Ishihara // ATEEZ ✔

30 Emergency

Yunho steps out of the shower, drying his hair in the process. He wraps himself with a bathrobe, peeking through the crack of the open door. He looks from left to right, but he sees no one in the hallways. Not even a single soul. He has wanted to step out of the room since noon, but he feels like it's not his place to do so. He does remember vaguely two people coming to visit, inviting him over for breakfast, but he was too groggy to reply properly. He probably looked like an idiot when he mumbled a reply. The moment he closed the door, he slept again like he never slept in a million years. He woke up with a jolt at around 3p.m., disturbed by a nightmare but was relieved to find himself in an unfamiliar but safe place. He only paced inside the room, wasting time while waiting for anyone else to knock on his door, but no one ever did. He didn't even get to see Akira. He didn't have breakfast, and lunch was out of the question.

He steals a glance to the wall clock, and sees that the minute hand is almost approaching 4:30p.m. Would it be rude of him to just barge into the kitchen, asking them to feed him?

"No, that would probably be rude." He debates with himself. "But I'm so hungry." He pouts. "Where is Akira when you need her? Maybe I should just-" The sound of a ringing bell stops him short. He starts to panic as it sounds like a call for war. He looks out the window, and he can see a bunch of people making their way to the main building. He counts the number of people, and notes that there are 7 and it includes someone who seems to be Akira. Two of them are even running; they look like they're in a hurry. "Ah!" He snaps his fingers, smiling to himself as he feels like he could be the smartest in the world. "The bell must be a sign for some kind of emergency and that's why they're running." He doesn't dwell on anything longer as he decides to follow them.

He darts through the hallways, making notes of the layout of the palace. He receives a couple of good stares from the maids and servants in the palace but he is too absorbed in finding the right way, so he doesn't notice. He also fails to notice that no one else is running when he thinks it's an emergency. He makes a guess on where they could've gone, and heaves in relief when he sees the same people filing into a room behind large doors. He shouts out Akira's name, but it seems that none of them hear him. He practically slides across the palace floors as he grabs the door handle just before it closes.

"Akira!" is the first word he shouts as soon as he enters the room. She turns around almost immediately, but her jaw drops faster than she can turn.

The rest of the men turn around at the call too, and they give various reactions. Mingi whistles at the sight, Seonghwa widens his eyes, Hongjoong and Jongho manage to shake their head, Yeosang shows an impressed face, Wooyoung tries to hold back his laughter but fails while San, who just emerged from the kitchen, utters, "These Lucida people are definitely a different breed."

"Lieutenant, with all due respect, what the fuck do you think you're doing?" She goes over to his side, intending to push him out of the hall. She laughs nervously. "If you may excuse me, I need to deal with him for a bit. I'll be right back." She motions for him to get out with her eyes, but he fails to get the signal.

"But I thought there was an emergency, so I came here as fast as I could."

"There's no call for emergency, that was the bell for tea, you idiot."

"Oh." He straightens up his lean body. "Then that's good. I'm really hungry, you don't know how long I've been waiting for you-"

"You're running around the palace in a freaking bathrobe!"

"Eh?" He looks down before clapping his hands once in realization. "I forgot to change out of it when I heard the bell. The bathrobe is pretty comfortable, though."

"Jeong Yunho-"

"Care to join us?" Wooyoung pulls out a chair.

The rest have already taken a seat at the table, including San. He orders for one of the maids to bring in their spread for today. Wooyoung is smirking at the two of them, amused by the sight in front of him. Nothing could have made the general more flustered than the lieutenant himself.