JEONGIN stared at his older female friend as they both lied down on the bed, holding each other's hands. He stared at her thoughtful, pained expression, his heart aching as he realized the exact memory she was thinking about.

"I know what you're thinking about, noona..." he began. "But I need to tell you what happened right after you left."

Mal sent him a questioning look, slightly confused.

"What happened?"

"What happened, Felix? Where is she?"

Felix allowed more tears to leave his eyes and soft sobs to escape his mouth, trying to dial her contact number despite his blurry vision.

"The number you're trying to reach is not available at the moment. Please try again later."

Felix stared at his phone screen in despair, then turned to his friends, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief.

"S-She broke up with me," he stated in a heartbroken tone, "and she said she doesn't want anything to do with us anymore!"

The seven other members stared at each other in utter disbelief. Chan bit his lower lip in disappointment- at himself and the members.

"Why did we do this?" Felix blubbered through his tears and pulled the person beside him in a hug. Hyunjin.

"I-I'm really sorry, Felix," Hyunjin muttered, returning his friend's hug, "I feel terrible."

Changbin stared at the floor in disappointment.

"I'm sorry too... I shouldn't have said that. That was horrible of me."

The other members soon muttered similar apologies.

"Do you really think we have to go, Chan? I don't feel good about this either." Seungmin asked their leader, a baffled expression over his face.

"Guys, I..." Chan started, but stopped mid-sentence as he had no idea what to say, "I'm sure as soon as we leave things will get better. I mean, we get to be with our parents. That's great, right?"

Chan's fake delightful voice made them shake their heads in disappointment, and he soon followed.

"Just... We're going to fix it with Mal, okay? Please, pack your bags so we can catch our flight. We can't mess this up too."

They all nodded at that, then turned to the messy luggages before them.

"Yeah. Let's do it."

Jeongin bit his lower lip as he finished the first part of the story, making Mal sigh heavily in disappointment and hurt.

"I was... Upset, you know? I wanted to believe that y'all didn't mean those words, but... I felt hurt."

He sat up straight almost immediately at her words, pulling her up with him.

"I know! Trust me, I know. We were so upset that we had to leave, and we were all stressed. I know it's not an excuse but..." he spoke in despair, "I shouldn't have said what I said, noona, and I'm really sorry. I love it when you're worried about us and want us to be safe. We should've listened to you."

He sighed, "what I said was terrible. What we said was terrible. I get it if you're still mad but-"

She shook her head and pulled him in a tight hug.

"You don't have to apologize anymore, Innie, because I'm not mad. How were you guys supposed to know that this was gonna happen anyway?" She paused as her breath stopped in her throat, the same question repeating in her mind.

How were they supposed to know?

How was she supposed to know?

She thought she could dismiss the terrible feeling in her stomach and move on with her life, without her friends by her side. But that wasn't possible.

After her phone call with Felix right before they left America, the terrible phone call that made everyone upset, including her, she knew she had to go to South Korea to check on them.

"And that phone call-" Jeongin began, which allowed Mal to retrace her memories back to that damn phone call.

Felix's eyes were filled with tears as soon as he dialed his lover's number and listened to it ring.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three rings.

No answer.

"She's not answering." Felix deadpanned, making them sigh in disappointment.

"This is all our fault." Chan muttered, earning a glare from Minho.

"No shit, Sherlock!" he retorted angrily, "We have to fix this."

"We need to apologize..." Changbin suggested, a wave of guilt filling his insides.

"But how?"

Chan turned to Felix and glanced into his tearful eyes.

"Try again."

Felix obeyed, pressing on the green button once again.

His heart continued to beat loudly in his ears. A wave of anticipation rushed inside him. He closed his eyes and listened to the phone's ring echoing into his ear.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three rings.

No-

Before he could think of something to do, he heard a static sound for a brief minute, declaring that she pressed on the answer button.

"Hello?"

The voice he needed so much was filling his ears soon enough, and he could almost scream in happiness.

"Hey, darling..."

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