Empire | ATEEZ

018

A heavy silence had fallen over Hongjoong and me as we stood on the rooftop of the headquarters and stared into the inner city, side by side and only surrounded by the sounds of the night as they echoed in the distance.

I felt unsure as to what I should say as I glanced over at the man and then down at the bag at my feet, mentally cursing at the dress inside and the problems it had caused me tonight, carefully pushing it behind me with my foot as a sigh left my lips.

"You're not saying much," Hongjoong hummed, stating the obvious. I turned to him, staring at his cerulean blue hair as it danced slightly in the breeze for a moment, simply studying how his eyes stayed locked onto the horizon, onto the unknown behind the glowing landscape of the inner city.

I cleared my throat, "What do you want me to say?" I asked, clenching my hands around the railing, "I already thanked you-"

"What were you doing wandering around in dark alleyways at night, Nari?" he sighed, cutting me off yet still not looking at me, focused on the darkness in the distance.

The question made me feel oddly guilty, straightening myself a little as I bit my lip. "I didn't want to train today. I was tired of losing," I admitted, my voice hesitant and small before fading away into silence again as Hongjoong took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"You're not losing," he said, leaning back a little as the wind picked up, seemingly unfazed by the cold that was brought with it, "You're improving. That's the entire point."

"It doesn't feel like it," I mumbled, turning back toward the horizon and admiring the landscape for a moment before continuing, "It feels like I'm getting thrown around by someone who's a lot stronger than me-"

"Nari, what exactly is it that you think we do?" Hongjoong asked, cutting me off again as he finally turned to face me, dark eyes the colour of midnight itself as they found mine. I swalled thickly, gripping the railing a little tighter, "I-"

"We drag ourselves through life with broken bones and bullets in our bodies," Hongjoong said, letting his eyes travel down my body before locking onto my own again, "Bruises and exhaustion is nothing, nothing, compared to the shit we do, the fight we have to win in order to keep going."

He paused for a moment, the silence following his words almost painful as his eyes darkened. "If you ever do something like this again," he said, gesturing for the bag by my feet, "Then you're out."

"Out?" I asked, my eyes widening, "Hongjoong, I'm not even in."

"And you're never going to be if you decide to quit again. We don't quit, Nari," he said, his words echoing in my ears as I found myself drowning in those dark eyes.

"The others," he said, glancing back over his shoulder towards the door, "The others would die for me and I for them. We're a family and we're in this together. You can't run away if you expect us to have your back in the future."

I fell silent at that, simply staring at him for a moment as he continued, "Seonghwa is crucial to this group. He manages all of our operations and is my right-hand man for a reason. He believes in you," Hongjoong said, "He believes in you and I want to do the same but you have to prove yourself. I built Empire with my bare hands; bloody and scarred by the time I finally reached the top, which is why I need a soldier, a warrior, Nari. I need someone to fear, not hunt."

As silence once again fell over us, heavy and only occasionally interrupted by the faraway sounds of the night like ghosts and whispers of secrets at the back of my mind, I was reminded of Jongho and how he had said the exact same thing to me the last time I had seen him.

I looked at Hongjoong with completely new eyes right then, the man no longer being be cold and indifferent idiot I had argued with since being brought here but rather someone who would, as he had said himself, die for his family.