Fall Down (Stray Kids Seo Changbin)

Twenty-six

Paige's Story

More days passed which meant more pictures and more evidence pointing to Lincoln being the murderer.

At first, she followed Changbin's advice and decided to act as if nothing had happened. But as they got more and more evidence, Paige found herself drifting away from Linc, terrified that he'd kill her the same way.

"Paige, you need to stop making it obvious," Minho sighed as he typed away at his laptop, trying to hack into one of the other mafia's systems.

"Stop making it obvious? He was probably on to us the day we started hanging out together. Besides, my sister's boyfriend was her murderer and now he's trying to get awfully close to me. It's disgusting! Nauseating, even!"

"And we get that," Changbin's voice was softer, more understanding but still had the same sternness to it. "But the last thing we want is for him to speed up his actions."

"I doubt he would," she uttered. "The Society is all about secrets. And secrets are alright unless if they get public so unless we tell anyone anything, he wouldn't hurt us."

They both gave her a questioning look.

"How sure are you?" Minho asked, giving her all his attention.

"A hundred percent certain."

"But we need to tell someone," Changbin spoke. "All we are are nineteen to twenty year olds. What could we have against him? Besides, Minho is a hacker while I'm a drug dealer. You're the only one who actually specialises in fighting."

He had a point and they both knew it but it had been a stressful day. Lincoln was acting too nice, as if he knew what was happening between them and wanted to stir her away from believing he did anything.

Cassidy and Kyla were also on to them. With Cassidy actually approaching them to ask while Kyla watched from the shadows.

In fact, everyone was on to them. Stray Kids included. Chan tried to talk about it, warning the boys while telling Paige not to involve them in anything that would get them killed. Needless to say, she was offended. It's not like she wanted to. He made it seem as if there was a curse on her family and she was purposely dragging them to her grave with her. They involved themselves. Besides, she was doing this to save him as well.

"I'm exhausted," Paige admitted, placing her head in her hands. "I'm so frickin' tired."

Changbin rubbed her back soothingly.

"We know. We are too but this is a life or death case. We need to keep our eyes open at all times. It's been days since I last slept and I feel like the damage is beginning to show. But we need to keep our heads up."

"What if it's a trick? What if Lincoln wants us to be tired so that when he attacks, we'll be too weak to fight back?" Minho suggested.

"Maybe we should have a night watch?" Changbin suggested. "One night, I keep watch while all of you sleep, the next Minho, then the next Paige. Then we continue going in circles like that."

They were all tired, the plan was doomed at the start but they still went ahead with it. Paige suggested to be the one to watch that night simply because out of all of them, she had more sleep.