Bound by Blood

Chapter 142- what goes up must come down

GYEOMIE POV:

I watch as MJ hyung and Jinyoung hyung move around (Y/N), at the significant exhaustion on her face as she curves into Eunwoo's side, head resting on his shoulder, eyes fluttering with sleep as the two of them flit around gathering tonics and balms.

Anything to lessen her fatigue. Anything to lessen the dark circles and the way she had swayed as they'd hugged her after opening the door, hugging her not only in greeting but to keep her upright, to keep her from crumpling to the ground.

"Chickie...you've been getting nightmares again haven't you?" Jinyoung hyung says with a sigh, thumb brushing over the dark circles and looking wearily hurt on her behalf.

She gives a small nod, sighing with content when Eunwoo's arm wraps around her waist to tug her close, I approach with the mug of tea with dismay, she'd been hurting because of nightmares, she'd been hurting and finally that dull constant pain in our blood bond was finally given a name.

I hand the mug over to Jinyoung hyung, who gives a small smile before uncorking a small vial to tip into the tea, droplets of cloudy lilac mixed into the fruity tea.

And then he presses the mug carefully into her hands, scooting aside to let me plaster myself onto her other end, to brush my fingers across her shut eyes and lightly massage at her temples- trying to ease the headache away.

"Mallow...you promised to tell us if they came back. Maybe you should take Ryan hyung's advice. About seeing that consultant to take them away." I offer softly, words careful and slowly spoken.

Her nightmares had always been such a source of distress to her, always came back to surface whenever she was stressed, or whenever something triggered them- whether it was even seeing Ryan hyung and Deok-mi noona, visiting back home or talking about her parents.

To see her hurt once more didn't make the pain lessen, didn't make it easier to see my bloodmate hurt. And Eunwoo's gaze that meets mine over her curved head is equally worried and silently fretting, even if he gives a light tap to her cheek.

"Drink the tea marshmallow. You're losing the cheekies once more." He says playfully and though the nervous tremor in his voice is apparent no-one comments on it, not even   (Y/N) as she raises her head with a resigned sigh, to tighten her grip on the mug- his hand retreating from it now that she's sitting up.

She takes a small sip, tentative of burning her lips, but smiles when it goes down easily, when she doesn't push it away and reject it like she always did to food and drink when her nightmares were particularly bad. She smiles and the four of us beam in response, the four of us have that clenching feeling easing when she doesn't gag at the tea or clamp a hand to her mouth.

"The nightmares have changed." She confesses in response to my question, to the offer about visiting the consultant.

"What are they about then?" MJ hyung asks, hands moving busily to disguise the fretting clear in his eyes, head bent as he clears up the table of vials and balms.

"Chul Kang-Dae." She answers shortly, fingers trembling slightly as she raises her mug once more, eyes ducking away from us.

At the mention of his name, everyone freezes and stiffens, the air seems to still alongside us, becomes a heavy weight as we turn to face her. As Eunwoo's jaw tightens and his hand around her waist becomes protectively tight, drawing her close, my own reaching out to hold hers around her mug when she lowers it slowly.

Jinyoung hyung's face is hardened with rage, eyes burning crimson and a quick dart at MJ hyung shows he's no better, almost vicious as he slams the tray he'd lifted up back down, a loud cluttering sound as his hands grip the edge.