ATEEZ 9th Member AU

Anniversary Pt. 1

It's the anniversary of Nari's parents passing and the boys don't know

Nari groggily turned off and shut off the blaring alarm by her bed. She didn't' want to get up today. She just wanted to stay in bed and wrapped up in her blankets. It was the one day a year she absolutely didn't want to be around anyone. She just wanted to be alone. But living life as an idol, especially a new one, along with 8 other people in the house, she wasn't allowed that luxury. She stared at her phone, upset that her grandparents couldn't even bother to call her today of all days.

She heard a knock at the door. "Nari, we have to leave in 30 minutes. Get ready!" San said, not missing how she barely acknowledged him. She sat up, rubbing her hands across her face. She barely slept. There were to many nightmares last night. She slowly made her way off her bed and lazily threw on random clothes, not caring how she looked or if she even matched. She headed to the bathroom, splashing some cold water on her face and brushing her teeth. She looked at reflection, frowning at the dark circles under her now dull, brown eyes. She tied her hair up and headed out, not even having the energy to try and smile.

Seonghwa was the first notice something wasn't right. "Are you okay, Nari?" She shrugged. "Just didn't sleep well." The last month she had grown closer with everyone. Yeosang still didn't seem all that thrilled that she was here, but she didn't care about that right now. All she was praying for was to be able to get through the day. A day she really shouldn't be here for, or so she believed. Wooyoung moved closer, draping his arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry, we have a short day today. You can rest up as soon as we finish." She nodded, mindlessly eating the cereal in front of her.

All the boys shared a knowing look and surprisingly, even Yeosang seemed a little worried. Robotically, she trailed behind the boys as they made their way to the studio, not paying attention to the conversations that were being had. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts she didn't even notice how Seonghwa, San and Hongjoong walked a little slower in order to be able to see her over their shoulders. They noticed how she didn't really put much effort into herself today like usually does. Her sweatpants (actually Hongjoong's sweatpants to be exact) had a stain on them from the night before when he spilled sauce. Her pink t-shirt was wrinkly. Her normally shiny black straight hair was pulled into a tight bun. What they noticed most though was her eyes, that are usually so lively and active, now dull, tired and almost lifeless.

They entered their building, greeting everyone politely as they made their way to the practice room. Yunho and Mingi had taken their turns trying to make Nari laugh with stupid facial expressions and jokes. She merely smiled weakly and then looked back down. San was worried, more than worried. Nari was usually so bubbly and hyper. Never had they seen her so down and lethargic. He fell into step beside her, "you sure you're okay, Nari?" he asked quietly so no one could hear. She merely nodded, "just tired, San-oppa." His shoulders slumped slightly but he didn't want to force her to talk to him. He just wished that she would let him be there for her like she has been for him so many times this past month.

They entered the practice room, everyone doing their own thing to warm up. Nari just sat there staring blankly at the wall. "What's going on that we don't know about?" Jongho asked quietly so Nari couldn't overhear. "I don't know, but I don't like it." Wooyoung said, casting a worried look over his shoulder to his obviously depressed noona. The choreographer stepped in, telling everyone to get into position. They ran through their dance, but all of them noticed how Nari just wasn't as strong as she usually is. She was a beat behind or seemed confused by the movements.

"Nari, could you do it more like this?" The choreographer said, mimicking what he wanted her to do. "Y-yeah. Sorry." They ran through it again, but she was still a beat behind and not throwing her all into the dance. "Why don't we take 5? Nari can I see you outside?" The choreographer asked, but his tone had slight annoyance in it. Nari slowly followed behind him until they were out of the room and the boys immediately turned to each other.

"Okay, time to start digging. Who said what? Yeosang, what did you do to her?" Yeosang scoffed at his brother, "why do you automatically assume it's me?" Yunho rolled his eyes, looking at Yeosang. "You barely speak to her and when you do, you're cold. What did you say?" Yeosang crossed his arms. "I haven't spoken to her since she said goodnight last night." Yunho's shoulders slumped. "Why won't she talk to us? She's pretty open about everything." Suddenly, her phone started ringing. Another reason to worry the boys. She always shut her phone before practice. She didn't want to be interrupted or distracted. Hongjoong walked over to her phone, looking at the caller idea and raising his eyebrow. "Who is it, hyung?" Jongho asked.

"Halmeoni." He said. "Grandma? Is something wrong back at home that she didn't tell us?" Seonghwa asked, walking quickly towards the ringing phone. "I'm answering it, it might important." He answered, talking quickly in Korean to Nari's grandmother on the other end and explaining why he was answering her phone. The boys watched him intently, trying to pick up any type of facial expression. Then they saw it, when his eyes went large and his lips turned into a frown. He thanked her, saying goodbye and hanging up. "What is it?! What happened?!" Mingi said, jumping up. "We need to end practice now. We can make up for it tomorrow but we need to go home and talk to Nari."

When Nari walked back in, everyone turned to look at her but she didn't notice. She kept her head down, walking to her bag and grabbing her water bottle. She took a sip, sitting down and leaning against the wall. She leaned her head back, closing her eyes. Just a few more hours. She almost jumped at Hongjoong's voice. "We're ending practice today, everyone pack up and let's go." Nari opened her eyes, confused and surprised. "Oppa, is everything okay?" She asked. Hongjoong smiled gently, "everything's fine. I think I hurt my knee on a turn and I don't want to make it worse. Plus, we've been here for 5 hours already, we can make up for lost time tomorrow." She immediately jumped up, mad at herself for not noticing Hongjoong was injured. "Are you okay?! Do you need me to get ice?! Can you even walk?! Why didn't you say something sooner?!" She was festering, trying to get him to sit down. He smiled softly at her worry but felt bad for lying to her. "I'm fine, love. Let's just go home."

She reluctantly agreed and just like this morning, she trailed quietly behind everyone, not paying attention. When they finally got back home, she grabbed an ice pack from the freezer and forced Hongjoong to sit down on the couch. "Ice it, it'll get worse." She said simply and Hongjoong grabbed her wrist. "I'm not hurt, Nari." She looked at him confused. "But then why. . ." she was cut off when she looked around the room and saw all the other members sitting down, patiently waiting for her to notice them. "Is this an intervention?" She asked, feeling nervous.

"We know something's wrong. You haven't been you. And when you were outside talking to teacher, your grandma called. Seonghwa answered it." She tensed up at the mention of her grandma calling. And then scolded herself for not shutting her phone off. "W-what did she say?" She asked nervously, fidgeting with her fingers. "That if you could make time in your busy schedule to be a good daughter, they were about to head to your parents resting place." The words hurt, even if they were coming from Seonghwa and not her grandma. She sighed, shoulders slumping. She went to get up, just wanting to go to her bed, lay down and cry herself to sleep and start anew tomorrow but someone grabbed her wrist. She looked down to see Yeosang, surprisingly holding her in her place. "You're gonna sit. You're gonna talk. This is never going to work if you can't trust us to help you."

She was surprised. Yeosang has barely tried to make an effort to get to know her, yet he was right. These were the people she was going to be with for a long time. Plus, she didn't want to feel so alone. She sighed, sitting down in between Seonghwa and Yeosang. "You're right. I have to be able to rely on you all for support when I need it." She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and getting herself ready to tell the story.

The story of the night she should have died and her parents lived.