Chapter Text
It had been a week since you'd broken up with the seven men you thought you'd spend the rest of your life with. The first couple of days after the breakup were spent wallowing in self-pity locked up in your room, ignoring the messages and calls from your friends and your brother.
It wasn't until the fourth day that your best friend and brother had decided they'd had enough of your pity party. Nari, your best friend had barged into your room along with your brother, the former, not hesitating to rip the sheets off of you as you lay in bed. "Get up! You've isolated yourself long enough!" She says while you glare at her. "It's not healthy being cooped up in here sis." Your brother Jooheon scolds while opening your curtains to let some light in, causing you to groan and bury your head under your pillow.
"I took a week off work, I think I can spare a few more days." You reply from under the pillow causing the two to roll their eyes. "Get up! Get ready! We are going out today and you can't do anything about it." Nari says while rifling through your drawers and closet before throwing some clothes your way. You're about to protest before Jooheon throws himself on top of you. "Lee Jooheon!" You're about to get angry at him for practically knocking the air out of your lungs but you can't, because the laughs he lets out easily melt all your anger away. "Come on sis. It's been a few days, come back to the land of the living, yeah? We miss you. I know it's hard but you don't have to suffer alone, we're here for you." You can feel the tears you'd been trying to hold back, threatening to spill, you had spent the last few days since the breakup alone that you'd forgotten there's other people who still care about you. You nod, scared that if you responded the flood gates would open.
"We'll be in the living room, take your time, okay?" Nari tells you while wrangling your brother off of you and ushering him out of the room. "You know we love you right?" She glances back as she shoves your brother lightly causing him to whine at the unexpected push. "Yeah." She smiles at your response before leaving you to get ready.
It takes you about half an hour to get ready, most of the time being spent in the shower as you allow yourself to cry over the seven men for the hundredth time since the breakup. You feel a little better but your appearance says otherwise, glancing at the reflection of yourself in the mirror you let out a sigh. Your eyes were red and puffy from the crying and the dark circles under your eyes weren't helping, you notice your face looks a little sunken in too, most likely attributed to the fact that you didn't really have an appetite the last few days. You couldn't really do much about your eyes or face, but you could do something about the dark circles, so you do, quick dabs of concealer under your eyes, and you decide that's enough to make you look decent.
You finally step into the living room, your brother and best friend bickering about what TV show they should watch. You can't help but smile at their antics, realizing that you actually did miss their company. "I'm ready." They both immediately turn to you, smiles on their faces as they take you in, standing awkwardly in the doorway. "Yeah? Okay. Let's get some food in you. That sound good?" Jooheon questions as he rises from the couch. "Yeah." Nari jumps up from her spot and intertwines her fingers in yours. "Let's go then! I'm starving!" She says while practically dragging you to your brother's car. She ushers you into the back seat with her as you all decide where to eat.
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You end up going to a brunch place near your old childhood home. It had been years since you'd visited, it being out of the way from where you live and where your exes lived, not to mention it was on the other side of town. You trail behind the two of them, letting your brother lead the way in. "Have a seat anywhere! I'll be with you shortly." A waitress calls out from somewhere behind a counter.
You notice Jooheon leading you and Nari towards a booth in the back, your favorite table to sit at whenever you'd frequent it with your brother. You slide into the booth, with Nari sitting beside you and your brother across from you. You glance around the room and notice that it's still the same as when you were younger, the only difference is the workers, all new faces, but that's to be expected, nothing stays the same after all.
"Thanks for being patient! One of our waitresses wasn't feeling good so she went home early." A voice calls out as menus appear at your table. "Oh! Would you look at that! It's been so long since I've seen you pumpkins!" You glance up to see a familiar face. "Auntie! Did you miss us?" Jooheon questions, his dimples on display as he grins at the woman in front of you. "Of course I'd miss my two favorite customers." She says while looking at your brother before gazing at you. "Oh and who is this lovely young lady?" She asks while eyeing Nari.
