Whispers Of False Promises » bangchan [indefinite hiatus]

episode 22: the family

I shuffled to the gate of the set, where SKZ Code was being filmed currently, and I breathed in and out. I was going to meet Stray Kids officially for the first time, and I was clearly not prepared enough. I had been prepping myself up for hours, giving myself a pep-talk about how to talk to them -- more specifically, how not to embarrass myself before them. And I had not succeeded at that talk, because I was still nervous. Therefore, I bought them ice creams. 

And holding the little bag of ice cream cups, I approached the guard at the entrance of the set, and he immediately stopped me, "I'm sorry, you cannot go further, miss." 

"I, um, Bang Chan invited me here," I fumbled with my words. 

"Who are you? It feels like I've seen you, miss..." the guard looked perplexed, and I showed him a card that I'd previously been given by the company as a pass. Inscribed on it was my name and my picture, and as soon as he saw it, he widened his eyes, "Oh! You're Lee Kaira! I apologize for the inconvenience, ma'am." 

"No, that's okay," I felt awkward, being treated that way all of a sudden at the mere mention of my name. I hadn't done anything quite significant yet, but the employees at JYPE already knew me. And that was an accomplishment. 

I entered the set, and sprawled across the large room were the crew members, running around the venue like a hoard of ants around the smallest piece of food. There was chaos all around, and moving my gaze over the heads, I tried searching for Chan. The eight members of Stray Kids were nowhere to be seen, and I figured that they might be getting dressed for the shoot, so I aimlessly wandered around, inwardly chanting that the ice creams don't melt already. 

The cameras were just getting set up for the shoot, and they aimed at a setting of beds and pillows that were supposed to be shown on screen. I stood with folded arms, staring at the setup wondering what the theme of the episode was, when I heard a distinct voice calling out, "Stara!" 

How could I miss that name, and that voice? 

I turned toward the direction of the voice, and anxiety hit me like a truck. Standing around Chan were the rest of the seven members of Stray Kids, and upon seeing me, Chan skipped toward me. Like the little ducklings following the mama duckling, the rest of the seven followed suit. 

From the distance, I could see Changbin arguing over something with Jisung, and Hyunjin laughing really hard over some comment that Minho made. Seungmin looked fed up with their antics, Felix seemed to be enjoying their interaction, and Jeongin was busy scrolling on his phone. As soon as they approached me, I bowed at them. 

"Hello!" they bowed back, and Chan giggled, "So formal." 

"You're Lee Kaira?" Jeongin asked, and I nodded, nervous, not expecting a single thing out of this. He continued, "We've heard a lot about you!"

"It's so good to finally meet you," Hyunjin smiled at me, and I grinned back, finally easing up in their presence. 

"Thank you! It feels unreal to meet you all, really," I awkwardly chuckled, but that chuckle turned real when Seungmin spoke, "It is unreal, truly. Even I doubt whether Changbin is real sometimes." 

"Aw, thanks-" 

"Because how could someone have a loudspeaker in their throat?" 

"YAH!" 

"Okay, guys, relax," Chan tried to calm them down. I chuckled when Changbin got involved with Seungmin in a playful argument, with the latter easily out-sassing him. Felix came over to my side while Chan tried to break apart the bickering duo, and Hyunjin was somewhere in the group, laughing the loudest.

"Hi," Felix greeted me, and I bowed at him with a greeting, not having expected the sudden, deep voice to ring so close to my ears.

"Oh, no no," he laughed lightly, "You don't need to be so formal, Kaira! Treat us like your friends!"

"That's so kind of you," I nervously smiled.

"Nah, don't worry about it," he waved a hand in a friendly dismissal, "I just wanted to talk to you about something. Is that okay?"

"Of course," I nodded, anxiety bubbling up in the back of my head upon the sudden solemnity. He looked at Chan, who was still in the middle of the group, and Felix asked, "Are you two in love?"

"Huh?" I was caught off-guard, to say the least.

"I'm sorry if I sound to be prying or... but I just genuinely wanted to know. I'm pretty sure you know about Cho Minhee, right?"

"Yes, I do," I nodded, feeling jittery.

"Yeah. When she was with him, he was usually quiet and low. He didn't talk much, and was always tired. It was like she was exhausting him," he explained, a frown tugging at his lips, "But lately, I've seen him happier. He smiles a lot. He talks a lot. It's like he's back to his happy, jolly self, and I've heard your name quite a lot from him. So I just figured that... you know, you might be dating."

It took me a few seconds to digest the information thrown at me, and I could barely suppress the overwhelming feeling of happiness inside me. Chan had been happier lately... because of me? Was it too self-righteous to think that?

"I... We aren't dating," I spoke, "We..." I breathed; it was hard to explain what Chan and I had, "We're just each other's comfort people? I don't know how else to explain our equation."

"Ahhh, that explains," Felix widened his eyes, nodding, and the two of us fell silent, watching Chan laughing heartily at something we had not caught on.

"But," Felix said, stealing his gaze away from the group,

"If I were you, I'd be ready for anything."

(a/n: to be continued? yes hehe :3

IM WRITING ON MY PHONE BEC MY LAPTOP CRASHED YET AGAIN I HAVE NO IDEA HOW IT ENDS UP DYING EVERY 5 SECS AHHHHH-

how was thisss?

thanks for reading! I love you!)