When Worlds Collide

nine

"Here." I flinched as my mother shoved a small piece of luggage at me. "If you want to date that bastard, leave."

"Eomma, why-"

"You've never been welcomed in my house. This is just the final straw I will not tolerate." She cut me off, making me sniffle back my tears. "This is a nicety, I could just shove you outside with nothing."

With that, she walked away and left for work. Father hugged me again and then followed after her, leaving me alone in the house. I let myself cry, knowing that I'd probably never see these walls again. Despite there being some painful memories involving my sister and mother, there were still good ones with my father and brother.

After I packed what clothing would fit in my bags, I texted Yeonjun about what had happened. Within a few minutes, he was at the door, waiting to hold me and help me with my belongings.

I decided to head to the office and continue my schedule as if nothing happened. But as I got to the door, my key card wouldn't work. Letting out a bit of a frustrated sigh, I typed in my employee identification number, but it also simply screamed that my access was denied.

"Is everything okay?" Yeonjun asked, earning a shake of my head as I dialed my mother's phone.

"Really? You've locked me out?" I asked after she answered. She let out an annoyed sigh.

"As of this morning, you are no longer an employee of JYP or its affiliated companies. This was approved by all of the board members, and your contract has now been rescinded." She explained, sounding as heartless as usual.

"Even my schedule today? Shouldn't you give me a warning before firing me?" I questioned, making her chuckle.

"If you dump him then you can come back. Until then, you have been blacklisted." She answered, hanging up on me before I could interrogate further.

"She fired you? Really?" Yeonjun asked as I sighed, obviously just as annoyed as I was. "She's quite petty, isn't she?"

"Yes. And now, I have no house and no job." I replied, making him chuckle a bit. "It's not that funny, Oppa."

"You still have a job at Hybe and SM. Don't be too upset." He told me, earning a nod from me as I remembered what he was saying.

We walked away, driving over to the dorms and ignoring the fact that I'd just been fired and kicked out. As I got out of the car, I was suddenly jumped by all of the boys and squeezed into a group hug.

"We'll take care of you, Noona. Don't worry." Taehyun whispered, ruffling my hair a little.

"Minji-ah, you can room with Yeonjun Hyung, but I don't want to hear adult things happening. Understood?" Soobin added, making me blush a bit.

"I'll give a warning text to you all before we do that," Yeonjun said with a wink, making my already embarrassed self even worse.

After unpacking and settling in, the boys treated me to some pizza and video games, making it a normal night despite the pain I'd had that morning. As I snuggled into my new bed, I felt at peace to finally be rid of that stress I'd been carrying all my life. A shuffling noise, however, kept me from falling asleep right away.

"What are you doing?" I asked, making Yeonjun giggle like a little boy.

"I am pushing our beds together so that I can hold you while we sleep." He replied, earning a smile as he wrapped his arms around me. "I don't want you to ever feel alone again."

"I don't deserve you," I whispered, kissing him gently.

"I don't know how I deserve you, but I'm grateful for it anyway." He said, wiping away the tears that had silently fallen without my knowledge. "Go to sleep, Minji-ah. I'll be here when you wake up."

As I sat in the office the next morning, I couldn't help but feel disappointed, angry, and frustrated. The managers and lawyers surrounding me had the same cold stares as my mother, and I hated it.

"Are you serious? What did I do?" I asked, stumped at their decision.

"JYP has blacklisted you for breaching your contract. Hence, we also have to surrender our contract with you until it's been proven that you didn't break your contract." One of them spoke, just as heartless as the others. Kai was next to me, looking just as hurt as I did.

"You guys all know Miss Lee. You know she'd never do anything like that. Why are you doing this to her?" He asked, combing his hand through his hair in frustration.

"This is simply the rules. Anyone blacklisted by one company is shut out by the rest. It's not something we can go around." The lawyer responded, making us both sigh.

"You know what? It's fine." I said, standing up and looking at them all with a stern glare. "Only Kai sunbae has been nice. All of you bastards only see a paycheck you can burn. I don't need to be treated like this."

I threw my contract at them, making a mess in the office. I shook Kai's hand and then walked to the door, only turning around to flip my middle finger at them as I laughed. When I got back to the car, though, I started crying.

The only thing that I loved most was dance, and my mother was taking it away from me in any way she could just to punish me for dating someone she didn't like or approve of. I started to question if it was even worth it, knowing my job was being taken away from me over a boy.

My resolve to stay strong got weakened even more as the boys fought for my job at their company as well. They were all doing their best, trying so hard, but the rules were cemented and could not be pushed aside easily.

I had to prove that I didn't do anything wrong. And I wasn't sure if I could.