ʟᴀ ᴄᴏꜱᴛᴀ | ɴᴄᴛ ✔️

Chapter 15: I Had An Audience

7:03 PM

All of the boys began trickling into the pool area, where you sat on a reclined chair, bouncing your leg out of anxiety for what was soon to come, and seeing each boy with more or less confused expressions made that anxiety ramp higher than it already was.

"How is he gonna tell us to come down here when he's not even here himself?" You heard Haechan ask aloud.

"Who, me?" Chenle looked up from the concrete. "Because I've been here, so I dunno what you're on about."

"Well, what's going on? Why do you need us down here?"

"I don't need y'all here. She does." Chenle pointed to you, and Haechan's face displayed an even more confused expression. "But...why? I'm not getting it..."

"You'll see." You stated lowly, keeping your eyes on the doors to the hotel. "He still ain't here yet..."

"I called on him last." Chenle let you know.

"Called on who- why the fuck are you guys talking in code?!" Haechan grew frustrated.

"She said you'll see, man!" Jisung rolled his eyes. "Go sit somewhere and wait."

Under a cloud of grumbling, Haechan bypassed the group around you to take a seat in another empty chair. All the while, your leg never stopped bouncing – if anything, it had sped up.

Jaemin picked up on that and placed his hand on your thigh. "Remember what I told you earlier: You're not in this alone. You got me, and you got all of them." Jaemin referred to the group standing around you.

"And I just wanna say, Y/N," Hendery leaned into your ear. "I never really liked Taeyong all that much; he always gave me some off vibes..."

"You too?" Yangyang raised an eyebrow at Hendery. "I thought I was tweaking for a while..."

"Nope, you were never tweaking." Hendery shook his head. "A couple of the other guys feel the same way – I know Winwin, Kun, and Lucas are a few..."

"I guess our numbers ticked up then." Yuta shrugged.

"Y/N!" You heard Ten shout your name as he ran into the pool area from the hotel. "Taeyong's on his way! I just saw him step off the elevator!"

"Fucking finally." Chenle smacked his teeth. "I told that man to come down here like twenty minutes ago..."

"I bet you he was probably mentally preparing himself," Jisung commented. "Wait, who has the camera?"

"I do, here," Shotaro piped up, pulling the device from his hoodie pocket and handing it to you. "I saw one pic and wanted to puke..."

"Shit, I did puke." Sungchan snickered. "Really shouldn't have eaten eggs before looking at those..."

While some of the boys were still talking, your eyes veered off to the hotel doors again, and your blood began boiling at the sight of Taeyong coming to the pool with his hands in his pockets. "Chenle?" He started looking around for the boy he called for, tapping Doyoung on his shoulder. "You seen Chenle anywhere?"

"I'm right here, motherfucker." Chenle spat at Taeyong loud enough for him to hear – hearing him curse made a few of the guys' heads turn in your general direction.