Felix POV

It had been a few days, Areum still had not shown up. We knew that she was in the hands of her cousins, but we still worried anyways. I had wanted to come by to visit, but I feared that I would be waking her up from rest or that she did not want people around. Eventually, I decided that I would come by. I missed her and really wanted to make sure she was okay and alive. So after school, I decided to stop by her apartment.

"Who is it?" A raspy voice came from the intercom.

"Felix." I said. "And just me."

"Oh.. okay." I heard a buzz, meaning the door was unlocked and I walked in. I went to the elevator and up to the ninth floor and went to her door, knocking on it as I got there.

"Hi, Felix." Areum tried to smile as she let me inside after opening the door.

"You okay?" I asked as I took off my shoes.

"Yeah." She nodded. "Thanks for cleaning up the house and helping me out when I was sick though." She went to the couch in the living room and sat down. "Exactly what happened though?"

I ended up telling her the full story, she listened to it and understood everything for the most part. She would ask questions about things such as when we found her, what state was she in, and all kinds of things like that. Her final question was about how we got in. I explained that it was Chan who knew the code. She nodded and jokingly told me she would have to change the code then.

"When will you come back?" I asked as I fiddled with my shirt.

"When my cousin lets me." She answered. "I would be there now, but my Unnie refuses to let me go until I'm at 100%."

"Oh..." I nodded. "Do you think you can come to see the performance?"

"Of course." She nodded. "I'll sneak out if I have to." She decided to change the subject. "Did Minho get his gift, or did one of you guys steal it?"

"He got it," I replied. "He's been using it ever since he got it."

A smile appeared on her face. "Really?"

"Yep." I pulled out my phone and showed her a picture. "See?"

"Oh, cute." She took the phone and looked at the picture, then gave it back. She was about to say something when she went into a coughing fit instead. I went to get her water and told her to stop talking if that would help. I could always stay over for a bit, even in silence anyways.

~*~

3rd Person POV

"Areum!" Jeongin ran up to her happily. All the boys followed after. He attacked her with a hug, making her smile. "You're alive."

"Of course I am." She chuckled as she looked at the others.

"You showed up," Jisung stated with a smile.

"I wouldn't miss this for the world." She let go of Jeongin, who still clung onto her anyways.

"Are you still sick?" Seungmin questioned, earning a nod.

"It isn't too bad, but I am still a little sick." She explained. "Don't worry about me though."

"Okay, enough of this." Chan clapped to get their attention. "We need to show Areum the choreo so that she can critique it." Chan smiled at them. "Of course, we won't dance too hard because we need to save that for the real performance."

So they performed in front of her. She fixed everything she saw that needed to be fixed. Soon, they would be going to be on stage and so she wished them good luck, giving them each a hug. They went backstage and she went to find a spot at the edge of the crowd. She was not going to push through the crowd, it was too much of a hassle. Plus, she could get a full view from where she was anyways. It was a chilly day and she had bundled up a little like the other people around her. She had a black jacket, like the many others around her, so she figured that she would not be noticed. They had prepared a stage and the song they had chosen to perform was called Young Wings. She watched everything happily as they did their stage. Every time she watched the guys perform, she was mesmerized by the fact that they choreographed themselves and created their own music. Once they finished, she clapped and cheered, going out of the crowd to see if she could find them again backstage.

"Areum!!!" Jeongin ran and attacked her with a hug once more. "Did you like it???" He beamed at her. "Was I good?"

"Of course you were." She smiled, hugging him back. "You all were great."

That is when all the questions started coming. After a while, she started to feel overwhelmed with the many questions that they had bombarded her with. "Was I good?" "Was there anything I could fix?" "Were you watching me?" "Anything we should change?" "What do we do next?" "Do you think we'll make it?" It made her head hurt trying to deal with the questions that everyone asked her at the same time. She kept her cool, hiding that she was being put under pressure to answer all the questions. She told them everything they wanted and needed to hear. Eventually, the round ended and the judges announced who would be going into the next round. Of course, as she had predicted, Stray Kids made it into round eight.

It was already seven in the evening and would take them a while to get home. Everyone split up into their groups and went home, but as usual, Areum wandered off elsewhere, not following Chanbin and Minho home.

~*~

Changbin POV

"She's being really distant again." He mumbled as we ate our really late dinner.

"Areum?" I looked up from my phone. "How so?"

"She just is." He stated. "I can't explain it."

"Sure you can." I nudged him. "Try Minho."

"I think we're all fighting too much for her attention." He changed the topic just slightly. "Making her feel like she has to be distant and that we have to find attention from each other instead. Or like she just needs a break from being pulled around all the time."

"Maybe..." I shrugged. "Did you ever thank her for the gift?"

"No..." He shook his head, looking down at his sweater. "I should do that now shouldn't I?"

"Go... she's probably out there, as always." I ushered him out to the balcony.

He went out there but came back in a split second with a worried expression. "Um... Bin... I don't think now is a good time."

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I'm officially back! So, updates will be starting up again!

Thank you to Rjbrs0427 for supporting me as I write!

No one really responded to that chapter about how you want me to update so I'll just go right back to regular updates + a few extra chapters (aka this one and the next few)

Also... HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHANGBIN. Ilysm. He's such a sweet guy uwu I love that baby. Because it's his birthday.....

These are all the pictures I have of Bin on my laptop right now... more to come cause Imma go on a downloading spree ;)