The Prince of K-Pop || Bang Chan FF

Chapter Fourteen

Despite Chan's obvious anxiety, he still managed to comfort Naty and tell her that nothing was wrong. In the backseat of Fred's car she wrapped her arm around his while both his hands held onto hers. He smiled at her comfortingly, "Don't worry. Worst-case-scenario...we can't see each other until the weekend's over."

Naty opened her mouth to ask if that was really the worst-case-scenario but the humming beneath Chan's skin told her it was best to keep quiet about that. She imagined this was what he meant. This was him being strong for someone else so that he didn't have to face his own emotions. Naty thought the least she could do was return the favor.

"As soon as Monday come—"

"Hey," Naty interrupted whatever he might say and smiled, "No matter what, I'm still here with you. We're still building. No one can stop that. Alright?"

It seemed a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders and he melted against her. He shut his eyes and pressed his head against the side of hers, "Alright."

When they arrived to the new hotel a set of staff was there to welcome them. They moved quickly to usher Chan inside but he waited for Naty to catch up and grabbed her hand so that they could go through the back entrance together. There, some of the other Stray Kids waited. It was the first time she had been close to all but Minho and Jisung yet she could not enjoy it. As the group all crowded into the same secret elevator, she heard them whispering to each other.

Hyunjin looked down at Naty and in English smiled, "Don't worry. It will be fine."

Felix leaned around him and looked to both her and Chan, "Yeah, I'm sure Tara will just shout some and then it'll blow over."

"I'm not worried," Chan shook his head and smiled to his members, "I just want all of you to stay quiet. Okay? This is all on me. Your leader can handle it."

They began speaking again in protest but Chan's look silenced them.

Naty looked at all the solemn faces and let out a single phrase, "Hellevator."

The laughter was involuntary and they each tried to get each other to stop and they each failed. Naty looked up at Chan and just seeing his boyish grin made her feel like nothing could truly hurt them. Her silly joke had landed and the tension of the ride dimensioned.

They would all be okay.

Of course, that was just a wish.

When the elevator doors opened, Tara and Ashley were waiting for them. Their serious expressions completely silenced any joy that had been shared just moments okay. Tara held her phone up with something on the screen that Naty could not see. Slowly the gentleman left the elevator and with each step shrunk to smaller and smaller sizes. Naty and Chan were the last two to leave but when they did, they froze.

It was a tweet with a picture zoomed in on them cuddled up at the In-N-Out.

The women turned around and lead the couple into the room with the open door. Chan and Naty walked inside but their hands released each other as they did. The group members were scattered around the room on various seats they had found and it was only then that Naty saw other staff members and management. Every one of their expressions was angry.

Ashley shut the door as she read off of her phone tweets in Korean, "'Which one of these K-Pop groups is this?' with a picture of Changbin and Jeongin. 'SKZ at In-N-Out' with the address pinned and a video of you all laughing. 'OMG CHANNIE' with a picture of Chris and Naty sitting next to each other. The devil is fast but STAY is faster."