The Ninth Member Of Stray Kids

"Why?"

It had been almost 3 months since Aera joined the team. The survival show was just 2 weeks away. The members were giving their all during the practices. Aera had made a good bond with the other members as well. She had become comfortable and close with the members in less time than she thought and it was the same with the members as well. 

About Jisung and Aera's situation, well- *sigh* he ignored her as if she wasn't even there. Not like Aera was expecting the opposite. She did try to get along with him at times but she knew it wouldn't work at the end. He was annoyed even by her existence around him. He liked practicing with the members as they played around with each other from time to time. But since Aera had joined the team, he looked as if it was a burden for him to practice with her. Chan had noticed Jisung's weird behaviour around Aera. But he didn't give it much thought thinking Jisung just isn't comfortable yet. Because even when he tried to talk to Jisung about it, Jisung didn't show much interest in it and gave some excuse or just changed the topic to something else. And even after all this, the unexpected thing was that- She still liked him.

She gave herself excuses such as- "Maybe he isn't yet comfortable with me" "Maybe he wanted Chaewon to get selected" "Maybe Its because Chaewon is filling up his mind" "Maybe he needs time to trust me" " Maybe he doesn't find me really talented" "Maybe this-" "Maybe that-" Too many 'maybes' had filled up her head. But she still stuck to it. Stuck to the fact that her feelings weren't going to vanish anytime soon.

Another day. Another evening. Another morning to evening and almost night being spent inside the practice room together. The 9 kids were putting their all in the overall performance practice. They had started with vocals then switched to rap and after being done with dance, they were now practicing their total performance together. Chan made sure that everyone got a break in between all of this. All of them were exhausted. They were going to collapse the moment the song came to an end. "Six, seven, eight and turn" Chan was giving the counts and observing everyone as well as performing with the others.

Everything was going nicely until Hyunjin decided to play around. He purposely spread his leg a bit more during a step going closer to Aera's position and as Aera was continuously shuffling her legs as per the dance she couldn't notice Hyunjin's mischievous trick and tripped on his leg losing her balance. She was going to fall and she did fall but- fortunately not on the ground and unfortunately on Jisung who was standing on her right diagonal side. Jisung didn't let her fall as he held her the moment their body came in contact. His reflexes were quick but he wished they weren't when he saw her. Her nerves relaxed when she realized that she didn't fall on the floor. She calmed down. Not really. Her relaxed expression changed to panic one when she realized the person she had fallen on. She slowly looked up only to catch his cold eyes annoyedly staring at her. 

Aera~ This isn't the time to simp get yourself together and say sorry. She told her inner self as she was almost going to get lost in those doe eyes. "Umm...I..Im sorry" She apologized fixing her position and now standing straight. "Can't you even dance properly now? Look where you are stepping" Jisung spoke angrily. And she thought it was over? "I..said sorry.." He scoffed at her. "Exactly! You said sorry. And even when you mess up during the show in front of JYP, do the same thing. Just say sorry and we are here to face the embarrassment for you as well" Jisung was making a big deal out of this and it was clear. "Jisung stop talking to her like that. I was the one who kept my leg in front of her due to which she tripped. And I'm also sorry for that. So just end it-" Hyunjin tried explaining only to get cut off by an angry Jisung again.

 "Oh please don't you take her side now. Even if your leg came in front of her can't she be a bit careful?" "How can I be careful when I didn't even see his leg" "Are you blind? no right? You have eyes given by god to see so better use them and look at the people around you" "What are you even-" "What are you even-" He mimicked her before taking a pause and continuing "You are not a princess for us to pay attention to where you step so you better-"

"Okay stop now that's enough!! Both of you" Chan had to step in after all. "What is wrong with you Jisung? She said sorry right? so just get over it and move on" Jisung chuckled at his words. "Yes exactly what is wrong with me. As if im the one who can't even do one thing that is given to me properly" "What do you even mean by that?" Aera spoke trying to understand his point. And everyone knew that this was going to get more worse than it already was. "You know all that I mean by this. Don't try to be all innocent when you are clearly not" "What are you even saying Jisung? And why are you being like this to me in the first place. just why?"

"So you really don't know? You want me to be the bad guy here? fine then so be it. You know I didn't wanted you in the group in the first place. And you aren't even talented enough to be here. You think I don't know how you locked yourself in that practice room that day and then framed Chaewon for it and even told about this to the teachers who were there for evaluating everyone so they ended up giving you the scores and now you are showing your true talent by making these mistakes" 

"Wow! So you are still stuck on that? Well let me just make it clear that no one actually even knew where I was and about Chaewon- She herself came to me asking me to back off from performing in the evaluations but when I denied her straight in the face, she thought locking me up inside would be perfect. And I'm pretty sure that she was the one who did it. Check the cameras if you want for that and I'm even sure that she is the one filling these things inside your head so wake up Han Jisung and see what's right and what's not by yourself. And secondly I'm really sorry to break it out to you but actually, she doesn't even love you. She is just playing around with you and you being the idiot, you are letting her do that" "Aera no-" Hyunjin's voice came out as a whisper as he pulled her back by holding both her forearms from behind.

"YAH! DON"T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT THROWING SHADE ON CHAEWON-" Jisung was boiling. Aera had hit his nerve. Seungmin had to hold him back this time by pulling his shoulder. "I AM NOT THROWING SHADE ON ANYONE!! infact she is the one who has been throwing shade on me!! And you- I am here because I beat everyone in the evaluations that day. I didn't frame anyone and nor did I tell the teachers anything. So don't make up things and speak rubbish like that just to make me leave the group or make the others want to push me out of this group thinking I'm a bitch. Because everyone here clearly knows that I am not. And stop with this unnecessary nagging of yours and even if you are annoyed I don't care. Deal with it. Just continue acting like I don't exist. Because I ain't going anywhere. So save that energy of yours for the show and quit trying to kick me out from this group. I'm leaving." 

Aera left the room closing the door with a bang.

"I was trying to play around with her to make the tensed atmosphere a bit light. Not taking her side or anything but I purposely stepped in front of her. I'm sorry about that. But even if she had really made the mistake, you didn't had to be like that. I'm also leaving." Hyunjin followed behind Aera along with Felix.

"I don't even know what to say about this" Chan sighed as he made his way out followed by the other. Jisung being left all alone.
___

Guess Chaewon has filled up Jisung's head. *sigh*

Thanks for reading! <3