1996 | Y.Jw

| 33 |

The weekly meeting started out fairly quiet, the majority of us stayed silent. Whenever I looked to Jake, Sunghoon and Soomin it was clear something was off about them. Meanwhile Lin, Emiko and Sunoo all tried to act casually.

"Is there something I'm not catching up on?" Heeseung questioned hesitantly making most of the people snap out of their trances.

"We uhm... we have to find a new place for Jiyeon to stay," Jake announced and it went dead silent in the room.

"But I thought Sunghoon enjoyed having her staying," Millie remarked with a frown and Sunghoon just quietly nodded.

"The case is..." Jake trailed off and rubbed his eyes, "I'm not sure... even I don't get this."

"The lab is searching for us," Emiko excused having Riki and Jungwon look at her with big eyes immediately, "they know where Sunghoon lives, and they know that he and Soomin has something to do with Yeon and I."

"They do what?" Jungwon questioned slowly, as I just ignored him.

"How do they know that?" Riki frowned in return and Emiko bit down on her bottom lip before looking over at me.

"Ji..." Jungwon sternly spoke.

"One of the trial cars followed Sunghoon and Soomin on their date, they drove after them from Sunghoon's house. We don't know if they know where Soomin lives as well," Emiko continued hesitantly.

"They saved us at the cliff," Sunghoon murmured as he glanced over at Jay and Heeseung, "had it not been for them, Soomin and I might as well just have been taken by them... or gotten killed."

"So... what exactly happened?" Heeseung slowly questioned with a small frown, "I need to know if someone should be grounded."

"We saved them," Emiko reasoned and Heeseung simply sneered at her in return, more in a teasing way than in a mean way.

"They knocked at least thirty armed men or so off the cliff, within fifteen minutes," Soomin spoke up and I immediately felt a poke in my thigh.

"Is that true?" Jungwon murmured near my ear and I slowly nodded, not even looking at him.

"And I know I wasn't supposed to say anything but Jiy-" Soomin started immediately having her mouth coveredby Sunghoon.

"We just need to relocate her, and it would be a great help if Jay or Millie would take her in," Sunghoon tightly smiled.

"Dude, you know my mom-" Jay started in dismay.

"Hold on... what happened to Jiyeon?" Jungwon frowned and looked over towards Soomin.

"Nothing happened," Lin waved it off, "do you perhaps see any scratches on her?"

"Soomin was there," Jungwon waved away Lin's comment and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, as I slowly sunk more and more back into the back of the couch we were sitting in.

"I can't take her in Sunghoon, I'm sorry," Millie shook her head apologetically.

"The plan was Soomin to take her, but if they know where she lives then-" Sunghoon started and Jay immediately nodded to stop him.

"I would love to take her in, but how the hell do you suppose I justify it to my mom? She doesn't even want you sleeping over for one night," Jay reminded Sunghoon, who simply pursed his lips.

"She can stay with you, right?" Sunghoon softly murmured and removed his hand from Soomin's mouth.

"She can," Soomin nodded in assurance before glancing over towards Jungwon and I, "but we need to tell him."

"Tell me what?" Jungwon's voice was remarkably stern and quite scary.

"Nothing," Sunoo excused, immediately earning a glare from Jungwon.

"Nothing happened Jungwon, seriously. I was there," Emiko stated assuringly, only getting ignored by Jungwon.

"What happened to Jiyeon?" Jungwon lowly questioned.

"She completely collapsed aft-" Soomin started, getting her mouth covered by Sunghoon's hand once again. This only resulted in Soomin glaring at Sunghoon, who only sent her an apologetic and sheepish smile.

"And you said it was nothing," Jungwon hissed as he turned to look at Sunoo, Lin and Emiko.

"She never fainted," Emiko pointed out, "she was just weak and had that headache."

"But she could've fainted," Jungwon pointed out and Lin immediately shook her head.

"Jungwon, I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure Emi and I know the best of what happens when Jiyeon overworks her skills," Lin snapped back making Jungwon frown at her, "it is the truth. She never faints. She just gets weak and sick."

"Her skills are out of shape because of that stupid bracelet," Emiko grumbled as she just rolled her eyes at Jungwon.

"Then we're not turning it off again," Jungwon announced and leaned back in his seat.

"You know what headaches she gets from that," Sunoo gasped in return, "there's a higher chance she'll faint from those."

"At some point they'll stop," Jungwon waved it off, "it won't be turned off again."

"Who are you to decide what to do about my skill?" I snorted making him glance at me, his eyes softening within seconds.

"I just want what's best for you," he murmured quietly and I simply glanced at him before hiding my bracelet away, knowing it had been turned off at the beginning of the meeting.

"You're not taking that decision," I calmly shook my head before looking over towards Soomin, "are you sure I can move in?"

"I'll figure something out," she assured with a small nod.

"You didn't get hurt, did you?" Riki quietly questioned Emiko as he looked to her with big eyes. She simply glanced at him before shaking her head.

"She basically played softball with the lab people," I pointed out and a small smile spread on her face as she looked down.

"Are you serious?" Riki excitedly questioned as his arm sneaked down to her waist in a way to pull her closer to me, "did you really?"

"Might've..." Emiko murmured and a small laugh escaped Riki.

"You're insane for that, you know?" Riki questioned and she simply shrugged.

A small smile spread on my face as I watched Riki slowly getting more and more excited by how Emiko had used her skills that night.

"He's adorably supportive of her skills, isn't he?" Lin commented and looked to me, only getting a nod of confirmation.

"Sometimes I think he might be way too supportive, but I'm not gonna comment on that," I simply shrugged and Lin only gave me a small grin in return.

I watched in amusement as Riki kept questioning Emiko on what she had done and how she had used her skills that night. Watching him slowly get more and more excited on her behalf.

"It's not that I don't like your skills," Jungwon quietly whispered making me glance at him, "I just... if they hurt you-"

"I am not keeping the bracelet turned on all day, everyday," I shook my head at him.

"No, but-" he started before cutting himself off with a sigh, "the point of us getting out from the lab was to live a normal teenage life, and not have our skills and such affect our lives and wellbeing."

"You're overreacting," I reminded him and he only let out a small sigh before running a hand through his hair.

He didn't say anything as he laid his hand in my lap, turning his stretched out palm up towards me. I quietly glanced down at it before grabbing his hand in mine, in a soft hold. Hesitantly a small smile spread on Jungwon's face as he looked at our hands, eventually turning his attention elsewhere.