Within Us. ➛️️ SWEET HOME

Chapter 7

 
 
As more people came up to attack the monster, Minseo and kids ran to where Hyunsoo was.

"Take the kids and run!" Jisu ordered and the other man there, looked at Hyunsoo and Minseo telling them to go with the kids.

"Come to 1408," Hyunsoo announced as they ran towards the stairs.
Minseo stopped him, "I'm going to the first floor."

"What?" he asked taken back.

"Yes. There are people who want to come up. It's better that someone tells them not to."

"We can drop off the kids and then go together–"

"Hyunsoo, I can manage," she assured him.

"Noona, don't go," the little boy moved forward and held her hand.

"Yeongsu," she bent down to his level and smiled at him, "There are a lot of people down there. If it's safe then I'll give a signal to you and then everyone can come down together, hm. You can come with Hyunsoo hyung."

She got on her feet and nodded looking at Hyunsoo's concerned face. She took a step forward towards him, "We have the same motive, to save, and to survive." she smiled reassuringly. Taking one last glance at everyone, "I promise we'll meet again. Take care."

Hyunsoo saw her back disappearing as she ran downstairs, his mind focussing on one point,
Did he really wish to survive?

He opened the door to apartment 1408, Dusik sitting on his wheelchair as he held the canon to his face, ready to attack, just in case.

He got worried when Hyunsoo closed the door after the kids came inside, only three people entering, "Where's Minseo?"

Hyunsoo started at him at a loss of words.
Suyeong answering instead, "She said she's going to the first floor."

"What?!" Dusik snapped, concerned.
He turned to Hyunsoo, "How could you let her?"

Hyunsoo moved forward, explaining, "She has a reason…"
 
_
 
 
Minseo knew that the door to the main stairs would be blocked for safety by the residents and coming out of it would only bring more attention to her. Her mind revived the incident that happened with the man, Sangwook, and she looked down at herself, her clothes covered with blood and dirt, a bloody shovel accompanying it.
There was no way she could've been able to make it out from the main door. So thinking circumspectly, Minseo chose to reach the first floor through the stairs on the side of the building that displayed everything happening in the world outside and made her more concerned as time passed.

Fortunately there was no one near the stairs –which also confused Minseo, but she very cautiously, and with careful steps, made her way to the security room.

She was met with silence one again, when she reached there –not a single soul inside. She exhaled and moved towards a darker side of the room, to refrain anyone from seeing her and put down her weapon. She took off her pony to redo it when someone tightly grabbed her wrist and turned her around harshly, making her gasp, "Eunhyuk…"

"Minseo, you..." Eunhyuk trailed off, his eyes examining her torn shirt and messy form before he quickly brought her outside the security room, stopping for a moment and looking around, and continued to make his way towards the washroom.

Once they reached, Minseo's eyes found hers through the mirror and she realized why Eunhyuk was shocked to see her state. Even her face had drops of blood over it.

Eunhyuk turned on the tap and Minseo immediately washed her face. But her clothes were still a problem–

"Why did you go up again?"

She paused for a moment before closing the tap –glad that he didn't ask how?– and looked at Eunhyuk through the mirror, "I thought my house was safer than this floor."

Her statement made him chuckle sarcastically, "You thought..?" and he lightly shook his head, "There was someone else with you too."

She looked down in embarrassment as soon as their eyes met again, finding her shoes more interesting than they ever did.

Eunhyuk turned her around by her shoulders, his gaze following hers, making him sigh, "What do we do about it?"

Minseo remembered the scene where she encountered both the headless and bulky Monster together, where she had to take care of the kids all alone. Her heart beat rising at the thought and she clutched her chest moving back to support herself with the sink.

Eunhyuk's eyes narrowed at the her, "Are you alright?" He asked concerned.

Minseo slowly nodded but Eunhyuk was obviously not convinced.

"There was someone else with you too."
She figured he had seen her through a camera somewhere when she was up with Hyunsoo, but right now, she wasn't sure if this floor was actually safe, and so, she decided to wait before revealing the truth.

She inhaled deeply before loosing the remaining energy in her legs and fell down, feeling herself hyperventilating for the first time in a while.

Eunhyuk instinctively placed a gentle hand over her mouth and she already knew what he was doing. Minseo went along until she calmed down enough to stand back on her feet.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

Eunhyuk nodded, "Go back in the security room and wait for me."

Minseo followed his instructions and went ahead without him, sitting on a chair and finally tying her hair up.
Her hair had gotten pretty long since she didn't have time to care about these unnecessary things.

"Huh, unnecessary?" She muttered before she heard a cough and saw Eunhyuk holding a folded garment in his hand as he looked at her.

"You can go back in the washroom or change here on a side."

Minseo took the shirt and went to the same spot where she kept her shovel and changed her shirt there as Eunhyuk stood by the door, facing outside as it seemed more appropriate and polite.

"Thanks, once again," he turned when he heard her and saw as she moved to sit on the same chair where she previously sat.

"You look awfully tired, you should go to the daycare and get some sleep," he suggested, sitting besides her on his usual chair.

She smiled, "I'm used to it. But I'll prefer to rest here than go into a room full of people," Minseo rested her head on her arm that was on the table, "I'm sure they'll have a lot to ask."

"Sure." Eunhyuk nodded, not sure if the residents would have questions to ask or not but he surely did. So letting her rest for now wouldn't hurt at all.