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5.1

[Denial]

He woke up on his bed in the noisy dorm that had been like this for a while. Every morning, Hoshi and Wonwoo would begin their defenses for Xiaohua. They're protests made sense, yes, but... He just didn't know what to believe anymore.

He scrolled through his phone with a dry piece of bread stuffed in his mouth. "Jun." He turned his head to the hoarse voice in front of him. It was Minghao.

"What happened to you?!" Jun yelled, both hands on Minghao's shoulders. Minghao stuck his phone weakly. "Our reputation's are at stake now."

Due to the contract that Xiaohua had signed, their budget was becoming tighter and tighter, while Pledis tried their best to fight it out with the company. But it didn't look like they were getting anywhere.

They didn't win anything at the award shows that they attended. Their performances were sloppy, very unlike them. But because of what had happened, nobody had enough energy to put out their best.

And to add to all of that, their title track was being taken down for copyright.

A door from the background creaked open, where their song producer, Jihoon, walked out. Jun looked at the younger, who was quite fragile at the moment. He had dark circles under his eyes, and he slouched down which was very unlike him. "Jihoon-ah! Are you okay!?" It came out as more of a yell rather than a question. A few of the members' gaze were turned to them. "Jihoon!"

"It's... It's been a mess." He spoke weakly as the others attempted to comfort him with blankets and a warm drink. "Carats.. They want answers, and I, I was up all night with our manager, trying to figure out what's going on and fixing the misunderstanding."

He took a gulp of warm milk. "Apparently, a singer by the name of Lim Hyunjoon had the exact same song, which was posted a month before ours came out."

The name didn't sound familiar, making some of the members search him up and listen to the song. "It's the exact same..." Seungkwan mumbled while sharing an earbud with Vernon.

Joshua scoffed. "That Li Xiaohua. No doubt that this is her doing, too."

Wonwoo looked at his hyung in disgust. "You guys better not blame Xiaohua for this one, too. She's in the hospital, give her a break."

The members turned to Wonwoo, some of their eyes widened. "What do you mean by that?" Jihoon questioned, looking more interested in her than he was before. Wonwoo returned the look. "Have y'all not been caught up on twitter lately?" He pulled out his phone, quickly clicking buttons before showing them a post.

The press was waiting for answers. Netizens were at her apartment that night, banging at her door to interrogate her. She never answered. The press thought that she was hiding from the rumors. Jun had a look on his face. But the last line was what hurt him the most.

'We found her a few miles away. She was in a car accident, but some say that it wasn't just an accident. Netizens on scene say that she might have done it on purpose.'

The members looked more concerned than they usually would. Maybe it was because she was their friend. But unfortunately, that friendship is long gone.

"Then who could've done it if it wasn't Xiaohua?" Joshua looked down to his socks, somewhat guilty of his accusation from before.

Suddenly, someone entered the dorm.

"Guys, I have great news!" Liang Wei yelled ecstatically with her phone in her hand. The members' gaze turned to her, and then exchanged looks with each other. Joshua's guilty face turned to anger. "Don't you dare accuse Liang Wei. She's helped us through all of the shit with Xiaohua, and even brought our group back together. She's innocent." Joshua stepped near Liang Wei, wrapping his arm around her waist.