Wanted ||| Ateez

14

Yeosang turned his gaze to May. He knew right away that he couldn't turn her away. Her words had been genuine when she spoke to him. If she had wanted to kill him, she would have done it a long time ago.

Instead of answering, he moved to sit at the end of May's bed, his back against the wall and his knees against his chest. "We'll look over her tonight."

The others nodded and left the room one by one.

"Are you ok?" Jongho asked, not looking away from May.

"I don't know. But... I think I will be. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't terrified right now, but I think I'm more scared for her. What happened to her?"

"She had this thing around her ankle. I'm guessing whoever she works for put it on her, and maybe all his 'employees', to keep them under control. It... It electrocuted... her..." Jongho closed his eyes and bowed his head.

Yeosang covered his mouth. "Do you think that's what happened the other times?"

"I guess we will see when she wakes up, but I'd be willing to bet it was. She's been disobeying her orders this entire time. For us."

"This all is starting to make sense though... How jumpy she could be. How she never really opened up to us..."

Jongho nodded. "I tried... I had tried to ask her about it, but she wouldn't let me in. I think when we were in Paris, she was still struggling with her instincts, so she tried to push us further away."

"She's been pushing us away ever since she came to work for us." Yeosang said softly. "I hope that will change now that we know."

"I hope so too."

---

May felt herself starting to drift back into consciousness, but she didn't want to. She never wanted to feel anything like that again. She thought she was going to die. Maybe I am dead... That would probably be the best scenario. Then I wouldn't have to hurt anyone...

Her limbs felt heavy, but still she tried to move them.

Her world shook for a moment and her eyes flew open.

Jongho and Yeosang had felt her moving so they had shifted on the bed to look at her. She stared back at them, trying to figure out what was going on. But before she could, she made a dash to the bathroom.

The two of them ran after her as she tried to run on weak legs. Jongho placed his hands on her hips to support her as her hands flew to her mouth.

Yet again, she barely made it as the purging started. It hurt so much more than the last times. Her body screamed at her to stop, but the aftermath of going through that torture won out.

For the longest time she couldn't tell if she was sobbing or dry heaving after her stomach was empty.

Jongho held her hair again and Yeosang sat next to her, one hand and his head resting on her back.

When they heard a soft knock, Yeosang got up to open the door before immediately returning to the floor next to her.

Wooyoung and San walked in, holding hands and looking worried. An unspoken conversation ran between them and Jongho. San ran to tell the others, quickly returning to take the younger's hand again.

When May finally felt like she could move from the bathroom, she reached for Jongho. He picked her up again, holding her close and carried her to her bed. She wrapped her arms around his neck and when she didn't show any sign of wanting to be put down, he sat with her on his lap.

She felt her eyelids drooping, and she let out a soft groan. Jongho tightened his grip.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." She said weakly, keeping her eyes closed. "I'm sorry, for everything."

"We forgive you." Yeosang said firmly.

May snapped her head to look at him, then immediately regretted the action as she fell back into Jongho's chest. I didn't expect him to... Her chest tightened and she bit her lip. "How can you? After..."

"It doesn't matter what you were going to do. All that matters is that you were, and are, planning on changing." Hongjoong said, picking up on Yeosang's thoughts. "We might be a little hesitant at first, but you chose to save Yeosang last night instead of letting that man..." he swallowed his words. "You could have let him finish the job, and we wouldn't have known you were to blame at all."

"Exactly." Yeosang said, moving closer to place a hand on her knee.

"You told us the truth last night, showed us everything. That is also something you didn't need to do." Wooyoung added, his voice hitching a little. "You're our friend, May."

"And I think you've been through enough after what we saw last night." Seonghwa looked at the others and they all agreed.

"I don't deserve any of it. If you only knew what I've done..." May fought to hold back her tears. She glanced at Seonghwa and his forehead creased.

"And we don't need to know." Hongjoong stepped forward. "I'm sure we can all guess, but that doesn't matter. The only thing we are worried about right now is what's going to happen next."

"I can't stay here. He knows I failed, and he can find me wherever I go through-" May opened her eyes and her hand shot to her ankle. Instead of the device, she saw a white bandage, stained with blood.

"I did the best I could." Jongho said softly. "It was on there so tight though... I couldn't help-"

May cut him off by wrapping her arms around his neck again, holding him tighter than before. She felt a sudden wave of happiness flowing over her. "Thank you, thank you thank you thank you."

The youngest member hesitated for a second, then pulled her into him, smiling into her neck.

"So, will you stay with us?" San asked hopefully.

May turned to the others and nodded. "If you'll have me. But I can't promise it will be safe... He has his ways, and the fact that he knows who you all are... Maybe I shouldn't..."

"We won't let him harm you, or Yeosang." Jongho said, looking at the others. "I don't know how, but we will get through this. Together."