❦ ɪɴғᴇʀɴᴏ ;; 【ᴀᴛᴇᴇᴢ】

•29•

"Did you hear that? Someone is outside? Can you check it, Felix?" "Must be Jeongin." One of them spoke as I could hear footsteps approaching in my direction. Mark and Seonghwa mouthed a "run" and I instantly started tiptoe-running in the other direction, fast enough to escape the area. The only big problem was...I was now alone, separated from my team and without any device to contact anyone.

I found an empty closet-sized room and instantly hid in there, thinking of what to do next. Now I had no choice but to follow the emergency plan – find the B wing's fire staircase and wait for Seonghwa to come. I had the whole plan memorized so finding the place was not the problem but getting there sneakily and not getting caught was the main problem.

I was at the D wing right now, two wings away from my destination and I was supposed to get there on my own. "I can't do it." I murmured to myself and decided to stay hidden. I might get killed if I was caught and I was too scared now.

I had no idea how much time I was spending there as the storage room was fully closed and I didn't even have any watch or phone with me to check the time. Few moments that felt like eternity passed by when I finally heard some movement right on the other side of the door. I stayed silent, carefully listening to the careful footsteps and low voices of at least two men. A sense a relief washed over me as I was sure it was someone from our teams because of the way they were moving through the corridor.

Just to not take any chances, I waited for them to pass by a bit ahead so that I could follow them right away and join later. The footsteps became lighter, and I couldn't hear them anymore, so I quickly came out of the closet and started going in their direction.

After blindly following for a while, I realized we had reached a totally different place, the basement parking area. It was in the plan and the team who was supposed to check Jiah's whereabouts here first had already done their job so then...who and what were they doing here? I managed to hide behind an old rusty car and watch what's going on.

I saw two silhouettes standing opposite to each other, none of them uttering a single word.

"Mingi, what's going on?" I felt relieved to hear Hongjoong's voice. It was Hongjoong and Mingi which made me happy. But what were they doing here anyways and why does the atmosphere seem so...tensed?

I shrugged away my random thoughts and focused, I was supposed to let Seonghwa know that I found Hongjoong and I had to do that quickly so finally got up to go to them when I was caught off guard by a sudden loud gunshot.

I crouched back immediately, covering my ears, and shutting my eyes tight. My heart raced like crazy.

What? No. No No No.

I turned back around and slowly peeped through the car's windows. I could see both of them clearly, standing in the same positions with their hands stretched out holding the guns pointing at each other this time. My eyes widened as I had no idea what was going on.

"Mingi...you know I can't shoot you. This is just for self-defense. Please calm down we can talk-" "I'm sorry but no. Don't be so shocked, you saw this coming." Mingi seemed dead serious as he was cocking his gun, ready to pull the trigger any second now.

"Yes, I had my doubts, but I didn't think you would actually kill me. This is not right...as a family..." "Fuck this family shit. I'm done, goodbye." Mingi pulled the trigger and before i could realise what had just happend, Hongjoong collapsed. At the same time I could see blood dripping from Mingi's hand as well. He screamed in pain and that's when I realized the gun in my hand that was pointing at him. I had accidentally shot Mingi out of fear without realizing what I was even doing.

"Fuck." I ran towards the collapsed Hongjoong and looked at the wound. My tears wouldn't stop, nor did I care about anything else now except the boy lying in my lap.

"N-Now where the fuck did you come from?" Mingi was surprised, pissed and in extreme pain. He tried to pick up his gun again, but I was quick enough to reach it before he did and kept it in my pocket.

"You ruined my whole plan you bitch." I could hear his voice breaking and I returned to Hongjoong, trying to stop the bleeding. I pulled out Hongjoong's Bluetooth from his ear and dialed Seonghwa.

"Was just about to call you. We found Jiah, she's safe but I can't find Sop-" "H-hey it's me...the basement of D wing right now...please." was all I could manage to say as I caught a lump in the throat.

"Sophie? Understood." He cut off. I placed Hongjoong's head in my lap and stared at him blankly.

"I..ry" Mingi muttered to himself. He was kneeling on the ground. I had never seen him look so miserable. "What?" I glared at him and he stood up abruptly. "I'm...I'm so sorry..." "Sit back down. Don't you dare leave." I pointed my gun again at him as he was trying to run away. "No, you can't do anything..." "I've shot you once, I can shoot you again. Do you think I would let you go? Do you see what you did to Hongjoong? How can you betray your family like that?" I had lost it. I was barely able to breathe. He did not say anything and kneeled back again. He looked hopeless and pathetic, but I wasn't feeling bad at all.

"Hongjoong!! What happened?? Hey!!" Seonghwa and Wooyoung ran quickly towards us, patting Hongjoong's cheek trying to wake him up. Mark followed them, all of them having a horrified expression on their faces.

"We need to treat him immediately." I said gesturing Seonghwa to pick him up. Wooyoung and Mark were quick to understand the scene as Mark rushed over to help Seonghwa and Wooyoung forced Mingi to walk, threatening him with a gun. Mingi didn't fight back in anyway and just started walking quietly.

"Let's be quick we might lose him if we're late." Seonghwa's voice quavered as we all rushed out from the building carrying our injured leader.