Living With Stray Kids?

Chapter 9: I Got You

My feet stopped, leaving me frozen in fear of actually being caught.

Who saw me now???? My God, I can't have even one day of peace

But this wasn't the time to panic, I needed to focus to get myself out of the situation. Scanning the room quickly, my eyes landed on a slightly open janitors closet.

Perfect

I ran as fast as my feet could carry me to the closet and shut myself inside. Heart pounding and chest heaving, I realized just how unprepared I was for this experience. But this wasn't the time for that. I frantically pulled out my phone, getting a low battery notification the moment it opened.

Shit!

Realizing that I had only saved Jisung's number so far, I quickly texted him to find more about the situation.

You: Who saw me?? And how do you know???

Jisung: it's a sasaeng I think, actually now that I'm thinking about it again, don't go near the dorm

My body weakened, realizing that the only safe place I had here was now blocked from me accessing it. It was at times like this that I wished I had family living in Korea, almost everyone immigrated away.

I quickly turned off my phone, relying on it as my only hope for survival. I couldn't stay there for much longer, who knew when the janitor would be back?

The sound of faint footsteps started to litter the hallway, a screeching sound of old wheels following along. It had to be the janitor, but even if I wasn't sure, I wasn't about to stick around to find out.

I gathered all the strength I had in my body to drag myself out of there. I was tempted to run back to the dorm, but I knew Stray Kids would be in MAJOR trouble if I did. So I made a getaway for the stairs.

Gripping the cold metal handle with my fist, i yanked the door open, racing down the stairs towards the ground floor. I was almost there, quickly stepping towards the exit door when I felt my hair be yanked backwards, stopping me right before the door to freedom and back into the cool stairwell.

Whimpering in pain, I tried to adjust my eyes to the dim lighting to figure out who had just hurt me.

It's a girl...

The girl, seemingly in her teens, scowled at me. Her eyes pierced into me, facing me as if she was a tiger hunting for prey. She was beautiful, no doubt, with a short bob of jet black hair complimenting the various tattoos scattered on her arms.

Her eyes softened as they noticed my fear. Adjusting the sleeveless leather jacket she loosely draped upon herself, she spoke up, "Who are you, another fansite trying to find out where they live?" Before I had the chance to reply, she smirked and continued, " you're no match for me, I've been a fan of SKZ for years now. You really think you'll find where they live first?"

Grabbing the collar of my shirt, she used her height to her advantage to intimidate me. "Forget it love, I already spread a picture of you to all my supporters. Trust me, you'll think twice before trying to find them again." she whispered darkly.

Shoving me into the hard grey walls of the stairway, she blew me a pretentious kiss before strutting out of the door.

As if to protect me, only then did my phone vibrate with a message from one of the members. My phone was now at 5%, but the message gave me guidance at the very least.

Unknown: Areum, it's Hyunjin. Meet me at the closest train station to the dorm.

I sighed in relief at the long-awaited guidance, starting towards the address Hyunjin sent me right after. Holding my head in pain, I tried to find my way through the busy streets to find him.

But my luck being as shitty as it was today, I heard a random man catcall me as I walked. "Hey little miss, you're looking real pretty today. Let's talk over coffee?" he called out. Ignoring him, I tried to continue. But this man must've decided to be a real menace today because he stomped over, grabbed my arm, and started yelling at me.

"Hey, I told you that you're hot, and I wanna talk to you! Wow, women are so rude to nice men." He grabbed my shoulders and started shaking me back and forth. "YOU THINK YOU'RE ALL THAT YOU BITCH".

My eyes widened, and my body froze in fear, unable to scream or try to get away. Just then, the man flew backward onto the hard concrete, letting me go in the process. Confused and relieved at the same time, I looked past the man to see my savior.

Hyunjin had the man's collar gripped in his hands, and he looked furious at the man. Finally meeting his eyes, he dropped the man, ran towards me, and wrapped an arm around my shoulders to direct me away from the situation.

Although his face was covered with a mask and his head covered with a baseball hat, I could see all the worry in his eyes when he tilted his head to me to check on me. "I got you, I'm here now," he assured me softly. I merely looked at him, not trusting myself to control my emotions. We walked in silence, both shaken up by the experience. He took me to an underground storage centre, and I waited for him while he retrieved his luggage and duffel bag. He looked like he'd traveled far, wearing a long beige coat that covered his all-black outfit.

Making his way over to me, he smiled at me, and somehow all my stress from the events prior faded a little bit. "You don't have to explain what happened, Hannie told me everything," he spoke as we started walking again. "It's lucky I came back early, otherwise you would've been in a lot of trouble," he chuckled. I looked up at him in gratitude, he really saved me from such a terrible situation. "Thank you so so much. I can't express how much I appreciate you right now," I said. He smiled and ruffled my hair, "It's okay, I told you us Hwangs had to stick together, right?" He paused, trying to figure out what to do next.

The streets were busy, and it was dangerous for him to be out in public with a random girl in the middle of the night, even if his entire face was covered. Scanning the streets carefully, his face suddenly lit up with an idea.

"Hey Areum, you ever been to a karaoke room before?"