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biffhofosho · 3 years

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Succumbing to Sybaris | Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Word Count: 11.3k

A/N: Uh-oh. Amber should have checked the map. Revelationville veers right into Betrayalsburg. Wonder where the next stop is…

Forewarning: this chapter is gif-heavy. I went WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY overboard, but the Muse must be sated.

If you’re as much a slut for tension as I am, this chapter is for you. I was literally sweating toward the end.

Cvr | Tr | Pr | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | Ep

Amber slipped out of the house before dawn as planned. It wasn’t hard getting up when she’d struggled through sleep anyway. The nightmares had grown more intense now that there was a name to put with the shadow at the top of the cliff. Her name in his deep voice rattled through the echo chamber of her heart long after her eyes had flown open with an adrenaline spike.

In the living room, Shownu hadn’t moved an inch from the moment he’d fallen asleep though she suspected he was perfectly aware she’d gone. Now that she was out, she made a beeline for the closest Walmart and bought a handful of necessities, including fresh clothes and some real food that she’d downed like a caveman.

There was so much to do today, including this new 180-degree turn in her case to navigate, but Amber only had one person on her mind. It was still early, but being an officer gave her special privileges, and she intended to use them to check on her best friend.

No sooner had she turned the corner to the waiting room then she found a bleary-eyed and disheveled CL hunkered in one of the chairs. Amber was surprised the news had made it to the streets, but then CL was one of the few prostitutes with a soft spot for cops, especially mop-haired, big-eared teddy bear cops who refused to give her the time of day. Amber wondered how long the woman had been waiting.

“Chae-lin? What are you doing here?”

The hooker’s sharp jaw tensed before she replied, “They won’t let me see him.”

Amber joined her friend and stared ahead at the dull mint green walls. “Eric’s probably still sleeping. He went through a lot. Want me to go check?”

CL nodded numbly, and the detective headed over to the nurse’s station to find Eric had awoken only to give the staff orders to keep out all visitors except for one—his partner. With a heavy heart, Amber returned to the other woman.

“Still unconscious,” the detective lied. “Doctors are keeping him sedated for at least the next six hours as a precaution after his surgery. He lost a lot of blood.”

CL let out a shaky sigh. “What happened to him?”

“Not sure, but you know I’m going to find out, same as I’m doing with Bomi and Minzy. You know I’ll make him pay.”

The hooker turned her bright, fierce eyes on the detective, and again, her jaw tensed. “Him? Same guy?”

Amber knew what was coming, and she raised her hands in defense. “Stay out of it, CL.”

“And what if I don’t?”

“Then I’ll arrest you,” Amber snapped. “You know our deal: information only. I trust your intuition, so if you have something, you come to me and only me. No foolishness. This guy is dangerous, a lot more than any pimp or john could be. You know I mean that, right?”

CL considered before she nodded, though the tension in her gaunt cheeks was unmistakable. “You think the same guy who took my girls hurt Eric?”

“Listen,” the detective said, leaning in now since eyes were starting to turn their direction, “all I can tell you is I have a name, and I’m closing in, all right? You know me; you know I’ll never let this guy get away with this. Never. Not ever.”

CL swiveled toward Amber, and for the first time the detective could remember, there were tears in the woman’s eyes. “I know. Eric’s gonna be okay, right?”

“He is. He’s strong, stronger than any of us.”

For a long moment, CL mused over her chipped manicure though it was obvious something bigger was on her mind than some fresh Wet ‘n’ Wild polish. Another deep breath, and she ventured, “I’m leaving YG. For good this time.”

Amber smiled brightly at the woman. “I’m proud of you.”

“You should be. It’s your fault. I can’t get your nagging out of my head—well, that and the image of you grinding that one john's nuts to powder.”

“That's how you figured out I was a cop,” Amber reminded with a withering glare.

“Nah, I always knew. Even in a miniskirt and thigh-highs, you were too classy for the streets, Honey. I just liked keeping you around. Still do.”

The detective pressed her lips together, hoping to hold back the rush of affection in her chest before it grew uncomfortable between the two of them.

“You got somewhere to go?” Amber asked.

“Who wouldn’t want to take in a class act like me?” the hooker joked with a gesture toward the same frumpy pink satin dress the detective had seen her in for most of CL’s arrests. “I was gonna ask Eric to finally move in with me, but I guess we’ll table that.”

But the detective knew her old friend too well to fall for CL’s bravado. She could see the stress cracks in the woman’s cakey foundation and the black halo of old eyeliner from blotted tears. “Seriously, girl, you gonna be okay?”

“I’m always okay. Made a career of it.”

“Where can I find you then—for when I get the girls back?”

CL stood and tugged up the bust on her dress. She held her beautiful head up high and answered, “I got a room at the Sunset Arms through the weekend. I’ll figure it out after that. If Eric asks, don’t tell him I was here. It’s my turn to play hard-to-get.”

At last, some of the dread ebbed from the blonde’s eyes as it did from the detective’s. It was a familiar game, one that Amber was happy to play. CL didn’t tease because she liked it; she teased because it made her feel stronger under the enormity of the world, and that was something a woman like Amber understood too keenly.

“Three-sixty, Honey,” the hooker said with a swirl of her finger as she retreated down the hall, using their old code from back when they patrolled the streets together. The message felt even more potent all these years later:

Watch your back because there’s nobody else to do it for you.

As soon as CL had gone, Amber made her way to Eric’s room. She edged open the door, careful not to startle him, but it was she who was startled.

He looked terrible, and not just because his throat had been wrapped like a mummy to disguise the hole in it. His eyes were sunken into his elven face, and all the playfulness and magic that had always been there had vanished. He was deathly pale, which wasn’t surprising after massive blood loss, but even so, he was also dim, like someone had replaced his 500-watt bulb with a 20-watt. He didn’t even perk when he saw his best friend.

Eric grabbed a dry erase board by his bed and scrawled:

“Yeah,” said Amber, though her voice came out hoarse. “Glad to see you up. I missed you.”

She swallowed thickly. Deep down, she hadn’t expected to. The last time she was at Eric’s bedside, she’d committed to taking down his attacker, and that much hadn’t changed, but late last night, as she’d stared at the ceiling hoping to dodge dreaming a little longer, she’d realized that was just as much about avoidance as retribution. If she faced Eric awake, she’d have a lot more to apologize for, and even though she was ready, it didn’t make it any less scary.

But now, as she looked across to Eric’s relieved brow and puckered lips, Amber was so grateful she hadn’t done anything more impulsive than a rendezvous with the fiendish family lawyer.

Come here, her best friend wrote and motioned with his marker beside his bed.

“How are you feeling?” she asked as she reached for Eric’s hand only to have him tug her roughly toward his face.

“Am I going to be…” he rasped, his voice as shaky as his breathing, “okay?”

Amber translated him instantly and nodded emphatically. “You’re going to be fine, Eric. You’ll just have a cool scar to impress the chicks. Use the board, okay?”

Grateful breath rushed out of his lungs as he collapsed back against the incline of his bed.

“Have you seen Luke?” she asked.

Eric propped up the board and wrote:

“He’s worried.”

Amber knew what he meant, and she shook her head. “No one does. They’d all think we’re crazy.”

“I think that hole in your neck says otherwise.”

Everything in Amber was screaming at her to bellyflop onto the bed and hug him, but she was pretty sure that would do more harm than good. Instead, she nodded solemnly.

“I should have.” She didn’t bother to add he would have thought she was crazy, too. It didn’t matter anyway.

Eric mulled something over for a long moment before he erased the board and added, Not Chae.

Amber nodded slowly. “I know.”

He echoed the surprised face with one of his own, and Amber released the breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding.

“Ugh, they couldn’t have kept you sedated a little longer?” she ribbed. As her hand closed over his though, a wave of sincerity washed through them. She caught Eric’s eyes. Slowly but surely, they were brightening, and Amber felt like crying. Instead, she added, “You were right.”

He flipped his hand over in hers and squeezed.

“Tell me what you can remember, Nam.” She tapped his board to remind him not to strain his voice any further, and he squeezed her hand again. “Take your time.”

He paused for a moment, the marker trembling in his grip as his heartrate monitor spiked.

“Easy, Eric,” Amber soothed. “Easy.”

His eyes were saucers, wide and wet as his breath shook, but he turned back to his board and, in ragged slashes, wrote:

“I know,” she said, rubbing his forearm. “I know.”

Shame prickled down her spine. Amber had felt the tickle of those wicked instruments against her own skin, but they’d brought her only perverse pleasure. The more she’d seen them, the more curious she’d become about them—and the more she’d desired them. But Eric could never know that, not when they’d been used to tear a chunk out of him.

“Try to focus on something else,” suggested Amber. “Tell me what happened first.”

Her partner nodded and hunched over his board. After a few moments of scribbling, he would show her what he could before he would erase it and write the next thing.

“Okay, okay,” Amber soothed again. “You’re doing great. You didn’t see his face. Did you hear anything? Smell anything?”

God, she was just leading Eric from one horror show to the next. Black panic edged back into his eyes, and Amber scrambled to find something that would ground him in a more familiar reality.

“Do you remember if he said anything?”

The faraway look receded as something concrete surfaced in his mind. Eric started writing again before he suddenly stopped and forced his weary throat to rasp, “‘The unworthy shall be eliminated.’”

His face twisted in agony, no doubt as much at the words as the hole in his neck. Amber grasped his knee to keep from throwing her chair. Her Eric unworthy? The idea was as outrageous as it was unthinkable. Rage seethed under her skin and threatened to erupt before a coughing fit racked her partner’s body and he collapsed onto his pillow.

“Shh, don’t talk, Eric. Just write, remember? I don’t care if you have to be Ernest fucking Hemingway. I’ll wait for you, got it?”

His lips pressed together, and she knew he understood. They both glanced down at the board to find the words he’d abandoned.

Amber angrily scrubbed the board clear with the butt of her palm and asked, “Anything else you can remember?”

“My God,” she breathed. “I’ll fucking kill him.”

“I’m sure that’s what he’s counting on,” she mused, her eyes miles away peering into the shadowed face of the vampire she’d only met in dreams.

Eric viciously jabbed those last words until it jarred Amber from her musings.

She glowered at her partner. “I’ve got a handle on it, okay? I know how to take them down, and they’ll never expect it from someone like me.”

“Well, I don’t like some undead prick attacking my best friend. I’m not going to let him get away with it.”

Please! he scrawled with begging eyes to match.

“It doesn’t matter, Eric,” Amber said, her voice as steamrolled as her soul felt. “Either I go after him or he comes for me. I’d rather be on the offensive this time. I’m tired of reacting to everything. It gets others hurt.”

Her fingers reached tentatively toward his bandage, but he winced at the notion, and she pulled back.

“If he wanted me dead,” she continued, “I would have been dead weeks ago. This is all some kind of game to him.”

“Who knows the kind of deranged shit that pops into your head when you’re hundreds of years old and bored as shit? We’ve got to figure it out and beat him at it before anyone else suffers.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea after what happened to Devita… The bastard might have let you live but only because he wants me to have a damn good reason to find him, not the whole police force. Besides, what are you gonna tell Anna? ‘No, Anna, his canines were about two inches longer’?”

Eric’s lips puckered as he stifled a smile. Fair.

Amber shook her head. “If the guy were any more strait-laced, he’d be a corset. No, we can’t tell him.”

“No, Eric.”

Her partner stabbed the captain’s name again, but Amber was resolute. With an angry brow, Eric wrote:

“After everything that’s happened, he’ll think we’re both delusional with stress. He’ll put me on medical leave, and I need the Bureau’s resources. I can’t risk that now.”

Excuses, he scribbled with a wrinkled nose.

“Yeah, well, it’s a good one,” she retorted. “Shove over, lazy bones.”

With eyes more vibrant than Amber had seen all morning, Eric wiggled over so a cozy little trough opened up alongside him. His best friend snuggled in as best she could amongst the sagging IV lines and machine wires, with half her body dangling over the edge and the other half toasted by Eric’s frame.

The word “unworthy” still emblazoned her mind and soured her mouth.

She turned her head to study her partner’s familiar profile—strong, protruding ears; upturned button nose; and cuddly monkey hair. How could she possibly survive without him?

Amber rested her chin on his shoulder and sighed. “Can’t we just go back to Pal’s, commandeer the jukebox, and play Toad the Wet Sprocket all night again? You can even bring one of your dumb friends.”

Eric tapped her arm to remind her to let him up, and as soon as he did, he grabbed his board and wrote, Hey

A moment later: I love you

“You insufferable sap,” she teased, poking his bicep. “Love you, too.”

They smiled at each other, but it was short-lived. With a wince, Eric cleared his throat and squeaked, “You’re going after him, aren’t you?”

“I told you to use the board, dummy.”

Amber released a long breath through her nose and settled back against the incline of his bed. “It’s going to have to look like it.”

??? he scrawled quickly with an underline.

“This asshole’s coming for me, and I can’t let him catch me unprepared. His game, it’s almost over. I can feel it here,” she said, thumping her fist over her heart.

Eric stared furiously at her. At first, Amber wondered why, but then it dawned on her. She sounded flippant.

This was all inevitable, she saw that now. The wheels had been put in motion the day she found chwSUX in the chatroom. Who knew, maybe that had even been orchestrated as well? Amber had no idea how long Kai’s con had been. She’d been the puppet, acting out parts in a play completely ignorant of all the strings attached. Maybe at last she’d finally understand her role in all this.

Don’t let him win, Eric wrote and then tapped the board emphatically.

“Of course not. The fucker’s going down. I owe him for your neck, my leather jacket, and torching our Glamour Shot.”

“Neither here nor there, Nam. I’ve got a silver stake with his name on it, and I’m going to make sure he feels its pointy end.”

Neither one missed the finality in those words. This wasn’t Cops and Robbers anymore. Whatever thin blue line had held Amber back all these years had snapped along with her civic duties. Cold, bleak revenge coiled in her limbs.

What about Chae? Eric wrote.

The air thickened.

“What about him?” she said warily.

Eric pantomimed a stabbing, and Amber knew for sure he’d heard her whole confession the other day. Suddenly, she felt a fresh wave of nausea wash through her.

“We have a more immediate danger. I’ve got to handle that first.”

Her partner studied her for a long moment before he turned back to his board and added:

“I know, Eric.”

Neither one mistook the bite of aggression in her voice. If she’d been hooked up to the heart monitor, she could only imagine how wildly it would be chirping.

“We’ve got to get those women back,” Amber insisted, all too happy to shift focus. “They’ve waited long enough for their rescue. Everything else can wait for us to figure it out.”

“I know, but that’s not changing, is it?” She sighed more bitterly than she’d hoped and added, “I’ll take care of him later.”

With a tight jaw and a hard swallow, Eric glared at his partner until Amber couldn’t take it anymore and climbed off the bed.

“I gotta go,” she said, though she suddenly found it hard to look her best friend in the eyes. “Gotta get to the precinct and get to work. Do me a favor and let some of the guys in to see you, okay? I’m sure Luke and Ellis will want to check up on you.”

Eric didn’t respond.

“CL’s really worried about you, too, you know.”

Eventually, he answered, Don’t want her to see me like this.

“Why not? You look hot,” Amber teased. “Like a tough-as-nails cop even the baddest of guys can’t take down.”

Her friend glowered at her before he shifted his gaze back to the board, though he didn’t respond.

“You know, the Five O Boys asked about you—and the cameras weren’t even rolling.”

Again, Eric ignored her, but this time he turned back to his board. He wrote more meticulously this time, putting extra effort into every letter before he spun it around in his lap and held it out for her to emblazon the words across her mind.

The station had always been the place Amber felt the most control. She was safe and powerful here. She knew everyone and they knew her. When things spiraled out at home, she could always rely on the rhythm of the precinct to lull her back into a safe space. But today, she dreaded it. If she hadn't made a promise to Shownu, she would have blown the whole thing off and nobody would have blamed her.

The moment the first pair of eyes discovered her, the condolences rained torrentially in.

“Sorry about your house.”

“Heard they started a fund for you.”

“How's Nam?”

“First, Chloe and now, Eric. Damn…”

“Did you hear they found a Runaway?”

It was one depressing reminder after another, and the urge to run from it all was overwhelming, but Shownu was already at his desk waiting on her, so Amber trudged over with heavy feet. No sooner had she plopped down beside him than Stefanie was there with the promised fresh coffee, though the detective’s mood soured the taste when she thought about how it had taken Stefanie’s tryst with Wonho to score Amber the best of the brew.

“How’d you sleep?” Shownu asked in a near whisper.

“Okay,” she lied. “Wanted to check on Nam, so I headed over to the hospital first thing.”

“I figured.”

“Thanks again for, you know…” Considering how much attention had been paid to her all morning, Amber didn’t bother to specify, but Shownu nodded all the same.

“The invitation still stands, okay?”

“Not going to lie, I was kind of hoping you’d say that.”

Shownu stifled a smile and returned to his notebook, flipping to a new page. “Are you ready to talk about that lead you mentioned last night?”

