Volcano | Bangchan

Red Code

Third POV

Lee Know took the opportunity of being alone to gather his thoughts. He knew Hyunjin had a crush on you from long ago, but he thought he was over it. Guess he was wrong on that point. As for Bangchan, he noticed the way you both were looking at each other, and he sensed something fishy. He also noticed shortly before the way Chan was acting when Seungmin told his story. Chan was jealous. He also noticed Changbin checking him from afar, which made him realize he was right, and Changbin and Chan probably already talked about it. But to think he would be bold enough to kiss you ! 

He tried to figure out when both of the kisses occurred. Hyunjin probably kissed you that night when you were practicing alone without telling anyone. But with Chan, he couldn't put a finger on when it happened. Did it happen during one of those Friday nights when you two would stay in the studio ? Or maybe it happened that Saturday months ago ? At that time, Chan was acting strangely around you. He brushed his thoughts. Now wasn't the time to overthink, he promised you to do something. He exited the room to join the other members.

As he came back in the waiting room, he observed everyone. They were all messing around like always, totally clueless about the drama that had happened a few rooms away. Han was the first one noticing Lee Know. Minho was acting like always, with an impassive face. But Han knew him better than anyone, maybe even better than himself. He came to him with furrowed eyebrows, carefull : "Hey baby, is everything okay ?". Minho looked at his soulmate's worried eyes, and made a small smile. Of course, Hannie would guess something was wrong even though he was trying his best to hide it. He replied : "I'm okay. But some serious shit happened back there. I have to talk to Nomi and Seungmin as well.". Han stood in front of the door, trying not to overthink as Minho discreetly requested the others to follow him in the changing room. If he wanted to talk only to him, Seungmin and Nomi, it could only mean one thing : it was related to Sooki.

Once all of them were in the changing room, Lee Know started : "So, as I said to Jisung, some serious shit happened here. Sooki has left and wanted me to tell y'all this is a red code.". All three gasped, and Lee Know asked, confused : "What ? What is a red code ?". Seungmin explained : "You probably have noticed that, but Sooki isn't the best when it comes to talking about her problems. And she hates to ask for help. So, in order to help her, we defined a code based on colors for the different degrees of intensity. To make an example : the other day, she texted me blue code because she couldn't get over that video of the dog who only has 28 days left. She cried on my shoulder for an hour straight.". He laughed a little at the memory before regaining his seriousness. "But if you say it's a red code, it's something really shitty.".

It was Nomi's turn to ask : "What happened, Lee Know ?". Minho thought about how to say this. "If they ask, tell them.". So he did. He explained everything. The surprise appeared on the three faces in front of him. Seungmin had his mouth agape, Han was covering his with both hands, and Nomi had her head in her hands. After Minho gave every detail, silence filled the room. Everyone was trying to process. Seungmin stood up and started pacing back and forth, mumbling : "Can't believe she didn't tell us... Of course, she couldn't handle this alone. Gosh, this is a lot.". Nomi was watching him. "To be honest, I knew about the kiss with Chan... But she kept the one with Hyunjin to herself, and I don't know why.". 

Seungmin stopped in his tracks to look at her. Minho, who was seated on the floor next to Han, asked out of curiosity : "When did it happen? I was dying to know about that one.". Seungmin added : "I'm sure it was after that party on Saturday night a while ago. Am I right ? The night I came in the kitchen and found them acting weird.". Nomi nodded, confirming his theory. Seungmin kept pacing around. "... What do we do now ?".

Minho looked at his Hannie, who was awfully quiet since he heard the whole story. Hannie kept looking at his phone, and, as Lee Know spied on, his eyes softened. He wasn't speaking because he was texting her:

Seoul'mate

Me : Minho told us

Me : Don't worry, we're gonna fix everything

Me : We're gonna help u

Me : U should have told me. Can't even imagine how u dealt with it on ur own

Me : I'm not gonna let u down on this one.

Me : Lay down and wait for us. We'll be quick.

Me : Love u

Han knew you wouldn't answer. You were probably in the freaking out mode right now. He wasn't really surprised about those kisses, to be honest. Sooki was perfect, who wouldn't want that ? He was your number-one supporter. But he was worried about how you dealt with it. Did you take the time to think about your feelings ? You hate to hurt people so much, so it probably terrified you to consider rejecting one of them. 

He finally spoke out loud : "I bet she didn't tell us to prevent it from being real. She must have just eluded the problem by pretending it never happened.". Seungmin added : "And the boys probably did the same.". Minho chipped in : "Yeah, that's what I thought too.". 

Suddenly the door opened and Hyunjin came in, scanning the room. Obviously, he was looking for someone who wasn't there. He stuttered, surprised to see them : "Oh hey – Hum... Have you guys seen Sooki ? I kinda need to talk to her.". Since Minho was supposedly the only one to know, he replied : "She left Hyun. Give her time. She'll come around eventually.". Hyunjin ran his hand through his hair out of frustration and mumbled to himself : "I gave her enough time already. Time to take the head out of the sand.". And on that, he left.

The last part of the shooting went by quickly. Felix and I.N quickly caught that Hyunjin wasn't in his normal state, so they stood by his side, asking what was wrong. Nomi couldn't hide the truth from his boyfriend. As soon as he learned the events, Bin stood next to Chan even though he knew it would be no use. At least he was there, ready to help if needed. Chan hardened his face, not showing a single emotion. He went back to his leadership role, only speaking when needed. Sooki's team witnessed everything, silently taking notes about both reactions and waiting impatiently to join their best friend.