Viridescence | Yunho

༻ 21 ༺

"Draw you by day and I'll hold you by night."
- dOra maar by Onlyoneof

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Jihyun sits on one of the couches in her room and stares at the painting above her bed. She's been sitting here for who knows how many hours. Separated from the only thing that kept her happy here, she feels even emptier than ever before. Her room is much more warm and cozy than the wretched basement, but it doesn't bring much comfort at all. The heat rolls off her, she doesn't feel any of the warmth inside.

She watches the neon green fireflies scattered around in her painting and she feels sick. That disgusting shade of green that she'd gotten so fed up of seeing taunts her. What were once beautiful artworks of nature now became a symbol of dread. The way everything was painted in that horrible hue in the basement...she feels refreshed to see the real world again at least.

But one thing that has been bothering her ever since she left those awful cages is the condition of her friends. This gang managed to drag Mingi and Wooyoung into this mess so easily when all she did was whisper their names, proving them to be way more powerful than she had assumed.

She's been also suffering through self hatred. It's all her fault for uttering their names at that moment, if only she had kept her mouth shut. Maybe her injuries would be more severe but at least she'd be able to save two other lives. She failed as their team leader. She failed as their friend.

Jihyun never considered herself too religious, yet she's spent the whole morning praying for their safety. They don't deserve this, they didn't do anything irresponsible or reckless like she did and she'll never forgive herself for that.

She doesn't even notice when the door flies open. "I presume you're quite hungry."

She turns her head slowly to see Jongho standing there. Seeing him standing at her door reminds her of how she foolishly believed him to be a good person when she first arrived.

Nearly forgetting about food, the word "hungry" awakens her stomach again. It scrunches up in different ways and twists and turns aggressively. As much as she hates to respond to the snake of a man, she weakly nods her head to him.

He smiles slightly. "Hongjoong wants us all to eat together again. Let's go," he explains. He waits patiently for her as she slowly pushes herself up and limps to the door.

The pair arrive at the dining room. Jihyun's eyes scan the room and it definitely looks fuller than before. A smile grows on her lips when she sees Yunho sitting eagerly on one side of the table. Beside him is San, Hongjoong and Seonghwa. On the other side sits Yeosang all alone.

"Welcome! Take a seat!" Hongjoong exclaims. Jihyun ignores his presence and rushes to take the seat in front of Yunho.

"Are you okay?" he asks, raising a hand to her forehead. Despite having no energy, a blush forms on her cheeks. "Yeah I am, thanks. What about you though? You look really weak," Jihyun responds. He retracts his hand and fidgets with it. "Eh, I'll survive. Probably."

"Ahem," Hongjoong loudly clears his throat. "It's nice to see you two bonding but let's all spend some time together, shall we?" he declares in an irritated tone. Jihyun returns a glare to him. "Maybe give us food first," she growls back. Seonghwa raises an eyebrow and moves forward, clearly about to attack Jihyun.

Just like the other time they ate together, Hongjoong places a hand on Seonghwa's hand to tell him to calm down, but his eyes don't leave Jihyun. "You're a pretty interesting person. An awful lot like someone I've kill- I mean met before! Very well, let's bring the food in," he mumbles to her, announcing the last bit loudly enough for the servants outside to hear.