letting y'all know now this'll be a convoluted one with long paragraphs.
i wanted to portray a longterm relationship that slowly wore down and degraded. it's so rare to find relationships that began in adolescence and last into adulthood. naturally, there are going to be growing pains for the relationship. add in the shit they go through being trainees and a lasting relationship is damn near impossible.
my aim is to do ryun and chan's relationship some justice. i made it so one-sided in the initial breakdown in their relationship and while i'm not going back to change that, i can make it better in another timeline!
in this episode we explore the question: what if ryun and chan stayed together? (meaning she never got with woozi or rebounded with hwasa!)
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they wouldn't have broken up before her debut, instead after the months a part chan would've reach out. he would apologize and explain his feelings.
he would explain that he felt shocked when she told him about her upcoming debut. he panicked and shut down, instead of explaining himself to her. he said he wanted to be happy for her and he was deep down, but he more scared. he was afraid she would debut and leave him. she would find success and be surrounded by other successful people, and forget about him. he confessed that he was afraid that she wouldn't want to be with an "old" trainee anymore and would chose to let go of the dead weight (him). there were also feelings of envy that he had been a trainee for so long and all his friends had debuted before him, and now his girlfriend was getting to debut but he still wasn't. he was proud of her and her hard work, but couldn't help but resent the fact that his efforts weren't paying off.
they would have an honest conversation about them and where their relationship would go from there. ryun would be tired of the drama and suggest a break up, while chan would want them to work out. however, he understood that as the person who ultimately did wrong, he had no choice but to respect her decision.
she would choose to stay with him, but would take a long time to forgive him. they would attempt to slowly repair their relationship but it would never be the same. they would struggle to get past the issue and she wouldn't be able to fully trust that he wouldn't leave her again.
despite new issues, they would love each other enough to continue to work through their relationship.
ryun would develop a friendship with the kids. she would grow particularly fond of felix and seungmin. felix, naturally as both are extremely outgoing and friendly people who are close to chan. while seungmin would grow to become a wise younger brother figure she could go to as a confidant.
unlike their trainee days would be intensely more private about their relationship. they would be unable to go out on dates or see each, so much of their time together would be on video chat or through cellphone conversations. it would be a constant sore spot for the pair who'd want to do the things they'd been able to do as trainees, but now feared the consequences of (jyp catching chan) getting caught.
they would remain together throughout her rookie year and the stray kids' reality show.
however, it would be a very hard time for the couple due to stress and lack of time for one another. they would often fight over small or meaningless things, becoming easily irritated and ignore each other, or going many days without speaking. their friends who were in the know would encourage them to take a break.
her dating scandals with ten and johnny would still happen but they wouldn't affect their relationship.
she wouldn't star on we got married season five with woozi, instead she would release two korean comebacks. one in the first-half of the year and another in the second-half.
she would make her debut appearance on an american stage at the 2018 vmas where she would perform lovely with khalid.
it would only be when the relationship began to noticeably affect their careers that they would decide to take a break. this would occur during the release of her bittersweet album in july of 2018.
the break would devastate them as for all the problems in the relationship, at the end of it all they were in love with each other. they would have to hide their heartbreak from the public, but would visually be seen with random expressions of sadness in front of fans. fans wouldn't think much of it, instead chalking it up to exhaustion or stress.
they would attempt to maintain a friendship during the break, but most of their interactions would be awkward and have an underlying tension. they would become upset whenever they interacted, so naturally they spoke less and less until they stopped maintaining any contact at all.
during their break ryun would release a noticeable sad and melancholy album. it would be based off her relationship with chan and the heartbreak she felt about them. many fans would question the motivation behind such a heartbreaking sound. she would cry during a live performance of the title track, which would spark rumors of her going through a break up.
chan's behavior during the break would cause suspicion as well. he would do his job but would often space out and look sad. he would become quieter and withdrawn. fans would note the way the kids would send him worried glances or latch onto him as if to comfort him.
this would spark break up rumors between ryun and chan. further pushing the pair apart as their companies would release statements saying they would investigate the claims. there would be online criticism of the pair having these rumors so early in their careers. namely for straykids who were newly debuted and unestablished; while ryun would be criticized for involving such new idols in a scandal.
jyp would ask chan but he would deny any romantic relationship between them. instead he would say that they were close friends as trainees.
cube doesn't have their trainees under a dating ban so ryun having a relationship wasn't a problem but not telling the company she was in a relationship was a problem. when asked, she would deny any romantic relationship and state that they were friends since high school.
their companies would release statements saying they were friends as trainees and only held platonic feelings.
the scandal would scare the pair into completely cutting off their relationship. any chances of them getting back together or ever talking to one another again was destroyed.
she would struggle to move on and take several years to heal from their relationship. her love would never completely fade and it would always hurt that their relationship never got closure.
eventually she would meet somebody else after many years of being single and working on herself. she would fall in love with somebody else and completely let go of chan.
she would never regret loving chan and would always appreciate her first love.
bonus! i think chan on his part would hold regrets over where things went wrong in their relationship, and hold a bit of resentment toward their fans and general public for ruining their relationship. i can imagine he would move on, but there would always be that what if.
i'd like to think her friendship with the kids wouldn't suffer or completely end, but honestly, they'd probably never speak again once she and chan's relationship fizzled out. i would like to believe they reconnect years later once their careers have taken a backseat, and her and seungmin/felix would then spend time together. the public would hopefully be open-minded and appreciate the friendship.
note: yeah...they don't last in any universe. sorry :) sometimes relationships just don't work out and the earth keeps spinning.
