|JiSu's POV|
"Are you girls ready?" ChanHyuck asks, sticking his head in the door.
"Yes!" JuHee chirps joyously as BaekHyun and TaeYong hurry toward the door.
I turn to see ChanYeol plop down in the chair next to NaHee's. Is he staying to help, too? The more the merrier I guess.
I stuff a final gummy in my mouth as the fans begin to waltz in. They all look so different. Some of them are our age and others are maybe five or six. There are so many different faces to learn and memorize that it's kind of overwhelming.
I don't mind if I'm not their favorite member. I could go without having one of them love me more than the others. The other girls are so amazing and they all deserve so much love and support. I'd hate to take it from them. I mean—I wouldn't be mad if I had a few of them pick me as their favorite, but it's not that big of a deal.
The first girl who makes it to me is adorable. Every part of her makes me want to hold her, but I stand my ground and listen to the rules ChanHyuck mentioned. I can't hug everyone, so I have to be fair.
"Thanks for coming! I hope you didn't wait too long." I take her hands in mine and smile bright at her.
"I had fun waiting. There are so many nice people here." She explains softly as I run my thumb over her soft wrist.
"I'm glad. It was really nice meeting you." I allow her to slip away. I watch her scurry toward JuHee.
I'm sure the time went by fast for the others, but it seemed to go by slower than I ever thought possible for me. There were so many faces that it was harder than ever to remember each one. My heart aches every time I forget one of their faces. I know I'm only seeing them for the first time and it's only for a few minutes, but i should still be able to recognize my fans.
"You probably don't remember me, but you responded to one of my comments on Instagram. You really helped me then." A girl with lavender hair mumbles softly as she holds out a single orchid for me.
"Of course, I remember you. It was HeiRan, right?" I take the flower from her and carefully set it on the table. I confidently take her hands in mine and squeeze tightly.
After I read her comment, I spent the night thinking about her. I was so worried about her. I wanted to reach out to her again, but I was scared I'd learn something I didn't want to know. I was afraid we lost her.
"Thank you. I really mean it." She lowers her head and takes a shaky breath.
"No, thank you. Thank you for telling someone. I'm glad I could be the person you trusted." I reach out to tuck her hair behind her ear.
"I'll always be here supporting you. You deserve it after everything you've done for me." HeiRan slowly slips her hands from mine and shyly makes her way toward JuHee.
I watch her closely as she talks softly to JuHee. Her wrists are covered in bracelets and she's wearing a long sleeve shirt in this heat. She's super cautious in everything she does and says, but she looks happy. She genuinely looks happy. Did I really do that? Did my one message really change things for her?
"Jia!" A bright haired boy chirps as he holds a small bag out for me.
"Thank you!" I smile brightly as I immediately shift my attention to the boy in front of me.
"I've been waiting forever to meet you!" He happily takes my hands in his as I steal one last glance at HeiRan before she disappears into the growing crowd.
"I'm glad to be able to meet you. Was it too hot outside?" I ask concerned for not only him, but HeiRan as well. How long was she out in the heat like that?
"It was hot, but it was worth every second." He insists as he offers me one last smile before moving onto JuHee.
"Hey, JiSu." JongHo slips in the small gap between fans to place a bag in my hands.
"Thanks—you didn't have to get me anything." I look up at him in shock. I really didn't expect the other girl's friends to bring me a gift.
"All of us guys got together to get you all something. It isn't much, but we wanted to show you that we're rooting for you." He smiles and waves before hurrying toward JuHee.
I continue to interact with each fan that approaches me, but my mind can't help but wander back to HeiRan every chance it gets. Is she okay out there? She's packed into a pretty tight space with so many people. She doesn't feel suffocated right? She didn't leave yet, did she?
"JiSu, I'm starting to move gifts, so don't get shocked if something isn't here when you turn away." ChanHyuck touches my shoulder softly.
"Hey—ChanHyuck." I spin around to grab his arm.
"Yeah? What's up?" He asks curiously, slightly concerned by my expression.
"There's this girl—could you check on her for me? She's probably having a rough time in the crowd." I turn toward the large group of people in search of her face, but I come up empty. Maybe she left.
"She's alright. I promise." ChanHyuck reassures me as if he truly knows what I'm talking about, but he can't know—can he?
I mean it's possible he saw the messages. He does have access to the Candi account, but he doesn't usually go on it. He says he's not a big social media fan. He even told me that I was in charge of most things social media wise—with the exception of this little stunt he pulled on us.
"JiSu, listen to him. She's really okay." JongHo insists as he makes a stop next to me on his way back to SunMi.
"How do you guys know? You don't even know her name." I sigh as he quickly makes his way toward SunMi without another word.
I fall down in my chair as the last fan slowly approaches me. I put on my cheerful face and give them the best fan meet they could have ever imagined before watching them hurry toward JuHee.
My chest grows tight as I search the crowd for her face once again. I want to trust them that she's alright, but how could they possibly know who I was talking about? Where is HeiRan?