9th member of Stray Kids // y/n

chapter 30~ the tell tale heart

The sudden, loud ringing of a phone startles you and Han. Both your heads snap up to see Lee Know standing in the doorway holding his phone. He blinks at the caller ID a few times before looking at you.

"It's the company."
You break away from the hug and go over to Minho's phone. Surely enough, it's the company. Lino's thumb hovers over the red decline button. However, you prevent him from pressing it.

"Just let it ring, Skzjigi told us to ignore it."
He nods and throws it onto Hyunjin's bed. The phone lands face down in the cream covers.

"I can only assume they called Chan first and then me after he didn't pick up."
You nod, realising that JYP will end up calling everyone. Jisung whimpers behind us, and you turn around to see him rereading the letter. Minho is quicker to react than you, going up to him and taking the paper out of his hands, folding ,and putting it on the desk beside them.

"Reading that isn't going to do anything good for us right now."
He ruffles Jisungs hair and gently places an arm around his shoulder, bringing him closer.

"Hyunjin survived an overdose, I'm sure he can survive a little carbon monoxide."
Han looks up at Minho with an unamused, sullen face.

"Hyung, do you even know what carbon monoxide does to your haemoglobin?"
Minho rolls his eyes.

"Of course I do, I was there when the boiler guy came to fix the heater. He explained the whole lot to me."
Lino's phone rings again, but everyone stays still, silently agreeing that they would ignore the company and let it ring.

"I thought that red blood cells regenerate so fast that it would take a really high concentration of CO to even cause an effect on the body."
Jisung nods his head

"Yea, it's also depends on how much oxygenated muscle mass the person ha-."
The phone stops ringing and immediately starts again. You and Minho exchange side eyes before you go to grab it, gasping after checking the caller ID.

"It's Felix."
You waste no time pressing 'accept call' and speaker. The sound of Felix balling his eyes out fills the room. A tightness in your chest arises.

"Minho Hyung, tell everyo-."

"Woah, Youngbok-ah, is everything okay?"
He sniffs, attempting to breathe in deeply, but it comes out shaky, and he almost chokes.

"Y/N, he's really dead. Hyunjin's gone. He's gone forever. The param- paramedics tried to resuscitate him multiple times, but they said he's been dead too long. I don't know what to do. My body feels weird. I think I'm going to throw up. Oh god, they are putting him in a bodybag right now."
An uncomfortable lump grows in your throat, and it's hard to breathe as you process the heavy information. Hyunjin is gone. Seungmin enters the bedroom from standing in the doorway, making his way next to you, hand on hip, the other on his mouth, in shock. Han tries to suppress tears but fails.

"So he's really gone?"
You don't even want to nod your head, attempting to gaslight yourself and Han out of this heart-wrenching news. You think of all the possibilities, outcomes, and consequences that now arise, but something doesn't quite add up.

"There's no way. He was gone for less than half an hour. How is it possible that he was dead that long before anyone came?"
Felix is still crying loudly through the phone, and the sound of ambulance sirens pass him.

"Changbin hyung, are they going to take him away?"
There's muffled talking as well as the background commotion, news outlets, police, cars, and shouting. Changbin replies to Felix, but it's inaudible with the ruckus surrounding them. After a few seconds, there is a sound of car doors opening and closing, and then the noise stops.