❄ Cold Relations ❄ [SEVENTEEN] ✓

Chapter 10: Chain of Command (i.e. The8's Wavering Loyalty)

When Vernon scaled the fence, Woozi was facing the other way, bent over the ground, sweeping the food into a pile.

CRACK!

The noise was so loud, he thought his eardrums would split. Woozi spun around, anticipating the worst, adrenaline surging through his veins, only to find Vernon crumpled in the dirt, clutching his left shoulder.

He's been shot, Woozi panicked. S.Coups found a gun and shot him straight through the shoulder—

Vernon drew in a ragged breath and whimpered, "My shoulder... I think it's broken."

Woozi's fear soon morphed into ire. "Coups did this, didn't he?"

"I don't know. I think a rock hit the fence... just as I was about to climb over. The sheer force of it striking the wood and the sound that followed... threw me off balance. On the way down, I fell on my shoulder wrong." He sunk his teeth into his lip hard enough to draw blood. "It hurts," he cried. "Woozi, please... do something!"

Jihoon couldn't have felt more helpless. "What do you expect me to do? I can't carry you back all by myself! I'm not strong enough."

A voice reached Woozi's ears—"Let me help." It came from their side of the fence. Jihoon's body tensed for a fight. The8 held a steady gaze and stood his ground.
"I come in peace," Minghao said calmly. "If Vernon's hurt, you're going to need my assistance."

Woozi clenched his teeth and forgot about the opposition. "I guess I have no choice but to trust in you and your supposedly 'good intentions.' I need to get Vernon home as quickly as possible to treat that shoulder, and I can't do it alone. But so help me, if you so much as breathe wrong, I'll make sure that this face is the last thing you'll ever see."

"Sounds fair." Vernon was starting to doze off, and The8 gently shook him awake. "You can't sleep, Hansol. It's too dangerous. You might fall into a coma."

"C-Coma?" Vernon's weak voice was laced with alarm. "Keep talking," he begged. "It doesn't even have to be about me. Just say anything... I'll try and focus... on your voices."

"I won't give you any trouble, Jihoon. That's not why I'm here. If I'd wanted to stop you, I would have done so already. Just tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it, no questions asked."

Woozi stare was cold, but if you looked closely, a hint of approval gleamed in his dark eyes.

~.~.~

Woozi supported Vernon's legs, and The8 carried the brunt of the weight with his hands wrapped firmly around his friend's lower back. The two of them were careful not to jostle Vernon's shoulder and cause him any more pain than necessary.

Jihoon was a born skeptic. "Why are you suddenly so eager to help us? Standing beside S.Coups in the market, you looked about ready to jump us."

"Food's scarce," The8 reasoned. "If we go handing it out to everyone who asks, there won't be anything left for ourselves."

Woozi disagreed with his perspective, but he didn't have the energy to argue, so he shrugged his shoulders indifferently.

The8 winced; his muscles were beginning to cramp. "If you want the truth, I didn't know Vernon was hurt. S.Coups left the store awhile, and it was Dokyeom who brought him back. Soon as they returned, Coups's demeanor had changed. I, unfortunately, was still recovering from the shopping cart incident"—he frowned at Woozi—"yet, he grabbed me by the collar, hefted me up off the floor, and stared me in the eye. Everything about him was threatening—even his voice when he said, 'They're on the other side of the fence. Do whatever you can to help them, you hear me? I want your guarantee that they'll arrive home safely. I'm counting on you, Minghao. Don't disappoint me.' And so, here I am."