We had arrived on a breathtaking property. A big, modern, fancy building in front of us, looking like the house of a millionaire. Or a drug dealer. Which was probably not even slightly on the worst list of felonys these people could be charged with.
Chan headed towards an underground car park, stopping the car at the intercom.
"Hey, Chan." A deep voice answered, making me jump in surprise.
"Oi, Felix." Chan replied. "You're back already? Did you get her stuff?" Deeper than the ocean voice was barkeeper Felix that had taken Sana home.
"Sure, hi Y/N!" The deep voice addressed me by name. "Sana's home safe and sound by the way." It shocked me originally when he called my name but then I realized that Sana and him had been talking all night, ending up in her probably telling him my name. A little stone fell from my heart, hearing that she was safe.
"Are you gonna let us in, 'Lix?" Chan asked a little impatient after I hadn't said anything in return. Felix chuckled and audibly pressed a button, opening the gate.
"Enjoy your stay at Stray Kids Headquarters." He joked, mimicking a flight attendant.
Chan parked the car and got out, walking to the passenger door and opening it for me. I didn't immediately get out, making him stand there, waiting. I knew I had to get out eventually but for now I felt safer in the car than in this massive unknown building.
"Chan!"
A young man with brown hair called out, excitement written all over his face. He looked like a little kid, nothing about him screamed gang member to me. Pure innocence dripping from his presence. Chan smiled at the child in front of him as if he was his proud father.
"Hi! I'm Jeongin! Chan has told us all about-" The boy stuck his head in the car to see me, his foxy features giving me the brightest smile ever. Chan nudged him slightly, signaling him to not finish his sentence.
"Well, anyways! Hi! Glad to meet you! C'mon I'll show you around!" His happiness infecting me to a degree, causing me to genuinely smile a little and getting out of the car.
If Chan used a voodoo technique, this kids smile simply outshined the sun on it's brightest day, making everything else seem irrelevant.
Damn these charming criminals and their working brainwashing tactics.
Speaking of Chan, he was watching us carefully, following behind us, as Jeongin was leading the way out of the car park, babbling something about a guest room.
"Y/N."
Chan called out, making me stop walking behind Jeongin and turn around to him.
"Please text Sana. Tell her you're safe and staying over at my house. You will talk to her more tomorrow." Chan instructed, handing me my phone. I hadn't even realized he had taken it, staring at him with a blank expression.
"What did you do with it?" I asked. "Block the police's number?" I made him chuckle deeply.
"If I thought measures like that were necessary I would have left you at the club." He coldly answered making me gulp.
"Right, Chan- Seungmin told me to send you to him right when you're back! He said your wound still needs treatment." Jeongin chirped, making Chan sigh.
The bullet injury. His shoulder bleeding. The vodka bottle and tweezers on my couch.
It somehow felt like it has been months since the encounter happened, despite happening only 24 hours ago. Chan nodded, deep in thought.
"Ok, I'll meet you two later." He said, turning to leave and go in another direction. But as much as I wanted to get away from him, I couldn't leave his side.
"No, wait!" I said determined, his eyebrow cocking up in surprise. As much as I'd rather stayed with sunshine Jeongin, I knew that I needed to stay with Chan who told me he would protect me, especially if I ran into crazy Minho in this maze again.
In that case, Chan's muscles and authority won over Jeongin's bright smile.
"You promised to protect me." I whispered, eyes locked on the ground in front of me. I felt his eyes on me, burning a hole in my skull.
"What are you waiting for then? Come with me." Chan simply said, taking off, not bothering to wait for me, jogging to keep up with him in my high heels.
"... then I shot him." A cold voice said emotionless, as Chan opened a door to a bright room revealing Minho and another man with brown hair I hadn't met yet inside. Chan stepped into the room, leaving me no other choice than to follow him inside, meeting the person who tried to kill me once again.
The room we had entered looked like a hospital. Beds and medicine cabinets surrounding the four of us, making me realize that we were in fact standing in an infirmary.
Minho instantly stopped talking when his eyes landed on me, forcing his eyes to stay on Chan's figure. I however couldn't look away from him, my whole body dreading his every move.
"You did the right thing, Minho."
The other man said. I figured out it had to be Seungmin. Seungmin nodded, putting his hand on Minho's shoulder in praise. Seungmin similarly to Jeongin had this friendly thing about him, however when he praised Minho for committing murder, it was decreasing by the minute.
Minho replied with a short nod and promptly left the room. Seungmin turned to greet us now, smiling as if we didn't just overhear what we had.
"Hey, Y/N, right?" He gave me a warm smile and I just glared back. "Are you hurt?" His eyes scanned my body for obvious injuries, concern in his voice. I slowly shook my head no.
Not physical at least.
Mentally I had been scarred for life.
Chan cleared his throat, taking off the shirt he was wearing and revealing the bullet wound he had tried to fix on my couch. Seungmin poured a generous amount of disenfectants over his hands before approaching Chan and touching the flesh around his injury. The bandage he had put on there yesterday was no longer there, a few stitches decorating his shoulder instead.
Seungmin nodded, deep in thoughts before voicing them.
"It looks good, just don't overdo it and it will be healed in 2 weeks." He chuckled, remembering something. "Nevermind, it's you and you will overdo it so let's say 4 weeks to be realistic." Chan just rolled his eyes at his friends comment, knowing that he was 100% right with his statement.
"Y/N is there anything I can do for you? This has to be such a disturbing experience for a normal girl, but please try to understand that we have to do this, okay?" Seungmin tried to reason, not getting any reaction out of me, when he continued. "And since you're going to stay here for a while, don't hesitate to tell me your struggles and ask for medical help. If you're having trouble sleeping..." He trailed off, meeting Chan's warning gaze.
"Anyways, it's just an offer..." He finished, throwing Chan's shirt back at him.
"I'm going to show you where you're going to stay for at least the next few days. All 8 of us are having a meeting later to discuss your situation. Please text Sana to let her know." Chan said, after we had left Seungmin and started to walk through the hallways again, reminding me of his order once again.
After a while he stopped in front of a black door with the number 19 written on it in golden letters. He pressed down on the door handle slightly, pushing the door open, revealing a nice and tidy bedroom on the inside. If I didn't know any better I would have thought I was staying in a nice hotel.
But I knew better.
"This is going to be your room." He stated, stepping inside behind me. My eyes roamed the room, searching every corner, making him sigh deeply.
"Ok, Y/N, I know you don't trust me but I can tell you this: There are no cameras in this room. We might be criminals but we're not perverts." He declared, chuckling slightly.
His statement didn't make me any less wary. The only aspect of his whole speech I believed was the fact that all of them were criminals.
"I'm not your enemy and neither are the other guys. Nobody's going to hurt you."
My mind wandered back to the gun pointed to my head, telling a different story.
"Even Minho won't." He added, as if he could read my mind.
"If you need anything, my room is at the end of the hall, number 25." He walked up to the door frame, about to leave when he turned around again.
"And also" He began, taking my hand and putting a golden key in my palm. "I know that building trust takes trust to begin with so, here." With that he left me alone in 'my' room.
"Don't make me regret trusting you." He murmured a few meters away from room 19, just loud enough that I could hear.