The ride home for both groups was a quiet one. They weren’t sure what to say. The only people that had witnessed the attack from start to finish had been Aron, Heather and the cameraman. The cameraman was gone, Heather was sleeping and Aron wasn’t saying a word to anyone. Even as they arrived back at the dorm and got comfortable in the living room, they were silent.

“We should watch the tape then.” JR said and looked to Hoyeon as she spoke silently with Nu’est manager. The older woman turned and looked at them for a moment before looking to the still sleeping Heather.

“We’re going to watch it first in another room.” She said. “Wake Heather and ask her if she’s alright with other’s seeing what happened.” She said and looked to Jenny then.

“Yes ma’am.” Jenny said. She waited until the two managers left before looking at Heather, spread out on the couch, her head resting in Aron’s lap, the male her head gently. She frowned as she stared at the dark bruising and the puffiness on her neck. “Seyeon, can you get an ice pack?” she asked.

“Yeah.” Seyeon said as she got up and went into the kitchen. She rummaged around for a bit before she came back out and handed over the ice pack. Jenny smiled and moved closer and carefully laid the icepack on Heather’s neck. Heather jerked and sat up.

“Don’t touch me!” she shouted, panting. She looked around and stared at the shocked expressions of the members in the room. “Oh god.” She groaned, feeling so embarrassed. She covered her face and laid back down, ignoring the fact that her head was resting on Aron’s lap.

“Heather.” Jenny said softly.

“Don’t talk to me.” Heather whispered, taking in deep breaths. “Just leave me alone.”   Jenny looked back at the others then, looking for some sort of help. What were they going to do if Heather didn’t want to talk to them?

Ren squeezed Baekho’s hand suddenly and looked at him. The male cocked his head confused. Ren was a bit hard to read sometimes. But when the other got up and moved to the couch, he was pretty sure what that squeeze meant. It was a ‘don’t get jealous’ hand squeeze. Kneeling down, he reached out and carefully removed Heather’s hands from her face, giving her the first glimpse of Aron, who was staring down at her.

She blinked a few times before turning her head and stared at Ren. “What part of-“

“Heather stop.” Ren said. He grabbed the dropped icepack and placed it back on her neck carefully. She let out a shaky breath at the coldness. “What happened…was bad.” He said carefully. “But please don’t be hateful towards us. Don’t push us away. We want to help you through this.” He said.

“Why?” Heather asked.

“Why not? Aren’t we friends?” he asked and smiled sweetly at her. She looked away, nodding slowly.

“Yeah.” She said softly.

“And that’s why we want to help. You’re our friend and over the past few months, you and the rest of your group has become really important to us.” He said. “Besides, we’re Pledis, and we have to stick together, no matter.”  Heather laughed at him and shook her head.

“Ren-oppa, you’re crazy.” She said and closed her eyes some.

“I’ve been told that a lot.” Ren said with a smirk. “Look, we understand if you don’t want to tell us any back story on what happened or not, but, we do want to know what happened, so is it alright if we watch the tape of the attack?” Wow, go right in for the kill Ren, Heather was shocked at his boldness. But they were her friends and she was sure they wanted to help. She wasn’t sure how they could help, but maybe if they saw what happened and had a deeper understanding, maybe just having them there would make life a bit more bearable.

“Okay. You can watch it.” She said and sighed softly.

Ren smiled and nodded. “Thank you Heather.” He said. He leaned over and kissed her head gently before moving back to his spot. They waited until the managers came back and delivered the news. Hoyeon checked with Heather once more, who agreed with her. Hoyeon nodded and put the tape in and stood off to the side, watching it once more.

Silence filled the dorm as the images flashed and the voices were heard.  Heather watched it all quietly. Her neck stung a bit and she shifted the icepack. Those marks were going to be with her for a while, that she knew.

“Heather, what’s going on?” Aron asked in English, looking down at her. She looked up at him and frowned before looking back at the TV.

