one way, or another
summary: if you thought this purge night would uneventfully pass like the others, you’ll be in for one hell a ride this time.
genre: purge!au, angst, action, adventure, a lot of death and violence, hint of crack (if you squint very closely), yandere
pairings: yandere!ten x fem!reader, hint of jeno x fem!reader
word count: 10.3k+
a/n: SPECIAL THANKS TO ONE OF MY DEAR FRIENDS @hyuckshinee FOR GIVING ME FEEDBACK AND SUGGESTIONS <33
taglist: @pukupukupawpau @kasperneo @oonaaurora @sweettaeguk @jaemingold @kpopstanforlifeuwu @agabisworld @pc0604 @unknownnctizen @vsszn @adventuresofrose @benhardygalileo @y-ning
“So I’ve got like, shit tons of snacks stuffed in my luggage bags in case we run out.” Your friend Donghyuck proudly exclaimed, rapidly patting the bags next to him.
Chenle waved him off, “There’s no need to worry about it, I’ve got plenty of food supplies at home. There’s no way we’re gonna starve tonight.”
“Okay, but wait, I’m overthinking a little, so the eight of us go to yours after school and hang out for the entire night until the purge is over, right?” Renjun’s expression was pensive, alluding to paranoia kicking in.
Honestly, he wasn’t the only one who was a bit worried about tonight‘s events. Out of your group, Mark, Jisung, you and Donghyuck were also worried — but unlike Renjun, the rest of you decided for your worries to be left unspoken.
“Yeah.” “All the doors and windows and such are gonna be covered, right?”
“Yup. No need to worry Jun, we’re gonna be alright!” Chenle grinned confidently, before an exaggerated frown overtook his features, “Unless someone farts again stinks up the whole place-”
Making a fake offended expression at the younger boy’s words, Mark’s jaw dropped, “hey! I swear that wasn’t me!”
You gave Mark a side eye, “Funny how Renjun and Jisung threaten us by hoping our pillows are warm, it’s probably gonna be Mark who-” “Give the poor man a break,” Jeno cut you off, nudging your arm playfully.
“Thank you, Jen-” “Roast him during the Purge, that way time’ll go faster.” Jeno smiled innocently, eliciting laughter (along with protests, from Mark specifically,) from you all.
The Purge was once a year, where all crime was legal. If you could get out of your country, you would, but you weren’t able to this year.
Besides, it was fine. You were gonna be with your friends, protecting each other, and you were aware that most of them could fight, judging by the amount of fights you’ve seen them get into.
Seated behind you, a dark haired boy had his head propped up on his hand, staring at you with a soft look on his face.
Also behind you were your other classmates, a group of best friends, also talking (or rather, in this case teasing the dark haired one) amongst themselves.
“Aiyah,” Xiaojun shook his head, staring at his friend with an amused smile, “You’ve got it bad, man.”
“Think the word you’re trying to search for is ‘simp’.” Lucas burst out laughing at Yangyang’s blunt nickname for their lovesick friend, a juxtaposition to Kun trying to stifle a laugh.
“You’re like that one meme I sent Sicheng and Lucas last night,” Hendery paused to think, looking at the ceiling, “The ‘I’ll stare at you until you marry me’ one.”
It was at that moment that you locked eyes with your lovesick classmate and friend — Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul, commonly known as Ten Lee. Although you quickly tore your gaze away from the interesting male, you noted that in the corner of your eyes that he never took his intense gaze off you.
Seeing this all go down, Jeno subtly nudged your side with his elbow, “He’s been staring at you for like, what, eons?”
“Wait, wait, who?” Eager to know, the rest of your friends leaned towards your entertained friend, making you huff.
“Ten, of course,” Jeno answered as a matter-of-factly. The eight of you quickly turned to look quickly at the male in question, only to find his gaze still upon you.
“I think he’s shy!” Chenle cooed, nudging you not-so subtly with a mischievous grin to match, “It’s so obvious he likes you.”
Jaemin sent a look to Jeno, who simply rolled his eyes. You eyed them suspiciously, only to drop it quickly.
“Ten just thinks he likes you,” What? What did that mean? Mark shook his head, “He’s probably in love with you, if you ask me. You know, one time, he asked me if any of us were dating you.”
“(Y/N)? As if! I’d never go out with that Baba Yaga lookalike. I already feel bad for her future partner.” Renjun scoffed, receiving a soft punch from you.
“Look, I’d never seen the guy’s eyes twinkle so brightly — until I told him no, we’re not interested in you, and not in a million years.” The oldest of the friend group shrugged, leaning back in his chair, “That’s all I’m gonna say.”
To be honest, you did consider dating Mark and Jeno, but those thoughts were in the past… right? You didn’t feel anything for any of your friends, and as far as you knew, they didn’t feel anything whatsoever for you back. Or so you thought.
“I’ve never been so nervous when coming to school,” Jisung shuddered, “Once I looked at the teachers, I looked away as soon as possible! If they knew about the knife in my backpack… I’d be doomed, even before the purge starts.”
“That was funny as hell, you were speed walking so awkwardly like you were being squished!” Donghyuck chuckled, patting Jisung on the back.
These seven boys were closer to you than your own family, hence why you agreed to stick with them. You’d trust that they’d never purposely backstab you or throw you to the pack of killers on the streets tonight.
Speaking about your family, your parents were out of town for business reasons. You could only hope that they’ll survive. Seems they forgot about it or slept in a bit late before work, considering you heard their hurried footsteps and saw the note they stuck onto the fridge.
”Stay safe, kiddos.” With a solemn nod, your teacher observed all of the students, including you and your friends as you walked out the door.
He only hoped that you and your friends would survive the night, a subtle hint of pity on his usually indifferent and stoic face.
Hopping into Mark’s van hurriedly, you all tried to ensure that no one was left behind and that no one was about to suddenly join your group.
“I’m so fucking tired,” Renjun groaned, draped on his seat dramatically, “But at least we don’t have any homework due for this week.”
Donghyuck scoffed, “Yeah, because we might not even be able to hand in that work after tonight.”
“Dude, don’t jinx it!” Mark began to drive to Chenle’s house, eyebrows scrunched in worry.
“I’m just saying!”
“Wait, so are your parents already at home? Or are they gonna meet us after work?” Turning to the back where his best friend sat, Jisung blinked curiously.
With a shake of his head, Chenle placed his phone into his pocket, “Remember? They’re at my main house, seas away from us.”
“Right, sorry, I forgot.” Jisung let out an awkward chuckle.
20 minutes had passed, and now the eight of you were in Chenle’s house, sealed shut with the latest technology. Each of you grabbed a weapon — none of you were that stupid to rely on technology to save you.
