A loud shriek left her lips as she spun around, clumsily reaching for Chan's pistol. Before she could draw it, the hand sprang away. "Whoa! It's just me!"
The speaker fumbled along the wall for a light switch. A light beamed to life above them, and Jeongin's defensive position was revealed. Nari blew a breath out, her hand pressing to her chest.
"Jeongin," she huffed. "You scared me so bad."
Foxy eyes crinkling, Jeongin grimaced, biting his lip as he frowned in apology. "Sorry, I was looking for Chan and couldn't see you."
Puckering her lips out of saltiness, Nari cocked her head. "Why Chan? I thought everyone was supposed to have gone to their tasks?"
Jeongin raised a finger, his voice faltering. "Ah, w-well, I... I need to help him with something," he finished, head bobbing cutely as if to accentuate how true his statement was.
Regardless of how convincing his words were, Jeongin's body betrayed him. Fingers shaking, eyes darting around, feet shuffling. As much as he wanted to hide it, Nari could see straight through him.
He was just as terrified as she was.
"Jeongin."
Her soft voice startled the boy out of his attempt to appear just fine, and he gazed down at her, transfixed. "What?"
There was a question she had to ask, a question that everyone needs to be asked every once in a while by someone who really cares.
"Are you okay?"
The three words had no impact on him at first, because honestly, words are just words. Then the meaning, the emotion behind them started to trickle into his conciousness, and he asked himself too. Was he okay? Was he really, truly okay?
Eyes glazed over, he parted his dry lips, realizing his answer as it came crashing down on him.
"No."
Nari's hand reached up behind his neck, gently drawing his head down to rest on her shoulder. Her arms snaked behind his back as she stood on her toes, waiting for him to respond.
At first, his hands hovered over her back, unsure of what they wanted. But as he fell into his realization, he clutched her back, body shaking as he tried to get a grip on himself. His mouth was open but none of the words he wanted to say came out, only strangled gasps.
Nari waited patiently, knowing exactly how it felt to be so overwhelmed that you couldn't even muster the strength to say what was wrong.
Finally, Jeongin reeled his emotions in, releasing Nari awkwardly as he ran his hands through his hair, eyes moist but cheeks dry. "Thank you," he breathed out, scrunching his eyes open and shut.
"Anytime. You're my brother now," she reminded him with a small smile. Jeongin avoided her eyes, instead looking out of a window as he too managed a smile.
Something over Nari's shoulder caught his attention, and he squinted to see it better through the thick glass. Nari looked up at him, confused, and was dismayed to see his eyes go as wide as possible.
"N-nari," he choked out, gaze still trained on the window behind her.
"Wha... "
Her words shriveled in her throat as she glanced behind her back, turning slowly to face what was causing Jeongin to freeze in fear. Nari's heart stopped.
Outside the glass stood a figure. It was impossible to tell what their gender was due to the darkness, but they were tall. Very, very tall. Besides the fact that there was a hulking person staring at them in their home, something made it even worse.
They were holding an long, thick knife, the tip of the blade catching the faint light from inside and gleaming.
Nari's mouth opened to yell for help, for her members to come and make this horror go away. But it was as if time was frozen, and her voice was gone. The only thing that kept her from running was Jeongin, his feet glued to the floor as he took in one of the most terrifying sights he had ever seen in his life.
So the two just stood in the shadowy hall, hands tightly interlocked as they watched the figure stand outside the window, knife twirling around in their hand.
And they could only stare as the figure raised their hand, bringing the butt of the knife hurtling down on the glass. The clear material shattered into a sheet of glittering pieces, falling like snow onto the cold wooden floor and at their feet.
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