“He used to stalk me, back in the states.” She whispered and watched as she was knocked to the ground and strangled.

“Why would he do that? He seems…pretty obsessed with getting something from you.” Heather nodded her head slightly; motion limited thanks to the icepack and the bruises.

“He tried to me.” She whispered and looked away then. “It’s why we moved here. To get away from him. I don’t know how he found me.”

“Really? I can think of a way.” Aron said. She looked up at him confused and he smiled. “Being a k-pop artist comes with its disadvantages don’t you think?” he asked. Heather rolled her eyes and sighed. Yeah that’s right. She was a k-pop idol and easily seen on TV and the internet. Damn, didn’t think that one through. It was her own mistake that this happened. But for him to come all the way to Korea and still stalk her, how had he managed that one?

She sat up slowly and took off the icepack, staring at the others at the tape ended. “And that’s the story of my life.” She said.

“Who was that man?” Tiffany asked as she turned and looked at her.

“He…” she paused and took a deep breath. “He’s my stalker.” She answered. “Someone I thought I left back in the states. But apparently not, as Aron pointed out. It’s my own fault for not being careful, but I didn’t think…” she trailed off again and sighed, looking away. “I didn’t think he would find me. It’s been three years.” She said.

“What does he want from you?” JR asked, sitting there, knees drawn up. His face was scrunched up in concentration. He was trying to understand this and think of what the man would try next. He was going to be ready and beat the man. No one hurt his friend.

“What most men want from women.” Heather answered as she looked back at them. “That’s what he’s after. And…” she looked to Aron and smiled. “I don’t think he likes you too much.” She said. “I mean, being competition and all.” She teased, giggling as Aron flushed.

“Look, I said that to maybe make him leave.” Aron tried to defend himself.

“Really?” Baekho asked and smirked. “Because I certainly remember a lot of late nights were ‘oppa’ chased away bad dreams.” He teased.

“Oh, let’s not forget that stuffed tiger you bought her too.” Seyeon added with a smile.

“And-“

“Alright, alright! I get it.” Aron huffed and sighed, shaking his head. He looked back at Heather then before sighing. “Not very slick am I?” he asked.

“You have a lot to work on.” Heather said and looked to the others, smiling. “Thank you guys.”

“For what?” Minhyun asked.

“For making me smile just now.” She said.

“Anything for you noona.” Ren said and grinned.

“Yah!” Heather said and frowned. “Don’t remind me I’m older than you.” She pouted.

“Heather, you’re older than all four of them.” Jenny said and laughed. She crossed her arms and sighed.

“Well it’s not my fault I was born in January.” She said and looked away.

“Naw, but you’re still our cute maknae.” Tiffany said. Heather smiled and nodded. Tiffany stood and walked over, taking the icepack. “Okay, so let’s do something to forget about what happened okay?” she suggested.

“Good idea.” JR said and stood. “Do you guys have a karaoke machine?” he asked.

“Of course!” Seyeon giggled and got up and left the room to get the machine. Hoyeon took the opportunity to walk over and take Heather’s phone off the table.

“Heather, I’m getting you a new one, new number.” She said. “I’m going to turn over this evidence to the police and we’ll get this taken care of.” She said.

“No!” Heather said and stared up at Hoyeon. “Please.” She whispered. “I don’t want this to get out to anyone. I don’t want…to damage anyone’s careers because of this. It’s my fault everyone got dragged into this.” She said.

Hoyeon stared at her and sighed. She looked away, thinking on her words and nodded. “Fine.” She said. “I won’t do it for now. But if another incident happens-“

“It won’t.” Aron said and nodded. “We’ll make sure of that.” He said.

“Or we’ll take care of it on our own.” Baekho said and smirked.

“That’s right. You mess with one Pledis, you mess with them all.” JR said.

“Oppas.” Heather said and smiled. “Thank you.” She was so thankful to have such caring friends and co-workers. Without them, she wasn’t sure where she would be. But she knew wherever it was, it wouldn’t so happy and joyful.