[title song: rainy days] 

Chapter 4;

Hyemi is absolutely transfixed by those dark eyes. They hold her in her place and she can't even turn her head away, all she can do is watch as that thing launches itself at her, dark eyes glistening with hunger and bony wings scraping along the low ceiling. Her heart is racing in her chest and she knows she’s a goner. She’s going to ing die.

Right when she thinks that thing is most definitely going to bite her head off, it seems to hit an invisible wall, its sharp teeth barely a centimeter from her face. She can smell its rotten breath (she’s positive she can smell blood on its breath). It shrieks, Rin’s voice becoming almost demonic, and tries to snap at her face again, but it can’t. It’s like there’s an invisible wall surrounding Hyemi and it flinches as if it had just been burned. She blinks, the fear in her slowly turning into confusion, and that’s when she can finally look away. Minah is gone. Hyemi can’t help but feel so confused.

“I see they’ve already gotten to you.” The monster whispers in a chilly voice, its face barely a centimeter from Hyemi’s. “But I’m going to let you in on a little secret, my dear. Don’t trust them.”

“What. What are you talking about?” Hyemi says, not even caring how fearful she sounds. Because she’s so ing confused and she wants answers.

The monster just laughs, its sharp teeth glinting under the fluorescent lights menacingly. “Oh. You really don’t know, do you?” It says, tone condescending. It reaches out to Hyemi, fingers and sharp nails flattening against the invisible wall just a hairsbreadth away from her nose. It taps lightly on the invisible wall, a loud thud resounding unusually loudly across the empty bubble tea shop. “They really should tell you, since it’s your life on the line, right? I’m surprised they haven’t told you sweetie. I almost pity you. But still. It’s funny, isn’t it? It’s funny because, one way or another, you’re going to die. Either the boss will eat you right up or they’ll kill you themselves and declare it beneficial to the greater good. It’s just so funny.” It laughs again and Hyemi can’t help but shiver, its words making her feel so uncomfortable.

“What do you want?” Hyemi asks, taking a step away from those claws, even though she knows they can’t get to her.

“I want to rip your heart out and serve it to the boss with the best silverware I’ve got.” It says, fingers clawing at the invisible wall before Hyemi’s face. Hyemi swears she can hear the sound of claws scraping, the sound of something slowly cracking.

That’s when the sound of jingling bells cuts through the tension and suddenly there’s the sound of crackling and the smell of burning before the monster veers sideways and straight into the wall to Hyemi’s right with loud smash. This all happens in just a few seconds. Hyemi snaps her attention to the shop entrance and furrows her eyebrows because the boy with the perfectly sculpted jawline  is casually standing there, holding a half-finished bubble tea in his left hand while he has his right hand outstretched, his pointer finger sticking out and smoking. He sips at his bubble tea, chewing on it slowly, as he shakes out his right hand, wisps of white smoke still coming out of his pointer finger.

All Hyemi can do is gape. The boy has his eyes fixed on the monster as he points his finger at it and the smell of burning comes back full force. A white hot light emits from his finger and Hyemi has to squeeze her eyes shut from the sudden light. She hears the sound of demonic screeching before the burning smell is completely gone, along with the rotten smell from earlier. Hyemi slowly opens her eyes and realizes that the monster is gone, a pile of ash in its place. Hyemi can’t believe her eyes.

“What the was that?” Hyemi says, breathlessly, letting herself slump back against the counter. “What. What happened to…?” She can’t finish her sentence, she can’t even speak. Her head is hurting and she has a feeling that Rin is…gone. She doesn’t even know what happened to Minah. She doesn’t even know what’s happening.

“Rin-ssi never existed.” The boy says and Hyemi’s eyes widen as she stares at the boy with the jaw. He’s still standing near the entrance and Hyemi watches as he casually sips at his bubble tea and eyes her curiously.

“Who the are you?” Hyemi exclaims, politeness completely forgotten because what the is going on?

“Aren’t you just a ball of sunshine.” The boy states rather than questions, his lips turned up in a smirk that seems perpetually plastered across his face.

“Shut up and answer me.” She exclaims, utterly exasperated.

He just laughs, in an obnoxiously loud way, before he finally says, “My name is Kim Jongdae.” Then he sighs and tosses his empty bubble tea in the trash bin. “I’m going to need you to close your eyes and imagine the bubble tea shop, okay?”

