response of souls | ᴷᴴᴮ × ᴷᴶᵂ

III

Hanbin was in his room, lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling while shaking from the things that happened just an hour ago. He had tried to hide under his blanket in the hope the pressing feeling on his chest would vanish. At first he hadn't known what was going on, he had been too much into the fact, or rather the imagination, of Jiwon being alive. However, as soon as the awareness of what had happened hit him, he had started shaking, violently. Until then he hadn't been able to stop, no matter how hard he tried. He remembered Minho trying to explain everything to him, however, unfortunately he hadn't been able to listen to anything the older was saying. He felt like he was trapped in a bubble, and couldn't understand anything from the outside world. He couldn't understand what he was told, even though he realized there were words spoken to him. He couldn't see properly since everything was just so terribly blurry. Even everything he touched seemed to feel just wrong. Too hard. Too soft. Too unnatural, like it wasn't supposed to be there. He was in there alone, trapped, and each time he tried to break free, the bubble wouldn't even budge a little. He couldn't remember how he ended up back in the dorm, or how he got into his bed. He had just been there, lying, staring, waiting. Waiting, but for what? A thought crossed his mind, probably Minho got him back home, the one place he was truly safe at, or so he thought. However, Hanbin couldn't remember, and he wasn't so sure if he actually wanted to remember. It was all just too much.

He shrieked up from his lying position when he heard the front door being opened, and then he got up in a hurry, throwing the blanket back with force. He rushed out of his room and fell to his knees as soon as he saw his friends entering the dorm. Up until that moment he hadn't thought about them, he had been way too confused, too engrossed in this own thoughts that didn't make any sense to him. However, when he saw them, he remembered. They had been in the club while the shooting had happened outside. He looked up into their faces, feeling tears welling up in eyes until they made their way down his cheeks. His whole body fell down to the floor, pressing his knees to his chest. The others rushed over to him, cooing soothing words towards him, trying to make him calm down even just a little. Yunhyeong hugged him tightly to his chest, Jinhwan stroked through his hair, Donghyuk held one of his hands and Junhoe was just there, watching. Honestly, Junhoe felt terrible himself, though he couldn't let them see. He just wanted to disappear.

They stayed there like that for quite a while, not caring about anything else. Neither of them wanted to let go of Hanbin, even when he finally stopped crying and shaking. Hanbin looked up after some time, facing his friends. Junhoe sighed, what caused all of the others to look at him with questioning expressions.
"We're home now, hyung. Don't worry." Junhoe whispered towards Hanbin, who kept on watching him like a lost puppy. Junhoe wanted to coo at the sight, though he kept himself from doing so, knowing it wasn't the right time.
"I'm glad you made it home." Hanbin said quietly. Yunhyeong helped him stand up and went to Hanbin's room with him. Donghyuk strolled after them. Junhoe on the other hand went to his own room, while being followed by Jinhwan who closed the door behind them.

"We need to tell them." Jinhwan said, watching the younger's back.
"No, we can't! We're not allowed to tell them!" Junhoe said a little too loud. Jinhwan flinched at the younger's harsh tone, looking at him with a judging expression on his face. He couldn't believe the younger's words. What even was the point?
"What!? They were there! We have to tell them! Especially Hanbin!" Jinhwan shot back at him.
"No, we can't!" Junhoe started to shout at the older, but he calmed down almost immediately before he continued "Listen, nobody's allowed to find out, okay?" he sighed. "Jiwon told me Hanbin had caught Minho-hyung and Chanwoo fighting, and that he had also recognized Jiwon a-"
"Wait, what? You're in contact with them? You don't just know they're alive- you're in contact with them?" Jinhwan cut him off, not believing what the younger just said.
"Hyung- please, let me explain. Yes, I've been in contact with them- for a while now and, yes, it's eating me up from the inside ever since, but there's a reason only I know about them." Junhoe really had no idea how he was supposed to save their conversation, or, whatever this was. "Listen, all of us are in danger if those guys find out we know about Jiwon and Chanwoo being alive. And-"
"What? Who?" Jinhwan cut him off once again.
"Hyung, please! I'll explain, so just let me. With 'those guys' I meat those who started the shooting in front of the club. I can't tell you the reason why, you're not allowed to know about Jiwon-hyung and Chanwoo, but believe me, you don't even want to know. However, hyung- it's bad enough I told you!" he sighed once more. He really didn't know how to save this. "You can't ever tell the others okay? Never! Promise!" Junhoe begged, looking at Jinhwan like the world was falling apart because of him being the biggest idiot walking earth's surface. Jinhwan didn't know what to do, or to say. He wanted to tell the others, he felt like it was his duty to tell them. He knew he needed to talk about it with Hanbin, or else it would eat the younger up.