"Hope, my MATO senses are tingling again"

“Well?” Youngjae spoke up, the boy was annoyed as one could possibly be. Still, no one made a sound as they all looked around the room covered in a silence that Youngjae just tried to break. Himchan gave out a sigh, leaning back and Yongguk forced his fingers through his darkening hair. Youngjae huffed, crossing his arms and leaning back in the seat he was sat in. They felt lost with their own enemies living in the same building as them, it was to tense and having them here only made the group more confused.

“We have to leave” Yongguk spoke up, finally telling them something. Everyone looked at him, not reacting as they waited for what his next orders would be.

“We will get out of here and head back to the house, they won’t expect it and they won’t think of looking for us there, they won’t find us this time” Yongguk continued and the others looked from him to each other.

“How can you be so sure of that? You’ve figured it out that they’re controlling Daehyun, so how can we be sure they won’t use him to figure out where we are or where we’re going?” Jongup piped up and the people in the room tensed as they came to the realisation.

“I have found a way to fix that” Yongguk peered over at Daehyun, who was in his dreamland, snoring loudly with his face shoved into his pillow.

“Well, what is it that we have to do then?” Himchan inquired and the other two nodded, awaiting their instructions.

“We’re going to have to wait until it’s dark out and we’ll make our leave when we know they’re all asleep. We will grab Hope and I’ll take Zelo. We’ll let Hope decided whether she wants to stay with Zelo or Daehyun, I’ll need one of you to be with Daehyun to make sure he cooperates with us though. Let’s start packing, but be subtle about it” Yongguk gave his conclusion of the plan and they all nodded, coming to an agreement. Yongguk stood up, approaching the door and putting his hand on the handle.

“Don’t sit around and wait, we have things to do. I’m going to go and talk to Hope” At Yongguk’s command, the three stood up right away. Yongguk opened the door, leaving the room with Himchan and Jongup following. Youngjae approached the sleeping Daehyun, raising an eyebrow as the other male let out a loud snore, not having heard any of the meeting taking place.

“Ya you dim-witted ! Get up, we have things to do!” With a yell and a slap, Daehyun jumped to hit Youngjae back, who stepped out of reach of the attack.

“Chill out, it’s just me,” Youngjae told him bluntly and Daehyun sat on the bed, running his fingers through his hair, looking to have calmed down.

“What are we doing then?” Daehyun asked him and Youngjae’s lips quirked up in a grin.

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“We’re gonna leave them here? Won’t that just make it all worse for us?” Hope looked at Yongguk, she was shocked and Yongguk quickly moved to use his finger against her lips to keep her silent. His head flicked to the door, using his enhanced hearing to make sure no one was in hearing range of them.

“This is the best thing we can do for ourselves right now. There is too much tension with EXO living here as well and it’s not getting any better between us the longer we stay here. The trust I had to put them near you is gone and has been for a long time, I’m going to rip Chen’s head off if I see him come near you again” Yongguk moved back, giving Hope her space and the freedom to speak again. Hope turned her head to give a blank stare at the unmade bed that Chen would normally sleep in. Yongguk took notice of the look on her face and let out a deep breath, putting his arm around her and pulling her to his side, his hugs were strong and brought Hope a sense of safety that she didn’t think she really needed until Yongguk was actually hugging her. There was the strong scent of what Hope imagined every strong man in the role of a leader should own. Yongguk didn’t realise that Hope had started crying, so when he tears reached his skin, he flinched in the slightest of movements until he realised what was actually touching him.

“Hey there kiddo, I know you have feelings of attachment towards some of those guys. But I want you to remember that we’re trying to do what will be safest for you and keep you out of harm’s way. It just so happens, that unfortunately, in this case, they are what’s the biggest danger for you. So we need to take you away from them before they take you away from us and put you in any harm” Yongguk loosened the hug so that he could use his sleeve to wipe the tears from Hope’s cheeks.

It was at that moment that the door to the room opened. Yongguk and Hope looked up to see a smiling Chen and Chanyeol, who quickly lost those smiles. There was an awkward pause where Chanyeol opened his mouth to say something but Chen used his hand to stop him, covering his mouth and shaking his head. Chen shut the door again and the two left.

Seeing this made Hope cry more and Yongguk sighed pulling her back to his side and enveloping her in his arms. After what seemed like hours of Yongguk holding her as she cried, her tears had stopped and Yongguk was giving her a sad smile as he stood up.

“Why don’t you start packing some things now? It will make things easier for later” Yongguk suggested and Hope gave him a nod, telling him that she would do as he suggested. Yongguk gave her one last smile, one that silently mouthed that he was sorry for what he was doing to her and Hope shook her head, watching him close the door and leave her in her own company again. Hope took a pile of clothes that were dumped on the couch. She moved them to her bed and it was when she was separating what was hers and what was Chen’s that the door opened with a knock again.

“Hope? Are you in there?” The door wasn’t open enough for anyone to see in and Hope looked towards it, quickly wiping the last of her tears and taking a deep breath in as she recognised her roommate’s voice.

“Yeah”

“Can we come inside?” Chen requested and Hope didn’t hesitate to let him in, knowing that it was his room too. Chen didn’t make much noise as he came in, Chanyeol followed behind him.

“Laundry day today?” Chanyeol asked Hope and she looked at the clothes Chanyeol was nodding towards, not being folded before they were put in the duffle bag that she had brought out and put on her bed. Hope nodded and Chanyeol let out a breath before turning to watch what Chen was looking at on the TV. Hope zipped the bag up when it was full with no chance of anything else being able to fit in it and Chen looked at her as she pushed it down, forcing the zip to close.

“That’s a lot of clothes for laundry day” Chen commented and Hope grunted, clenching her teeth as she fussed over the bag.

“Well, we missed last week” She answered and Chen hummed.

“Do you have to force it closed?” Chanyeol questioned.

“Would you like to see my underwear Chanyeol?” Hope asked without hesitation, grateful that her voice didn’t shake with the emotions taking over her.

“No thank you” Chanyeol answered curtly and the zip was finally secured. Hope slung the bag over her shoulder and left the room, shutting the door behind her and venturing down the darkened hall. Nothing had changed in th