DOUBLE KNOT ~ ~ 9TH MEMBER OF STRAY KIDS (OT8 AU)

// Felix's Elimination \\

Summary:  When Felix is eliminated, everyone is heartbroken to see him go. But he finds comfort in the arms of Jiyoung, who reiterates some words of wisdom to the younger male.

+ Again, y'all get your tissues out; this one's another sad chapter +

Italics - English dialogue

::::::::: STRAY KIDS :::::::::

Jiyoung refrained from crying in front of her PD-nim until he'd left the practice room. Everyone could see that she was visibly upset, and they didn't blame her; today was an upsetting day for Stray Kids.

First Minho gets eliminated... and now Felix is leaving because JYP took note of the young Aussie's lack of understanding the Korean language.

Jiyoung was beyond pissed. In all the time she's known Felix, his Korean has been progressively getting better than what it used to be. All the members — including Minho — would give Felix Korean lessons, and they were all proud of his progress.

It just didn't make sense to her why JYP would eliminate sweet, darling Felix over something that could obviously get better with time and practice.

Everyone was a crying mess... including Chan. Felix was the only person in Stray Kids that was from Australia, and now he was leaving. No one wanted to accept the fact that they were losing 1/2 of their sunshine duo, but it was the reality they were faced with.

Jiyoung felt her heart shatter even further when she heard Changbin tearfully apologize to Felix. It was very rare for the '99 liner to show his emotions like this, so the eldest member knew immediately that Felix's elimination had hit Changbin in his heart and soul.

She watched silently as Seungmin and Jeongin tearfully hugged the Aussie, not wanting to say goodbye to another friend. Hyunjin and Han had a hard time saying their farewells, as they were utterly devastated and heartbroken for their fellow 2000 liner.

But it was Felix's goodbye to Chan that really sparked even more waterworks among the rest of the group.

"Always find me, yeah?" The leader said tearfully in English. "I'm not gonna leave you behind."

It took all of Jiyoung's willpower not to break down at those two simple sentences.

However... everyone felt even more heartbreak when Felix said goodbye to Jiyoung.

"Noona..." the young Aussie hiccuped with fresh tears rolling down his cheeks when he faced her. His face was getting red and splotchy from all the continuous crying he'd been doing.

Jiyoung let out a strangled cry when she embraced the younger boy, feeling his body shake with his own sobs as they hugged each other.

"I'm so proud of you, Lixie. Noona will always be so proud of you," she cooed sweetly into his ear. "I don't care what PD-nim said — you killed that performance. Let's meet up twice a week for lunch, okay? I'll even bring Channie with me, so we can all hang out together. And text me every day; I want to know how you're doing because you know I worry about you. No matter what, I will always support you, Felix. So even when you feel all alone, just know that you have me, okay? And you have Chan, too. We love you so much, Felix, and we don't want you to go."