Trapped | NCT DREAM

w

—————————————————

❝ CHAPTER ONE: SOMETHING'S WRONG ❞

___________________________________

❦

"...chan. Haechan, snap out of it," a voice called out. Haechan couldn't detect who it was coming from. It sounded familiar, yet foreign at the same time.

"Haechan, come back to reality. Please," the voice called out again, this time a bit more desperate. He could feel the presence of others around him. He was able to tell that the people were his members, but he didn't know who exactly was there.

"Haechan," the voice practically yelled. Someone shook him, hard enough to wake him from his frozen state, but not hard enough to hurt him.

He blinked multiple times, bringing up his arm to shield his eyes from the bright light of the room. Haechan didn't exactly fall asleep or fall unconscious, but he had been so out of it that it felt like he couldn't see anything until he came to his senses.

"Haechan, are you okay?" Haechan looked at the man who was in front of him. It was Taeyong, who looked very concerned. He then looked around the room to find that the others from 127 were around him.

They all looked worried, yet when he looked at Mark, his worry seemed different, and he knew why. Haechan slowly nodded his head,

"Yeah, I'm fine. I must have spaced out or something," he mumbled.

Taeyong shook his head, "It was more than just spacing out. It was like you were in a different world. Is there anything that's bothering you? Are you stressed?" Taeyong asked.

Of course, he was stressed. Every one of them was stressed. Haechan wanted to say this but thought better than to do so. He didn't want to make Taeyong mad.

"No, I'm fine," Haechan said. He had been saying those two words a lot these days, I'm fine.

However, in reality, he was not fine, and neither was Mark.

The only difference between the two was that Mark was better at hiding his true feelings with the façade of the happy go lucky attitude that he mastered so well.

"You'll tell me if anything is troubling you, right?" Taeyong asked.

That was such a hyung thing to say. Would he tell Taeyong what was happening?

No, he couldn't.

He wanted to tell, but he couldn't.

"Yeah, of course," Haechan said, though the voice that he said it in said the opposite.

Taeyong sighed, "How about you go and get some rest, yeah?" Haechan nodded and stood up.

Mark lead Haechan to their door, helping Haechan since he was still slightly unstable.

Taeyong stood there, his arms crossed as the room was engulfed in silence. "I have a bad feeling about those two," Taeyong said in a defeated tone.

Taeil walked over and placed a hand on Taeyong's shoulder. "One day, they will tell us.

For now, we just have to be observant and help them out the best we can," Taeil said. Taeyong could tell that the others agreed since most of them nodded their heads.

Even if they didn't nod in agreement, the look on their faces was enough. Mark quickly closed the door and lead Haechan to his bed.

Haechan was close to hyperventilating, and Mark could clearly see that. He put a hand on Haechan's chest and the other on his leg after placing one of Haechan's hands over his own heart.

"Breathe with me, Haechan," Mark instructed. They both began to breath slowly with Mark tapping on Haechan's leg the beats that he would breathe with. Breathe in for five taps, breathe out for five taps.

This was a strategy that Dream had come up with surprisingly quickly. They had begun to get too many panic attacks and needed a solution to calm down fast.

Once Haechan had calmed down enough, Mark climbed onto the bed and brought Haechan into a hug as they both leaned up against the wall.

"How are you feeling?" Mark asked.

"Better," Haechan answered.

Mark had expected this answer since nearly every member, including himself, would say it after a breathing session.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No,"

Not everyone responded with that, however.

Some had to talk about it. They would end up crying and have to go into a breathing session again.

Others wouldn't speak a word and keep their feelings bottled up until they exploded. No one knew when they would explode, and all of them were grateful that it hadn't happened around the hyungs yet.

As for Mark, he had managed to completely bottle up his emotions and learned how to keep them invisible from other people.

He was able to keep up the façade so well, that when he wasn't feeling well, he would just pull it off being sick. The hyungs, at least he assumed, hadn't caught on yet on what was happening to him.

"What do we have on our schedule for today?" Haechan asked in a weak voice after a few minutes of silence.

"We have an interview to go to with 127, then we have practice with Dream,"

Haechan hitched a breath, almost like he was about to cry.

Mark tried to calm him by rubbing circles on his "We'll be fine. We have each other," Mark said softly.

The two sat there in silence, only hearing the soft chatter of the hyungs in the other room alongside the faint sound of the TV.

Occasionally, Mark could hear the sniffing of Haechan since he was quietly crying.

There was a knock on the door that startled them both, disrupting the silence.

The person opened the door with caution, almost as though they were afraid of scaring them any further.

Haechan quickly rubbed his eyes to get rid of the tears.

"We need to leave in twenty minutes," the soft voice of Yuta said to the two.

He noticed the tear streaks and puffy redness of Haechan's face. They both nodded.

"Okay, hyung. We'll be out in a minute" Mark said.

Haechan didn't trust himself to speak, afraid that he would start crying again.

Yuta was reluctant to leave the room, wanting to comfort the younger, but chose to leave.

He could help Haechan later. Right now, Mark had him. Mark cupped Haechan's face and helped wipe up the remaining tears.

"Let's go get your face washed up, yeah?" Mark said. Haechan nodded, following Mark to the bathroom.

The two quickly washed up and went with the rest of the group to their cars. No one questioned the two as they made their way to the interview.