Eccedentesiast |NCT MARK LEE| ✔

Chapter 6: Querencia

|Querencia|

(Noun) - A place from which one's strength is drawn, where one feels at home, the place where you are your most authentic self

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'Blah' - Thoughts

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Minji quickened her pace as she hurried out of the school gates just as she heard the first slow rumbling of a distant thunder followed by a series of icy droplets raining down on her.

"Shit," she cursed upon coming to the realisation that she had left her bag which contained her umbrella in her locker. She opted to not give any fucks and simply sprint back home in the pouring rain without anything to shield her.

The timing could not be any more perfect when she heard a faint shout of her name from afar.

"Minji!"

The said girl whipped her head around at the call of her name, causing her stringy, wet, black hair to stick to her cheeks. It was hard to see anything past the rain so she had to squint her eyes and look closely to make out the silhouettes of three people fast approaching her.

When they were just a few metres away from her, their features became clearer and Minji let out a delighted gasp.

"Appa! Dad! Taehyung!" She cried, running into their open arms. She knew if she looked back on this moment, she would make fun of how this scene seemed to be taken right out of a kdrama.

That rainy night, she walked back home under the cover of her family's protection.

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"MINJI!" The shrill cry of her name from her friends snapped her out of her stupor as she daintily stepped into Ten and Johnny's living room with her brother clinging onto her arm like a lost puppy as if he was afraid that she would miraculously vanish on the spot. She looked up to see the four teenagers dashing towards her at the speed of light and before she could form a coherent thought, she was engulfed into one large group hug.

The combined heat emanating from their pressed up bodies thawed Minji's shivering form and a fuzzy warmth coursed through her veins from her head to her toes.

She was home.

"Everyone get out of the way! I want to hug my niece!" Ten declared firmly, shoving his laughing son away with one hand before scooping Minji up into his waiting arms. The black-haired girl emitted squeals of delight as her uncle hoisted up into the air and spun her around in a graceful arc.

"Don't hog her all to yourself, Chittaphon, we miss her too," Hoseok piped up with a reproachful frown but a bright heart-shaped grin adorned his lips, contrasting his disapproving tone.

They all managed to let out a short laugh respectively before their emotions overwhelmed them and caused them to break down right there and then.

The reunion was a tearful, yet, joyous occasion. Laughter rang out in the air amidst everyone's sobs of relief that their cherub-cheeked girl had returned to them.

After the crying fest was over and the tears of the occupants of the room had dried, things became more sombre. They basked in the deafening silence, every eye locked on the purplish-blue bruises tainting Minji's peachy-pink skin and the red, bloody patches blooming on her limbs.