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There was a new manager, he was nice and warm-hearted; at the start. Then, he came to like Riki, he really liked him, he’d make him stay behind, giving him compliments. The younger just beamed with excitement, as if he’ll grip onto any word he says and keep it.
The others noticed this, they noticed it a little to well. At first, they were happy seeing Riki happy, but soon they all got a bad vibe from the whole situation. The lingering touches the older manager gave to the younger, his arm on his shoulder, knee or face. The smile that grinned, as if it was hiding a secret. The older members shivered when they heard him call for Riki once again.
They couldn’t do anything, what would they say ‘fire the dancing manager, he gives us a bad feeling?’ Unlikely, nothing would happen, they needed proof besides ‘friendly’ touches.
Riki waves bye to his members, saying that the manager requested him to stay behind, saying they were working on new choreo, they all side eyed each other, Jake coming up to him,
“Are you sure?”
Riki showed confusion, “Yeah? What could go wrong?”
Sunghoon sighed in frustration, “He shouldn’t even be alone with a middle aged man,” he commented, “he’s fifteen, turning 16 next month, someone should watch him.”
Riki, on the other hand, was sitting on a bench with his head down, “You know I wouldn’t say anything if it wasn’t true,” a voice had said. It was their manager, he saw Riki nod, “it’s nothing you can’t do, just lose a few pounds than you’ll be perfect.”
Riki agreed once again, head being lifted from the hands of the manager, “Oh don’t be sad, be angry at the idol industry for having high standards, should we get practicing the new routine?”
Riki smiled, “Of course, manager-nim.” He got up, going to start the music when,
“Call me Hyung, we’re close enough, right?”
Riki hesitated, he got a weird feeling but decided to ignore it, “Sure, hyung.” He brushed it off.
They stayed for an hour, before the manager said they should wrap it up, “you’re doing great, we should go out and celebrate, we just finished writing a choreo for the next comeback.”
“I think I should get home, my hyungs will miss me,” he tried, gesturing behind him to the door.
“Aren’t I your hyung too?”
Riki confirmed, “Yeah, but the members have a curfew for me.” Riki didn’t want to leave with his manager, “Didn’t you say I needed to lose weight, I shouldn’t go out celebrating.”
“Who says we’re going to eat? We’ll go to the arcade.”
And so, Riki got persuaded with the sight of video games. He quickly texted the group chat that he wouldn’t be home until later, explaining he was going to the arcade. He put his phone on silence and that was the end.
He was being delusional, his manager wanted the best for him, he loved him, he should stop questioning him so much.
The arcade was loud, filled with teenagers as it was late at night. Riki was playing a shooting game, his manager behind him.
He laughed as he got tokens to win a stuffed animal, hugging it tightly, they exited the arcade, Riki going into the car.
“That was fun, we should do it more often,” his manager stated, gripping onto the wheel. Riki agreed, only focusing on the animal in his lap.
He bid goodbye to his manager, shutting the door before entering his dorm, getting bombarded with questions.
“Why didn’t you answer your texts? We were worried.”
Riki was puzzled, “Well, manager-nim said we should celebrate because we finished the choreo, I didn’t think it was a big deal.” He put his bag down, “I’m gonna have a shower, I’ll be back.”
The other members watched him leave, “So, that was weird right, like no manager should be doing that with only one member,” Jungwon stated. No one disagreed.
Riki exited the shower, going to his room, “Riki, have you eaten yet?” The younger was going to tell the truth but remembered what had been said prior,
“Yeah, we went out to eat before the arcade.”
It went on like that for a while, Riki skipping meals without anyone being aware. His manager always told him that he’s almost there, almost to his desired weight. What his desired weight was, he didn’t know.
When the members would leave, Riki would hear comments about the members, saying they didn’t like him, which was okay because the manager did and that’s all that mattered.
Then, the manager got him where he wanted. Desperate for any affection, anything where he didn’t care if he got hit.
He’d come home with bruises in the disguise of love. He had to deserve them somehow, he made his usual kind and warm manager mad, so it had to be his fault somehow. The managers cold hands could still be felt on his ribs, a bruised handprint as evidence.
