ʟᴀ ᴄᴏꜱᴛᴀ | ɴᴄᴛ ✔️

Chapter 14: All-In

He looked at the bed, then at the door, and then back at the bed. "Taeyong, what're you doing up here? Your room's not on this floor..."

"Close that fucking door!" You instantly shot up from your fetal position to glare at Yangyang, your voice hoarse.

"Well, would you look at that! She's up!" Yangyang celebrated with a handclap. "Glory to God!"

"Close. The. Door."

"He's not actually up here, Y/N." Yangyang told you. "I only said that to get you to snap out of it."

"Are you happy now?" Your hardened glare at Yangyang never faded. "I'm fucking up."

"Yes, I'm ecstatic." Yangyang nodded. "Now, can you explain to us why you pretty much barricaded yourself in here, and why you look like one of the walkers that I clipped last week?"

"What are you, an interrogator?" Yuta quirked an eyebrow. "Ease up, dude; she's clearly not doing so great..."

Jaemin stared at the other two boys before turning his attention back to you. "Hey, can you guys wait outside for a minute?"

"You sure?" Yuta asked him, to which Jaemin nodded his head. "Alright then."

"I'll go tell the other guys that she's okay..." Yangyang announced before leaving the room with Yuta on his tail.

Jaemin closed the door just in time to see you sit up in the bed all the way, your camera still clutched in your fist. "Ready to talk when you are."

Instead of speaking, you loosened your grip on the camera, slipping the device into Jaemin's lap.

He took the camera into his hands and started scrolling through the photos, a silhouette of a frown forming on his face.

"No wonder you never came back to the lobby..."

"I haven't been able to think straight for a while..." You mumbled. "Those pictures fuck me up every time I look at them..."

"Then why do you keep scrolling through them?"

"I ain't got shit else to do..." You vaguely shrugged. "Something in me regrets going out there that night..."

"Well, don't regret it." Jaemin darted his eyes up at you. "You did the right thing going out there – how else would you be able to prove your case?"

"The rest of them won't believe me..." You slowly shook your head.

"And why wouldn't they?" Jaemin slightly furrowed his eyebrows. "The evidence is gonna stare them right in the face – what do you think they're gonna say? That it's CGI or some shit?"

You shrugged half-assedly. "Most likely..."

"Y/N, answer me this: How exactly would this be considered CGI?" Jaemin turned the camera screen around to you. "Where would you find a mannequin that looks so much like Jaehyun and paint its body all yellow with a bullet wound in its head? You can't; the resort is in the middle of the woods – you can't find a fucking mannequin out here anywhere."

You sighed quietly, not knowing how to respond to Jaemin and just opting to hang your head low.

About three seconds later, you lowered your head into your hands, a low rumble erupting from your throat which soon turned into a semi-loud groan.

"You said I'm doing the right thing, right?" You asked, your voice dropping in octaves.

"That's what I said..." Jaemin nodded.

"Then why the fuck do I feel so weird?"

"Weird how?" Jaemin frowned.

"Jaehyun was close to Taeyong – I could tell. If I confront Taeyong with this, I don't know how the fuck he's gonna act!"

Jaemin blinked. "...Fuck how he feels."

Your eyes shot back up at the boy. "Jaemin, what the-"

"He sat there and lied in front of all of us, Y/N. The rest of the guys have to know. It doesn't matter what he says or does now." Jaemin deadpanned you. "He's getting confronted about this one way or another...even if I have to step in."

"Y-You're...not stepping in-"

"Says who?" Jaemin raised his eyebrows at you. "No, really, who'll stop me from saying something?"

"Me, damnit!" You raised your voice, something you've never done to Jaemin. "This doesn't really involve you, Jaemin!"

"You told me about your plan, right? I helped you set up the plan, didn't I?" Jaemin paused, waiting for you to answer but received silence in return. "Then I guess it does involve me."

"So, you wanna get kicked out or possibly killed with me is what you're saying?"

"Y/N, look at me." Jaemin reached out to grab your chin, subtly forcing you to make eye contact with him.

"Do you even realize how many of us are standing by you with this? Because you know it's not just me; you have Yuta, Yangyang, Sungchan, Renjun, Shotaro, Ten, Hendery, Jisung, Chenle-"

"Who else did you go blabbing about my plan to?" Your voice rumbled.

"Nobody blabbed." Jaemin admitted to you. "Chenle got curious and started snooping – same with the others. And I don't know if you noticed, but all the names I just listed are the same dudes living on this floor; only the third floor knows about it, and they all said that they're with you, Y/N. You're not pressing this man by yourself."

Just then, the two of you heard a couple of knocks at your door, prompting Jaemin to stand and answer whoever it was behind the barrier. A few seconds later, you saw him come back to the bed with Chenle by his side, and he looked at you. "How're you holding up?"

"I'm not." You replied.

"Figured as much..." Chenle shrugged before returning his attention to Jaemin. "What did she find?"

As a form of response, Jaemin tossed him the camera, allowing Chenle to scroll through the same pictures the two of you examined. Chenle's eyes shot wide open as he continued flicking through each photo.

With a taut frown, he glared back at you. "We're doing this tonight."

You frowned almost as quickly as Chenle did. "No, the fuck we're not."

"Uhh, yes, the fuck we are!" Chenle clapped back. "What, are you just gonna sit on this until he turns around and does the same shit again?! Do you want another one of us to end up like Jaehyun?!"

"The fuck – that's not what I said, Chenle!"

"That's how it's sounding to me!" The boy argued with you. "So, if that's not what you want, then we're confronting this motherfucker tonight! Not tomorrow night, not sometime next week; tonight!"

Chenle tossed the camera onto the bed, turning to leave the room. "I'm spreading the word. You better get rid of those nerves by seven, Y/N. We're going all-in on this shit and I'll be goddamned if we go bust, you hear me?"

~~~~