[VIXX Neo] Butterflies

N

A few weeks had passed since our first meeting.

Initially, things were still messy. Finding new clues in all the archives and resources, were like finding several needles in a haystack. Fortunately, each of us had leads that gave us several directions.

Firstly, Ravi and Ken found that the perpetrators had a wider connection than expected and information on the lawyers my brother recruited for the team. They had revisited the case files and searched for the witnesses, who after a bit of convincing, revealed that they were paid to say statements that were not true.

Secondly, Hongbin and Hyuk found a missing page in one of the documents the team had worked on previously. Out of all the documents Hongbin had kept, one document on a remodel had a missing page. This was obvious since all the pages were numbered leaving a mysterious page '66' nowhere to be found. Unfortunately, they were unable to find another copy if the document or the page.

Thirdly, Ken and I found that Daehyun registered another bank account under his name two weeks before he and the rest separated. It was unusual how I did not realise or have this information much earlier. Regardless, we checked to see if there were any transactions done to only find one transfer of $1 million dollars to an account that had no connection to any of the team members and this situation.

Everyone seemed glad that there was finally progress in our search for Daehyun. Even N had a wide smile on his face. It made me wonder how he was close to my brother.

"Wasn't there something going on between you two?"

Hongbin spoke, breaking my concentration. N stilled. The rest of VIXX listened in to the conversation. Sensing that he was in the spotlight, N laughed it off.

"There was nothing!"

"Was there really nothing?"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over to me. My tone was sarcastic, which was unusual, but it was the least of my concern. I unconsciously gripped on to the document harder than I was previously. N was silent, possibly thinking what was best to say in this situation. He lifted his head and eyed my hands before replying.

"Yes."

"I see."

Something clicked in my head. I stood up abruptly and pushed my chair backwards creating loud screech. Everyone maintained their silence as they watched me.

"Latte. Anything you all would like?"

All of them shook their heads and I left the room with five pairs of eyes on me. I walked towards the cafe at my office's lobby. The next thing I know, I was at the counter ordering.

"Good afternoon sir. What would you like?"

"Latte to go."

I paid for my drink and went off to the washroom. As soon as I got in, I slapped the tap to a side and threw water on my face. All sorts of thoughts ran through my head.

Why was I so out of control?
Why was I so concerned about their relationship?
Why am I behaving this way?

I looked up and saw myself in the mirror. Water dripped down my face. Eyes guarded. Expression cold and closed. It was the usual facade I had but more intense.

I hung my head and faced the sink. I closed my eyes and shut everything out, trying to rely on my senses to relax. All I could hear was the water crashing into water as I sought to have more clarity.

I opened my eyes to see my distraught expression on the surface of the water. I'm not going to get any answers right now and right here.

Having more stability, I straightened myself and tidied my attire. Taking the nearest tissues, I wiped my face and my hands dry. Then, I left the washroom.

"Order 3107C for a Latte to go!"

I collected the cup and breathed in the sweet relaxing aroma. The tension lifted off and my muscles relaxed significantly. I leaned against the lift's hand railing, trying to make sense and clear my head of the incomprehensible information.

As the lift opened it's door, I stepped out to find N seated on the bench. When he noticed my presence, he instantly got up.

"Why are you out here?"

"I was waiting for you."

"Alright, let's head back."

"Ok."

Neither of us made a move nor did we speak. Instead, we maintained eye contact. There was an awkward tension in the air that I didn't want between us.

"I-"

We both muttered at the same time. Surprise filled N's face and, needless to say, mine did too.

"You first."

"Oh er, I just wanted to make it clear that I was never in a relationship with Daehyun."

Huh?

N stopped as he muttered something along the lines of "Why am I saying this? He wouldn't care." Before he continued.

"To be honest, I-I didn't really form a proper answer to say to you. I'm sure you could tell something was up and that's why you reacted the way you did. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's nothing related to our search and something I'm not keen in telling you now or sharing with everyone openly. But I will tell you in the future."

N waited patiently for me to react. I processed what N said once more and realised that my reaction could have been  because I thought there was something more behind N's words.

No. That's not all of it. There was still something else. I felt something else. Something but what? Breathe.

I was getting a little dizzy from thinking too much. Hence, I decided to stick with the facts. I was so caught up in whatever I was feeling that I only thought about myself. Unlike N who considered my end of whatever this was. I could tell he was behaving differently from his composed and collected self. Did I scare him?

N's hand lifted to pet my head. As I tried to make more sense of the situation, I blinked as N repeated the action.

"Taekwoon, whatever happened today, I don't want you to blame yourself. You've been working so hard and I understand. Your reaction are justified. Personally, I'm sorry I can't share with you more details right now."

Immediately, I raised my hand to take N's and pulled him to a hug.

"Whoa w-why?" N squeaked.

"I apologise. I'm not sure what came over me. Thank you Hakyeon."

"It's alright."

N hugged back tighter this time. Somehow, I could feel his heartbeat against my chest. It was strange because it was hammering so fast and mine was doing the same.

The embrace made me feel so much better. We stayed like this for a while until someone called for N.

"N hyung, is Leo back?"

Ken was about to round the corner when N moved swiftly. He took my latte from my hands and I felt a soft gentle touch on my cheek. In my daze, he whispered in my ear before stepping back and walking back to the meeting room.

"Fighting."

~
A/N:
Chapter N and N making the first move omoooo~ I felt the urge to update before my exams so here it is!

Also, Leo came back with such a scandalous and lovely album, 'Canvas'. No doubt, there will be some parts influenced by his album in this😻 I hope some of you have already recognised some connections to VIXX in this story.

Guess what though? Imagine how upset I was when all my progress was not saved and deleted yesterday. I had to rewrite this to update today but I think this might a better version of what I wrote!