Mirrored Match // ATEEZ ✔

= 26 =

"No fricking way," Hongjoong breathes. "You're telling me that soyesul is Soyeon- your twin?"

He spreads the peanut butter over a piece of bread, folding it in half before chomping on it. He picks up his bag, puts it on the seat next to his as his mouth is still biting on the bread. Then he plops back down on the seat, takes out the bread and chews.

As he swallows with wide eyes, he repeats, "Soyeon is soyesul."

"Or at least," Danbi quickly interjects, holding up a hand. "The artworks on the page are all hers; so far every single painting I've seen in her studio are those uploaded there. You can see them for yourself."

When Hongjoong looks sceptical at this, Danbi tries to reason it out.

"I've asked Yeosang for permission; that night when I found out about it, it was rude of me to barge in where I wasn't supposed to be. I apologized to him, and he even said that maybe... you can help us in trying to find the reason behind her disappearance."

Mingi who's been quiet ever since it was revealed slightly frowns before claiming, "So you're asking Hongjoong for help to... interpret her paintings? Isn't that all on her social media page? You could just see it there."

"I'm not good with paintings, but what I can tell is the paintings you've seen on the page and in real life give off different... feelings. Even when you see them at first glance you can tell that the colours are more vibrant; the pictures don't do the actual paintings justice."

"But how will that help?" Mingi crinkles his forehead. He's eating slowly, his mouth forming a pout as he tries to find the reason behind it. "They're just-"

"They're not just paintings," both Hongjoong and Danbi quickly protest.

"Well okay then," he backtracks. "They have some deeper meanings that unfortunately, I do not see."

"It's possible," she replies as her eyes travel to Yeosang who has gotten ready for their schedule today.

Yeosang is wearing a white turtleneck hidden under a black overcoat, with his hair tied up. He greets them when he sees the three of them already at the table, and questions where her bodyguards are, when it seems that the dining room is deserted.

"I told them that they didn't have to be on guard when I'm in the house," Danbi helps to reply, looking over to the door as Yeosang shuts it close. "I kind of pity them for having to follow me whenever I go around the house, so I told them it's alright. They'll only follow me around if I decide to step out, plus," the corner of her lips slightly go down, "I'm not even their original client anyway. Couldn't ask for much."

"Sure you aren't," Yeosang says in passing, being vague as he thinks back to the DNA test results that are stashed away in his room.

He wanted answers, yet he got more questions that he doesn't even know how to tackle. Everything seems so out of place that it takes him so much convincing that this person talking to him is not his best friend. Surely he would recognize her if Danbi and Soyeon are indeed the same person, wouldn't he?

He doesn't have an explanation for the test results but there may be two that could only calm him down for now. It's either that there was an error with the test results that they ended up comparing the same samples, producing a 100% match, or the person beside her is Soyeon yet somehow she's taking on another identity and acting much differently. But maybe, there could be a third reason that he can't comprehend.

If you ran away, would you come back to the same place but act like another person? For what reason?

For now he's taking comfort in the fact that there may be an error, because he simply can't accept the fact that they're the same, even though they look the same. Their personalities are two worlds apart; it just doesn't make sense.