~~~

"One lie, then another.
First one you stutter,
but soon they're easy to utter."

~~~

Sungyeol

Dongwoo and I run to where we thought Sungjong's shout came from, "Where is he!" Dongwoo asks in concern, I continue to look around till I hear a low hiss.

Turning around, I see Sungjong on the ground, "There!" I shout and run towards the water. Dongwoo and I stand frozen and dumbfounded at the site of our mate's condition. He's on the ground, his whole body stiff with his arm propping him from laying flat on the sand, his eyes fixed on something... and he looks frightened, his face yellowish.

I run to him, "are you okay?" I ask the one question I criticized people asking all the time, but I couldn't think straight. My maknae doesn't reply and only raises his arm to point at something, muffled words escaping his mouth. "L-look." and I turn to where he points, my eyes widen as I see a body in the water.

The sight makes me freeze too, I hear Dongwoo's sharp breath intake and I'm back. I run into the water to rescue the drowned girl, it was so impulsive of me, I didn't need to think it through. It was like something was pulling me, but I don't believe in fate.

It's pity, then.

When I finally reach her, I take her into my arms and start being aware of the fact that any wrong touch or movement could destroy what's left of her, I carefully lift her up before my eyes linger on her pale skin. 

Her ankles and wrists are tied together and the skin underneath the rough ropes gashed from the struggles. I begin walking out of the water, "Come on! Call the rest we need to be in the nearest hospital now!" I shout, how much trouble we may be in right now doesn't irk me so much, it doesn't even register. All I can think about is how calling an ambulance while we already have a vehicle with us would be a waste of time.

When I'm on dry land, I set her on the sand and undo the ropes that are tied mercilessly, so tight that I wince on her behalf. I push on her chest cautiously next, it felt like her bones would break under my fingers but I had to try to push the water out. She's barely breathing.

Nothing is coming out, I push more than ten times but absolutely nothing. I follow the CPR my Noona made sure to teach me but her bruised body stays lifeless, so still with blood stains all over. "What happened!"

"What is wrong?" I hear Sungkyu and Woohyun shout, my eyes slowly trail off her figure to find all the rest watching. Myungsoo comes running with Howon, they exchange panicked looks at the sight.

"Start the bus! Let's go to the hospital!" Howon orders while Woohyun's the first to get to action with Sungkyu following.

"Come on!" Myungsoo shouts at me, I try to move but I'm unable to. I can't move a muscle.

What if she is dead? Myungsoo pushes me away and carries her. I stay on the ground feeling scared, she was breathing till I... Dongwoo and Sungjong pull me up and we all rush into the bus, simultaneously, it starts moving.

Moments later, the bus hauls to a stop in front of the hospital. Woohyun exits the passenger seat in a hurry and Dongwoo being seated by the door, gets out quickly and takes the unconscious girl into his arms while Woohyun and Sungkyu clear the way for him.

Just as the bystanders take notice of our presence, doctors start rushing to hospitalize her. She's out of sight when they abruptly take her into the ER and stop any of us from following. My mates take their seats while I lean on a near by wall. She's alive, she's alive. I reassure myself.

Doctors and nurses pass by quickly every minute and it helps the uselessness I feel take over my chest, I couldn't move back there. Even, right now, I'm shivering. Either it's from how wet I am or from the constant image of her cemented in my mind... or- or simply because I'm such a coward.

"Go change. You're soaked." Sungkyu hands me a spare outfit he brought with him, I take it and try to say something but words won't come out.

