She stands in front of the giant screens, linking her hands behind her back as the large pool of information ripples in a play. Faces of their targets, their details, the blueprint of their pathway, their final destination are all scattered around on the screens, none of them focused. It's just a mixture of words, pictures and flowcharts, exactly like the mess in her head right now.

"Are you thinking, planning or just staring?" Yeosang's voice comes from the door and she turns to see him holding two cups of steaming hot drinks, his pink hair highly contrasting with the dull surrounding of the control room and his black-coloured pajamas. "If you're staring, might as well go and sleep, since you're wasting time." He gives one cup to her, and from the tag of the teabag she knows it's chamomile tea. "We need to save all the energy we can for tomorrow."

She waits for the tea to diffuse as she leans against the wall unoccupied by the screens. "I can't believe my 23 years of life are finally leading to this. My 10-year old self back then would only think that I'd be behind a computer, working around the clock like my parents were. I'd never have thought that my father used to be a part of the Bifidensis, but left it behind when he married my mother. 12 years felt too short before they came back for him. For us. My life right now... it's not what I could even imagine back then. Having a child when I was 17, now that's definitely something I would never have imagined." She lets a small smile play on her lips as she plays around with the tagged teabag.

"I still can't wrap around the fact that Hwayoung is your daughter, and now that I see you I know where she gets that personality from. He didn't forget you even for one second," he replies. "Yunho. Everything he did, reflected how much he missed you. He brought Hwayoung up with you in his memories, guiding through the life at KTC to make sure that she would grow up having a normal childhood as much as possible. It was hard, but he tried his best." He takes a sip of his tea. "Just thought I'd tell you that."

"Yeosang, I promised to myself that I won't cry anymore. Stop trying to make me cry."

"Sorry," he chuckles. "You deserve the truth, as much as you were hurt 6 years ago."

"I'm glad that I managed to uncover the truth even though time is running out. It's better late than never." She traces the rim of the cup with her finger. "You met Anna Yoo this morning, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but it was a simple goodbye; I just wanted her to know where we're going." He looks down, the fringe of his hair falling to cover his eyes. "I really hope she won't hurt herself anymore."

"You're worried for her," she utters. "You like her."

His head shoots up as he shakes it. "No I don't."

"Come on." She lifts up her eyebrows. "The way you talk about her is completely different than the way you talk to her."

"I don't know what you're going on about," but he says it with a hidden smile, quickly bringing the cup to his mouth to mask it.

"Are we doing the right thing? Jongho, Wooyoung, Mingi, Yunho and Hwayoung... the ones who will be left."

He goes over to the screens, waves his hand over the packed information to shut it down and leaves the room with minimal light. The sudden disappearance of the glaring lights makes her return her focus fully to Yeosang, expecting for an answer. He takes out two chairs for them to sit in front of the gigantic middle screen, inviting her to face it.

He doesn't answer straight away as he pulls up something on the screen, a group picture of ATEEZ, including Hwayoung, appearing. All of them are smiling, but behind those smiles, it looks like they are being forced to. She looks at their eyes; the usual radiance you can feel under a genuine smile is nowhere in sight - they are scared, lost.

Different than the ATEEZ she knows now.

"This was the first picture that we took one week after we were released from KTC." He puts away his cup of tea on the table, leaning back. "Locked up for years, and suddenly you're given the freedom you never thought you could have; you wouldn't know how to function in society properly. After that we had to force ourselves to become what we deem as 'normal'. We went out, tried all kinds of food, spent time on the weekends going to nearby places and basically did everything that we could to integrate ourselves back into society."

She stays mum because she knows exactly what it feels like.

Escaping the facility as Lee Eunbi, it took her months to be able to at least stand amongst the moving world outside of the training centre. Everything was so foreign to her she became afraid, that she thought it would be much better if she were to stay on that island forever. That is how much impact KTC have on their lives; you don't feel human anymore, even when you are released from the training centre. You are made to feel as if the people around you are of a different species; talking a foreign language and doing things differently.

"We wanted to take a picture together because we promised to each other that we will take it again and again, year after year to remind us that we came out as 9, and would hold on until the contract ended as 9." He brushes a strand of hair out of his eyes, his orbs seemingly sparkling as he looks at the picture again. "But that was before we knew our lives were only a lie. Someone has to go, and we weren't labeled as high-ranking trainees for nothing." He winks. "Well, you're the master, of course. Anyway," he exhales, "finishing as 9... that seems impossible now. I truly don't know how it'd be like for those who are left."

"No one gets a happy ending," she repeats the enquiry Lee Minhyuk has put out for them, "not for those who leave, not for those who are left. It doesn't hurt less when I'm about to leave without them knowing who I am, but it gives me the security knowing that I'm not leaving them as Lee Eunbi again. We're only cutting down the damage before it gets worse."

"Do you really think that Yunho doesn't know who you are?" he suddenly asks.

"I wish he wouldn't."

"If you love a person, and you've spent years with them-" he stops, looks at her with a smile which could hide a thousand words. "Knowing how he is, he's probably only keeping it from you. Of course, you'd know him better, and you should know that he's the type to think about others before himself. Just like you are. Both of you are looking to protect each other... but for whose sake is it in the end?" He shrugs, not letting her answer him. "It's just my thoughts, but it's your decision, and if he does know who you are, it is his too."

"Whether it's the right or wrong decision, I don't know. I'm only hoping it's the best I could choose."

He takes back his tea, draining it in one sitting before wiping a finger at the corner of his lips. "We all are. Ah, damn it; life is truly ed up. Our lives were ruined by some strangers before we even knew what life was, but when we try to fix it, it's too late to turn back to what we were. We're all adults now, and we can never go back to those years we've lost as kids and teenagers."

"Since we're going back to Wonderland, we've to make sure that we wipe everything out. No holding back and we'll remind them why we're high-level trainees. Deal?" She puts out a fist.

"Of course, that's a no-brainer." He bumps her fist. "Deal."

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