Savage || Lee Haechan

Chapter 4 | "not in the mood"

"How bad is it, Shotaro?" Taeyong asked nervously as the younger boy patched up her wounds.

"She'll be fine. I stitched up her knife wound and stopped the bleeding."

"And my neck?" She asked nervously, still feeling the lingering stinging sensation from the brand.

"I don't know. It will heal, but it might leave a scar." Shotaro said with a sympathetic glance, dipping his head to the two of them as he left Taeyong's office.

"So, tell me again what he said to you?" The older boy asked, taking a seat across from her.

"He said he was delivering a message from someone he referred to as the 'higher one', um and then he said that the hunt starts now. And we should watch out because we won't know when they're coming." She said with a shiver.

"Is that all?"

"Yeah. Then he just said he was giving me a gift so we wouldn't forget and the branded my neck with this snake symbol." She sighed, gesturing to the dark serpent embossed on her skin.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Minji, we thought we cleared everyone." He said with a sympathetic glance. "I'm just glad you're alive."

"Ah come on, Tyongie, you know me. I've been stabbed more times I can count." She said jokingly, lighting up the mood. "It'll take a lot more than a knife and some hot metal to kill me." She chuckled lightly, hissing as the movement stung her side.

"Minji, don't do that." Taeyong said seriously.

"Do what?"

"Don't pretend to be invincible. You're not. And you don't have to be."

"I'm fine, Taeyong. I can handle this." She said with a smile.

"I didn't say you couldn't handle it." He replied, his eyes pleading with her. "But handling something and pretending it doesn't exist are two different things."

Minji gulped, the smile fading off of her face.

"I don't know why you're telling me this." She mumbled quietly, looking at the ground.

"You know why. I worry about you, don't go reckless again."

Her gaze instantly shot up to Taeyong's, his expression soft as tears began to well in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." He said, quickly walking to her and pulling her into a side hug as she blinked away the tears.

"It's fine. I get it, you're right."

"Just be careful." He said with a small smile. "Take it easy and let yourself heal. Don't be stupid. Whatever's coming for us is gonna be rough and I need you at your best."

"Yes sir, leader Taeyong." She joked, nudging him in the side. "Can I go now?"

"Sure." He nodded, releasing her from his grip as she stood and made her way out of his office. "But no training for a week!"

"Yeah yeah I got it." She yelled from the hallway, causing the older boy to laugh as he settled back down by his desk and got to work trying to figure out who had attacked her.