Jeno and Jaemin took two handguns each, Chenle took a shotgun, Jisung and Mark chose a baseball bat, Renjun took a butcher’s knife, you chose a regular kitchen knife whilst Donghyuck picked a flamethrower. You all were lucky that some of you were trained to fight and/or defend, otherwise your group would’ve been dead meat the moment you stepped out of the house.
“A flamethrower? Really dude?” Mark cocked a brow at Donghyuck’s choice of weapon.
Standing awkwardly, Donghyuck shrugged, “You never know when you need it, and I wasn’t gonna leave the kitchen pyromaniacs to burn everything down.”
Aware that the nickname was intended to describe the people in the group who were bad at cooking, Mark and Jisung just sent a glare towards Donghyuck.
“Wait, wait!” Pulling out his phone, Jaemin quickly shot a selfie, ensuring that all bodies were in the frame, “Cheese!”
“Hey, Nana, I wasn’t ready!”
The rest of the time waiting for the Purge to officially begin flew by quickly. You and your friends spent that time eating some snacks, playing Mario Kart, filming questionable TikToks, taking thousands of selfies (much to everyone but yours’ disappointment), and just talking about the juiciest gossip or sitting in silence.
“May God be with you all.” And with that, the Purge had officially commenced. After the announcement was made, Jaemin sneakily played a horror movie. Most of you tried to swallow your fear down.
For the first three hours, it was fun. You guys finished the movie, after a bit of screaming, panicking and gripping onto each other with strength as if you were stuck to one another with gorilla glue. and listened to a guitar performance from Mark and Donghyuck. You wouldn’t be surprised if they decided to start a two man band, uploading their songs on Youtube or Soundcloud, dropping out of university and quitting their jobs to rise to stardom.
The group had also roasted each other often, played songs on Just Dance, ate and drank lots, and played beer pong (well, only Mark, Jeno, Donghyuck, Renjun and Chenle, the rest of you couldn’t be bothered or didn’t like beer).
“Gooooo whoever wins,” You slurred out, lazily draped on the couch. Jaemin just raised his cup of coke, “Yeah Jeno Lee!!”
At the mention of his name, the boy turned to the two of you on the couch, sending both of you a wink. You felt blood rush to your cheeks.
Seeing your reaction, Jaemin snapped his fingers, making you look at his direction curiously. “What the heck is that for?”
“Hey (Y/N), that look in your eye is telling me something.” At his comment, you scrunched your eyes, which never left Jeno’s figure, “What do you mean?”
“I mean, either someone has a little crush on my best friend, or you just got a lady boner from that wink alone.”
Jaemin received a light push from you, making him almost fall off of the couch, “Hey! Don’t touch the art, (Y/N)! Haven’t they ever told you in galleries to not touch the art?”
“Honestly, you seem like more of a kindergarteners’ finger painting during art class.” You shifted your position on the couch to face the boy who was resurfacing from the floor, “But I don’t know. I think maybe I do like him, just a little though, like last time.”
Jaemin just eyed you weirdly, “You think?”
Before you could respond, you all were met with and engulfed with darkness. The power was shut down, confusing your whole group, especially Chenle who was a mix of confused and frustrated.
Everyone started panicking, your voices overlapping each other’s.
“Jesus!” “I’m not Jesus, stop whacking me!” You could hear Mark whining.
“Where are you guys?!” “Ow, stop touching my hair, it’s sensitive and I styled it especially good today!”
“Sorry, but who cares?! Worry more about whoever just hacked the fucking protection system, I don’t want to die!” Was that Renjun or Chenle?
“We’re not going to die! We’ll beat their ass, we have a Jeno for a reason.” Now that definitely was Chenle’s voice.
“Okay, first of all, I think we need to calm the fuck down.” Donghyuck wisely suggested, opting to remain calm after a few seconds of panicking himself, “(Y/N), please turn on the flash on your phone.”
Doing as told, the bright light almost blinded everyone in the room.
”How about we stick together and find out who just did this?” Before any of you could answer Mark’s suggestion, there were several bangs and yells coming from the outside of the house’s protection system. You could hear the security walls start to break.
“I’m not gonna be surprised if they’re just teens in high school with a petty grudge,” Jeno muttered to you, receiving a snort and look of amusement from you.
Jaemin shrugged, “I doubt the security system is gonna work anymore, I think I agree with Mark. Better to have us all there to go against the group.”
After a few seconds of silence and shooting glances at each other, there was a silent agreement made to go out and fight whoever was trying to get in.
The eight of you packed your bags full of essential necessities just in case you seven had to go run off and leave the house until the sun rose up again.
As quietly as possible, you all made your way to the front door, Mark standing the nearest to the door.
“Dude, you’re gonna have to open the door,” Donghyuck gestured to the door knob, “We’re right behind you.”
Looking at every single one of you, Mark sighed, and reluctantly opened the door.... only for him to gasp in shock and disturbance.
“What?” Jisung was next to speak up, “Wh, what happened?”
Although his mouth was open, Mark couldn’t utter any words out, choosing to simply point out where he was facing.
Being the second at the front, Renjun decided to take a look for himself, backing away at the sight that was in front of him. “There’s only one dead body.”
This was alarming. Wasn’t there several yells and banging earlier? It sounded like there was more than one person outside, but no one came to ambush you guys when the door was opened. You were only greeted with a dead body to the door, was it a message of sorts from someone?
“I dunno if we should stay here any longer,” You furrowed your brows, “Is this some sort of warning? The security system’s not working anymore, either.”
“Someone definitely hacked into it,” Chenle grit his teeth, “I think we should go out. I’d rather not have this house be demolished if we stayed longer.”
“But what if people just wanna use this place?” At Jeno’s question, Chenle blinked.
“I’ll kick them out tomorrow, then. I’ll hire some people to help me with the cleaning and recovery.” The boy batted his eyelashes, cool and collected.
Mark spoke up next, “Alright, then. Hands up if you wanna go out.”
Majority of hands were raised, save for a reluctant Donghyuck, Renjun and Jisung.
The first two, seeing that the majority raised their hands, mirrored their actions, but Jisung remained firm in his decision.
“Jisung?” At Chenle’s call, the boy in question looked at the floor, “I’m… I’m scared. What if-”
“Jisung, if anything happens, we’ll all be here to protect you.” You gently placed a hand on his shoulder, tossing the younger a reassuring smile.
Waiting for the boy’s final decision, he raised his hand after a few seconds, “You guys better protect me.”
“Of course!” Squishing the youngest boy’s cheeks, Jaemin cooed, “Anything for our baby!” “Hey, let go of me!”
The next thing you eight knew, each of you were walking aimlessly on the street, opting to simply just go forward. Houses would pass, but there would always be something off about them. Something inside you told you to be careful, but maybe it was just anxiety kicking in.
