Sweet Nightmare

Departure

Nayeon laid down on the living room couch, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She's thinking a lot about Chaeyoung who refuses to pick up. Nayeon doesn't know about Tzuyu, Mina and Jihyo's visit to Chaeyoung since the latter asked them to keep it a secret. As she was lost in thoughts, she felt a slight touch on her shoulder. She opened her eyes to find Jihyo smiling at her.

"What?" Nayeon said angrily.

"We have a concert to rehearse for" Jihyo said happily "you should get ready"

"A concert huh?" Nayeon looked furiously at Jihyo "we have a missing member don't you know

"Unnie! Chaeyoung is an adult and she made her own decision. No one forced her to leave" Jihyo complain.

"Maybe she left because she's disgusted with you" Nayeon started shouting "remember what she said? She said I won't renew especially when I remember that I have to work with someone like you"

"Girls what's going on?" Jeongyeon and Sana came running "what's with the screaming?"

"Coming to think of it we're all wrong" Nayeon started to cry ignoring Sana and Jeongyeon's question "she was the best trainee during Sixteen. Everyone was scared of her because she's very talented but now she's thrown under the bus because us. I will never forgive myself for this" Nayeon cried even more.

"Chaeyoung will come back to us I can feel it" Jeongyeon said as she patted on Nayeon's shoulder.

"I think we should put off the concert" Sana said "I think it won't make sense without her"

The girls groaned as they realised that their situation is helpless at this point. they didn't know what to do nor how to continue without Chaeyoung. Each one of them discouraged the other until they heard Tzuyu running to them with a confused face.

"Twice meeting" Tzuyu panted.

"What?" Jeongyeon asked.

"Didn't you receive the message?" Tzuyu looked at each one of them "JYP sent a message it says we have meeting tonight at 7pm"

"What is this about?" Sana wondered "could it be about the concert?"

"I don't think so" Jeongyeon said "PD-nim is not like us, he wouldn't stop the group's activities because Chaeyoung left"

"Only a couple of hours are left until we know everything" Tzuyu said.

The girls felt a bit more nervous about this sudden meeting. They started getting ready and headed to JYP headquarters where they gathered in their usual room and waited for Jinyoung to come. The latter joined them in a matter of minutes and cleared his throat to start the meeting.

"I myself don't know why I'm here" Jinyoung said "I didn't even call for the meeting"

"Who did?" Nayeon asked.

"Chaeyoung" he said then paused for a moment "as a matter of fact Chaeyoung got discharged from the hospital today and---"

"And she's right here" Chaeyoung appeared suddenly with two crutches "a bit late but here"

"Chaeyoung-ah! What is this? What happened to you?" Sana asked.

"I was hit by a car and .... here I am" Chaeyoung smiled widely.

"Are you here because you changed your mind about leaving?" Momo asked.

"If I find something tempting why not" Chaeyoung raised an eyebrow.

"And by tempting you mean.....?" Jinyoung asked.

"Let's have a seat first shall we?" Chaeyoung talked in a serious tone making all the girls focus with her "we are nine and that's a lot. No matter how fair we want to be we won't satisfy all the members"

"Chaeyoung-ah!" Jinyoung interrupted her "I think you're the only who's complaining about this"

"Are you implying that I should cut the drama and lead a better life?" Chaeyoung felt disappointed for a moment.

"I didn't mean it that way, what I'm saying is that the girls are adapting well with the group" Jinyoung explained.

"And that's the problem. I'm different from the girls that's why I was thrown under the bus"

"I wouldn't phrase that way Chaeyoung-ah, it's just that ---"

"I don't want to change PD-nim" Chaeyoung interrupted him "I want to be the exact same Chaeyoung that joined you company ten years ago. Jihyo changed herself but it didn't work" Chaeyoung sighed then resumed "I'm not implying that it's something bad but I just want to be myself"

"Look, I know it's not my business but..." Nayeon intervened "But there was that idea that I discussed with the girls, and by the girls I don't mean Jihyo, and I hope it solves the problem because we really can't see ourselves continuing without Chaeyoung"

"What's that idea?" Jinyoung asked curiously.

"Solo debut" Nayeon said.