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Being an idol with POTS was…well very frustrating. Some days she cried, some days she’d laugh it off. Zoey has suffered this condition since she was a teenager. She suffered fainting spells in high school, being accused of faking from bullies. She didn’t think she had POTS until getting a diagnosis a year after the Huntr/x debut. After a whole year of awful fainting episodes which also ended up becoming flare ups along the way. It was Celine’s idea to get a diagnosis.
It started when Zoey woke up not feeling well. A common symptom of a flare up was heart palpitations which she was currently dealing with. She would’ve gone into Mira’s room and have Mira help her, but she was at a photoshoot. This left her to see if Rumi was home. She had no idea if she had anything to do today until she could hear her voice coming from her room.
Rumi was on the phone with Celine before she heard a soft knock.
“I’m sorry Celine, can I put you on hold?”
“Sure. Come back quickly.”
Rumi nodded, opening her door to Zoey wirh her hand pressed to her chest and hyperventilating. This left their leader concerned.
“Zoey, what’s wrong? Are you having a panic attack?”
“Nngghh…I’m a-about to…”
“Okay, just sit on my bed and let me get off of this call okay?”
Rumi then got back on the phone with Celine. “Listen, can this wait? Zoey just came in my room and this seems urgent.”
“Oh? What’s wrong, Rumi?”
Right there, she couldn’t hear a thud.
“Rumi?! What was that?!” Celine asked with worry.
Rumi turned around to see Zoey had passed out on the floor. Immediately she rushed over, placing her phone on the floor.
“Sh-She fainted!!”
“Fainted? Why? How??”
Rumi helped position Zoey and take off her sweatshirt.
“Well, this has been happening for a while. We thought it was bad period cramps, but now it might be worse.”
“You need to take her to a doctor and see what’s wrong. If this has been a recurring issue, then something is up. Take her now and let me know what happens so I can remain aware in the future.”
“Yes Celine.”
Normally, Celine would always use the “our faults and fears must never be seen” logic but this wasn’t a fault or a fear. This was someone’s health which cannot be taken lightly and the longer this was suppressed, it could lead to serious problems and Zoey wouldn’t be able to be an idol if that were the case.
Just then, Rumi hung up and quickly took Zoey to their doctor.
“I see….Zoey-ah, you have what it’s called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. POTS for short.”
“So what’s that?” Rumi asked, letting a tired Zoey lean on her shoulder.
“So what’s happening is that her heart has a tendency to beat faster than normal when she stands up or lies down. She also has more blood around her abdomen, arms, and legs but not so much in her brain which causes her to get lightheaded,” the doctor explained.
“So what can we do to prevent her condition from getting worse?”
“First, make sure she remains hydrated and stays on top of her meals. Second, be sure to check her monitor when she’s tired during the day. Third, I know being an idol comes with logs of exercise but she needs to take it easy during flare ups so make sure you encourage her to do so.” Just then, the doctor handed a piece of paper giving Rumi a list of things to do.
“So this will help?” she asked.
“Yes, it will help guide you to support Zoey.”
Rumi nodded and took a bow. “Thank you, sir.”
As they were home, Rumi had continued her phone call with Celine along with getting some paper work done while Zoey ended up taking a long nap. This was something Zoey did after having a flare up.
She was still napping hours later when Mira came home from the shoot and was informed of everything that happened. She wasn’t surprised to say the least.
“Yeah, I figured she had a condition. I’m glad you and Celine took care of getting her diagnosed,” she said.
“Yeah, she came to my room and passed out. It was BAD, Mira.”
“No wonder…”
The next day, Celine called the girls for a training on how to deal with Zoey’s condition. Sometimes a paper wasn’t enough and they needed actual demonstration. Rumi and Mira understood and this became muscle memory very quickly.
As for Zoey, she was grateful to have her girls. She could trust them.
—————
Time skip to 4 years later, Zoey’s condition was definitely better managed now. She herself had some supplies like salt packets, tons of water, and electrolytes.
“Heels, nails, blade, mascara.”
On this day of dress rehearsal, it was really hot. Being overheated was a huge trigger for Zoey.
“Fit check for my napalm era!”
*Need to beat my face, make it-“ Zoey stopped rapping and dancing as she panted, starting to run out of breath. She was hunching over and her hands her placed to her knees to keep herself up.
Rumi and Mira stopped too as soon as they noticed.
“You good? Are you flaring up again?” Mira asked, as Rumi turned off the music.
Zoey didn’t answer as she fell to her knees before falling to the floor. Luckily she landed on her side instead of completely headfirst.
“ZOEY!” they yelled as they rushed over to her to still cushion the fall and began their protocol.
Yes, Rumi and Mira came up with a protocol and Bobby knew about this too.
Rumi made sure to position Zoey properly while Bobby ran to ask staff for some damp cloths while Mira would get out the blood monitor in case the numbers got worse.
“I-I’m s-sorry,” she tried to breathe out a very unnecessary apology.
“No no, it’s not your fault. This is something you can’t control,” Mira reassured her.
“And no matter what, we’ve always got your back,” Rumi added before Bobby came back with the cloths, handing them to Rumi before she placed once around Zoey’s neck and then one on her forehead.
Zoey in the meantime was hyperventilating, trying so hard to stay awake.
“Stay awake for us,” Rumi kept encouraging.
The younger woman could only let out a whimper and their leader shushed her gently. “Shhhhh it’s okay, it’s gonna be okay.”
Rumi was right. Zoey could trust them and she knew she’d be okay thanks to them.
“Bobby, we need to end early. We can’t have her continue like this,” their leader ordered.
Their manager nodded in understanding. “Alright then, we’ll pick back up tomorrow. Let’s get you girls back home and help Zoey get comfortable to rest!”
