Answer ||| Ateez

25

Mingi could feel his mind slipping away from him as he pulled on a pair of leather fingerless gloves. It was so hard for him to stay focused on anything now that he felt like everything was falling apart.

He was so close... and yet he was losing his grasp on hope.

And his emotions made things even harder.

The thought of seeing Hongjoong again made his entire body ache. He longed to hold Hongjoong in his arms and crush him in a hug that he never intended to end. But he also knew that was likely to never happen because Hongjoong wouldn't know who he is.

A tear rolled down Mingi's cheek and he closed his eyes, forcing out more.

Hearing about Wooyoung didn't help things either, and he hadn't missed the pity in San's eyes when he and Yunho returned from their drive.

The two of them were already glued to each other, so at least they had managed to find some sort of connection.

Mingi knew he should be happy for them. And he wanted to be, more than anything.

But he just felt... numb.

A long sigh made his shoulders drop a little and Mingi let his hands fall to his sides. They were getting ready to head to Hongjoong's shop and present the password. Yeosang and Jongho were going to stay stationed outside and keep watch on the surrounding area while Yunho and San would accompany him inside.

They just needed Yeosang and Jongho to finish packing up everything they needed and then they could leave.

"Mingi?" Yunho whispered from behind him before placing a hand on his shoulder. "Are you ok?"j

The thief hummed in response and nodded. "Yeah, fine."

Yunho's forehead creased in concern and he moved to stand in front of Mingi. "What's going on? You don't look ok."

"It's... It's nothing."

"Mingi, if we are going to make this work you can't shut us out."

"I know." Mingi forced a smile. "Is Illusion ready to go?"

Yunho pressed his lips together in a fine line, but then a look of appreciation crossed his face. "Yeah, she's ready. I've got the money loaded into a secret compartment that no one will be able to find so that's safe. San is getting fitted with the new headband. He seems to be taking things as well as he can."

"Good. We are going to need his knowledge of the Pack's home base if we are going to try and rescue Seonghwa and Woo-" Mingi's voice caught in his throat and he turned his head to the side.

"Min... You didn't know." Yunho whispered.

Even though he knew he was the poor thing to do, Mingi turned and walked away. He was tired of hearing that he 'didn't know' or that it 'wasn't his fault',  because all of this was.

If he had only run faster.

If he had gotten to the button first.

If he had never touched the button at all...

If he had never robbed that damn house and been captured in the first place!

Mingi shoved the door outside open and immediately fell to this knees. He felt so ashamed of himself for letting his mind go down this road. All he wanted was for everything to go back to normal...

And now it felt like it was all slipping through his fingers.

The others left him alone until it was time to leave, so they found Mingi in the same spot staring blankly in front of him.