The Monster From The Shadows

14. You're Bluffing

Autumn wakes up the next morning in her room with a headache. That doesn't stop her, however, from springing out of bed and checking the time.

9:06 am, it's been nine hours since I fed him.

She hurries into the kitchen to find Minwoo and Zitao snacking on the cookies she made.

"Guys!" she sighs.

They both freeze upon seeing her, guilty looks on their faces.

"They were just laying out," Zitao defends, "And you didn't say anything about--"

"You shouldn't be eating cookies for breakfast," she cuts him off, both of them visibly relax, "Tell me you didn't eat all of them though, it took me a while to find the ingredients last night and I don't have time to find more today."

They both nod and hand her the tray of cookies.

"We just got here," Minwoo informs, then frowns, "Why did it take you a while to find the ingredients? They're all in the pantry."

She smiles at him.

"They have a secret ingredient in them that I had to grow specially last night," she replies casually, then walks away with the tray in hand. She hears them gagging behind her.

"Theyre not poisoned," she calls back, stopping their gags. She continues to the room where Sungmin was being held.

The man was curled up pitifully on the floor. He raises his head when she comes in and growls.

"You feeling okay?" she asks innocently.

"No, in fact I feel like shit," he tells her harshly, "What do you want?"

"I want to know where Exo is being held and how to get them out without harming them," she answers bluntly, shifting her weight onto one leg and holding the tray on her hip.

"And what makes you think I'm going to that?" Sungmin asks sassily.

She bites the inside of her cheek and holds up the tray.

"Cookie?" she offers. He stares for a full five seconds before bursting into laughter, bending over and holding his stomach. His laughter soon turns into harsh coughs though, and he looks back up. He can't contain his laughter though, as it still continues to slip out.

"You're bribing me with cookies?!" he laughs.

She keeps a straight face, and he stops laughing.

"Do you seriously think that will work?" he asks.

"Not cookies alone," she starts, but he begins to snicker again.

"What, do you have some brownies to offer me as well?" he scoffs.

"I'm bribing you with the antidote," she answers sharply, causing him to shut up. He looks shocked.

"What are you talking about?"

"After I had an argument with Kris, I started to think if ways I could get you to willingly spill the information. After doing a bit of research, I decided that poison was the best way. I found one that takes about twelve hours to kill and that had an antidote. Last night, I fed you the poison, which I spread on the apple I gave you. I baked the antidote into these cookies, which I'm offering to give you, if you give me the information I want."

He is silent for a while.

"You're bluffing," he finally manages to stutter out. She shakes her head.

"I'm not," Autumn replies, "You said yourself, you feel like shit. That's because the poison is slowly killing your white blood cells. You have less than three hours before it becomes unstoppable, even if I were to give you the antidote."

"What makes you think that I'll tell you anyway?" Sungmin inquires, "If I die, there's no way that you could break me and you'd never get the information."

"We could grab another Super Junior member," she muses, "And then give them this deal."

His eyes widen.

"You wouldn't dare," he hisses.

"I would dare," she states, meeting his eyes, "And since it seems you don't want to give me the information right now, I'll just take my cookies and go."

She takes one and bites into it before turning to leave.

"Wait," he calls after her. She turns back, hiding her smile.

"How do I know you'll give me the antidote if I tell you?" he asks.

She frowns.

"You don't," she answers honestly, although she had every intention of giving them to him if he gave her the information, "But telling me is the only route that you'll have any chance of getting the antidote and saving any other Super Junior members."

He seems to ponder her words, then lowers his head.

"Fine," he relents , "I'll tell you."

She smiles.

"Let me grab a pen."

✴️✴️✴️

The others are eating brunch peacefully when she barges in. Three cookies were missing from the tray.

"I got the information," she announces happily, "I know where Exo is."

Everyone goes silent and stares at her.

"What do you mean Autumn?" Dasom finally asks.

She explains her plan to them, beginning to end. When she's done, she happily points to her arms, where black ink stained.

"I got all the information!" she announces again. Everyone looks amazed.

"So that's what the cookies were for?" Zitao wonders aloud.

She smiles and nods.

"Yup!"

Donghyun, Dasom, and Mrs. Wu look at each other before getting up.

"We'd better get to work getting ready then, shouldn't we?" Mrs. Wu says.

There is a chorus of agreements. The only person who is silent is Kris, who sits slumped in his seat, barely touching his food.

When everyone gets up to clean, Kris takes her away to his room.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he asks sharply, "Are you trying to get killed?"

She sighs in frustration.

"Yifan, I don't want to go through this again," she tells him softly, "I've already explained why numerous times."

"What if the plan fails Autumn?!" he hisses, "What then?"

"It won't fail Kris," she replies harshly, sick of the constent protests, "And I don't see why you're always trying to stop me. You don't flipping rule me. I have a free will too. And I understand you don't want me to get hurt, but I have people who I don't want getting hurt either. I'm willing to risk it. So please stop."

She's on the verge of tears as she leaves his room.

🐢🐢🐢
Authors note
I'm getting back on the fast update train. Jk, I don't know when the next ud is gonna be. Soon maybe, hopefully. And heyyyy, I promised action soon, and here it is!

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