Hyemi stares at Kim Jongdae incredulously, “Why?”

“If you do it, you’ll get answers.” He says smirking like he knows Hyemi won’t refuse now.

So Hyemi closes her eyes and thinks of the bubble tea shop. She feels her wrist tingle and something warm touches her forehead.

When Hyemi opens her eyes, she’s still in the bubble tea shop, but it’s different. She blinks looking around and there’s nothing broken, the pile of ash is gone, the smell of rotting flesh is gone. It’s like the monster was never even here.

“Hyemi? Are you okay?” Minah’s voice cuts through Hyemi’s thoughts.

Hyemi stares at Minah, frowning. “Minah…Did you not see what happened to Rin?” Hyemi asks, rubbing her temples because the headache is coming back.

Minah blinks at Hyemi, owlishly. “Who’s Rin?”

Before Hyemi can respond or possibly scream in frustration, the bell above the bubble tea shop jingles and Minah glances behind Hyemi before grinning, a little flirtatiously. Hyemi glances over her shoulder and is face to face with Kim Jongdae.

~.~.~.~.~

Kim Jongdae leans against the front counter and grins at Minah, flirtatiously, while Hyemi just stares at him, feeling increasingly overwhelmed.

“So, Minah-ssi. Do you mind if I talk to Hyemi alone for a few minutes?” Kim Jongdae asks, in a sultry smooth tone. Minah looks a little lost and glances over his shoulder, giving Hyemi a look that clearly means ‘you know him???’ Kim Jongdae has the audacity to look over his shoulder and smirk at Hyemi, his eyes clearly conveying that she wouldn’t get answers otherwise.

“Is that okay with you, Hye?” Minah asks, still slightly confused. Hyemi could relate.

Hyemi nods and Kim Jongdae smirks, “Thank you, Minah-ssi. I just need to talk to her about Baekhyun, don’t worry your pretty little head.”

Hyemi stiffens while Minah nods, understandably, eyes narrowed a bit at the mention of Baekhyun’s name. “Okay, then. I’ll just go to the back and…” Minah trails off as she turns on her heels, pointing to the break room in the back of the shop.

Kim Jongdae smiles, the edges of his lips curled upwards, and shakes his head. He gently grabs Minah’s wrist. “It’s alright. You don’t have to go anywhere.” And then Minah’s eyes droop and she slumps forward, right into Kim Jongdae’s arms. Kim Jongdae huffs a little as he heaves Minah onto the nearest table. When Minah’s unconscious head hits the tiny round table with a painful sounding thud and Kim Jongdae curses under his breath, Hyemi snaps out of her shocked confusion.

“What the hell did you just do to her?” Hyemi shouts, hurrying to Minah’s side and snatching Minah’s limp arms from his grip.

Kim Jongdae just walks over to the shop’s door and switches the little white sign to Closed. Hyemi glares at how casual he’s being while she taps Minah’s cheek and tries to wake her up. Minah’s breathing is a little slow and Hyemi figures she’s fallen into a deep sleep. How the hell did he do that? “I didn’t hurt her. I just sent a little electrical current through her nervous system that told her brain to sleep for a bit. I don’t need her eavesdropping from the break room. Besides, she seemed like she needed the sleep, anyway, since it is still Finals Week.” Kim Jongdae says dismissively, with a wave of his hand.

Hyemi drops Minah’s hand in shock. “Did you just say you sent an electrical current through her nervous system?” Hyemi rubs her temples, groaning a little because it hurts and she’s so ing confused. “So the thing with Rin was real? You can shoot lightning bolts?”

Kim Jongdae nods, grinning. “That and so much more. It’s actually very fun. I could show you sometime.”

Hyemi grimaces at him and his slightly suggestive eyebrow wiggle and he just continues to grin. “What the hell is even going on?” Hyemi practically shouts as she throws her hands into the air.

He then furrows his eyebrows, his smile instantly turning into a frown, “Baek was supposed to tell you later, but nobody was expecting you to get attacked so soon.” Then he shrugs and takes out his phone, “So I guess I’ll call Baek over and he’ll explain a little bit more.”

Hyemi groans again. “I just want some ing answers.”

Kim Jongdae nods, sympathetically. “I know you do and you’ll get them soon. I know you’re frustrated. But when you get them all depends on you. And a bit on Baek.”

