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vi. grief

seungmin was not like the other kids.

right now, he could see felix form his peripheral vision, the sight of the blonde boy enclosing chan in a hug seemed the pretty tight thing to do. unlike him, who was just standing there awkwardly waiting for it to get over.

he'd seen jisung silently break down into tears, minho helping him through it. changbin had left for the basement with jeongin and hyunjin and was fiddling on the sofa, not saying a word to the others.

now felix and chan were talking slowly in english, their voices carrying the familiar accent he was used to. felix had stopped crying, no tears made their way down his face as he sighed at chan who squeezed his hand. seungmin wanted to join them.

he couldn't

he couldn't feel anything. it was as if the news had gone over his head, like the words had never made sense on the first place. he felt normal, numb and immune to what was going on around him. he bit his lower lip precariously, the pain helping with the grounding.

chan was getting up from his seat.

he was saying something to felix. what was he saying? felix looked worried. was it something bad? did changbin spiral? he was in the basement after all. was everything okay? why was chan pointing at him?

"minnie you okay? you never been this disoriented before?" seungmin managed a small smile before looking felix in the eye. what a pure brown that was.

"yeah im fine. how's channie hyung?" both the boys turned their heads towards the leader who was now looking at his phone, trying to intercept any other phone calls that may be arriving.

"he's okay.. as okay as we all can be right now i mean.." felix sighed slowing before continuing "woojin was a bitch but- but well, we did love him.."

seungmin found himself staring at the floor, pit forming in his stomach. "yeah, yeah we did"

felix looked like he wanted to say something, his eyes holding a million emotions as he stared into seungmin's. none of them knew what to say at the moment.

honestly, that was okay

⏱

chan was known for a lot of things, strength being one of them.

both physically and mentally, there was no one stronger than bang chan in stray kids. he may be quite cheerful staying in the background as his other members took the spotlight they deserved but when he broke, he broke.

he pursed his lips, waiting and watching, anticipating another call. the woman on the other line had said that she would call him back with all the necessary details, only the one that they needed to know.

apparently woojin hadn't interacted with many other people after he'd left stray kids. he'd kept to himself, working alone most of the time. it was impossible to tell who he was connected to and what hisbolans were, which made it even harder for operators to find his relatives and family after he died.

he hadn't told this to the members of course. they were already fragile after hering the news. chan lifted his eyes a fraction and caught sight of jisung being cuddled by lee know on the couch, both of them silent and unmoving, not saying a word. felix and seungmin were talking quietly occasionally glancing at chan (he had a pretty good idea of what they were talking about).

hyunjin was sitting on the chair, lazily drawing patterns on the soft fabric, his face not lifted from the ground as his hair shielded his eyes. he glanced at chan slightly and gave him a small forced smile. he'd have to have a talk with him sometime soon...

changbin and jeongin.. they were most probably in the basement. chan was a bit afraid of changbin's conflicting emotions and the way that he presented them. there was no problem, no problem at all to feel something but to let it out in his way? chan was afraid. afraid that jeongin would get the brunt whenever changbin decided to let his emotion out.

he closed his eyes and let himself think. woojin was dead. murdered to be exact. all these years.. where was he? why now? where even was he murdered? why would he let himself be murdered? woojin was a strong guy he'd never let something like this happen so the person who murdered him had to be extremely skilled. why would anyone do this? who would do-

the call arrived.

chan stood silently for a few minutes as the woman told him that woojin was murdered in an abandoned building site, no one else around him. he hand died from blood loss, a single bullet wound to the heart.

chan had then very calmly asked he the location of the site woojin was murdered at, staying quiet when she told him it was private. he then stated his aim for the information.

the woman complied.

as soon as he got the piece of information he needed, chan immediately turned towards the two members who were talking in the corner.

seungmin stared up at him with a confused, innocent expression; completely devoid of any pain, hurt or anguish. chan took a deep breath in as he stared back, his face mirroring the opposite of seungmin's soft face.

at that moment chan could think of nothing but his members' expressions when they heard the next bit of the news.

oh how it would break them.

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short bad chapter AHAHAH
next one will be better i promise :<

:what do you think is the next part of the news?:

home; skz

六

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