on this dark night,
I am alone again

I reacted before he finished speaking, spinning on my heel and running into the stall I had just exited. The door slammed shut just as he threw the knife. The throw was powerful enough that the blade penetrated it, giving me a taste of who I was going against.

"Oh, you can only hide for so long," Minho spoke, a hint of mischievousness in his otherwise leisurely voice. "You'll have to come out sometime...and neither of us are going anywhere anytime soon."

I steadied myself, leaning against the door jamb and flattening my body against the side. Already my heartbeat had spiked—now that I was out of any immediate harm's way, desperation was beginning to spread through me like dye in water as I thought about what I was going to do next.

There was no real way of escape, not without harm. His knife-throwing abilities were far from imperfect, the knife tip protruding from the cracked wood in front of me revealing his deadly accuracy on the side.

He was your friend, a voice whispered at the back of my head. I ignored it, though with difficulty, forcing myself to focus on the problem at hand. This was not the first time I had been betrayed by a 'friend', but the last time had been so long ago that I had grown weak against the possibility. It still felt the same, I realized. Wanting to protect not just yourself but also the one who was trying to hurt you in the first place.

Was, I thought. Not 'is'. Not 'will be'.

"They'll be especially happy with me when I bring back your head." His voice was getting closer now, as was the sound of his soles squeaking against the tiled floor. "If you're willing to play nice, I'll settle for submission. All you have to do is come with me, and maybe he'll let you live."

I almost scoffed at that. Even if he was being honest about letting me live himself, I was absolutely sure that the leader of the Lee clan—as it was now obvious which side he was on—had no interest in letting me escape unharmed.

Instead, I stayed silent, counting on the moment he would be close enough to the stall for me to even try playing offensive.

"Seems like you're not interested in being a good dog, though," Minho said finally, and I bit my tongue, resting my hand on the door's lock. He sounded very close, only a couple of feet away. I pressed closer to the side, trying to find cold logic in my instincts, but fear was far too powerful. "But that's fine by me. It's always more fun cutting up living specimens."

Don't respond.

The cruelty of his words should have ricocheted off me; I had heard far worse threats during my life, but there was something unexpected in them when they came from his mouth. A person I had probably never expected to be trying to murder me. I was getting weak from the lack of exposure, as it had been a long few years since I was brutally attacked like this.

"I hope you're aware that a bathroom stall's door isn't the most effective shield." He tried to sound taunting, but by the way he was dragging his words, it was obvious that he was getting tired of trying to lure me out. I held my breath to stop my erratic heartbeat, listening closely to his voice to pinpoint his location. "If you don't play this by me, you won't be the only one getting harmed. Your precious friends are still out there, defenseless—"

I exploded out of the stall, grabbing the handle of the knife buried hilt-deep into the door mid-motion and charging towards him. The suddenness of my movement made him falter in his reaction time, and I lashed outwards with the blade, managing to nick the side of his neck before he dodged it.

There wasn't much he had to recover from, and I wasn't going to be able to cover the distance to the exit in enough time unless I gave him an injury more difficult to deal with. Mentally praying for luck, I spun just after passing him, raising my newly acquired weapon, ready to attack, until I realized he already had the next one in his hand.

My eyes widened, and I barely managed to whip aside before he threw it. It still opened up a shallow gash on the crest of my cheek, the wound streaming blood almost immediately. I rushed towards him, wincing as the open wound stung as it came in contact with the air, gripping his wrist and bending his throwing arm away from my torso.

Minho seemed a little stunned by the fact that I had run towards him instead of away, even as I curled my fingers around the nape of his neck. Realization dawned too late, and he struggled for a second, too weakly to help, moments before I pulled down his head and smashed his nose and lower face into my raised knee.

"Fuck!" He stumbled backwards, cupping his nose with both hands instead of fighting, and I knew I had broken something. "Bitch!"

I raised my sleeve-covered hand and wiped the back of it against my bloody cheek, not wasting another moment in the washroom and turning to run from the washroom. Minho was still not over his pain and didn't follow—or maybe he already had someone on the outside to pick up where he had left off. "Going out there won't help you!" he screamed, but I didn't react, knowing that even if he wasn't lying, paying attention to his words was only going to slow me down.

I pushed through the washroom's door with my elbow, and almost stopped in my tracks at the scene laid out before me. Because of the distraction I had faced inside the washroom, I had managed to miss the commotion going on outside in the club. The place had dissolved into chaos, and there were party-goers running away from the bar wherever I looked.

My hands were shaking by the time I regained my bearings. The crowd was thin, but moved fast, and I flattened myself against the wall to avoid getting pulled into it. 

Every cell in my body was yelling at me to leave the place—after all, there was a very high probability that another Lee was waiting for me in there. But it had been too long since I had been caught up in a situation like this, and my reaction time had dulled over the years, like the blade of a knife that had gathered rust, and my sense of loyalty took over my will to preserve my own life.

