Nitewood | iKON Donghyuk

13

I slipped out of the room and into the dormitory hallway, making my way towards the lower part where all the resources would be located. Since I was pretty new, I ended up getting lost and confused. I rounded a corner and ran straight into Mr. Grim.

"Oh, Y/N! What are you doing out so late?" He looked kind of panicked.

I bowed a little to show my respect. "Sorry, Mr. Grim. I'm just trying to find the vending machine," I laughed nervously, unsure if I was about to be scolded. Or maybe I'd be put on his hitlist.

"Oh, you're going the wrong way. Foods and drinks are always on the right side of the staircase." He pointed in the other direction, and I let out a long sigh and thanked him. "But before you leave, I was wondering where you got such a beautiful piece of jewelry," he gestured at my necklace and smiled at me.

I cocked my head to the side, not sure if I should tell the headmaster my whole sob story. "I got it from my mom before she passed away."

"Oh... very interesting," he rubbed his chin and his expression looked lost in thought before he straightened his back and comforted, "I mean, I'm so sorry for your loss."

I meekly smiled at the ground before saying, "thank you. I'm trying my best to get through!"

"Well, run along before someone who actually cares about curfew sees you." He smiled at me warmly and shooed me away.

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I finally found the area containing all the vending machines, and man was it paradise. The school has like more vending machines than it could ever need; every type of food was there. I spent ten minutes just looking for the vending machine that had choco cones.

With Hanbin's choco cone in my hand, I decided to buy a large pack of Oreos from the machines also. Content that I had my sweet cookies, I skipped back to Donghyuk's dorm.

I knocked and immediately heard footsteps rushing to the door. It swung open forcefully, and there stood Hanbin with his goofy grin jumping up and down. "CHOCO CONE!" He repeatedly shouted at me.

I tried hard not to laugh at his obsession with choco cones and gave it to him before he could rip off my hand along with the delightful snack. He left me in the doorway of the dorm as he started to munch on his snack.

"So what did I miss?" I scanned the room in a circle and offered my Oreos to everyone.

"Not much," Sira shrugged. "Just some stuff."

I shurgged and then took my seat next to Donghyuk on the floor. Awkward silence ensued as I munched on my Oreos, not realizing everyone's eyes were on me. I reluctantly looked up from my cookie and stared at everyone back. "What?"

Once the words left my mouth, everyone looked away and pretended to be interested in the pillows and blankets that littered the floor. "Oh... it's just uh..." Donghyuk stammered, unable to find the right words.

"We were talking about your parents," Sira finished for him, showing her true blunt nature once again.

"Oh," I awkwardly brushed the crumbs off my lap before continuing, "what for?"

"Well, it's just that the accident was really big news here in Nitewood, so we were discussing it," Jinhwan explained.

"Why was it big news?" I asked, tilting my head to side, confused as to where this conversation was going. "The accident didn't happen anywhere near Nitewood. It happened in Fairy Valley."

Chanwoo gaped at me and asked, "didn't you know your parents were born and raised in Nitewood? Since they were pretty well known to the town, the accident exploded all over the news." Everyone else nodded in agreement.

Surprised that both of my parents were from Nitewood, I tried to dig through my memories to remember what they told me about their past. My parents weren't very open about much with me, but we all had very close bonds anyways. "They never told me that they were specifically from Nitewood, but they did mention that they both grew up in a small town just off of Ruth, so I assume that town is Nitewood?" I shrugged, unsure how I should feel about the information and how lost I had been when it came to my parents.

"You know, my mom told me a story that I think is based on your parents," Junhoe mused.

"Mm! I know the one!" Sira exclaimed, getting prepared to tell me the story. I felt Donghyuk slide his hand to my waist, pulling me a bit closer. I took it as an act of comfort for the story that was about to unfold. "My mom told me a story of two people from Nitewood who fell deeply in love with each other. They were planning to marry and everything, but something interrupted their love by posing as a potential threat to the girl, causing the couple to flee the town. People say they moved far away to escape, but it's rumored that before they escaped, the couple gave birth to a baby girl."

"Anddddd they've been trying to avoid whatever the threat was ever since." Junhoe finished and proudly smiled at himself.

I was immersed in the story, but I was unsure of how it related to my parents at all. If the couple and child had been on the run their whole lives, I would've had an unstable childhood with constant moves. I've lived in the same house my whole life until their death. "Why do you guys think the people in the story were my parents? Couldn't it be some kind of old local legend?"

Jinhwan shook his head. "This story is a pretty recent one in comparison to the other old legends. It could totally not be your parents, but we all have active imaginations," he grinned at me.

I frowned, trying to find correlations between the story and my life with my parents that would actually make sense, but I couldn't come up with anything logical. My parents had told me that I was born out of wedlock in Ruth, which was quite close to Nitewood, but I would never know for sure if it was the truth. "You said my parents were well known in Nitewood. What for?" I prodded, eager to learn more.

"Mmm," Donghyuk hummed out, trying to figure out his wordings. "My mom mentioned a family line with your last name one time. She was educating me on the various surnames that originated from Nitewood, and I still have no idea why I had to know any of that information. But anyways, she said Y/L/Ns (your last name) came from a line of specialty and were considered sacred or something." He shrugged at me, sorry that he wasn't able to provide more.

I looked at my hands laying in my lap, trying to ignore how I actually felt hurt that I didn't know so much about my parents. Even if none of these are true, it made me question if I did know them. I sighed, "thanks for enlightening me, guys. I'll have to look into it more, but I'm really grateful I have you all to even introduce me to these things." I smiled at everyone, genuinely happy that they told me these things.

After a few minutes of gossip, I began to uncontrollably yawn, causing everyone else in the circle to yawn as well.

"I think we should go to sleep," Yunhyeong yawned out as he caressed Sira's cheek lightly. The boys began clearing out of the room, and I turned around to find Sira asleep in Yunhyeong's arms.

"Am I supposed to sleep in my dorm alone?!?" I started to panic, remembering the nightmare I had. I didn't want to sleep alone anywhere after that freaky number.

Donghyuk glanced at me, concerned. "Are you scared?"

I nervously scratched the back of my neck before confiding in him. "When I took a nap earlier today I had the worst nightmare ever. It sounds stupid, I know," I laughed lightly, trying to ease my anxiety.

Suddenly, Yunhyeong's voice filled the room. "Donghyuk will sleep in there with you! I'll keep my Sira here," he smirked at both of us while he tucked Sira into one of the beds.

Donghyuk and I made eye contact, blushing from the suggestion. "It's fine," I began to protest but was interrupted by Donghyuk.

"I'll do it." He gave me his angelic smile and continued, "I'll protect you, Y/N. Don't worry," he reassured as he grabbed my hand and led me toward my dorm room.