My MC partner | Jungwon |

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟔: 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬

Everything unfortunately didn't get better. The bad comments increased. Even if I tried to talk myself into not looking at them, at night just before going to sleep I would grab my phone and look my name up in hopes that maybe they had stopped. But I was always wrong.

What kind of comforted me was the fact that Jungwon wasn't receiving much negativity. His U.S tour and comeback are coming up so it wouldn't be ideal for him to worry about this situation. I know how hard he and his members are working to deliver the best of them.

Surprisingly, there were some comments who were not bad at all. They said things like: "Leave them alone."
"If they are together or not should not affect how we see them."
"Of course, when you thought they would make a good couple you supported it but when it became a reality suddenly you are against it."

I have no voice in this. People are free to do whatever they want, even if that means hating me. I'm not saying that it is fine, on the contrary I would very much like if they stop doing it... I guess what I'm trying to assimilate is that no matter what I could do, it won't change their minds about me. What's done it's done. Hopefully, time will fix things.

"Can I sit with you?" I hear Minji unnie say, wandering me off my thoughts.

I nod. "Was it good?" I ask finally looking at her as I put my hair up in a ponytail.

"Yeah, we think so. We still have to wait for Nina to check the practice but for what I saw I think we'll be leaving early today." She informs me after monitoring the practice session we just had.

"It's good to hear that." I say with a small smile and then I immediately look away.

"You don't seem very happy about it."

"I am, it's just that..." I try to tell her that I'm fine but the quiet in my voice says that I'm feeling otherwise.

"Tell me, what's going on in there?" Minji utters as she gently touches my head.

"I... I am so sorry unnie. I didn't mean this to happen and now I've stained the name of the group." I finally blurt it out, apologizing because I feel that I owe it to her as well as to the others as part of the group.

"Don't say that, Joowon. You did nothing wrong. You like someone and that shouldn't make you feel bad."

"But I was careless and naive to think that it will never be find out."

"You can't torture yourself thinking like that." She gets closer and places an arm around me. "You have to understand that bad things happen, sometimes we are not able to control everything." I nod as she speaks.

"Thank you, unnie." I finally say, giving her a small but real smile.

Minji's words truly helped me, thanks to her I could finally give my mind a rest. I'm happy to have her by my side because no matter how big my worry could be, she always knows what to say to make it less heavy. She is really a great friend and group mate.

Once the practice ended and Nina agreed that we did it perfectly we were finally on our way to the parking lot. However, I had to go back to the practice room because I had forgotten something. I went to get it and then, just as I was going out of the room I got startled by a certain someone.

"Oh my God! Haerin-ah, you scared me." I say immediately taking a step back as I place a hand on my chest.

"Sorry. I came to wait for you and I also wanted to tell you something." She explains while I close the door.