Taste | Changbin

Chapter Forty-Two

Lennon woke up with her eye socket throbbing. The last thing she remembered was Changbin groaning in pain on the ground. Before she could get to him, Felix pulled her into one of the cars. She cried and told him the full story of what happened. He had wiped away her tears and promised that everything would be okay. 

This was the first time Chan had ever gotten physical with Changbin before, but Felix was sure that Changbin would forgive him. It was a messy situation. Chan had misread everything and seriously thought Changbin had harmed her. She had fallen asleep on Felix's shoulder. 

The beige hotel ceiling didn't provide her any comfort. The sun peeked into the room through a pair of thick burgundy curtains. Someone had shut them to keep out the morning light, but they hadn't closed them all the way. She knew she should get up, but she didn't want to. 

Changbin's face was a mess. Chan's knuckles were going to be bruised. She probably had a black eye. She was supposed to be their makeup artist. She was supposed to hide their flaws from the fans and play into the delusion that they were perfect. In a matter of minutes, she had gotten them bruised and battered. Even good makeup could only hide so much. 

If the fans found out, social media would explode with questions. Lennon would be looking for a job. Changbin and Chan's relationship was already on the rocks after last night. If it hit the media, it'd only be worse. They'd look bad, she'd look bad, Stray Kids would look bad, JYP Entertainment would look bad. 

She ripped the pillow from behind her head and shoved it into her face. She wanted to melt away. She wanted to forget the whole thing had ever happened. A knock on the door caused her to sit up immediately. Before she could get up, the door opened. 

Han snuck in backwards holding something in his hands. He quietly hummed as he spun around letting the door shut behind him. His eyes instantly met Lennon's. "It's good to see that you've risen from the dead." 

"Yeah, well I wish I was dead." She crossed her arms and flopped back on the mattress. 

"You don't mean that. You'd really rather be dead than be in a room with me? I'm thee Han Jisung, you can't get much better than this." 

"I don't know, six feet underground sounds a lot better. How am I supposed to face the two of them ever again? I ruined their relationship, Han!" 

"No you didn't." 

"But I did! Changbin probably never wants to see Chan ever again. What if they leave the band? Oh my god, your fans are never going to forgive me! If they find out, they're going to kill me. Even if I'm not dead, I soon will be. They're going to bury me alive!" 

Han chuckled from above her. "Do you really want to know what Changbin and Chan are doing right now?" 

"They're probably getting their asses chewed out by your manager. Oh my god, does he hate me too?" She placed the pillow back over her face. "Just kill me and get it over with already." 

Han removed the pillow from her face and sat down on the edge of her bed. "Chan and Changbin are currently eating breakfast in a shared hotel room. They're watching Saturday morning cartoons and laughing their asses off." 

"Stop messing with me!" 

"I'm not! Do you want to go see them? Actually, never mind, you should eat first. I brought you some fresh fruit. You should eat and take a shower." 

She sat back up on the bed. "What happened last night? Did anyone call an ambulance or anything?" 

"No. Changbin came back around from being knocked out and you went with Felix into the car. Chan had a brief meltdown and dramatically threw himself to Changbin's side and started apologizing over and over again. We ended up getting him up and putting him and Chan into another car. They ended up working it out before we got back to the hotel." 

"They probably hate me." 

Han glared at her. "Would you stop talking so negatively about yourself? It's not your fault that Chan went into overprotective father mode. I think I might have done the same if I was him. Now, get up and eat your fruit, so you can go shower afterwards." 

"Does my eye look bad? I can't see out of it." 

"Do you want me to lie or do you want the truth?" 

"I want the truth." 

"The truth is that Chan's elbow must be incredibly strong because you look like shit." 

"Thanks for not sugarcoating it." 

"Of course. We've got a big day ahead of ourselves. We've got a sound check and then another concert tonight. Hopefully, nobody gets their ass kicked after this one. We will check out early tomorrow morning and then we'll be on the way to Florida!" 

"How am I supposed to face the two of them?" 

"By walking into their hotel room, obviously." 

"Han!" 

He held his hands above his head. "I'm just saying, they're seriously not mad at you. They're actually both very concerned and they wanted to check on you, but they couldn't. Lee Know threatened to kick both of their asses and put them in the air fryer." 

"Of course he did." 

He bent over to the tray he placed on Lennon's nightstand. He grabbed a cold chunk of watermelon out of the bowl. "Think of it this way, you have people that truly care about you and that's not a bad thing." 

"It is when one of them beats the shit out of the other!" 

"You can't change the past, but you can learn from it." 

"And what was I supposed to learn from that?" 

"Chan is the ultimate alpha of Stray Kids." 

Lennon sighed before reaching over to grab the gray bowl. A fork was stabbed into a piece of pineapple. "I don't think that's what I was supposed to learn." 

"I think the real takeaway is that you have people who care about you. You have real friends that will go above and beyond to protect you like Chan did. The downside to that is communication. People need to be able to properly communicate with each other or else bad things can happen. Clear communication is a great way to maintain a healthy relationship." 

"You're right, but that didn't make me feel better." 

Han shrugged, "Chan is the ultimate alpha is a better lesson." 

Lennon shoved the piece of pineapple into her mouth. The tropical fruit burst on her tongue. She spoke as she chewed, "I hate you." 

"I love you too."