ᵈᵃʸ ᵃⁿᵈ ⁿⁱᵍʰᵗ | ᶜʰᵃⁿᵐⁱⁿˢᵘⁿᵍ

promises

Lee Know chewed on his cuticles as he sat outside, the birds chirping and the dialing of a phone being the only sounds heard.

After a few rings, the line finally connected, "Good morning, love."

"What did you do, Chan?" The blonde immediately got to the point, his tone laced with worry.

The older chuckled, "Why do you assume I've done something?"

"You never text me goodnight while I'm with my parents. Tell me right now if you've done something."

The line was silent for a moment before Chan spoke up, "I've met Jisung's friends."

Lee Know's blood boiled, he was beyond furious with his boyfriend. So much so, that he didn't even notice his mother and his beloved join him outside.

"You what?! What have you done to them? Are they still alive? Bang fucking Chan I swear t-" Lee Know cut himself off once he noticed his mother and his beloved standing just a few feet from him.

Jisung was half hidden behind Mrs. Lee, as he'd never heard Lee Know shout, let alone get so aggressive.

Mrs. Lee was astonished, never really having heard her son get so infuriated. She knew it was Chan on the phone, too, which made it that much more baffling to her.

"Love? Is everything alright?" Chan questioned, figuring Jisung was the reason behind his sudden silence.

Lee Know didn't know what to do. He had no idea how much his beloved had heard, and he wasn't sure how he could mend the situation either.

The blonde hung up the phone, his eyes darting towards his mother's, begging for help.

She nodded, turning around to face the brunette, "Jisung, honey, why don't you go inside and start eating your breakfast."

Jisung only nodded in response, glancing at the blonde one last time before entering the house.

Lee Know fell to his knees, his eyes brimming with tears. He was so angry with his boyfriend that he could cry, and he might.

"What happened, honey?" Mrs. Lee inquired, helping her son up before dusting him off.

Lee Know sighed, feeling almost defeated and helpless, "Chan has gone too far."

-

Felix and Seungmin sat with the two broken boys, helping clean them up and doctor their wounds.

Hyunjin was whining to his boyfriend about how painful it was, clinging onto the puppy with big doe eyes as his wounds were tended to.

Jeongin was carefully watching the freckled boy care for him, trying his best to put on a tough act in front of the boy he liked.

"Why couldn't they have hurt us instead? I'd much rather take a beating than have my Jinnie hurt." Seungmin pouted, causing Felix to roll his eyes, "Min, no offense, but you're not exactly a tough cookie, either."

Seungmin stuck his tongue out at his friend, causing everyone to chuckle with some groans of pain following shortly after.

"Were they asking for information out of you guys? Why'd they have to beat you to a pulp?" Felix questioned the fox-like boy as he bandaged his hand.

Jeongin sighed, "All they said was that they needed Jisung home and it had to be us to bring him."

The room fell silent as everyone seemed to be thinking about the situation, Seungmin and Felix staring at each other as if that might give them some answers.

"It would make more sense to hurt Felix and I, though. Jisung isn't that close to you guys." Seungmin pointed out, everyone nodding in slight confusion after.

"I promised I wouldn't hurt you." Chan spoke up as he entered the room, all four boys jolting from surprise.

Felix was about to question what he meant, but Chan responded without even needing the question, "Jisung made me promise to not hurt you two. So I can't."

"You know how to keep promises?" Jeongin spoke rhetorically, earning a grin from the older. "For my beloved, yes."

Taking a step further into the room, Chan added, "Oh, by the way. Jisung will be home within the hour. Thank you for your help."

Without another word, Chan left the room to go and wait for his boyfriend and beloved to return home.

"He's insane." Hyunjin spoke, earning nods from everyone else in the room.

"Guys," Felix began. "What are we gonna do once Ji gets home? Is he going to hurt him?"

Seungmin shook his head, "I don't think he'd hurt Ji."

"Clearly he's okay with harming others." Hyunjin commented, gesturing towards Jeongin and himself.

"But not Ji. It feels like, in a really twisted and fucked up way, he loves him. And he only wants Ji to be home."

Felix nodded with a heavy sigh, "Min's right. Maybe, in his mind, this is okay as long as Jisung comes home. Maybe he snapped because Ji left."

"That just makes him psychotic, doesn't it?" Jeongin questioned, the word 'psychotic' repeating inside of everyone's minds.

Hyunjin sat up, Seungmin pouting from the loss of warmth that his boyfriend had been providing. "Psychotic or not, Jisung's gonna be home soon. What does that mean for him?"

"What does that mean for us?" Jeongin countered in a gentle voice, posing a dark question about the four boys' fates.

Felix shook his head, "He can't hurt us, remember?"

"But he can't just let us leave. We know everything now. Who he is, where Ji's been, the location, the situation. We're d-" "Don't say it."

Silence fell over the room as the four boys thought about their fates, hoping this wouldn't be their last night alive.

After a while, they could hear the front door open. They were in a sort of second living room, so hearing what was happening by the front door wasn't difficult.

The four boys huddled close by the door, trying their best to listen for their friend and what was happening.

"Love. Doll. You're home." "Where are they, Chan?"

"Who's that?" Seungmin questioned in a whisper tone. Felix shrugged, "Must be the boyfriend."

"Master." Jisung started, sounding as though he were about to cry. "You promised."