Noticing your uneasy expression, Jeno gently placed a hand on your shoulder, “(Y/N), you good?”
“Yeah, I’m good.” You weren’t. You had qualms about the journey. Wasn’t it better to stay in a different building rather than just roam around the now dangerous streets during Purge night?
But then again, you trusted your friends. There was a less likely chance of any of you dying if you stuck together, anyways.
Jisung, you and Renjun flinched upon hearing a woman yell in one of the houses, a man pleading for his life to be spared only for the sound of a gunshot to silence him. Jeno pulled you and Jisung further away from the house, an uncomfortable and disturbed expression plastered on everyone’s faces.
“Maybe it’s better we head off to the city. I doubt many people are gonna be there, and it’s safer than this nightmare of a suburban environment,” Mark suggested.
“We’re going the right way to the city, anyways,” Jaemin shrugged knowing his way around the streets, his eyes soon locking onto the massive green sign that read ‘CITY UP AHEAD’. The rest of the sign had evidently faded away with time. “Just keep going forward and we’ll be there soon.”
That was a lie. It took you around 30, almost 40 minutes just to simply get to the end of the suburban hell, not even the heart of the city.
Fortunately for you and your friend group, none of you got ambushed, hiding whenever groups of people were storming around and looking for blood, and ignoring nonchalantly (read: guiltily) cries for help as adults were being hunted down like a deer in the woods.
The only sounds, save for the cries for help, gunshots and such resounding through the air were eight pairs of footsteps, and the crunch of the crackers that Donghyuck and Renjun were eating.
The pairs of footsteps only halted upon the unusual sound of a little kid’s cries, the eight of you turning to each other with confused and concerned expressions. Although your group decided that the ‘every group for themselves’ rule was to be implemented, you couldn’t ignore a child’s calls for help, so you hid behind a nearby wall.
Taking a peek at the comotion, Jaemin snapped his head back to the rest of you, whispering “Little girl, her mom’s dead and there’s a weird biker gang surrounding her. They look like they’re on drugs, not gonna lie?”
“And how do you know that?” Chenle questioned, “Kidding, kidding. What should we do?”
“I.. I dunno.” You kept looking at each other, ultimately deciding to stay quiet and see how the scene would play out.
“Why… Why mommy?” The little girl stood tall, fear evident in her eyes.
One of the men spoke up, trying to appear intimidating with his studded leather jacket, “You see, kid, your mommy owed us money, but she never paid it back and tried to run away from us by leaving the city with you.”
The child, although confused, looked up at the guy who spoke up, “That’s not nice of her, but you’re not nice. You hurt her!”
You watched as the group simultaneously laughed, towering the girl and staring her down, their shadows covering her frightened figure.
“Mommy,” The little girl whimpered, “Please wake up. Please save me.”
“Your mommy can’t save you anymore,” A gruff voice tried to poorly imitate the young girl, “She’s dead, and you will be, too.”
“No!” Running towards the gang without thinking, Mark hit who he assumed to be the leader of the gang on the head, the loud clunk sound of the metallic bat’s collision with the guy’s head bouncing through the air.
You, Jaemin, Jeno, Donghyuck and Jisung were the next to move and join the brawl. Luckily, there weren’t that many in the gang and Donghyuck was able to do most of the work, lighting some gang members on fire as you avoided the burning figures.
“What are you waiting for?!” Jisung yelled out towards Renjun and Chenle, Mark moving past the former and pushing the child in yours and Jeno’s direction, “Please take care of her for me, make sure she doesn’t see much of what’s going on!”
“You sure?” “We’ll take care of it!” Jaemin answered for Mark.
“Okay,” You breathed out, holding onto the little hands of the girl, “Hi there, what’s your name?” Smiling shakily, you tried to hide the visible fear in your voice in order to distract the little girl from the violent scene.
“Yuri,” The girl responded, still evidently in tears. You locked eyes with Jeno, who simply looked back at you calmly and smiled at the girl, “That’s a nice name.”
In yours and Jeno’s stead, Renjun and Chenle took care of the rest of the members, the latter almost getting beat up by one if it weren’t for Renjun chopping his head off.
One of the members, a scrawny one who was clearly angered, screeched, “You killed our leader, jackass!”
Donghyuck’s eyes widened at the sound, turning to Mark who had his back turned to the angered guy, “Mark! Watch out!”
Looking behind him at the sound of Donghyuck’s voice, Mark took his eyes off of his opponents. To you and your friends’ horror, this led to the older boy getting stabbed in the heart.
Chenle croaked, “No!” before avenging Mark by shooting the gang members around him, anger overtaking his body.
Before Mark’s body could fall to the ground, Donghyuck caught him, evidently traumatised as the rest of you.
You and Jeno didn’t look back, trying to distract the girl with conversations, but you both could easily assume what had just occurred.
“Wake up, Melk,” Donghyuck cried out, “Malk. Mark. Get up. I’m sorry. Please don’t tell me I got you killed.”
“You didn’t kill me, I just di...didn’t look properly,” The older one shook his head gently, wincing at the pain.
Jaemin and Jisung had killed off the last remaining members with more drive, not wanting any more of their friends to be injured.
Carrying Yuri behind his back, Jeno followed behind you to go see Mark, “We’ll get you patched up, dude. We’ll go to the nearest hospital, a-and-”
“It’s the Purge. No sane hospital would be open,” Mark’s voice started getting quieter, as the rest of you surrounded his body.
“We, we could try ourselves!” Jisung spoke up, grabbing the rolls of bandages from his backpack. But that wouldn’t save Mark, and you knew it.
With the last bit of strength Mark had, he shook his head, “Stay here until I’m gone, that’s all I ask.”
Sniffles could be heard from the majority of you, tears threatening to or already have escaped.
“Okay.” Jaemin nodded, holding Mark’s hand softly.
“I don’t really like saying this cheesy stuff, but… I love you guy...s…” Before the oldest boy could continue his sentence, his body had tensed, then fell limp.
After a few seconds of attempting to process his death, Jisung softly called out, “Mark?”
“He’s gone,” Yuri commented, crying as she was reminded of her own mom, “But he’s up there, I’m sure. He loves you, so he’ll… he’ll protect you.”
The little child’s words hit harder for the rest of you, silently mourning for your now deceased friend.
Unlike the stories where people who are selected by authors in other stories to die get to say goodbye, Mark’s body being eternally asleep meant that his goodbyes would never come to physical fruition.
Donghyuck sucked in a long breath, standing still at the sight of one of his best friends’ dead bodies. You’d never seen him look so distant.
You all stood for a few minutes in silence, ignoring the sounds of distant cars, gunshots, and cries for help echoing through the streets as all pairs of eyes laid upon Mark’s unmoving corpse.
