Blaze

Leaders

~_____~

After changing into something more comfortable Namjoo finally turned around to stare at the bed. She hadn't yet had the chance to change the bed sheets or give anything a wash. Her eyes lay on the bed in vain. In her mind she could see her and Kris kissing passionately before they'd stop and take a look at each other before continuing.

Instinctively, she ran a hand over the band-aid on her neck and kicked at the bed. "Eesh!"

The memory of it all was attacking her so hard. Namjoo couldn't figure out why she had done it...with him. Lightly pounding her fists against the side of her head she stomped over to her closet, grabbed an extra blanket, wrapped herself into it like a burrito, and sat against the wall.

Attraction, she had to blame attraction. And it was because she had allowed him to kiss her. Why in the world had she enjoyed it in the first place? Namjoo washed her face in her hands. She had screwed up. She groaned and rocked herself back and forth. It was impossible to rewind any of it. How was she supposed to face her own co-worker now?

She sat like that for almost twenty minutes before deciding she was unable to sleep. Carrying herself up she escaped out of the suffocating room and found Tao seated on her couch watching the TV with the volume on mute. They glanced at each other surprised.

Namjoo cleared her throat and stared at the ground before walking over to join him on the couch, "I can't sleep."

"Oh..."

Namjoo sat curled up on the couch and hesitantly glanced at him, "You can turn the volume up."

Tao glanced at her really quickly before doing so and for the rest of the night they just stared at the TV screen.

~_____~

Victoria was in a smoky place. It almost seemed foggy and choked up. Water was dripping and a voice was calling out. Rather than hearing those echoes, she could feel them bouncing off the hallow walls.

"Hello?" her own voice vibrated underneath her feet.

Glancing around she spotted a low ceiling overhead that almost touched her hair. Where was she? What was this place? Her footsteps cautiously halted when she spotted a shadow at the exit of the tunnel or whatever it was she was walking through.

Victoria blinked, stared, and felt her lips move. Who was that? She almost took a step forward, but someone thrust their hand out to grab hers. "Don't go." Spinning around she saw a face covered in darkness. The light at the head of the tunnel was far from where she was and she almost couldn't see a thing. Victoria felt her breathing calm though, she wasn't scared of this person. Instead, she felt like she trusted him and that it was possible for her to rely on him.

Then very slowly the darkness faded away and she was staring at Donghae.

She jolted awake when the door opened and turned to see a blinding light making its way into the room. A woman with curly hair took a step in.

"What are you still doing here!? Quickly get up and leave! You were supposed to be out of here an hour ago!" the woman scolded grabbing Victoria's arm to pull her up. "You're distracting my business! Oh! Young people these days have no manners at all!"

Victoria's eyes met with the woman's utmost unhappy stare before she slowly glanced around the room. Eunhyuk had disappeared. And that was when her eyes landed on the cup of water she hadn't finished last night. The truth slammed her so hard she felt like throwing herself off a cliff.

"Ahjumma," Victoria asked, "who brought the water last night?"

The woman stared at her, "I don't know! Are you going to get out or not!?"