Flower ||| Ateez

4

Lily burst through her front door, tears streaming down her face. She knew she would regret doing this later, but she just had to get out of the house.

She ran, not really seeing where she was going.

She ran away from everything.

She ran until her foot caught on the lip of the side walk and she fell face first, screaming in pain as her wrist instinctively came up to save her fall.

It failed.

Lily skidded a few feet and rolled onto her side, cradling her puling wrist. Tears still pouring out of her eyes.

"Oh my gosh! Are you ok?" A deep voice cried from in front of her.

Before she could react, a pair of strong hands lifted her into a sitting position.

"No!" She cried, trying to push herself away, only to put more pressure onto her hand.

The boy froze, looking at her gently. "It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you." He voice was soothing. Lily looked up and was shocked at how unbelievably handsome he was. He platinum blonde was styled to the side, showing off the right side of his head. "My name is Seonghwa. May I?" He asked softly, holding out a hand but not reaching for her.

Lily hesitated, but something out his presence told her it would be ok this one time. She slowly brought both hands away form her chest. Both has several scraps, blood seeped from some of the deeper ones. Her right wrist looked angrier than ever.

Seonghwa did his best not to show any emotion as he gently took her hands in his. He pulled a white cloth out of his pocket and dabbed gently at the scrapes. Lily hissed but didn't pull away.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Then he looked at her, flashing beautiful blue eyes. "May I?" He asked one more time. When Lily didn't answer, he took it as a yes and gingerly started pulling back her right sleeve. This time he couldn't hide his worry. "Your wrist is horribly sprained. When did this happen?" He asked gently, running a thumb over the red skin.

"Um, a week ago, I think. I fell in dance class."

"Is you name, by chance, Lily?" She looked up in surprise, causing him to smile sweetly. "I am friends with your teammates. They told me about you. This should have started healing by now." He focused on her wrist again.

They mentioned me?

"Besides what happened just now, have you done anything else to aggravate this?" He looked at her again. Noticing the hesitation, he just hummed. "We should get this in a splint, I think I have one at my house if you don't have one at home. It's not far from here."

Seonghwa stood up and held out a hand, offering help to Lily. She paused, looking behind her, but then took his hand with her good one.

I need to get this healed...

Seonghwa smiled and led her to his house, never letting go of her hand.

She was surprised to see that he only lived about a block away. His house was much nicer than hers, inside and out.

Lily tentatively followed him inside. She hadn't been in another person's house since it happened...

"You can wait in there." Seonghwa said, motioning to a room off to the side. Lily obliged, walking in and glancing around what appeared to be a dining room. Everything was so cleaned and organized. She stared at a china cabinet, admiring the delicate plates and bowls displayed behind the clear glass.

"Hwa! I'm hungry!' Lily started when she heard a familiar voice call out.

The door to the dining room burst open and San froze when he saw her standing there. "Lily!" He said, excitement crossing his face. "I wasn't expecting to see you until tomorrow! What are you doing here?" Dimples flashed in her direction as he started walking over to her.

Lily took at step back and brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "U-um. I..."

"Lily had an accident and I brought her here to help. Dinner will be a little late Sannie." Seonghwa said calmly as he walked into the room carrying a first aid kit and a wrist brace.

"What happened?" San said, his smile faltering as he looked from his friend to Lily.

"Nothing serious, who all is here? I need to know how many to cook for." He said as he took Lily's hands in his again and dabbed some disinfectant on her cuts. He muttered a quick apology when Lily pulled away. She bit her lip as she gave her hands back to him.

"Yeosang is upstairs studying, I think Mingi is on his way home. Yunho is out... So, you, me, Yeosang, Mingi, oh, and Wooyoung is on his way over!" San smiled brightly.

"Of course, he is," Seonghwa muttered under his breath, then paused when he felt Lily tense.

I have to get out of here...

"Did I hurt you again?" Seonghwa fussed. Lily shook her head and he resumed treating her. She watched as he delicately placed band aids over the worst scraps and then helped her into the brace. She didn't have the heart to tell him they wouldn't be there long.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" San asked, flashing some of the more adorable dimples Lily had ever seen.

"T-thank you. But I s-should be getting home." Lily looked at the ground, missing the look of concerned exchanged between San and Seonghwa.

"Would you like me to walk you home?" The older asked.

"No!" Lily said instantly. She felt bad and the flash of pain that crossed his eyes and quickly added, "Thank you for your help, Seonghwa. But I will be able to get home on my own."

"Hwa you should start dinner, I'll take her home!" San pipped up and then grabbed Lily's good hand, pulling her to the door.

"N-no, really S-San. It's o-ok." Please...

"Yes, it is ok! I can't let my new dance partner get hurt anymore. We have lots of work to do." San nodded as he led her out the door.

Walking up the driveway, they were greeted by Wooyoung. He smiled brightly at San, causing Lily's heart to beat a little faster. Stop it you idiot.

Her heart then faltered when his smile vanished as he laid eyes on her. "What are you doing here?" He said, an accusing note to his voice.

"She ran into Hwa and he helped her out with something." San said. "And now we are going to walk her home!" He took his friends other hand in his free one and dragged both behind him.

Lily didn't have the strength to fight back, instead focusing on her feet, so she didn't trip again.

Wooyoung, however, did glance at her, looking her up and down. His eyebrows furrowed as he took in the same baggy sweatshirt he saw her wear to every dance class, her bandaged hands and braced hand. She looked tired too. And after as strong pull from San, he could have sworn he saw a dark bruise around her neck when she stumbled forward...

After a few minutes, Lily tugged on San's hand. "I can go the rest of the way. T-thank you for walking me this far." She bowed her head a little bit, pulling her hand out of his.

He tilted his head. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, thank you." Lily said quickly, not looking at either one as she side-stepped them and ran down the side walk.

Both boys watched her until she disappeared inside a beaten house. They glanced at each other, Wooyoung shrugged, and wrapped his arm around the other's shoulder before turning to head back to Seonghwa's.

Both were far enough away by then that they didn't hear Lily scream...