Amber tensed. She knew this was coming since she’d arranged it, but still, she was hesitant. The more Shownu knew, the more danger it put him in. Eric had known nothing, yet that hadn’t stopped Kai from nearly killing him. This had to be part of the act—she had told Eric as much.

“Maybe we should wait for Cavill and Agent Suh, in the interest of transparency?” Amber suggested, but she could tell from the way her partner’s eyes tensed that he didn’t want that, and she relented. “Fair enough. You should know, all I have is a name, and that’s literally it, okay? Don’t get your hopes up too high.”

Shownu nodded and readied his pen over his notebook. Amber took a deep breath.

“Kai,” she breathed, loosing the beast’s name for the first time. It was dull in her ears, like a cymbal ringing and ringing and ringing. “K-a-i.”

Shownu’s pen didn’t move. In fact, he pushed back from his notebook and stared off into space.

“Kai…” he said slowly as though he were tasting it in his mouth. “Is that a first name, last name, or nickname?”

“No idea.”

“Where'd you get this lead anyway?”

Amber thought about lying or disguising it as an anonymous source, but they'd had enough lies between the two of them already, and now that she was staying at his place, she wouldn’t be able to outrun them anyway.

“Chae's attorney, Yoo Kihyun,” she answered.

“His brother?” Shownu said flatly. “What makes you think he would tell you the truth about anything? Isn’t it in his best interest to lie?”

“It’s in his best interest to tell us what he knows if he doesn't want us looking into his family anymore.”

“Wouldn’t he say just about anything to keep you out of it then?”

Amber squinted at her partner. “What’s with you, Son? I thought you wanted us to look in another direction?”

“The right one,” he clarified.

“Yeah, well, you don’t think it’s Chae and you don’t think it’s Kai, so let me hear your lead.”

Shownu let out a sigh. “I don’t have one.”

“Fine, then this is the one we’re going to share with the other team,” she asserted, but her partner shook his head emphatically.

“This is nothing. You don’t even know if it’s a name. Could be an alias.”

Amber scowled at him as she said, “So we’re not going to even bother to pursue it? Come on, Son.”

“I didn’t say that. Let me—” He fumbled for words, and Amber was not used to seeing Shownu fumble for anything. When he spoke, he’d always seemed to have prepared exactly what he was going to say ahead of time, but now he was visibly flustered. “Maybe— How about I do a little legwork on this first? I can check out known aliases and offender databases, and then we can present anything we find to the team rather than waste everyone’s time on the same thing.”

It sounded reasonable, but Amber saw through it. “If you’re worried he’ll come after us now that he’s gone after Nam—”

“Why aren’t you worried about that?” Shownu demanded so forcefully, all Amber could do for a minute was blink.

“Because we’re the police. It’s our job.”

“Of course,” he said though it sounded more like he was trying to placate her than agree with her. “But it’s also our job to do some background research before we dive headfirst into a new lead. We don’t want another Chae leading us in the wrong direction.”

“Okay, I get your point,” she replied. “You run a search for known aliases and see if anything comes up. I’m going to ask Agent Suh to check the national databases, and when I get back, I’ll see if there are any AOL or MSN usernames with that handle. Chatrooms are how I found Chae, and Kai’s clearly used them, too. Maybe that’s how they’ve been linked this whole time.”

“Or I could do that,” suggested Shownu. Amber rolled her eyes as she took a step toward the Five-O headquarters, and her partner relented. “At least take your coffee. It’s getting cold.”

As she grabbed her mug and tipped it toward him in thanks, Amber realized how well Shownu had slotted into Eric’s role, and she felt a pang of guilt. Her best friend was lying in a hospital while someone had replaced him at the precinct. It was never supposed to get this far. She was never supposed to let the Northern detective in as much as she had, but now they had a rhythm between them—now they had a rapport. Christ, they were sharing an apartment! Sure, that was temporary, but if things had evolved between them this much this fast, there was no telling what else could happen.

Amber’s only comfort was knowing things were moving toward their conclusion. She had a name now, one she knew would lead her to answers, and that meant Shownu would go home and the brothers would slink back into obscurity.

In the Five-O war room, Johnny was eager to help and hurried off to dig into the Kai investigation. Meanwhile, Cavill remained as civil as he’d been on the Han murder scene, especially after Amber had assured him as soon as her lead came back with any hits, she’d share the results with their team. Even Welling stood behind his partner, a bulky shadow as usual, offering his gruff assistance. Finally, things were going exactly as intended, especially her fishing expedition.

Amber hadn’t lied when she’d told Eric she was going to look into Kai, but if any of their efforts came back with anything, which she seriously doubted they would, it would simply be a bonus. She’d set her sights on smaller game. With this latest turn of events, the mole in her station was sure to report back to his master, and Amber would be lying in wait. Maybe she could track the two-faced coward back to Kai at his base of operations, and there she would find the missing women. If her plan worked, she could cut out any more collateral damage. It would be Kai and her, and she could end all this once and for all.

Kai would pay. She would see to it.

Feeling excited for the first time since the hours before Evelyn Hoover’s untimely demise, Amber plowed through the motions with the hook of a grin etched onto her face. Shownu was decidedly bleaker beside her, but she could see him combing through potential aliases anyway. Lucas still hadn’t shown up, but he’d called from the hospital to check in with his precinct.

When he’d spoken to Amber, she could hear every single ounce of the burden he’d been carrying on his shoulders since their friend had nearly died. Between the blood donation and doctor-harassing he’d been doing, she was pretty sure Lucas hadn’t left the hospital since Eric had been admitted, not even when Han So Hee’s body had turned up. She wanted to chalk it up to the trust he had in his officers, but she knew what it really was—guilt. Plain and simple. It was easier to spot when she’d been shouldering the same elephant, even if Lucas’s was by association and hers was earned.

At the mention of a new lead, though, the captain perked up immediately. “If you come across a mugshot, let’s get a lineup to Nam. I want to nail this son-of-a-bitch now more than ever.”

Gone was the pretense of objectivity. Blood was in the water, and the frenzy was just beginning. It didn’t matter that everyone had been running ragged since Officer Devita had vanished. Officers from other precincts would be called in, the search grid would be expanded, and the media attention would intensify. Of course, Amber knew none of that would produce a single viable lead—not anymore. Once the Hoover loose end had been pulled, there would be no more mistakes. Kai only wanted one person’s attention, and he had it.

The detectives spent the rest of the day spinning their wheels. There was no trace of Kai in any of their databases, of course, and though Agent Suh said the FBI was still running a deep scan for all known aliases, there wouldn’t be any there either. Amber came up with nothing in every chat server and ISP she could think of, but she was sure she was missing something. Kai had orchestrated this to look like Chae and his brothers were involved, she knew that now, but while she could see the threads, she couldn’t connect them. It was maddening.

When she’d finally shared the lead with Cavill and Welling, neither had much to offer though they’d promised to cast out their own lines to see what might bite. The only thing the team had to go on was the same thing they walked out with at the end of the day—a name.

Even more disheartening, despite how keenly she’d studied each of the her potential mole suspects, none of them did anything suspicious. They’d all stayed at the station working alongside her, no one disappeared for so much as a coffee run, and no one had made any mysterious phone calls. It was business as usual for the Five-O Boys, and that should have been comforting, but instead, it was crushing. She couldn’t follow them all once the day ended, and she couldn’t even decide on a most likely candidate to follow. She’d have to broaden her suspect list tomorrow.

After a few stops, Amber holed back up at Shownu’s place despite the generous donation from her coworkers. With her feet propped up on the couch and Shownu’s sweats on her legs, Amber realized she’d gotten too comfortable here too quickly. Tomorrow, she vowed to start looking for something more permanent, even if it meant a hotel in between.

“I’m going to grab a shower,” her partner said as he headed back toward the bathroom with a towel draped over his shoulder.

Amber didn’t bat an eye, which only underlined her point. Tonight would be her last night here.

“‘kay,” she mumbled, eyes buried in her paperwork.

Shownu waved over his shoulder and disappeared, leaving Amber with the hum of the refrigerator and the hiss of the shower.

She delved into the case notes from Han So Hee’s murder, skipping over the crime scene photos and heading straight for the riddle. Even the copy seemed to glow in her hands. Amber read the note out loud.

In the quiet of the apartment, it sounded like a spell being invoked. It sent a chill through her body and the hairs on her arms standing on end. A second later, a noisy sputter launched Amber to her feet, her hand instinctively reaching to where she usually kept her gun.

“You jittery moron,” she seethed to herself. “It’s just the fridge.”

With a sigh, she headed over to Shownu’s dusty coffee maker. She wasn’t sure why a guy who didn’t drink the stuff had one, but maybe it was an ex-girlfriend’s. If there was a coffee maker, then it stood to reason that there might be some coffee somewhere in this bachelor pad. Amber scrounged around the cupboards until she found some grounds that had expired two years ago, but she helped herself anyway; she worked at a police station—she was used to crappy coffee.

As she filled the pot with water, something occurred to her: the refrigerator was still purring. Then what had shut off?

This time, Amber put her ear beside the minifridge-turned-gunsafe. She didn’t hear anything and felt doubly stupid, but as she pulled back, her eyes landed on the outlet. Two full plugs—one to the big refrigerator and one to the little.

The detective squinted at the padlock as the chill persisted down her back and the hairs still ruffled on her arms. “Why would he refrigerate his guns?”

Amber hadn’t realized she’d made a decision until her bobby pin was fishing in the padlock. She’d been picking locks ever since she and Delphine had discovered their high school principal’s file cabinet full of locker confiscations, and her training at the Academy had only taught her how to do it faster. In less than thirty seconds, the padlock relented, and she opened the door.

There were no guns, but it was stuffed with something infinitely more dangerous.

“Shower’s free—”

Every thought died on Shownu’s lips the moment he noticed a blood bag limp in Amber’s hands. Behind her, the little refrigerator spilled its scarlet guts onto the counter, a half dozen bags scattered out and a dozen more stuffed inside.

Water dripped from her partner’s hair to his bare shoulders and over his wide chest, but that was all that moved between them. With the door open, the little refrigerator kicked back on, and the rattle shook Amber back into her body.

“Tell me,” she said with the bag thrust in front of her. “Tell me this isn’t what I think it is. Tell me it’s evidence or a Forensics experiment or early fucking Halloween decorations. Tell me that.”

Nothing but her staccato breaths punctured the air until Shownu finally said, “I can’t. Spiros—”

“Don’t. Don’t you fucking dare.”

Amber swiveled toward the refrigerator full of unnatural nourishment and let the horror in.

“What are you?” she whispered over her shoulder.

“You know that.”

“Who are you?”

“You know that, too,” Shownu pleaded. She heard him take a step closer, but she flinched and he stopped.

“I saw you eat,” she hissed. “I sat side-by-side with you as we ate tacos and gyros and fucking fried chicken. I saw you.”

“I can eat, same as I can breathe, but it’s all for show. It’s nothing.”

“Nothing…” Amber echoed. She squeezed a blood bag so hard, she thought it might pop.

When she turned back around, Shownu waited with soft eyes and damp hair, towel tied hastily at his hip, looking as real as anything she’d ever known, but she didn’t know him—not even a little.

“Who are you working for then, huh? Kai?” she demanded. Shownu’s lip coiled in disgust, and Amber felt every muscle inside tremble. “Chae?”

“I don’t work for him.”

Resentful tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. “Right… because you don’t work for family, Hyunwoo.”

Shownu nodded grimly, and for the first time ever, Amber found it incredibly hard to look at him. His true name curled leaden on her tongue as she choked back a pitiful sob.

“The last brother has been right beside me the whole fucking time. Boy, am I a shit detective or what?” Her head knocked back against a cabinet door as her shoulders slumped. “Just a real failure on every level. Can’t find a single missing girl. Can’t pin the crime on the right culprit. Can’t even sniff out a goddamn vampire when he delivers my goddamn coffee. Wow.”

“Spiros—”

“You know, I’ve been wondering all this time how Hyungwon and his brothers were always ready for me. They knew when I went on a date, they knew when I was looking for them, they knew my every move. I thought maybe one of the officers had been hypnotized, and, once, I even thought it could be you, but you made me think— You made me— I trusted you. I let you in the way I let Eric in. Damnit, and I never even knew your real name, and you… you knew everything. Everything I was doing behind the scenes. Every parallel investigation. Every time I fucked one of your brothers, you knew, and you let me believe I had my own secrets. Fuck me, right?”

Amber laughed bitterly. What right did she even have to be angry? She’d betrayed him, too, only he’d known about it the whole time and had to swallow her lies with full knowledge. It might have been cruel if Shownu’s lies hadn’t been an even bigger betrayal. She’d let him in, but he’d never done the same. What did she even know about this man? He liked seatbelts, blood, and lying. The trust they’d built had been nothing more than a means to an end. She was nothing more than a means to an end.

“I take it this was one of your brother’s ideas,” needled Amber.

“Kihyun’s, yes. After he met you in Hyungwon’s interrogation, he knew there’d be trouble. You weren’t giving up, and Hyungwon refused to give you up. No matter what we said, no matter how wrong he knew it was, he wouldn’t listen to reason.”

Something about what her partner said made her mouth go dry. “Why? Why wouldn’t he listen?”

“I’m not Hyungwon. I can’t answer that,” the vampire said with a voice as dead as he was. “I had my orders, and I followed them. I had to convince my lieutenant to loan me out as a resource to Central.”

“Did you hypnotize Lucas, too?”

“Didn’t need to.”

It stung even more knowing Lucas had just let this usurper walk right into Eric’s seat without a second thought.

“You gonna try and tell me Kihyun didn’t send you here just to throw me off your brother’s scent?” Amber demanded.

“No, I’m not going to tell you that.”

Amber pursed her lips. “What about Kai? Is he another diversion, too?”

“No,” Shownu insisted as he hung his head. “No, he’s very real.”

“But the big bad vampire supervillain isn’t the reason why you do what you do, is it, Detective Son? I'm sure you got into police work for the truth and justice, not to cover up your family’s crimes?”

“Maybe it was to protect the family at first,” he admitted, head still low, “but we've evolved. Now, I do it as much to protect others as my family, same as you did for your sister.”

Amber jammed a finger in Shownu’s face and roared, “Don’t you dare bring her into your bullshit! You don’t care about the missing—Hyungwon told me that much. This is more fucking pageantry for you, so you keep looking like the good little Boy Scout and climbing the ranks. Next thing I know, you’ll be police chief, and you can cherry-pick your cases and bury the others. It’s Kihyun’s dream.”

“Maybe, but it’s not mine.”

She laughed. “It’s cute how half of me wants to believe you and the other half wants to shoot you with a silver bullet. How long?”

“What?”

“How long have you known who’s been taking these women?”

“Don’t do this...”

“How long, Son!” Amber screamed.

After a long exhale, he admitted, “For sure? Since the night you went to Empusa, though we suspected much, much earlier.”

“You were there?” she asked, her voice brittle.

“I followed you to protect you, Spiros. I trust my brothers but no one else, and you were going into the lion’s den. I didn’t know if you would find Hyungwon or Kihyun before someone else got to you. They wouldn’t understand how important you are.”

“I don’t understand how important I am! No one will tell me. You speak in your stupid riddles and let me fumble through the dark like an idiot, but you expect me to just trust that you have my best interest at heart? What kind of game is that?”

Shownu’s brow furrowed as he paced the living room floor. “It’s not a game. You’re too important to go wandering into a vampire club unprotected. As soon as I saw you with Kihyun, I knew I could leave, but then he caught my attention and nodded for me to follow those guys who harassed you.”

“The ones from the stairs?” Amber asked. “Kihyun said they were nobodies.”

Shownu shook his head. “Yeah, well, they’re aiming to be somebody, and they’re hungrier than ever to do it. I followed them back to their boss’s office and listened in. They knew about you. I guess Kai has been recruiting allies, and they saw their chance to move up the ranks.”

“So Kai’s vampire royalty?”

“He thinks so. He’s old, older than Hyungwon, older even than Seunghyun, and the older he gets, the more unhinged he is.”

“You’re vampires, you don’t give a shit about human laws or morality anymore. Why don’t you just kill him?”

“There are some laws that are so old and so bound by ancient magic that they cannot be broken, not by us, not by Kai,” Shownu said. “A vampire cannot kill another vampire without consequence.”

Shownu sank onto the sofa, his stomach lengthening as he leaned back. The slit in his towel parted over his thigh, and despite all the vitriol she’d been spewing, Amber had the irrational urge to sit on his lap as she listened.

The mystery in his words transfixed her, and eventually, anger gave way to curiosity. “What kind of consequence?”

He shrugged. “Every one is unique. For some, blood will taste like sand and never satisfy. For others, reality distorts—past becomes present, present becomes future, future becomes past, all within a matter of seconds. Others mutate into nightmare creatures with lesions and crippled wings and cloven hooves. Some lose the ability to feel anything, inside or out—no pain or lust or hunger. Imagine living eternity like that. Death seems inconsequential then. It’s enough to ward off even the most desperate revenge-seekers.”

“Jesus,” she whispered.

