KNOWING that she broke every promise she made that fateful night, she lied down on the bed next to Jeongin, who was still in a long, peaceful slumber.

She pushed herself closer towards him, and pulled his small waist closer to her body, then began tracing invisible circles over his stomach.

"Please stay with me, noona. You're all I have now," she remembered the sentence he muttered through his tears a few days earlier, and she could only nod to herself, as if making an unheard promise.

A promise she wasn't planning on breaking any time soon.

A few moments later, Jeongin opened his eyes and tried his best to suppress his laughter, the sensation of hypersensitivity rushing through him.

"Noona, I'm ticklish- stop!"

He giggled and turned to her, still half asleep.

"How are you, Innie?"

"I'm... I'm a little better, because I'm with you. But..."

She nodded sadly before he could finish his sentence, knowing that both of them will never be the same without their friends.

"I miss them, noona..." he whispered, tears automatically filling his eyes.

"Me too. More than anything in the world. I want them back," she replied, her voice cracking, "but we can't... I'm really sorry, Innie."

He nodded and pulled her into a tight hug.

"I know how much you miss Felix. I'm really sorry too."

She missed Felix more than anything. Even words couldn't express how much she loved him, or how much she wanted him to be with her at that moment.

The promise she made about him going to be okay was in fact-

Broken.

Her heart ached at the memory of him in pain, then at the memory of all of her friends injured and seeking help.

How could she let them go back to their hometown when she knew specifically well that the terrible gut feeling that she felt before never lied?

The memory before the group left America crossed her mind.

"Where are you guys going?" She asked at the hectic, nervous eight before her, who were packing their bags and yelling at each other to hurry up.

"We're going to miss our flight, hurry up!" Chan yelled, then turned to Mal with an angry glare that sent a chill down her spine.

She had never seen Chan so mad before- what changed?

"We're going back to Korea! Our parents sent us the plane tickets and they want us to get back because they think we're not safe here, and we've stayed here long enough. What do you think?!" Jisung exclaimed at his friend while stuffing a shirt through his luggage.

"Mal, if you please get out of my way-" Hyunjin retorted as he gently shoved her to the side, trying to make his way towards the nearby wardrobe.

She shrugged at her friend, then turned to Felix with a frown, slightly disappointed.

"Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"

Felix scoffed. "Well, maybe because this isn't about you? Not everything is about you, Mal!"

Her heart dropped at the sentence.

"W-What did you say?"

Felix stared at her coldly, waving his hand away nonchalantly.

"You heard me, goddammit!"

She gulped, flinching a little as she heard his loud tone ringing in her ears.

"B-But I thought we told each other everything. Right, guys?"

The eight shook their head, nonchalantly looking away from her.

"We tell each other everything," Changbin clarified, "but, you're not really one of us, are you? You were only-"

Minho then turned to Changbin with a death glare, which made him turn silent almost immediately.

"Hurry up, we still have a lot to pack!"

He then turned to Mal, his expression angry yet sad.

"Can you please leave? In case you couldn't already tell, we still have a lot to do."

Mal sent him a sad, fake smile as she nodded. Her gut ached, and a wave of dread filled her insides. Her heart pounded loudly inside her chest.

"I still..." she began, "I don't feel very safe letting you guys leave like that. I have a very bad feeling about this..."

They all scoffed.

"Since when do we take permissions from you?" Jeongin spoke bitterly, which made Seungmin scoff in agreement at the sentence as he rushed towards the drawer in a nearby corner.

"I'm being serious!" she yelled, earning a bitter, sarcastic chuckle from her boyfriend and a scoff from everyone else in the room.

"Maybe you don't have to be so overprotective and clingy all the time, Mal! Mind you own damn business! It doesn't matter if you don't feel good about it, we're still leaving!"

Was she really being overprotective when she wanted them all to stay safe?

Her heart ached once again at her boyfriend's words, her eyes widening in shock and despair.

Why were they all acting like this?

Why was he acting like this?

She only wanted them to be safe. Considering the different situations that happened because of their former manager, she would've wanted them to stay away from harm as much as possible.

So why were they belittling her fears?

"Fine!" She spoke finally, wiping away a stream of tears that made its way down her shocked, frowning face, "Leave, I don't care! But don't come to me asking for help afterwards!"

Felix noticed her cracked voice as she yelled, and took a look at her tearful eyes.

And his heart shattered.

He had never made her cry before.

Why now?

"Mal, I-"

Before he could continue his sentence, she hurried out of the room, her wedge heels clinking loudly on the porcelain floor as heartbroken sobs escaped her mouth.

Chan stopped fumbling with the zipper to his luggage as soon as he heard her crying, and turned to Felix, his expression softening.

"Go after her. Now."

"Chan, we don't have time-"

"Shut up, Minho! Do as I say, Felix, now!"

Felix obeyed almost immediately, rushing out of the room with hope to stop his lover from leaving.

He dashed towards the front door to the house they had rented to glance at the driveway.

The sight of Mal wiping away her tears once again hit him.

"Darling, please listen!"

She scoffed as she opened the door to her (rather luxurious) car.

"We're over, Felix! You and your goddamned friends better stay away from me!"

The words struck him like lightening.

No, no, no, no-

"Wait, baby, please!"

But it was too late.

After she sat comfortably in her driver's seat, she quickly turned on the engine and hurried out of the driveway, leaving him to stand, alone, still trying to absorb the stinging words that spewed out of his mouth that made her upset enough to break up with him.

He sprinted inside the house and soon towards the room his friends were in.

Tears automatically streamed down his face as he reached his phone, trying to dial her number.

"Felix, what happened? Where is she?"

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