Please make sure you read the last two chapters to understand everything that is going on.
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Slowly waking up, all Hwara can feel is the chilling metal surrounding her as she lays down, freezing her skin more in the already-cold room. She slowly opens her eyes, trying to find some source of light so she can see around the room.
Nothing.
Realizing that she's in a dark metal room, she tries calling out for someone.
"I-Is anyone here?"
Despite her voice echoing across the seemingly vast room, she's only met with silence. She's alone, and the fear of being alone in the dark slowly starts to rise in her. Memories she tries to avoid while awake slowly resurface into her mind, increasing her fear. Panic rises in her as her breaths start to shorten.
At first, it starts off small—just quick intakes of breath. Soon, she feels like she can't breathe at all. Gasping for air as shivers rack her body, she shuts her eyes tightly while clawing at her throat, needing air. Her head pounds with dizziness, spinning in the darkness.
She needs someone—anyone. She needs Jisung.
Jisung
The unresponsive soulmate bond instills more fear in her—the fear that something happened to him.
At the worst moment possible, pain flashes through her head as a new memory surfaces.
"Hwara! I know you don't trust us yet but I need you to breathe, okay?!" one of her brothers yells.
Breath, she thinks, trying anything at this point, desperate for the feeling to stop.
She's all alone, facing her biggest fear with no help, being observed unknowingly by the man she hates most, not knowing what to do.
On the other side of the wall of the room, two people watch the girl.
"She's pathetic," Lee Taejin scowls, not caring as his own daughter goes through her first attack in years.
Miyeon, handcuffed to the table to make sure she doesn't escape and help the poor girl only looks away, not being able to witness the sight of her former best friend breaking.
If only she could help.
***
Back at the NCT base, only half of the members are present, careful not to leak any more crucial information while feigning innocence to Octris.
The leader himself sits in his room, honing in his acting skills while trying not to freak out about his missing sister and her soulmate.
"Taeyong, I just got back from calling. Everyone's too busy," Jaehyun says, quickly opening up the door with a smile on his face. He nods his head, signaling to the leader that everything is a success.
