Chapter 27: Aftermath

                I held him tight in my arms. Jun-hyung. The love of my life. My present, and my future. He stood there, in the middle of the crowd, cradling me as well in his arms. I rested my head on his shoulder, but then I noticed that the people around me were wearing black, bullet proof vests and helmets. I looked back at the person in front of me, and he seemed too oblivious about it. At the corner of my eye, I saw someone standing stationary, a contrast to all the motion around us. I looked at the person and to my surprise, it was Master Im-ho, holding a gun. I shook Jun-hyung, but he didn't even care to look. I tried to scream, but I had no voice. Master Im-ho pointed the gun at us and pulled the trigger. I closed my eyes. When I opened them, I found everybody on the floor, dead.

                I woke up with a startle that morning. It has been a week since the incident in the warehouse, but the dreams would still come to me, so vivid and as if it really happened.

                I fixed myself, and unlike my regular days before the warehouse incident, I had started phoning my mother every day. Most of the times, she would be the one telling me stories of her day, but I listened to her voice still. It felt like the tone of her voice would erase the stress the nightmares had caused me.

                I took the bus to school. As usual, I got to meet Gette and L on the bus. We sat together at the back, but we wouldn't really talk to each other. We just held hands, which was probably weird looking in the eyes of the other passengers. L held Gette's while she held mine. As if we were making sure we got each other, and that we were alive.

                “Are you going to Dr. Han this afternoon?” Gette whispered. I nodded as a reply. “I have to,” I told her, “I couldn't sleep well.”

                “Nightmare?” she said and I nodded. “Me, not as vivid as before, but equally unnerving.” L released her hand and brought Gette's head to rest on his shoulders. I looked away and smiled. I took my phone from my pocket. I bought a new phone and a new SIM card a few days after the incident, primarily because I was so scared that people were still tracking my phone. Gette didn't use the phone when she was in the resort. Even if she wanted to, she wouldn't be able to because of the phone signal jammers, but then she used it several times the day before, when she called her mother and went back to her house that night. That was when the gang thought she was me.

                I tapped at the screen and searched for Jun-hyung's last known number. What if I tell Jun-hyung about the nightmares? Will he worry like that of L? I thought of making the call, but what if I disturb an important questioning with the detectives? I pushed my phone back to my pocket. Soon, we reached the school and went to our classroom for the first class. Sung-jong, Dong-woo, Sung-gyu and Woo-hyun were there. L settled Gette and I on our seats and went to the group.

                “You know I'm glad you have him,” I told Gette. She looked at me and gave me a small but sweet smile.

                “Thanks,” she said. “Don't worry, I'm sure Jun-hyung will be back soon.” Gette held my hand tighter, and I wasn't able to do anything but to hold on to her as well. The federal agents took Jun-hyung that same morning after the warehouse incident. They said Jun-hyung had to “settle things.” Jun-hyung told me not to worry, but how could I do that when he hadn't called me for almost a week?

                “Hey, missed me?” someone said outside the door. L, Sung-jong, Dong-woo, Sung-gyu and Woo-hyun was interrupted from their less-loud-than-before-the-incident talk and stood up from their seats. The anxious expression wasn't really hidden from their faces.

                “Hey, it's about time,” Sung-jong said and the person emerged from the door. Sung-yeol stood there, perfectly fine, as if nothing happened to him. L stared at him for a long while.

                “What? You're not even going to welcome me?” Sung-yeol said, “The... Best....Actor?”

                “Shut up,” L said before giving him a tight, friendly hug. L already told us about it, and the members said that somehow, they already knew that something might happen. They told us that before the band contest, L asked them something they thought of as weird. “Will you trust me even when everything tells you otherwise?” L had told them. When Infinite told him that they would, he made all member's wear bullet proof vests. It was still dangerous, because nothing could have saved Sung-yeol, or Dong-woo if the gun was pointed in their heads and the trigger was pulled. Something that could have happened to L that night.

                “Does this mean we can... celebrate already?” Sung-yeol said. Infinite continued the competition, and was able to get an offer from a company, Woollim Entertainment, but they didn't win. “Nice music but the aura was off,” one judge told them before they got eliminated. Of course, how could they play and have fun if they just got off a dangerous situation. They weren't even sure if they were really safe, but to make sure that no parents or other relatives would worry about them, they continued.

                Nobody from the outside got a footage of what happened that day, and so nobody really had an idea who were the heroes who brought the drama to an end, except the NBI themselves. All the community knew was that Infinite was the band kidnapped from NRBC. Other than that, they knew nothing about, so Infinite only got each other to hold onto. They refused to tell their parents in their worry that it may cause them worries or worse, heart attacks. They were thankful that each one of them were safe, but...

                “I'm not sure about that,” L told him. Yes. They were still hesitant. Scared. Like Gette and I.

                “Soon, we will,” Sung-gyu assured Sung-yeol who returned it with a smile. As if he wasn't affected at all. They continued their huddle with Sung-yeol and Gette and I made sure we got each other until the teacher arrived.

---o0o--

                “Physically, I guess I'm fine,” I told the lady in white who was sitting in front of me on a huge couch inside the clinic      “But?” Dr. Han said. She stopped writing on her notes and looked at me, her gaze was encouraging me to go on.

                “But emotionally, I think I have a problem,” I told her. “I got the guy that I like back, and now, all I want to do is to cherish every moment that I could spend with him, but he's not here.”

