×Inception× || AteezxReader FF

Ghost of the Past

Kai, who already had cuts lined across his right cheek and nose, now stands face to face with Wooyoung. This site is scary, with the same deadly look in his eyes as Mingi did, and his jaw is twitching from anger.

Kai, who is slightly hunched over, is attached to Wooyoung by his collar. Dark blood spills from his open wounds.

Woo looks over towards me, who is now engulfed in a hug from Mingi in an attempt to calm both of us down. "Cher, what do you say I do to him?" He cocks his head to the side and stares Kai down through the strands of his hair, "Shall I finish him off for you?"

I feel my whole body quivering, the memories of our past relationship have flooded I hated him, I have for a long time, but I can't watch him get beaten to death. "Woo, let's just go home," I don't dare let go of Mingi as Kai looks over at me with a curious grin, "He doesn't deserve our energy."

With a forceful shove, Wooyoung sends Kai stumbling back only to be caught by a pillar. Wooyoung who somehow managed to snag my phone back, hands it to me as Mingi pulls me away from the stage.

By now, the rest of the group is out of the restaurant looking very confused. Seonghwa is the first to step towards us and look behind us at where we just left.

"Who was it?" He asked, aiming toward any of us. three, he seemed like he thought he knew secretly.

"Let's get back to the dorms and talk there, I don't feel safe since he's back on the loose now."

—————————————————————————

On the ride home, I was flooded with questions about whether I was okay. I wasn't and that was obvious through my complete silence and on edge aura. Tears remained at the ends of my eyes, I wouldn't dare make any sort of contact with anyone in this car. The only thing I could do outside of staring at the floor was sent a quick message to Baekhyun explaining what happened.

I trusted Baekhyun heavily with this situation. He stuck through it with me throughout my whole relationship with Kai, giving me advice and eventually helping me escape him. At that time Baek wasn't as harsh as he is now, or else Kai would have definitely been dead. Baek knew exactly how to calm me down when I went through flashbacks, and I knew he would never tell anyone else what has happened. I never wanted to get into the legal issues, all because I knew the cops don't care enough. So I've avoided talking about it altogether, but I think I need to open up to Ateez; especially after the trouble, they went through for me.

As we enter back into their from, my head feels light, and my legs are weak. Everyone's smile in the room has long faded with this sudden occurrence. Taemin also stayed to find out what happened, I didn't mind because he doesn't seem like one to talk much.

I sat on the long gray couch and Seonghwa and Hongjoong both sat by my sides taking my hands into theirs. They both held me tightly acting like the safety blanket that will cover me from any danger.

(TW: Talk of sexual assault and domestic violence)

"I guess it is time for me to explain," my foot bounces up and down and my voice is quiet, "Back in high school I dated him, his name is Kim Jongin, but I have always called him Kai . . . even to this day. I was deeply in love with him, or maybe I just wanted to be in love, as time goes on I question that more. For a long time, we were very happy and healthy together, being the star couple of the year. But he started going to more parties, missing date nights, and coming home so late I wouldn't even see him some nights. I had a suspicion that he was seeing someone else, but I was too embarrassed to say anything. He started getting physical whenever he was hungover or drunk. Baekhyun was often able to beat sense into him for sometimes a month at a time. Then, I decided to finally break it off with him. I just couldn't take it," I start shaking a bit more as I near the end, Ateez, and Taemin give me reassuring smiles to show that this is a safe space to share anything, "I did it when he got home that night. He was drunk as usual. I told him out right, and he didn't take it lightly. He started overpowering me, doing things to me, I didn't want him to do. There wasn't an inch of my body left unmarked. After not responding to Baekhyuns messages asking how it went, he broke into the apartment only to find us on the bed. He beat the absolute shit out of him right there, I couldn't do anything, I was frozen solid. The last thing I remember of that night was Baek redressing me and carrying me back to his house."

The tension in the room could cut through paper. It was complete silence as the boys try to regain their composure after the horrors they just heard.  I could sense an almost deranged hunger within them all, a hunger for blood, for violence. I had seen this look in Baekhyun many times before, except his are more aggressive.

With a small cough to clear his throat, Jongho speaks first in a gentle and calm voice, "Why now of all times is he showing up?" This question made the room stir slightly.

With tear-stained cheeks and bloodshot eyes, I finally glance up from the floor to look around at all of them they are here to protect me. "I'm not sure either, I haven't seen him since that day."

Yunho stands up from his crouching position in front of me and pulls me into a much-needed embrace. His scent calms my nerves instantly, and I take a big sigh as I hold him back, "Cher, we are all here for you. Do you know that?"

I respond with more sobs, bursting out into his chest covered in a soft sweater. His hand strokes the back of my head. His head rests on top of mine. The rest of the group join in reassuring that the statement is true and huddling around to cuddle me in more. Maybe it's my emotions on a crazy roller coaster talking, but I don't think there a better group than this. At least . . . that's what I want to believe.