“Come on,” Jeno's voice was quiet as if he was whispering, voice cracking at the end, “Let’s not die here. Mark would’ve wanted us to—“
“What the fuck do you know?” Chenle uncharacteristically barked, storming up to a surprised Jeno, “He’s not here to tell us—“
“Chenle...” Jisung grabbed hold of his closest friend to prevent any fights, “Jeno’s right. Mark’s selfless and would prefer his death not be in vain.”
Although his head was down, you could see tears sliding down the second youngest boy’s face. “Fi... fine.”
And so, the trek onwards to find a hideout was continued. With one last silent goodbye, you all left your dear friend Mark.
Silence followed the group, no one wanting to speak. Not even the usually cheerful when bad things happen friends wanted to speak, save for Mark who couldn't speak anymore. Some needed more time to let today’s events sink in, while some were just mourning the losses and terrified if anyone was next. In your case, it was the former.
Was Mark watching you guys from above with God? He was a good, devoted Christian who believed in God, so you hoped he was welcomed to the afterlife regardless of your own religion and beliefs. He didn’t even get to confess to the girl he liked, Mina, or make a whole album with Taeyong as promised.
Mark died too young, and his downfall was from his own heroism.
After only a minute, Yuri got bored of being carried by Jeno, so she opted to get off. You watched as she wrapped her small left hand around your right, and her right hand around Jeno’s left, which made the two of you smile at the subtle yet cute action.
“We’ll be okay,” You breathed out, “Mark will be watching over us, like a guardian angel.”
“Remember when we all thought that Lucas was some sort of fallen angel, because Mark saw the scratches on his back?” Jeno scoffed at the memory, Donghyuck laughing as he overheard your conversation, “One night stands are really something.”
“What’s a one night stand?” Yuri curiously asked, looking over to Donghyuck who froze at both the question and the glare you and Jeno sent towards the poor boy.
Jaemin turned around , “Ignore what he said, uh… what’s your name?” “Yuri.” “What a lovely name for a sweet girl.” Jaemin complimented, showing his smile that was akin to a bunny. His compliment made Yuri smile back at him bashfully.
Hearing hurried footsteps behind you, the group turned around only to see your teacher from your last period in front of you.
He stopped a few metres away from you eight, to the point you couldn’t see his face.
“Mr Lee?” Although he had the same last name as Mark, Donghyuck and Jeno, Sooman Lee was not related to the three whatsoever. Renjun‘s face scrunched into one of confusion, “What brings you here?”
“I-I just wanted to warn you guys,” Stammering, Mr. Lee’s expression was concerned and frightened, but none of you could see that.
The whole group however could see the shiny metal that he was holding in his hand, alarming you all. In his other hand, he held another object, but you couldn’t identify what it was.
Crouching down, you and Jeno shifted to face the only child of the group in an attempt to distract her from what could transpire soon and to shield her from the commotion.
“Fuck,” You heard someone mutter from behind you, “I’m nearsighted.”
“Warn us?” Donghyuck stepped closer, suspicious about the teacher, “About what?”
Mr. Lee stepped back, “About, uh, who’s coming.”
“Oh yeah?” Finding his confidence being brought back by Donghyuck’s actions, Renjun stepped closer, “And how do we know this isn’t a plot to kill us, sir?”
“Come on,” Mr. Lee frowned, “Your friend Mark’s my star student. Why should I kill you all?”
“More like why shouldn’t you?” Chenle countered, joining Renjun and Donghyuck, “It’s the purge tonight, and we’re very aware of how you don’t like some of us. We‘re not stupid.”
“Wait, I’ll give you proof!” Mr. Lee cried out, only to make the mistake of dashing closer to the group.
Mr. Lee quickly found himself on the floor, being beaten by his students, yelping out for help.
Renjun sniggered cruelly, “Do you really think someone’s gonna save you tonight? Society is selfish, weren’t you the one to tell us just weeks ago that sometimes the world can be an eat or be eaten environment?”, eliciting a chuckle from Donghyuck, Chenle and Jaemin.
Jisung suddenly stopped kicking the poor old man, his stone cold expression contorting into one of shock.
Jaemin looked towards the younger boy’s direction, obviously confused as to why he stopped, “Jisungie? What’s wrong?”
“That’s not a weapon.” The youngest boy’s words caught everyone’s attention, the older man’s suffering halted, “He’s holding a flashlight. Shaped like a knife to scare people off.”
Everyone let Jisung’s words sink in, feeling dread and horror in their guts.
“I was trying to say that there’s a big threat coming for you guys,” Mr. Lee cautioned, his voice suddenly rough, “I wasn’t sure about it, until I saw it with my own eyes. And then I got caught by them, then chased.”
“I’m so, so sorry,” Renjun bit his lips, “Who? Who’s after us?”
“It’s...” hesitant to say, Mr. Lee was cut off by the sound of several gunshots.
Your former teacher was shot in the head numerous times by an unidentifiable figure in a dark green van zooming past your group.
“Holy shit,” Donghyuck gasped, “Did- did he just die right in front of us?”
“He did.” Confirming, Jaemin appeared to be in a daze.
Besides you, Jeno and Yuri, who were still talking, the rest of the group just stood in silence, save for Renjun who dropped to his knees with blood splatters stained on his shirt and dripping down his chin.
“Wait, do you guys hear that weird motorcycle sound?” Chenle stopped, confused, which in turn made the rest of you stop.
The sound that Chenle pointed out was only roaring louder, until a gunshot rang in the air. Panicked screams resounded through the street, Yuri losing her grip on you as she was shot. One of the gang members from earlier had survived, although he was rapidly losing blood.
Jeno started shooting at the perpetrator, the latter losing control of his vehicle and creating a large streak of blood to paint the street..
“Yuri, hey, hey, stay with us, please-” Her eyes shut with an almost sad smile on her face, which pained you even more.
You all stood in silence, unsure of what to do once again. Another life lost on this dreadful night.
That was, until Jaemin’s voice cut through the air like a knife. “Chenle?”
“Yeah?” “Burn them all, just to make sure they’re all dead.” “...Okay.” The next thing you all knew, a group of bodies burned in front of your own eyes, feeling lucky that the rest of you only suffered minor injuries such as bruises, cuts and almost broken bones.
“Let’s…” Taking his gaze off from the burning bodies, Renjun turned his back to you all, “Let’s keep going. For them.”
The warm night suddenly felt so cold with the knowledge that you’d just lost two people, not expecting to be forced out into the dangerous city. But the 7 of you tried to keep on a brave face, wordlessly strolling down the street to a bridge nearby.
Chenle nudged you, offering a bottle of water. “Thanks,” Taking the water bottle, you were quick to gulp down half of it’s contents.
