[Tuesday - 08.59]

"And then we just go back into the chorus." Hyunjin suggested, marking the part in the papers laying scattered on the table.

"Yes! That's good hyung." Jeongin beamed happily, clapping his hands.

Minho and Seungmin nodded along, Felix already far too gone in his own imagination to be listening.

"Can we go visit Channie and Binnie now?" Felix whined, wanting the homemade smoothie Chan had promised to bring him.

"Yes!" Minho beamed.

"Of course you wanna visit, your loverboy is with them." Jeongin teased, wiggling his eyebrows annoyingly.

Minho sent him a playful glare before getting up, jumping down the hall towards the production studios.

The latter ran along the hallway, looking through the different windows for his Ji. And the others. But mostly Ji.

"Here!" Minho beamed, throwing the door open.

The 3 didn't even notice, either too caught up in their work or because they were wearing headphones.

Minho bounced softly over to Ji's chair with a smile, snaking his arms around the latter's shoulder.

Ji turned to Minho with a smile, pulling the headphones off their head.

"Hey." Minho smiled happily, arms wrapping around the other's neck.

"Hey guys! How's it going in here?" Felix half-yelled in excitement, entering the room like he owned it.

Ji only smiled in return at Minho, not wanting to interrupt the others conversation.

"It's going goodie. Ji's making the beat, I'm making the instrumental and Binnie-boy over here is arranging the structure of the song." Chan answered happily, patting Changbin's shoulder jokingly.

"Ok enough producer talk, I want my smoothie!" Felix whined playfully.

Chan chuckled and opened his bag, pulling out 7 plastic bottles of homemade smoothie.

"Pass these around." He muttered at Felix, whom held every bottle up against each other to find the one with the most content.

Ji watched the delicious looking smoothies get handed out to everyone but them. They turned around, pretending to keep working. Pretending they didn't notice everyone complimenting Chan on his smoothies.

'Of course he wouldn't bring one for you. He's not your friend, dumbass. He's only with you because he has to'

Minho complimented Chan like everyone else, his attention span too small to notice the change in Ji's shoulders - how they tensed and hunched over - the uncomfortable aura the younger was radiating.

"It's so good, wow. Right Ji?" Minho cheered, turning to the younger.

Ji turned around at the mention of their name, forcing a small smile.

"Yeah. Yeah it looks good." The latter softly said, quickly turning back around.

Realization suddenly hit Chan, making him slap his own forehead.

"Oh my God, Ji, I'm so sorry. I totally forgot I only brought 7. I promise, next time I'll bring you one too." Chan groaned softly.

"No, no. It's fine, really. I-I'm on a diet anyways." Ji forced another smile.

"Yeah you're on a diet, alright." The tallest amongst them scowled, eyeing Ji up and down in disgust.

"Hyunjin!"

"What the fuck Hyunjin!"

"Hyunjin, the fuck is your problem!"

Ji only sighed, head hanging low and shoulders now even more hunched over. Minho sent Hyunjin a nasty glare, teeth gritting against each other.

"Ji and I are going out for a bit." Minho sighed, smiling softly at everyone but Hyunjin before grabbing the latter and pulling them outside the studio.

Minho lead Ji a little while down the hall, stopping in a corner to talk.

"You're not on a diet, Ji? What was that?" Minho worriedly asked.

"I just... Didn't wanna make him feel bad about only bringing 7." Ji shrugged, forcing a smile.

"Are you sure that's it? Because if you really are on a diet - if you feel like you need one - you absolutely don't! You're perfect, you're gorgeous and beautiful just the way you are. You don't need to change your bod-"

"Minho it's fine. Really." Ji cut Minho off with a small chuckle.

"I just said it so he wouldn't feel bad. I'm 100% not on a diet, and I'm not getting one in the future either." Ji insisted.

Minho smiled softly, muttering a small 'ok'. The latter sighed and hugged the younger softly, giggling cutely. 

"Ji!" Chan's voice called out from down the hall.

The two turned to look at the latter, stepping out of their hug. Chan jogged over to them, something clutched in his hand. The latter handed it over to Ji, making the youngest look at him in confusion.

"Take mine. I'll just steal some from the others." Chan happily said.

"Oh, no it's fine. Really. Keep it." Ji tried giving it back only to get refused.

"No, please. I insist. Consider it an apology for everything i and the others have done to you." Chan insisted.

Ji smiled softly and nodded, accepting the bottle.

The door to the studio opened, everyone piling out of it happily.

"Binnie's going out for a cig so we're taking a break and joining him." Felix happily chippered, gesturing the whole group along. 

Chan and Minho quickly caught up with the group, leaving Ji in the corner of the hallway all alone. The latter walked back into the studio, sitting down in their chair and picking their headphones up and putting them on.

'Stop hurting, you have no right to feel bad. I'm not their friend. Stupid heart.'

⚠️⚠️⚠️
[Graphic physical violence]

Ji logged back into their computer, listening to the beats they had made. Their head bobbed lightly to the beat, fingers tapping the desk. Light laughter echoed through the halls outside of the studio. It was high pitched and fake - probably from some random bitch. 

"Oh, look Kookie. It's the freak all alone in his freak studio." Jennie laughed, looking through the see-through door.

Ji tried ignoring them the best they could, but jumped up, ripping the headphones from their head as the door was thrown open. The latter quickly got to their feet, backing away from the 2 and their collective group of 9 friends. 

"Pin him down boys." Jungkook smirked. 

2 of the guys walked around the evil king and queen, roughly grabbing Ji's arms. Another one walked up behind Ji, kicking their knees in, making Ji fall to their knees with a pained scream. The same person grabbed Ji's head harshly, slamming it into the table behind them. 

Ji cried out in pain again, vision blurring. 

"I'm feeling particularly art-sy today. Mind if i express my art on you, fag?" Jungkook asked with a small fake smile, pulling something out of his pocket. 

Ji's eyes were too blurry to see what it was. The latter could see Jungkook getting down on his knees in front of Ji, grabbing their hair harshly. 

"Stay still and don't make a sound or i'm gonna make you pay." The bully threatened in Ji's ear.

Ji furrowed their eyebrows in confusion. Something was placed to Ji's arm, digging harshly into it. Ji cried out again, feeling the grip on their hair getting tighter. 

"I said shut your mouth freak!"

Ji continued to cry out in pain with every harsh cut of their skin. Their whole body was aching and tired. Their head was feeling light, but throbbing painfully. Blood was running down their arm, wetting the floor and their clothes as well as running down the back of their head from the harsh hit they took.

"I'm done. Leave him to bleed out." Jungkook snickered, turning around. 

The 3 holding Ji down let them go, Ji immediately falling to the floor with a thud. Jungkook draped his arm over his girlfriend, laughing together with their friends as the group left, not even bothering to close the door. 

Ji stayed curled up on the floor, breathing unusually calm for a situation such as this one. They were barely conscious enough to register the small gasp of the person finding a bloody body on the floor of the studio when walking through the hallway. Barely conscious enough to register them calling out for help. Barely conscious enough to hear the voice of their vocals teacher trying to talk to them. Barely conscious enough to register getting picked up and put onto a board, and then loaded into an ambulance.