SKZ Writing prompts

Promise? - Changmin (pt.2)

A yell jolted Changbin from his restless, prone state on his bed. There was a scuffle out in the hall and Changbin raced out there. 

Jeongin was leaning against a wall, watching a stranger wrestle with Chan, Felix and Han. Hyunjin was whistling softly and the first to notice Changbin's abrupt presence. Hyunjin kept eye contact with Changbin as though daring him to take action against or for them.

Changbin swallowed, eyes darting everywhere. Amidst the chaos, the stranger was wrecking and clinging onto everything he could reach. If it had been him in this situation, he would've gone absolutely feral and unleashed his inner beast. His bulk would've worked in his favour.

Unfortunately for this poor soul, they were built slightly. Lean but not extraordinarily muscled and his exhaustion was showing as he wrestled the three men trying to contain him. 

What scared Changbin was not the fact that the stranger was currently slowly growing weaker but that Lee Know was not present. 

What were their plans for this guy? Changbin looked towards Jeongin. Jeongin's ear twitched but his face showed no signs of having noticed, only focused on the fight.

A crack concluded the silence in the hall, the scream dying down. Changbin rushed forward, jerking Chan backwards. He looked down at the guy lying on the ground, face muscles relaxed and a trickle of blood running down his forehead.

"Shit.." Changbin fell to his knees and propped the guy up. His head lolled to the side, showing no signs of waking up soon. Changbin glared up at Chan, "Why do you people have to be so rough?"

Chan quirked an eyebrow, "He was putting up a struggle. He could've been subdued painlessly if he hadn't made it impossible for us."

Changbin coughed, "He put up a fight because he was getting hauled by three men to god knows where!"

Tilting back his head to laugh, Han scoffed, "Sure, whatever. Why does it even matter to you anyway, Changbin? Aren't you with us?" Han gave him a severe look which Felix and Chan were quick to mimic as well.

Hyunjin looked down his nose at Changbin and Jeongin was just smirking, watching everything play out.

Changbin looked down at the serene face and towards Han again, "He's built like a fucking stick! What can't three men do?" Han's eyes sharpened and he flashed his forearm. There were cuts littered all over. Felix and Chan looked towards Jeongin who only shrugged and pushed himself off the wall.

"Christopher, Felix, go put the captive in the room. Make sure to lock it. And feed him, or whatever, doesn't matter."

Han excused himself with a calculative look at Changbin and left Chan and Felix to pick up the unconscious guy. Jeongin whispered some instructions to Hyunjin and the latter slinked over to Changbin, grabbing him by the arm.

Changbin let himself be dragged by Hyunjin to a room and the younger got him to sit on the ground, sitting beside him. Together, they stared at a wall in silence. When Changbin made to get up and speak, Hyunjin hushed him and stuck a hand out in front of him.

"No, Bin. You stay right here or Jeongin will hear about this."

"I'm not some fragile person, Hyunjin," Changbin glared at Hyunjin. The other only laughed softly.

"I doubt that, Changbin. You seem like you have a very weak mental fortitude. You should learn from me, Lee Know or Jeongin. Nothing in life is fair, it's kill or be killed in this world, you know. You should be grateful we took you under our wing and provided for you. When you have a team, you are safe and you can keep others you care about safe. You care about Felix, right? Without you, he'll have no one to depend on," Hyunjin tilted his head to stare at the ceiling.

Changbin wanted to argue. The way Hyunjin had phrased his speech, was wrong yet right in some way. It was doing wrong for the right reasons. Or was it the other way? Changbin's thinking process was muddled. Hyunjin had that effect on others. His manipulative tactics always left his victim reeling from revelation yet struggling with their own opinions that oppose his.

"I- yes I care for Felix but what- what did that guy even do to us? You said he was a stranger so clearly you don't know him personally to hold any grudges. So...why?" Changbin pleaded. Everything no longer made sense to him and he just wanted a simple, straightforward answer to cling onto.

Hyunjin breathed in through his mouth, sucking in a delighted laugh, "Oh sweetheart, Jeongin has ulterior motives for this 'stranger'. I assure you, Jeongin know this stranger but I don't. See, we all have our own lives and it is impossible for all of us to have met everyone the others have met."

"...So-so you don't even know this guy?! Then why do you just b-blindly follow Jeongin? Like, he could have very bad intentions for—"

Hyunjin got up slowly, drawing out the suspense.

"I don't need to know Jeongin's motives, Changbin. That's the point. He's the leader. His wants are my orders."