𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑵𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 66
Confrontation

"So what's going to happen with Stray Kids?" I questioned as Chan and I walked down the quiet street.

"Well we could stay in JYP but some of the members want to work on other things like acting and I don't think our company would let them." Chan frowned. "I actually want to start my own company now, but I don't want to seperate from the kids."

"Ah." I noticed how upset he became at the thought. "Chris, you don't always have to protect them you know? They'll always be there."

Chris looked at me with a face threatening to spill tears, he looked so overwhelmed with the future and I didn't even know he was struggling with this thought until now.

"Alaska, what if they leave me? What if we barely see each other anymore? What if they go through a lot of hate and I'm not there to help them?" He let himself grow vulnerable around me, letting tears escape his eyes as he looked down with his hands in his face.

"Stop it." I brought his head and dug it into my shoulder as he wrapped his arms around me to hug me.

"I don't want to be a-alone. They saved me, what if I'm not good enough?"

"Shhhh, you are good enough and you have been good enough from the start. They love you so much, they'll come to you and they would want you to start your own company. They're always going to be here." I rubbed his back to comfort him.

Poor boy has had the same fear he faced when he debuted with the kids... I could tell this thought had always bothered him and it was only now that he finally let me know it.

Chan was selfless, he gave so much of himself to people and didn't expect anything else in return. He tried his best to make the best out of a negative situation. He was a good guy.

I really love Chan.

"Hey, let's go get some ramen yeah?" I offered as I held his hand and led him down the street to a convenience store.

Chan nodded his head and hung his head low so that no one could tell he was crying.

I don't think a lot of people see it but he's a very emotional person just like me, he shows his strength and his confidence a lot. I think he doesn't want people worrying about him too much but everyone has their breaking point...

I know I do.

• • •

"I'm here!" I dashed to Psy's office with a nice outfit I put together.

I was actually quite proud I came up with a nice outfit, I usually slap whatever's the first thing I see in my closet and run to Pnation so I'm not late.

"Alaska! You're finally back from America." Psy greeted with a huge smile.

"Yeah." I breathed out in relief with a smile. "Got back yesterday and went to sleep when I could."

"It must've been a lot back in America." Psy noted as he shifted his attention to the sude of the room that I hadn't looked at yet.

"Oh, it was definitely interesting and at times exhausting but I made so many great memories with my members." I chuckled.

"I'm glad you girls were able to enjoy yourselves on tour." He replied as he brought me to the side of room which revealed someone who I haven't seen for five years..

"Mako." I breathed out as she stood up and smiled at me.

"Yes! Remember that MC opportunity I set you up on? Mako and— Felix! Glad you could make it!" Psy turned to the door behind me.

Oh no. This is the worst nightmare I've experienced.

"Hello!" I turned around to see Felix greet my boss with a huge smile.

My heart skipped a beat.

It was him.

It was really him.

I haven't seen him in 5 years as well, it's truly been so long. He still looked so handsome.

I turned back to Mako who frowned at me before taking a seat next to Felix, oh she definitely still hates me.

My group ended up doing better than her group for some reason, maybe it was the anticipation of the fans watching the survival show or maybe that my group had self produced music but... Mako's group won less awards than my group.

It was truly a shock.

How would I know about this? Because Nina and Yuna wouldn't stop mentioning it! Seriously you would think idols are busy all the time and don't care about the news in the industry but Nina and Yuna are almost always the first to know what's going on.

Props to them. Seriously.

"You'll start tomorrow at around 7AM together, I thought I would let you all meet and get comfortable." Psy smiled.

I knew he meant well and doesn't know all the problems but like come on.. Psy... I'm going to kill you one of these days... Ah, who am I kidding? Psy was a great boss.

"You can head to the dance room, it's the only room empty at the moment." Psy offered as he led us outside. "Alaska, you can lead them."

And with that, he closed his office door leaving all three of us staring at each other awkwardly.

Except it was only awkward because Felix was staring into the side of head like I was prey.

"Um.. Follow me." I bowed before walking to the dance room and letting them in before so I could close the door

"I only accepted because JYP told me it would be a great opportunity for me, and my group." Mako explained as she sat on the chair.

"Great.." I fake smiled before turning to the documents Psy had gave me prior to this meeting. "So here is our scripts for the MC and it would be best if we could get it a little more memorized before we have to do it tomorrow."

"I don't really want to though." Mako rolled her eyes. "I'm really tired and I could memorize it tomorrow with no problem."

"Okay, then you can leave." I replied which made her look at me with a shocked look, looking like she didn't expect me to reply with that.

"Well... Fine." Mako stood up. "But before I do, we're going to have a talk."

"Sure." I bring her outside and close the door leaving Felix inside by himself.

"Who do you think you are?" Mako glared at me as soon as we walked away from the dance door.

"Me? I'm Alaska from the Dare Devilz." I crossed my arms with an unamused look on my face. "Who are you?"

"Ugh!" Mako scoffed at me before smirking. "I'm apart of JYP's recent girl group, my group has won many awards."

"I'm sorry." I laughed at her comment. "Many? My members can only count 6 awards.. And those were from your debut song, you can't seem to get more?"

Mako glared at me before stepping closer.

"You bitch." She hissed.

"Me? Seriously? I'm the bitch? I've always tried to reason with you before we debuted together and you took that as an advantage to exploit my friendship with Felix. You ruined my life!" I snapped at her and came forward. "You don't get to play around with someone's career like that, Mako! I was your member! You were supposed to protect your members as the leader! No matter what argument you had, no matter what grudge you had! Your job was to look out for me! A simple task!"

Mako took a step back as her eyes fixated on the ground with a frown. I need to get to her, she seriously doesn't understand what she did was so barbaric.

"I just— I didn't like how you and—"

"Ya, Mako!" I interrupted. "I looked up to you a lot back then, I let you have time with Felix and I apologized what more do you want? For your mistake and your grudge I had to pay the price, but as soon as I became the leader of the Dare Devilz I made sure to never leave the girls alone."

I take a step closer and snap my fingers for her to look up at me with her full attention.

"Mako, you were a terrible leader to me. Your group was in bad name because you exposed me, that was on you." I explained. "I felt so happy to become the leader of my group, even with the big responsibilities. I made sure the girls never felt alone, even when they made mistakes and our fans were upset I didn't leave them alone. Even if I had an argument with some of them at the start, I never left them alone to feel sad."

Mako looked at me with guilt in her eyes before swallowing harshly with sorrow.

"Mako." I kept going. "Think about the hate you got and still get from the media, it's because of your attitude towards the members. Be humble. It's a simple task that I did to debut. It's not always about being better than your members, let your members shine and if you're selfless then you'll let them shine brighter than you because you love them so much."

After I finished what I had to say and what I've waited for so many years to say, I walked back into the room and left Mako out there to think about what she's caused.