Empire | ATEEZ

022

The meetings continued as they always had, and the others continued to exclude me from everything that wasn't related to injuries and wounds when they discussed the plan behind closed doors, went on their missions, and stayed out all day until sundown where they dragged themselves back to the headquarters.

They weren't letting me in on their secrets, and so, I wasn't going to tell them what I had been doing when I disappeared for hours on end either.

Seonghwa had been trying, at least. I had to admit that. And Jongho and San had both offered to help me continue my training. But none of their efforts would get me a ticket to the gala.

The only one who could help me with that was Kaito. And he did. It helped a lot, both with the pain and my nervousness, that he was both kind and funny. I had almost forgotten what having friends felt like after spending all of my time cooped up in the headquarters, only hanging out with criminals.

I had almost cried when he finally declared that it was done, pressing my face into the bench where I had spent countless hours clutching the sides and clenching my teeth through the pain of the needles piercing my skin. He had patted my shoulder and I had chuckled.

I was finally in.

The only problem was that none of the others knew it yet.

〄

But, as it turned out, I was going to have more trouble keeping it a secret than I had originally anticipated.

I had barely gotten home, barely closed the door to my room, and barely lifted my shirt to stare at the intricate artwork on my back when, suddenly, Mingi barged in mere minutes after me, both of us freezing as we took each other in with wide eyes before I scrambled to pull down my shirt and he quickly turned around, a blush on his face.

"Shit," I hissed, clenching my teeth and feeling my jaw go taut as I ran a hand through my hair. Shit.

Mingi cleared his throat, seemingly more flustered than shocked as he mumbled, "When did you get that?" carefully glancing back over his shoulder to make sure that I had my shirt back on.

"Please don't tell the others," I begged, raising my hands in surrender as the air between us went silent for a moment. He sighed.

"Nari, I have to. Hongjoong will be so mad. He never gave you permission to-"

"What about Seonghwa?" I mumbled, watching the man freeze, dirty blond locks falling into his face. I saw the opportunity, grasping it, "You know he'll be on my side."

Mingi frowned, chuckling nervously, "But," he paused, "But he didn't want you to get it either. You don't understand what that tattoo means, Nari, what kind of responsibility comes with it."

"As a matter of fact, I do," I stated, straightening myself a little as I took a step closer to him, "Besides, the tattoo won't be what we're going to be discussing if he finds out."

"What do you-?"

"I'm pretty sure he wouldn't appreciate you walking in on me naked, Mingi. How dare you?" I said, cutting him off as an idea popped into my head.

"You're not naked," he frowned, eyes widening when I pulled off the shirt again, trying to fight the blush on my face as he immediately averted his eyes from my bra. "Well, I can fix that very quickly, and, besides, if I scream, who do you think is going to be in trouble? Seonghwa won't be the only one who'll be on my side then."

"You wouldn't," Mingi breathed, still not looking at me.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," I said, clenching my fists at my sides, "I need you to trust me fully, not partially like you've been doing for the past couple of weeks. I want to work with you, to be a part of what you're doing but you won't let me."