“There are eternal prisons for the truly deranged, but Kai is careful. For all his hunger, he treads the line between a danger to himself, which nobody worries about, and a danger to our kind, which would force our hands, but even when he crosses the line, it’s not enough to send the Council after him.”

Amber snorted. “Of course there’s a council.”

“There is. It’s ancient and sacred, and its authority is unquestionable, but over the centuries, Kai’s made blood pacts with the most vicious and ambitious of our kind. He has an army at his back, waiting to do his bidding. Like a spider, his web extends far and wide. The Council knows that, too.”

Amber pictures that shadow at the top of her cliff, silver strands stretched all around him, and she realized, for all her questing, she hadn’t moved an inch—she was the fly in his cocoon waiting for him to consume her.

“What would Kai want with all those women then?”

“Nothing,” Shownu said evenly. “He wants you. They’re just bait.”

The anger was back now, blacker and grimmer than ever, roiling in the depths of her soul. “Why would he want me? What am I to an ancient vampire?”

Her partner’s gaze fell to his lap, where his hands tightened over his thighs as he mumbled, “I can’t answer that.”

Amber picked up the closest blood bag and launched it at the wall. The cap snapped off, spurting congealed globs of blood across the window and sill before burbling to the floor. Shownu shot up, but she was ready for him, her finger leveled as fiercely as a gun at him.

“No, you won’t answer that,” she seethed. “I can’t fucking stand this. Even now that I know who you are and how you’ve been backstabbing me this whole time, you’re still keeping things from me.”

“We’re not backstabbing you!” Shownu volleyed back with more passion than she’d ever seen from him. “We’re protecting you. Can’t you see that?”

“No, I can’t! How have you protected me, hm? What do I have left? You and your family of make-believe white knights?”

“It’s better than the alternative,” he asserted.

Still reverberating with Shownu’s words, Amber leaned against the dining table, her eyes falling to the casefiles of many of the Runaways. “What does your family have to do with them then, huh—with me? You’re just here to keep Kai’s toys from him?”

Even across the room, she could hear his knuckles crack. “Kihyun was a fool to give you that name. He was the one in charge of guarding it.”

“We’re the police, Son. We’re the ones who need to know.”

But her fellow detective shook his head adamantly. “Everyone who gets tangled up with Kai regrets it—everyone. Especially us.”

“Your family? Why? Tell me why,” Amber begged, so desperate she felt tears welling behind her eyes.

Shownu went as still as a corpse, the supernatural life draining from his face until it hollowed before her eyes. He didn’t answer, but that only made Amber more frantic for it.

“Did Kai—did he—is he— He’s responsible for what happened to my sister, isn’t he?”

Shownu swallowed, his strong Adam’s apple bobbing. “Yes.”

Amber knew the answer—she’d known it all along—but there was a difference between knowing a thing and validating it, and her knees buckled.

“How do you know that?” she mumbled from the shelter of her arms. “Tell me the truth, Shownu—Hyunwoo—whatever the fuck your name is. How do you know?”

The room pulsed around them, as alive as Amber’s racing heart.

“We were there,” he admitted quietly.

The pulsing gave way to nothingness, as though they were no longer in a room but floating somewhere outside of space and time. There was nothing but Shownu, Amber, and the truth between them.

“You were there? Did you—did you kill her?” she whispered.

“Of course not!” he thundered as he knocked the casefiles off the table. “We never wanted anyone to get hurt. We didn’t know. We only did what we were told.”

Amber rose slowly, her eyes trained on the betrayer before her. “And what were you told, Son?”

Shownu stopped pacing and, despite the fire in her eyes, faced Amber. “Kai gave us a kind of roadmap to find someone he was looking for. We weren’t told why or who. We were just told to follow the map, find the human, and bring her to him.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that,” he echoed. “Kai’s older than any of us and infinitely more powerful. You answer his call or there are consequences.”

“More consequences?” Amber mocked. “What is it this time, huh? No blood for a month and stay in your coffin?”

“It’s not a joke,” Shownu said sternly.

“Christ, I know it’s not a joke, Son. My sister is dead. She’s dead. My twin. Half of me,” she raged, beating her chest, “dead. But a vampire murdered her, and now you’re telling me you and your family had a hand in it.”

His eyes closed. “Yes.”

He was supposed to say no. He was supposed to tell her they had nothing to do with it. Amber wanted—needed—him to. But he didn’t. Now, Shownu stared with honesty in his eyes and shame anchoring his face.

She felt the same shame anchoring her heart, too. She had slept with her sister’s killers. How could she ever live with herself knowing she’d given herself over to the very men responsible for taking everything away from her and, more damningly, that she’d loved each and every time? Even now, despite the rawness of reality grating her very skin, she felt that pull to the man in front of her, and it had nothing to do with all the freshly scrubbed skin Shownu was showing. She was supposed to hate him, but how could she when he looked so vulnerable pared down to his naked truth?

With eyes soft as dahlia petals, he begged her to understand.

“The roadmap—” Amber began awkwardly, fighting to stay resilient, “what was it?”

“Vague, filled with more riddles and loose time frames and yet only a small window of time to find the person at the end.”

“Riddles like what?”

When Shownu closed his eyes this time, they were heavy like drapes, and they made his whole head sag. “It was years ago, and we’ve fought to block it out.”

“Please,” Amber asked softly. “I need to know.”

He let out a shaky breath and said, “I don’t remember everything, but I remember ‘between the black blood river and the blue moon’ and ‘a house that rattles with the banshee’s cry.’ We took those as directions.”

It was easy enough for Amber to tumble back through time to her childhood home in Northwest Portland. A handful of blocks up from the Willamette and just around the corner from the popular Blue Moon Tavern, their aging Craftsman had darkened under the constant belch of smoke from the shipyards, and its paper-thin walls rang with the cries of the train horns from the rail station where her father worked. It was gone now, just like everything else from her life before, but its stain lingered.

“We did the best with what we could,” Shownu added.

Amber couldn’t even fault him for his assumption, not when those words had just as easily taken her home. Quietly, she asked, “Where did Kai get this roadmap?”

“I don’t know,” Shownu said, “and we weren’t allowed to ask questions.”

It was easier to talk to her partner when he wasn’t looking at her, easier to stay angry, too, so Amber turned her back on him. “But it led you to my sister.”

“It did. We staked out the neighborhood for weeks, looking for someone who might fit some of the other riddles—‘hair of rosewood, skin of butter, honey in her veins.’”

“Honey…” Amber swallowed hard. “Did my sister smell like honey, too?”

“Not like you, but yes. It was muddied, but it was there. We never saw you. If we had—” Shownu shuddered.

“How did you—” The detective’s voice broke again, but she summoned what strength she had left to pull herself back together. “How did you lure her out?”

Shownu writhed, pacing and twitching like a different man all together. His breaths, however superfluous, grew noisier with every step. “Hyungwon did it. He bumped into her outside a pharmacy and asked her to dinner. She didn’t say yes at first, but he convinced her.”

Amber understood the implication immediately, and it rocked her to her core. “He hypnotized my sister? How? She’s my twin. That shouldn’t have worked.”

Shownu said nothing, which only made it feel heavier.

“And once she showed up to this date,” Amber said scathingly, “what did you do to her?”

“Nothing. We didn’t show. We gave the time and place to Kai, and what happened after that, we were barred from knowing. The next night, we were summoned to the woods, but by the time we got there, your sister was already on the ground, and he was reciting that—that poem, the one from the Han crime scene.”

“What?” the detective gasped. “The ‘one divided by two’ thing?”

“Yes. He thought it meant if he—” Shownu stopped himself and tore his gaze away, more shame oozing with every muscle twitch. More quietly, he continued, “He thought if he cut her in half, whatever he was looking for would appear.”

Horror stung the corners of Amber’s eyes. She’d never felt so cold, so dead inside. “Like a human matryoshka doll? Like a Happy Meal with a prize inside? What?”

“I don’t know,” Shownu insisted, his voice suddenly breaking, “but whatever it is, it wasn’t there, and Kai realized it was never going to be. We’d gotten it wrong, and he knew it. As penance for our mistake, he ordered us to keep looking until we found the One, no matter how many humans we had to go through.

“We thought about skipping town, but that meant leaving Portland to Kai’s goons. We couldn’t do that either, so we stayed. Seunghyun left with Kai to seek another answer to the riddle, but that was just for show. He went to undermine anything Kai might find, but even though Kai is back newly devoted to his mission, Seunghyun never returned. We haven’t heard anything from him in months.”

“You think he’s dead?” Amber asked.

Shownu shrugged. “I don’t know. If Kai had done it, he would have been punished, but he could have ordered someone else to do it. His followers are zealots. They’ll do whatever he says, no matter the cost to themselves.”

“What about you and your brothers then? In the meantime, you’ve just been handing over these girls to his little minions?”

Her partner collapsed back onto the couch. “No, never. In the past, we’d propose names that fit some of the criteria so it looked like we were making progress, but then we’d immediately rule them out. After a while, we didn’t hear anything more from Kai or his recruits. We figured they’d figured out they were looking in the wrong place or maybe they’d even found who they were looking for. We didn’t know—”

“What?” demanded Amber, closing the distance between them and dropping to her knees. Her hands gripped the armrest as her eyes burrowed into his profile. “What didn’t you know?”

“We didn’t know our lies had been found out.” Shownu’s grip tightened on his knees, and his voice cracked again. “The missing girls—they’re not random. They’re all the wrong names we ever suggested. Even though Kai knows they’re not the one he’s looking for, he’s taken them. It’s all our fault—all of it. We tried to play him, and now everyone has to suffer for our deceit. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

The revelation thundered through the apartment. Amber had been right all along—she’d felt deep in her gut that Chae and his brothers had something to do with the missing, and even if they hadn’t taken any of them, they’d signed those girls’ execution warrants. She thought about slapping Shownu, maybe shaking him so hard he got whiplash—whatever she could to knock some sense into a senseless situation—but it wouldn’t change anything. Not their fates and not the wound in her heart.

“How didn’t you realize this immediately?” she whimpered.

At last, Shownu braved her gaze. “Why do you think I demanded the Jessica Ho investigation? We hoped it was just a coincidence, but then more and more girls went missing. We tried to get a message to Kai, but his minions said he wasn’t here and it wasn’t them.”

“You didn’t question him?”

“You don’t understand. We didn’t know he was back. Seunghyun hadn’t called to warn us nor did he come home, so we thought they were telling the truth. Kai’s a ghost when he wants to be. He makes himself known only when he wants to see you. There’s no evidence except the evidence he wants you to see. Why do you think everything comes back to my family over and over again? The law will never catch him. Never.”

The last word dangled like a miserable piñata, and Amber had the urge to obliterate every piece of it.

“So, just let him have his way, huh?”

“No! That’s not what I’m saying. Damnit… I wish I were better with words…” Shownu ran a hand through his damp hair before he added, “We have to find a way to stop him that doesn’t end in death or a curse.”

“Have you tried putting him in a timeout?” she quipped bitterly, but her partner was too consumed to catch her sarcasm.

“We’ve tried to reason with him, but you can’t reason with divine purpose. Kai believes he’s been chosen for a higher cause. He believes he’s a god amongst vampires.”

“That’s insane!”

“Of course it is, and that’s what makes everything feel so hopeless,” Shownu continued, looking every bit the tortured soul he was. “It’s tearing me apart knowing he’s using innocent women as pawns, and it’s all my fault and there’s no way I can make it right.”

“You could have tipped off the police!” Amber asserted with a slap of her hand on the counter. It rang as solemnly as a death toll.

Shownu glowered at her. “You think that matters to Kai? He’s already waltzed into your precinct and right back out with our witness and our officer.”

The blow was too strong, and Amber’s shoulders caved under the weight of reality. Her head sank, but still she managed, “What about hypnotizing the girls to convince them to leave before he got to them? You could have tried that.”

“We did with those we could reach in time. Hopefully, a few of those Runaways are actual runaways, but then Kai just started taking people who mattered to you.”

“Chloe,” Amber whispered heavily. “Minzy… Bom…”

Shownu nodded. “Yes. He’ll do whatever it takes to further his own dark destiny.”

Amber paced the kitchen, her hands forked in her hair hoping to steady her spinning brain. “What’s this bullshit about destiny anyway?”

“His destiny,” her partner clarified. “It’s what Kai thinks a god like him should have.”

“Which is?”

“Everything,” Shownu answered matter-of-factly.

“And what about me, huh?” Amber wondered. “Where do I fit into all of this?”

For a couple minutes, Shownu avoided answering. He ran his hands up and down his thighs. He flexed his jaw. He cracked his neck. He didn’t look at her or maybe he simply couldn’t. With a slow, steady voice, at last, he said, “Even though we were all sure your sister was the one Kai was looking for, we were wrong. Everything pointed to it being her—the map, the riddles—and when it wasn’t, my brothers and I were glad. It was done. It was supposed to be done. If the window closed and Kai couldn’t find who he was looking for, it was better for the world. We didn’t know she had a twin. We didn’t know anything.”

Amber stared out at the glimmering mirage of Portland in the valley below. It all felt impossibly faraway now and more foreign than Antarctica. Every time she thought like she had found some footing, it was gone with a landslide of new discoveries, each one more violent than the next. She touched the glass, expecting it to be as cold as she felt inside, but instead, the humid warmth of the evening pressed against it, begging to be let in.

“When did you know?” she whispered. “About Delphine, when did you know who she was to me?”

“Hyungwon recognized your face the moment you two met. At first, he thought it was some kind of glamor or trick by Kai’s followers to remind us our assignment was unfinished. Kai’s done that before, sent his emissaries to ensure our allegiance through our guilt. It’s not hard when you feel as guilty as we do.”

“So Kai already knew who I was?”

“I have no doubt,” Shownu said. “After the interrogation, though, Hyungwon knew you were more than an illusion; you were more than the ghost of a girl who’d been resurrected to torment us. We had a family meeting to decide what to do, but we couldn’t agree. Some wanted to cut and run, others wanted to appeal to the Council or track down Seunghyun. Hyungwon refused to let you go though, no matter what any of us said. Kihyun was more worried than anyone, especially since he saw first-hand what happened in that interrogation room.”

Amber had been still the whole confession, frozen as much by Shownu’s voice as the truth, but her voice found its way out somehow. “What happened?”

“The pull. The connection.”

Softer now: “What connection?”

“You know,” Shownu said as his eyes met hers.

Amber’s skin tingled and her chest tightened.

At last, her partner continued, “It didn’t matter though. If we moved back, you pushed toward us. It was my job to steer you away from us—from danger—and God knows I tried, but you’re unstoppable, Spiros. And one after the other, you stumbled into my brothers’ paths, and then, thanks to one of Kai’s cronies, you found out what we are, and we couldn’t undo the damage. Best we could hope for was that it would scare you away, but it made you more insatiable for the truth and my brothers more obsessed with you. You and your pull were more powerful than all of us combined, but it wasn’t until Hyungwon talked to Nam that he knew why.”

“Talked to…” murmured Amber in disbelief. “Compelled, you mean.”

Shownu nodded. “Yes. We knew you were important, but no one knew how important until we learned about your sister. Everything changed. You weren’t just an irresistible mystery anymore—you were our responsibility. In that moment, we knew we had to protect you like we didn’t for your sister, like we couldn’t for those girls.”

“Because Delphine’s fate is also my fate?”

“No, it’s not…”

“It’s something worse,” Amber finished. “But why me? What makes me different?”

Shownu didn’t respond, and she knew two things at once: that it was all true and that he wouldn’t say another thing about it. She couldn’t decide which was more devastating.

Seconds later, her hunch was confirmed when he said, “I’ve told you all I can tell you.”

“It’s not enough!” Amber protested. “If Kai thinks I’m the one he’s been looking for this whole time, he’s not going to stop until he gets me. I need to know so I can be prepared.”

“No,” Shownu said immediately, a near carbon-copy of his brothers’ stubbornness. “The further away you are from Kai, the better.”

“Look how that’s worked out for me,” she scoffed. “Eric is in the hospital, Son. He almost died.”

“And you think it would have made a difference if you’d told him? It wouldn’t. It would have made things worse.”

Shownu gripped her shoulders, and even though it was already borderline painful, she could sense he was holding back. “We’re going to find a way to stop Kai before he can sink his claws into you, but you have to let us do that. If he knows you know about him, he won’t play his petty mind games anymore—he’ll come for you outright, and we won’t be able to stop him yet.”

A tear slipped down Amber’s cheek. “I can’t believe what you’re saying. Now, you’re offering up those women you tried to save? You’re letting them die, Son!”

“Kai can’t have you,” Shownu declared in something deeper and darker than a snarl, and it rumbled like an earthquake inside her.

Amber’s heavy breaths stabbed the air. “You don’t get to say that. You don’t get to act like you care when you don’t.”

“That’s not true—”

“If you and your brothers cared, you would have come forward. You never did. My sister’s case is still unsolved!”

Shownu hung his head before he could face his partner again. When their eyes met this time, there wasn’t just sorrow but despair. He looked so hopeless that Amber nearly embraced him.