"I'm her best friend Nari!" She introduces herself while giving you a nudge. "It's lovely to meet you! Did you need time to order or do you know what you want?" She asks. Your brother tells her that you'd need a few minutes which she uses to excuse herself to get your drinks. You glance over at the menu and see that it hasn't changed, so you settle on your usual, you can never go wrong with something familiar. After awhile she returns with your drinks and takes your orders.
Your brother and Nari chat about their work, every once in awhile asking you a question to try and include you in their conversation. You know they're giving you your space, not wanting to force you into speaking when you weren't ready, which you were grateful for. As soon as your meals arrive, you surprise yourself by immediately digging in. It must be because to you it feels like comfort, it reminds you of your younger years when things were much simpler. "So...I know you don't want to talk, but you should, it'll help you feel better when you talk to others about what happened instead of bottling it up." Your best friend says as she takes a bite of her meal, you should have known there was only so much space she'd give you before wanting to know the details.
You let out a sigh, you know she's right and you also know they wouldn't judge you so you decide that maybe it is time to share what happened with others. "I don't know where to start." You reply, eyes not meeting theirs. "What about from the beginning? Did you know they were thinking about ending things?" Your brother questions as he shoves some pancakes into his mouth, clearly enjoying his breakfast. "I did." You hear a gasp from beside you but you continue. "I had a feeling they wanted to end things...I felt that they had fallen out of love with me but I didn't want to admit it to myself. I thought maybe they would realize they were making a mistake, that it was just a small bump in our relationship and we could work it out, but they thought differently." You say with a shrug, going to sip on your drink.
"How long has this been going on?" Nari questions, her focus on you, her food already forgotten. "Almost 3 months." You could feel the tears pricking at the corner of your eyes, the memories of how you were treated by them the last month coming to the forefront of your mind. "Why didn't you say anything Sweets?" Your brother questions, eyes full of concern for you. You shake your head, trying to forget those memories. "I was embarrassed. If I had told you guys you would have told me to leave them and I wasn't ready to let them go."
You miss the way Nari and Jooheon glance at each other. "And are you ready to let them go now?" She questions, eyes watching your face for a reaction. "I kind of have to, they gave me no choice, considering I've been replaced." You're too busy staring at the table to notice the way their eyes widen. "Replaced? What do you mean by that babe?" She prods. You bite down on your bottom lip, doing your best to control yourself because you can feel the tears coming and you know you won't be able to stop them once you start. "They found someone new. I wasn't really paying attention to her name but it was something like Jieun, I don't know, I think she's a singer in Yoongi's company. I kind of just zoned out and immediately started packing when they had told me."
"What the fuck? I'm going to kill those assholes." You look up at your brother but you can't even make out his face with how much your tears are blurring your vision. Oh? When did you start crying? "Oh babe, I'm sorry. They don't deserve you, and they're stupid for letting you go. You're way out of their league anyway." Nari says while pulling you into a hug, she does her best to comfort you while you silently sob into her shoulder.
"Joo, what do you think about inviting the guys out tonight? I think it'll be a good idea to let loose. You can get black out drunk too babe. I'll be DD if I have to." You can't help but chuckle at her suggestion, you know if she's giving up drinking tonight that she's really worried about you, and that warms your heart. "That sounds like a good idea. Yeah, I'll text the group chat, let them know what's up."
They take it upon themselves to try and lighten the mood, Jooheon telling the both of you about how Changkyun went on a blind date and when he got there it was a girl he'd ghosted the week before. "Please tell me he didn't ghost the poor girl a second time." Nari says as your waitress clears your table. "I wish I could, but that's exactly what he did. He bolted right out of there."
Before you can voice your shock at Changkyun just bolting from his blind date, a plate of your favorite dessert is placed in front of you. "I don't know what happened, but I know when you're going through a breakup. Here you go pumpkin, I hope it's still your favorite. I made sure to bring enough to share. And it's on the house." She says with a wink. "Thank you auntie." It takes a lot to say those three words, it's been so long since someone's done an act of kindness for you up until today that any small act can have you bursting into tears. She flashes you a smile before running off to take some orders.
