Y/N's POV - two months after the accident
Oof I can't believe it's already been a whole month since Bang Chan and Felix moved away, the house feels so empty and cold in this gloomy Sunday. I have no one to bother or to mess around with, in a way having them here was like having brothers I never had. I do feel more lonely and all I have left is going over what went by.
Dad has been swamped with his police work, he briefly told me that there are a few mafias that are putting the city's safety at risk and he's been working night and day to get some evidence to put them down. To my luck the mobsters are extremely diligent in erasing their footprints. The irony. With his absence I end up alone all the time, Chan does invite me over to his place and I am familiar to the nine noisy strays so every now and then I swing by, whenever I do Hong Jong texts me telling me to keep my ears open for anything useful. Yes he placed a tracking app on my phone. No comment.
I am 100% healed from my broken ribs and now I have absolutely no reason or excuse to keep avoiding ATEEZ as much as I have these last two months. Most of the members still contact me about random and work related things, apart from one, it was devastating to see how broken Wooyoung looked at school, after my injury I could tell he had lost weight and his eye bags looked deeper than the ocean but he wouldn't even come near me, he only ever looked at me from afar. There were many nights that I cried myself to sleep, missing his gentleness and his flirty self, it was hard, it still is, but I made it through and now I will have to face everything again. Or not.
I didn't just sit around these two months and waited for some miracle to happen and completely turn my life back to normal. Hell no. After I spilled every detail of my involvement with ATEEZ and how I was listening into every thing SKZ did Felix didn't even flinch. He wasn't in the least mad at me, he totally understood my side and said that all I did was to protect the ones I loved, he wasn't wrong but I was surprised he took it so lightly. He then told me why he joined SKZ, that was when I realized how messed up this situation is, I remember his exact words and how sad they made me then.
"I only joined SKZ cause I needed to know the truth, about my mother's death. I'm sure you'll remember Y/N, she died just one month before yours ... And in the same gruesome way ... Don't you think this is all too suspicious? They were both murdered and the police could never find their killer. I thought that if I had some power I would be able to catch the psycho that did it and end it all with my own hands." I remember clear as day how furious and determined he looked that moment, I never knew he held such strong feelings towards his mother's death, of course I was devastated and depressed but not hopelessly angry and seeking out for justice with my own hands. He must have felt really helpless but he still managed to hide it so well from me and he was the one who stood by my side throughout my whole grieving process. Felix is definitely an outstanding person.
When he poured everything out I felt a bit empty and wondered what was the point of keeping this whole thing going, maybe I should've just told everything to my dad and let him deal with my self made problems. But of course I couldn't do that. Which is why I aksed if Felix had any idea of what I could do, that led him to explaining his plan to me. "Well I already knew you were double crossing us ... And it's not all bad. It made me do some digging on the Jung's, actually it was Lee Know who did the searching part, without Chan knowing of course. I wanted to find any vulnerabilities he may have, whatever it takes to bring him down so he can't control you anymore. And with the extremely gorgeous hacker Lee Know's amazing skills we found out that the big ringleader also had his wife murdered in a despicable way. Must be a big coincidence, right? Well I didn't think so either. After more background checks and history on the family we found out that Misses Jung used to live in Australia when she was a teenager, an interchange thing. That surely made me put some dots together."
"Of course I didn't just leave it at that, we went as far as to search in which school she studied and we were able to pull a photo. Y/N what we found.... it can't just be a coincidence. We managed to get a photo of the graduates and guess who was also in the picture." So engrossed in the image he was painting I easily imagined the image of my younger mother in her own graduate clothing smiling happily at the camera. "Was mine and your mother also in the picture?" "Bingo."
In order to find out more about our mother's lifes we would need to go to where it all began: Australia. But how? How would we even find a shred of evidence that points us to the killer? Well we still aren't too sure how but we know who will help us get the things we need: Mr. Mobster Jung Donghae.
I need to gain his trust somehow. We have a common enemy and I'm sure its in our best interest to take him down. He lost his wife, we lost our mothers and my gut feeling tells me these three killings are connected all I need is to explain that to him and to see if he'll lend a hand to us, that way we could bring down the person who took the lives of extraordinary women who I'm certain didn't deserve to die. Could it be that it was an passionate act? Like revenge or something. Hm I shouldn't dismiss it completely.
This cloudy and cold Sunday calls for hot chocolate and a cheesy romantic comedy, as I get the ingredients to make my fluffy cocoa I start wondering about life, these past two months I allowed myself to have more of a life outside the mafia. At first I thought it was unthinkable, an absurd to go and pull more people into my messy lifestyle but life is meant to be lived and that didn't stop me from trying to make friends.