“I’m truly sorry about that,” he began, “I am, but how could we? What could we possibly say that the Bureau would believe? We were there; you really think they would believe we had nothing to do with it?”

“You could have called from a pay phone. You could have left an anonymous tip. You could have written a goddamn letter! Christ, you’re an officer, Son—leave a fucking note at the front desk. It doesn’t matter. You kept it to yourselves because that’s what you bloodsuckers do, isn’t it? Keep to yourselves. Never mind the living and their fucking problems, right?”

“Spiros—”

But hurt won out over pity, and Amber slammed her hands against the counter again. “My parents died of broken hearts. It destroyed me. Not knowing what happened to my twin sister is the worst thing I could imagine—the worst thing! Maybe if I knew what had happened to Della, my life wouldn't be such a fucked-up mess. Maybe I wouldn't have fucked five vampires who were just as responsible for destroying my world as the man who killed my sister. Do you even remember what it’s like to be alive? To have a heart that beats for something? To love someone more than you love yourself?”

His voice was as heavy as her eyes as he whispered, “I do.”

“Then you should feel an ounce of the torment that I do every day. Where’s your goddamn compassion for all these girls’ families? And you call yourself a police detective…”

“Why do you think I do this job, huh? Choking on the smell of all that spilt, rotten blood? Why do you think I volunteer as a lifeguard in the blazing summer sun? Why do you think I work so hard to push you away?” he spat. “Penance. Decades of it.”

“You’re a masochist?” she marveled.

Shownu scoffed. “A masochist loves the pain he inflicts on himself. There’s nothing to love about me.”

Amber could feel the depth of his self-loathing as powerfully as a swamp beneath her, sucking her down deeper and deeper. Every ounce of anger she had directed at him all night vanished at the sheer force of his sincerity. Shownu was just as broken as she was, and she wanted so badly to fix him the way she’d never been able to fix herself. It didn’t make sense. She was supposed to hate him, but how could she when he’d lived with his own failings for longer than she ever had—when he’d have to live with them forever.

“I hate everything I am,” he continued softly. “I hate everything I’ve done, even now. It's why I can't live at home. I can’t see my brothers without remembering all the terrible things we’ve done together. I know what I am, what I’ve done, and what I’ll always have to do. I’ll always be this weak. I hate how weak I am at the smell of fresh blood, and I hate even more how weak I am at the smell of you. You remind me of everything I hate about myself.”

Amber couldn’t breathe. The room was too small. The air was too thin. Her heart was too fast.

“Why?” she stammered.

Shownu took a step closer. “Because you're the one thing a monster like me can never allow himself to have.”

“Why not? Your brothers have,” she spat bitterly, hating her own weaknesses as much as Shownu hated his.

“It’s not about sex, Amber. It never has been, not for any of us. Don’t you see that?” Another step closer. “Don’t you feel it?”

Shownu was perilously close now. Every muscle in his neck flexed as his head dipped toward her.

“Then what is it about?” she rasped as his mouth hovered just above her.

“You. Everything is about you. Just you.”

And with that, Amber closed the last of the distance between them.

#monsta x smut #novel #succumbing to sybaris #original character #shownu #wonho #minhyuk #kihyun #jooheon #changkyun #lucas #nct #eric nam #Detective AU #vampire au #1990s #reverse harem #WE GO HARD YO #enemies to lovers

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sandwichrin · 3 years

Text

A Little into You (Junkyu x Reader) (Ch. 19)

Chapter 19 - Some truth

Word count: 4.8k words

Genre: Fanfiction, PG13, Comedy, Romance.

A/N: Hi~ Chapter 19 is here, yay! Hope you all enjoy this one 🧡

The next day came along, and as usual, you arrived at work early since you were still hoping that maybe the staff that you should be tutoring might come and see you today.

And so, just like yesterday, you waited in your seat in the meeting room on that 4th floor that you’ve been assigned to.

As you were staring into space, a familiar figure entered the doorframe.

“Oh my god look at you…” the voice said, startling you.

You turned to look at the owner of the voice—you rolled your eyes the moment you saw who it was.

“Chani, what are you doing here,”

Chani leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms against his chest and smirked at you, “I just wanted to see how you’re doing today. You seemed really down yesterday so I expected you to be all mopey or I don’t know, maybe laying on the floor and crying but nope! You seem fine,”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “Ha ha,” you laughed sarcastically. “I’m not that dramatic. Besides, they’ll show up today! I just know it!” you said in a very motivated tone.

This earned a laugh from Chani. “Okay y/n. Just let me know if you need anything, okay?”

You smiled a little at him. “Sure.”

“Okay then,” he said as he clapped his hands once. “I better get going, my group leader is kind of strict so, I’ll see you at lunch?”

You nodded at him. “Bye, Chani.”

“Bye,” he said. He closed the door behind him and once again you were left alone in the quiet room.

That very same day, as usual, the Treasure boys were practicing for their choreography.

Their practice room was filled with the sound of shoes screeching and the members counting along their steps together.

After running the full choreography of their song three times, the leaders called out to their members to take a break.

“Ahhh I love the cold floor!” Yedam said as he laid down on the cold floor.

Jeongwoo crawled up towards him and laid down closely beside him, his eyes slowly closing.

“Good job, everyone! Everyone’s dance move was very accurate! If we keep it up like this, we’ll have a very sharp formation too, soon,” Hyunsuk praised his members as he held onto his water bottle in his hand.

Jihoon, who was beside him, wiped his own sweat off with a small towel he brought from home. “Yup! You all did very great today. Especially Kim Junkyu,” he said as he smiled.

Junkyu, who was sitting on the floor next to Doyoung, looked at his friend in confusion. “Me?”

“Yeah, you. You seemed really…energetic today,” Jihoon said to him.

“Thank you?” Junkyu responded, still confused.

“Hyung! Can we go get ice cream today?” Yoshi asked as he raised his hand.

Suddenly the whole room started making noise, supporting Yoshi’s idea. Some ice cream after a great practice sounded really good to them at the moment.

“Hush hushh,” Hyunsuk shushed the kids as he waved his hands in the air, signalling them to calm down. When the whole room quieted down, Hyunsuk turned to look at their other leader beside him. “What do you think?”

Jihoon smiled at the rest of them, his usual bright smile, “Hmm, I guess we deserve some ice cream…”

“YAYYYYYY” the maknae line started jumping around the room, high-fiving each other, all excited that their hyungs are going to treat them with some ice cream today.

“Okay, okay but calm down!” Jihoon said. “Is there anything else you all want today? My treat.” He added, making all of their members in the room more excited, including Hyunsuk.

“Burgers!! Hyung, can we have burgers for lunch today??” Junghwan’s voice shouted amongst his other hyungs who were talking in the room.

“Okay okay! Okay, listen up everyone!” Jihoon said again, ordering them to calm down. Even though his tone was firm, his face still showed his warm smile since he was happy to see his kids all excited.

“Okay,” he said once the room quieted down again. “So today, I’ll get us some ice cream and burgers,”

“YAYYYYYY” the boys cheered happily.

“BUT—” Jihoon said, implying to them that he still has more to say.

“Shh, shh! Let Jihoon finish talking y’all,” Hyunsuk said, shushing them this time.

“Thanks, hyung,”

Hyunsuk smiled at him.

“As I was saying, I’ll buy all those stuffs but—let’s play a game to decide who gets to help receive the food at the building’s front lobby downstairs,” he grinned.

“Aw man! I knew Jihoon-hyung wouldn’t be this generous without another scheme in his head,” Jaehyuk groaned.

YG Building (Front Lobby)

“How long until the deliveryman arrives?” Junkyu asked Yedam who was holding onto Jihoon’s phone in his hand.

“Hyung, it’s only been 2 minutes since you last asked this. And just like 2 minutes before, the deliveryman is still a block away,” Yedam reminded his hyung.

Asahi, who had lost in the game earlier as well, kept quiet beside the two boys.

Junkyu lets out a whine. “I don’t get why we are the ones who lost in that game. That game’s stupid,”

Yedam chuckled at him, “Hyung, the three of us were unlucky because we drew out Jihoon-hyung’s name for the arm-wrestle match. It would have been easier if we got Haruto or Asahi-hyung,”

“Hey, I’m right here,” Asahi said, breaking the silence he had been holding onto since they lost the game earlier.

Yedam wrapped an arm around his hyung, “Exactly! You’re here because we all lost against Jihoon-hyung,”

This earned a small chuckle from Asahi, his dimple showing.

Suddenly, Jihoon’s phone vibrated, a call coming in.

“Hyung, hyung! Someone’s calling!” Yedam panicked as he held out the phone towards Asahi and Junkyu.

Both Junkyu and Asahi exchanged looks with each other.

“You answer it, Asahi!” Junkyu said as he pushed the phone into Asahi’s hands.

“Are you kidding me? I’m Japanese!” Asahi said as he pushed the phone back into Junkyu’s hands.

“Eyy don’t give me that reason! I’ve heard you talk to Jaehyuk-hyung on the phone that time when he kept calling you every day when you were in Japan. Your Korean was fine,”

“Okay but still, you answer the phone,” Asahi pointed at the vibrating phone in Junkyu’s hands.

“Noooo I’m an introvert! You should know I don’t like answering strangers’ phonecalls,” Junkyu reasoned.

“I’m an introvert too! I’m only 3% extrovert!” Asahi argued back.

At this point, Yedam was too worried that they might miss out on an important call, so while his hyungs were busy arguing about who was the most introverted amongst them both, Yedam hurriedly snatched the phone from Junkyu’s hands and answered it.

Phonecall Conversation:

Yedam: Hello?

Caller: Hello? Mr Park Jihoon? Sorry for bothering you, but we are from S&S Closets.

Yedam: Uhh, I uh--

Caller: I’m just calling to confirm with you if you have received your parcel yesterday.

Yedam: Oh, that. Parcel??

Caller: Yes, our delivery staff said that a person named Park Jeongwoo helped sign the package off for you yesterday.

Yedam: Ah, Jeongwoo! Ah yes, yes, that’s our friend. In that case, yes, the package was delivered safely to my side.

Caller: Alright then. Don’t forget to rate our product and service at our website! Thank you and have a nice day!

-Call ends-

Yedam stared at the phone confusedly after the call ended.

Junkyu and Asahi on the other hand, were no longer arguing since Yedam had chosen to answer the call for them.

“Who was it?” Junkyu asked.

Yedam shrugged, “I’m not really sure either, some company called S&S Closets? I guess Jihoon-hyung ordered something from them?”

“Oh? Jihoon-hyung ordered a closet?? That’s random,” Junkyu said, his face showing a thinking expression with his lips slightly pouting.

“Yeah, I guess that is kind of random,” Yedam said.

“That’s not it. S&S Closets is a Japanese clothing line company. My mum usually buys my sister some outfits from that site too,” Asahi explained.

“Ahh, I see.”

“Oh? Then what could Jihoon-hyung have bought from there??” Yedam questioned.

“I don’t know. I just know that it sells woman’s clothings,”

The three of them fell silent.

“Hey…do you guys think…Jihoon-hyung…” Yedam said slowly,

“What? What is it?” Junkyu prodded him, curious to know what Yedam might be guessing now.

“Do you guys think Jihoon-hyung has bought his Halloween costume for this year?? He bought Elsa last year, didn’t he??”

Asahi shook his head in disbelief, since he knows that the specific clothing line his mum used to buy doesn’t sell costumes.

“I don’t think so. That company doesn’t make costumes,”

Junkyu gasped out loud. “Then, what did he buy from there??”

“I guess we’ll just have to ask him later. For now, let’s get our foods first,” Yedam said as he showed the indicator on Jihoon’s phone. “The deliveryman is close by now.”

Lunchtime arrived and so you decided to just leave your meeting room, with a disappointed look on your face considering again today, none of the staff had visited your session. At this point you had already given up on the hopes that these people might even come see you after today.

Grabbing your bag, you exited the meeting room, making sure you closed the door behind you.

You walked up towards the elevators, wanting to head towards the cafeteria and probably just meeting Chani at your usual lunch spot.

As the elevator reached your floor, you entered it and pressed the button leading to the cafeteria floor.

It wasn’t long until you heard the elevator’s ding!

You were about to step out of the elevator when you heard a voice saying “Hold the elevator! Our hands are full!”

Feeling panicked because you were the only person in the specific elevator, you hurriedly backed yourself into the elevator and pressed the “open doors” button.

Three guys entered the space beside you, all gasping from the running they did just to simply catch up with the elevator.

“Oh? You guys!” You said, as you noticed that the three boys were none other than your own friends.

Yedam raised his head from his panting and turned to see who it was that had greeted them.

“Y/n!” Yedam exclaimed happily.

This made Asahi and Junkyu immediately turning to look at you as well.

You smiled at them and pointed at the paper bags in their hands, “Delivery?”

“Yup, Jihoon-hyung is treating us today,” Yedam answered.

“Nice.” You said as you nod.

“Aren’t you gonna close the doors?” Yedam asked, noticing that your finger never left the “open doors” button.

“Oh! Oh gosh, I was heading out just now,” you said as you pulled away your finger from the button.

The door started closing and by the time you realised the elevator was already moving, you panicked on your own, “Wait, oh my god I was supposed to exit the elevators BEFORE the door closes ahh!”

Yedam, Junkyu and Asahi smiled apologetically as they watched you make your careless mistake right in front of them.

You were too embarrassed to face them now, knowing that you had acted like a fool in front of them so you just kept quiet while you stared down at your feet as the elevator brings the four of you to the 3rd floor.

When you all reached the 3rd floor, you pressed on the “open doors” button for them as you watched them all exit the elevator.

You noticed that Asahi was struggling with his heavy-looking paper bag, so you asked him, “Hey, Asahi. Do you need help with that? You look like you’re having a hard time with that,”

Asahi, who was already right outside the elevator doors, turned to look at you. And then he stared down at the paper bag in his hands. He glanced over towards Junkyu and Yedam who were a few steps in front of him, both waiting for him.

“Uh, sure. I could use some help,” Asahi said.

With that, you stepped out of the elevator, letting the doors close behind you.

“Here, let me help you carry that,”

Asahi moved away from you, making you stare at him in confusion.

“Asahi?? You said you needed help, I’m here to help,” you said to him.

Asahi ignored you and started jogging towards his two friends in front. The moment he reached them, the both of them too, gave him a confused look.

“Oh my god, why did you run off??” you said as you reached their spot as well, slightly huffing since you chased after him in your work heels.

“Hyung, is everything okay?” Yedam asked him, slightly worried.

“Yeah, I’m good.” Asahi turned to you, as if he hadn’t made you chase after him earlier, and said “Oh right, y/n, you wanted to help, right? Could you help Junkyu-hyung? His bag was the heaviest.”

“Ah? Yeah sure, I mean, you could’ve just said so instead of making me chase after you, you know—”

You hadn’t finish your sentence when you noticed that Asahi wasn’t listening to you at all. Instead, he was already dragging Yedam with him to head towards their practice room, leaving you and Junkyu behind them.

Junkyu and you exchanged glances with each other.

“I…I wasn’t done talking,” you said.

“That’s Asahi. No surprises there. I can never figure out what’s in his mind, honestly,” Junkyu responded.

“Yeah I guess…”

You held out your hands to Junkyu, to which he raised his eyebrows at since he wasn’t sure what you were doing.

“Let me help.” You said, your hands still waiting for him to give you one of the paper bags he was holding.

“Oh. H-here,” he said as he pushed one bag into your hands.

The both of you walked side by side, at a relaxed pace since you both figured out that it was impossible to catch up after Asahi and Yedam by now.

“I honestly thought Asahi wasn’t the type to be into jogging or running. But hey, he was quite fast just now don’t you think?” You said, still weirded out as to why Asahi had dragged Yedam with him that quickly.

“Trust me, I’ve never seen him walk that fast either,” Junkyu snickered.

This made you giggle slightly. “I guess he’s just excited to eat lunch. It’s nice of Jihoon to treat you all good foods like this,” you praised.

Junkyu nodded at this. “Yup, he’s full of surprises like that. He’s a really great leader, both him and Hyunsuk,”

“That’s sweet of you to say that,”

Junkyu blushed slightly from your compliment. He glanced over at you whom was looking straight ahead, just simply walking casually beside him.

From your side profile, he noticed your eyelashes were quite long. Your cheeks had a tint of blush to them, probably from your makeup, and he noticed the smooth texture of your hair falling against your shoulder.

“…pretty…” he mumbled softly.

You turned to look at him, “Hm? You said something?”

“Ah?!” Junkyu froze in his spot. “I- I uh, I was wondering uh, if you were going to have lunch too,”

“I will, don’t worry,” you smiled.

Junkyu blushed again, this time he could really feel his cheeks heat up.

He started walking faster, wanting to reach the practice room quicker.

You noticed his steps quickening so you tried to hurry after him, your heels clacking against the floor.

“Okay Junkyu, I know you’re in a rush but could you maybe slow down a bit? I can’t walk that fast in heels,”

This made him slow down. He looked at the black pumps you were wearing and felt bad for making you chase after him.

This time, the two of you were walking side by side again.

“This better?” he asked.

