maze of memories. | lmh + hjs ✓

e l e v e n

\\\ shorter chapter \\\

felix face palmed. "i knew it was going too well." seungmin shrugged back. "i'm sure they're not going to sell us or anything. besides, i knew this was going to happen sooner or later."

"what do you mean we're not going to be sold?" felix groaned back at him. "they're a gang, of course they want the money."

"first, that's a stereotype. second, chan hyung, minho hyung, and jinnie hyung don't seem like the type of people to do that." a slightly worried looking jeongin tried to stay optimistic.

jisung sighed. they were doing so well, it was all going perfectly. then this just pops up? in his opinion, he didn't necessarily think they would be sold by the group, it just meant that they now had to take many more precautions.

a silence fell, all of them lost in their own worries, thoughts, and insecurities.

"i'm going to the bathroom." jeongin abruptly stood up, stiffly making his way out. he turned back after a moment to ask if any of them knew where the first floor bathroom was. not getting an answer, he briskly walked down the hall.

///

jeongin looked down the hall. "where's the bathroom?" he whispered, looking at the space around him. strolling into an area he had never been to, he slowed his pace, trying to make as less noise as possible.

just then, a slam, along with an indistinct shout echoed through the hall. startled, jeongin curiously followed the noise. it led him to the giant double doors on the end of the hallway.

"what... is this the meeting room?" he mumbled to himself, creeping closer. soon, he was near enough to hear the low words being spoken.

"no, hyunjin, i know you're fond of him but this could benefit us in so many ways-" that was chan, sounding slightly pissed.

"so many ways? what are you saying, i swear to god are you fucking inhumane?" hyunjin snapped back. "and its not just seungmin i'm fond of-"

"it certainly sounded like it." chan raised his voice, sounding definitely angry now. his tone was the sternest jeongin had ever heard it and it made him nervous. were they actually going to be sold? should he go warn the others to run while they still could? he decided to wait a little while more.

minho's calm voice was now seeping through the door. "well, i think we should take a vote. that's how we do it around here."

"fine." all seemed to be in agreement.

jeongin tried to peep through the keyhole but quickly realized that it was stupid. he pulled back, bumping his head on the handle in the process. "o-" he clapped a hand over his mouth, rubbing the spot with the other hand.

"what-" a confused voice sounded from right behind the door and after a slight pause, it creaked open in front of a very panicked jeongin. he tried to scramble back, but it was too late. a puzzled minho had already seen him.

a slightly surprised expression made its way onto his face.

'that's it, we're being sold. we're all gonna die.' jeongin was sure. he expected minho to drag him into the room and show everyone how he was eavesdropping.

what he didn't expect, however, was minho shifting himself to hide the sight from the others and closing the door with a wink. "there's no one there." jeongin heard his muffled report.

"i'm sure i heard something though..." hyunjin sounded suspicious but let it go.

"alright... who thinks we SHOULDN'T sell the hybrids?" chan got straight to the point, sounding a bit regretful, probably for snapping at hyunjin. the still shocked hybrid pressed himself up against the door, trying to listen for anything.

there was silence, until changbin sighed. "we're not... selling them chan hyung." he just sighed in response. "i wasn't really planning on doing it anyways. why are we having this meeting again?"

"i have a suggestion. can we give them phones?" changbin said, eagerly. "why suddenly?" chan asked.

he shrugged. "i don't know, they seemed to be pretty bored all day. plus..." jeongin couldn't catch the last part, even with his extra pair of ears. he perked them up as far as possible, but still couldn't catch those whispered words.

"that's a good idea. also, it won't hurt for them to have some kind of way to contact us." hyunjin spoke at a normal tone. "then whoever's on the city shift will have to buy... 4 phones i guess." changbin said.

jeongin heard hyunjin groan. "why does it always have to be me?" the boy outside the door suppressed a small laugh and headed back to the living room before he got caught again. he didn't really need to go to the bathroom anyways, he just made up an excuse to escape the awkward silence.

///

jisung nervously fiddled with his fingers. he watched felix's snow white ears flatten, perk up, twitch, and then repeat over and over again in anxiety.

what would they do if they were sold to the government? he shook his head. too many questions. jisung was sure that he had asked himself at least 500 questions since that wretched announcement.

he sighed and flopped into his back, trying to break the tense atmosphere. "why hasn't jeongin come back? its been like 15 minutes."

"i don't know." seungmin lightly sniffed. "are you crying?" jisung sat up, frowning. at jisung's panicked tone, felix looked up and instantly saw a sniffling seungmin.

felix jumped up from the couch and smothered both seungmin and jisung, who was just moving over to talk to him, in a big hug. "no being sad! okay?"

"b-but you said th-this was a b-bad idea." the curled up dog hybrid hiccuped. felix sadly smiled. "i was wrong, min, this was a great idea. we're most probably not going to get sold-"

"make that 'we're not going to get sold. periodt." jeongin skipped into the living room, mood dampening when he spotted a tear-faced seungmin.

"oh hyung... we're gonna be fine." the maknae snuggled into the group hug, slipping in between jisung and the heavily breathing boy. he patted seungmin's head, nuzzling into his shoulder. "i accidentally overheard the meeting while i was trying to find the bathroom. we're not going to get turned in. and we're getting phones! how cool is that?"

the other three let out the first relaxed breath in 30 minutes.

"so... we're not... going to die?" jisung felt his smile grow bigger and bigger.

"pretty much." a voice laughed. "you're welcome by the way, innie."

"minho hyung! oh gosh thanks so much back there!" jeongin rushed over and hugged the laughing male.

the scene in front of him rubbed jisung the wrong way. why was he feeling so weird? was he... jealous? no way, he just met minho a few days ago. there's no way he would've caught feelings so quickly.

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sorry for the kinda rushed ending lol i suck at ending chapters (drop some tips please-)

well anyways have this seungmin picture i found
i just had the urge to share it

thanks for the read <3