“Well? I’m listening.”

Daehyun reluctantly glanced at Yongguk who looked like he was going to tap his foot in impatience any second. Thing was, Daehyun couldn’t just say how things really were, could he? As if he did so, he’d look like a complete fool and Yongguk would probably die of laughing. However, it wasn’t likely that Youngjae would suddenly return and save him from the rather killing gaze of the leader.

In the midst of all of it, Daehyun started to wonder whether Youngjae had already found what he was looking for or whether he had already fixed things as the situation they were in was getting out of hand. Maybe he had done it all, maybe Daehyun should just give him a little more time to come back. Maybe he should just make up another lie.

“You’re going to turn transparent if the colour will continue to disappear from your face this fast.” the elder stated then, snapping Daehyun out of his thoughts. “Sit down and tell me what’s going on. I’m starting to be seriously worried.”

Daehyun did as he was told, but said nothing. Instead, his fingers found a sudden interest in the hem of his shirt. Putting a lie on the top of another was not a clever step, he thought.  

And so he told Yongguk about everything. Finding the words to say how terrified Youngjae was every day, how he couldn’t sleep because of it was immensely difficult. To his surprise, Yongguk was listening without even blinking. Daehyun had almost expected him to erupt into cruel laughter any second. But he didn’t. And so the vocalist continued.

Yongguk on the other hand, genuinely couldn’t believe his ears. Daehyun was obviously talking about a ghost or something of that sort and it simply didn’t work in Yongguk’s head. But also he didn’t exactly not believe him. There definitely must have been something to his words as, truth to be told, Youngjae did look utterly terrible those past few days.

There was however also anger building up within the leader. He somehow couldn’t fight off the thought that the two should have told him about it earlier, maybe it wouldn’t have led them to such a situation they found themselves in at that very moment. With one member gone for who knew how many days more and promotions being in full swing, as a leader, Yongguk felt more burdened than ever before.

Silence fell once Daehyun finished talking, not daring to look up as if his shirt was the most interesting object he had ever seen.

“I don’t even know what to say.” the leader stated truthfully.

“Sorry, hyung. It was me who told him to go.” Daehyun mumbled.

“You both could’ve told me earlier. We could have thought of something like postponing the promotions if not anything else instead of this.” Yongguk hissed, sounding probably harshed that he had intended to. “What do we do now? Have you tried calling him?” he asked then, after a while.

“Yeah. No answer, I think there’s no signal there.” Daehyun said being a bit calmer.

“Just great. Just why didn’t you tell me or someone earlier?”

“Okay, we should have told you. But the others? The scene they made when they found that godforsaken doll in Youngjae’s bag was enough, don’t you think?” Daehyun raised his voice, not even knowing where the rage suddenly came from.

He suddenly felt so angry as he recalled that rather unpleasant incident; he was even more mad at himself as he knew that if he hadn’t known that there was much more behind the toy, he would have mocked Youngjae too because of it.

“Oh...” Yongguk thought for a bit, before remembering that day. “I admit, they were behaving like kids.” he sighed then, plopping down on a chair across from Daehyun.

“We should have told you, okay? But it still doesn’t change anything now, does it?” the younger uttered, seemingly being at complete loss of himself.

“So... What do we do?”

“I wish I knew, hyung. I wish I knew.”

Night was slowly falling, Youngjae noticed, maybe it was about time to call it a day, he