GROUND ONE • LEE DONGHYUCK •

thirty-two.

SAGE PUNCHED THE BOXING BAG, SWEAT DRIPPING DOWN HER FOREHEAD.

No one had followed her to the training room, which she was thankful for. Hell, no one had knew she was even in there to follow her. She had feared that she might've blown up on one of them if she did. She spent so much time bottling up her feelings over the past few years that everything had began to come out. Sage knew she was losing control and there was nothing she could do about it.

She took once final punch to the bag, the stinging in her knuckles bringing her back to her senses. "Fuck," she muttered as she looked at the bruises and blood that had began to form from her constant punching. Sage sat down on the mat, moving loose strands away from her face.

She hadn't realized that she had began to grow tired until yawns started to escape her mouth. Before she could stand up and leave, the sound of the training room's door alerted her. Donghyuck entered wearing a pair of his basketball shorts with a tank top.

In his hands was a pair of boxing gloves that he had usually used whenever he trained with Johnny and Yuta. He looked at her appearance, his face immediately dropping once he noticed the blood seething through the cuts on her knuckles.

"Holy shit Sage," he breathed out, walking towards her. "I'm fine," she mumbled. Donghyuck crouched down and took her hand in his— the woman immediately wincing.

"No you're not. What were you thinking?"

She shrugged. "I wasn't."

"Come on, I need to put some ointment on your hands."

Sage stood up, Donghyuck placing his arm around her shoulder. "If you ever feel frustrated come talk to me okay? I don't want you hurting yourself baby."

She nodded, the two walking out of the training room. Donghyuck let go of her once they got to the stairs, letting her walk up first. The other boys were too occupied making plans, which worked in their favor. They made it to Donghyuck's room— the honey skinned boy grabbing the med kit from his desk.

Sage went to the bathroom, Donghyuck following close behind her. She sat on the counter, watching as Donghyuck opened the first aid kit. He grabbed alcohol wipes, his slender fingers grabbing her small hands. He wiped her knuckles, her fingers lightly twitching from the stinging.

"Sorry," he said softly, blowing on the cuts. A small smile painted her lips at his actions.

"What did I do to deserve you," she let out, Donghyuck looking up at her. "I should be asking you that," he replied. "I used to be a dick."

She laughed. "It's fine. I never took you serious anyway."

Donghyuck held his chest which only made her laugh more. "Come on my comebacks were good."

She tilted her head. "Were they?"

He unconsciously poked out his bottom lip, sulking as he placed the ointment onto her fingers. She watched him intently— her smile never leaving her face.

Donghyuck was interesting to her. Now that he had began to come out of his shell more, she realized that he expressed his feelings with dramatics most of the time and she loved it.

Once he wrapped her hands with bandages, she pulled him by his shirt. "Wha-"

She placed a small kiss on his lips before placing another one on his nose. "Thank you Haechan." He loved the way that name effortlessly slipped off her tongue. Like it was his actual name.

Donghyuck wrapped his arms around her as he let out a sigh. "You don't understand how hard I've fallen for you Sage."

☾

After Donghyuck had finished with her knuckles, the two had cuddled for a bit before returning back downstairs. The amount of people in the house had lessened and dinner had been cooked by Taeyong. Donghyuck fixed both him and Sage a bowl of tteokbokki with rice cakes.

Sage sat beside Mark, listening to him as he explained the plan they had came up with. "Basically we will all split into small groups. Johnny, Yuta, and Jeno will take care of anyone that's downstairs. Taeil and Jisung will try to shut down the system for as long as they can without Eve noticing, which will be hard. Renjun, Doyoung, and Jungwoo will stay outside and only come inside if someone if injured. The rest of the team will be scattered either outside or on the other floors to defend," he explained.

"That sounds like it could work," she smiled. His face became more serious, his eyes on hers. "There's one more thing Sage."

"What?"

"You would have to go against your dad and Eve. You are the only one who really knows how your dad acts. We believe that Eve might have stole characteristics from your mother also. If you can get into their mind, we can stop Ground One."

She nodded. She knew that more than likely, she would have to face her dad again. She was the only one who could into his head. After years of him fooling her, it was finally time for her to do the same to him.

"He started this because of me. It wont be hard to fool him, if he loves me that much."