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Nari insists on having Jooheon drop the both of you off at her place, knowing that if you went back home you won't want to leave again. As soon as Jooheon leaves she's ushering you into the living room. "Okay spill, Jooheon is gone, tell me everything, and I mean EVERYTHING." You know she means well when she asks for the specifics and maybe it'll do you some good to talk to somebody about what actually happened.
"Where do I start?" You ask, unsure what to tell her since you'd already given her a brief rundown of what had happened earlier at the diner. "You said you knew they were falling out of love with you, but how did you know?" She questions as she gets comfortable on the loveseat, her back against the armrest, legs crossed and facing you, with you mirroring her position. You let out a shaky exhale, memories of when you'd realize they had stopped loving you bombarding your thoughts. "Um, it started off with them saying they'd need to stay late for work, then it turned into them forgetting our date nights, to them not coming home at all, or they'd just go out together and forget to invite me and say that it wasn't planned so they didn't know to invite me. Things like that." You can see Nari getting visibly upset, the furrow of her brows being a huge indicator of that.
"I started staying at my place more because I didn't want to be alone in that big house, but they never asked me about my whereabouts, they were never curious, maybe they never noticed I wasn't there or they just didn't care. The only one that seemed to check in on me every once in awhile was Jungkook, but eventually he started to ignore me too." You feel a tear slide down your face but Nari is quick to wipe it away. "I better not run into them or who knows what I'll do." You can hear the anger in her tone and notice the way she balled her fists, clearly upset at the way you'd been treated.
"This went on for the next 2 months, until last week, when I had gone over, wanting to surprise them for our 4th anniversary. They were still at work when I had arrived, having gotten off work a few hours earlier so I could cook all their favorite meals before they'd come home. They didn't come home until around 8, two hours later than they usually would but they weren't alone..." Your eyes begin to fill with tears at the memory of the shock you had felt. "They had brought Jieun with them. They had brought her to their home, a home I spent the majority of my time in over the last four years...more than I've spent in my actual home. They brought their new lover home on our anniversary. They were out with her while I was at home trying to salvage our relationship."
You can't hold it back anymore, you break out into sobs, the memory of you greeting them at the door only to see them doting over their newest lover comes rushing back.
"Welcome home!" You call as you see them shuffling into the foyer. You don't miss the surprised looks on their faces when they see you standing in the foyer, as if you shouldn't be there, but you do your best to brush it off, not wanting to spoil the night. "Yn, what are you doing here?" Namjoon asks, the shock in his voice noticeable. You do your best not to flinch at the absence of his pet name for you, ignoring the hurt you felt. "I wanted to surprise you guys. We haven't been spending time together and I don't know when was the last time you guys had a home cooked meal. I thought it would be special for us to spend today together." You reply with a shrug, suddenly feeling like you don't belong there, with the way the other men wouldn't dare to look at you.
"Why is everyone still standing here? Joon bug? Baby why are you just blocking the way?" Immediately you feel your heart drop into your stomach. A pair of arms snake around Namjoon before you notice someone peeking out from behind him. "Oh." Was all you could manage to get out before you turned on your heel and ran up the stairs. "Darling! Wait!" You hear Taehyung call out from behind you but you don't stop to listen, you're not dumb, you know when you're not wanted anymore, when you've been replaced. Your first instinct was to run but you couldn't, you needed to grab a few things from your room that you just absolutely couldn't leave behind.
You find a duffle bag at the bottom of your closet before you start shoving the things you just couldn't leave behind. You rummage through your closet, grabbing the coat your grandparents had gifted you when you had gone off to college. You shove the shirt from your father's alma mater that he'd worn all the time when you were younger into the bag. There's a set of earrings and a bracelet that your mother had gifted you when you had graduated high school that had been passed down for years, a family heirloom of sorts that you made sure was safely tucked in one of the pockets.