“I really don’t want any more of us to die.” Jisung spoke, with the rest of you silently agreeing.
Jaemin and Renjun, who were at the front, suddenly halted to a stop, confusing the rest of you.
“Wha...” Jisung paused, clutching onto his bat with a disturbed look full of disbelief, “Isn’t that Daseul?”
Ah, Renjun’s... strange ex. Maybe that was too nice of a word to describe her, actually. She was kind natured at first, but around a month later, she became a more possessive girlfriend, initially manipulating him successfully, only for the rest of you to help him out and see straight.
The girl in question was hunched over, but her head snapped to your direction upon hearing footsteps.
“Renjun?” Daseul blinked, not believing her eyes, “Jisung, Donghyuck, Chenle, Jaemin, (Y/N), Jeno,” She acknowledged each of you, her eyes glazing on the people she’d mentioned.
“What are you doing here?” Chenle scoffed with an obvious distaste, gently pushing Renjun behind him.
“I got separated from my group a few minutes ago...” Daseul started off, looking back to the river, “We were being chased by a bunch of psycho teenagers, I dunno where the rest went.” Something felt off. Maybe it was her unusually calm demeanour.
At the end of the bridge however, Renjun, Jaemin and you spotted a few dead bodies, but refused to say a word yet.
“You sure about that,” Jaemin mumbled under his breath, making you snort.
“How long has it been since you left me, Junjun?” Daseul pouted, pulling out a knife from under her skirt and twirling it. There was blood on the blade. Well, shit.
You all watched as the girl suddenly turned to your party, eyes holding no warmth or fear whatsoever. She gripped the knife tightly, making you all prepare or whatever would happen next with your own weapons.
Your group outnumbered her, it was gonna be fine.
“Please Daseul, put down the knife.” Renjun was crazy for trying to talk down his psycho ex, but it worked.
Dropping the knife, she calmly walked over to a confused Renjun who was now being backed up into the ledge of the bridge.
Daseul then pushed him off the bridge before any of you could intervene, leaving him to drown in the waters below.
The rest of you stood in shock, Donghyuck acting the quickest, ”I’ll go save him! You guys deal with this bitch!”
“Gladly,” You hissed with fury, ready to beat the girl to death. Renjun didn’t deserve this treatment.
Discarding his flame thrower onto the cold pavement under his feet, Donghyuck jumped into the water, Jaemin carefully watching him.
Kicking the girl’s knife away, you stormed alongside Jeno, Chenle and Jisung to apprehend the suddenly nervous girl. Her screaming and kicking wasn’t able to save her now, and you only had apathy for this girl’s safety.
“Fuck!” Jaemin’s voice sounded as if he was in pain while he cried out, making you four pause, “Hyuck drowned... the current was too rough and pulled him in.”
Silence followed. Nobody made a move.
But not a single soul complained when Jeno harshly slammed Daseul’s head onto the concrete, leaving a faint blood stain on the hard surface. No one also complained when the boy threw her off the bridge to fall and die on the concrete below the bridge.
“Finally,” Chenle huffed whilst wiping away sweat, trying to process the third death of the night in the group, “That bitch deserved it.”
“Agreed.” You nodded, looking at your friends for any injuries, “You guys doing okay?”
You only got three nods from Jeno, Jisung and Chenle.
“Jaemin? You ok—“ His body slumped to the ground, an indifferent expression on his face, but there was something in his eyes that he was clearly hiding.
“What happened? Is it Donghyuck? Or Ren...” Jisung questioned Jaemin, who simply responded by weakly pointing to where Renjun and Donghyuck supposedly were.
The rest of you stared at one another with anxiety, slowly making your way over to the side of the bridge.
There was a sense of horror that filled the four of you, realising on the opposite pathway to the one where the girl’s body laid, was Renjun Huang’s dead body. Only the river stream where Donghyuck’s body was separated their pathways.
Donghyuck had died in vain, and Renjun had missed the river, falling on the surface with his neck snapped and blood pooling around his body.
All five of you who remained teared up at the ludicrous losses. What made you so confident that you were gonna be okay?
It suddenly occurred to you that Renjun, Donghyuck and Mark would never be able to see their families again. They would never have the chance to say goodbye, just as they weren’t able to say goodbye to you.
Taking the flame thrower with him, Chenle’s eyes that were usually filled with warmth began to appear colder and distant, like a flame being extinguished.
“The only way to go is to go forward, we won’t find another place if we just stay here or go back and die,” Jisung muttered. Was it really worth it to go outside? Would similar events have occurred, had you decided to stay at Chenle’s home?
Coming to the conclusion that Jisung was right, you all slowly trekked forward. You could only hope there weren't any more houses with screams erupting from inside, or buildings with top notch security.
At least your hope this time didn’t fail you. Many houses were empty, although numerous of them were definitely broken into, however it only took your group less than 15 minutes to find an area with buildings that weren’t broken into.
Your group of five decided to pick the building in the middle of the buildings that weren’t broken into, believing it to be wise.
“Fucking finally,” Chenle let out a sigh of relief, all five of you standing in front of a safe looking warehouse. It wasn’t too big, and had only one floor, maybe a few rooms but that was alright with all of you.
“Dibs not going in first,” raising your hands, Jisung, Jeno and Chenle were quick to follow.
Slow to react, Jaemin hissed, “Every single one of you are so childish.” And yet, he still went into the building first, gripping onto his guns tightly in case you all collectively chose the wrong building to stay in.
Letting out an alarmed cry, Jisung seemingly swatted air away from his face, making you all turn to him worriedly, “What? What?”
“I thought I saw a cockroach,” Jisung frantically looked around the room, receiving looks of annoyance or eyerolls from the rest of you.
Turning on the light, the warehouse seemed to be in good shape. You could safely assume by your own observation that this building was used recently before the purge tonight.
Jeno’s voice echoed, turning around to Jisung, “See? There’s nothing wrong with the building, no need to worry.”
For the next few minutes, you all sat on the floor against a large crate, completely worn out, empty yet traumatised. That was until you heard the sound of the door opening, you five scrambling up as soon as it was heard.
The five of you pulled out your weapons, aiming it at the door and waiting for the person or group to enter.
Chenle tried turning on the flamethrower, but the gas had already run out, so he threw the device on the floor and pointed his shotgun towards whoever entered the building.
“What are you guys doing here?” Turning around at the familiar yet unfamiliar voice, the five of you jumped, some even yelping in surprise.
“Wait,” Chenle smiled genuinely, but you could see his eyes still somewhat looked empty, “Sicheng!”
Sicheng and his friends, the ones from earlier, had found you guys. Their eyes lit up in recognition, pulling your whole group in for a hug.
“Oh my god,” Jisung groaned, “I thought we were done for. But to answer your question, we were attacked at home, and tried to find another good place to hide for the rest of the Purge.”
