𝗗𝗘𝗝𝗔-𝗩𝗨 | ᴀᴛᴇᴇᴢ

𝗘𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 ─ 𝗕𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗧𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡

Silence fell inside the room. Somi was too startled by the words San had just pronounced to realise that Mingi had placed a glass of water before her to drink. Those she had just heard were the exact same words she had listened to in one of her visions. However, what worried her the most was that, what she had viewed in that déjà-vu, was developing in front of her eyes backwards and forwards: just as she "predicted" she was surrounded by seven different faces belonging to seven different men, the only difference from before was that, now, she knew all their names. Was that supposed to mean something? Was there a hidden message behind all of her déjà-vu's?

If so, something tremendous was going to happen.

Her fingers were trembling, and her eyes had become glassy and were staring at an undefined point in front of her on the table. Yunho was the first one to notice the change in her expressions, but soon they turned to be so evident that even the others caught them.

San frowned, "Did I say something wrong?"

Yunho shook his head, "It seems as if she's having a panic attack?" He attempted to clarify the situation, despite knowing as much as the others.

Wooyoung murmured, "Maybe she needs some more time to rest?"

Hongjoong hit the table with the palm of his hand and gritted his teeth, "She slept for an entire day. I think it's more than enough rest."

Somi exhaled a weak pant that made everyone focus back on her. She gulped the most enormous lump in her that she had ever felt and looked at Hongjoong with a faint smile, "I'm sorry." She began while tightening her hands into fists to conceal her quivering, "I don't think I can help you. I haven't paid attention to who your friend left with."

Hongjoong let his head fall between his arms, exhausted and disheartened. Nonetheless, he wasn't the type of guy to give up that easily, especially when one of his comrades was involved in something unknown to him, that inevitably created a bad feeling which would've ended up clenching his stomach. "Jeon Somi," he called her to obtain her attention, but also to show her that they had already collected  some information about her, "We won't force you." He claimed while lifting his shallow and emotionless eyes that made the girl shiver, "But let me assure you that you'll work with us of your own free will."

─↻─

A whole week had passed since Somi's encounter with Ateez. Luckily none of them showed up in her apartment to convince her to cooperate with them, and the girl was grateful for it since it proved to her that they stick to their words and weren't trying to pressure her to the point where she would've to give up and indulge their will out of despair. Still, she couldn't ignore the sense of uneasiness twisting her insides whenever she was alone by the streets that made her always walk with her guard up, scared someone might jump out of a bush and kidnap her. 

The member that intimidated her the most was Hongjoong: his way of being straightforward and clear with his words and his ability to anticipate everyone's moves were only a few of the traits Somi managed to capture in that hour she had spent in his company but were enough to learn that Hongjoong wasn't someone to mess around with and that could actually turn out dangerous if provoked him in the wrong way.

However, someone she couldn't forget was also the Yunho guy, whose skill to read everyone's expression as if they were open books didn't pass unnoticed to Somi and helped her understand that no lie would've crossed his barrier and, probably, that had already happened when she claimed to not have paid attention to the guy their friend left with. After all, it was a falsehood.

She comprehended their reasons and their rush to move as soon as possible to find their comrade, but Somi much rathered not being involved in gangs and illegal stuff in general. For that, she decided to serve them a lie and leave, hoping they wouldn't have searched for her.