Fall Down (Stray Kids Seo Changbin)

Thirty-three

Paige's Story

Paige awoke an hour after the ambush with a pounding headache and stiff body. Changbin sat on Minho's bed beside her, cleaning her wounds.

"What happened?" Her voice came out croaky.

Changbin looked up and gave her a sweet smile before readjusting himself on the bed to get a better look of her exhausted face.

"You tried to kill everyone," he chuckled. "Don't remember all that?"

She shook her head.

"By everyone, do you mean it? I tried to kill everyone."

"Maybe not everyone but Chan, Woojin, I.N and I."

"Did I? I only remember having Chan in a choke hold. Don't remember much after that."

"Chan passed out due to lack of oxygen, Woojin shot her leg, you shot I.N's arm and Woojin's stomach. Then I got between you and them and you threatened to kill me if I didn't move."

"Then? Did I shot you? I didn't hurt you, did I?" She asked, suddenly concerned.

He ruffled her hair and chuckled.

"I'm fine. Before you could do anything, Kyla used a general anaesthetic on you.

"A what?"

"Sleeping gas." He ruffled her hair again with a sweet smile. "Have I taught you nothing regarding chemicals and drugs?"

Paige smiled sheepishly as she scratched her nape.

"In my defense, the sciences were always my worst subjects."

They shared a laugh for about a minute before Changbin decided to get back to her cuts, bruises, wounds and gunshot holes.

"This might hurt," he warned before spraying her injured leg with a strong disinfectant. Paige gasped loudly before wincing in pain. "I did warn you," he tried to make the mood warm again.

"Is the bullet still in?" She asked.

He nodded, grabbing a pair of white gloves and pulling them over his hands.

"I was only focusing on the bruises for the moment. I didn't want to wake you trying to get the bullet out."

"So you'd rather me awake and in pain?"

He grabbed an syringe and injected some fluid around the area of the bullet hole. There was a weird tingly sensation running around the area for a moment before the section of her leg went completely numb.

"You'll barely feel it but still, I didn't want to take any chances."

"So, are you the nurse in Stray Kids? Are you the one always treating their wounds?"

"Yep. Seungmin and I. One part of working with drugs and chemicals is knowing how to use them to kill and heal."

"I guess you're job isn't as stupid as I initially thought."

He gave her a quick grin as he grabbed all the apparatus he needed to get the bullet out and stitched the flesh up. After quickly sanitising them, he let his gaze fall on her face.

"I deserved that slap that night. I was being stupid."

With that, he turned back to the hole and began at work.

***

"You're awake," Lincoln grinned, running towards her but she stopped him in the act.

"When I asked whether it was an ambush, why didn't you respond?" Paige asked.

"I tried but the lines cut off."

"Cut off?"

"I heard everything that happened but I couldn't say anything. Besides, halfway through, someone joined me in the car and held a gun at my head."

Paige glanced down at Lincoln's wrist and saw fresh stitches where the sound recorder had been.

"It's Cassidy."

"What? What makes you think that?"

She ignored him.

"I heard you talk to Zera about it being Kyla but it isn't, it's Cassidy."

"There's a lot of evidence pointing to Kyla-"

"I've done my own research. It's Cassidy."

"Look, now we know the Stray Kids members working with whoever it is, why don't we ask them?"

She shrugged.

"They might not spill but we need to do something. Now everyone knows about them and they'll be out to kill us. We need to either run away or send them off."

"We can't."

"What? Why not? They'll call for reinforcements and kill us all."

"No, unless we seem too much of a threat, they wouldn't. We need to stay with them and keep our mouths shut. If you heard about Kyla, you heard my plan about Harrison. We need him to defeat them. Right now, our first priority is Harrison. We'll deal with the Rebellion after."

"But-"

"Just play along, Paige. And we'll all survive."