Attraction | Ateez

Chapter 11: Hope

The floor was cold under Hyejin's feet when she stood, just waking up from her long deep sleep. She frowned, finding herself in the same old concrete cellar she was being held captive in. She wished she could back to her dream where she was with Seonghwa. Hyejin closed her eyes, reimagining the dream she just woke from.

The sun was high and warm, not a cloud in the sky. A soft breeze blew through the leaves of the tall trees around them. Seonghwa was playfully chasing Hyejin, purposely running a bit slower so he wouldn't catch her right away. She dodged side to side, trying to get past Seonghwa while laughing, two long braids being tossed around in the wind. She wore shorts and one of Seonghwa's hoodies with a pair of blue Converse. He wore a similar outfit: black pants and a hoodie with red Converse, his go-to shoe choice. 

Hyejin tripped and almost fell. She reached out to Seonghwa, who halfway caught her, but ended up falling with her instead, landing under her. They were both laughing so hard, tears stung their eyes and their stomach hurt. 

They finally calmed down. Hyejin rolled off of Seonghwa and on to the grass next to him where they stared up into the bright blue sky. Their fingers were intertwined and the sides of their heads brushed each other.

Seonghwa turned on his side to face Hyejin, smiling sweetly. She turned to him, gazing deeply into his beautiful brown eyes. She smiled back and for a while, neither of them spoke, only staring at each other and studying each other's faces. 

"Hyejin, you're so pretty." He finally said, using his free hand to brush a strand of hair from her eyes. She smiled and shifted closer to him. Their foreheads pressed together and their noses touched. They stayed that way for a moment with closed eyes before Seonghwa pressed his lips against Hyejin's. She couldn't help but smile as she softly kissed him back. She cupped his cheek in her hand and deepened the kiss, taking in every emotion he felt for her. 

Seonghwa pulled away and his eyes fluttered open. They silently remained that way as he put his arm around her and rested his head against her chest. Together, they dozed off. 

And that was when Hyejin woke. She gently touched her lips, a tiny smile creeping on her lips as she temporarily forgot where she was. All she could see was Seonghwa's face. 

She shook her head, pushing away the thought and nearly laughing at herself for being so silly. She looked around, observing the now familiar dark chamber that held her captive. Almost two days had passed since her attempt at escape and San had only come down once to bring her a bit of food and a pair of clothes that he had washed for her. He barely spoke and kept his distance from her which she found a bit strange. Half of her was relieved, but the other half of her was nervous because of San's odd behavior. It's not that she wanted him to talk and touch her, but because he wasn't, it scared her. She began thinking of different things he could possibly be planning, but she immediately pushed the thoughts out of her head. What she needed to think about was her escape.

She had no idea when the next time San would open the door or let her out and it could possibly be never. For all she knew, he probably was just going to let her die and rot in there and not care. At this point, all she could rely on was hope. Hope that by some miracle, someone would find her or San would let her out. 

Hyejin stood in place for a moment, trying to think of some possible way to get San's attention or some way to get out. Then, something occurred to her. She wasn't exactly sure what type of room she was in, but she could only guess it was a hideout cellar. When she was in school, she had a class about the history of Korea and had learned that villages everywhere built small rooms with heavy doors under their houses with multiple locks to prevent against incoming enemy soldiers during the war.