Maknae Princess || Stray Kids

8. ELIMINATION TIME

Elimination Time

This was it. Everything they had trained for, spent hours on, and exhausted themselves for had led them to this point. Were they going to debut as one? No one knew. Nabi could barely stop fidgeting with her fingers behind her back as they waited for the answer.

JYP was in front of them, biding his time and making the situation more dramatic than it needed to be. He had papers strewn all across his desk, but he was paying them no mind as his eyes flickered over each and every member that Chan had hand-picked himself.

The round before this was ridiculous. JYP kept switching the members' positions and making them do something they couldn't. He'd swapped Felix's part with Minho's so Minho had to rap while he did the same with Nabi and Changbin. Why? Nabi had no idea. It was stupid. She and Minho were both vocalists and dancers, not dancers and rappers.

But still, thanks to Namjoon's forceful rapping lessons, Nabi had managed to sail through that test just fine. Unfortunately, though, Minho wasn't as lucky. He screwed up on the first part but luckily was backed up by Han and Changbin afterwards. Nabi just hoped that, that was enough to get him through. She was close with every member now, but she and Minho had really clicked from the start, ever since their first actual conversation with each other. She didn't want to lose him.

Not to mention how worried Nabi was for Jeongin. They were the two youngest and JYP was really giving them more pressure than necessary. She'd already comforted Jeongin from crying his eyes out twice now. Even though all Nabi wanted to do was cry herself but she refused to.

And Chan could of course see how hard this was for everyone and while his eyes stayed watery with the emotions he was feeling, he contained them and tried to stay strong.

Suddenly, JYP finally opened his mouth and all eyes stared at him in anticipation. Nabi's mind fell blank but her hands seemed to be shaking out of anxiety. Her stomach also felt restless and full of butterflies but not the good kind. She was nervous enough to throw up and she hated it.

"The person to be eliminated is," the man said but hesitated just for a split second. It almost looked like pity in his eyes. "Minho."

Nabi's head fell and her eyes closed tightly. Her fists clenched out of anger toward JYP but her eyes wanted to cry out of sadness. She didn't watch as JYP stood up to shake Minho's hand or pat at his arm, but she did watch as the man left and the boys crowded around Minho.

Their final goodbyes to him.

Han tried to hide his sadness and instead smiled at Minho, but anyone could tell what he was actually feeling. Felix, Seungmin, and Jeongin were all in tears, and a few seconds later so was Nabi. Tears silently cascaded down her cheeks as Chan opened his arms to Minho. Minho welcomed the hug as his own eyes stung with tears he was forcing himself not to have.

"Why'd you mess up the lyrics?" Chan asked softly.

"I was crazy," Minho smiled.

"You should've done like you practiced," Hyunjin mumbled as he wiped a tear from his face.

"I was fine during rehearsal," Minho said, wiping at his own eyes with his arm. "I'm sorry," he apologized to Chan.

"Why are you sorry?" Chan asked, he was smiling but he wanted to cry. "I should be the one who's sorry."

Minho looked away from the leader and found Nabi standing quietly beside him. She was crying and he quickly pulled her into a hug. Nabi softly hit Minho's back in frustration before clinging to him and burying her head in his chest. "This was so stupid! You shouldn't have been eliminated!"