Promise

23: Not Too Late

Hongjoong had his arms crossed over his chest as he looked between San and Wooyoung, who both appeared rather sheepish with their heads bowed in the same manner. He had just gotten done scolding them for staying out later than anticipated, and now he was processing this new information and trying to figure out what the right move was. Hell by the looks on their faces, the bonded pair were also still trying to figure out the right answer.

"Well no matter if you take up this matter or not, you can't go looking tomorrow." Hongjoong let out in a tone that was difficult to determine. Wooyoung and San looked between each other, then back to Hongjoong with expressions that made the oldest scoff. "Yeosang's hearing appointment is tomorrow. Wooyoung, you know he wants you there, and therefore it's assumed San was going. If you stuck around a bit more earlier, you'd know its early in the morning and anticipated to last all day."

"Fuck." Wooyoung sneered under his breath, even knowing that it was heard loud and clear. He shifted his weight on his feet, looking down at his knee which was starting to become sore.

Hongjoong, and quite frankly San, didn't know what to do with that reaction. It was hard to tell if it was meant for what Hongjoong said, or Wooyoung's injury. Either way the leader knew he had to say something.

"I'll be honest, I'm not entirely comfortable with you both going out to do this. We agreed on no more missions earlier." He paused to take a breath, features turning from stern to understanding. "But I can see how you guys would want to go and help. I get it. But just not tomorrow."

"This girl might not have until the end of tomorrow." Wooyoung let out, at first voice full of sass, but it died down quickly. "But yeah...Yeosang is obviously way more important."

Eyes widened upon hearing the name Wooyoung said. Even Wooyoung himself had to pause and process that he didn't even hesitate about not saying the olders nickname, instead confidently saying his real name like nothing. It kind of made him realize, maybe he didn't need to use the nicknames anymore with the others. He trusted them all with his life at this point, and it honestly was starting to feel more comfortable this way.

"I'll see if there's anything I can do in the meantime." Hongjoong tried to get back on topic, pushing the good shock out of the way for now. "Can I see that phone number? I can probably look some things up with that along with her name."

"Yeah, here." San dug through his pocket to hand Hongjoong the paper with the information. Then he turned to Wooyoung with a tired smile, noticing the smaller looked more tired than he felt.

"You know, Mingi and I could go looking." The three turned in surprise to the couch, there Yunho spoke up from, currently sitting with his arm around the mentioned.

"I forgot you two were there." Hongjoong said to himself, shaking his head as he looked over to the couple. "Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

"There was no reason to." Mingi answered as he stretched his arms over his head, standing up afterwards and therefore detaching himself from Yunho. He walked over to the others, Yunho quick to get up and follow. He turned to the other bonded pair with a reassuring smile. "We'll look into it, so you guys don't have to worry."

"Yeah, we're probably better at detective work anyways." Yunho chuckled a little as he once again slung his arm over Mingi's shoulder. San was about to say something, but was cut off before he even got the chance to speak. "Oh be quiet, we're all good in our own way. But you can't deny that Mingi and I are better out in the field."

"Mingi, are you going to be alright going out?" Hongjoong questioned, worried about his health and condition. "And Yunho, I thought you were the most for not going on anymore missions for a while?"