✔ 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 [𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑒]

«... granted immunity ...»

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇 𝟐𝟏, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓. 𝟖:𝟑𝟎 𝐏.𝐌. 𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐓.

𝟏𝟎 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝟑𝟎 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐆𝐄.

The vehicles stopped with a gentle dying down of the engine. The night was clear, no clouds were visible in the sky, the moon was just waxing, and scattered stars shone carefree in the black firmament. Yeonjun, who had made himself comfortable in the passenger seat, stared up at the sky, lost in thought, counting as many stars as he could.

Twelve.

Fourteen.

Thirteen ...

"Hello? - Are you listening to me?" Soobin wiggled his hand in front of Yeonjun's nose, snapping him out of his trance.

"What?" asked Yeonjun, confused, looking at his best friend.

Baekhyun's broadly grinning face appeared next to the car, waving at them and then pointing with finger signs to the supermarket across the street. Yeonjun followed the pointing and looked at the medium-sized store before turning back to Soobin. "What did you say?" he asked the black-haired man.

"Not being on your game is a fatal mistake this night, Jun," Soobin muttered to him as a warning. "I said, Baekhyun wants to blow off some steam here." Then he stepped out of the vehicle and Yeonjun did the same.

The fresh night air hit the blond nurse right in the face and cooled his mind a bit. Soobin was right, if his thoughts strayed too far from the here and now, it could be life-threatening for him.

"I thought we'd start with something small to give the younger and newer members a taste," Baekhyun let slip.

Soobin grinned slyly as he retrieved his nail-adorned baseball bat from the vehicle still and then slammed the door. "You just want a candy bar."

"That too!" confirmed Baekhyun with a wink. He ran toward the supermarket, pulled out his handgun, and slammed the handle against the store window, which shattered with a loud clang. Yeonjun had the impression of watching a little boy getting his well-deserved ice cream from the vendor, with his mother's little won. For the young Korean with the mahogany-colored hair seemed so carefree and poised, doing every move with a broad grin on his lips.

"I'm not going to miss this," the tattooed Mino gave out, following Baekhyun at a run.

The broken glass crunched under the firm soles of his shoes, while in the background the alarm system played its orchestra with a deafening hum. Everything seemed so surreal that Yeonjun could hardly believe what was happening before his eyes.

Soobin put an arm around Yeonjun's shoulders and nodded his head toward the supermarket. "Looks like we're out of options. Fancy a candy bar?"

"What, do I look like a five-year-old?"