✔broken compass (the sequel) • stray kids✔

8 📹

"Well? What's going on?" I asked as the two elder boys stayed silent. "First off, I know this might look horrible, but I need you to completely hear me out before saying anything, okay?" Chan made sure, unsure of what to expect. Jisung and I looked over at each other, agreeing. Not to our liking, but what else could we do? I wanted to walk up closer, but felt Jisung's hand still stopping me. He shook his head, signaling me to stay behind him. "Just in case," he managed to whisper as quietly as possible.

The other two still noticed though. You could see the both were quite hurt at the distrust, but they couldn't help but understand. Not only did one of their own betray them all only a while ago, they two were now extremely suspicious. Chan took a deep breath, deciding to take the lead in it as he saw Minho struggle. "Whatever you're thinking, you might be right about it. Some of it at least, but I promise we only had good intentions."

Jisung's brow furrowed. "Could you possibly be any more vague?" I couldn't help but agree with him. That still didn't explain anything. "Yes, we were sneaking off with the two of us these couple of nights. Yes, we were planning on leaving earlier tonight, and yes, we have been discussing and keeping things from you, but it was only to protect you guys... we didn't want to risk all of you for it, so decided that the safest for you would be to separated." So much, but still no clarity.

"Listen, just keep all the reasoning and stuff for yourselves, and tell me what your plan was. I don't care what you're thinking, but we are not splitting up. I know I haven't exactly been all too great of an addition to this group at times, but if you think splitting up is gonna get us anywhere, you're no better than Felix who was planning on leaving behind our backs too!" I shouted out. I haven't been around as long as the most, but all this time I thought I at least had been growing close enough to them to form an opinion on it all. I wasn't just going to let it all happen without doing anything.

You could see they were all quite startled to say the least. I sighed, quickly wiping away the single tear that had formed. Why did I always have to get so emotional about things? Jisung's hand moved to move, his thumb comfortingly stroking the back of my hand, glaring at the two other guys. Chan stretched his arm out, trying to get closer for comfort, but Jisung's angry gaze was enough for him to stop.

"You know the map right? Maybe better than any of us, since you're the only one who actually saw it," Minho finally started. Jisung slowly nodded, his gaze still fierce. "You saw the video too those few days back. They're inviting us to join their society, quite far, but close enough to reach..." Minho glanced over at Chan for confirmation, seeing if what he was about to tell was okay, slightly relieved to get the nod. "We've been meeting up with some of the men. We wanted to infiltrate the place to see how we could best gather the information we needed. We figured if anyone might have clues, it might be the higher ups. If we said we wanted to join them we could get all buddy buddy and get what we need."

I was at loss for words. I understood their point of view. They were probably trying to leave us out since it indeed was very dangerous, trying to infiltrate a place. If they got caught with their real intentions, who knew what would happen to them? But still, for them to just go off on their own, it was too much. I couldn't possibly let then go all alone, that would be too much. "I know what you're thinking, but please just think this through once more. We managed to survive all this time because we were together, we can't lose you guys too," I managed to get out, feeling a hitch in my throat.

"Y/N's right you know," a voice suddenly spoke from behind us. We instantly turned around, Jisung already pulling me back to him, slightly easing up when we saw Hyunjin's familiar face. "You know, if you guys want to have a private conversation maybe be a little more quiet next time. Everyone from atop could hear you," he chuckled, walking up to me and Jisung. It was only now that Jisung let go again, seeming to realize how close we had been all this while.

"You know, you don't have to hide behind the walls, it's not like you're gonna get killed if you show your face," Hyunjin called out behind him. One by one Seungmin and Jeongin came out from their hiding place, both looking awfully uneasy, shuffling up to us as well. "Can't you guys just stay here? We'll figure out something together won't we?" Jeongin muttered, his eyes pleading for his two elder friends to stay. "I'm honestly just offended... Do you really think that lowly of us and our abilities?" Seungmin added. You could almost see the arrows shot in the elder boys' chests, hurting them more and more.

"We're sorry guys... we didn't think of all of your feelings in this. We just wanted to protect you all, and didn't consider that you would all feel this way," Chan apologized, his head hung low. Hyunjin smiled, walking up to Chan and Minho, giving the both a head chop. "Good, that's all I wanted to hear. Now, let's figure out a way to get the information together shall we?" Everyone's smiles returned, even the ones of the eldest.

Hopefully we could finally get what we needed to save everyone... especially Changbin.