~<*>~ Music in me: seventeen fan-fiction ~<*>~

Chapter 10

A few hours before his death, Woozi was waiting impatiently at his apartment. Wonwoo should've been here already, but the black-haired male with glasses is nowhere to be seen. Sighing, Woozi picks up his phone and sends a message to his friend.

To Wonwoo
Uhh, will you come please? I'm waiting for you. We would go togheter, remember?

The message is send, but Wonwoo hasn't read it yet. Where could the male be? Woozi decides to wait a few minutes longer and he starts scrolling on his phone. But after half an hour, Wonwoo still hasn't showed up, which makes Woozi irritated.
"Fine, I'll go by myself then." he sighs. Woozi knows that Scoups doesn't want anyone to go by themselves for their own safety, but it's four in the morning, the sun hasn't even come up yet, what could possibly happen? And besides, Dino was attacked last evening, so Woozi believes that Stray kids has gone back to wherever they live. It's not like Woozi can't defend himself. The black-haired male puts on his jacket and walks out into the darkness. Woozi enjoys the vibes from a city that still has to wake up, he loves to watch the sun rise on his favorite spot, the park. You can see the bridge, the lake, it just looks perfect to Woozi. It wouldn't surprise Woozi if Wonwoo is still sleeping. But the male isn't going to wake him up, Woozi doesn't have to walk for a long time. With his hands in his pockets, Woozi walks into another street, where he suddenly spots some males. Woozi tries to count them, but the darkness makes it impossible. In an hour, the sun will rise. But Woozi doesn't have an hour. Looking closely, Woozi sees something reflecting the streetlight. It's a knife, and the redish color of blood is still on the object. Silently gasping, Woozi realizes that there is a high chance that this is Stray kids. These people have harmed Dino not too long ago, why would they still hang out so close to the place where it happened? Cursing, Woozi notices that he doesn't have a weapon on him right now, which means that he's pretty vulnerable. Because Woozi is standing there for a while, the males notice him and slowly walk over to the black-haired boy. Woozi wants to run away and save himself, but he doesn't want to be a coward. Woozi will fight for his life, he will try to take as many out as he can. And if that means that he will die right now, then so be it. Woozi inhales deeply while watching the guys come over. They are all grinning and Woozi notices someone is missing a tooth.
"Hi Hyunjin." Woozi grins. The masked boy stops for a brief moment while they all look at each other confused and surprised. Woozi likes the fact that he at least surprised them. Now he can die in style. Grinning, Woozi steps closer to Hyunjin.
"I'm sorry, I don't have any money. But you don't believe in the tooth fairy anymore, do you?" Woozi mocks him. If he can earn some time by harming their ego, then he has to at least try.
"Oh, you're going to regret this." Hyunjin grins while taking the knife from someone else. He runs over to Woozi, but the black-haired male is smart enough to jump away.
"At least give me a knife too, boys!" he shouts, and to his surprise, someone actually throws one to him. Turning to Hyunjin, Woozi flips his knife into his hand and walks over to the salmon-haired boy slowly, making him nervous. Once again, Hyunjin runs over to him, wanting to stab the knife into Woozi's body, but Woozi jumps away again and is able to give Hyunjin a cut on his arm. Woozi finally believes that he still has a shot, as long as he keeps thinking.
"Bye bye, loser." Hyunjin suddenly grins while Woozi feels a horrible pain in his eyes. Someone stabbed him from behind, right in his eyes which makes Woozi go blind. The black-haired male expected the boys to kill him eventually. Trying to scare them one last time, Woozi is smiling while he falls to the ground and feels the aching pain of knives stabbing in his flesh. Woozi can only hope that his death was worth it.

~<*>~

Wonwoo is pulling Dino into their meeting room. He feels sad and stressed, but most of all, Wonwoo feels guilty. He should've been there when Woozi needed him. He was supposed to pick him up, but Wonwoo forgot. Now Woozi is dead, and it's all his fault. Checking his phone, Wonwoo realizes that Woozi even sent him a message. With tears in his eyes, he puts his phone away. The black-haired male with glasses can't bear it. Dino gently squeezes Wonwoo's hand to give him some comfort, but the male is lost in thought.
"Hey, are you allright?" the brunette asks. Wonwoo shrugs and looks him in the eyes.
"I'm alive. But I have the feeling that I don't deserve to be that." he admits. Dino pouts and tilts his head a little.
"It's not your fault. You had to stay with me, right? And besides, Stray kids is the one who killed him." Wonwoo sighs and looks down.
"If you say so." he says while walking to the other members. Everyone is silently standing around the table where Woozi is laying on. There is a white towel placed on his eyes and Wonwoo is glad they did because now he doesn't have to look Woozi in the eyes. The poor male has been stabbed a lot, you can see it in his wounds. But it kind of freaks Wonwoo out to see Woozi smiling. It's like he's sleeping peacefully. Looking down, Wonwoo feels a tear rolling down his cheek. He doesn't even dare to look at the other members. He feels too guilty to even cry about it, so the male quickly wipes his tears away. Dino is looking at Wonwoo with a worried expression, but he decides to ignore the brunette. After a while, Wonwoo finally has the courage to look around. Every member is either staring at Woozi or staring at the ground, but none of them are looking at each other. Wonwoo notices Scoups hugging Jeonghan and Hoshi, while crying himself. It hurts the black-haired male to see his leader cry. Knowing this is all his fault, Wonwoo steps back a little. All this sadness and all this pain, it's caused by him. Wonwoo releases Dino's hand and walks away. Some members look at him surprised, but Wonwoo ignores them all and keeps walking. When he reaches the other room, where nobody can hear him, Wonwoo breaks down. The black-haired male with glasses falls to the ground and grabs his knees with his hands. His sobs echo through the room and tears are rolling down his cheeks. He doesn't wipe them away now, no one is seeing him anyways. Wonwoo thinks about every memory he has made with Woozi and he can only blame himself for the fact that he can't make any more with him. Wonwoo is laying on the floor, sobbing, for a few hours. When he stands up, his eyes are red from crying and his body is hurting. But that is nothing compared to Woozi.

