Boy Band Games: Why Don't We Edition ✓

S2: 65 | My Man Band

"Never got the chance, to say our last goodbye."— Sasha Sloan, Dancing With Your Ghost

Chapter Sixty-five
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HOW LUCKY AM I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard?

A soft sigh escaped my lips as I dragged my suitcase from the baggage claim, wanting no more than to run back to where everyone was and say that this was all a huge prank.

But it wasn't.

And it isn't long before they find out the truth either.

"Lotte!" I heard Zach call for me from over two hundred meters away. "Over here!"

I felt my stomach lurch as guilt started eating my heart out.

Head up high, hold your emotions in, Lotte. You've got this.

"Hey Lotte that's the wrong way!" Jack shouted from where he was.

I could only imagine the puzzled faces they have as they continue to watch me walk away from them.

My mind flashed back to the call I had with my mother last night before all my encounters with the boys happened.

"Hello?" I waited until I was alone outside again before I pressed the green accept button on the phone.

It isn't like I wasn't expecting this call.

I've been expecting this call for months, and no matter how badly I want to put it off by ignoring the voicemails, messages, and even the occasional email, I can't. I have to face this one way or another.

"Charlotte Elora." The familiar voice sent chills to my spine.

My breath hitched and my heart clenched as I walked towards the bench Angel and I were talking on earlier. I brushed off the snow that was on the bench and sat down, letting my back relax against the backrest.

I brushed my anxiety aside, taking a deep breath as I calmed my nerves.

I clenched my eyes shut, bracing myself for the long-awaited lecture I've been expecting for months now.

"Mom."

"You've been ignoring my voicemails." Her motherly tone was there but I knew that she was disappointed in me.

A soft sob bubbled up from my throat. "Mom I—"

"You haven't told them yet, have you?" Her concerned voice made its way to my guilty ears. "And now you're guilty because you don't know how to say goodbye."

I dislike how she's almost always right.

She took my silence as a yes.

"I told you so." Her words struck my heart.

And she did tell me so. She told me that I would get too far in the tour and I would be putting off my education for the sake of it.

When Trina had invited me to go on tour with her, it was only meant to be temporary. I was supposed to go back before October, but alas, due to the unexpected turn of events I was promoted to proxy. I had a choice though. Since Ibiza and the entirety of management— even Marie, Mason, and Will— knew about my temporary stay with Trina before, when they made me proxy, I was given the option to leave before October.

But I was stubborn.

Stupid.

And above all, selfish.

"I talked to the dean of Harvard College of Medicine. They're taking you in as long as you attend classes the moment school resumes after holiday break."

Harvard, my dream school. Medicine, my dream college. My education matters to me the most, and I still can't forgive myself for putting it off for something as selfish as my own feelings.

And so here I was, at the JFK airport, leaving the entirety of my newfound friends behind as I made my way over to the government car my father had assigned to pick me up.

"LOTTE!"

"L!"

"ELORA!"

Several voices started to call after me, and it was then that I decided to run. They must be running fast behind me as I could hear their voices coming closer by the second.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" Jack's voice cracked, making my heart break.

The driver seemed to sense the urgency of the situation as he hurriedly picked up my suitcase and shoved it in the trunk, all while I entered the sleek black car with the government plate at the back.

As he started the engine, I looked outside the window. The sight of five boys running towards the government car with devastated and horribly betrayed expressions on their faces punctured a permanent hole in my heart.

My hand absentmindedly fingered the firefly necklace Daniel had given me for my birthday, and my eyes flitted towards the acetylcholine bracelet wrapped around my left wrist, glimmering in front of my eyes like nostalgic trinkets on display.

"I'll..." I trailed off, my voice barely above a whisper.

As we drove away, I looked back to see the five boys out of breath, turning smaller in my periphery by the second. Silent tears cascaded down my cheeks as my heart beat a slow, melancholic rhythm inside my chest.

"I'll miss you, my man band."

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