Chapter 22
"Eunji-unnie..."
Junghee was pacing back and forth. She was holding her phone, talking to Eunji who went with their manager at the supermarket.
"What?" She asked.
"There might be a teenie, tiny problem..." Junghee was biting her lip.
The other members went outside to chase Haejin who ran away.
"What is it, Junghee? Go straight to the point, otherwise I won't give you the gummy bears you asked me to buyㅡ"
"Haejinunnieranawayandthemembersarechasingher."
"What the heck? Speak slowly!" She demanded.
She was nervous.
Junghee gulped, "Haejin-unnie ran away and the members are chasing her."
Eunji, on the other hand, clenched her fist. She was angryㅡno, she's furious.
"WHAT?!? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!?!?" She shouted.
"U-Uhm... w-we were kind of reading the article a-about Jaemin-sunbaenim and H-Haejin-unnie.... a-and... we read the c-comments and... w-we didn't know... that Haejin-unnie w-was listening."
"HEOL I'M COMING BACK. STAY THERE."
****
Haejin was running. She doesn't know where to go. She was wearing a light blue sweater and sweatpants.
She was crying. She didn't expect that the comments were like that. It stabbed her right at the heart.
Her head was throbbing. Her feet started to ache. She was tired of crying. But life was decided to give her reasons to cry.
She sat down on a bench nearby. Her eyes scanned the place. It was unfamilliar.
She decided to call Mark.
"Minhyung-oppa please answer...."
But he didn't answer.
She wiped the tears that kept on escaping from her eyes. "Please stop.... stop...."
She decided to call Jisung when Mark didn't pick up.
"Yeoboseyo?"
Haejin was glad to hear Jisung's voice.
"J-Jisung-ah..."
"Haejin? Are you crying?"
A sob escaped from her mouth.
"Heol, where are you? Haejin-ah!"
"I-I'm... I-I don't know where am I, J-Jisung-ah..."
"I'll track your phone, stay where you at, okay??? I'll go there!" Jisung said.
"O-Okay.."
And the line was cut.
It was cold.
Her head was throbbing. Her whole body hurts. No, she is hurt. Physically, and emotionally.
Minutes later, a familliar voice called her. "Haejin-ah!!"
Once she heard it, she immediately ran towards that person and hugged him.
"Jisung-ah...." She cried once again.
Jisung hugged her tighter.
"Haejin-ah.."
Jisung wasn't alone.
"Chenle... Renjun-oppa..."
Chenle and Renjun hugged her.
"Haejin-ah? Why are you crying?" Renjun asked.
She shook her head, saying nothing. "M-Mark-oppa... w-where is my brother? C-Can you.. b-bring me to him?"
"Mark-hyung has schedules with 127. They're at SM. Let's go." Jisung answered.
****
"Break time!!!!"
The NCT 127 members immediately sat down, and drank water. They have been practicing since yesterday.
"They really love 'Chain' don't they?" Yuta asked.
Taeyong nodded.
The door opened. Haejin, Chenle, Renjun, and Jisung entered.
"Haejin-ah?" Mark asked.
Haejin immediately hugged his brother, crying on his chest. Mark was startled, he has never seen Haejin like this, even when Jaemin said that he didn't like her.
She was holding onto Mark for dear life. As if Mark would disappear.
"Haejin-ah? Haejin-ah? Tell me what's wrong. Haejin?" Mark cups Haejin's face.
Her eyes were red, her whole face was red.
"Mark-hyung, here..." Haechan handed him a glass of water. Mark gave it to Haejin and she drank it in a gulp.
"Haejin-ah, talk to me... what's wrong? What happened?" Mark asked.
Haejin sat down, covered her face and continued crying.
Mark remembered that Haejin cries like this everytime she gets really disappointed at something, or at herself.
"Haejin-ah... are you disappointed about something?" Mark asked.
The other members were looking at them. They look really worried. It wad their first time to see Haejin cry like that. In fact, it was their first time to see Haejin cry.
Haejin slowly shook her head.
"Are you perhaps disappointed with yourself?" Mark asked.
He didn't get any response.
"Haejin-ah, answer me..."
Haejin slowly nodded.
"Why, what did you do that made you upset like that? Come on, tell me..." Mark said.
Haejin fished her phone out of her pocket and showed the comments the girls were reading earlier.
Mark slowly grabs Haejin's phone. His eyes scanned the article, then to the comments.
His eyes went wide.
"Mark... what happened?" Jaehyun asked.
Mark didn't answer, instead, he showed Haejin's phone to him.
Jaehyun's eyes went wide, "Whatㅡ"
"Haejin-ah, that's not true. You know that." Mark said.
The other members were also hurt, they didn't expect that some of their fans are like that. It's normal to have fans who can't accept some relationships but it's really disappointing to have immature fans like that.
To the point that they'll bad mouth the idols. Especially Haejin, who just debuted.
Taeyong sat beside her, "Haejin-ah, you're strong. I know that. Mark knows that. Jaemin knows that. We all know that. Those are just words, remember that. You should take these words as inspirations, okay?"
"Oppa, this isn't about our performance..." Haejin said, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater.
Taeyong raised a brow, "It isn't?"
Jaehyun showed him Haejin's phone.
"What in the worldㅡ Haejin-ah, this isn't true, you know that. We all know that, and we're all here for you okay? GA is here for you, NCT is, too. The whole entertainment is with you." Taeyong said. "Neo got your back, Haejin-ah." Taeyong smiled.
Haejin chuckled, "Wow you reallyㅡ Thank you guys... thank you so much and I'm sorry you had to see my cry like this.... I'm so embarrassed."
"There's no need to be embarrassed about, Haejin. We're a family, okay?" Winwin said.
Haejin nodded.
"Just ignore those comments, okay? Listen to what oppas told you. Gosh, you're really great at fighting with me but you cry easily when it comes to some things like this? Unbelievable..." Mark said.
Haejin glared at him.
"Just kidding, Haejin-ah. Don't forget that we're always here for you, okay? We love you Haejin-ah." Mark, with the other members hugged her.
"Thank you guys, I love you all too..."