Mirrored Match // ATEEZ ✔

= 27 =

Hongjoong watches in awe as the paintings are presented to him, not believing his eyes as the art that he has been admiring on the screen is now physically in front of him. He walks around the studio, his eyes scanning every one that he can see, and just like Danbi had told him, the feeling is different.

While Danbi is resting after a full day at the orphanage, Hongjoong had asked Mingi to come together with him to the studio, so that he wouldn't feel too lonely if he were to spend some time in there. He doesn't know what he'd expect to see with every piece, but he might as well try anyway since the search for Soyeon so far has lead to nothing, and they couldn't even get a glimpse of a clue on where she could've run to.

His brain goes into overdrive; trying to analyze if he could've picked up any messages that Soyeon had wanted to deliver through her paintings, while at the same time marvelling at the fact that the artist he has been admiring is Danbi's twin all along. He goes to the paintings propped up against the walls first, they are layered over each other so he has to pry them apart to observe them individually.

All 99 pieces of the paintings that she had done are all in sync with those uploaded on the soyesul page, but even as he gets a second look at them he can't seem to piece the meaning together, if there is even one. Now that every painting is gathered in the studio, the meanings seem to get further from him. It just seems like an outlet a tired and cooped up mind, finding freedom in the colours she used.

"There are splatters of paint on the floor," Mingi speaks up, before correcting himself. "Well, it doesn't matter since it's a painting studio anyway. Forget about it."

Hongjoong walks up to the place where Mingi is observing, feeling chills running down his spine as he sees that the said paint is red in colour, making it eerily look like it's blood. The colour of the hardwood floor has reduced the intensity of the paint, but they can still see that it's red in colour. From where he's standing only then he turns around to face the unfinished painting on the easel, feeling as if the room is now extra cold as he sees the same one Danbi had seen on the day she decided to enter the painting studio.

"Oh-" Mingi says, reacting much calmer than Hongjoong. "That must have been where the red paint came from. It's splashed all over the painting."

"Mingi," Hongjoong utters, "isn't that two people who look very much alike on the same canvas?"

"Are you saying that's both Soyeon and Danbi?" Mingi frowns. "She knew she had a twin and drew this?"

Hongjoong stares at the picture, drawn in by the way the paint does resemble blood. The spooky feeling is replaced by suspicion, before it shifts to confusion. "Do you think... Danbi is related to Soyeon's disappearance?" He asks out of the blue as his eyes keep looking at the two portraits of seemingly the same person. "Everything lined up perfectly, Danbi wanted to be Bae Wonshik's daughter so bad-"

"Kim Hongjoong," a tone of disbelief underlies his words, "you knew Danbi better than anyone else, and now you're suspecting her too? She took us in because she trusted us, but now whose side are you on?"

Hongjoong releases a heavy breath, finally realizing the gravity of his words. "I'm sorry, everything just seemed so sinister at this point. Not to mention how our prime minister doesn't even care for his daughter who went missing now that he's already high up on the throne. I didn't want to say it because I know how much Danbi had always wanted to be the daughter to somebody... but I don't want to see her hurt again. People have always pushed her away, and now it seems that things are finally going her way."

"Can we leave first?" Mingi speaks up. "This room is seriously giving me the creeps, and it's located at the end of the hallway. I feel like something bad happened here."