Taeyong draws up the hoodie of his sweater after putting on a cap. The hoodie covers up half of his upper face that you could only see his nose and lips. He puts his hands in the pockets and walks with his head down. It is a chill night that he shivers slightly due to the thin clothes his wearing right. A thin sweater with a sleeveless thin shirt inside and a pair of knee-length shorts. It's good enough he doesn't choose to wear slippers. He clenches his fists in the sweater pockets as if hoping it'll warm him a bit.

Lee Taeyong has just left the dorm in the middle of the night — well, the correct term would be he has just sneaked out of the dorm earlier — because he find it hard to sleep that night. He is sleepy and exhausted to the point that every part of his body ache so much. He has been tossing and turning on the bed for a long two hours. He stares at the ceiling in the dark for another one hour. He drinks two glasses of warm milk but he still couldn't fall asleep. He goes back to lie down on his bed and instead listens to Taeil's soft snoring at the other bed. He's hoping with Taeil's snore, he'll go to sleep but how wrong he is.

In the end, he puts on his sweater and sneakily leaves the dorm. Maybe some fresh air might calm him and lulls him to sleep. He hasn't been taking a proper and calm walk for a long time anyway.

He has been so busy these days ever since NCT127's comeback. He and the other members have been going here and there, fly to another country and return back to Korea the next day only to fly back to another country the next day. He feels very worn-out to the point of almost breaking down.

Right now he feels like crying because he's very, very exhausted but he couldn't sleep and the group will be having a schedule in a few hours, why does he have to sacrificed a few hours of sleep. Taeyong sighs and keeps on walking, farther away from the dorm with his mind running wild about things he couldn't even put his finger on.

Before he himself realizing it, he has been walking down to the town. It is still brightly lit and alive with people going up and about the streets and buildings. There are teenagers about Mark and Jaehyun's ages going mindlessly in the city. He wonders why are they still here instead of at home. And he has a sudden thought of if Jaehyun, Sicheng, Mark and Donghyuck ever be like these kids if they aren't celebrities. He hopes not, his kids are nice and very pure. A group of men — they are obviously civil servants — have just coming out of a pub looking very drunk. They are making such loud noise Taeyong feels headache coming to him. Taeyong walks pass by the men and chokes a bit at the smell of alcohol. It isn't that Taeyong doesn't drink but he doesn't like the smell that much.

Once he's out of the earshot from the men, he calms down a bit. He's walking farther away from the centre of attraction in the city. His eyes caught a convenience store up ahead of him and decides to stop by for a cup of instant coffee — or maybe instant noodles too.

He sits down and wait for the noodles to soften and drinks his hot coffee. He feels the warmth flowing from his throat to his stomach. He sighs at the sensation. Five minutes later je gobbles down the instant noodles like he hasn't eat for days.

After he throws the trash in the waste bin, Taeyong catches by the corner of his eyes how the cashier is eyeing him — more like glaring at him with so much hatred he doesn't know why — but when he turns to face her, she looks away instantly, pretending she has been staring at her phone for all this while.
Taeyong shrugs slightly and leaves the store.

As he steps out, he feels sudden eerie chills greeting him, he shivers harder than before. He shakes his body and rubs his arms to get some warmth. He takes a left turn where he'll be walking away from the people in the city, where the place is very quiet and deserted too. He doesn't know why he chooses to be walking at this part of city instead of strolling at the park.

Taeyong finds himself in an alleyway after some few minutes. He stops walking by then and looks around. He doesn't know where he is right now and he's not going to lie that he's kind of scared right now.

He puts his hands in his shorts' pockets to retrieve his phone only to be let down. He sighs and hit his forehead. He left his phone at the dorm. "Great," he mutters. "How could I remember to bring my wallet but not my phone."

He looks around for a public phone but there's no any to be found. He sighs again and turns to go back to where he has walk earlier.

Taeyong's heart beats wildly in his chest that he finds it hard to breathe. His heart thumping louder and harder than every time he dances. This is much more pain that after he's done dancing. He has cold sweat running down from his head to his neck and down to his body. He's also trembling so hard. His tears starting to fall from his eyes.

