The members of Stray Kids don't know how they made it through the next few weeks. It took a little while for Chan to tell Changbin and Jisung what had happened and even longer to say why. Jisung did his best to comfort their leader while Changbin was in shock. He couldn't believe that his sweet Rosie-Noona had said all those horrible things to her soulmate.

When Felix and Minho arrived back from Japan, they were the only two that hadn't heard about what had happened. Changbin took Felix aside, while Jisung spoke to Minho. Felix couldn't believe what he was hearing. There was no way that Rose had left them, left him.

The young dancer stormed out of the room and started searching for her. Changbin followed him, telling Felix that Rose wasn't at the company. He started phoning her but got no answer. When he headed for the stairs, the older rapper asked him what he was doing, and Felix replied that he was going to Rose's apartment.

Meanwhile, Jisung was caught by surprise when Minho collapsed to the floor after he told the dancer what Rose had done. The rapper crouched beside him and waved his hand in front of the dancer's face as he sat zoned out on the floor. When he came back to reality, he grabbed Jisung's arms and looked up at him.

"I didn't want to be right."

"Oh, Hyung."

The younger wrapped Minho in a hug as a couple of tears ran down the dancer's cheek.

When the other two Idols comeback from their search, they both had red eyes. They hadn't found Rose at her apartment, but a neighbour had seen her leave the day before with a suitcase. They didn't mention her anymore after that.

That night, Jeongin couldn't sleep and shuffled into Seungmin's room. The older singer accepted the Maknae into his bed even though he preferred sleeping alone. Neither of them wanted to be alone at the moment.

Hyunjin lay awake in his room staring at a painting on the wall. It was the one he had done of Rose when they had spent the morning together. He stared at it until his vision blurred.

"How could you do this to us? To Chan-Hyung, to Lixie and Binnie-Hyung. To Minho-Hyung, Sungie, Minnie, and Innie. To me. Why?"

They had schedules to get through over the next few days, but their main worry was their leader. However, as they got ready to go to ISAC, Idol Star Athletics Championship, Chan appeared and acted as if nothing had happened. As if his soulmate hadn't broken his heart and disappeared.

Jisung couldn't pretend though. Since Rose had started working with them, he had felt calmer, less anxious, and more secure knowing that she was taking care of them. In the loud stadium, it got to be too much for him. Grabbing hold of Seungmin he managed to ask for help before his anxiety took over. Once Seungmin had taken him inside and made sure he was alright, the singer left Jisung with their staff.

Rose had been good at watching out for him and noticing if things started to get too much. She would take him aside and sit with him quietly and had even shown him some exercises to do to help him not go all the way into a full-blown anxiety attack. They were things that she used to do a lot as she had bad anxiety as a teenager, and he had felt closer to her after she had shared that with him.

The next day was STAY's birthday. By focusing on their fans, they managed to get through the V Live. If it was a little more chaotic than usual because they were trying to hide that something was wrong, then thankfully it wasn't that noticeable. Chan was a little quiet, but the younger ones had no problem being extra loud and causing distractions.

As the days passed, Stray Kids continued to work hard despite their busy schedules. It would have seemed like things were back to the way things were six months ago before Rose came into their lives if it hadn't been for Felix. The dancer hadn't been acting like himself at all.

Felix was known for being friendly, kind, and caring. He usually always had a smile on his face, but these days he was angry. He was angry at Rose, for leaving and for hurting Chan, but he was angrier at himself for wanting her to come back.

Every time he saw a funny video and wanted to share it with her, he threw his phone. When the staff wouldn't bring the drinks and snacks that he liked, he asked for the correct items, commenting that Rose knew what the liked. He complained when they ran out of water because Rose always made sure their water bottles were full. It wasn't just that nothing was the same without her, but that everything seemed to be worse, and it made him angry that she had such a big impact on their daily lives.

One of the groups' dreams came true when they got to perform at the Olympic Stadium for the Seoul FESTA's K-pop Super Live concert. In a past vlog, Changbin and Felix rode bikes outside the stadium and said it was their goal to perform there one day. Although it poured with rain, all the members were so happy to be performing on that stage. It was the perfect distraction and gave them the motivation to work hard so that they can hold their own concert there one day.

Changbin didn't really feel like celebrating his birthday, but Wooyoung insisted on doing something, even if it was only hanging out at ATEEZ's apartment. So, the night before his birthday he headed over to his best friend's place and was greeted with a big grin at the door. They sat down in the living room and Wooyoung passed him a drink.

"Everyone else is out. Sannie took Yunho and Mingi out even though I told him he was welcome to join us and the other four are with Zoey."

"Zoey?"

"Their final soulmate. She's visiting for a few weeks. It was good timing that Rose-Noona needed someone to home-sit. She stayed with us last time and it was a bit awkward. Now they can have some privacy -"

Changbin almost choked on his drink.

"Wait. What did you say?"

"Zoey stayed with us a few months ago."

"No. She's staying in Rose's apartment?"

"Yeah... She told Hongjoong-Hyung that it was going to be empty until her lease finished and he asked if his soulmate could stay there for a couple of weeks. You - You didn't know? I assumed she had moved in with Chan."

"Woo... Rose - she left us. She left Chan."

Changbin watched as his friend's eyes widened in shock.

"What? What do you mean left? She can't have -"

"She told Chan that she didn't want to be with him anymore, that she never wanted to be his soulmate, but she had been worried about getting the sickness."

Wooyoung jumped in his seat, shaking his head forcefully in denial.

"No... no way! Rose-Noona would never! She's not - she's a good person. I know her!"

"We thought we knew her too."

"Oh, Binnie... I'm so sorry. How - how's Chan-Hyung?"

"Pretending that nothing's wrong, like she never existed, and working harder than ever."

"I can't believe it. And you? How are you holding up?"

Changbin shrugged.

"I'm not her soulmate. It wasn't me who was left heartbroken."

"Binnie... We both know that's not true."

The two Idols stared at each other for a moment, before the rapper looked down at the drink in his hand.

"It doesn't matter anymore. I just want to forget. Let's drink!"

The two boys clinked their glasses together and finished off their first of many drinks of the evening. Wooyoung's group members had to help the rapper home when they got back to find the two friends had drunk quite a bit. Jisung and Seungmin helped the birthday boy into his own bed after thanking ATEEZ for bringing him home. The younger rapper arranged the covers over him.

"I hope he's alright tomorrow."

Seungmin looked down at Changbin with an unsympathetic expression before they both left the room.

"He'll be fine. As long as this was a one-off. We all need to be at the top of our game while Chan-Hyung... recovers."

"We've all been affected by Rose-Noona leaving. It's going to take time to get back to normal. Healing isn't a process which can be rushed. We're not all like you, but I guess you weren't that close -"

Jisung stumbled back, taken by surprise when Seungmin gave him a small shove.

"Shut up! You don't know how I'm feeling."

"Oh, Min..."

The rapper wrapped Seungmin in his arms and rubbed his back as the singer sniffled. There wasn't one member of Stray Kids that wasn't affected by the loss of their leader's soulmate. The real question was if they would be able to recover from it.