“Yup, way better. Thanks,” you smiled again at him.

Junkyu felt his grip on the paper bag in his hand tightened. He hoped to reach their practice room fast, because he wasn’t sure if he could handle seeing you smile at him like that all over again.

Treasure’s Practice Room

Asahi opened the doors of the practice room, his hands shaking from carrying the paper bag in his hands.

Jihoon walked up towards him and noticed that Yedam was the only one who entered after him.

“Asahi? Yedam? Where’s Junkyu?”

Asahi lets out a big sigh and hands over the paper bag from his hands towards his leader.

Jihoon, a little confused, accepted the paper bag, and was surprised by the sudden cold contact that touched his skin. “Ah! You’ve been carrying all these ice creams on your own??” Jihoon’s voice raised a pitch due to the sudden cold contact he had.

Asahi pushed his hair back with his hand, “It’s okay, I did what I had to do,” he said as he passed by Jihoon, making his way towards the centre of the room where the other members are.

Jihoon watched as his friend walks over to the other side before he turns to face Yedam who was also catching his breath after getting dragged by Asahi to hurry back towards their practice room.

“Hold on hyung, let me catch my breath,” Yedam said in between pants. After feeling better, he pulled out Jihoon’s phone and hands it over to him.

“Here’s your phone by the way,”

“Thanks,”

“Oh, by the way, you had a call so I answered,”

“Hm? Who was it?”

“Someone wanted to confirm about your package from S&S Closets something?” Yedam shrugged as he said this.

“Ahh, that. Okay thanks,” Jihoon answered simply.

“Yup. Okay I’m just gonna head in and put this bag in the middle there,” Yedam said as he leaves Jihoon as well.

Jihoon nodded at him and proceeds to wait at the door of their practice room since he wondered where his best friend was, and as soon as his head peeked out of the practice room, he saw from a distance, was Junkyu and you walking towards where he was.

He noticed the both of you making small talk with each other. He smiled as he waited for the both of you to reach a close enough distance with him before he opens his mouth to say, “Ahh, there they are. I’ve been wondering where Junkyu was. Turns out he was occupied with you, y/n,”

You smiled at him and nodded, “Hey there, Jihoon. I bumped into your boys as I was leaving for lunch. Don’t worry, you can have your boy back,”

Junkyu pursed his lips and fell quiet. It seemed like as if he couldn’t talk naturally now that Jihoon was here in front of him. Now this is weird, he thought. He was totally fine when it was just you and him talking before.

“Aw, why give him back to me? You could stay and have lunch with us too, right Junkyu?” Jihoon said, shooting his friend a teasing glance.

Junkyu blinked a couple times as he thought of what to answer.

Not noticing that Junkyu was really thinking of what to say to you, you immediately answered Jihoon, “Nah, it’s okay. I better get going. Chani’s probably waiting for me at the balcony. Man, he’s gonna give me an earful if I keep him waiting for too long,” you laughed as you said this.

Junkyu rolled his eyes when he heard you mentioning Chani’s name. And then suddenly, he felt annoyed.

“Aww that’s too bad. I guess we’ll see you next time then?” Jihoon said to you.

You nodded at him. You turned to Junkyu and handed the paper bag in your hands to him, to which he hastily grabs from you.

You were taken aback by his behaviour but you just thought maybe he didn’t mean to react that way so you decided to brush it off.

“Well, I’ll be going now. Bye Jihoon, bye Junkyu,” you said.

“Bye y/n~” Jihoon said in a sing-song tune, giving you his eye-smile.

Junkyu said goodbye to you but he avoided looking at you as you went off, making you feel slightly puzzled because you were sure the both of you were talking fine earlier but then Junkyu had suddenly switched to his cold behaviour.

You shrugged to yourself as you made your way back towards the elevator at the end of the floor, hoping that Chani wouldn’t nag at you for making him wait.

Junkyu didn’t even wait for you to completely leave both his and Jihoon’s sight. He immediately enters the practice room, carrying the paper bags in his hands but then Jihoon stopped him.

“Here, let me help you carry that,” Jihoon said as he grabbed one of the bags from Junkyu, making himself carry two paper bags in his hands now.

“Thanks,” Junkyu mumbled.

“Hmm. You seem moody. That’s weird, I thought you said you felt good being around y/n,”

“It’s nothing,” Junkyu said, not looking at his best friend. “And hey, what’s with you ordering stuff from that women’s clothing line?” he asked, suddenly reminded of the call Yedam answered earlier.

Jihoon’s eyes widened slightly. “How did you know it was a women’s clothing line?”

“Asahi said it’s the one that his mother usually buys from for his sister,”

Jihoon lets out a small laugh, “It’s nothing, really. I was just interested in the limited-edition box, that’s all.”

“For a box??”

“Yup. Wait a minute—” Jihoon said, his expression changing to panic when he realised that he’d been hugging the paper bag containing the ice cream close to himself all this while. “Oh my god I forgot Asahi handed me the bag with the ice cream!”

Junkyu noticed the paper bag in Jihoon’s hands. “Yah! Park Jihoon, you better get that laid out on the cold floor now!”

The both of them scrambled towards their members in the middle of the practice room.

Lunchtime ended and luckily for you, Chani was in a good mood so even when you ended up meeting him later than usual after helping out your Treasure friends carry their food to their practice room, Chani didn’t nag at you for your tardiness at all.

Right now, you and Chani were heading towards the elevators, wanting to go back to your own respective floors and to continue your sessions with your assigned groups. Well, to be precise, only Chani had a group to return to. You? Yeah well, you just had to head back to your empty meeting room that was also strangely the only one located on the 4th floor of the building.

“You know what bothers me the most?” You said, as the both of you walked leisurely towards the elevators.

“What?”

“I honestly, have come to accept the fact that maybe no one signed up to be in my group. I mean, still, it hurts—but what bothers me most is that why is my meeting room the only one on that deserted floor?? Everyone else’s sessions were held on the 5th and 6th floor!”

Chani kept quiet for a while, processing what you said. There was some truth in your words. He was puzzled as well as to how and why did you end up not having any staff to tutor. Not to mention, your meeting room was the only one that was the smallest and to be honest it was never ever used before.

“But the tutor sessions only lasts for a week, and it’s only Tuesday so…I guess I’ll get by,” you chuckled to yourself. “Besides, I can complete my modules on my own…”

Chani gave you a quick light slap on your arm after hearing your pitiful rant.

“Ow! Hey, chill it with the abusive behaviour, Chani,” you reacted exaggeratively.

Chani rolled his eyes at you and flashed you a smile.

“Don’t say things like that. You’re making me worry and feel sad for you. Worrying is one thing, but I didn’t sign up for any sadness when I decided to be friends with you,” he joked.

The both of you entered the elevators in front of you since coincidentally the doors opened the moment you both arrived at the waiting space.

Chani pressed on both the 4th and 5th floor’s buttons for the both of you.

You folded your arms against your chest and sighed, a small sigh.

Chani turned to you and smiled at you.

“What?” You asked, noticing that he was smiling for no reason.

“Nothing. I just…I have a feeling your troubles will be over soon.”

“Yeah, right. Thanks for the optimism Chani, but honestly, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry, okay?”

“Sure,” he answered simply.

The door opened up on the 4th floor and you stepped out of the elevator.

“See you tomorrow, y/n!” Chani said cheerfully to you.

You turned around to wave at him before the door closes.

And as soon as the door closes, Chani’s finger instantly tapped on the 6th floor’s button. The door opened up on the 5th floor, which was where his assigned meeting room was, but Chani ignored it and lets the elevator doors close down. After all, he was planning to get off on the 6th floor this time.

YGE Building (Bomin’s Office)

Bomin had just returned from his lunch with his favourite person, Soomin from the PEWA Group when he found Chani standing in his office, a dissatisfied look on his face.

“What are you doing here??” He asked, startled to see the young man being there without any appointments being made.

Chani scoffed at his question. “Don’t give me that. I wasn’t the one coming in late after lunch all ‘cause I was busy being smittened by my high school sweetheart,” he said sarcastically.

Bomin felt his ears burn up. Just how did Chani knew about his relationship with Soomin? Ah, y/n must have told him. After all, both you and Chani are close.

Bomin feigned an uninterested look. He walks up towards his desk and proceeds to sit in his swivel chair behind the desk.

“What do you want, Chani?”

“Why doesn’t y/n have any staff to tutor?”

Bomin lets out a chuckle. “Seriously? Did she send you to march up here and get mad at me??”

Chani walked up closer to Bomin, leaning towards the desk that was separating the both of them.

“Y/n knows nothing so leave her out of all of this, you bastard,” he said in bitter tone.

Bomin leaned into his chair, intertwining his fingers together. “Hmm, interesting. It seems like you’re standing up for your friend, unlike last time,”

Chani glared at Bomin, furious that he has the nerve to bring up what happened last year.

“I’m being serious here,” Chani said, his fist clenching.

“Sure. I know you’re being serious. I’m serious too. No one signed up to be in y/n’s group. You can check the namelist I pasted on the notice board outside our main meeting room downstairs.”

“You’re full of crap!” Chani yelled. “What, you expect me to believe that stupid sheet of paper?? I was up here earlier than you were. Did it not cross your mind that I might have snooped in on the work laptop on your desk?” he scoffed.

Bomin sat up straight after hearing this. “You…what?!”

“That’s right. Y/n had 4 people signing up for her session. And yet, you edited their names into other groups just so it would seem like no one signed up to be in her group. What nerve you have.”

“She wasn’t even qualified enough to tutor any staff! I’m just doing it for the sake of our staff!” Bomin said, his voice raising now.

“Don’t give me that! What do you know about qualification?? I listened to her explaining about the modules couple times before this! And guess what? She was good! Freaking good! And she was looking forward to doing these tutor sessions but you had to take it away from her, didn’t you?! All ‘cause I was close to her, right?!”

“Not everything is about you, Chani,” Bomin muttered angrily.

“You’re right, it’s not. Because everything is about YOU. Too bad for you, I’m not taking your crap anymore. You can just do whatever you want. I won’t let you hurt y/n in any way.”

“Hah! You can’t say that. You literally work under me.”

“I won’t stand still. Since you’re allowed to do what you want, from here on, I’ll do what I want.” Chani responded.

“What nonsense are you saying now, Chani?” Bomin said, calmer now, although he was gritting his teeth when he said this.

“You don’t need to know the details, sir. I’m going back to my session now. I need to have a talk with my group leader too, anyways. See ya,” Chani smirked as he said this.

Bomin watched as the younger staff exited his office. Feeling angered by what just happened, Bomin slammed his fist hard onto the table. He hated that boy’s guts like crazy.

To be continued…

#treasure #treasure fanfic #TREASURE IMAGINE #treasurefic #treasuremembers #treasure members #alltreasuremembers #all treasure members #JunKyu #kim junkyu #junkyu x reader #junkyu scenarios #kimjunkyu #kim junkyu x reader #kimjunkyu x reader #ALIY #sandwichrin

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silverlightqueen · 4 years

Text

part sixteen - disguise

thunderstorm🌩 - (mafia!jk x dancer!yn, smau, - fluff, crack, angst, potential smut)

rating: pg | warnings: mention of murder

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a/n: another written part guys !! lmk what y’all think of this part and hmu if you wanna be on the taglist. stay safe and be careful in these uncertain and scary times, and my ask box is always open if any of you need someone to talk to ! x

PSA: ASK MY MUSE IS NOW OPEN FOR ALL OF MY STORIES TO ENTERTAIN ME DURING THIS LOCKDOWN/QUARANTINE/SELF-ISOLATION THING (THAT ALL OF YOU SHOULD BE DOING, STAY IN YOUR MOTHERFUCKING HOUSES) SO ASK MY MUSES SOME QUESTIONS PLEASE I’M BEGGING Y’ALL

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‘Now who’s wearing a stupid disguise?’ he mutters as he holds the door open for me, and I shush him, looking around quickly before ducking through the door into the dingy reception again. ‘Why… why are you sneaking around? Shouldn’t you be at home, resting?’ Jungkook says, and I sigh. ‘Can we go upstairs?’ I ask, and he nods, looking confused. ‘Sure,’ he says, both of us heading over to the lift. We go up in silence, and my stomach turns the entire time. When we reach the 21st floor, I take Rosé’s phone out of my pocket and hold it up to him with a finger over my lips, and he raises an eyebrow. I mouth the words, ‘have you got a signal blocker box?’ and he nods, leading me over to his desk. He roots around the drawers for a second, putting both his and Rosé’s phones into the box, sealing it. I take the box from it and move it a few desks away, just for good measure.

‘What’s all the secrecy for? Are you paranoid someone’s listening in on you?’ he asks, and I shake my head. ‘You don’t the half of it. This is serious, okay? So prepare yourself for what I’m about to tell you. Because you might get angry at me, but hear me out and let me explain the full story before you speak,’ I say, nearly all in one breath, and he looks even more confused now, raising an eyebrow. ‘Is this a really elaborate joke you’ve planned? Because I know what you’re like and I swear to god, y/n, I will not b-’ ‘I’m not kidding, JK. I wouldn’t leave the house two days after being shot for a joke,’ I cut him off, and I think he senses the seriousness and fear in my voice, because he nods, taking a seat, and I perch on the desk beside him, taking my mask and bucket hat off. I take a deep breath, looking out of the window to calm myself. The night sky looks beautiful, a deep velvet blue twinkling with bright stars, and when I look back at Jungkook, I can see the same stars in his eyes, the eyes that are trained on me. He’s leaning back in his chair, legs slightly spread, and his arms are folded across his chest, fluffy hair falling down over his forehead. He’s dressed in all black, loose enough to be comfortable but form-fitting enough to show me the perfect proportions of his body. He really is beautiful, even in such low light. I try to stop the butterflies in my stomach, knowing there’re more important matters at hand.

‘I’m part of YG’s gang,’ I blurt out, and he continues just staring at me for a moment, before a frown takes over his beautiful features. ‘That’s not funny, y/n. How the hell do you know who YG is?’ he asks, and I sigh. ‘He’s my boss. I’m being serious, JK. I’m part of his gang,’ I say tiredly, and Jungkook rises out of his chair, pacing. ‘No, y/n, I swear to god, this isn’t funny, and I will not be happy if you’re telling me the truth,’ he says, voice shaking, and I feel tears beginning to collect in my eyes. ‘I’m telling you the truth, I promise,’ I whisper, and he freezes, looking at me with wild eyes. ‘Show me your tattoo,’ he says, and I nod, getting up carefully. I lift up the side of my top and pull my bra out of the way, showing him the black ink in the shape of a Y. ‘Everyone else has it on their forearm, but I had to have it somewhere where no one would see it in dance auditions,’ I explain shakily, and he stares at the tattoo, as though checking if it’s going to disappear before his eyes.

‘y/n, this… this changes everything. That means…’ he trails off, eyes locked with mine in an intense gaze. ‘I know you’re our rivals,’ I confirm, and he turns away from me with a groan, head in his hands, and my heart hurts. ‘You knew all along,’ he whispers, before whirling back to look at me, rage in his face. ‘You knew all along,’ he repeats, tone accusatory, and I shake my head. ‘I swear, I didn’t know, JK. I promise,’ I say, able to hear the desperation in my own voice, and he looks torn. ‘Explain the full story,’ he says in a strangled voice, sitting back down. His disposition is completely different compared to how relaxed he was a few moments ago, tension in his entire body as he leans forward, elbows on his knees and head resting in his hands.

‘When I was 16, I decided I wanted to pursue dance. My parents were completely against it, my whole family was. But my friends, they were so supportive. The girls, but also some other friends that I had. They were a little older, and no one knew that I was friends with them, not even the girls – we weren’t that close back then. They were a little sketchy, I guess, but they looked after me. When they found out that I wanted to move into the city to join a dance school, they urged me to do so, but we all knew I wouldn’t be able to afford it without my parents’ help, and they never would’ve helped.

But they knew a guy. They worked for him, and they told me he’d be able to give me a job that would pay really well. So I met this guy, who turned out to be YG. We had a meeting at this restaurant, the nicest restaurant I’d ever been to, and I instantly felt myself gravitate to him. He was kind, and funny, and he listened to me, when no adult ever had. Yes, he was double my age, but we got along. He was like a big brother to me. By the end of our meeting, he’d decided he wanted to offer me a job, and all the training alongside it, and it would pay enough for me to go to the dance school, live in the city, with plenty left over. I took the job, because I was so desperate to follow my dreams, to be a dancer. I told everyone I’d been offered a scholarship by the National School of Dance, who would pay for my accommodation, my education, and then some for living costs. In reality, I ended up living in YG’s own house – it was huge, loads of us lived there – and he was the one who was paying for school.