Why does this have to happen now? We didn't even take permission to go on this trip. The trouble finally settles in, successfully making my numbness towards her situation resurface.

~~~

"Excuse me," a nurse starts, looking at us unsurely, "The young lady who came in earlier, are you her relatives?" We all exchange questioning gazes.

"N--" as soon as I hear Sungkyu answer, I cut him off.

"Yes." I interrupt him-- I do? The reply shocks me too.

"Who is she to you?" The nurse asks suspiciously, I look at the rest to find them staring at me, confused. I am too. But I suddenly remember why I'm doing this and my mind almost blanks out.

"She's my... niece," I go on, wishing that what I said is convincing enough.

"Okay sir, I will get you a form to fill. Um, how old are you, sir?" The nurse asks.

"Almost eighteen." I say, wanting to not be forced to tell any of my family about this.

"We need a guardian of legal age," she muses , "for now sign and fill in these." Instructing, she hands me a notepad, "what's her name sir?" She asks.

In pure shock, I shoot my head up, Her name? What's her name? I don't know it!  "Ji... Ji Hye," I blurt out. Way to go Yeol, way to go. Where did that come from?

"Okay sir," she says writing the name I informed on the top of the notepad sheet, she's about to ask something else but someone calls.

"Emergency!"

"I will be back in a while sir," the nurse excuses herself, I nod and glance at the form in my hands. Turning around to take a seat, I see all my friends standing behind me with eyes digging holes into my face and their arms crossed over their chests.

I take a deep breath to compose myself and ignore their expectant faces, waiting for me to explain why I lied. I part my lips with a start, explaining what I just overheard awhile ago.

'  ' '

"Take out any patients with no guardians right now! We don't have enough rooms and equipment, keep only patients with present guardians and discharge the rest!" I heard the doctor shouting out to the nurses.

"But sir, there are many urgent cases whose guardians aren't here yet--" the nurse replied shortly getting cut by the doctor's loud scold.

"Follow orders now!!"

All the nurses reluctantly nodded separating to get their work done.

What am I going to do now?
What are we going to do with her?

Shortly after that, the nurse came asking about our relationship with the girl we brought in.

I had to do something, I had to lie.

I hang my head down and gulp in panic, I'm nervous; I don't get why I just did this. It was on impulse, a mistake. A lie.

What did I get myself into?

Hands over my shoulders make me shut my eyes, ready for the scold I deserve for dragging all of us into this. I feel a pat on my back instead, "Good job Sungyeol, you may have... saved her," Sungkyu praises, pausing briefly to pick the right words.

"But wait," Myungsoo voices, "How are you possibly going to get away with saying that she is your niece?" He asks making air quotations.

"Yeah,"

"True," Dongwoo and Hoya agree.

"As far as I know, Daeyeol is your younger brother and he certainly doesn't have a daughter nearly our age." Hoya mocks, "The only person who could--" He doesn't get to continue.

"Impossible," Woohyun interrupts him, knowing what Hoya is hitting at.

"Sungyeon," I inform, with an air of confidence that surprises me.

"But how? She just came back last week from England and- it's impossible," Woohyun continues, letting his head take over, "she won't agree to this."

"Yeah. How are you going to convince her to confess that she has a daughter?" Dongwoo asks me about my first step.

"I don't know, there is no other way. This girl was going to die, my sister must understand. She will." I convince myself, letting the denial comfort me.

A man that stands for nothing, falls for everything.  "Are you guys missing something?" Woohyun says, "We are actually on this trip behind our parents' back, or let me put it clearer. We are supposed to be in Howon's house preparing for our Language project while his parents are on their work trip."

The atmosphere drops, it goes solemn as I scratched the back of my neck, "I think I should call Sungyeon now, the sooner the better." I say with unnoticeable breaks in my voice.

"I have an idea for us to, y'know, lessen the trouble, we can't get away anyway." Sungkyu says gaining our attention.

"What could we do? We are doomed." Sungjong says with his head hanging low.

"Hoya can totally come out of this clean, his folks aren't even in the country," Sungkyu points out making us all eye Hoya enviously.

"It's not like I will leave you guys in this alone," Hoya confesses holding his hands up in surrender.

"You will." Sungkyu tells him, "Myungsoo is going to be in big trouble if he gets caught, the last time his parents didn't take this lightly and warned him," he continues. Myungsoo instantly looks away gritting his teeth.

"That's why he has to get out of this as well. Dongwoo, Woohyun and Sungjong should also drop out since they simply can. Sungyeol... you're stuck," Sungkyu finishes and points his index finger in the air. "I'm staying anyway, because Sungyeon will definitely bust our trick if he is alone. He can't drive."

"But the nurse may blurt out that we were more so at least one more should stay," Sungjong says.

"I will stay," Woohyun decides.

"Deal," Sungkyu replies while I nod.

"Awesome. We are safe." Myungsoo boasts, we glare at him.

"So? What are you guys going to do now?" Dongwoo asks eyeing me.

"Sungyeol, you will call Sungyeon as soon as they leave." Sungkyu answers.

"But hyung, Don't tell her what's happening exactly. Tell her not to tell your mother and that you are the one who's going to get treated," Sungjong instructs, I nod to him in agreement as Hoya claps in realization, nodding.

"He is right, we need to convince her and it won't work unless she is here first," Woohyun agrees.

"Okay!" Sungkyu waves, "you may leave now."

"Update us!" Dongwoo says, walking along with Hoya while Sungjong and L wave back.

When they are out of sight I turn to Woohyun and Sungkyu, "Let's get to work."

They nod, "So let's sort this out first, our stories need to match." Woohyun starts planning out a scenario we somehow got into to save a girl we don't know.

The lies just kept rolling after that, we didn't notice.

~~~~
I'm really proud of this chapter's quote. Thank you so much, Means a lot to me that y'all are reading this book :")♡

Thank you for reading,
hope you enjoyed~~
Support please ♡

--040616--