That night, Stray Kids celebrated the news of Soojin's pregnancy with wine and meat, all cheering and merrily laughing. It was almost like a picture-perfect scene; the family gleeful and supportive, the couple beaming, and the aura comfortable and merry. 

Almost. 

"So, how long were you both planning to keep it a secret from us?" Jisung folded his arms over his chest, eyes dazed; he was clearly drunk. 

"We found out yesterday," Chan fed them the same lie that Soojin had begun with, "We were about to tell you guys, really." 

"Liar," Felix hiccupped, drunk as well, "You're lying!" 

"No, Lix-" 

"You didn't even tell us about the relationship first! We got to know it through TV!" Felix pouted, eyes watering, "Do you even care about us anymore?" 

"Oh, dude, he's gonna cry," Minho giggled. 

"Of course I do, Felix," Chan walked over to the younger Aussie, who could barely stand, "I care the most about you guys. Everyone and everything else is secondary." 

Jeongin joined Felix on his agenda, "Lies." 

"You can't say that-" 

"It's okayyyyy, we get it," Felix smiled, "You're starting a family! They should be your first priorities, not us, okie?" 

Chan looked at Soojin, who was sitting on some corner of the table, zoned out, and he tightened his lips. She had not drunk anything, for obvious reasons, and she had been awfully quiet. It was not a novelty to see her quiet, but tonight, her silence was dangerous. 

That silence spoke a thousand words to him; perhaps how she was hurting deep inside, perhaps how her psyche was messed up due to the baby inside her, perhaps how she could be regretting meeting him. And he was aware of how he was responsible for each of those thoughts. 

But pondering over what Felix said: family or Stray Kids? 

And then he realized how Stray Kids were his family. 

So Chan turned to Felix and Jeongin, smiling widely, and gently spoke, "I can die for Stray Kids -- that's how important you are to me." 

Soojin heard him, silently longing for similar phrases for her, too. She was not jealous of his groupmates -- no, she could never be. She was just desperate for affection. However, all she received was pure, utter affliction. 

"I'm going to rest," she excused herself, faintly smiling at the boys waving goodbye at her, and sparing one last look at Chan -- who could barely stare back -- she took off for her room.

Locking the door of her room, she sat on her bed, breathing in and out. She had to vent out somewhere. She could not contain this thunderstorm of emotions inside her any longer. She grabbed her phone, hands shaking before even unlocking the screen. Who was she going to speak to about all this?

Ae Ra. Always.

She immediately unlocked her phone and dialed her number, right leg trembling in anticipation. How would she react to it?

In about five rings, Ae Ra picked up the phone, "Soojin!"

"Ae Ra," Soojin breathed out in relief, "How are you?"

"Soojinie, I'm literally living my best life!" she exclaimed from the other end, "I've been given this great space to live in and I couldn't be happier to be away from that life."

That life. That life wherein selling her body was her job. That life wherein she faced humiliation every day. That life wherein she had to face herself every morning, seeing the residues of different men all over her. She was grateful to get out of that life -- both of them were.

But life had become even more twisted for Soojin. As she thought of that, she commenced sobbing on the call, alerting Ae Ra, "Hey! What happened?"

"Ae Ra, why did you do this to me?"

"What...?"

"Why did you send me off to live with Chan?" Soojin cried.

"I... I thought you loved him?" Ae Ra doubtfully spoke from the other end, "You have always admired him, so isn't being his significant other the greatest gift of all for you?"

"Significant other?" Soojin scoffed, "He treats me like I'm a plague to his life... and I am that. A plague."

"Don't say that about yourself, Soojin," Ae Ra sighed, "What's wrong?"

"Are you really asking me that?" Soojin thundered on the call, her built up frustration finding a channel to flow down to, "Did he ever look happy to you when he was with me, even at the JYPE office? Ae Ra, he hates me! He despises me, doesn't even look at me. And you know what? He is pretending to be alright to the others. I know I'm hurting you, but, Ae Ra, I'm hurt, too! And now I have his child inside me and I don't know what I should do!"

"Wait... you're pregnant?"

"Yes!" Soojin was relentlessly crying now, "All because you sent me here to live with him. Thank you, Ae Ra! Thanks a lot for ruining my life for money in return!"

"Stop it, Soojin. I didn't do anything!"

Soojin couldn't believe what she had just heard, "Are you kidding me? You were the one who implanted that idea in my head."

Ae Ra scoffed, "Weren't you happy about it?"

"No! I told you to stop!"

"Like hell you did. What do you even want me to do now? Apologise? I'm sorry. Feeling better now?"

Soojin's heart cracked a bit more, "Ae Ra... I just want to end this deal."

"Don't you even think about doing that!" Ae Ra shrieked, "I am not letting go of this life just because you two fucked!"

"We have to. Please! I can't live like this anymore!" Soojin bawled on the phone, her hands trembling.

"Listen up, Soojin. If you ever try to put this deal to an end, I will reveal to the world all what went on between you and Chan."

Soojin halted, "You would never..."

"Don't test me."

"Ae Ra... what's gotten into you?" she whimpered, "After all that we've gone through... you're gonna do this to me?"

"Don't you see what you're doing to me?" Ae Ra argued back, "You're pushing me back to that terrible life! I don't want to go back there. And if you try to push me back again, I won't hesitate to save myself."

"Ae Ra-"

"Don't call me again," and she hung up.

(a/n: y'all were right about hating Ae Ra lmao

I just had like a panic attack an hour ago so I had to distract myself through this. So if this isn't up to the mark, I'm so sorry :(

ALSO BANG CHAN STANS!! I have released a poetry book, featuring all the poems I've written for him. So if you wanna check it out then please do!! Would appreciate your reviews!! :D

Thanks for reading! I love you!)