We started training as soon as I moved into the house, so I was training and dancing at the same time. But I loved it – both the dancing and the training. After a few weeks of intensive training with YG himself – not many people get that privilege – I was his little killing machine. Over the years, I worked my way up the gang, and worked my way up the class at school. Because the training was helping with dance, and the dancing was helping with… my abilities to kill. And YG and I grew closer and closer. When I turned 18, he bought me my own car and my own apartment, even though I spent all my time at his house anyway. I loved it, being in that gang. I even developed my own little killing technique – seduction, to get them alone, and then I’d either slit their throat, choke them, break their neck, blow their brains out. I was killing all these people, hundreds, maybe even thousands, and I felt no remorse, because they were bad people, and I like to do the right thing. Being so young had allowed him to warp my mind so much so that I didn’t see that it was all so wrong. I was losing contact with everyone at home, and becoming more and more integrated into the gang. I was the youngest, and one of the few girls, so they all adored me. It was like one big family. But I don’t need to tell you that, you know what it’s like.

When I was around 19, Jisoo moved into the city, and asked to visit me. We met up, and she told me that the other four were planning to move to the city too, and they were going to buy an apartment together, and would I want to join them. I refused, but YG told me to move in with them, to maintain some kind of relationships outside of the gang. He might be a terrible person, but he cared about me, always looked out for me and wanted what was best for me. So I moved in with them, and I had to act like I was broke, because they wouldn’t understand where all my money was coming from. I also told them I was working part time as a maid, which explained away all the time I was out of the house when I wasn’t at school.

Around the same time as me moving in with the girls, you guys moved into the city. And he hated it. Every time I saw him, he’d just be ranting about Solji – it was all he ever talked about. It was eating him up. And that was reflected in the gang. Suddenly, we weren’t these vigilantes that were killing bad people anymore. We were just as bad as all of the others. We weren’t protecting the streets; we were the one the streets needed protecting from. And the longer it went on, the more and more I hated it. I stopped enjoying the work I was doing for him. So I asked for eight months off, to focus on dance, and he was reluctant at first. I practically begged him, said I’d give up my car, and told him he could pause my pay, and he eventually agreed. That was around five months ago.

I told the girls that the family I was working for were moving abroad and, not long after, a job opened up at Lisa’s shop. She offered it to me, and it was perfect. Then I was added to your guys group chat, and I promise you, I didn’t know who you were. I only found out the other day when I met Solji, and you guys explained the story of how you became boss. Obviously, having taken time off, I didn’t know that leadership had changed, so that’s why I didn’t recognise your name. When I found out, I texted YG and asked him if he was behind me being added to group chat, and he said he was. And then he told me that he never intended to let me take eight months off, and thought he’d use me to bring you guys down from the inside. I swear, JK, I never knew.’

He listens to my explanation, not reacting to anything, just listening, and once I finish, he sits back in his chair, sighing. ‘I believe you,’ he says, and I feel hope burst in my chest. ‘Really?’ I ask, and he nods gravely. ‘I do. But I have a few questions. How on earth did he manage to get your number added to the group chat?’ he asks, and I shrug. ‘I have no idea. Who was it you were supposed to add?’ ‘Chou Tzuyu. She was our new recruit and she moved in with us, so I told Tae to add her into the group chat. When we realised that it was the wrong number, we asked Tzuyu what her actual number was, and it was completely different to yours. And then she told us she never even gave us her phone number, so I literally have no idea where yours came from,’ he explains, and I frown. ‘That’s really weird. I don’t know how he managed to pull that off,’ I say, trying to rack my brains, wondering how he could’ve possibly had me added.

‘Anyway. Why were you shot? Lisa told me it was a robbery, but then when I showed up to the hospital and YG’s men were outside of your room, I texted him-’ ‘You have his number?’ I demand, and he nods frustratedly. ‘That’s not important. Anyway, I texted him, and he made out like he was planning to kill you,’ he says, and my eyes widen. ‘What? Why?’ ‘Because his men saw me picking you up from the club and assumed you were ‘my weakness’, or whatever, something like that,’ he says, drawing quote marks with his fingers, ‘and that I’d better watch my back, and watch yours too. I guess it was just a ploy to panic me.’ ‘Yeah, it was. He’s good at manipulating people, and playing mind games. But it was this lady whose husband I killed that shot me. She recognised me as his killer,’ I explain, and he nods, completely unfazed by the mention of me murdering someone. He’s used to it, I guess.

‘So, hang on. Was Dalgom really ill, or was that just a distraction so Jennie could pick you up?’ he asks, and I laugh embarrassedly, trying to avoid his irritated glare. ‘Um, yeah. It was a distraction. Sorry,’ I say sheepishly, and he rolls his eyes. ‘I was genuinely worried about him. Jennie and Jisoo even posted about him on their instantgrams!’ he exclaims, and I stifle a laugh. ‘Instagram. Not instantgram,’ I correct, and he rolls his eyes again. ‘Same thing. And don’t call me a boomer, please, we’re practically the same age,’ he says, eyes twinkling with laughter, and I giggle behind my hand. Giggle? Since when do I giggle? ‘Do the girls still not know you’re part of a gang?’ he asks, and I shake my head. ‘No, and they can’t. I don’t want to put them in danger. And YG has my phone bugged, meaning he’s probably got the apartment bugged too, somehow. Which is why I couldn’t text you anything. And he’s having me followed, which is why I came in disguise. Jennie and Jisoo wear this kind of stuff all the time, and I never do. He cannot find out I’ve met with you, or he’ll kill me. Or he’ll kill one of the girls,’ I say, shuddering at the thought, and he nods gravely.

‘What does he want you to do then? Obviously there’s a reason you’re still on the group chat acting like everything’s normal,’ he says, and I sigh, nervous about telling him this part. ‘He… wants me to take you guys down. For good. He wants you all dead, and he wants me to be the one that does it,’ I say tiredly, and JK shakes his head disgustedly. ‘He’s sick, absolutely sick in the head. Using your emotions against you, making you form relationships with people before forcing you to kill them,’ he spits, and I’m surprised at how passionate he sounds. ‘I know. But… I’m scared, JK. Really scared,’ I say, feeling tears come to my eyes at how vulnerable and young I sound. He looks up at me with wide eyes, and he shakes his head. ‘No, y/n, you don’t need to be scared,’ he says softly, getting up from his seat, and I feel a tear begin to fall down my face. ‘But I am. I don’t care about him killing me, I couldn’t care less. But he’s threatened to kill the girls if I don’t kill you guys, and he said he’ll kill you all anyway. I don’t want to lose them, and I don’t want to lose any of you, but I don’t understand what I’m supposed to do,’ I sob, tears now running down my face, JK watching and listening to me intently as I speak.

And then he takes me by surprise. He takes a step closer to me and wraps his arms around me, one hand coming to rest on the back of my head, and I cry even harder, burying my face into his chest. He strokes my hair as I cry, holding me in a tight and comforting grip, the smell of his flooding my senses (a clean laundry smell mixed with a subtle fragrance – something fruity and floral, but soft and sweet). I can feel the hard contours of his body against me and despite him having muscles for days, he’s so soft and warm. He makes me feel safe. Once I’ve calmed down, I move away from him and he releases his grip on me. He raises a hand and gently wipes the tears from my face, a small smile on his face. And then I watch as his eyes flit to my lips. My heart pounds as he looks back up to meet my eyes, and my stomach flips at the smirk he gives me. I gulp, and he notices it, his smirk growing even wider, before his face moves slightly closer to mine.

He’s going to kiss me. My eyes flutter shut. And I’m going to let him.

There’s moment when I think of all the stupid things he’s said on the group chat. How mean he was at the start. How much of a boomer he was (and still is). How he eventually warmed to me, became so protective of me. How much he must care for me. And how much I care for him.

I feel his lips brush against mine before he pulls away, obviously checking if I’m okay with this and, without opening my eyes, I lean towards him. He chuckles, pressing his lips to mine, more forcefully this time, and it’s like fireworks are exploding behind my eyes, my mind numbing and my body tingling at the feeling of him kissing me.

He pulls away before the kiss becomes heated, both of us blinking as though we’ve just woken up, and a small smile appears on his face. ‘There’ll be plenty of time for that after we follow my plan,’ he says, and my heart jumps at him saying he’d kiss me again. ‘You have a plan?’ I ask, and he scoffs, grinning. ‘Of course I have a plan. There’s no need for you to be scared, because I won’t let him lay a finger on me, on any of my staff, on any of the girls, and certainly not on you,’ he says, my heart fluttering at how… serious and commanding he sounds. ‘What are you going to do?’ I ask, and he grins even wider. ‘We, my dear,’ he says, his eyes twinkling as he speaks, ‘are going to kill YG.’

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p1harmonyofficial · 4 years

Text

[📰] Interview: P1Harmony Want to Speak their Truth

One day, a mysterious virus appears. It seeps through every crack on Earth, swift and uncontrollable, infecting millions of people. Soon enough, a global pandemic sets in and the worst facets of humanity flourish—wrath, viciousness, extermination.

To a person living in 2020, this paragraph is nothing extraordinary. We have now become used to a daily, dim diet of updates about the COVID-19 outbreak wreaking havoc in the world. But last year, when everyone was still blissfully unaware, the six members of soon-to-be P1Harmony (P1H) were recording their ambitious full-length movie, centered around this same theme. “People might think that we predicted the future or something, but it was a very weird coincidence for us as well,” says Keeho, the Korean-Canadian leader of the group. “We made a movie about a virus and, sadly, this situation happened.”

P1H: A New World Begins hit Korean cinemas on October 8, and is the first-ever feature film to revolve around a K-pop group’s universe. In it, P1Harmony plays extraordinary versions of themselves that are the world’s only hope against the devastating Alcor virus. With cameos by Yoo Jae-seok, Jung Hae-in, Jung Jin-young, CNBlue’s Yonghwa, AOA’s Seolhyun, and more, the movie is a compelling introduction to FNC Entertainment’s newest boy group.

Twenty days after the movie premiere, P1Harmony finally made their official debut with the brassy, powerful “Siren,” off the EP Disharmony: Stand Out. And now, a few weeks into their busy schedules, they are sitting in a conference room to talk to Seoulbeats over Skype. It’s past 11pm in Seoul and they are still in their Show Champion outfits, but the energy in the room is unrelenting. After training for a whole year together, Keeho says that their debut “feels just like a dream.” The most talkative members—Jiung, Intak, and Keeho—take the front row, while Jongseob, Theo, and Soul sit behind them, following along with observant eyes and keen remarks.

“The connection between the movie and our album is the virus,” explains the lavender-haired maknae Jongseob. Despite recently turning 15, he speaks with the wisdom of a seasoned idol — in 2017, he won the competition show K-pop Star 6, and in 2018 he endured YG’s survival show Treasure Box. “In the movie, the virus is a metaphor to show that the world is in a disconnected state, so we got together to bring peace to this world. The six of us are here to stand up for what we feel it’s right and speak our truth,” he adds.

Differently from the SARS-CoV-2, the Alcor virus from A New World Begins is spread by drones who detect human voices. It’s a pandemic of silence — a parallel to feeling impotent against dominant structures — and to survive, you have to keep your mouth shut. That’s why speaking up is so important to P1Harmony. “Because we are teenagers, we tried to portray the things that people our age go through and inspire them to do what they want, regardless of what others are saying or thinking,” explains Keeho, his articulate words complemented by wide hand gestures.

In these moments, it’s easy to see why Keeho was chosen as the leader: he knows when to take the reins, but is also encouraging towards the other members, helping in translations and making sure everyone has the space to talk. At 19, he is part of P1Harmony’s hyung line along Theo and Jiung, but he affirms that age difference is never an issue. “We just talk to each other as friends, we rely on each other a lot, communicate a lot, give feedback. I don’t feel much pressure [being a leader] anymore because I know I can trust my members to do their best,” he says.

Rapper and dancer Soul, who is half-Korean but was born in Japan, is a testament to Keeho’s words. The members call him a “viber” — a word they invented to express Soul’s easygoing nature — but he affirms that adapting to the group as a foreigner was “not difficult at all.” Rather, the five other members of P1Harmony could be described as “vibers” themselves, gliding along the waves of an unprecedented year and trying to enjoy the present moment.

But knowing how to vibe doesn’t mean it’s all roses. Theo, a passionate vocalist who was sure he wanted to be a singer since childhood, reflects that “it’s a bit unfortunate that we couldn’t perform in front of our fans in person yet,” and Intak, Soul, and Jongseob, who still go to school, acknowledge the difficulty of working long hours. “For music programs, we do pre-recordings during early mornings and then go to classes after. It’s hard, but we try to balance as much as we can,” reveals Intak in his characteristic liveliness. “Your thoughts define who you are,” he continues. “Despite the negatives and hardships, I try to be optimistic, control my mind, and bring out good vibes as much as I can.”

This spirit is reflected throughout Disharmony: Stand Out. A collection of powerful hip hop sounds and echoes of old-school K-pop, it also features lyrics written or co-written by the members in all tracks. “We wrote a lot as trainees, but because we were writing for our album this time, me and Jongseob just tried to enjoy the process. We talked a lot about keywords, about what we should write, and the experience was really fun and satisfying,” says Intak.

“We wanted to emphasize our personal traits,” further explains Jiung. A versatile singer, rapper, and dancer, he also revealed a talent for comedy when asked about his hidden skills. “I’m great at cycling. I was so great that I almost entered a professional competition when I was in school. Thanks to that, I have really nice, strong, thick thighs.” Keeho confirms, saying that Jiung’s thighs are, indeed, “very thick.” Needless to say, the room cracks up in laughter, while Jongseob covers his face in disbelief.

It takes a good minute until everyone fully recovers, but this irreverence is part of the group’s solid foundations. By showing their own colors and standing up for their message, whether it’s hilarious anecdotes, breaking stereotypes in “Intro; Breakthrough,” or enjoying what you can’t avoid in “Nemonade,” P1Harmony is set for a bright future.

A New World Begins has an open ending that suggests the possibility of a sequel. “There’s nothing officially set in stone, but maybe there’s some thoughts about it. Maybe!” says Keeho, but he does confirm that a second album is in the works right now—cue in Jiung’s “ta-dahhhhhh!” and a round of applause by the other members. “Hold on! We have never told anyone about this before,” he realizes. “We cannot tell you when it will come out, but we can say that we are working hard on it, and it’s something you guys should keep an eye out for.”

#p1harmony #ot6 #t:news #era:disharmony : stand out #201122

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namjoonchronicles · 5 years

Text

hands | yg

↳ pairing yoongi, you

↳ genre drama, fluff, angst

↳ words 1.6k

↳ warnings car date nights, yoongi’s that husband who cook for his wife, student!reader, tw rape, tw depression

A car pulls into a stop. It's still drizzling outside. The car door swung open, Vans set firm on the wet tar road to reveal a young men putting on his black hoodie as he got out. He caught a glimpse of a beautiful silhouette from the entrance, wearing the dress he likes, hair down and effortlessly flawless.

Skipping to his embrace, you greet like lovers do. His arms draped low around your waist, just above the curve of your bum while he presses his lips on yours, leaning down. He bites his smile when you part and you took a chance to kiss the corner of his mouth. It really has been awhile.

"How are the boys?" you climbed in and Yoongi took the food he packed for you from the backseat. You smiled at his meticulous effort, putting wet tissues in one of the bags, complete with toothbrush for after you've eaten. He knows you're going straight to bed when the date is over. Students aren't allowed to be out that late. Braised spicy tofu, hot rice and kimchi. The food are simple, but it made you feel very much at home. Ever since you began under-graduate school, you hadn't feel like you've been eating on time. And Yoongi knows this from all the brief calls he had with you when you're too tired to speak or when he's too tired to understand.

"They wanted to come but I figured that it will take more than an hour and they need to be in bed on time," Yoongi puffed his cheek, switching his attention to the street light right by your dorms. Then he twitches as if he remembered about something he needed to ask.

"How's class today?" He saw your cheeks bulging from shoving all the rice you can into your mouth and chuckled through his nose as he wipes the corners of your smudged lips with his sleeves, "Eat slowly, the rice is not running away." He fetches a bottle of water and twist them open for you. You collect them from his hand and took careful sips. Without realising, you have rice in your hair by accident and Yoongi picked that away from you.

"It was short. Starts around noon and ended before 5, it was about culture and ethnicity, pretty fun, I'd say," you talked with your mouth full, eyes glued to the food your husband brought, "Best thing about his class is that he celebrates opinions and we frequently have discussion about politic and religion..."

"Sounds like your kind of class, you'd have a blast," Yoongi tucked a lock of hair behind your ear as you ate. You nodded enthusiastically.

"Gosh I missed your cooking," you exasperatedly say, "The food here is dry, always the same thing. Fried rice, fried rice, and more fried rice. I'm thankful for any hints of food, truly, but please vary the choices."

"I thought you liked fried rice??" he cocked an eyebrow, wondering if he had lost parts of his wife in that devil-looking college. "I do, but only the ones you made. I have had a fried rice with a strand of hair, strand of red threads, egg shells in it, I'm like, never again...." the horror was real. Imagine coming home, hungry as a starved hyena and having to be okay with fried rice that are not at par with decent restaurant standards, despite being an actual restaurant. "And you ate them anyways," he concluded.

"You know me too well, it must be sorcery," you squint your eyes at him. "You don't give a fuck when you're hungry, I know that much," he shrugs, dragging a smile,"I remember that one time I saw your empty plate and you asked me if I wanted my fries. And when I said no, you drag my plate to your side."

