On and Offline - 사랑해 [Part 2 of New Text Received]

19

Aria's POV

I noticed a sheet of paper having been hung up on the wall in the hall.

All 8 members and staff
Please gather in the meeting room
Time: 6pm

I turned around to look at the clock behind me. 5:58! Oops...Did anyone notice the paper at all since we'd normally get text messages if something was to be discussed? I chuckled and walked to the living room. As expected everyone was hanging out there not showing any signal that they'd be about to move to the meeting room. "GUUUUUUUYS, MEETING ROOM, NOW!", I yelled and pointed my finger towards the door. "You have 30 seconds!" Then I quickly ran to the meeting room where the manager was already waiting. "You're on time, but where's everyone else?" "Well...your paper wasn't exactly that noticeable, Ajusshi", I mentioned chortling. "Ah Aria, do you want to be kicked? Don't call me Ajusshi! I feel old enooough!", he whined and sat down on the front chair. Slowly the others also arrived and the meeting started. "Okay so first of all: You probably all heard about the incident concerning Alison and Jisung. I wanted to inform you that the newspaper is sorry that they spread fake news and they wrote an apology. But I also got a message from Mr. Park Jinyoung to forward to you all that you should be very careful. You should not take for granted that every scandal can be cleared up this easily and he doesn't want you to cause more trouble. If you do, he will need to reconsider the employment of Alison and Aria. Is that clear?" Everyone nodded slowly. "I'm sorry once again", Jisung told the members ashamed. "It's alright, Han. We'll avoid trouble from now on, eh?", Chan spoke up and smiled at him encouraging. He's really born to be a leader. "The next thing I wanted to discuss is your tour", the manager took over again. "Your first concerts will be in Seoul, Auckland, Melbourne, Sydney, and Bangkok. Then you'll go to Europe, then America and lastly you'll finish off with two concerts in Japan. As the Seoul concert will take place tomorrow and you all will need to work hard, you can rest today. Only if you feel confident that everything will work out, of course. If you feel like you have difficulties with a dance or any other part, you should obviously practise. The flight to Auckland will depart on Monday. Please have finished packing everything by then!" Everyone looked at Hyunjin grinning. "What?", he whispered innocently but you could easily recognise his little smirk.

Alison's POV

After the briefing Aria and I had gone downtown to enjoy our last spark of freetime. As we had just received our paycheck a few days ago, we had decided to buy some clothes for the tour and came back at almost 10pm carrying loads of shopping bags. "Oi why is Seoul so busy? I literally didn't notice when it turned night as the people just wouldn't become fewer!" I moaned and threw my bags into the hall. "Woah same! And I spent too much money urgh...I bought you guys lunch last time and that cost me 300 bucks and now the shopping ahhh", Aria complained while trying to open the door to our room with her foot as her hands were occupied. "But you gotta admit that it was necessary to get this stuff! I mean we'll be in Auckland and at homeeee and it's gonna be damn hot. It's cold in Seoul so I just took a few summer clothes with me but heaps of warm clothes and all my stuff is long-sleeved!", I laughed and jumped up and down like a bouncy ball. "Oh my god, I can't believe we're gonna be at home! ...ah shit Mum's gonna meet Chan...I swear it'll be so freakin awkward aaaah!" I smirked. "Yeah, by then she will have watched all those dirty fanmade videos of your boyfriend and she'll think of him like he is portrayed in these video!" "Stoooop! Don't make me imagine my mum watching that stuff ah. I made sure to send her only sweet stuff, ya know!", Ari whined and I was secretly glad that this whole introduction stuff became superfluous for me as Dad knew Stray Kids very well. "Your Mum will watch the recommended videos as well, you know that, right?" "Can you just encourage me instead of giving me those facts bout my mum?" "Did I lie though?" "Ahhhhh jinjja I hate you!" When Ari had finally managed to open the door, we dropped our stuff and I decided to pay Han a visit before going to bed. ,,Awwwwww my dear Alison is gonna visit her boyfriend. How cuteeee~" Ari said in such a sweet mocking voice that I could slap her. I smiled instead and answered: ,,Yes. That's what I'm going to do!" ,,Alright darling. But don't stay too long! You know we need to prepare everything for the concert and that will take us quite some time. Probably we'll need to get to the concert hall at 8am!" ,,Yes mam!", I laughed and bowed to her. Then I waved at Ari and went to Han's room.

I knocked at the door but he didn't answer so I opened it quietly. I saw him lying on his bed sleeping. He looked so peaceful. Walking over I noticed a notebook lying on the floor next to his bed. I sat down on the edge of the bed and picked it up. The first page had been left blank but on the second I read: "Normally I would never write into a diary or something...I never have. But I just need to write down all this huddle in my head because I can't take it anymore. Since the incident on the beach my anxiety came back though it hasn't been as bad as before. But I'm scared it might become worse again. I have scenarios in my head that I don't even dare to write down. I feel like my anxiety could make me lose Alison and also the boys. I am really scared. But I don't want to tell her about it because she would worry so much. I have already made her worry last time, then I behaved like an asshole and I felt so guilty. I felt the panic in every vein. It's a vicious cycle...If I make her worry, she feels stressed, then I wanna make it up but I'd do something wrong. We both would get mad and I would feel guilty and my anxiety would intensify and so on. I'll better not make her worry for our own best..."

I put down the notebook. My heart felt really heavy and warm tears were running over my cheeks. I remember the time very well when Jisung had really bad anxiety issues. Reading these lines now made me feel like pressure was put onto my lungs and it took away my breath. Suddenly Jisung hugged me from behind. I hadn't noticed that he'd woken up. I wanted to say something but he was faster. "Ally, I didn't want you to see this. You are such a sweet girl and I love you so much and I don't want to burden you with my problems..." His voice sounded so weak that it broke my heart. "Hey...", I said and turned around to face him. "I love you too, okay? And you don't burden me with your problems. I really want you to know that I'm always there for you, no matter what". I saw tears running down his face and immediately started to dry them. I pulled him back into a hug and he thankfully hugged me back. There he was - crying in my arms in the middle of the night. I realised that I had to be stronger than ever before for Jisung to get better. After a while he sat up and looked into my eyes. "Can you please stay here with me?" Jisung asked still trembling a little. "Of course," I said softly, "but only if you promise me to sleep because we have to get up early tomorrow". He smiled and nodded. We lay down and I cuddled up to him. Jisung started to pet my head and I slowly fell asleep in his arms. In his room. In his bed under his blanket. Safe and sound.