“Yikes, sorry to hear that,” Xiaojun hissed, his expression appearing as if he were hurt himself. Kun furrowed his brows, “There’s more of you, right? Mark, Renjun, Donghyuck?”
The five of you went silent, looking away from your other friends.
“Dead,” Jaemin simply responded, Hendery placing a hand on his shoulder empathetically. “Sorry to hear that.”
“Don’t apologise, not your fault,” You waved them off, still visibly affected.
Jeno spoke next, “Why are you guys here?”
“It’s one of our hideouts,” Ten’s voice was smooth, “You guys can continue to stay here, if you'd like.”
“Really?” “Of course! We’re all friends, aren’t we?” Taking a quick glance at you, Ten’s welcoming smile never wavered.
Out of your little group of five, Jisung felt as if something was wrong with his smile. But then again, maybe it was just paranoia after losing Renjun, Mark and Donghyuck, the youngest thought to himself.
“Mmm, let’s go get some more supplies at the back,” nudging Ten, Sicheng’s eyes quickly flitted to your figure before turning back to the older guy. Not that any of you noticed.
“Wait,” Ten had a hint of a smirk on his face, “I think we need one more person to help carry it. Not like it’s heavy, but there’s too much stuff at the back for just us two to carry.”
“Oh, I can help,” you suggested, walking over to the males needing assistance with their items.
Sharing a look with Sicheng before turning back to you, Ten nodded, “Come on, then. Thanks for the help.”
“Yeah, thanks.” Sicheng turned his back to you, walking over to the room next to the one you were currently standing in. You and Ten followed him.
“If I can ask,” Ten spoke up once you three were in the other room, “How did you end up losing your other friends?”
“Mark tried to protect a little girl from a gang that killed them both, Renjun got pushed off a bridge by his ex and Donghyuck drowned trying to save him.” Your expression remained indifferent, but Ten was aware that you were hurting inside. Your eyes couldn’t lie.
Ten hummed, “The real monsters are humans. Humans are the worst kinds of monsters you can meet.”
“Yeah, definite-” Pausing at the lack of people beside you, the sight of Sicheng reaching out for you made you scream.
In the other room, your friends jumped up at the sound of your fear.
“(Y/N)!” Jeno reached out to you, only to freeze at the sight of Yangyang, Lucas, Kun, Hendery and Xiaojun pointing guns at him, Jaemin, Jisung and Chenle.
Dragging you unceremoniously back to the original room, Sicheng held onto you firmly.
“What the hell is this?” Jaemin spat out, “Are you seriously gonna kill us?”
“Not if you comply with what I want.” Taking the silence that followed as a sign to continue, Ten smiled, “I want (Y/N)," Ten added simply, “And I’ll let the rest of you go if you let me.”
“No way in hell is our friend going with you-” Before the seething Chenle could continue, Xiaojun hit Chenle on the back of his head with the back of his gun firmly, making the rest of your friends gasp.
Knocking the gun away from Xiaojun’s hand, an angry Jisung tackled Xiaojun’s gun away and snatched it for himself, hitting Sicheng with it so that you were free to fight Hendery and Yangyang. As the rest of Ten’s friends were too caught up with their surprise, Jeno began fighting with Ten, Jaemin snatching the gun from Kun’s grasp and aiming his own handguns at Ten.
“Shoot him! Now!” Your voice rang out, making Jaemin shoot with confidence.
Everyone had stopped fighting to see the result, a tense silence filling the air.
Suddenly, Jeno’s body dropped to the ground with a loud thud, Jaemin’s eyes wide in horror.
The gun shots had missed Ten, instead making its way to Jeno’s back.
Chenle closed his eyes, hoping this was a dream.
“I told you I was a more accurate shooter.” Jeno chuckled almost bitterly upon recalling a memory of his and Jaemin learning how to shoot, “Rather than a backstabber, you’re a backshooter, Jaem,”
Knowing his best friend was only trying to ease the guilt with some poorly timed humour, Jaemin grit his teeth, “This isn’t fucking funny, Jeno.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” Jeno then met your eyes. Had you always looked this beautiful? “Just kick their asses for me, won't you?”
“Gladly.” you responded immediately, gripping your knife tightly. Yeah, you always did. Concluding in his mind, Jeno started to succumb to his injuries.
And with that, the light in his eyes faded, entrusting you four would make it out alive. Unlike him.
“No…” Chenle whispered, failing to walk forward as he was getting held back by Lucas.
Ten blinked in an attempt to process what had just occurred. Suddenly, he let out a boisterous laugh only to receive a dirty look from the four of your original group. “This could’ve all been avoided, had you simply chosen to give (Y/N) to me. So, (Y/N), are you gonna come with me?”
“She’s not going with you, dipshit,” Jaemin hissed, evidently ready to shoot as he pointed the handgun at Ten.
You made the split quick to give yourself up, not wanting any more deaths to occur, “Jaemin, no-”
The boy in question then shot an unsuspecting Yangyang on the foot, Xiaojun shooting your friend through the head in response. Sicheng helped Yangyang get in the car to treat the younger’s injuries, grunts of pain escaping the latter.
“No!” Jisung wailed, struggling in Hendery’s grasp until the cock of a gun was heard.
Jisung and Chenle were being held like before, but this time at gunpoint. Their weapons were taken away during the brawl, leaving them with only bruises and cuts on their faces to accompany the traumas of today.
“(Y/N), don’t give in!” Jisung yelled out, not caring that his voice was cracking, “It’s okay, just run and-”
You turned to Ten, an indifferent expression on your face. “If I do go with you, would you let them go?”
He nodded, the now eerie smile never leaving his face.
“Then I’ll go,” You walked over to the male vying for your love, “Willingly, if you set them free. They’re only kids, Ten. Please.”
Ten wouldn’t admit it outloud, but the fact that your voice when pleading almost sounded as if you were about to burst into tears made him almost feel bad for what you had just gone through. Considering that he only cared for a very small number of people, you included, it wasn’t surprising that he genuinely cared for you.
“Lucas. Hendery.” A call of their name was all it took for the two to let your remaining friends go, “And all of you, don’t follow them. You two, I’m sure you know how to get out.”
“I don’t want to.” Chenle scowled, his eyes only softening when you looked at him.
You shook your head, standing your ground, “Lele. I can’t afford to lose more of you, we already lost five of us for good.”
“But-” “Please. Just go.” With a sorrowful glance tossed your way, Jisung dragged a reluctant Chenle out onto the dangerous streets. You could only hope it was better that they were out there than trapped in this hell.
You turned back to the obsessive stranger, and former friend, “Thanks for sparing them, I guess.”