Wonwoo is walking through the city. It's weird to see how life just goes on. There are people running and laughing, they are all living. And none of them has even the slightest idea of what has happened last night. No one will notice that somebody died today. Wonwoo hates them for that. He walks over to the park and notices that Dino is already sitting on the bench. Confused but surprised, Wonwoo places himself next to him. Dino glances at him, but looks at the bridge again.
"What brings you here?" Wonwoo asks curious. Dino smiles and answers without looking at Wonwoo.
"I can calm down here. It brings me peace and I like the silence here." he says. Wonwoo smiles as well.
"This was Woozi's favorite spot." Wonwoo states. It hurts him to says 'was' instead of 'is'. Dino nods and together, they look at the lake and the bridge.
"I recognize you from somewhere, but I can't tell you because I don't know." Dino says suddenly. Wonwoo frowns, he doesn't really understand what Dino is saying.
"I did dance with you." Wonwoo helps him.
"No, before that. When I first saw you, I already had the feeling that I knew you from somewhere." Wonwoo shrugs and chuckles.
"I have no clue where you could possibly know me from." he says.
"Me neither." Dino sighs, which makes Wonwoo smile.
"I didn't know Woozi well, but I have a feeling that he was a nice guy." Dino adds.
"He sure was." Wonwoo agrees sad.
"Where were you when we buried him?" Dino asks curiously.
"I just needed some time for myself." Wonwoo sighs.
"Remember that it's not your fault, allright?" Dino looks him in the eyes and Wonwoo tries his best to smile.
"I'll try." he says.

When Wonwoo arrives home, it's already getting dark. Wonwoo has been wandering through the city, going to Woozi's favorite places and he has to admit that talking to Dino did help him. To be honest, Wonwoo feels tired. This day was just so emotional. First all the giggles and fun with Dino, and it all changed within a second. DK and Minghao are sitting on the couch, one reading, the other on his phone. They shortly glance at Wonwoo before continuing with what they were doing. Wonwoo sighs, even they are already moving on. The male thinks about Scoups, what he must feel right now. Maybe Wonwoo should visit him soon. Suddenly, he hears noises and Mingyu stumbles into the living room. He looks like he has just cried as well, which strangely gives Wonwoo some kind of comfort. But when Mingyu notices him, his expression gets furious. Angry, he walks over to Wonwoo.
"Where were you!?" he shouts. Minghao and DK are unbothered by the sudden noise, but Wonwoo is worried.
"Are you drunk?" he asks surprised.
"Doesn't matter. Answer my question!" Mingyu yells. Wonwoo blinks a few times before inhaling deeply.
"I needed some time. Is it that big of a deal?" he snaps. Mingyu is pointing his finger at Wonwoo while he speaks.
"We were burying a friend and you weren't there!" Wonwoo can tell that the male in front of him is drunk. He can't blame him, drinking your problems away is an easy solution, but it won't solve your problems.
"I didn't even know we were going to do that today." Wonwoo answers as calm as possible.
"No, you are just too lame. You are feeling guilty because you should've been there! But you weren't, once again. You're letting your friends down, Wonwoo." Wonwoo gasps, but tries to keep his calm.
"Mingyu, you're drunk and you're emotional. Just go to bed, it will be better for you. I won't let you down, allright? You're just in grief, we all are." Wonwoo tries to reason with him.
"And that's because of you! You're the reason we are grieving, do you understand!?" Mingyu shouts. Shocked, Wonwoo takes a step back and blinks to keep his tears away. He knows that his friend is just saying random things, but it still hurts him. Minghao is standing up from the couch and gently takes Mingyu's arm. Mingyu looks confused for a minute, but relaxes soon after.
"I'm sorry, Wonwoo." Minghao says. Wonwoo shrugs and looks Minghao in the eyes.
"It's just the truth, right?" Wonwoo is smiling to cover the fact that he is breaking down inside. Minghao sighs shortly, but he doesn't say anything.
"Come on, big guy. Let's get you to bed." he mumbles while leading Mingyu to his room.
"I will never forgive you for this, Wonwoo!" Mingyu shouts before the door closes. With a sigh, Wonwoo sits down and let's his head fall on his hands. Silently, Wonwoo is sobbing, hoping that DK won't notice.