This is probably the stupidest thing I've ever done. I gritted my teeth, and was just about to dive into the crowd when a familiar face materialized from the direction of the bar. Immediately, my spirits lifted as I spotted the noiret looking around the place frantically, all the while trying to keep pace with the people who rushed forward around him.

"Jun!" I called out, and his eyes snapped to mine almost immediately. "Where's Chaeyoung?"

He was next to me before I could process his presence, hands gripping my upper arms with a tightness that reflected his relief at finding me. "Thank god you're okay," he said, exhaling, but his eyebrows were still pinched in worry. "I thought you were caught in the crossfire."

"Crossfire?" The word sounded suspiciously close to what someone associated with a gang would use, but I ignored its implications, focusing on him actually being on my side. "You know what? Forget I just said that. Where's Chaeyoung?"

He hesitated, and a conflicting expression came over his features. Then he shook his head, letting go of me. "I...I don't know. She was with Lisa the last time I saw her."

No, no, no. The momentary consolation I had received on seeing him was gone. "I'm going in to find her."

"No, you're not," he spoke through clenched teeth, but he sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than me. "You're going to leave through those gates right now."

That was it. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and I knew he wasn't going to budge if I tried to persuade him to let me go. "She's your sister."

Jun's facial muscles tightened. For a few seconds, he looked like he was at a loss for words. "I can't let you go in there."

That was fine. I knew all I had to do was distract him with a task, and head in myself once he wasn't there to stop me. "Then you go in."

"I—" He broke off, pursing his lips. "Fine. But promise me you'll leave."

I rolled my eyes. "Go."

Keeping his eyes on me, he backed up by a couple of steps before turning and running inside again. I held my breath for a few seconds, calming myself and waiting for him to go in a few feet before I could follow. My mind had begun compartmentalizing, putting away my fear and worry to allow me to focus on the priorities. If I was scared for myself, how could I help the people I cared about?

I was just about to run in when a heavier body knocked into me, forcing me into the flow of the swarm. My eyes widened as I was suddenly thrown right into the middle of a cluster of sweating, scared people, trying to keep pace with their frantic run. I stumbled more than a few times, grabbing anything I could get my hands on to keep myself afloat.

All of a sudden, my thoughts were thrown into chaos, twisting, turning, trying desperately to get myself out of a situation my rational side knew I couldn't escape. Everything I had planned for was gone, just like that.

When I was trapped in the horde, I almost regretted not listening to Junhee's advice and refusing to let him guide me out safely. At least Chaeyoung will be safe.

Then I was falling, falling onto something hard and concrete, having tripped over something I hadn't even seen. My ankle twisted painfully as I did, and landed on my palms and knees, trying to reduce my momentum, but it wasn't enough. I was sent sprawling to the side, but at least I was out of the stampede.

Or maybe I wasn't.

I gasped for air, fingers scrabbling uselessly at the rough surface as I tried to find purchase and pull myself up, but with no avail. In spite of the material of my jeans protecting them, my knees were stinging from the impact of the fall, and my consciousness was slipping into disarray. I had fallen close to the road, I could tell by the sound of traffic, which didn't help my already pathetic condition. Useless. You're useless.

All around me was pandemonium, with not a single soul attempting to help me, which wasn't very surprising. When it came to saving yourself, one rarely noticed the plight of others.

Somehow, I got to my feet, staggering across the ground at a precarious angle, as if I was about to fall any second. Cars roared past me, honking and swerving, but I managed not to get hit. The flashing lights and noise just made it worse for my already fragile mind, and I teetered backwards—I could see a powerful headlight shine in my peripheral vision, but there wasn't enough time.

The screech of tires, the sound of a scream—

The car that was about to hit me veered to the side, coming to a skidding stop just before me, a move that would have been impossible for a driver with a normal reaction time. It was then that I regained consciousness of my surroundings, becoming aware of my hands clawing against my ears. Apparently, the scream had been mine.

The door of the car was thrown open, and someone leaned out. Hair the color of coffee beans, a set jaw and hollow cheeks, dark eyes shining with fervor and an immeasurable intensity.

My breathing, along with everything else, came to a standstill.

Vernon's lips parted, chest still heaving with heavy breaths. Sweat plastered his hair to his forehead and crept along the line of his jaw, and, in that moment, I couldn't help but wonder is he was real.

"Get in," he said.

──────

he's bacc

also i STRONGLY recommend going back to the introduction & playlist to check out the new gif i uploaded for vernon because it's exactly how i've imagined him in the story. seventeen has done it again with their newest teaser, hit is gonna be a hit i can feel it

you're allowed to think of the characters with whichever look though, np with that i mean