SKZ Writing prompts

Promise. - Changmin (pt.5)

Lee Know snarled, arms wrapped around Han's waist, "Why were we called here?"

Everyone was gathered in Chan's room, Jeongin just hovering over the still Christopher. Felix's chin was wet and he sniffled.

Lee Know and Han who had just barged in froze. Changbin was standing behind them and peeked over their shoulders. He stiffened as well.

Lee Know and Han shuffled into the room and Changbin followed. Chan's hair was plastered to his forehead in a sheen of sweat and his face had a death-like pallor. Changbin took in everyone's expressions and stared open-mouthed at Chan.

"What happened to him?" Han mumbled, shaking slightly in Lee Know's firm arm. Lee Know pulled Han closer to him and stepped in front of him, as though protecting him from an invisible force of danger.

Jeongin cleared his throat, "I wanted to speak with him, to clarify the details of the day the captive escaped but he wasn't responding and I walked in on him like this. Either he's burnt out from too much work or he's fallen ill. He is indisposed, clearly, so I will have Hyunjin as my temporary co-leader so that the flow will not be interrupted," he eyes Hyunjin standing beside him. The other was stood ramrod straight and only nodded his agreement, "and everyone else go on. Life should not be interrupted by one soul."

Changbin licked his lips to occupy himself. "He— He will recover, right?"

Jeongin lifted his head to stare right at Changbin and left without another word. Now it was Hyunjin's turn to stare at Changbin and he whispered, "There's no guarantee. There's a reason why Jeongin didn't identify the sickness. It's unlike anything he's ever seen."

Hyunjin glanced down at Chan, "Jeongin's taking this the worst..the last thing he did was dismiss Chan. If Christopher doesn't wake..." Hyunjin's eyes shone, unlike his unbothered personality, "no...he must wake up. He has to." 

Felix blinked hard, a choked sob breaking past his lips, "But it's only been a few hours..let's g-give him time to wake...up."

Lee Know scrutinised Chan, "He hasn't been poisoned, surely?"

Felix shook his head, "He was fine last night. And he hasn't been in contact with other people. Unless it is a slow acting poison, that shouldn't be the case."

Lee Know and Han murmured some sentences to one another and left soon after. Hyunjin walked over to Felix's side of the bed, draping a casual arm over Felix, "I'm here if you need affection, alright?"

Felix sniffed angrily, "I don't care about affection. I care about his wellbeing!" His face was the most ruined, tears running the makeup off, revealing complementing freckles.

"Equally, you cannot tear yourself apart thinking it will build him back up. Keep yourself healthy so that when Christopher wakes, you will be there to embrace him." Changbin noted Hyunjin used 'when' and not 'if'. Another manipulative twist but for the...better. Or an illusion of hope.  Perhaps Hyunjin was capable of benevolence.

It would shatter Felix if Chan never came back. 

However, Hyunjin regarded Felix, expressionless. His voice was monotone, so much that Changbin wondered whether he viewed Felix as a liability when melting down or whether he actually cared about Felix.

Changbin swallowed and turned from them to Chan. For Felix's sake, he hoped Hyunjin didn't have an ulterior motive. After all, he was great at concealing his goals and disguising his actions as help rather than a means to an end.

It was strange, this sequence of events. Firstly capturing a stranger, and then him escaping, promising he would remember him. But even if he did, there was nothing he would do. That Seungmin was off with the wind, never turning back. It was for his own good.