MANIA

Part 10

'Is she saying what I think she's saying right now?' Sana's eager voice echoes through their minds.

"This doesn't mean I've accepted this," Y/N motion around the general vicinity with her hand, narrowing her eyes slightly at the eight girls before her, "or any of you. I simply have some conditions of my own so I don't end up like that again."

Lisa's, Rosé's, Jennie's, and Sana's shoulders all drop, while the other four do their best to look unaffected by Y/N's words.

Still, it doesn't mean they won't try. It doesn't mean that Y/N haven't just given them all hope.

"Anything," Jisoo breathes, clinging onto that piece of fabric in her hands for dear life.

Y/N's eyebrow twitches upwards, meeting gazes with Jisoo briefly, as she crosses her arms in front of her chest.

Leaning further back onto the counter, Y/N nod to herself.

"I want my phone back."

Y/N can practically see the protests building on their lips, so she cut them off before they get a chance to speak.

"Listen,” She begin, “You’ve said it yourselves: I’m in your domain. I don’t even know if there’s service here, and who the fuck would believe me if I told them about the situation I’m in. I’m pretty sure I’ve already lost my job for up and disappearing out of the blue, and I’m sure my family is probably worried sick about me. Let me contact them to tell them I’m okay, so they at least get closure for however long I’m going to be stuck here for. I don’t want my parents thinking I’m dead.”

“That’s all you want your phone for?” Mina asks, slight disbelief coating her words.

“Of course not.” Y/N huff out a laugh. “I need some source of serotonin. I want my phone so I can do all the things I usually do on it. Minus a few things, of course. I need some sense of normalcy back in my life.”

“How do we know we can trust you?” Jennie speaks once more, crossing her own arms in front of her chest.

“That’s rich, considering I should be asking you that.” Y/N match her tone. “Besides, I’m pretty sure you all can hear whatever I’m about to do through my thoughts, anyways. There is a severe lack of privacy there, but put it this way. How do you expect me to trust you if you can’t trust me? It’ll have to be an effort on all of our parts to make this work.”

There’s a hint of worry in Y/N's tone, the slightest bit of fear hinted at in the way her shoulders tense ever so slightly as she look at them. Even without her thoughts, they can see the uncertainty radiating off of her towards them.

Truly, it pains them to no end.

"You know we would never hurt you,” Lisa said, her voice soft as it cuts through the tension suddenly filling the lobby.

“We promised that we would protect you,” Nayeon adds, just as tenderly as she watches her darling with a gentle gaze.

Y/N's eyes flash, “Can you protect me from yourselves?”

Immediately, they all straighten, save for Jisoo who takes a small step backwards as they all stare at Y/N with wide eyes.