Family (Mafia Stray Kids AU)

Let's start with that

"Your parents, wasn't it?" Chaeyoung sympathetically started, walking over to her and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

The soft gesture made Dae cry harder. Nodding her head sharply, wails erupted from the young girl.

"I don't know why they are so against your love life. I understand the dangers of it, but they should have more trust in you."

Dae put her face into her hands, bawling until her throat and eyes were dry. A small puddle of salty tears formed on her desk.

Dahyun and Chaeyoung watch silently, sympathetically and heartbrokenly listening to her pain.

Peeling her hands from her moistened, swollen face, she uses her sleeve to wipe her nose and her desk free of her breakdown remains.

"I love Jinyoung a lot. More than my fathers will know, but I need to do this. One day I'll reach him, or fall out of it. I'll wait patiently for whichever to come first."

"That doesn't sound healthy, sweet thing," Dahyun warns. "Follow your heart, we'll back you up."

Dae shakes her head, forcing herself to smile. "I need to ignore my heart for now. I'll be fine, don't worry."

She forced herself to be 'fine' the whole day. This in her eyes meant sleeping off all her problems. Therefore, in every class, you would find an unconscious Dae sleeping at her desk, soft snores purring from her every few minutes. Sometimes, if the class was quiet and lucky, you would hear her talk. It was quiet and very gentle, but if you listen carefully you could hear some of the deepest thoughts of her dreams.

She didn't eat anything that day. Nor drink anything. She might've gotten water at one point, but she was too tired to even get off her chair to her fridge, located at the other side of the classroom.

When the last bell rang, Dae didn't even flinch. She was completely out of it that she couldn't even tell if she was awake or asleep; balancing on that line of dream and reality.

Changbin got worried when about ten minutes pass and she still hasn't come to their classroom, as she does every day. So he sets out to locate her.

His first guess of where she was turned out to be correct: her classroom. Opening the door and quickly glancing around the classroom, he finds her dead asleep at her desk.

"She's been exactly like that since this morning," Chaeyoung whispers, walking towards him.

"This is what happens when you change your sleep schedule," Changbin sighs, shaking his head gently.

"No, it's not because of just that, Changbin. Dae is sleeping her problems away."

Changbin tilts his head slightly to the side, expressing confusion.

"I believe she intends to sleep until she feels its all better. She wishes to wake up and all her issues are fixed. But that's not going to happen. It's a very harmless and yet so harmful coping mechanism," Dahyun adds, looking at Dae as if she was her whole world.

"How is it harmful?"

"Isn't it obvious? She's wasting her whole life being under the spell of dreaming. And wasting it on false hope all will be better when the spell is lifted, trapping her in a constant state of disappointment. Throwing her back into the loop of depression."

"it's better than cutting herself," Changbin mentions, shrugging his shoulders, receiving a harsh glare from the two girls. "I know she shouldn't be sad to this degree in the first place, but I'm trying to look at a brighter picture."