Riki looked at the weight in front of him, he gained five pounds from the members forcing him to eat. He felt the disappointed glare from the manager.
“You were almost there as well,” the manager sighed, lifting his foot from the weight behind Riki when he got off. He raised his head just in time to see a hand coming down, hitting his cheek. He fell down, touching his face that grew red from the minute.
“Hyung,” he whimpered, “I’m sorry, I’m trying, it’s just hard.” He tried to get up but a foot landing on his ribs were stopping him.
“Do you think the other members complain about things being hard? How other groups give up once things get hard? Seriously, Riki, you’re acting like a child.” Riki gasped as the foots weight was harder and started to crush him. He tried to hit the ankle, but that only cause the foot to kick his jaw, “You dare try to attack me? I can’t believe I actually like you, no wonder no one likes you.”
“And you dare to lay a finger on him?” He heard from the doorway. He turned his head, seeing Jay and Sunghoon. They both were angry, faces in disbelief as they saw the hurt boy on the ground. Without thinking, Jay shoved the man off, making him drop to the ground, “Have fun getting blacklisted,” he backhanded commented, he called a manager, telling him exactly what happened, they said they had to wait there for five minutes before authorities came.
“Sunghoon, take Riki outside of the room, I’ll watch other him,” Jay told, keeping an eye on the ‘manager’.
“I’m not leaving you alone with him.”
“Would you want Riki to be in the same room as him for more time?“
They were arguing, Riki had sat up, “I don’t want Hyung to be in a room alone with him either, it’s only five minutes.”
Sunghoon smiled softly, “Are you sure?”
Riki wheezed, the pain in his chest hasn’t subsided, “Does it hurt?” Sunghoon asked, rubbing his chest to feel if anything was out of place.
“He’s being a bitch, I didn’t even touch him,” the manager yelled, Jay was going to say something but the door bursted open.
It were the authorities with their manager, the dance manager thought about how he could slither his way out of lawsuits and jail. He saw the police approaching him, he looked at the young boy still crouching on the ground, grabbing him by the collar and taking him by the throat.
“Get out of my way or I’ll break his legs,” he ordered, walking past the guards, facing towards them so they don’t sneak up on him.
“Get in the fucking car,” he said to Riki as they were in the parking lot. Riki nodded, climbing into the backseat, not having enough time to buckle his seatbelt when the ex-manager zoomed away.
Riki held onto anything, he couldn’t breath and tears threatened to drop. “Let me go, please, I don’t want to die,” he whimpered, voice cracking as he begged. Police sirens followed them, close behind them, he just wanted to go home.
“Do you want to jump out the car, be my guest.”
Riki looked at the lake that passed by them, he could try. He looked at the deadline when the water ended and the cards chasing behind him. He unlocked the door slowly, opening it, the wind blew against his hair.
“Do not jump out of the car,” both the megaphone on the car and his captor said. But he only heard his capter, so he leapt.
When he awoke, his hand were being held, his arms bandaged, he was in a hospital room. He looked to his side to see who was holding him, Sunghoon.
“Hyung,” he mumbled, gaining the attention of the half asleep boy.
“Oh, Riki, you’re awake!” He stated, not letting go of his hand, “You’ve gave us all a scare, they told you not to jump out, why wouldn’t you listen?” Sunghoon had asked, eyes showing grief.
“I didn’t want to go with him, I wanted to go home,” Riki commented, he couldn’t stand being that close to him anymore. If it were a day prior, he’d be fine with it. Why was he so mean? Was everything fake? Did he ever like him, or was it just naivety. Do the members like him, was he just a burden turning into more of one with this.
“No, don’t think like that baby, we all love you, we’d do anything for you,” Sungoon mentioned, somehow knowing exactly what Riki was thinking. He’d assume it was because of how long they lived together. Sunghoon recalled what Riki said before, “You’ll be going home soon, we’ll do whatever you want.” He didn’t care if he’d have to play fifa 24/7, as long as Riki was alive.
After a few days, Riki was let out, immediately getting hugged by Sunoo who complained that the Hyung line stole all the guest spots and because of that, Riki was going to wish he was back at the hospital just to get away from him.
