The Red Thread of Fate || Wen Junhui

➶ six ➴

For the first time in a long while, I finally have a dream.

I dream about leaving the Facility with Sungcheol, Jisoo, and Joshua. I dream about our car ride and staring out at the white world that has changed so much. I dream about the awkward first meeting with Seventeen, my meltdown towards the handsome shadow, and eating an amazing dinner.

No nightmares are in sight. Just a kind of hazy peacefulness and bliss I have never felt before.

It is almost perfect until the lights in the room suddenly turn on and pierce through my eyelids. More irritated than confused, I immediately sit up and take out the earplugs. Someone is standing next to the light switch.

"Soonyoung?" I ask, rubbing the blurriness out of my right eye. "What're you," I yawn, "doing here?"

He is wearing the exact same clothes from yesterday: a plain black T-shirt and a pair of torn sweatpants. Both of the garments are stained with paint and oil. I can only guess that he wore them to bed, judging by their wrinkled state.

There is a smile painting his lips, and it makes me uncomfortable just looking at it because of how forced it is. I glance around the room and find that all of the bunks are empty except for mine.

"Where is everyone?" I question the lack of people in the once crowded room.

He runs a hand through his messy black hair. "The vocal unit just went out to buy some groceries, but everyone else is here and sleeping. Sorry about waking you up so early, but Sungcheol asked me last night to wake you up so I could show you around the workshop before breakfast."

I nod sleepily and climb down from the bunk bed. The second my legs are exposed to the cool air, I want nothing more than to climb back up and fall asleep again underneath the covers until it is actually time to wake up.

I sluggishly follow Soonyoung out of the room and into the dark hallway. Loud snores sound throughout the dorm, leaving eerie echoes to float around.

The whole scene is almost disturbing to me. With the darkness and unsettling echoes, I feel as if something will jump out at me. I am no stranger to this feeling—I've always felt like this when I was trapped in my cell at the Facility.

Even though I'm away from everything now, that terrifying feeling of being exposed to the darkness hasn't left me.

Not even here. Not even now.

"Angel," Soonyoung whispers, making me jump. "Come on. This way."

We step quietly on the carpet as we slowly make our way towards the workshop. Once we reach the door, I don't even realize that I've been holding my breath for the last couple of seconds. Soonyoung opens the door and the bright lights immediately blind me. Through my pained squinting, I can see Soonyoung ushering me in.

It takes a couple of seconds for my eyes to adjust, but once they do, my fatigue vanishes and is replaced with awe. I smile and think to myself: why do I keep getting so amazed at everything in Seventeen's dorm?

Their workshop is much larger than the main area, even with the kitchen combined. The walls, ceiling, and floor are made out of a light grey stone that is covered in holes, and splattered with paint and oil.

On three wall are at least ten wooden racks with all sorts of tools and trinkets sitting on them; one wall is facing out towards the parking lot and has a large door that opens and closes, so it has no racks on it.

The wall that's adjacent from where I'm standing is covered in dozens of blueprints for cars, motorcycles, prosthetic body parts, guns, radios, and computers. There are also four different workbenches scattered around the workshop, and they each have rusty tool boxes underneath them.