The whole incident with Sang Hee made some people turn against her, not her minions though they remained loyal to their queen bee, but some girls that already held grudges on her took my side and befriended me. Six amazingly kind and beautiful girls held their hand out to me and took me out of the lonely dark path I was trailing and everyday I thank them for it, I know I would remain a bit lost if it weren't for them.
Thinking about them made me want to check out our group to see if anyone was online now
♡The girls ♡
Y/N - heeey girls, anyone bored as well?
Sooyeon - Y/NNNNNNNN! I just thought about uuu. Yeah I'm bored as hell :|
Y/N - I'm making some hot cocoa anyone care to join?
Y/N - There will also be some popcorn and movies... just saying
Shuhua - You had me at cocoa. I'll be there in 10.
Sooyeon - Count me in as well Y/N ♡♡
Soojin - Well I've finished all my work, are you sure we wouldn't be a bother Y/N?
Y/N - No, no, of course not. I really need some company, I would love it if you joined us ♡
Soojin - Oh... I'm flattered (∗ᵕ̴᷄◡ᵕ̴᷅∗)՞
Yuqi - Heeey, I really want to go but me and Minnie are working on a project and we'll be busy the whole day. Please, pray for us girls, it's a physics project and I think I might blow up poor Minnie's house (⌯˃̶᷄ ﹏ ˂̶᷄⌯)
Minnie - Cmon Yuqi if we work harder maybe we can arrive by the end of the movie (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و and don't you dare blow up my house without my permission (ு⁎ு)྆྆
Miyeon - If there are snacks and friends I'm down, Y/N don't start the movie without me pls*:ﾟ*｡⋆ฺ(*'◡')
Y/N - Yaaay thx girls ily ♡♡♡♡
----end of chat----
A happy mood took me over and I excitedly started to prepare the hot cocoa for the girls. I'm so glad I learned how to depend on people that want only to make me happy, not expecting anything in return, none of them ever demanded me to do anything. With the six girls I can finally feel safe and not scared for mine and my father's well being. Yes I haven't been totally honest with them, I couldn't possibly tell them everything but omitting this to them doesn't feel as heavy because of how comprehensive they are. I surely am lucky to have them by my side.
Soon enough I hear a light knock on the door but I can't move from my spot or else my dear cocoa will burn so I just shout to whoever's at the door "It's open!" the person complies and enter my house without much of a peep. "Sooyeon is that you? I'm still doing the hot chocolate but I'll be done in a few minutes." when I don't hear the usual bright reply that my friend usually gives me whenever it is related to food I start to suspect it isn't Sooyeon that I just allowed into my house.
Still worried about not burning my delicious drink I decide to ignore the lack of a reply and just focus on finishing my task as fast as possible. With my vision totally entranced in the moving of the wooden spoon on the hot pan filled with chocolate my ears perk up with the soft sounds of feet moving in my direction, the hair in my arm stand up and I prepare myself for a scare.
"You're looking even prettier now than the first night I saw you" that raspy voice with an edge of sadness in it makes it impossible for me to keep the chocolate from burning. I turn off the stove and brace myself before turning around. He's here. In my house. And my friends are on the way. "What are you doing here, Wooyoung? I invited some friends over so if you could make this quick." my voice doesn't falter and I'm able to be as blunt as possible, with a cutting tone that would end any kind of small talk. The man in front of me looked totally different from the boy I met at the casino months ago, now I can't even tell who he is anymore, his eyes are glinting with a fire behind them. He looks so certain, the total opposite of how he looked just weeks ago at school, I wonder what changed. It doesn't matter anyway, we're not together anymore. After staring for a whole torturous minute he comes closing he distance between us until I hit the solid kitchen countertop, he reaches a hand to put my astray hair in place and never takes his eyes off mine "I came here to tell you that I won't be your second option anymore. You can stay with Chan for now but I'll have your heart in the end. That's all I have to say. I really hope you have a good time with your girl friends." when his mouth stops moving I almost ask him to stay, to remind ourselves of the sweet time we spent together. But I don't say another word and he leaves through the front door as easily and quietly as he came.
I hold myself on the countertop fearing that if i don't my knees will give out, my head feels fuzzy, all of the strong feelings I've been repressing these months come flowing down on me. He came back to me. He didn't forget about me all this time. He wants us to be together again. Could we? Isn't it just a naive illusion? When will it all end?
