Close (Stay pt.2) - Stray Kids FF (RESQ SAGA PART 4)

100. Stay Close

"We're just a bunch of cheerleaders," Alix said, recalling the time when the boys had claimed her as their personal cheerleader when she first joined ResQ.

"No, we are a bunch of dorks," Leah said as they all laughed yet fully agreed with her. "I get that it's the last day of the year, but it feels even more nostalgic than usual..."

"So, are we addressing the elephant in the room?" Hyunjin asked and sat properly. "Not seeing the five of you every day is going to be strange."

"I didn't think I'd ever say this, but I think I'm going to actually miss it a lot," Seungmin admitted. "Even though we are eight members, I can tell the dorm is going to feel very empty."

"Wait, did you actually just say that aloud? Am I dreaming?" Soojin said sounding genuinely shocked. "Seungmin!"

"I take that back. ¡Hasta la vista! Goodbye!"

Even if he took it back, they all knew he didn't really mean it and simply laughed except for Soojin, who tried to hug him.

"Let's try to keep the mood up!" Alix said. "No goodbyes, no crying and no anything like that. We are just moving to another neighbourhood! Well, except for Lin."

"But you'll have me back here in no time, which is just the same. We have internet, so there is nothing we need to worry about."

"That's right, we don't need to worry about a thing. It's just a new chapter in a book, right?"

"If this was just a chapter then what a chapter!" Jeongin commented. "The author should chill a little."

"Author, have you heard him!" Alix exclaimed looking at the ceiling as if she were talking to God. "Calm down a little! We had enough!"

"Let's switch genre for the next chapter and make it... I don't know... a rags to riches story!" Leah suggested. "Should we think of MusiQ as a start-up?"

"That would mean meeting villains along the way, so let's just end the book here," Lin told them. "We've had enough for a lifetime. Let's now just live our lives as peacefully as retired elderly."

"You are truly a sixty-year-old trapped in the body of a nineteen-year-old," Chan told her. 

"Grandma Linlin, thank you very much," she admitted. 

"Let's now sit down and eat. The food in the oven's nearly ready," Mika told them. "Come on, let's move to the table."

ººº

Although they had dinner happily and had fun together just like they always did, as midnight approached, things were much different. The girls would be finally leaving, and they couldn't even stay for the night that day because the dorm was technically no longer theirs, so it was inevitable that they were seeing it as a goodbye.

Even though they would be still seeing each other, their group dynamics would change. They were going to be living very differently from then on and, even if it were for the better, everything would change for them, the only thing that wouldn't was their friendship. The girls would stop being artists under a label to become CEOs. Even if they had been friends for a long time, it felt like they were somehow in another league. Like they were their seniors and not actually their juniors.

"Five minutes until midnight, everyone!" Jisung exclaimed and approached Alix. "Let's hope 2021 brings us good fortune."

"Let's hope so!" Alix told him with a smile.

Whether consciously or not, the couples slowly moved together as midnight approached. None of them had lived in the US -aside from Hyunjin but as he was young it didn't count-, but they had taken on their tradition of kissing at midnight.