THE8 | Junhao

THIRTY - SIX

| CHAPTER THIRTY - SIX |

Minghao takes a deep breath when he shuts the door to Seungcheol's office. He stands there for a moment, closing his eyes to collect himself. His chest was heavy, and he didn't know how to feel.

He couldn't fail Seungcheol again. Not only would that be embarrassing, but it would tear down every single thing he's been trying to build up these past 2 years, one of them being no other than trust.

"You look like you walked through hell and back." Minghao raises his head, and smiles.

"Vernon."

"Been a while, huh?" The man laughs, pulling Minghao into a quick side hug. He scratches at Minghao's hair, "I missed you."

Minghao sighs, pulling away, "And the others?"

Vernon shrugs, "I don't think they know what to feel," He tells him, "I mean... one of their own literally just brought in the Seoul PD and let them attack."

Minghao looks down, "Are you mad?"

Vernon looks at him, "Just confused."

Minghao sighs, turning away.

He walks around with his hands on his hips, fingers threading in his hair, "I don't know what to do, Vernon." He shrugs, "How do I fix this? What am I supposed to say to mend things?"

"Why'd you even do it in the first place, The8?" Vernon looks at him, "I mean... you didn't even contact us... you let the police raid the building knowing your own were inside."

"I tried to warn you... I wanted to warn you."

Vernon twists his brows, "What do you mean?"

"We had to give up our phones. They took my only source of communication away..... I-I didn't have any other way to contact you guys." He slumps his shoulders.

Vernon's lips purse, "Why didn't you just ask for it back? Why didn't you just say you needed to use it for one more second?"

"That would've looked too suspicious on my part," Minghao looks at him, letting out a breath, "I had to protect myself.... I couldn't let them even catch a glimpse of my identity."

Vernon stares at him, "So you did this for yourself?" Minghao's heart falls when Vernon says this, "You risked the entirety of this gang to save your own ass?"

Minghao shudders, "Vernon, it's not.... it's not like that—"

"Look, The8, I love you, I really do." He nods, taking Minghao's hands in his own, looking him in the eye, "And I get that you need to take care of things in your life, I get that you couldn't blow your cover, but this was just low." He frowns, "You blew everyone's trust within the span of one hour."

Minghao feels his eyes beam with emotions, but he holds them back. He won't cry, he can't show much this is affecting him. He's learned to turn off his emotions by now... He shouldn't be crying as much as he has been the past few weeks.

He takes a deep breath, "What can I do to fix this?" He asks, voice small, "I've already lost a person in my life that meant the most to me," He looks at Vernon, shaking his head, "I can't lose all of you, too."

Vernon frowns, placing a hand on Minghao's shoulder, "And you won't, The8." he nods, "I'm telling you right now, we will stay by your side, no matter what. Okay?"

Minghao nods at him, "I'll be home soon."

Vernon smiles, hugging Minghao one last time. He breathes softly into the boy's neck, red hair tickling his skin, "By soon you better mean real soon." He smiles, hearing Minghao chuckle, "Your friends miss you so much."

Minghao nods, pulling away, "And I miss all of you," He smiles, "I'll be back before all of you know it, alright?"

Vernon nods, and Minghao turns on his heel. He heads for the exit of the building, zipping up his jacket at the draft in the air.

"Wait, The8." Minghao stops when Vernon speaks, turning around.

"Yeah?"

Vernon furrows his brows, thumb pointed down the hallway behind him, "Are you not gonna stop by Seokmin's?" he asks, "Or Jeonghan's, even?"

Minghao pauses for a moment, thinking, fingers dancing on the cold knob of the door. But he soon swallows down his thoughts, meeting Vernon's eyes with a forced smile, "If I'm not back in ten minutes, my unit will go ballistic."

And with that, he leaves.