√ 𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 // 𝐻𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑔 𝐻𝑦𝑢𝑛𝑗𝑖𝑛

six.

     Jisung was completely surprised, and he clamped his hands over his ears as the terrified girl continued to shriek. "Stop it! Cut it out!"

     He came closer to her, but Nari began to shriek even louder when he did.

     "Oh, for the love of - "

     The door flying open cut him off, and a boy with blonde hair burst into the room, a very large gun in one hand. This sent Nari into an entirely fresh state of fear. She clutched her blankets and hid her head under them, her screams dissolving into whimpers.

     "What's wrong? I heard screams," the new boy said. His deep, lovely voice caused Nari's breath to hitch. It was another one of the boys from her school!

     "Everything's fine, Felix. She just, er... " Jisung's voice faded and Nari could hear a few more people enter the room.

     "What's going on?"

     Hyunjin.

     Nari peeked out from under the blanket, eyeing the boys. Jisung was in front of Felix, who had dropped the gun to his side, and a sharp-featured boy with black hair stood next to him. Another boy with blonde hair, but older, hovered in the doorway with Hyunjin. And they were all staring at her.

     Stage fright engulfed her and Nari ducked her head beneath the blanket again. She could hear one of them sigh.

     "Why did she start screaming?" Hyunjin's voice asked. There was a pause.

     "She saw the handcuffs," Jisung replied slowly. A deep breath.

     "Is that it?"

     "She asked why they were there," Jisung mumbled.

     A longer pause. Nari could feel the tension. "And what did you say?" Hyunjin asked, his voice tight.

     Jisung groaned. "I said they were there so she couldn't escape."

     Silence. No one breathed, no one moved. Then an unexpected noise came.

     One of them burst out laughing.

     Yeah, laughing.

     The sound pushed Nari even closer to tears. They're crazy. I'm being held captive by insane people.

     But the laughter stopped as soon as it had started. "It's not funny, Minho. Can't you see she's terrified?" the deep voice asked.

     A cough. "Right, uh, sorry." He didn't sound sorry.

     Then Hyunjin's fit of fury came. "Why would you say that Jisung?! She's not a prisoner! She probably thinks we're going to kill her now!"

     Nari gasped and the boys went silent again. Then: "Jisung, Felix, you come upstairs with me. Minho, you take a look at her wounds again. Hyunjin... just stay here." The voice carried the same strong, distinctive accent as the deep one.

     There was a moment of grumbles and shuffling, and then the door shut. Footfalls came towards Nari's bed and the blanket was gently tugged.

     "Is it safe to pull this off or do you need a moment?" a honey-like voice asked gently. Nari allowed the blanket to be pulled back. The black haired boy stood in front of her, a small box in his hands. "I'm your sort-of doctor right now, so it's okay to talk to me, yeah?"

     Shyly, Nari nodded. He smiled radiantly and held out a hand, which she shook carefully.

     "My name is Minho," he introduced himself. "Sorry about all that fuss, Jisung is a tad dramatic sometimes. We aren't keeping you here, we just want to make sure you're okay and get things straight. You had a rough night, didn't you?"