I get back to reality when I hear the sweet voices of my friends in the front door "Y/NNN!! We're here for the popcorn and sweets!! And for the movie of course!" the sound of smacking can be heard following by a scolding "We came for Y/N Sooyeon! How can you be so blunt?!" "Oh my God Soojin, of course I came for Y/N, its called a joke you know..." their little banter makes it all go away and I remember the forgotten cocoa by the stove, as I analyze if the drink is good or not a delicate girl with a impeccable long dark hair quietly comes my way and gives a reassuring smile "Hi Y/N, thank you for inviting us. Do you need any help? Where do you put the mugs?" Shuhua is being helpful as always, I return the kind smile and thank her for coming while I point to where she should get the mugs. Both of us set the hot chocolate for five people in the cutest looking mugs I could find, while behind our backs a sneaky Sooyeon prepares to give us the scare of our lives "WHAT THE HEELLLL IS THAAAT!!?????? AAAAH Y/N IT'S CRAWLING ON MY NECK! GET IT OOOOFF ME. N O W. " I turn to my side to see a horrified Shuhua trying to take something off her back, I confusedly look around the room and see a laughing mess out of Sooyeon and Miyeon while Soojin is looking disappointed at her friends' childishness.
"What did you do Sooyeon?" I try to keep my composure while my other friend is still hitting herself trying to get whatever it is off her, the culprit looks at the whole scene with a big lopsided smile "Why do you assume I did this? I'm innocent." she holds her hands up and in the corner of my eye I catch a small evil smile displayed across Miyeon's face, as I try to find out who did this to the poor and scared out of her mind Shuhua, Soojin goes to her rescue and asks her something totally unusual that takes all of us by surprise "Please take off your shirt so I can take the spider off of you." the whole house house stays quiet for five seconds, it is broken by a shriek of fear as the spider moves around the body of the victim. We don't even have time to be surprised by Soojin's bluntness because the desperate girl complies to the request and asks for her friend to make it quick.
Two minutes later and the whole atmosphere return to a more normal state and not another word is mentioned about the whole incident. I try to break the ice by offering them something sweet to take their minds off the awkwardness "Hey girls over here, there's a cup for each of us, drink it now or else it'll be cold. I hope you like it~ !" the mood turns brighter as everyone grabs their own mug and take sips of the deliciously soft and heart-warming hot chocolate. I can't help but smile at the scene, not all of my friends are here but just to see most of them enjoying the simple drink I made makes me a bit happier. All of us head to the living room and sit on the couch enjoying some good small talk before we choose a movie to watch.
Since Shuhua is still a little traumatized from the shock I ask if any other girl would do the favor to help me make the popcorn and get some other snacks, Soojin happily volunteers and follows me into the kitchen. Out of all the girls Soojin is the one I can count on the most, I relate to her more than the others and I just feel that we have a great connection, sometimes it's almost like we are on the same wavelength so I'm always glad to have her as a sounding board on whatever worries me the most. "Y/N, I don't mean to pry, you know how much I respect your personal space. It's just that before we entered your house I noticed a familiar face coming out of your house..."
Does she know? I did tell her some stuff, not everything, and I made it sound less of a big deal as well, I told her that before I dated Chan I had a boyfriend and that because of external reasons we had to break up, I also mentioned how we are still not over each other. I guess she knows who I was talking about now... I really hope this doesn't turn sideways...
"Yeah.... That was Jung Wooyoung, you must know him since he is also a student of a school, I guess the president of the student council would know everyone's faces and names..." I scratch my neck in an uncomfortable manner and avoid looking into her eyes a bit embarrassed by the whole situation. She takes my hands into hers and raises my chin so we look eye to eye, "Hey, it's tough but you're strong so don't look down. Remember that I'm always here to listen to whatever it is going on in that confused brain of yours." her comforting smile is like magic to my anxiety and I almost instantly feel more at ease. While I get the big pan to make some fresh popcorn I whisper-tell her what just happened before they came in, "....Well that's what he said, I mean how could I react to that? I'm so lost, by this point I don't know where my feelings stand, all this the time I spent with Chan was meaningful to me but I can't forget the past with Wooyoung as well." my friend has a thoughtful expression on her face thinking over all the information I told her so far about my... romantic situation....? "Y/N you never told me why you broke up with that guy and it seems like you still feel strongly toward him or else you wouldn't even care that he's going to keep pursuing you." I nod agreeing with her, of course I still have feelings for Wooyoung, the break up was just an excuse because I was struggling to keep two relationships at the same time. "Thank you Soojin, I know I can always count on you!" with the loud noises of girls talking excitedly and the popping of popcorn I embrace my best friend and a feeling of relief envelopes around me.
The last time I felt this loved before was when my mother was alive.
Tears flow down my cheek.
Happy tears.
I am happy.
I can be happy.
I will be happy.
And I will find out who tried to take that happiness away from me.
I will catch my mother's killer and I will do it right so I can finally live in peace again
_______________________~~~~~~_______________________
Small note:
Hey guys, pls stay safe ok, corona is serious and deadly
I hope all of you are staying healthy mentally and physically
I also hope you at least found this chapter not very boring ;)
Some new characters are introduced here so I may do that thing I do with the sexy pics of kpop idols that I personally love, if u think it's (un)necessary tell me
The girls are members of (G)I-DLE if u didn't know...
Anyways
Mandy heading for a walk