They all stumbled out the door, trying their best to be the first ones out of that dreaded room. The simulation did not go as planned and although no one could have died, everything felt just a bit too real. Everyone took a seat in the living room, complaining about how stressful that was. A loud thump shut them up quickly and they trained their eyes on Yan-Ting's figure. He had slid down the wall and was now seated on the floor, face hidden behind his knees. Sung-Ha crept forward, lightly touching Yan-Ting's arm but was only answered with uncontrollable shaking.
"Yan-Ting?" Alexander knelt next to Yan-Ting, hoping to somehow gain the other's attention. The medic of the group got increasingly worried, finally deciding to simply rub Yan-Ting's back and hope that the panic passed. All of a sudden Yan-Ting got up, recoiling at the sight of the other two males so close to him. To everyone's confusion, Yan-Ting just began yelling:
"Did the file not tell you it was a fucking rooftop mission?" It took a moment of Alexander gaping for him to connect the dots. Yan-Ting seemed unsure of himself when he first saw the building and was jittery the whole time they walked up to the floor with the AIs. Although he should have been understanding, Alexander couldn't help the small bite to his words when he responded.
"No, the file did not tell me it was a rooftop mission. Why, can't you handle it?" Yan-Ting looked like he was about to explode but ended up spinning around and attempting to stalk into his room. Alexander couldn't let it go that easily and wrapped his slender fingers around Yan-Ting's right wrist, effectively tugging him back. In a split-second Yan-Ting was panicking once again, trying his hardest to get Alexander to let him go.
"Let me go! Alexander please." Alexander froze, watching how Yan-Ting clawed at the hand trapping him. A small gasp shook him to his senses and he let go when he saw Yan-Ting's eyes watering. It took Yan-Ting a split second to disappear and the last thing they heard was the loud slam of the door. A heavy silenced followed, the first one to break it being Santiago:
"I'm going to go, um, check on him." He hesitated, almost as if expecting the others to stop him but no one did. The door opened soundlessly, revealing Yan-Ting's hunched form sitting on the bed. At the sound of Santiago's footsteps, Yan-Ting's head snapped up. It was surprising, to say the least, seeing the otherwise nonchalant and unbothered Yan-Ting with puffy eyes and tear marks trailing down his cheeks.
"What the hell do you want? Get out. Now." His voice cracked just the tiniest bit at the end and that was enough to convince Santiago to stay. They sat together, neither saying a word. During that time, Santiago examined Yan-Ting, eyes finally landing on Yan-Ting's right wrist. Now that he was so close to Yan-Ting he noticed the pale, thin, lines littering his wrist. Against Santiago's better judgement, he traced his fingers lightly over the scars, ignoring how Yan-Ting flinched.
"What do you think you're doing?" Underneath the sharpness Santiago noticed a hint of fear.
"I'm not going to ask what happened. Just so you know, if you ever need to talk, I'd be glad to listen." Santiago wasn't known for being soft or a good listener. Quite the opposite in fact, he was loud and impulsive. However, in that moment, he felt like he needed to say something.
"It happened six years ago. Six goddamn years ago and I still can't get over it."
"We never really get over things that have traumatized us. We do however, get stronger and are better able to handle triggers, don't you think?" Yan-Ting looked at him strangely and then cracked a small smile.
"You know, out of everyone here, I least expected your self destructive ass to come after me...and to say something like that. Looks like you aren't as stupid as I thought you were." Santiago huffed and rolled his eyes,
"We're a team, no?"
"It appears we are but that doesn't mean you tell anyone we talked, got it?" Santiago raised an eyebrow but nodded nevertheless. Outside of Yan-Ting's room, the rest of the group were still sitting in awkward silence.
"From now on Yan-Ting will not attend missions that have to do with heights. Understood?" Alexander watches as the others all agreed, taking this as their cue to leave.
YOU ARE READING
Blue Rose
Teen Fiction"We're all bad people. Some of us are just better at hiding it than others." After their parents' death, Alexander and the 7 other company heirs will have to continue what was started. But when it turns out that there is much more to their parents l...