Sunoo clung onto Riki all through the day, even leading into the night when Riki had fell asleep on the couch, Jungwon tried to pry Sunoo off but Sunoo persisted, saying that he’d take him to his bed.
Riki woke up once again, this time in his own bed with Sunoo holding him. He called out for him, Sunoo immediately waking up, “What is it?”
“You’re on a bruise,” Riki mentioned, gesturing to a hand on his chest, Sunoo let go, muttering a sorry.
“Is it bad?” Sunoo asked, he wanted to know because he wasn’t there, he regretted not being there. He couldn’t do anything to help at the time.
Riki agreed, lifting his shirt to reveal a purple bruise that covered his ribs. Sunoo frowned, gently touching it as to not harm Riki anymore.
Riki could tell Sunoo felt guilty, Riki didn’t know how to help him, so he put his hand on his pink hair, “It’s okay, Hyung, I’m okay now,” he said, though he didn’t feel it.
“You’re so skinny too, the doctors had to feed you through a tube because they were afraid you’d throw anything they give you,” Sunoo rambled, digging himself more into the hole of guilt.
“Hyung, I was forced on a diet, I don’t have body issues,” he said, of course, the insults with a front of help would let him not eat the same.
“Riki, please don’t tell me you’re okay when you’re not, I don’t care if you aren’t okay, just let us be there when you aren’t and when you are.”
Riki could only smile and nod, he realized that they loved him, even if a part of him still doubts it. He’ll get there though.
Every member knew that Riki had a problem with food, the younger didn’t need to say anything, they knew from how he stared at the plate in front of him, barely touched. Jay would rub his back, as if it would help, but it’d give him comfort so he wouldn’t reject it.
Riki had stared at the weight scale that haunted him, tears filling up. He was almost at his original weight that he was before the ex manager touched him.
He fell to the ground, landing on his knees as Jake quickly went to him, hearing the thud.
“What’s wrong?” But his question was already answered with the scale that said ‘125 Pounds’, “Oh, don’t worry about your weight, okay? It doesn’t matter,” Riki could only be limp in his arms, staring at the weight, feeling Jakes hand rub against his arm for comfort.
His therapy bills were expansive but no one was complaining, they’d pay anything to see their youngest smile and mean it.
Jungwon would tell him that they were fine, that it didn’t matter how much money they’d spend, that it would all be worth it. Riki would shrug, the light dimly lighting his face, making his doubt noticeable.
“Riki, I’m your leader, you know I’d never lie to you, right? So trust me, you’re never a burden,” Jungwon persuaded.
…
Riki fell down the stairs, leg missing a step. He closed his eyes as he laid on the ground, he couldn’t remember if he was home alone or if the members left him. Though, now a days, he’s rarely left alone.
His theory was correct when he heard footsteps running towards him.
“Riki,” it was Heeseung, he cradled the younger in his arms, “are you okay?” He asked, worry in his eyes as he checked his limbs for fractures or broken bones, to his content, nothing was too injured.
“What did you want?” Heeseung asked, picking Riki up, waiting to hear a request.
“I wanted to eat something,” he muttered, somehow failing at a simple task. Heeseung smiled, brining him to the kitchen, seating him down at the table, “I could’ve walked,” he told.
Heeseung just ignored him, asking, “What do you want to eat?”
And so, they ate with small talk, and a couple of jokes. It wasn’t that they were awkward, it was just they had nothing else to talk about.
Riki heard the door open, “Oh,” it was Jungwon, he looked at the two, “am I interrupting something,” he joked, sitting down and stealing food off of Heeseungs plate.
They played video games, switching after someone lost. It wasn’t until Jungwon mentioned, “they want you to go in the courtroom as a witness, you don’t have to, he’ll still be locked away but they think it’d be better if you go in.”
Riki stopped, pausing the game, “I don’t want too, everyone will know it’s me, I don’t want people to see me as the kid who got abused.”
“And you don’t have too, I’m sorry for asking, the manager told me I should, I’ll tell them you dont want too, okay?” Jungwon said, already feeling guilty about it.
He had looked at the time, “I’m sorry to end this night on a sad note, but I think you should start to head to bed, our schedules start up tomorrow.”
“fine."