"Kitten, you don't need to rush." You stiffen at the voice behind you not just because of the pet name but also because it had been months since you'd been called that. "I don't want to be in the way." You do your best to keep your composure, your body is going off adrenaline at this point and somewhere in the back of your mind you're thankful for that. "Fuck. You weren't supposed to find out this way." You hear the male sigh behind you. It hurts hearing his confirmation of what you'd seen downstairs but you do your best to ignore it, wanting to just grab what you needed so you could leave. You grab the teddy bear that Jooheon had won you when you were children at Lotte World and shove it into the duffle. "Who is she?" You ask, voice barely a whisper but he had heard you. "Jieun. She works for me." Your eyes widen, you realize now why she looked so familiar, you feel your heart clench at the revelation.
You grab the only photo you own of you, Jooheon, and your parents, all the pictures from your past had been destroyed in the fire that had killed both your parents. You were fortunate to save this one because you'd taken it with you to college. "Are you okay? Do you want me to drop you off kitten?" He questions but you just push past him, not even giving him a second look. You don't glance back, you just focus on getting out of there, but to do so, you needed to pass by the living room which, unfortunately for you, just happened to be where everyone else decided to be. You can hear her laughter, which causes a knot to form in your stomach, you couldn't help but think about how that used to be you.
"Princess? Do you need a ride? Do you want me to call someone?" You hear Jungkook call out to you, a hint of concern in his voice. "I'm fine. I left everything you guys have ever gotten me in my room. You can sell it or toss it. I don't care. Dinner's on the table. I made your favorites. Happy anniversary." You notice the room grow suddenly quiet as you continue to speak, you're not sure what their expressions are because you're busy staring at the door ahead. You hear a few sharp inhales at the reminder of your anniversary and a couple of curses but you pay them no mind, you continue your exit, wanting to keep whatever remaining dignity you had left.
"That's it. I'm going to skin them alive. I don't care if I get life in prison, it'll be worth it. I should ask Joo if he wants to help..." You barely make out Nari mumbling to herself while she comforts you in her arms. At some point during your retelling of the night your relationship had ended, your best friend had pulled you into a hug while she let you cry into her shoulder as you were trying to get the rest of the story out.
After a few minutes you're finally able to calm down to the point where tears aren't streaming down your face but you're still hiccupping and trying to steady your breathing. Nari untangles herself from you before disappearing for a moment, only to come back with some ice cubes in a baggy. "We can't have you looking like you've been crying the last few days if we're going out tonight. What you need is to get laid." She says as if it's the most obvious thing.
"I don't want to get laid. I just want to crawl back in bed." She rolls her eyes at you, not agreeing with what you just said. "At the very least have some drinks and let loose if only for a few hours. You don't have to go home with anyone, but I don't want you thinking about those bastards even if it's only for tonight. Okay?" You let out a sigh but agree because you're really tired of thinking about them and you feel like you've just about cried enough tears to fix the drought problem in California.
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Nari decides your look for tonight, from the dress, your heels, the makeup and your hairstyle. You're more than happy to let her take the reigns so you wouldn't have to fret over the little details. She opts for a simple black strapless dress with gold accents that looks good on your body shape that comes a few inches above your knees, a pair of black heels with straps that criss crossed up your calf, subtle gold eye shadow with winged eyeliner so sharp it could definitely cut one of your exes if they were to run into you, and clear lip gloss across your lips.
You get a text from your brother stating that he had just picked up Changkyun and that they were heading over to Gambler, the night club of choice for your brother and his friends, considering you knew the owner. You let Nari know and she's quick to drag you out of her apartment and pretty much shoves you into her car. "You're going to have fun and you're going to enjoy yourself tonight babe. I'm going to make sure of it." You don't know what you did to deserve such an amazing friend but you're thankful to have her. "Thanks Nar." She flashes you a smile before she sets off in the direction of Gambler.
You're walking up to the club just as Kihyun and Shownu do. They greet you with smiles before pulling you into a hug. "It's been awhile since I've seen you around." Shownu says while pulling back to look at you, a fond smile on his face. "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore, I'll be around more." You reply as Kihyun pulls you away from the older male to wrap you in his arms. "Hey Kih." You say while burying your face in the crook of his neck. "We need to do a lot of catching up Sweets." You just nod in his embrace. Out of all your brother's friends, Kihyun was the one you were closest to, you were close with the rest of the guys, but the bond you had with Kihyun was different, he was your best friend.
