bad alive {dong sicheng}

11

it had been almost two weeks since wayv had last seen keni back at jackson's place. it had taken a toll on all of them mentally.

nobody would've thought that the keni would mean so much to them, but as they boarded the plane back to korea there was a sense of finality.

yangyang tugged on kun's sleeve, "do we really have to go back to korea? what about keni?"

kun sighed and ruffled the younger ones hair, "taeyong needs us back, besides we work best as 21."

winwin had become even more silent than before and although he didn't show it, he missed keni a lot. even if he thought she was a bit annoying, he couldn't help but replay the scene where she didn't hesitate to jump into the middle of gunfire when she saw him get shot.

the one time he spoke was when kun announced that they were heading back to korea. his heart raced and he remembered the girl back at home.

ayeri. his ex best friend, the girl he gave all of his love to and then she picked someone else.

he had argued with kun, using the excuse that they should stay here and look for keni, but they all knew he was just trying to avoid ayeri.

indeed at the airport where taeyong and ayeri picked up wayv, he didn't even spare her a glance while the other boys jumped in joy of seeing her again.

it was a good thing that taeyong didn't give them time to rest but instead dragged them all to get ready for the mission.

winwin was afraid that ayeri would try to approach him and talk to him. he couldn't stand her presence anymore, it was suffocating to be heartbroken. 

as he gathered his weapons he let his mind wander, he wondered how keni was doing and how they would ever find her again.

taeyong spoke, pulling winwin out of his thoughts, "okay boys, this is ikon's warehouse. i know they just got in another shipment of girls to sell on the black market. the goal today isn't to fight with any of ikon. get the girls out safely."

winwin nodded and everyone exited the van. the warehouse was surprisingly loosely guarded. winwin recognized the boy standing at the warehouse door and gritted his teeth. he spared a glace over to ayeri who had also spotted b.i. and was narrowing her eyes.

winwin shifted his attention back to warehouse and slowly edged toward the back. perfect. he thought. there were no guards and he ran up to the open window and jumped in. 

it wasn't at all what he was expecting. he understood why b.i. was the only one standing guard in front of this warehouse. it looked like nct was too late. the girls had already been moved.

he was about to leave through the window again when i figure in the corner caught his attention. he approached the girl, hand on gun in case it was a trap and tapped on her shoulder.

the girl was barely conscious and opened her eyes a fraction to look at him.

"winwin?"

"keni?"

winwin was overjoyed to find the girl but he didn't realize it. he didn't even notice as he pulled the girl in for a hug. 

keni slumped in his arms and he turned to look, her body which was already skinny was now emaciated. it looked like jackson didn't even feed her before shipping her off to ikon. her hair was matted and her skin was dirty.

the dress she wore from the night of the mission that had gone wrong was ripped everywhere and her shoes were gone. winwin took his own jacket off and zipped it around her shoulders. 

after getting the intel from taeyong that b.i. had been knocked out, he ran through the front door and into the van with keni in his arms, shouting for taeyong to step on it.

he unconsciously stroked keni's hair while she was in his arms.