ATEEZ: Remnants

[Yunho and His Brother - The Promise]

"Trust me." That was the last message Yunho read from him.

And he immediately ran.

He tried calling over and over again to no response. Finally, someone picked up.

"Hyung, where are you right now? I'm coming."

No answer.

"Hyung, I'm serious. Don't joke around. This isn't supposed to happen yet."

Again, no answer.

"You promised we would do this together. Answer me, please!"

The static on the other end continued for a little longer until it was suddenly cut by a quiet, sinister laugh. It definitely sounded like him.

"Hyung! Are you there?! Answer me! Hello?!"

"...Hello?" It was a woman's voice.

"Hello? Who is this?"

"Oh, I found this phone in the middle of the street. Do you know the owner?"

After a bit of searching through the crowds, Yunho managed to retrieve his hyung's phone from the kind woman. She didn't see anyone of his description in the area, and said the phone must have just been constantly ringing in the middle of the road. She wasn't sure why no one bothered to pick it up either. She didn't even notice it herself until it suddenly rang as she walked past it, and saw all the missed calls on the screen. He thanked her for her help anyways and dragged himself back to the dorm.

What was he going to tell the others?

They had discussed in the past about what to do if one of them ever disappeared, but he didn't expect it to happen so early and without letting each other know either. Besides, he had always been secretly determined that it was going to be him who goes, not the other way around. He wasn't prepared for this. They were supposed to do this together, as a team. That was the only way they could reach their dream. He tried to unlock the phone, but just like the woman had said, only his missed calls were visible on the lock screen. He was sure he had heard him on the other end, but it sounded slightly ominous. He couldn't shake this awful feeling that something terrible had happened.

You can't leave me alone to take care of things by myself. What am I supposed to do without you?

With a heavy sigh, he slowly opened the front door to an oddly quiet dorm, and he panicked for a split second until he heard his roommate's voice.

"Where'd you go? I thought you got home before we did!" San piqued from the kitchen as he and Yeosang snacked on some ice cream. Yunho asked if the others were home too, but they replied that it was just them, and Jongho and Mingi, who were in their room. Like instinct, Yunho immediately placed on his warm, friendly smile and held up a bag full of ice cream.

"I got us some goodies, but it looks like you beat me to it."

"What? You got something?"

Wooyoung's excited voice shouted from behind him as his smaller friend peeked over Yunho's shoulders. San asked where the hyungs were, but Wooyoung didn't know either and assumed they must either be practicing still or in the studio. 

In the end, Yunho had no choice but to retire for the night. The others might notice his nervousness if he didn't get his act together quickly. He hadn't even noticed Wooyoung at all, despite them coming home mere seconds away from each other. He had attempted to stay up a little longer with the excuse of playing games, but they had plans scheduled for tomorrow. He wasn't sure how it was going to proceed, but in the meantime, he needed to pretend he didn't know a thing. He slowly closed his eyes, and desperately tried to sleep. The mysteriously left phone was placed right next to his ear just in case. What for? He wasn't sure.