Confident || Changbin

Decompress

I haven't seen Changbin since we were together backstage after the incident. Chan and Youngjae took him to the hospital to have his arm properly looked at. As much as I wanted to go with him, there was no way that I could.

I spend the rest of the evening cooped up in my hotel room, simultaneously worrying about Changbin and selfishly feeling sorry for myself. I'm left in the dark, only getting updates through texts from Changbin and Lily. It turns out that he sprained his wrist from using that arm to break his fall, but thankfully it wasn't any worse than that.

Because of everything that happened, they have decided to cancel the rest of the fansign tour. There's still a lot of buzz between the staff as everyone tries to figure out the best way to rectify the situation. I feel like an outcast the way everyone talks about me while I'm not allowed to be part of the conversations.

I was told that there was initially talk about putting me on a separate plane to go home, but Changbin argued that would draw more attention to me. I think about how isolating that would have felt and I'm thankful that Changbin continues to stand up for me despite of the situation I've put us in.

So I'm back in business class with Lily, we've just taken our seats and are waiting for takeoff. I take some time to scroll through my phone before the flight, but I immediately regret it when I'm bombarded with headlines.

Stray Kids Changbin falls off stage at fansign. Who is the girl that ran to his side?

Is Changbin in a relationship? Here's everything we know about what happened in Bangkok.

JYP makeup artist seen getting close to Stray Kids' Changbin after fansign incident.

I feel sick to my stomach. This is not good. I hastily shove my phone into my purse and lean my head against the headrest, fighting back nausea.

"What's wrong?" Lily notices my mood.

I swallow slowly. "It's all over the news. Me and Changbin."

"Oh, Sage..." She pushes my hair back and rubs my head. "Don't worry too much. JYP will fix this."

"That's what I'm worried about. He doesn't know yet."

Lily grimaces, knowing it's not good that he's been left in the dark. "Well...you know the rest of us have your back. It's going to be okay." She situates herself so that I can rest my head on her shoulder and I stay like that, leaning on my friend, until I fall asleep.

There's another surprise waiting for me once our plane lands and I take my phone off of airplane mode.

J.Y. Park 10:17am- Please make your way to work and straight to my office as soon as your flight arrives.

Sage 3:06pm- Of course.

Shit.

I can't shake the uneasiness that I feel even for a moment. I walk in silence to the airport exit. As I get into the car with Lily, who graciously agreed to come with me, I wonder why I haven't heard from Changbin yet. I resist the urge to text him, telling myself that it's better for me to get scolded than him.

I must be annoying Lily with my anxious foot tapping, but she's been kind enough to hold my hand and sit in silence with me during the car ride.

After taking a phone call, our driver strays from the usual route and pulls into a parking garage. He drives through it until he reaches an empty floor and then parks against the back wall, away from the road. Lily and I look at each other in confusion before the door on her side suddenly opens and she lets out a surprised yelp.