Promise || ATZ

18

“Have I ever told you about my parents?” Mingi asks.

“I think you did once,” Yeosang replies.  “All I remember is that you don’t talk to them anymore, why?”

“Oh, well, I think I’m going to tell Wooyoung and the others everything.”

“Ok, just do whatever you’re comfortable with, darling.”

“I’ll decide after practice.”

“That sounds like a good idea.  Now let me show you that dance.”

Yeosang does his dance and Mingi is in awe of the way his soulmate dances.

"Wow, you're amazing!"

Mingi hands Yeosang an open water bottle and smiles at the way that Yeosang's cheeks turn pink.

"Thank you.  I really like their music."

"Me, too."

"I was thinking about learning Thanks next, what do you think?"

"I think that sounds like fun.  I'll learn it with you if you want."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Yay!" Yeosang jumps on Mingi and hugs him tight.  "Now tell me what's wrong, darling."

"There's nothing wrong."

"Yes there is.  I can see it all over your face, so don't tell me that there's nothing when there's clearly an issue."

"It's nothing, really."

"Please, Mingi, just tell me."

"I got a call from my parents, and it wasn't very nice."

"Can I hear it?" Yeosang asks.

"Why?"

"I want to know exactly what we're dealing with."

"I guess.  It gets a little intense, though."

"And you listened to it by yourself?" Yeosang asks softly and receives a nod from Mingi.  "Aw poor baby.  Why don't you go sit with Yunho and I'll get Hongjoong hyung and Seonghwa hyung to listen to it with me?"

"Ok.  You don't think we should wait until after practice?"

"No, I think we need to do this now.  Unless you don't want to, then I'll just listen to it."

"No, it's fine.  I think I'll tell them everything after."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, but only if you're sitting next to me."

"Ok, now let's go."

Mingi and Yeosang stand before linking hands and walking back to the main room.

"Hey babes, are you ok?" Hongjoong asks.

"Not really," Mingi whispers.  "I might have, um, hid something from you."

"Hid something? Like what?"

"You know how I don't talk to my parents?" Mingi asks and recieves a nod from Hongjoong.  "Well, they called me a couple days ago and it's not good."

"Can we hear it?"

"Yeah, but I wanna sit with Yunho while you do, if that's ok."

"That's fine.  We'll get the younger ones over there, too, and Seonghwa can come here."

"I want to hear it, too," Yeosang interrupts.

"Ok, Sangie," Hongjoong replies before turning back to Mingi.  "You go sit with Yunho and we'll send the others over."

"Ok hyung," Mingi smiles at Hongjoong before walking across the room to Yunho and San.

"Where's everyone else?" Yeosang asks.

"In the next room.  They all wanted to practice singing together."

"Ok, I'll get them."

Yeosang quickly walks to the next room and finds the other three boys doing vocal exercises.

"Hey Yeosang!" Wooyoung greets and runs to hug him.  "What's up?"

"Well, we kind of have a situation."

"What kind of situation?" Seonghwa asks.

"The kind that requires all of us, so let's go."

Yeosang leads the way with Wooyoung and soon, he's sitting with Seonghwa and Hongjoong while all the other boys are with Mingi.

"So what's this about?" Seonghwa asks.

"We're going to listen to the message Mingi's parents sent to him and then we're going to figure out what to do next," Hongjoong replies.

"Well, I know what to do next," Yeosang says.  "We need to finally get Mingi a new phone."

"I agree," Seonghwa adds.

"True," Hongjoong nods.  "But I think we need to listen to the message."

"Agreed.  I want to know what they said."

Hongjoong nods and presses play on Mingi's phone.

"Song Mingi!" A woman's voice yells. "How dare you ignore us!  You can not be soulmates with seven other boys! It's unnatural and unlawful!  We brought you into this world and we can easily take you out of it!"

"We are your parents!" A man's voice adds.  "We are in charge, not you!  And you do not want to know what's going to happen to you if you are not home by the end of the week.  Here's a hint: I know how to get rid of soulmarks."

"You have four days!"

Yeosang stares in shock as there's the click from Mingi's parents hanging up.  He doesn't know what to do, but he does know that the process for removing soulmarks is painful, not to mention, very illegal.

"Mingi said he got this two days ago?" Hongjoong asks and Yeosang nods back.  "Then we only have the rest of today and tomorrow to figure out what to do."

"Fuck."

// but look, they're all back!