1996 | Y.Jw

| 2.5 |

Not one word was exchanged between Sunghoon and Jake once Jake had let us into the house and down into the basement. The only thing that really happened was Jake hugging Lin tightly, murmuring something to her.

"Where's Sunoo?" Lin quietly questioned as she pulled away from Jake.

"He and Jungwon are at Soomin's house," Jake excused, "I've called the house and told them to come here."

"Why not just call Soomin?" I chuckled in amusement making Jake look towards Sunghoon for the first time. By the way Sunghoon quietly looked towards the ground I could immediately sense something was wrong, "what happened to her?"

"Soomin is alright," Jake assured quietly as he shoved his hands into his pockets, "but she's not able to come here tonight. I called Heeseung and Jay as well. They'll bring Riki, Xia and Kumi."

"Xia and Kumi?" Emiko frowned in confusion at Jake, who quietly nodded, "what about Millie?"

"She's upstairs," Jake assured softly.

"But why Xia and Kumi?" Lin pressed with a frown.

"We had to explain everything after you girls disappeared," Sunghoon excused quietly.

"I hear my favorite girls are back in town!" a loud voice exclaimed as the basement door opened and Millie rushed down into the basement looking at us girls with excitement before her smile dropped, "what's this? The hair? The clothes?" she questioned in shock at us, "we're giving you girls a haircut, and we're fixing those outgrown roots Emi," Millie warned and pointed to Emiko, "and that clothes... it's horrid. I sure hope you guys kept their clothes laying around."

"Sunoo didn't permit me to throw it out," Jake shook his head.

"Thank god that boy has some sense in him," Millie sighed before rushing over and pulling the three of us into an embrace, "god I've missed seeing you girls around. Everything just went bad after you left."

"Bad?" Emiko questioned and pulled away from her like Lin and I did.

"You'll see," Millie sighed as the door opened once again and Jay rushed down into the basement, Kumi following right after him.

"You weren't lying?" Jay abruptly turned to Jake.

"Apparently not," Jake shrugged, looking at us with as much confusion as Jay did.

"Do Riki, Sunoo and Jungwon know?" Jay questioned and Jake shook his head.

"I didn't explain why they had to come," Jake murmured quietly as he picked at his lips, glancing at us girls.

Barely even ten seconds passed before Xia rushed down into the basement before rushing halfway up the stairs once again.

"He was telling the truth, they're down here," Xia's voise explained in a hush and immediately Heeseung rushed down the stairs and straight towards Emiko.

What followed after down the stairs was what we least expected to see. Riki dragged his feet down. He looked like a zombie, he definitely didn't look alive. His dark hair had grown enough for it to cover his eyes partially, and his exclusively oversized and black clothing didn't change the fact that he looked like he had a constant rain cloud hanging over his head.

The glaring expression on his face changed the moment his eyes fell on Lin and I, before they trailed over to look at how Emiko pulled away from Heeseung. His eyes slowly widened and so did his mouth as he straightened his back.

"RikI!" Emiko excitedly exclaimed as she threw herself over towards Riki and embraced him tightly.

Riki's hands immediately lifted from his pockets as if he was trying to process what exactly was happening to him. But slowly the shocked expression on his face faded and the face was turned into the crook of Emiko's neck as his hands finally placed themselves on her back and pulled her into him.