fever | ateez lore story

CH 15

yeosang

A cold breeze flies in from the open windows and sends a chilling shiver down my spine. It wasn't cold earlier, but it's suddenly reached a deathly temperature in here once my father walked in.

"Explain what, Yeosang-ah?" He repeats. I'm thrown into a loop as his voice is scarily calm. I don't turn to him or say anything, watching as Wooyoung and Yeonjun turn to my father then back to me, the tension in the room forever rising. There's a sweet moment's silence before the click of his shoes grow louder, approaching me from behind. A calloused hand grips my shoulder, and the strange calm voice of his returns.

-"Yeosang-ah, are you okay?"

Don't give me that, I'm-a-nice-person attitude. You know how evil you are.

"I wanna quit." I mumble, barely moving my lips. I hear Wooyoung swallow, and I know his blood is running down to the same temperature as mine.

"What was that? Yeosang, I told you to stop mumbling." He says, leaning over to catch my eye. In a swift movement, I stand up and face my father, my eyes piercing into his, not a barrier of fear blocking me.

-"I said, I quit."

He contorts into confusion, unaware of what was about to come.

-"What are you quitting? Your violin lessons? I told you, me and your mother paid for that since you we-"

"I quit the company. I got scouted somewhere else." I interrupt, my eyes not backing down from their defence position. His face falls, looking at me like I have just killed someone. He subtly shakes his head, scanning the room and huffing with his hands gluing to his hips.

"You must be kidding me." He laughs, sighing very heavily, like it may be his last breath. I shake my head, standing my ground before him.

-"No. I am sure of my decision. I'm sorry, father."

I am, in truth, not apologetic. At all. I felt trapped here, and moving to another company finally gives me the breath of freedom I longed. I've had enough of being controlled by my father.

I watch as his gaze diverts to Wooyoung, who is stuck to the ground like glue. He avoided my father's gaze, and once he notices, he hauls himself to his feet and lower his head. My father proceeds to stare him down, the silence unbearable.

"What did you put him onto, Wooyoung? Huh?" My father accused.

He always does this, since the day I met Wooyoung. My parents thought of him as a bad influence, because he drove me away from 't*he perfect son*' image my parents always wanted. But all Wooyoung did was make me into a better person; teaching me to stand up for myself, to put myself first when I found it hard to so do, to be appreciative of my talent in violin even when I despised it so much. Wooyoung made me into 't*he perfect person*' my father doesn't deserve.

"I made this decision myself. Wooyoung and Yeonjun were only trying to keep me here, but I decided to depart due to my own interests. He had nothing to do with it." I say, standing in front of Wooyoung before my father tries anything funny. But I feel a pull back, and Wooyoung steps forward to be next to me.

-"I'm departing, too, Mr Kang. I made the decision first, and convinced Yeosang to follow me. So, we will continue our training elsewhere."

I turn to look at him, my eyes speaking for me; *"What are you doing?"* He responds with nothing but a smile.

"The both of you, huh?" My father repeats, as if he's trying to believe the situation before him. HIs gaze shifts from us to Yeonjun, already stood with his head lowered.

-"Are you going as well?"

The sudden question guilt-trips me. I don't want to leave Yeonjun under this monstrosity of a company. I can only want for him to leave and find somewhere else, maybe even come with us. But Yeonjun shakes his head, his lips pressed together.

"Where are you gonna go then?" My father asks me.

There's a small company building in downtown Seoul called KQ Entertainment. We have never come across the name before, but they put up posters, looking for "*young adults with a passion in performing*". I don't know if they'll be any good at debuting, as they are very small, but anything to get me away from this place will be worth it.

I refuse to tell my father where we are going. His company is big compared to KQ's, and I don't want him finding an opportunity to tear it down because of me.

"I-I don't know yet." I say, my head picturing KQ's building in it's exact location.

The air is silent again other than the heavy huffs of frustration my father is taking, none of us saying anything. Suddenly, he spins on his heel and storms off, arms swinging and heels clacking, announcing his departure. He shuts the door of the practice room so violently that the glass shatters, a few chips collapsing to the ground and the the sound of crackling and unstable glass now replacing the silence.

"Why did you do that?" I say softly to Wooyoung, trying to hit his shoulder, but the situation that just unfolded is so overwhelming, my hand falls back next to me, and I begin to feel incredibly fatigued.

"Well, he's gonna go into an even bigger of a rage mode if he finds out I left the company without telling him." Wooyoung says, but that is not what I meant.

"I meant, why did you tell him you were the once that influenced me? I don't know what he'll do to you, Wooyoung. I lied to him for a reason." I scold. As much as I appreciate Wooyoung for being honest, no one else here knows my father like I do. I know what pisses him off, and I did exactly that, but Wooyoung only added gas into the fire when I wanted him to stay out of it.

"I couldn't just let you go through that alone, Yeosang-ah. And like I said, if I left without a word, he'll flip even more. To me, but most importantly to you." He argues back, the volume of his voice increasing as if I can't hear him when he's right in front of me. I can tell in his face that he feels slightly offended that I'm coming at his throat for a heroic action, but I never asked for it. I'll feel more liability if my father scolds Wooyoung the way he does to me.

"Okay, enough. What's important is that the hardest part of your departure-decision is done. He knows about it now, and you can't do anything about it other than show your father that you guys are better off at your new company. Show him what he lost, what he can't gain." Yeonjun comes between us, a hand on our shoulder, thumbs rubbing back and forth. I look at Wooyoung, whose eyes are glued to the floor, shame written across his face. I lunge forward at him, his arms mirroring mine in a hug.

"Thank you." I whisper, feeling his grip around me tighten. He lightly smacks the back of my head, laughter erupting from all of us, the intense silence leaving.

"Ditto, loser." He says.