𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐒 || 𝐉𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐇𝐀𝐍 ||🥀

10

Jeonghan

My hands clenched into fists when I heard the thump of K-Pop outside Lock's Glass' front door. I’d taken a walk around the block just to hype myself up into going inside. There was laughter and life on the other side of the front door. I was supposed to participate in it when all I wanted to do was stay home, in the dark. In the quiet.

The day had started out better than most. I’d gone to the gym with the express purpose of seeing Mina. Between watching her move that beautiful body and me actually moving mine, I’d gotten a boost. But somewhere in the middle of Jennie's mile-long list of chores, that cold, dark wave had crashed over me again without warning. It dragged me under, and even the antidepressant I’d remembered to take that morning couldn’t help me fight my way back to the surface.

I’d started half a dozen texts to Seungcheol making up excuses for why I couldn’t make it tonight, but I knew he’d keep his word. He’d just appear at my door and try to drag me out.

It was easier to show up, go through the motions.

Upstairs, I’d managed a dozen stilted words before shoving Pip into Mina's arms. I’d use the cat as an excuse to get back within the hour.

I could fake it for sixty minutes. Fifty-six now, seeing as how I was already four minutes late.

Steeling myself, I opened the front door and stepped into the world of the living.

Out of habit, I scanned the thin crowd. Arin and Joshua occupied a table. Boo Seungkwan, Seungcheol's right-hand person, was shrugging into a coat behind the bar next to Kazuha, the cool bartender.

My brother clocked me before I made it two steps inside.  Seungcheol always appeared to be looking for a fight.

Beside him stood Xu Minghao in a suit that probably cost more than my first car. He was tall, and also dangerous, but in a different way.

Where Seungcheol was more likely to punch you in the face if you pissed him off, Minghao was the type to methodically and creatively destroy your life.

Lucky for me they mostly kept their powers in check.

There was an empty stool between the two, which told me I was about to be the unwilling center of attention.

The door opened behind me, and my marshal shadow strolled inside. “You know this would be a hell of a lot easier if you told me where you were going and how long you planned to be there,” he groused.

“Yeah, well, my life would be a hell of a lot easier if I didn’t have you up my ass all day.”

“Long as we’re both miserable,” he said before peeling off to grab an empty two-top facing the door.

Seungcheol straightened away from the bar.

Fifty-six minutes. Drink a beer. Shoot the shit. Keep my brother from assaulting a fed. Then I could go home and hide from the world.

I made my way through the tables, nodding as people called out greetings.

“Evening, guys,” I said when I reached them.

Minghao offered me his hand and pulled me in for a one-armed hug.

“Good to see you.”

“You too, Hao.”

Seungcheol was glaring over my shoulder at Jeon Wonwoo. “I think I might go kick your shadow’s ass,” he said over the rim of his glass.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but I really don’t wanna help bury a body tonight,” I told him.