𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐎𝐟 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐥 - 𝐒𝐤𝐳/ 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐠

-Safe and sound-

Chan heard a familiar tune ring throughout the car. He glanced down at his phone, Minho was calling again. Keeping one hand on the wheel, he used the other to accept the call. "I've been calling you non-stop why haven't you been answering?" He said angrily. "Sorry boss, something came up" Chan replied. "You can't just run out like that, where did you go?" Minho asked. Chan looked to the passenger seat where Jisung had his eyes closed. He didn't know if the younger was dead or sleeping so he reached over and pushed him. Jisung flipped him off to let the older know that he wasn't dead and was just resting. Chan chuckled and then composed himself when he realised that Minho could hear him. "I'm waiting for an answer," he said impatiently. "I went to see if Hyunjin had completed his task" chan answered. "And what task was that?" The other answered. "I went to see if he had killed Jisung or not".

There was silence, Jisung opened his eyes and turned to look at Chan who just shrugged while keeping his eyes on the road. "Boss are you there?" Chan asked. The call disconnected, Minho had ended it. "Do you have an aux cord?" Jisung asked. Chan rolled his eyes and handed him a cable.

'Now playing Cereal by Crush ft Zico'

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It made no sense. The phone call that Minho heard last night was concerning enough and now Chan disappearing at random times added more heat to the fire. Minho was starting to think about things that he didn't want to think about, he had too much on his mind. First, there was the Hyunjin vs Jisung situation. Then there was the possibility of Chan working with an opposing side. And finally, he had to fix a deal with Got7 or Yuta because the original plan had gone to shit. Minho made a checklist and embedded it into his mind, he decided that he would work each problem out one by one. Starting with Hyunjin and Jisung. It seemed like Chan was dealing with Jisung so that would leave Hyunjin.

The brunette was brooding in his room, he was scanning over the recent events in his head. Would killing him have been easier? Was sparing his life the right thing to do?. He heard a knock on his bedroom door and looked up to see Minho leaning against the frame. "Can we talk?" He asked. Hyunjin nodded and let the older enter his room. "Are you going to tell me what happened?" Minho questioned. "I went to his safe house to kill him, he said some shit that got into my head and it just made me so mad-" Hyunjin blurted out but was interrupted by Minho raising a hand. "What did he say?". They both heard the front door open and people enter the house. It was probably one of the Ateez members so neither of them bothered to go downstairs and check. "It doesn't matter what he said, it's what I did" Hyunjin whispered. "What did you do?" Minho asked. His voice breaking as he realised what Hyunjin was talking about. "I was going to kill him, Minho I wanted to" he replied.

"But you didn't do you? You didn't right? Please tell me you didn't". There was something about Minho's tone that indicated he was scared, maybe angry?. There was a hint of panic and worry laced into his voice. "No, I didn't kill him I couldn't do it," Hyunjin said. A huge weight lifted of Minho's shoulders, it was almost like he was relieved that Jisung wasn't dead. He acted like he didn't care, but deep down he knew that if Hyunjin had killed him then he would have certainly felt something other than relief. A sound from downstairs distracted Minho from his thoughts. Hyunjin looked up at him with raised eyebrows and the two ventured out into the corridor to investigate. The hallway was wide, and you could see the foyer from the hall and the stairs. Chan was downstairs with an arm wrapped around Jisung, holding him up. Seungmin was staring at them in shock from the dining room and Mingi had run over to help out Chan.

Chan looked up from where he was dragging Jisung across the floor and met Hyunjins gaze. Chan glared at him with a type of anger that Hyunjin hadn't seen before. Chan didn't get angry. Mingi and Chan had successfully carried Jisung to the lounge and were currently staring at the sleeping/possibly dead/possibly passed out kid. Felix had come out of his room raised an eyebrow and Hyunjin and Minho were gathered on the stairs. "What's going on?" He asked. He didn't get a response so he tutted and walked downstairs to see what was going on for himself. He casually strolled into the lounge and his jaw dropped when he noticed Jisung on the couch. "He's not dead?". Chan shook his head and walked off in search of a blanket. "YOU'RE ALIVE" Felix screamed and jumped onto Jisung, crushing his already broken ribs. Jisung opened one eye and smiled at the excited Aussie but soon hissed in pain as Felix jammed his knee into his stomach. "OH SHIT I'm so sorry," Felix said, sliding off and giving a simple hug instead.

"I'm very much alive," Jisung said whilst nodding his head. "I thought he killed you" Felix mumbled. "He spared me". Chan returned with an ice pack and a blanket, he handed both to Jisung who accepted them gratefully. "Get some sleep, you need to rest," he said. Jisung nodded and closed his eyes, the others filed out leaving him to rest. At this point, Minho had come downstairs followed by Hyunjin who was avoiding eye contact with everyone. "I've never seen you care about someone so much" Minho chuckled. Chan just stared at him with a blank expression. "We need to talk, my office let's go". Minho stalked off and Chan watched him walk away for a few moments before scurrying to catch up with him. That left Hyunjin, Felix and Mingi alone, looking at each other's waiting for someone to make a move. Mingi could sense the tension between the levanter members so he excused himself before things got heated.

"Thank you" Felix said, breaking the ice. "For what?" Hyunjin asked, visibly surprised. "For not killing him, it was the bare minimum but thank you" Felix replied. Hyunjin decided not to press the matter further and just nodded as a sign of gratitude.

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Minho sat in his chair, scanning over his second in commands face for any sign of emotion. He just got a cold, blank glare in return. Something was off, and it was blatantly obvious. "What did you want to talk about?" Chan queried, breaking the silence. "Somethings wrong with you" Minho stated. Chan almost laughed out loud. "Somethings wrong with me?" He echoed. "You've been acting different lately, running off when I need you, making phone calls behind my back and looking after the enemy". Chan felt his heart begin to race, he knew. "I don't know what you mean" he tried to play dumb. "I've known you for a long time Chan, your my second in command I know nearly everything about you" Minho said. "There's nothing wrong me with me boss I can assure you that" Chan said, and stormed out the room. That just raised Minho's suspicion even more.