“Well, they made it easier for them,” Ten shrugged nonchalantly, “Let’s get goi-”
“Wait!” At your commanding tone, he stopped, a glint of curiosity visible on his features.
“Could I… at least say goodbye to my parents?” You didn’t want them involved in this mess, so you decided it was better to part ways. Or at least ask.
“Right! Of course! I mean, I was gonna surprise you by meeting them. Kun, could you escort them out?”
They were here this entire time? You furrowed your brows.
Kun pushed two familiar people out of their car, Ten giving the disgusted and tied up duo a hug, “My in-laws! Lovely to see you.”
Taking a step back in disbelief, you shifted your focus to your parents, “Why are they…”
“Oh, sweetheart, they’re the ones that gave you to me, seriously. Even before this year’s Purge!” Cutting you off, he chimed happily slinging an arm around you, “They made a deal with me, that you could be mine forever when the Purge began.”
You looked to Ten’s other friends, who remained calm but happy for their friend. Was there anyone you could really trust here?
You snapped your attention to the two stiff figures that Ten let go of, “You sold me out? Seriously?”
No response. Just downcasted expressions, finding the floor to be the most interesting object in the room.
“I cared for you!” The ‘I love you’ that you wanted to say along with your goodbyes was gone the minute you understood what they had done. “I was worried for you!”
A feeling of bitterness enveloped you, cold eyes staring into two regretful ones. Could you honestly blame them? Truthfully, everyone actively participating in the purge was selfish. You and your friends were selfish to ignore people’s cries of help earlier, scared to die. Just as your parents were.
“But you fucking betrayed me.” “We didn-“ “Ah ah ah.” Wagging a finger, Ten smiled, “Remember what we discussed, my dear in-laws.” His name for your parents almost made you recoil in disgust, had it not been for the terrible revelation of betrayal you had just been provided with.
Yangyang huffed in the car, impatience filling him, “Can we just quit the stalling?”
“Yeah, yeah, okay. Lucas, Hendery, take care of my in-laws, won’t you?” Ten questioned sweetly, tilting his head.
At least they were safe as I wished earlier. You sighed, only to shriek in horror when the two shot your parents in the head.
“You weren’t supposed to see that.” Ten rolled his eyes, evidently not phased by the events yet still annoyed that his plan didn’t go through as expected.
Your wails of mourning for your parents were loud enough for other people besides the group surrounding you to hear. Too bad that they either didn’t care, or were too loyal to their friend to help.
“Anyways,” With a snap of his fingers, Ten gushed fondly at the sight of you now restrained by 3 of his friends, “Let’s go home now darling, I know you’ll be exhausted after crying. I’ve seen you cry yourself to sleep before?”
Upon the realisation that he had been stalking you, your jaw dropped. “Fucking sick psychos!” You attempted to squirm out of Xiaojun, Kun and Yangyang’s grasp, “Let me go, damnit!”
“Can I, like, shut your girlfriend up with tape?” Xiaojun fumed, almost getting whacked in the head by you.
Ten shook his head, “Let her scream as much as she wants, she’ll grow out of it soon enough. What a bratty attitude?”
What did Ten mean, bratty? He literally killed two of your close friends, and your parents. Although the latter pair betrayed you, it didn’t mean you didn’t love or care for them. How were you supposed to be okay with that?
“What the fuck,” You cried out, failing to process everything that had occurred tonight, “Why? Are you gonna torture me or some fucked up shit?”
The obsessed male in front of you playfully frowned, “Of course not! You must be joking with me, I love you too much to hurt you.”
“You hurt- no, killed my friends and parents. I’m not gonna be surprised if I’m next.” Ensuring that you were going into the backseat of the large car that your parents came out from, Yangyang pressed a cloth to your nose and mouth, making you yell before slumping into your sleep.
“Sleeping beauty could never.” Ten crooned to his love, caressing your cheeks and shifting your position so that you were sleeping in the best position. Yangyang cringed at the sight of affection, gagging, but the older boy paid him no mind.
Hendery was next to chime in, hopping into the driver’s seat, “The Purge always makes me feel so alive. Especially tonight!”
“Yeah, but then once it’s over we have to clean all this blood and dirt off our clothes, nails, hair,” Yangyang scoffed at Kun’s lack of enthusiasm, “Bro, you’re such a real vibe killer.”
“I think we’ve got everyone inside.” Counting quickly again, Lucas hummed, making Ten smile grow.
“Let’s hit the road, then.”
“Ten,” “Hmm?” “Curious, but you don’t have to tell us,”
Sicheng pauses, “But what made (Y/N) so different from the girls and guys that you’ve been with? Actually, what made you like her?”
What did make him like you in the first place?
Ah, right, it was back in your first year of university.
Ten had accidentally pulled an all-nighter, making deals and helping Kun’s business flourish. Insomnia didn’t help him, so the boy simply opted to study for a bit until boredom took over him, and he switched to painting until the sun had already risen.
You had noticed for the past week that Ten, someone who had become your friend through a mutual friend, had heavy eye bags under his eyes and a look that just screamed ‘Shoot me now’. Despite his extremely tired appearance, Ten didn’t hesitate to help tutor you in your worst subject two days ago, so that made you decide to bring him Americano. Even if that meant going out of your way to get the drink, disregarding the rain and your lack of umbrella as you had forgotten to bring one.
“I can’t tell whether I’ve become delusional, or you’re actually wet as fuck.” As a response, Ten received a grin from you.
“The latter. Now that’s some wet ass—“ “Yangyang’s starting to rub on you, huh?” Ten shifted his gaze to the liquid that you bought, “Thanks a lot, (Y/N).” Usually, he was good with words, but he couldn’t bring himself to find the right words whenever he was graced with your presence lately.
Right, that’s the damned day that his infatuation began.
As for Jisung and Chenle, your hopes were right - they were physically okay, alive, but traumatised from the events of the night.
“We should’ve stayed,” Gritting his teeth, Chenle kicked a small pebble away from him whilst walking. The reception was absolute shit, leaving him and Jisung unable to call for help. That is, if anyone would pick up. He felt guilt upon the realisation that he and Jisung would have to explain to Mark, Renjun, Donghyuck, Jaemin and Jeno’s families that they all died, and to yours that you were being held captive by a fucking lunatic.
“No, we would’ve died and she would have hated herself for losing us.” Jisung frowned, “Ten’s obsessed with her, but I doubt he would’ve killed her. There’s more of a chance for her to escape if we figure out a plan.” The younger knew that their friends who had died tonight would want them all alive and happy.
“What plan?!” Chenle stopped on the sidewalk of an unusually quiet street in the city, making his best friend stop. “There’s more of them, and less of us. We lost our strongest friends!”