Taeyong looks from left to right to the front and the back. He walks in from one alley to another. He has lost. He couldn't find the way back home. He has been going in alleys for 30 minutes now and still finds himself at the same place when he first arrives here. It's like he has been in a maze, instead of high towered hedges, he's being surrounded by high, eerie looking buildings.

Taeyong stops where to takes a breath. He bends down and rests his hands on his knees. He straightens up again and wipes his tears and sweat off his face. Why is this happening to him. What does he do? Is this a dream? But why does it feel so real? He has all of these questions in his head. Taeyong only wants to go home and sleep right now.

When he's about to turn and go to this one alley he's sure he hasn't been to, he sees a flicker of movement not too far from him. He turns back and runs to that whatever it is. Maybe it's a human, someone he could ask for help. Yeah, maybe he's just lost and forgets where he is since his mind is very tired right now. This isn't a dream, but just a fragment of his imagination.

Taeyong senses a tiny hope when he sees two figures in the form of humans in front of him. He runs to catch up to them. "Hello, sir? Please wait up!" he shouts and the two people stop. Taeyong fastens up and reaches them. He stops when he's a few feet away from the two and catches deep breaths. He looks up after a few seconds and asks, "Hello, could you guys help me? I'm kind of lost and I didn't know where I am right now."

The two don't turn around and instead have their backs to him. Taeyong scratches his head. Why are they like this? Don't they hear him? He wonders. So, he decides to walk up to face them. He approaches them slowly and he doesn't know why his heart is pounding like mad to the point he is sure the two could hear. He gulps down his saliva and faces them.

He falls backwards to the ground. He gapes for air and slides away. He can't believe what he's lookingat right now. He wants to scream but he couldn't find his voice. It is stuck in his throat.

The two are faceless. There are no eyes, nose or lips. They look down on him and trying to reach for him. That's when he gains his strength and make a run from it. His eyes are as wide as ping pong balls. "No, this can't be real!" he tells himself. He must be dreaming right now. "Wake up, Lee Taeyong! Wake up!!"

He finds himself at the same place he is before. He looks around and runs to an alley. This time, he sreams as he finds three people with nothing but their faces filled with worms. He throws up his supper and feels like fainting when he sees worms coming out of his mouth.

He goes to another alley and turns back as he finds about six people faces looking like melting candles. "HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!" he shouts on top of his lungs. He shouts for help over and over again that his throat hurts so much.

He stands where he is before again and he couldn't move anywhere as those figures are approaching him from every side. "No! Please don't come near! Please go away!" he shouts at them.

They stretch their hands as if to reach for him and take him away with them. Taeyong slumps down to the ground and cries, he cries so hard and begging for them leave him. "Please go away!" he shouts again and again.

When he feels a hand touching his shoulder, he jumps up and make to run but stops as the hands pulls him down. He thrashes to get away from the hands. He needs to get out of here. "LET ME GO!" he cries harder with his hands flailing in the air.

"Taeyong, wake up!" the familiar voice stops his trashing. He opens his eyes and finds Taeil is looking down at him with his hands on his shoulders. His eyes also catch the other members standing behind Taeil, their faces look very pale and worried. They must have woken up after hearing him screaming.

Taeyong chokes and pulls Taeil to him. He buries his head in Taeil's chest. The older hugs Taeyong trembling body tightly. "It's okay, it's okay. It's just a nightmare," Taeil tell Taeyong. He ruffles Taeyong hair and rubs the shivering man's small back which the shirt is wet with sweat. "It's okay," he whispers.

Taeyong sobs in Taeil's arms and he wishes that Taeil wouldn't let him go. He doesn't want Taeil to go that he hugs the elder tighter every second.

In the end, the rest of them bundle up on the floor in the living room, with Taeyong in the middle. They hug Taeyong and promise him that they won't he going anywhere and that they'll be here for him every time he neess them. Taeyong feels grateful.

With that, Taeyong falls into a dreamless sleep with him being surrounded by the people he loves more than everything.

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a/n: sorry for grammar mistakes and spelling error, i didn't proof read. thank you for reading!