Kihyun pulls away but doesn't let go of your hand, just tugging you along with him as he nods at the bouncer as he lets your party skip the line. "Jooheon texted me that they were all here, in our usual section." Shownu says above the noise. You nod at the male as you let Kihyun lead you towards the familiar VIP section where you can spot the rest of your friends. Your brother lights up when he sees you, the rest of the men waving as you approach. Kihyun let's go of your hand right before your brother scoops you up into a bear hug, causing you to burst into laughter. "I literally just saw you a few hours ago Joo."
He just shrugs before setting you down. "Your point?" He pouts which causes you to giggle. "Hey Sweets. How have you been?" Hyungwon asks as he pulls you into a hug. "I've been better." You reply as you reciprocate the embrace. "I felt that." His monotone response has you cracking a smile. "Please tell me you'll help me keep these dumbasses in line tonight. It was a struggle when I had to do it alone the last time we went out." Minhyuk whines as he wraps his arms around you causing you to chuckle. "I'll try my best."
Just as he releases you, you feel a pair of arms snake around your waist from behind you. "Missed you aegi." You feel a kiss being planted on your temple and you immediately lean back onto his chest. "Missed you too Chan." The relationship you have with Changkyun was different from the relationship you have with Kihyun or the other guys. But that's to be expected considering Changkyun was your highschool and college sweetheart, you had broken up about a year before you graduated from college, realizing that the futures you wanted were entirely different but that you both wanted to stay friends, to say you had history together was an understatement. Jooheon and Changkyun had been good friends because of you which caused your brother to introduce him to the rest of his friends, and the rest was history.
"Okay! So now that we've all said our hellos, I could definitely go for a drink." Nari says as she plops down on the couch beside you. Hyungwon raises a hand and immediately a waitress appears beside him ready to take your orders. You settle between Kihyun and Changkyun before telling the waitress your order. They wait for her to disappear before they're turning their attention towards you. "Your brother told us the gist of it, but how are you holding up? Are you good Sweets?" Kihyun questions as his eyes roam your face, probably wanting to finally get a good look at you, even if the club lights aren't making it easy to.
"Honestly? I feel like shit. I've never felt heartache like this, not even when I broke up with Chan. No offense." You say glancing at said male who just breaks out into laughter. "None taken aegi, we ended it on good terms and we pretty much still hung out from time to time after so it was like we never really broke up." The waitress appears with your drinks and leaves just as quickly wanting to give you and your friends privacy. "Alright, let our night begin!" Nari says as she hands out everyone's drinks, hers being a non-alcoholic one. You bring your drink to your lips but then a wave of nausea hits you. You take a sip of your drink to test the waters and it takes everything in you to keep it down.
"Everything okay sis?" Jooheon questions, concern written all over his face. "Yeah. I just don't think I can drink tonight." You reply as you place your drink down in front of you. Your friends all eye you with concern, you didn't drink a lot but you also never turned down a glass of your favorite drink either. "I'm okay, I guess I've just been really stressed and anxious that I feel nauseated every once in awhile. I'll be fine, I don't need alcohol to have fun." You assure them because it's true, although it would have been helpful, you know that your friends can easily get you to loosen up just by being with you.
The night goes by quickly, your friends doing their best to keep you distracted and entertained that you don't even realize it's closing time until Changkyun is ushering you out of the club, an arm around your waist to support you because you claimed the heels you were wearing were killing you. Nari had gotten the okay from you to drink when you realized you weren't going to drink so you could just drive the both of you back to her place. Jooheon and Changkyun walk the two of you to Nari's car before your brother is telling you to text him to let him know when you get back to Nari's.
"Drive safe aegi. Let's catch up some time this week, yeah?" Changkyun says as he helps you into the driver's side. "Okay." You smile at him, feeling better the later the night progressed. "I love you guys!" You call out to the two before you're driving off towards the direction of your best friend's, happy with the way the night had turned out.