"That was back when we're not even married yet, you remembered that?" you knitted your brows together. "I remember everything that involves you," he digs his tongue to cheek, knowing that he might have stirred something in you with those words.

Empty containers that came with food just minutes ago are empty and in the backseat where it belonged. After brushing your teeth, you returned to the car and heard Yoongi turning the radio on. Alina Baraz's Lavender & Velvet was playing softly. Yoongi continued talking about the ordeal he had to overcome without you, with the twins being rebellious, drawing on the walls with Yoongi's paints, breaking one of his chords, sleeping together in one bed.

"All three of you? In our bed?" You couldn't hide your astonishment. "They wanted a bedtime story so I figured why not have them sleeping here too because it gets lonely without you... Our first born snores, did you know that?" Yoongi leans his head back to the headrest, turning slightly to your side.

You mirrored him and after a few minutes of silence, and just the music from the radio filling in, you leaned to close the distance and gave him a chaste kiss.

When he gave you a questioning and flustered look, you said, "As in 'thank you for bringing me food, and coming over to see me so late in the night' and also 'for accepting me as I am, although I'm not much'..."

Yoongi propped an elbow and rested his chin on the heel of his palm.

"What happened," he drops his eyes down then to the side, "You were very quiet these days."

You squirmed in your seat for a bit but you know that you wouldn't be able to leave this car until you tell him exactly what has happened to you the last few days.

"A close friend told me that she was depressed and has been taking pills to treat that. Only 19," you started. Ever since you heard the whole story, it has been weighing you in, heavier than you've ever been. Getting a degree at 26 was one thing, finding out that your classmates are 19 is another. Age gap is nothing, that's what Yoongi told you. But listen to this.

"I asked her, what happened before she started drinking and smoking and just ruining her life in Foundation," pause, "She told me that she was running away from her past. A secret she kept from even her own family, that she was pregnant at 16."

Yoongi then find out that she got pregnant not because she was sexually active. But because her uncle took advantage of her gullibility. She was 16 when she found out she was pregnant and that she was 3 months in, with a baby she didn't want.

"And when she told me that, I just started crying... She told me with her back facing me because she was ashamed. Halfway through, I couldn't help but rubbed her back. I couldn't imagine the fear she faced. This brilliant girl, this beautiful brilliant girl with so much in her future, felt less than everyone else because she was no longer a virgin. And was robbed by a person she trusted."

"She kept the baby?" "No, she had an abortion at 3 months. She was about to sit for her college entrance exam. And she couldn't tell her parents because at the time, this uncle was from her mom's side. And at the time, her parents weren't doing very well. She was afraid that if she told them, it would break the family apart. It will give a bad impression towards her mother's family and her dad would have left her mom. She has other sibling needing care, as much as she did. And this girl, this stupid smart girl just felt responsible for everyone else, knowing that she needed the support just as much as others did."

You couldn't imagine the fear she faced. All she did alone. From the morning after it happened, to the day she goes through changes in her body because she was having a baby, to the moment she realised she was pregnant within the numbered days of an important exam, having to hide everything behind her parents. Just what was this girl thinking? Why was she so strong? She was just 16. She was just a baby.

From then onwards, you began to feel the air shifted between you and her.

"She made me found my heart," you wiped a tear that escaped your eyes, "I owe her so much. I hadn't cried, I hadn't sympathise anyone in awhile, and she just, the toughest blow is that she trusted me with the weight that she was carrying and I don't think I'll ever able to thank her my whole life. Like I didn't want to live until I found you and our boys, and she gave me more reason to stay, because I think I should take care of her too..."

Yoongi begins to understand the distance that happened between last week and today. It was like a coming-of-age movie, just that, this one is real. That was something about you. You carry other people's burden like your own, and you help them find comfort where it is absence. That's who you really are, the real you that you've been trying to hide, afraid of getting hurt again.

"Now I see her laughing, I wanted to hear it all the time," you sniffled, "Because there was a time where she couldn't. She told me once that all she wanted was to be accepted, and it all made sense now. That there was a time that she couldn't even accept herself. And I relate to that, and I want to make the world better for her, and I want to keep her safe. And I want her to live."

Yoongi offered his hand to be taken, laced with your fingers. He pulls them to his lips and stayed with you until you recovered.

Sometimes you don't need all the hands, Sometimes you need just one.

. . . . . . I love you, and I care about you, and I've kept your secret. No one will know your name, but your stories will be heard. If you need to punch a man in the face, I'm only a text away. I got you.

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skz-candy · 5 years

Text

oh (ye)dam

sometime in January 2019

"Yo, Yedam," Junkyu came over to him, making him stop working on a song.

"I'm busy, what is it?"

"Have you seen this?" Junkyu showed him the post from Dispatch of Candy and Minho. His heart broke, but he was also angry. She had only said him and Jeongin, but maybe she fell for Minho too. Or any of them.

January 30, 2019

“There you are,” Yedam smiled, joining Candy and a female trainee in the YG Cafeteria.

“The trainees here are so nice,” Candy smiled at the girl. “Thank you for talking to me.”

“Of course! It was so nice to meet you!” The trainee waved and headed off.

“Yedam,” Candy pulled him to the side as soon as they left the cafeteria. “You’re aware of how much people look up to you here, aren’t you?”

“Do they?” He blinked, shrugging slightly. “I never really noticed. Between school and training, I was kind of just running without looking.”

“Can we like, really talk though?” Candy licked her lips. “About the Dispatch thing.”

“About your boyfriend? Sure,” Yedam led the way to an empty room, deciding to confront her about her shady love life.

"I’m not dating Minho,” she stated as he closed the door.

“If not him, then one of the others,” Yedam sighed. “I’m not an idiot, Candy. You’re friendships or relationships are on display for the world to see. It’s not too crazy for anyone to figure out you’re dating one of them.”

“But I’m not,” she threw her arms up slightly. “I told you I had feelings for you and Jeongin. That’s it. No one else.”

“So you’re telling me you’re dating Jeongin?” Yedam bit his lip, not really knowing whether to be angry or upset.

“When did those words ever leave my mouth?” Candy stared at him. “Yedam, I know you’re upset but don’t accuse me of things.”

“Then make a decision,” Yedam crossed his arms, fed up with the back and forth.

“Fine,” she huffed, blowing hair out of her face. “Let’s be friends.”

“Fine. Friends it is.”

February 01, 2019

Hyunsuk: are you still working on that one song?

Yedam: no.

H: are you even in the studio?

Y: no.

H: she's just a girl, you know.

H: you could always get another one.

Y: i like this one though.

H: i'm sorry. :(

Y: :(

February 04, 2019

“You look nice, even though you have practice later,” Yedam stuck his hands in his pockets, looking her over.

“When have you ever seen me look anything but nice?” Candy raised an eyebrow.

“When you were angry with me,” he admitted. “You were actually kind of scary, believe it or not.”

“Me?” She coughed slightly. “I’m not sure that’s possible.”

“No, you’re scary when you’re confident. Everyone thinks you need taken care of, but you know how to handle yourself,” Yedam nodded.

“How are you younger than me?” Candy joked, smiling at him. “Thank you for complimenting me when I’m sure you don’t want to.”

“You act as though you led me on. You were honest with me from the start and I was selfish. I know we angrily said friends, but I want to be happy friends,” Yedam laughed, bringing a smile to her face, and it widened as Hyunsuk joined them.

“Are you guys friends again? Yedam has been a mess without you,” Hyusuck put an arm around Yedam, who rolled his eyes. “Does that mean you’ll be coming back around now?”

“I’d love to!” Candy smiled and nodded. “But I’ve got to go to my own practice now.”

“Text me,” Yedam told her, and she waved goodbye.

March 31, 2019

"Hey, Hyunsuk, come here," Yedam waved him over. Hyunsuk rolled his chair over, crashing into him slightly.

"What? Is it something Candy sent you?" Hyunsuk pulled Yedam's phone to his line of vision. It was just a couple YouTube videos. "I don't really want to watch a video right now."

"They're Candy's," Yedam pointed out. "Well, one is from her EP and the other is a project she had been working on."

"So?"

"You know how I told you she had feelings for Jeongin and we had agreed to be friends, after I trusted that her and Minho weren't together?"

"I can't forget, you live to remind me. You literally have her saved as 'The One That Got Away' in your phone."

"Whatever, just listen. Her project was with Hyunjin - a phenomenal dancer. But the guy in her music video wasn't Hyunjin. It's Choi San from Ateez."

"Are you jealous?" Hyunsuk raised an eyebrow."

"No!"

"Whatever you say."

sometime in May 2019

"Come on Yedam, you can do this!" He told himself, quickly deleting all the Candy related things on his phone. He kept following her on Instagram and he kept her number. He felt proud of himself, and even more proud when he changed her contact name to "Do Not Answer".

June 17, 2019

"Should we tell him?" Doyoung mumbled, biting his lip.

"I don't know," Jihoon sighed. "Maybe he already knows?"

"It's Yedam, he probably doesn't know," Junkyu pointed out.

"I don't know what?" Yedam sat at the table with them, but Hyunsuk was the one to slide the phone over.

It was her Instagram, her most recent post being her holding someone's hand.

"She moves around a lot," Yedam scoffed, guarding his heart.

"What are Cali girls for," Jihoon joked, trying to lighten the mood.

July 01, 2019

Yedam just stared at the picture Candy had posted recently where she declared she was going on a hiatus from the group. Her hair was cut and she still looked amazing, but he still didn't know why she was leaving. They were supposed to be friends but she rarely reached out to him. Eventually Yedam just gave up, but he can't say he didn't miss her sometimes. She was the first girl he let himself fall for and this was what he got.

"What are Cali girls for," he mumbled as he locked his phone, his thoughts jumbling. Candy had said him and Jeongin, but she had posted Jeongin a couple times and then had things with other guys. He felt lied to and played. It hurt him way more than he ever thought it would.

October 04, 2019 - 3:41 am

Yedam's phone lit up, saying that Candy had posted on Instagram for the second time that day. Well, second time for her since she was still in L.A. Stopping music, he looked at the picture. It was her and Jisung. He scoffed slightly then paused, realized he wasn't all that surprised. She had been moving around guys since he knew her. If he was surprised it would have been because he let her in again. Not again. Not on his watch.

December 19, 2019 - 3:27 pm

"Hey, Yedam?" Hyunsuk tapped on the door, pursing his lips. Yedam slid the headphones off his ears, looking at the screen another moment before looking up at his friend.

"What is it?"

"I know you and Candy are over and whatever, but I feel guilty about something now that she's back."

"What?" Yedam took the headphones off completely. "What are you talking about?"

"On the twelfth of June," Hyunsuk cleared his throat. "I answered your phone when Candy called. She needed someone so I went. We ended up making out in an alley."

"You did what?" Yedam laughed, he really couldn't believe his ears.

"I liked her too! Physically anyway," Hyunsuk rubbed his hands together. "It only happened that one time and she got a hickey-"

"A HICKEY?!"

"-and she got with someone a few days later, remember? You said she moved around a lot."

"Little did I know she was moving around with one of my friends too," Yedam grabbed his jacket.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to ask her; hear it from her."

4:03 pm

"Hey!" Yedam yelled, seeing the concession of Stray Kids walking away from JYP.

"Oh, hey," Jisung stopped, the rest of the boys stopping behind him as Yedam approached.

"Where's Candy?" Yedam looked around, visibly becoming angrier.

"She's with Woojin, they are spending the day together. What do you need from her?" Changbin asked. "You couldn't text her?"

"I wanted to ask her in person, but obviously she's already on to the next guy," Yedam rolled his eyes.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Jisung stepped forward.

"Her and Hyunsuk almost hooked up before she left for L.A. I'm just saying she's more than open to anyone who gives her the smallest bit of attention," Yedam raised his hands in fake surrender, a smirk on his face. "I mean, what more would you expect from a Cali girl?"

"I think you should take that back," Jisung stepped toward Yedam again. Everyone was silent as they looked between the two boys, barely any space between them.

"No."

Jisung pushed Yedam, stating again that he should take it back. Yedam, being just as headstrong, refused again. Jisung pushed again, making Chan step toward them and tell them to cut it out. He was just a fraction of a second too late before chaos ensued after Yedam swung at Jisung, landing a hit hard enough to make his nose bleed. He honestly felt all his rage come out. He needed to do it again, and again, and again.

Immediately Chan was trying to break them apart, but Jisung was hellbent on teaching Yedam a lesson. Any punch he could get in he could, with Yedam landing a few as well. Somehow Jisung got around Chan, punching Yedam so hard he fell back. Felix and Hyunjin tried to help him up, but he shook them off.

As Yedam walked away, Jisung spit at his feet. Their eyes connected and if the rest of Stray Kids wasn't there, round two was Yedam's.

#candy #candy au #kpop au #kpop #stray kids 10th member au #stray kids 10th member #bang yedam #bang yedam scenarios #yedam

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bangtan-sonyeonddaeng · 4 years

Text

Get to Know Me Uncomfortably Well (kpop edition)

Thank you for tagging me @anoesjkaax ^^

1. Which group have you thought about stanning, but never seem to get around to it?

Oneus. They’re so talented and amazing and I really need to start giving them the love they deserve.

2. Do you have any irl friends that like kpop?

All of my friends like kpop :) it’s how we became friends.

3. How old were you when you first got into kpop?

Hmm 7 years ago so 20 ^^

4. What song(s) took you a while to warm up to?

Lotto by exo. I actually hated that song at first because of all the auto tune but now it’s a jam 😂

5. Have you ever disliked a group/idol? If so, why? (You don’t have to say who it is if you’re scared of getting hate).

Dislike? Not really just embarrassed for. Let’s just because of extremely questionable life choices.

6. What annoys you the most about kpop?

How controlled their lives are. From their appearance to who they talk to and when, it’s just sad to me.

7. What do you love the most about kpop?

That it transcends languages and makes so many people all over the world happy in their dark times.

8. Do you only listen to kpop?

Nope! I also listen to western pop, metal, and rock.

9. Who are you favorite western artists (if you have any)?

Killswitch engage, Post Malone, Billie Eilish, Sam Smith to name a few.

10. How long have you been into kpop?

7 years ☺️

11. What music did you used to listen to before getting into kpop?

Heavy metal

12. What fandom(s) were you in before getting into kpop? Are you still in them?

A lot of anime ones (although I wasn’t nearly as invested in these as I am kpop) : Tokyo ghoul, Naruto, attack on titan, yuri on ice. Never really got into music fandoms until I found kpop.

13. Which group did you used to think was overrated but ended up loving?

Hmm... to be fair I really don’t find any groups over rated? They all work extremely hard to make it and they all deserve love and appreciation.

14. Is there a kpop song that annoys you? If so, which one?

Aha I have quite a few that I really don’t like: Gangnam style, catallena by orange caramel, bar by crayon pop, zimzalabim and umpah umpah by red velvet (IM A HUGE FAN OF THEM OTHERWISE DONT COME AT ME PLZ)

15. What aspects of kpop make you cringe/feel secondhand embarrassment?

How crazy the fans can be at times. Stalking idols, mobbing them, and sending people death threats or saying hurtful things to others just because they don’t like your bias group is 🙅🏻‍♀️

16. Which concepts do you love?

It depends on my mood and the group, sometimes I love cute concepts and sometimes they make me cringe. Sometimes I like dark / sexy concepts and other times they make me uncomfortable. 🤷🏻‍♀️

In particular though I love Ateez whole pirate concept I must say.

17. Which concepts do you hate?

See above lol.

18. If you could trade places with an idol, who would it be?

Oh hmm that’s a good question! Maybe Taehyung so I can be best friends with Jimin and all the other bts members and play with Yeontan :3

19. What do you look for in a bias?

My bias list is so over the place. I don’t really have a criteria. It’s usually one thing or moment that makes me say “wow ok that person is my bias”. (Although by coincidence most of my biases are from Daegu)

For example: I had a hell of a time deciding who my bias is in got7 until JB said in an interview that if he could only keep one memory of got7 it would be when they first met so he could find them all again. Such a sweet moment.

20. Which kpop company do you hate the most?

That snake YG 🐍 I’m not even going to get into it but they’re horrible. Not to say I don’t like the groups from there, just the company. Starship kind of on my shitlist too after everything with Wonho.

21. What are you opinions on shipping?

I ship members in groups but I do so quietly because I’m sure it makes the members uncomfortable. So I don’t mind it, just don’t throw your ship in other peoples faces and act like it’s real and your ship is superior to others.

22. How did you get into kpop?

My neighbor was Korean and played me Big Bang and I immediately loved it. But Then she was like hey there’s this new boy group that debuted you should listen to them too. And that boy group was bts and everything just went up from there 💜

23. Has anyone ever made fun of you or looked at you weird for liking kpop?

Yes 🙃 one person in my family in particular until I blew up on him and now I don’t get off handed comments anymore.

