The Prince of K-Pop || Bang Chan FF

Chapter Thirty-Five Bang Chan's POV

          The night had unfolded better than Bang Chan had anticipated. Truth be told, he really didn't expect Naty to be so outgoing. He thought she might be shy. He anticipated needing to cling to her side so that she could feel comfortable. That version of the evening did not bother him at all.

           Reality was much better.

          At first, yes, Chan did feel the pressure of needing to stay with Naty but that evaporated quite quickly. The game was a great idea—Suhyeon had a million of them—that really helped to loosen the environment. There was hardly a need to "mingle" though "mingling" was welcomed. The pressure was off of Naty to include herself in the group that had been forming over a decade. Chan really appreciated that.

          When the game was over everyone was either drunk enough or relaxed enough to blend. Chan had to admit, at first, he was very nervous about Naty's alcohol consumption. His past with Donna had taught him that "being drunk" was the perfect excuse for an abuser's night of mental and emotional abusing. But Naty and Donna were very different. He didn't have to be afraid of one thing turning into tears, and hitting, and throwing, and...mean, mean words.

          Naty's version of drunk was talking louder than she meant to, overly complimenting people, silliness of many levels, and being very affectionate to him.

          He quite liked it.

          Even if there was that nagging feeling in his abdomen.

          Nagging.

          That was the perfect word for it. A perfect word for the feeling that was persistently painful and worrying. Chan tried hard to ignore it but the feeling was ever-present. He tried to tell himself it was nothing and that it was only the residual effects of being single for such a long time or the residual effects of an abusive relationship. Yet, no matter how he spun, the feeling stayed.

          Bang Chan was jealous.

          But he ignored it.

          The evening continued with more singing and more dancing from everyone involved. There were solos, duets, and even groups of individuals joining together to finish the songs that were left in the suggestions. Bang Chan even joined Sungwon to sing a few classics before being stolen by random members for other songs. The whole time Naty seemed to enjoy the show while enjoying herself. Chan even thought he saw her making friends with the likes of Haewon, Ada, Narae, and Suhyeon enough to exchange contact information. It was really, really sweet.

          The best part was seeing her interact with his members.

          Bang Chan had not expected how much that would affect him. When he was watching her singing with Seungmin...he felt his heart open up into places he didn't realize were shut. Was Naty the best singer? No, but she could carry a tune and she sounded lovely and she made Seungmin so, so, so genuinely happy. Before Naty, Chan always thought to himself that the happiest he could be was when Stray Kids was happy. He had never thought of the absolute pleasure it could be to see Stray Kids and Naty happy together.

          And yet, Bang Chan was jealous.

          Currently, Naty sat with Felix seeming to have a battle of the compliments. Felix was drunk on the vibes more than the alcohol and Chan found it adorable to see the two being so positive with one another. He looked for his other members and saw Minho sitting on Changbin under the pretense that no other chairs were available. Jeongin sat sandwiched between Hyunjin and Jisung while Seungmin sang with Ashley on stage. Bang Chan felt himself...at peace.