Jisung turned to the older boy, “But we can at least fucking try, even if it doesn’t work!” Was he being too optimistic? Was he attempting to play the hero? Was it his fault he didn’t want to lose another friend?
Before Jisung or Chenle could continue their argument, the noise of a heavy vehicle coming their way made the two halt.
“Chenle? Jisung?”
Your eyes opened slowly, only for you to be met with an unfamiliar place. Clean marble floors, fancy white walls, a chandelier, a black round table filled with your favourite food.
Oh, and Ten sitting opposite you, his eyes never leaving yours, “Welcome home.” What. A. Creep.
You frowned, looking around, “This isn't my home.” Ten had never exhibited red flags to you, which honestly, kind of terrified you.
The man in front of you shrugged, “You’ll get used to it and call it your home, eventually.”
Noticing you were dressed in fancier, mature but not revealing clothing, you blinked. It looked like it was from a luxury brand.
“Like it? I designed it myself,” Taking a swig from the wine in his glass, his eyes finally looked away from you, “The best for my love.”
Ignoring his comment, you furrowed your brows, “You undressed me?” “Of course, but I didn’t do anything else without your consent.” He may have selfishly kidnapped you out of ‘love’, but he wasn’t pure evil.
You let out a small scoff, “Well, you didn’t get my consent to kill my friends, Ten.”
“Ouch.” He was evidently sarcastic, his expression looked almost bored, “You hurt me.”
“And you tied me up.” “You’d obviously escape.” He did have a point.
If you weren’t tied up nor kidnapped, this would've been a nice romantic dinner.
“Come on, free my hands so I can eat. Promise I won’t hurt you.” It was worth a try, but he shook his head, “I’ll feed you myself until I know you won’t be such a brat.”
“I deserve to be freed, considering I’ll be living here and you killed the majority of the people I love.” Seeing his expression slightly soften, you continued, “Please, Ten. I seriously won’t do anything.”
Humans really were monsters. Maybe this included you too for manipulating him.
Completely aware that you were lying, Ten hummed, pretending to be in thought about it. You were going to attack him, maybe even kill him (and maybe he’d let you try, in the future). The best of liars could often tell if a person was lying.
“Alright.” You perked up at Ten’s word, ignoring his lovesick smile you had quickly grown to despise, “I’ll let you go, my dearest.”
Whilst he untied you, you kept repeating ‘Thank you’s like a mantra, conjuring up a quick plan with the items around you. Once he finished, the obsessed male stepped back, but you stepped forward, pulling him into a hug.
Ten was surprised by the hug, to say the least, only to realise shortly that it was to put him at false ease. If he just ignored that realisation, he would’ve enjoyed your touch to the fullest.
You stepped back with a smile, before stepping towards the chair you had just been untied from. Hurriedly lifting the chair, you could hear the wooden chair breaking as you hit Ten’s body with the furniture.
Letting out a grunt, you began to run out of the room, trying to recall where the exit was. You didn’t even see Ten slowly stand up, but you could hear Ten calling for you, “You wanna play a game of hide and seek, brat? Fine then sweets, but know that I’ll be winning this time!”
Finding the door you entered from in front of you, your hands reached out for the knob… only to be pulled back by two pairs of hands, “Let go!” You were almost there! You were almost free!
“I’m sorry, but we can’t let you go.” It was Sungchan who spoke, and Shotaro was next to him. You recognised them as Chenle and Jisung’s close friends, they were in the same school level. You weren’t aware that they were close to Ten and his friends, though.
“No,” You started thrashing more in their grasp, trying to fight for your freedom, “Please, just let me go-”
“There you are, love!” Halting your actions, you instead became stiff and frozen. You lost his game that you never wanted to play.
“You can run,” Ten felt a smirk creep up his face, strolling over to you, “But you can’t hide.” If you asked him what he truly felt, he felt euphoric. He felt like the chase was a challenging game of cat and mouse that was going to inevitably lead to his victory; to you.
“What’s the point? Your new home is here, with me. I’ll give you everything you need.” Well, except for freedom to go out without permission or surveillance, but that was expected.
You gradually stopped struggling in Shotaro and Sungchan’s grasp, not bothered to put up a fight anymore. But you were curious if the two truly cared for their friends now revelling in freedom. Or so you hoped.
“If you two care about Chenle and Jisung,” You attempted to look them both in the eye, but they looked away at the mention of their friends. So they did care. “Then you’ll be glad to know they’re not dead, Ten freed them at my own freedom's expense.”
Sungchan shut his eyes, whereas Shotaro’s indifferent expression shifted into a guilty one.
“Let her go boys, I’ll take care of her.” Gladly, the pair let go of your arms and walked off, not wanting to face the source of their guilt for any longer.
“You know, your parents tried to keep you away from me.” The male in front of you huffed, “I told them that I would take you either way, and they wanted to just have more time with you.”
Your parents never betrayed you willingly. They were forced to, or Ten would have got to you sooner, even before the purge began. This thought lingered in your mind, bile threatening to rise up out of your throat as all the events from today and tonight sunk in. You didn’t struggle, after seeing your previous attempt at escaping was futile.
Cold, drained and exhausted eyes met warm, lovesick eyes. Well, moreso obsessive and possessive, but still filled with love for you. Where was the Ten Lee that was your friend, that you studied in the library with at times, complained about workloads and teachers about?
Ten was right. The true monsters are indeed humans, and that included him.
“You’re all mine,” He took your right hand and kissed it whilst ignoring your cries of protest, “And I’m all yours.”
In a bus were Chenle and Jisung, getting patched up by Taeil. They’d been found and picked up by Taeyong and his group just minutes ago.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Taeyong looked to the ceiling of the vehicle, not believing that people he knew were dead. Especially Mark and Donghyuck, who would hang out with their group from time to time.
Chenle winced whilst Taeil dabbed the antiseptic on a sensitive spot, but managed to still wave Taeyong off, “It’s fine, not your fault.”
Johnny, who regretted fighting with Mark as their last interaction ever, sat up from the seat he was laying in, “We’ll get back (Y/N). You know, I used to be childhood friends with Ten until he left. I didn’t think he’d turn out to become such a fucking psycho.”
“And Sicheng...” Yuta started off, still staring out the window, “Ever since he joined their friend group, I noticed he’s been a little... off, whenever I’d hang out with him recently, but I didn’t think he’d agree to do this type of shit. Neither did I expect Taro to do it.”
Jungwoo, who was in a similar boat as Yuta but with Sungchan instead of Sicheng or Shotaro, nodded in agreement as he took a drag from his cigarette.
“I don’t care if Ten wants her, she’s not anyone’s property. I refuse to let go and give up on a close friend.” Jisung hissed, eyes filled with a newfound sense of determination just like the others on this bus, “We’re getting her back and setting her free.”
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