❄ Cold Relations ❄ [SEVENTEEN] ✓

Chapter 17: St. Andrew's Immortals (i.e. Mingyu Forges the Future)

Brrring! Brrring!

Joshua stirred to the sound of the ringing telephone. It had wrenched him away from a very pleasant dream, though his expression was more startled than vexed. The telephone was normally kept on the shelf behind Jeonghan's head, but strangely enough the receiver had fallen into Yoon's lap, and the wire was tangled in Joshua's sheets. Jisoo was too tired to think straight, and his mind was clouded with early morning fog, yet he somehow managed to pick up the phone mid-ring.

"Hello?" Silence. Joshua was about to put the phone down when his ears detected a faint crackling sound; his forehead creased. "Is anybody there?"

Click. Sssss. Silence.

Perturbed, Joshua untangled the wire and set the phone back on the shelf. "Well, that was odd. I'm sure I checked the line as soon as we got here, but there was no dial tone. All of you heard it, right? It rang several times, and no one was there."

Mingyu sat up, stretched, and stifled a yawn. "Just ignore it."

"Huh?"

"Forget it and move on. The more we talk about it, the creepier it becomes, until we're inventing these twisted scenarios and can't sleep a wink at night. Fear entices us to act irrational. Let's not stir ourselves into a frenzy over one prank call. The best thing we can do is relax and go about our daily routine."

Wonwoo jumped up, his eyes shining brightly. "Mingyu, you're okay!" He fondly reached out a hand to stroke his friend's arm, but Kim coldly nudged it away. "So, my hand was a little sore. Big deal."

Wonwoo cleared his throat. "Yeah, I guess so." From first glance, he didn't seem embarrassed, though his lips formed a thin line.

Mingyu flexed his fingers and winced. His left hand was still pretty tender, though the wound was healing fairly quickly. He searched through the cabinets for some clean bandages, and once he was finished wrapping his hand, he walked to the window and pulled the curtains, letting in some natural light, so he could see outside. An obstructed view of the parking lot was nothing to write home about. "You guys hungry?"

Jeonghan held up the shopping bag from the convenience store. "We still have some instant rice left over from last night, if you want some."

"Rice for breakfast?" Mingyu was not too fond of the idea. "It's not exactly what I had in mind, but I guess it'll have to do."

What is he talking about? Jeonghan wondered. We eat rice all the time in the morning... maybe his stomach's still stuck on ramen.

By noon, the five of them had gathered their things and vacated the hospital. It was a late start to the day, and to make up for it Mingyu proposed that they hustle to their next location. Kim seemed restless as if he had forgotten something, and then it struck him.

"I almost forgot to leave a note." Mingyu rummaged through his pockets for a piece of paper but found only a pen.

"I have a notepad on me somewhere," Jeonghan said. "Here it is."

Mingyu gently gnawed his lip. "Now I just need some inspiration."

"Before you leave a note," Seungkwan badgered, "I think you should decide where the heck we're going next. It might help in the construction of the thing."

Mingyu pretended to be amused. "That's very helpful of you. Come to think of it"—he brought it up casually—"I never got the chance to post a note on the zoo's front gate, either. I'll write it up now, and you can take it there for me."

"Say what?" Booyoncé mode activated. Seungkwan couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Let me get this straight: due to your negligence, you want me to crawl all the way back to the zoo—in the freezing cold, I might add—to post a note on the front gate."