24. What is the cringiest thing you did when you were starting to get into kpop?

I don’t really remember anything cringe I did tbh that was a long ass time ago 😂

25. How long does it take you to learn the names of each member in a group?

I can learn them within a few hours if I focus on it.

26. Are you a gg, bg, or middle/coed stan?

I love them all. BTS, mamamoo, kard, theyre all amazing.

27. If you could hang out with one idol, who would you hang out with?

Jimin. Just because he’s helped me the most of any idol to overcome my body image issues and really start to learn how to love myself. I want to thank him for that.

28. Who is the bias to your third favorite group?

This adorable bean right here. Choi San 😊 I adore his dimples so much 🥺

29. What name from your native language would you give your ult bias?

Like a nickname or something? I guess angel because that’s exactly what he is

30. Thought on fanfiction/AUs/etc?

I love them! Reading and writing them :)

#tag games

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cerulean-clandestine · 5 years

Text

My faves after the first ranking announcement (+ my thoughts/impressions of them)

I'm crying okay

#1: Kim Yohan

He just has this vibe around him that makes you fall for him

Not my top pick, but he certainly has what it takes to be an idol

#3: Song Hyeongjun

Added to my list after ep 5

Soft™

I'm generally not into the young/boyish charm, but there are just some exceptions lol. Oh my girl would be another example (on that note, listen to their new comeback "The fifth season" it's a bop👌)

May not be my top pick, but you have to acknowledge this guy

Worked his ass off to get to that spot

#4: Kim Wooseok

Center-material

Idol-material

(support up10tion you cowards)

(also blue rose deserved at least a win🧐 they were robbed)

#8: Song Yuvin

Vocalssss

The final line-up needs someone like him

Funny dude

(myteen has some great songs, you should go check them out)

#16: Kim Kookheon

1/3 of my top picks

All rounded guy (dancing, sincing, stage presence), he's got it all

STOP SLEEPING ON HIM MNET

Meme lord (if you haven't seen his video with the weird food hat you should go watch it)

He's so funny without even trying, I love his sense of humor

The leader of myteen jumped out when yuvin's mic broke (he also looked so proud when yuvin performed successfully)

I'm soft for him

#19: Choi Byungchan

That girl girls girls performance? Yes.

His hips don't lie

This doesn't just go for him but all the trainees that have already debuted but

You can seriously tell when someone already experienced performing on stage many times

Quality performance

#20: Tony

Another soft™

I love the English outbursts he has here and there xD

#21: Lee Hangyul

If he doesn't debut then idk

Hella stage presence

Also hella attractive

Mnet's really trying to give him the manly image

They took that scene of him not being scared of ghosts and milked it (not complaining tho more screen time for him)

#23: Kim Hyeonbin

Growls for day mhmm

Deep voice

Born in 2001 wth how is he younger than me

He ripped that no more days performance apart man

#25: Lee Jinhyuk

Dad™

Underrated rapper

Underrated in general

Lead the boss team with Seungwoo and they both deserved much more

Stable performer (all the experience being an idol definetly came through)

#26: Kim Dongbin

Wasn't too sure about him when I saw that he's participating again

But he's improved tremendously

The seventh sense wouldn't have been the same without him, he did so well

#28: Cho Seungyoun

2/3 of my top picks

NO. 1 IN MY HEART

All rounded, hella talented

From main rapper of Uniq to main vocal of the love shot team

Made love shot his bitch

HILARIOUS

Impressions for days

How can someone turn 180 degrees from on to off stage? It's like 2 different people

You don't understand how happy I am that he slowly started rising in ranks

I love him

#29: Yuri

Meme lord the 2nd

His reactions are hilarious xD

*cue his :0 face*

Tbh i didnt expect much of the esteem trainees since they're models (like yg k+ in s2) but they did pretty well

Idol Material (why didn't sm debut him with nct??)

How does he do the helium voice???

He's one of the best looking people I've ever seen

#30: Han Seungwoo

Made Boss his bitch

High notes so good they could clear your acne

Someone please shower with him

I swear idk what they did with the Boss performamce, but i fell for him right then and I couldn't get up since

I fell hard

#35: Kang Seokhwa

I'm so happy that the individual trainees are doing well this season

His vocals are underrated

I hope he makes yg regret not debuting him

Not scared of ghosts lol

#36: Lee Midam

Wtf is his rank, he deserves a way higher one

SLEEP ON BEDS NOT LEE MIDAM

Hard carried the 7th sense

Istg if he doesn't make it I'm throwing hands

#45: Baekjin

3/3 of my top picks

YOU DONT UNDERSTAND HOW HAPPY I WAS WHEN HE GOT SOME SECONDS OF SCREEN TIME

Like he said, he's been break dancing since he arrived lol

But he's really good at it soo

Improves so much since mixnine

"it'S bAeKJin tiME"

I'm looking forward to the position battle so he can show everyone who's the dancing king

May be short but like yuvin said "small peppers are spicier"

#58: Peak

Rakes in millions of views

Damn son

YOUNG WTH younger than me????

His english is niceeee

Eliminated, but I'll keep supporting ;-;

#61: Anzardi Timothee:

Maybe it's really superficial of me to like him cuz he's also half-asian like me, but seeing him participating made me really happy

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yeppeojiwrites · 5 years

Text

beauty and a beat 9: exita acta probat//multigroup crossover

title translation: (latin) the result justifies the deed

summary : you attend cix’s debut showcase and make some new friends.

pairings : oc!reader x byounggon and oc!reader x hyunsuk (feat. the silver boy gang, ab6ix, and daniel kang)

warnings : none

a/n : after like 12 years,,,here’s a chapter i’ve been putting off writing,,sorry for no read more, i’m on mobile

—

reminders:

plain text is english

bold text is korean

italicized bold text is korean with honorifics

—

Your phone buzzed in your pocket as you sat in one of the seats in the VVIP portion of the South Korean olympic handball gymnasium’s balcony.

18:54 : New Snap from ¡vanessa!

You swiped on your screen to see what your friend sent to you. You pressed on her name and saw a blurry photo of your currently wide-eyed friend in her pitch black room, the only light source coming from her laptop with the caption, “ARE YOU NERVOUS?????”

You tapped your screen once to close the photo and took a blurry photo of your own face with the caption “WHY ARE YOU STILL AWAKE??? IT’S ALMOST 5AM” and sent it.

She quickly opened it and responded with a photo of her laptop screen with the vlive website opened to the “waiting room” of CIX’s debut livestream.

You shook your head and turned off your notifications before pocketing your phone. You decided to take a quick look around the area just to see your surroundings. Some masked figures stood around the area while others who you assumed were the group’s parents and family members sat in their seats.

You looked back to the stage and tapped your fingers in expectation. Suddenly, the seat next to you was filled, spooking you a bit.

“I’m sorry if I startled you.” the person bowed to you.

“It’s okay. Thank you for worrying though.” you bowed in response.

The two of you stood up and cheered as the lights on the stage dimmed.

After watching your friends perform their debut song, the person next to you, who you assumed was an idol because of their mask and cap, turned to you.

“So who are you here for?” he asked.

You hummed for a second as you thought. “Everyone.” you answered. “How about you?”

“Everyone.” he copied your tone. You smiled at him before turning back to look at the stage.

“How’d you know that I spoke Korean?” you turned towards him again.

“No one on that stage knows English well enough to get you a seat up here.” he laughed.

“What makes you think I speak English?” you teased.

“I saw you Snapchatting someone and the app was in English.” he responded.

“You’re really sharp.” you noted.

“I have to be, especially in my field.”

You nodded in agreement.

After a couple more minutes of standing, you sat down as the CIX members started their talking segment. After realizing just how short your shorts were, you tried to tug the hem down to stop them from riding up. After a couple of seconds of adjusting your shorts, the man sitting next to you took off their jacket and offered it to you.

“No, it’s okay.” you shook your head and sat still. The man sucked their teeth and sighed before proceeding to lay his jacket over your lap. He held his hands over yours when you tried to give him his jacket his back.

“You need it more than I do. Just give it back to me later, alright?” he bargained.

You frowned but agreed anyways. “Alright.”

The two of you talked throughout the rest of the showcase, the person next to him chiming in every once in a while with some kind of quip or a giggle.

Twenty minutes after the arena was cleared out, a few security guards came to the VVIP area to escort its occupants to the backstage area.

“Did you watch Treasure Box?” your seat-neighbor from earlier asked you.

“YG Treasure Box?” you whispered. The boy laughed and nodded.

“You don’t have to whisper it. Nothing bad will happen.” the other boy laughed.

“I didn’t want to bring back bad memories.” you explained. “But yes, I did watch it.”

“Did you have any favorites?” your seat-neighbor asked.

“From the final line-up?” you asked for clarification purposes.

The two boys shared a look before looking back at you.

“That works too.”

“Hmm...Hyunsuk and Junkyu are cool.” you answered absentmindedly.

The two boys shared another look.

“We think so too.”

When you finally made your way to the backstage area with your two unnamed friends, you met eyes with Byounggon. His eyes lit up when you smiled at him and widened a bit when he saw who you were with.

“I just realized that I still have your jacket.” you turned to the shorter boy and handed him his jacket. “Thanks for letting me borrow it.”

“No problem.” he answered.

Byounggon finally made his way over to the three of you and flicked the smaller boy’s hat up a bit to get a better look at him.

“So I see you met Hyunsuk and Junkyu.” Byounggon threw an arm around your shoulder.

“Hyunsuk and Junkyu?” you asked. The boys in question took off their hats and masks and revealed themselves to be Choi Hyunsuk and Kim Junkyu.

“Why didn’t you guys say anything?” you asked them.

Hyunsuk shrugged. “You never asked.”

“I thought it was weird that you guys asked about Treasure Box but I didn’t think that it was you guys.” you sighed.

“It made us laugh, so you’re fine.” Junkyu smiled at you.

“So what did you guys think of the show?” Byounggon asked the three of you.

“It was really good! I’m very proud of you.” you smiled at him.

“She teared up at the fanmeet part.” Junkyu informed Byounggon. Your eyes widened.

“No I didn’t.” you reassured Byounggon.

“She was t o t a l l y crying. You could probably hear her blubbering from the stage.” Hyunsuk teased.

“Oh so that’s what I heard on stage.” Byounggon played along. “It’s nice to know that you care about me.” Byounggon laughed.

“I can’t believe I’m being bullied like this by. Mashiho and Yedam have taken your places as my favorites.” You turned to face Byounggon. “And Yonghee is my favorite CIX member.”

All three of the boys gasped dramatically.

“We were joking, please take us back!” Junkyu begged.

You playfully rolled your eyes before moving Byounggon’s arm from it’s place over your shoulders.

“I’ll let you guys talk. I’m gonna go find somewhere to sit down.” you said before walking away.

“I’ll find you later.” Byounggon yelled over his shoulder. You hummed in response.

After searching around the area, you found a free spot on a couch and sat down. You greeted the other occupant, Daniel Kang, and he replied with a bow before turning back to his phone and typing, barely-audible laughs leaving his mouth every couple of seconds.

“I think you and Jihyo are really cute together.” you whispered to him.

“Thanks,” he smiled.

You pulled out your own phone and checked your messages.

“Hey!” you heard a high pitched voice say from in front of you. You looked up and met eyes with Daehwi and Woong.

“Hey Daehwi!” Daniel quickly stood up and hugged the boy tightly. He turned to the other boy and greeted him. “Jeon Woong, right?”

Woong nodded. “Just call me Woong.”

Daehwi’s attention turned to you.

“Oh I know you! You’re Chan-hyung’s girlfriend, right?” Daehwi asked you.

Your eyebrows furrowed.

“Stray Kids Chan?” you asked in confusion. Daehwi nodded hesitantly.

“He said that we’re dating?” you felt nervous.

“Well...no...but I just assumed because- nevermind.” Daehwi shook his head.

The two other boys watched the exchange curiously.

“That’s Chan’s girlfriend?” Woong attempted to whisper to Daehwi.

You and Daehwi shook your heads at the same time.

“Definitely not.” you clarified.

Woong and Daniel shared a look before looking at you again.

“Anyways...I’m Daehwi and this is Woong-hyung.” Daehwi introduced himself and his groupmate. “But you already knew that, right?”

You nodded. “Of course. Your debut was really good by the way.”

The two boys thanked you.

“So who are you here for?” Woong asked you.

“All of them.” you answered.

“Hmm...I don’t know. You and Byounggon looked pretty close earlier~” Woong teased.

“Ooh~” Daehwi instigated.

“I see why you and Daehwi are in the same group.” you laughed. “But we’re just friends. I’m only friends with everyone.”

“That’s debatable.” Jinyoung chimed in from behind Daehwi, patting himself with a towel as he stood next to Woojin.

“There’s a second source.” Daniel said as he put his phone in his pocket.

“Byounggon and (Y/N) have an interesting...relationship.” Jinyoung wriggled his eyebrows at you.

You cleared your throat.

“Enough about Byounggon and I’s relationship...” you diverted. “Or lack therof. Let’s talk about Jinyoung’s relationship with the stage. You were amazing up there.”

“Aw thanks.” Jinyoung sat next to you on the couch. “You should debut too.”

You snorted. “This industry wasn’t made for me. I’m fine with making music behind the scenes.”

“You make music?” Daniel asked.

“She used to make music with with Stray Kids but now she works with Ateez. She made a bunch of other songs too.” Daehwi answered.

“Weren’t you signed with JYP?” Jinyoung asked. You nodded.

“I was on a contract for two mini-albums just to see how we would work together.”

“They didn’t offer you a full producing contract?” Daehwi gasped.

“They did but KQ Entertainment had a better offer so I took theirs.” you replied. “And it’s not like I’m too far away from JYP anyways so I can visit my friends if they’re available. My mom was really worried about me being alone while I’m here so she made sure I that wouldn’t be too far away.”

“How old are you?” Woong asked.

“My Korean age is 19 but I’ll be 20 in November.” you answered.

“So you’re my noona, right?” Daehwi leaned forward.

You cringed. “I’m just a few months older than you, don’t worry about honorifics.”

“Hey, (Y/N)!” you looked up and saw Byounggon waving you over as he stood against the wall.

“The boyfriend calls~” Jinyoung snickered. The boys you were sitting with let out a collective “Ooh~” as you stood up.

“I’ll see you guys later.” you said while shaking your head with an embarrased smile.

You walked over to Byounggon leaned against the wall so that you were perpendicular to the way that he was facing.

“So...” you started.

“What did you think of the showcase?”

“I already told you. It was amazing to see you up there.” you assured him.

“Really?” he smiled. You nodded.

“I’m really proud of you.”

He turned to face you. “Would you come to our first comeback showcase?”

“Depends on when it is.”

He leaned in closer and you leaned back.

“Aren’t you being too bold?” you laughed.

“Am I?” he smirked. He looked you up and down once. “I like your outfit.”

“Thank you.” You looked him up and down. “I like the white.”

“I do too but it gets dirtier than the blue does.” he sighed. “The coordi-noonas scold us a lot.”

“I guess you have to be more careful.” you smiled.

“I guess I have to since you’re telling me.”

“You wouldn’t listen to anyone else?”

“I’d listen to you first.”

You looked down and shook your head.

“I’ll have to leave soon. It’s getting late.” you informed him.

He pouted slightly but nodded in understanding.

“Do you want me to get you a taxi?” he asked.

“No it’s fine.” you assured him. “I’ll text you when I get home, alright?”

“Okay.” he pulled you into a goodbye hug. You hugged him back.

“Aww~” the boys on the other side of the room chorused.

“I’m really really proud of you. Congrats on your debut, Byounggon.” you whispered.

He tightened his grip around your waist.

“Thank you for coming to support me.” he whispered back.

“Thank you for getting me tickets to come support you.”

“You still owe me for that.” he said as he pulled away from you.

“What do I owe you?” you asked him.

“I’ll figure it out.” he tapped your nose. “Get home safely, alright?”

“Good luck with your music show performance tomorrow.” you pat his shoulder.

—

“You’re gonna leave without saying goodbye?” you heard as you left. You looked over and saw Hyunsuk and Junkyu waiting in the lobby of the concert venue.

“I thought you guys left already!” you walked over to them. “Are you guys leaving soon?”

Junkyu nodded. “Our manager is coming to get us.”

You nodded in understanding.

“Will you watch our debut showcase too?” Hyunsuk asked you.

“Of course. I’ll even rearrange my schedule just to see you guys.”

“What if we don’t debut?” Junkyu asked. Hyunsuk elbowed him.

“Then I’ll put in a good word for you guys at Seven Seasons.” you countered.

They laughed.

“We’ll see you around, (Y/N).” Hyunsuk smiled at you.

“For sure.”

—

ayy lmao things have been kinda busy this summer and i’ve been doing a lot of procrastinating but,,,i updated!!!

this update kinda sucks but i promise it’ll get better!! these are just the filler chapters until i get to the good part (spoiler: a reality show)

thanks for reading :)) i really appreciate it

#yeppeojiwrites #cix #cix scenarios #bx #bx scenarios #byounggon #byounggon scenarios #ygtb #treasure13 #hyunsuk #hyunsuk scenarios #kpop scenarios

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