Within These Walls || YuTaeSol [LOCKED Series; BOOK 1]

4 | Don't

May have many errors because I did this late at night. Please correct me whenever you can. Thank you.

*****

"How did it go?"

Taeyong shuffled his feet, and rubbed his cold hands together, trying desperately to shake off the nervousness in him. The office in which he stood was warm when he entered, but dropped a few degrees when his eyes had to (eventually) meet the CEO's.

"He's good." He replied curtly.

The suited man opposite him gave him a piercing stare. "Excuse me?"

"He doesn't remember anything, sir." The idol said, his voice wavering unsteadily at the last word. On stage he's charismatic, with his loved ones he's chic, but in front of the man he's working under, that's a different story.

Mr. Lee, as it says on the gold name tag on his large desk, walked around his work area to Taeyong. He (somehow) managed to stand his ground as his superior circled him, like a vulture flying over its deceased prey.

"Is that really it?" He asked in a mocking way. Taeyong lowered his gaze, both in fear and shame. After getting no answer, the senior continued to mock him. "I would've expected someone like you to mess up."

At that vain attempt of an insult, Taeyong reacted as if he had been offended. He grabbed the collar of the suited man with both hands and pushed him back to his desk, pressing himself against the older. "Don't you ever look down at me." He said, letting the acidic anger drip from his voice. "Remember who I am to you, and it'll keep you safe. Got that?"

Mr. Lee stared back at the burning eyes that seems to be bulldozing his guard. He tried to keep the look going, but resigned when he reminded himself that he needed to breathe.

"T-Taeyong," Mr. Lee addressed him in a more soothing tone this time, mostly in an attempt to let him take in some oxygen. "Let go of me. We h-have to discuss business now."

***

"Hey, Yuta."

Taeyong waited at the door for a moment. He wanted to knock again when he got no answer, but decided not to, just in case the boy inside the room was sleeping. Instead, he opened the door with the room's pass card that he got from Mr. Lee, and entered without hesitation. He set the two water bottles he's been holding down on the table next to the doorway and looked around the room, which was when he noticed Yuta sitting on the floor with his arms encircling his knees.

The sight before him reminded him of professional soccer players. They would sit with their legs crossed, heightened in a way that would act as a shield to cover up their bulky bodies. It was only when he neared him that Taeyong realised that no, he wasn't wearing that. Not his usual lousy shirt and shorts, not his pyjamas. Yuta was dressed, bottom to top, in his birthday suit.

Taeyong awkwardly stood a metre away from the naked boy, and he would be lying if he claimed that his lungs weren't struggling at the sight. It was another difficulty to just stop staring and do something productive. He wondered what he should do. Cover him up with some sort of clothing or call out and tell him to get dressed?

The second option seemed the best out of the two, since the first will only encourage him to go to sleep under the warmth of any sort of clothing (explain how tired he really was, both mentally and physically). Making Yuta fall asleep would be the last thing the older would want, since his soul purpose was to make sure the younger is as active as possible. The first few days of sleep were rest purposes only. Now it's time to get him in shape, not that there's anything out of shape about Yuta.

In fact, it was the exact opposite of what Yuta should've turned out like. People who knew him expected him to come back with an inflated body, but little did they know. The Japanese boy's abdomen stubbornly held its flat physique and his skin quickly regained its glow, despite how tired his face seemed. Taeyong vividly remembers how Yuta's soft skin was under his lips the other day, and without knowing, he reached out to touch his face.

As Taeyong slowly stroked the Yuta's skin, he turned around and for the first time, noticed the older's presence beside him. There was no emotion in the gaze he delivered. His unmoving pupils presented a black hole, completely void in his own thoughts.

"Are you Ji Hansol?" He spoke softly, a hint of broken dignity evident in his voice. Something inside Taeyong tugged at his heart and he wanted to lie, in return for the spot in the brunette's that heart that was already taken. But he knew won't and can't.

"No." Taeyong replied in almost a whisper.

"Then don't touch me." Yuta said immediately after the reply, as if he had rehearsed himself. The younger's stubborn voice made Taeyong retract his hands.

To clear the thick fog of awkwardness that had blanketed them in the matter of a few seconds, Taeyong cleared his throat. He lowered himself to a squat position on the floor next to Yuta at the base of his bed, his elbows resting on his thighs.

"So...how're you feeling? Better?" He asked tentatively. Yuta sniggered.

"Yeah...alright I guess."

"Really?"

Yuta rotated his body to face his hyung, not-so-accidentally letting the older have a plentiful sight. "Have you never experienced sarcasm?" He asked rhetorically and turned back around before the older could spot the red tint on his cheeks after he saw the older's speechless reaction.

The two boys sat in silence, but it wasn't as uneasy as before. While Yuta stared out the wide balcony with the buzzling streets of Gangnam under it, Taeyong took his time wondering what the brunette currently had in mind. Probably nothing, knowing as most of his memories has been wiped out on that fateful day. Probably too many things, since a human mind can travel to infinite destinations all the while without taking a single step.

"Do you know where Hansol is?" Yuta looked at the older seriously. Taeyong was taken aback by his sudden outburst of curiosity, though he knew the younger would've fired such a question. From the look Yuta was giving him, he knew he wasn't going to tolerate any kind of twisty u-turns nor roundabouts to the answer he was craving for.

Taeyong quickly brainstormed for a believable statement. "H-Hansol?" He knitted his eyebrows in an attempt to look clueless. "I wouldn't know..."

"Then what would you know?" The younger sighed exasperatedly. He turned to Taeyong again. "Who are you anyway? Why do you keep approaching me? Where am I?"

Taeyong visibly tensed and didn't make eye contact. Because he knew, that his eyes would give away everything he's been harbouring for too long. He could hear Yuta inhale, but it wasn't to shoot more questions.

"Who am I?"

*****

Updates for this book after the publication of this chapter will be after my exams. Thank you for being patient and supportive of this book (it really means a lot to me).