Forget-me-not

Seungmin

He couldn't lie, it stung. Cynthia was in Felix's room sitting in a chair with her legs criss-cross applesauce. Hyunjin was slung over Felix's bed and the two were talking about something that he couldn't hear. He walked into the kitchen trying to distract himself from the acidic feeling of jealousy. He wasn't proud of it.

Felix had given up his room for Cynthia. Since Hyunjin didn't live here, Hyunjin had temporarily claimed it as his own to help Cynthia cope. Felix had moved some of his stuff over to I.N's room, so he wouldn't be a bother to Cynthia.

Hyunjin wasn't going to steal Cynthia away from him and he knew that. Cynthia kept clinging to Hyunjin because this situation was new. Deep down, she was still scared and Hyunjin had been the one to help her through everything with Flora.

She was likely terrified and still nervous about the seven other guys she was with. He couldn't hold that against her and he wasn't going to. It'd take time before she was comfortable around the rest of them. Things couldn't be fixed overnight. As much as it hurt, it was the truth.

It wouldn't fix anything for him to be there and soak in his bitterness. Instead, he went out to the kitchen to make himself a drink. He'd give her all the time in the world to attempt to cope with everything. He would wait as long as it took and get over the tinge of resentment against Hyunjin.

He grabbed a glass from a cupboard and opened the fridge debating on what to drink. Footsteps interrupted him and he glanced over the top of the fridge door. Felix stood there with I.N a few feet away from him.

"Whatcha doing?" He asked.

"Attempting to find something to drink. What are you two bozos doing?" He glanced back at the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of sweetened green tea. Lee Know had made it earlier this morning.

"We came out of Innie's room to get the rest of the story about what happened. You never got a chance to finish it earlier because we all got interrupted, so what happened earlier?"

"Oh, right. When we showed up to the apartment complex, Flora was beating up a woman. From what I understand, Cynthia left, Flora tried to stop her, and the woman stopped Flora. Flora got pissed and then swung."

Felix grimaced, "yikes."

"You're telling me. So Hyunjin jerked Flora off her and Chan called the cops. After that, I don't know what happened. Cynthia was gone and I had to run outside to find her."

"And where was she?" I.N asked.

"In the river."

"Huh?"

"Did I stutter? In the river. She was in the river. She wasn't paying attention to the riverbank and then splash."

"How are you so calm about this?"

"I think I'm still in shock over it, honestly."

"That's not a surprise." A new voice joined the conversation. Lee Know intercepted the glass pitcher from Seungmin's hand and poured some of the tea into his own glass. "I think I'd be pretty shocked about the whole situation too. When are you going to talk to Cynthia?" He pushed the pitcher back towards him.

He shrugged, "maybe after she's had time to relax. Before I asked you to pick us up earlier, we went out for a brief time. She was soaked from head to toe, so I took her to the store and bought her new clothes and shoes. I also got her a warm coffee to try and fight off the chill."

"That's so cute," Felix cooed. He pressed a hand over his heart and smiled. "I love love."

"And I love putting Hwang Hyunjin in the air fryer."

Felix rolled his eyes and I.N chuckled. Seungmin poured his glass full of tea and pushed it back into the fridge. "I know I don't ask for help a lot, but can you guys help me?"

"Of course!" Felix smiled.

"But what do you want help with?"

"Just please behave around Cynthia for a while. Try not to be too loud while she gets settled in. Tomorrow we have to go back to the studio and she'll probably have to come with us. I don't want her to stay here by herself."

"Relax, Seungminnie, we'll behave." Lee Know leaned forward and gently flicked his forehead. "We'll take care of her the best that we can. We're not dumb, you know."

"That's debatable."

Lee Know shot him an unamused glare.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm just saying! Sometimes you guys can be a lot and I don't want to freak her out and overwhelm her. There's so much she can't remember. I can't imagine how terrifying it must be."

"Do you think her memories are going to come back soon?"

Seungmin stayed quiet for a moment. The truth was that he didn't know. He wasn't up to date on Cynthia's doctor appointments. He had no idea how much she could remember and how much was still gone. He didn't want to overwhelm her or be insensitive.

"I don't know," he finally admitted. "I know that whatever happens, we need to be supportive. If she can't remember everything, we'll slowly fill in the missing gaps. If she remembers, that'd be great, but I just don't know."

"Don't worry, we'll be on our best behavior." I.N stepped up and wrapped a hug around Seungmin. It was unlike him, but he could tell how silently stressed Seungmin was. He was clutching the glass of tea hard enough that his fingers were white.

"We'll behave, we promise," Felix added. "We'll do whatever we can to make Cynthia happy. Do you think we should make her a fancy dinner or something? I don't really know her favorite food."

"Don't worry about that, I already have plans to order her favorite food later."

"What is it?"

"Hawaiian pizza."

Some faces twisted in disgust. Seungmin couldn't help, but chuckle. The only response he got was from Felix mocking one of Chan's old livestream videos in his thick Australian accent. He made sure to emphasize the words just as Chan had.

"There's a piece of pineapple on my burger."