Chapter Text
“Did he say anything?” Jungwon asked with hope-filled eyes towards Sunoo.
The rest of the members waited with bated breath; anxiousness, worry and hope quickly followed as they waited to hear Sunoo’s answer.
They were all concerned about their eldest hyung. He hasn’t spoken to them, the staff, and he has become timid towards ENGENEs for the past few weeks. None of them knew what happened to their hyung to make him become a shell of himself. He’s pretty much become a recluse.
Sunoo just shook his head and had a crestfallen expression on his face.
Sunoo came and sat down on the couch with the rest of his members and he sighed heavily.
“I wish he would tell us what happened. It’s been so long since he’s talked to us, like really had a conversation with any of us. His one-word responses, hand gestures, or grunts are starting to wear thin.” Jay said in frustration, but they all knew it came from a place of worry.
“I miss talking with Heeseung-hyung about new video games.” Ni-ki admitted.
“I miss having our late-night ramyeon. We would literally talk about anything and everything.” Jake confessed.
“I miss being able to go to Heeseung-hyung and telling him what was on my mind and he would listen and give me advice.” Jungwon revealed.
“I miss just being able to sit in comfortable silence next to hyung while we scrolled on our phones, now it just feels tense and awkward.” Sunghoon admitted sullenly.
“It sucks that I can’t even make Heeseung-hyung smile or get him to crack a joke anymore.” Sunoo also confessed.
They were all saddened by the fact that their hyung was shutting them out. It was also worrisome that he was barely speaking to the staff and it was even more concerning how he was with ENGENEs now. Of course ENGENEs were concerned about Heeseung’s health and well-being. They all noticed pretty quickly how Heeseung would only interact if he was given explicit direction to do so and he only spoke when he needed to. In interviews, he was very quiet, there was no teasing or playful banter, and he didn’t add any extra commentary unless the question was directed towards him specifically.
It’s been weeks since Heeseung became a shell of his old self and the members missed him. They didn’t know what to do or how to get through to him. It hurt that he didn’t confide in them and tell them what happened.
They’ve all tried various tactics to get Heeseung to open up to them but he continued to remain silent. Manager Yuki even tried a couple of times to get Heeseung to confide in him what was going on and what happened to make him retreat into himself.
Little by little, they were all losing hope that Heeseung would talk to them any time soon until a staff member called an emergency meeting.
“Wait, where’s Heeseung-hyung? Shouldn’t he be here if this is an emergency meeting?” Jungwon asked the staff member suspiciously as he instantly was in leader mode.
“Jungwon-ssi, this emergency meeting is in regards to Heeseung. I wanted to bring this to all of your attention before we brought him in.” The staff member replied in a placating manner.
“Do you know what happened to Heeseung-hyung and why he’s been so quiet lately?” Jake asked urgently.
The staff member nodded morosely, “We just got in some footage that might explain Heeseung’s behavior for the past couple of weeks.”
The staff member picked up the remote to the flat screen tv that was on the wall and he played the video as the members all turned and watched the screen.”
The members all watched as it was one of the fan events that they did in December; they were all standing on the stage giving their ending ments, it was Heeseung’s turn and he was the last one to go. The members watched as Heeseung was in the middle of his ment and then all of a sudden the fans started singing “Happy Birthday” to Sunghoon and Ni-ki as it was around their birthdays. Before the camera panned towards Sunghoon and Ni-ki to see their reactions to the fans singing “Happy Birthday”, the members all saw the smile slowly drop from Heeseung’s face and the light leave his eyes.
They could all see how Heeseung tried to not let it affect him and let Sunghoon and Ni-ki bask in the attention since it was their birthdays coming up.
The staff member stopped the footage from playing. The room was plunged in silence for a few tense moments.
“So that’s why Heeseung-hyung has been so quiet lately and becoming a shell of his old self.” Sunoo said sadly as his eyes looked misty.
“Heeseung-hyung must have felt silenced, like what he was saying wasn’t important.” Jungwon concluded.
“We should’ve said something and told the fans to wait until after the ments were over.” Sunghoon said guiltily as he looked towards Ni-ki. Ni-ki nodded his head in agreement as he also appeared shameful for what happened because it made Heeseung feel bad about himself.
Jay shook his head vehemently, “This is not on you guys. If anything, the organizers of the event should have let the fans know that if they wanted to do a surprise for Sunghoon and Ni-ki that it should’ve been done in a better way.”
“We need to have a talk with Heeseung-hyung. He needs to know that his words matter and that we’re sorry that it happened in the first place.” Jake replied as a solution.
Jungwon nodded in complete agreement, “Absolutely. That whole incident really hurt Heeseung-hyung. He needs to know that we will always want to hear what he has to say and that we miss him. I’ll also have a meeting with the rest of the staff and make sure from now on that this never happens again. I never want any of us to feel like our voices can’t be heard and what we have to say isn’t important. Heeseung-hyung hasn’t been himself for weeks because of this.”
The members all nodded in agreement with what Jungwon was saying. The staff member also looked around the table at all of the members as he looked apologetic, “I’m really sorry this happened to Heeseung-ssi. We have all been so worried about him as well, but none of us knew how to approach the situation or make it better. When this footage was brought to my attention, I thought it was crucial that you all knew. We all want were disheartened when we realized what happened.”
“Thank you, sir for bringing this to our attention. We will talk with Heeseung-hyung and make things right. Thank you for your discretion and attentiveness as well.” Jungwon bowed towards the staff member.
The staff member bowed in return and then he excused himself so the members could have the room and discuss their next move.
“Tonight, after dinner, we should confront Heeseung-hyung about this.” Jake strongly suggested.
The members all nodded their heads in agreement as they were all in contemplation of how the night will unfold once they confront Heeseung.