At this point, Zoey couldn’t hear anything else as her ears started to ring. Her vision had blurred and her head hurt so bad.
Feeling Rumi carry her out of the rehearsal room bridal style, it made her sigh from relief and she could feel her body relax against hers.
———————————
It was the day before the Idol Awards and things were very tense already with Rumi asking Zoey to get rid of Takedown and that fight on the train was all too much. Stress was something that can start a flare up for her.
Right now she was at her desk, staring at the blank page in her notebook with god awful brain fog and struggling to focus. She was staring at her trash can which was filled to the brim of crumpled up paper balls. She still had the urge to tear all her notebooks up which were years of hard work and cry because nothing seemed perfect. Nothing seemed to please Rumi and the way she was acting today was not only stressful but a huge slap in the face. She felt like she should be angry, but couldn’t help but feel so bad for Rumi.
Just then, Zoey felt her heart beating fast and she ran out of salt packets that were in her room and couldn’t bring herself to take a break and get more.
She had to alert whoever was there but luckily she could hear Mira knocking on her door.
“Zo, can I come in?”
Zoey didn’t answer, as she slowly got up and grabbing onto anything that could help support her to the door. Mira knocked again.
“Zoey?”
As she opened it, she fell to the floor as her body couldn’t take up all that strength.
“SHIT!” Mira was quick to react before she hit her head.
Right there, the maknae started to cry. The other girl didn’t even need to ask what was wrong. She just knew that as mentioned earlier, crying about her condition was an occasional occurrence.
“I know, we’re sorry. We should’ve been more aware that fighting is a huge trigger for you,” Mira whispered an apology to help soothe her.
Fighting was not only a trigger, but it made her so uncomfortable. It reminded her way too much of being a child of divorce. Hearing her parents have a screaming match back in the U.S was actually the start of her fainting spells at the age of 12. She only had one up until high school started and from there it become a regular occurrence before her diagnosis.
“N-No. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” Zoey sniffled.
“Hey, we’re not going to apologize for that. You can’t control when you’re about to faint. However, Rumi and I both could’ve controlled the fighting.”
There was a moment of silence before Zoey spoke again.
“Is it alright if you put me to bed tonight? I know it sounds childish but-.”
“Nonsense Zo, of course I will. You just fainted and
You shouldn’t move for the rest of the night. We do have the Idol Awards tomorrow and we certainly cannot have you faint then.”
Zoey breathed out a small “thank you” as Mira carried her to her bed and prepared her essentials. New salt packets, a lot of water, some electrolytes, and her blood monitor.
“Let me know if you need me to get up for anything okay?” Mira ordered, giving Zoey a kiss on the forehead before getting into bed herself. The younger woman just nodded.
—————
After their 3 month hiatus, the girls were back for their Comeback tour. They were in the US leg and were performing in Arizona. It was August, which was one of the hottest months. Arizona was already hot as hell.
Zoey was already unwell once again since the weather was so hot in Arizona. Another trigger was being on her period, which she started and today was a heavy day for her.
She woke up, drenched in sweat from the night before due to having night sweats.
At this point, she was now dating Rumi and Mira and her girlfriends were not aware she was having another flare up. Yet, it was the worst one she’s had ever since joining Huntr/x.
Night sweats were always a difficult symptom for them to catch but now that they were dating they caught on that the first symptom was extra clinginess.
“Are you sure you can perform right now, babe? You don’t look so good,” Mira has been concerned all day but Zoey kept brushing it off.
Despite having multiple flare ups in her lifetime, she never let it interfere with her performance. She couldn’t let it happen, ever.
“We can just cut-,” Rumi was about to suggest but got interrupted.
“I’ll be fine. Really. I’m an adult and I can take care of myself,” Zoey reassured.
“We’re aware of that but you have a medical condition and we’re only worried, baby. You know that,” Rumi replied.
The maknae didn’t say anything else as Bobby had announced to the girls that they were on deck.
It didn’t help that when they started performing, Zoey was getting more overheated. Mira had noticed the dripping sweat dripping from her girlfriend’s neck and quickly made adjustments to their choreography. That was the first part of their show protocol.
Even with the adjustments, Zoey could only see black spots and some color left before her vision had turned completely black a second later. Her legs were getting weaker and weaker as each second passed and her knees buckled.
Mira tried to catch her but she was too late as the younger woman fell headfirst, this time hitting her head on the stage floor. The thud was so loud, the music had to stop. A lot of gasps and oooooo’s came from the worried and concerned audience.
Both Rumi and Mira cursed under their breath, they were lucky their mics didn’t catch it as they both helped lift Zoey on her feet and make her walk normally at least until they exit the stage.
As Zoey was finally off stage, Rumi went back on stage to make a quick announcement for an intermission before making her exit again to attend her girl.
Meanwhile, Mira sat Zoey down on a comfortable chair and elevated her legs to get some blood flowing.
Rumi quickly prepared the blood monitor and kept an eye on the numbers in hope it would increase any time soon.
Zoey let out a few whimpers from the pain and discomfort she was facing as Mira removed any unnecessary clothing.
“Shhhhh shhhhh, I know baby. It’s okay. You’re done performing for the rest of tonight. Rumi is going to sing a couple of solo songs and then we’re going back to the hotel okay?” Mira reassured her.
“Nnnggghh it hurts!” the younger woman complained, burying her head into her hands.
“I know, I know,” Mira repeated, kneeling in front of her and rubbing her arm.
“M’sorry,” she apologized.
“No, we’re not doing that. You’re not apologizing for something out of your control. You’re also not going to apologize for scaring us. It’s been years now and we know what to do, Zoey.”
As soon as Zoey had a bit more stability, she pulled Mira into a hug and kissed her cheek. Mira hugged her pack and gave her a quick peck on the lips before nuzzling her.