Answer ||| Ateez

51

The first thing Mingi registered when he started to wake up again was just how heavy he felt. Especially his head.

Opening his eyes seemed like too much effort, so he elected to just lay there and let his mind wander.

Not that there was anywhere for it to go. His mind was blank and yet full of questions. The biggest one being who was he?

He knew he should know his own name. That was common knowledge... right? So why couldn't he remember anything?

What had happened to him?

He was so scared... and there were these people who he could tell knew him, but they were tiptoeing around him for his sake.

Maybe he should be grateful about that, but right now Mingi just wanted answers more than anything else.

"Still not awake?" A gentle voice said.

"No." Another one whispered. It was closer, making Mingi think the owner was sitting right next to him. "But he's stable. I guess."

That voice... it tugged at Mingi's heart in a way that he didn't understand. He could hear every ounce of pain woven into the tone and it made him want to lean closer to him and tell him everything would be alright.

"Don't give up." The first voice said. "You heard what the doctor said."

"I know, Sangie. I just... what if it never comes back? He went through all those trials, all those years of being alone and knowing the truth, all the hurdles we put him through... for what?"

"For everything we accomplished. Hongjoong, we saved countless lives and businesses tonight. If we had let Mercer live, who knows what he would have done to this city, let alone us."

Silence fell over the couple, then a door slid open somewhere on Mingi's right.  "Hey guys." A lighter voice said.

"Hi San." The person next to Mingi sighed.

"So I had an idea, thinking back to when I used to have bad days after Mercer took control."

There was that name again. Mingi let it bounce around his head, knowing it held some sort of weight to it. The man sounded important but... was he dead? Why were they talking about him like that?

"There were some days," the third speaker continued, "that I was having a hard time getting out of that state of mind, and Seonghwa would take the time to read to me because hearing his voice was the biggest help of all."

"Thanks, San, but I-" the second voice paused, then he must have stood up quickly because the sound of chair legs scrapping angrily against the floor came next, followed by hurried footsteps out of the room.

Mingi debated on waking up and asking all the questions begging to be set free, but the door opened again only a few minutes later.

"Joong?"

"The first time I met Mingi, I had absolutely no idea who he was, but he came into the store and asked me what I was reading. He told me he had read it to someone special once, and now I realize that was me in our previous life." The man's voice trembled as he spoke, giving away the stress and pain he was feeling right now. "Maybe..."

"We'll leave you alone."

A few more minutes passed before Mingi felt a smaller hand take his own. It was a hesitant touch, one that had him imagining the boy was nervous or scared to do it, and he could feel the fingers trembling ever so slightly.

The owner of the hand let out a small side, then his angelic voice started to speak again. "I hope you can hear me, Mingi. If you can, I need you to listen to everything I'm about to say. Listen... and try to remember." The voice dropped to a whisper. "Remember me... please."