Rebirth; A New Age || seongjoong || ATEEZ

Chapter 13 : Over? Over.

"What do you mean they left?"

Wooyoung's voice rang out a lot louder than he probably intended to despite the unbelieving airy tone. Seonghwa would never be able to forget the look on the younger's face when the words slipped through his loose lips the second Wooyoung was able to pull him from the ground and demand an explanation as to what was happening. He claimed it was one thing for Seonghwa to be crying, but it was a whole other thing for Hongjoong to even shed a single tear.

Seonghwa didn't even have time to regard San before the dark-haired man was running off somewhere the older didn't even see because Wooyoung looked like he was about to faint and start crying at the same time. It didn't even occur to him that he had even said something until Hongjoong was right behind him, shoving him forward by his shoulders.

"Why did you tell him?" He asked with a scandalized tone, the redness of his eyes seemed to have only grown more vibrant.

"I didn't even ... what?" Seonghwa jerked his head between the two of them. So many thoughts were running through his mind and if he was honest, he was still trying to keep the image of what Yeosang and Jongho looked like plastered to his brain and he was afraid if he didn't think about them for a split second the memories he had would suddenly disappear and he would no longer have any way to get them back.

"You told them- you just let the words slip out like it was nothing!"

Seonghwa's mouth dropped open, stepping backward and tried to wipe at his swollen eyes. "I didn't mean to ... I- it just came out I didn't... He was bound to figure it out at some point why should I lie and tell him that everything is fucking fine when the hell it isn't!"

"At least say it with some dignity next time!"

The turn of Hongjoong's behavior had thrown Seonghwa for a little bit of a loop. His brain was still sluggish from the previous events but also because he had stayed up most of the night without even blinking his eyes that stung due to being so dry. In his defense, he didn't even hear the words come out of his mouth and he hadn't even realized he said something until he saw Wooyoung's face drop like he was going to be sick and then San disappearing from sight. But even then, he wasn't prepared for Hongjoong's angry onslaught of emotion. It seemed just one moment ago the two of them were sitting in the silence of the morning trying to process that two of their group mates chose a selfless and dangerous path, comforting each other in a way that only they could.

But now it was back to the vicious fighting, one wrong move and it set one of them off.

"Don't yell at me! This isn't the time for this, I'm still trying to process that they're gone," Seonghwa tried to push back, wanting to get up in Hongjoong's face but his body refused to move.

"You're trying to process?" Hongjoong took a step back this time, raising his hand up and pointing once again out to the horizon line where the two of them would be somewhere. "You didn't know them like I did! You have no right to say that you're trying to process it when-"

"You know what Hongjoong? That's really fucking low of you," Seonghwa's fists clenched together to the point where they became numb. At this point, neither of them were doing a good job at being quiet and there was no doubt that everyone had heard their conversation by now, let alone Wooyoung who was still standing there in the complete dark as they yelled at each other.

"Enough!"

Both of them turned to see Wooyoung looking at them with his nose scrunched and his hands balled up, looking about as angry as he could get.