                “I was having these nightmares,” I added.

                “Ms. Rallos,” the doctor said which called my attention back. “Would you mind talking about it?” I told her what the nightmares were all about. After that she told me, “One effective thing that will make these nightmares go is to hang out and have fun. Never think that you are alone. Be with friends and people who will make you feel safe.”

                “If you find it hard to find someone to make you feel safe, then I suggest that you hire a bodyguard,” Dr. Han told me.

                “There were people who already protect us,” I told her. True, because Catherine told us the day after the incident that from that day on, their officers would watch us everywhere we go when we were outside the house to make sure of our safety. “But I think I will consider having fun with friends,” I said. I had already thought about it before and had asked my friends to do something fun, but I think a movie party or going shopping would never cover what happened that day. Suddenly, my phone vibrated. It was a message from Gette.

                Hey, I want to go to the bar that you were telling me about.

Meet me at the hospital lobby after the meeting.

                Gette also had her schedule to the psychiatrist that day. We had been there last week, right after the incident, when all were still fresh and traumatic. I excused myself and replied.

I'll be over in a bit.

                A few minutes later I met her in the lobby. I asked her about the sudden interest about the bar I was talking about, but then she just told me that she was just interested in seeing the place where Infinite performs.

                When we got to the bar, a long line of people was waiting outside the front door. I decided to ask one about the night attraction, but they weren't really sure if Infinite or B2ST would perform. The front door was jam-packed, so Gette and I decided to go to the back door.

                The back door of the bar was open. We came in and looked around, but crews were busy going to and from the artist's room backstage. Gette and I decided to take a peek to a room when suddenly a guy with a huge head set towed me in and towards the entrance to the stage from the back stage. I flailed and tried to run to Gette, but when I looked behind, she was also being tugged on stage, to the other side of the stage. I continued to pry the hands off my arms, but when I was pulled on stage, I struggled even more. The place was all dark and pitch black that I couldn't even figure out if my eyes were widely opened or tightly closed.

                Soon, the guy stopped pulling and the next thing I knew I was pushed onto something I recognize as a chair. I wriggled my hands to the space around me, and realized that I was left there alone. Suddenly, a bright light in front of me proved me wrong.

                A low rap song was being sung from the stage not far from me. On stage, five figures dressed in coats went in and music started playing.

They were there. B2ST and their music. But without him.

The group performed a slow song before they sang and danced to the beat of a faster song. Their performance reminded me of the time I went there and watched them for the first time. It was also the time when I discovered more about Jun-hyung, that there’s more to him than meets the eye.

                After the fast song, the place dimmed again and a strum of guitar was heard. Suddenly a bursting sound was heard and the next second, there were balloons all over the club. Jun-hyung then went on stage.          

“Hey,” he said against the microphone, while holding a familiar guitar – the one we bought together. I wanted to look around and see if there were other people aside from B2ST and me, but I couldn’t tear my eyes off him as if he would disappear when I did so.

Soon, he started singing. I watched as he poured out his feelings onto the song. His glances every now and then would send me back to those times when we practice together, the air filled with only the sounds of our guitars and his angelic voice.

He finished singing, and instead of waiting for the next song, I pulled myself together and stood up from my seat. I went towards him, and so he stopped and put his guitar down. He went to the side of the stage and knelt.

“Missed me?” he said. There’s no word that would encompass the feeling I was having that time, so instead of giving him a word, I gave him something that both of us missed. I held his collar and pulled him closer, until my lips touched his.

Suddenly the click of a camera was heard. Jun-hyung stopped and chuckled, so I turned, and found Hyun-seung holding a digital camera. “Wow, this looks romantic enough to make a trending post,” he said.

                “To the computer!” Gi-kwang said as he and Dong-woon tackled Jun-hyung who was about to get off the stage and get the camera from Hyun-seung.

                “Yah! That's personal!” Jun-hyung said.

                “So? Hyung, it's not as if you're doing something scandalous in that picture!” Dong-woon said. Yo-seob was assisting Hyun-seung in the laptop he had.

                “Sorry about this,” I heard someone say beside me. It was Doo-joon.

                “It's alright, I'm getting used to it,” I told him before glancing back to the ruckus. “By the way, where did you take my best friend?”

“Ah, Infinite’s giving her a party as well,” Doo-joon said. “She’s as scared as you are, and L just couldn’t let her be scared forever.”

“I think her fear will disappear only when she and L marries each other,” I joked, but Doo-joon looked at me as if I hit the jackpot. “What?!”

Suddenly my attention was caught when Jun-hyung fell onto the floor, panting. Dong-woon and Gi-kwang also fell down as soon as Hyun-seung pressed a key and shouted “Done!”

Yo-seob gave me an okay sign after that and told me, “Make the whole world know he's yours.”

                The sight made me giggle. All the drama was buried in the past because of the beauty of the present. I was then looking at my future, the future of dreams coming to reality. It was nice to think about, and it was good that I wasn't the only one hoping for it. It felt good to be sure that I would have someone to share it with in the near future.

A/N: Hello! I reauploaded all chapters to free the story of some inconsistencies. Unlike my other fictions that I wrote and posted every week, this one had been a challenge. Sorry for the two to three weeks without update! I had little time to write because of my work, but I love writing, so I tried my best to finish this one. By the way, congratulations to Infinite and BEAST's comeback!