Chance Meeting ||| Wooyoung (Ateez)

20

Lila broke down as soon as San hung up the phone. She had stayed on the phone with him until he fell asleep, doing her best to keep her voice steady for his sake.

It would only make him worse if he worried about her.

She took a few minutes to compose herself and get her breathing under control before unlocking her phone to follow San's second request. It was obvious that he didn't like it, but she knew he was worried about her being alone...

The phone rang and Lila chewed on her thumbnail as she tried to stay calm.

"Hey, Lila!" Nate's cheer filled voice came from the other side.

"N-Nate?" She said, feeling her strength failing her. She knew the lie she needed to tell. But it was so hard to get the words out.

His tone changed immediately and she heard keys jingling in the background. "What's wrong? Where are you?"

"S-San's..."

"I'm on my way." She heard a door slam.

Lila could feel the shadows of her demons creeping in on her. "W-Will you stay on the line with m-me?"

"Of course. Let me put you on speaker." Nate clicked the phone over and started his car. "What happened?"

Curling up into a ball on her bed, Lila listened to the sound of his engine running. She focused on that to keep her mind away from darker thoughts.

She knew Wooyoung had been in worse shape than San had said... It was a gut feeling. And now... He could...

A new wave of tears came and she heard Nate swear and a car horn blare. "I'm coming. I'm almost there." He said.

Lila tried to latch onto his words, but she felt herself drifting away slowly. She couldn't lose him... His weak voice started to play through her mind, and the thing that was hardest was that she couldn't be there with him.

She wanted to be able to hold him and tell him everything would be ok...

Stay strong... She had to stay strong...

But it was so much easier to give in and just fade away.

That's all she wanted to do right now. She was losing her will to fight.

The front door burst open, slamming against the wall, and she heard someone calling for her.

But it was the wrong voice, so she didn't respond... It wasn't him...

"Lila!" Nate cried out when he came into her room. He was at her side in an instant and pulling her into his arms.

Her body stayed limp for a moment before she slowly turned her head to bury her nose in his chest, but she couldn't find the strength to hug him.

"Lila, sweetie, what happened?" He asked, rocking her back and forth. A hand came up and started running through her hair.

She hummed in response and felt him drawing her out a little at the comforting touch. Taking a deep breath, but keeping her eyes closed, she whispered, "Its San..."

Nate tensed a little and looked down at her. "What happened?" He asked again.

"He's..." Her voice caught in her throat. "He's s-sick..."

"Oh no." Nate gasped and held Lila closer to him.

Now she turned and fisted his shirt as the tears came pouring out of her. All her fears. All her worries. They flooded from her at the thought of losing Wooyoung.

"It's bad, isn't it..."

Lila whimpered and nodded.

"I'll stay for as long as you need me to. It's going to be ok. One way or another..." Nate moved them so they were laying down and he held her close, not saying another word as she continued to soak his shirt with her tears.