Flower ||| Ateez

38

The room was silent, frozen in time.

Wooyoung fell to his knees, shocked at what he saw.

Lily had twisted just enough, bringing her arms forward to help drive the knife down into her father's chest. She pushed. Once, twice. The entire blade disappeared into his skin.

Her father reached up, grabbing her jaw so hard she thought he would break it. He laughed. The light left his eyes.

Lily screamed into the tape still covering her mouth, then Wooyoung was there, turning her from the sight and pulling her into his chest.

He slowly guided her to the back of the room and sat in the corner. He pulled her into his lap and rocked her back and forth.

She didn't know what she was feeling right now. It felt like all the emotions flew through her head at once. Relief, anger, sadness, joy, fear, pain, sorrow, confusion. There was no one word to describe why Lily cried.

Wooyoung reached down and worked the tape off her mouth slowly. She whimpered as it pulled against her skin, then buried her face into his neck as soon as she was free.

He shushed her, still rocking her back and forth while running his hand down her hair and back.

After a few minutes, the door opened and Hongjoong ran in, followed by several police officers. He paused, wide-eyed, as he took in the room. He looked to the others, wanting answers, but they were still speechless.

Finally, San moved and picked up a jacket that had been discarded on the ground and brought it to Wooyoung to wrap around Lily. He sat next to them, placing a comforting hand on Wooyoung's leg.

The last person to arrive was the boys' manager. He quickly started speaking to the police, then turned to come and kneel in front of the three in the corner. "I'm getting this taken care of. Try to keep her calm, they are going to want to speak with her."

"Make sure they send someone to bring my father in too. He had a hand in this as well."

The man nodded then left the room.

Still crying, Lily saw the others standing awkwardly off to the side. She raised a shaky hand in their direction, and they rushed over to her. Just as before, they all found some place to lay a hand on her so she could feel their presence.

When a man in a trench coat entered the room, Hongjoong was the first to greet him.

"Son." Said the taller man. He quickly pulled a badge out of his coat. "Can you tell me what happened here?"

"Can you assure me that you don't work for the man laying over there? We've been deceived by the police before." He crossed his arms.

The man nodded and flipped his badge over. He was from a detective agency a few cities away.

Satisfied, Hongjoong signed and rubbed the back of his head. "It's a long story, where do you want me to start?"

"Let's start wherever is most comfortable for everyone. I'd like to speak to you all at once to try and make this easier, but let's move into another room, shall we?" He looked back at the people photographing the scene.

San helped Wooyoung lift Lily up so he could carry her. She clung to him, still crying, but it was silent tears now.

They moved down the hallway into what looked like had been set up as an employee lounge. Wooyoung sat in the middle of the biggest couch and the other's crowded around him so they could still be in contact with Lily.

The detective looked over the group, his hard face faltering when he saw Lily. "Ok... We are going to try and get this done at once. I know you've been through a lot tonight. My only ask is to not talk all at once and do your best to give the accurate truth." He pulled up a chair and grabbed a tape recorder from his pocket.