The front door opens, bell tinkling, and Hyemi thinks she might actually hate the sound of that damn bell. Hyemi knows who it is before she even looks up and she hates it. She thought she wouldn’t have to see Byun Baekhyun for at least another few days, but here she was, seeing him barely an hour after she stormed away from him.

When Hyemi locks eyes with Baekhyun, she’s surprised to see anger in them. He’s angry, his eyes hard, and she doesn’t know why. Baekhyun looks around the bubble tea shop, his eyes pausing for a few seconds on Minah’s unconscious body. Then he stares at Hyemi and he won’t stop. He’s looking at her like he can see straight into her soul and it’s nerve-racking. He then grabs Hyemi’s arms, slender fingers wrapping around her wrist tightly. “Make sure she’s okay when she wakes up.” Baekhyun says, eyes sliding over to the side. Kim Jongdae just nods and Hyemi frowns when Baekhyun practically drags Hyemi out the bubble tea shop.

“I can walk perfectly well on my own.” Hyemi hisses, trying to pull her wrist out of his.

“You wanted answers, right?” Baekhyun says, his tone as hard as steel. “I was going to give you answers, earlier, but you didn’t want to stay. And then you got attacked.”

“Are you blaming that on me?” Hyemi replies, angrily. She doesn’t think Baehyun has any right whatsoever to be mad at her right now. She just saw one of her friends morph into a goddamn demon thing who wanted to serve her up like some expensive meal.

Baekhyun doesn’t answer. Instead he digs through his pockets until he finds his phone and types out a message at a surprisingly fast speed for someone who’s only using one hand. Hyemi is confused and overwhelmed and her head hurts. She doesn’t want to do this anymore. He looks at her and for a second it seems like he knows what she’s thinking. His eyes soften and his voice is low and a little bit more relaxing. “You wanted answers. You’re not ready at all, but I’m going to give them to you.” He says, solemnly.

Baekhyun’s eyes focus on something just over Hyemi's shoulder and he smiles slightly, sharp teeth appearing, “You know where to go.”

Before Hyemi can look over her shoulder, she feels a sharp tug at the very pit of her stomach and she has the distinct feeling that she’s being squeezed through a very, very tiny tube. Blood rushes to head and her ears start to ring. Then the feeling is gone as quickly as it came and she’s stumbling through nothingness and into something hard and warm. Fingers wrap around her upper arms, steadying her and she feels sick. She hears a faint thanks but she swears it’s a part of her imagination.

After a few moments the world finally stops feeling like it’s lopsided and she can breathe properly again. The pounding in her head is still there but, otherwise, she’s fine. Baekhyun’s face comes into focus right in front of hers, his eyes filled with worry and bottom lip caught between his teeth.

“I’m fine.” Hyemi mutters and tries to pull herself away from Baekhyun because too close. Hyemi notices a change in Baekhyun’s expression, and the hardness is back. His eyes look guarded and she wonders if maybe she managed to make him hate her somehow. “Where are we?” She asks, looking around. They’re under a flickering streetlamp in an otherwise dark street. Hyemi can make out a rundown house, its roof practically caving in on itself. Something about this place makes Hyemi feel cold. Her head feels light.

Baekhyun’s grip on Hyemi’s wrist tightens and Hyemi thinks it's going to leave a bruise. “This is where your mother died.” Baekhyun says icily.

Hyemi feels a sharp pain shoot through her temple and she grimaces, “What?”

“This is the first step to finding out everything, Hyemi.” Baekhyun replies and before Hyemi can compose herself or even think about the fact that this is where her mother had died, Baekhyun drags her down the street and towards the dilapidated house. Hyemi doesn’t know why Baekhyun is angry and she sure as hell doesn’t know why her chest suddenly feels so heavy and why the pounding in her head won’t go away.

All Song Hyemi knows is that she has a very bad feeling about this.

a/n: I really really really wanted to update something before christmas and even though it should have been good girls it ended up being this one haah oops???

okay I've decided this is going to be a pretty short story that'll probably run for less then 20 chapters. Please tell me if you think I should put some into this because I'm not entirely sure tbh and it would be helpful to see if anyone wants it or not.

anyways HAPPY HOLIDAYS BE SAFE AND I HOPE YOU HAVE TONS OF FUN!! :))

PLease tell me your thoughts and theories and basically anything. I absolutely adore reading comments they make my life!!

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xoxo