridiculous positions ever. A warm pair of arms was wrapped around her waist and she turned to find Jessica was hugging her tightly.

Why are they all here?

Then reality crashed back down on her.

He was gone.

Forever.

What a pain it was to wake up.

The initial lightness she had felt slowly drained away, until she felt herself being dragged deep down. Happiness was non-existent to her anymore, with her heart being squeezed so tightly she could hardly feel anything.

He always was there for her. During her darkest times, it was always him who pulled her out of her dark hole, with his comforting words as she lay broken in his strong arms. But now he was gone, and she was left all alone. She was not used to the chill that sank into her bones, without his warmth to drive it away

Can you hear me? Can you hear my heart calling out for you?

Her heart hurt so much it felt like someone had just plunged a dagger into her, twisted it right into her heart, leaving a gaping wound.  And there was nothing she could do about it but just bleed and bleed.

Hyukjae oppa,

I miss you so much.

Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes as a turbulent wave of emotions overcame her but she pushed them back painfully. She couldn’t, no she shouldn’t let her best friends worry. Hyoyeon numbly sat up. Jessica, the one who usually slept the longest, stirred at the slightest movement from Hyoyeon, yawning before sleepily raising her head. Yuri, who was on the other side of Jessica, immediately woke up as well.

 “Good morning Hyo.” They echoed simultaneously.

 Hyoyeon nodded at them, “Good morning unnies.”

There was an awkward silence. Jessica and Yuri sneaked a worried look at each other, struggling with the notion of asking Hyoyeon if she was okay. Should they?

“It’s true, isn’t it?”

Yuri and Jessica instantly snapped their heads around at the sound of Hyoyeon’s soft whisper.

Hyoyeon glanced at them briefly, eyes full of pain.

“He’s gone right?”

Yuri and Jessica just sat there gaping like goldfish, words not coming out from their mouths. Jessica finally pressed her lips together and tried to stop the oncoming flood of tears from flowing out of her eyes. Yuri squeezed Jessica’s hand gently and tried to say something, anything to comfort her but was cut off sharply.

“Unnie I’m okay. See?”

Hyoyeon quickly plastered a fake smile onto her face, trying to mask the struggle she was going through, and persuade them as well as herself just as much

Yuri reached over, grabbed Hyoyeon’s shoulders and stared deeply into her eyes, “You know I’ll be here for you. All of us will be here.”

Hyoyeon smiled lightly for the first time in two days under the caring gaze of the older girl, “I know. Thank you.”

“Unnies, I’ll be walking around for a bit, don’t worry about me. I… I want to do my usual routine, with or without him.”

Jessica and Yuri both nodded, but as they watched Hyoyeon stagger out of the room to wash up, they exchanged looks with each other. Yuri pulled the sobbing Jessica into her embrace and whispered,

“She’ll be fine.”

Alright first chapter done^_^ Please comment and let me know what you think :D Thanks for reading this~