𝗗𝗘𝗝𝗔-𝗩𝗨 | ᴀᴛᴇᴇᴢ

𝗙𝗜𝗙𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡 ─ 𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗘𝗘𝗟𝗦 𝗔𝗦 𝗜𝗙

They were traversing the long and asphalted road leading to the long and paved street conducting to the focal point of Seodaemun-gu and the group was awfully silent. Somi was behind the men, her head in the clouds as she looked at her surroundings, hoping to find something helpful, despite knowing that, if that ever happened, she would've certainly been invested in a new déjà-vu, and that was exactly her goal. From the corner of his eye, Mingi, who was behind all of his friends, noticed how the girl's stare was darting in every direction and slowed his pace to reach her side. 

Somi was looking to her left when he spoke and his voice arrived in her right ear, "Is this your first time here?" He asked with a soft voice so that the others couldn't hear him.

The blonde girl turned to face him with her eyes gaping at the stupor that someone in the group was talking to her. After she realised it was Mingi the one who posed the question, she smiled, "I hung out a couple of times with my friends from high school. It's been a lot since then and a lot has changed, I can say."

"Ah, yes. Things are always hectic here." He lightly chuckled. The following seconds were filled with a silence that quickly began to burden his shoulders, leaving the embarrassment growing on them as time passed.  He cleared his voice and searched for any topic to use as an excuse to have a conversation with her, "I'm sorry." He whispered.

His sudden apologies made Somi frown her eyebrows, "About what?"

"About the quarrel between Wooyoung and me. You shouldn't have heard it."

"I'm not a kid, I don't develop a trauma after hearing an argument. I'm grown enough to know how to handle them. Moreover, I totally comprehend Wooyoung's point of view." She finally reassured him. 

"However," He marked, "He shouldn't have started shouting, and should at least excuse himself."

The furrow on her forehead deepened, but it soon got replaced by a scoff that caught Mingi's attention. Somi covered her mouth for a brief second before explaining the reason for her action, "Actually," She pressed her lips together to refrain her laugh from coming out, "He did apologise." 

Mingi halted his steps, "Really?! That dumbass didn't say anything to anyone."

Somi nodded, "And that's when I acknowledged that Hongjoong and Yeosang were tracking Jongho's movements." She revealed whilst she kept her index finger straight to point at the sky, like a teacher with the students when recommending something. 

Mingi threw his head back so that his face was entirely facing the sky, an incredulous smile let his teeth peek from behind his plump lips, "This is hilarious." He commented, "Well, at least I know that you're not spying on us." And patted her shoulder. "Let's go, or the others will leave us behind." He spurred, referring to the fact that they had slowed down their pace a bit too much while the group was proceeding at a moderate speed. Both of them quickened their steps and reached the rest of the group, Hongjoong and Yunho were chitchatting, just like Seonghwa and Wooyoung while San and Yeosang were walking one beside the other silently and with their lips pressed together into a thin line, clear sign of their anger.  

In twenty minutes, they reached the centre of the district and the girl immediately spotted the place where her vision had taken place. Her eyes fixated on that area, under that tree that had received her attention, resulting in her not catching a single word of Hongjoong's instructions about splitting and perlustrating different corners. She waited for the others to begin their duty before crossing the street and reaching the tree. Instinctively, she firstly looked at the sky, wondering why Jongho had spent time looking at the ground around him and it soon became clear: he was making sure he wasn't under none of the CCTVs that could record him and that tree was perfectly covering him. Then, she checked the floor with not much hope, since days had passed since the last time he was there and the local services probably had cleaned the streets, and she was right, there was nothing on the floor, not even a speck of dust.