Faked // Ateez

:5:

The doorknob rattled.

The movement froze.

The room went silent.

"This is it." Mingi could hear Wooyoung whisper under his breath.

It rattled once more.

All the boys seemed to jump in their seats. What was behind that door was anyone's guess, they just knew it would change them for better or worse. "It's been a good run" San said taking in a deep breath.

Mingi looked on at the rest of the group and saw all the boys bracing themselves for the worst. Even Hoongjoong seemed to be on edge. That sight alone struck a chord of fear and made his stomach churn.

Mingi clutched the edges of the conference room chair and took in what he thought, could potentially be his last breath.

And for a moment there...

it was.

"WHAT THE HELL DID I TELL YOU ABOUT THE BAT"

"WHERE DID YOU EVEN HIDE THAT THING"

"YOU CANT SEPARATE US WE ARE A COMBO DEAL"

"MA'AM DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A MC'DONALDS TO YOU?"

Silence.

For a moment there was only silence.

Then, the door finally opened

Vera was the first one to enter through the conference room doors. Her laughter had died down and her tired expression was all that remained. The girl walked in standing at 5' 10" (178 cm). Vera's long, black, wavy hair appeared like a veil of expensive silk that elegantly draped over her tan yet freckled skin. Her beauty was to be adorned by her vibrant, emerald green eyes that seemed to glow from the thin line of black eyeliner that encircled them.

Next, Noami came strutting into the room with her steel metal bat swung over her right shoulder. The contrast from the light silver color seemed to make her mocha skin glow. The girl's voluminous, long, afro bounced along with every strut of her round hips. She walked in that conference room like it was the runway at fashion week. With her head held high, Naomi's honey colored eyes scanned over the room before taking her spot next to the drummer.

Third was Amaru as she took a first peak from behind the doors as another soft laugh left her. The first thing they could see was her vibrant silver bob. The girl's hazel brown eyes went wide for a moment before she started to move from behind the door. A sweet smile laced up her pink lips, as her wide eyes looked around the large room. They could barley hear the short girl's foot steps as though she were floating slightly above the ground. The way the light reflected off her beige skin, no one would have been surprised if she sprouted white, feathery, wings right then and there.

Finally, was their gracious leader, Jia. Her long, straight, dark blue dyed hair flowed down her slender figure like the cascade of a waterfall. The girl's long dark lashes adorned her sultry dark eyes that contrasted her smooth pale skin. The pinnacle of beauty in her home country, not to mention with her unparalleled intellect made her a force to be reckoned with. She made it a point to look towards the other girls, as if warning them to behave, before she walked up to the head of the table. With a slight bow she eloquently spoke "Thank you for having us" as the rest of the girls followed suit.

"Jia!?"

The leader's eyes moved towards the voice that called her name. It was distant yet familiar, and when her eyes recognized his face, the went wide like saucers.

"Yeosang?!"

Jia's voice was immediately followed by Maru slapping her hand over her mouth. Naomi's eyes went wide and her mouth was slightly ajar. On the other hand, Vera's mouth moved faster than her brain.

"Damn, I guess that's why we are here." She spoke in English. The guys all looked at them confused, while Jia turned around with the fiery anger of a hundered suns. At this sight, Naomi snapped out of their initial shock, and smacked Vera's arm . "Behave" She muttered towards the drummer yet Vera simply snickered at her words.

"What did she say? I didn't quite catch that?" Yeosang replied with a smirk lacing up the corners of his mouth. He always loved teasing her. Jia on the other hand started to turn red, either from embarrassment or anger

"It doesn't matter." Jia quickly squeaked before motioning the girls to take a seat in the empty chairs. They followed suit, and that's when Vera finally noticed the guy that hadn't taken his eyes off her the moment she walked in.

She stared back at him as it was her usual response to being stared at, however, it seemed as though his mind was in the clouds. It wasn't until Wooyoung clamped his hand on Mingi's shoulder that he finally snapped out of it. The taller looked at Wooyoung, before looking back at Vera with an apologetic smile.

However, Vera didn't mind his gaze, she simply spoke instead  "So.. did I take your breath away?" She replied with an amused smile as Mingi sat there slightly surprised. Her Korean was fluent, apart from her apparent accent, and the way she smiled made his quickening heart beat quite apparent to him.

"Yes- I mean- no what are you talking about- wait I lied- you did take my breath away- but not in a murdery way- your just- wow." He replied stumbling over his words as though he had never spoken a coherent sentence before.

"He means yes." Yunho piped in, trying to help his friend out. Mingi, who was trying to still figure out how to function simply nodded.

Vera once again smiled before responding "good" followed by a small chuckle, before turning towards the CEO.

The man at the head of the table cleared his throat and grabbed something from underneath the table. Then, he stood up to reveal a champagne bottle in his hand. However, before the man could continue a question had arisen.

"Sir I thought this was a board meeting, what's going on?" Hoongjoong finally asked after wondering why the new guests would be here and now followed by the bottle of champagne. He didn't know what was going on.

"Well, we are here to celebrate." The man spoke with a chuckle as he saw the looks of curiosity paint over everyone's face. "Celebrate what exactly sir?" Jia asked. Their manger had simply said they would be doing a promotion with a k-pop group. She was kept in the dark and had no idea who the group would be, let alone the group that her childhood best friend belonged to.

"Why, the marriage of course!"

"HUH."