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"HEY, Innie. I'm gonna go shopping real quick and I'll be right back. Keep my phone with you, okay?" Mal requested, leaning in to kiss her friend's forehead.
He softly smiled, then nodded.
"Okay, noona. Be careful."
She returned the smile, then took slow steps out of the room after leaving her phone on a nearby nightstand.
"I will, honey, don't worry about me."
He watched her disappear out of sight, then took one small glance at her phone, as if to just make sure it was there, then turned back to his English book.
"Okay, so-" Chan began, but was interrupted by Felix's sudden jump as his phone gave a loud ring of notification.
The atmosphere turned silent for only a moment while Felix scrolled through his phone, an anxious, apologetic look on his face.
And before he could say anything, his skin turned pale.
"What is it, Lix?" Jisung asked, rubbing his thigh while flinching.
"She- She sent me the picture!"
"What picture?"
Felix inhaled and raised the screen to their eye level, then proceeded to tell the story of what had happened earlier.
Hyunjin stared at the picture in devastation.
"Oh no! Mal's going to be heartbroken!"
The thought made Felix's heart ache in guilt.
"I-I didn't-"
Before he could finish his sentence, they were all interrupted by another sound of notification. Felix immediately turned the screen back to his face and glanced at the message that popped up on the screen.
"She says she's gonna send it to Mal right now..."
Chan rubbed his temple in distress, trying to think of a solution.
"I... Seungmin, can you check the mail while we try to think of something? We need to know what we've been missing out on."
Seungmin obeyed and headed to the front door, leaving Felix to glance at Chan in plea.
"What are we going to do? This doesn't look good. Mal and I.N are going to think that we abandoned them..."
Minho nodded at Chan.
"He's right, you know. From the current situation, it only looks like we faked our death so we can do our own thing, whatever it is. They don't know what happened after they left. We were all dead and brought back to life within seconds."
Changbin let out a small word of agreement.
"Considering what we did to Mal before, now it only seems like we don't wanna be with them anymore. Both of them are going to be devastated."
Chan sighed.
"I don't know! Our flight is tomorrow anyway. I'm sure it can wait until we get there, right?"
Another sound of notification.
Felix checked, and his tears immediately began to stream down his face.
A screenshot.
"Uh oh. Jeongin answered, didn't he?"
The boy nodded. "Yes. Yes, he did."
On the screen, blue and white bubbles of conversation appeared.
The members took turns to read the words inside, and continued to shake their heads in dismay.
"Minnie, what's in the mail?!" Chan called out.
"Water bill. Electricity bill. Gas bill. Internet bill. A letter written in blood-" Seungmin listed, and stopped in his tracks as his eyes fell on the thick, red letters on the front of the envelope.
"Oh, God..."
Immediately, the boy hurried towards Chan to shove the letter to his sight.
We know you live here. We're following you.
-Anonymous
A few moments had passed with Chan staring at the letter in his hands, his eyes teary as well.
"I-Is that a saesang letter?" Changbin asked slowly, causing Chan to nod and allow a tear to escape his eyes.
Fear rushed through the eight members as all of them realized that they were not safe there.
"We're not safe." Minho deadpanned in a tone full of pain, "she was protecting us. And I told her to leave."
Tears began to stream down his face, quickly followed by Felix, who immediately remembered that fateful day. Guilt and regret overwhelmed him.
"I-I need to sit down," he whispered, then turned around to take his seat on the couch behind him. Pain rushed through his back, his waist and his behind. He reached up to massage his waist for support.
"Felix, did you take your medicine this morning?" Hyunjin asked, noticing the sudden change in his younger friend's attitude.
"N-No, I didn't."
Their jaws dropped. "Why not?"
"I f-forgot."
Seungmin sent his friend a glare, shaking his head in dismay.
"Did you forget, Lix? Or were you trying to punish yourself for what you did before?"
Felix shook his head in return, his mind turning blank as he realized that he didn't know how to answer the question.
Maybe both.
Or maybe he forgot on purpose.
He couldn't decide.
Pain rushed through his lower back, and he let out a groan in reply, flinching for a moment.
"Chan... We need to pack our bags," Jisung began, "we can't wait any longer. We're not safe here."
He reached up to hold Minho's hand to seek reassurance. Minho sent his boyfriend a sad smile in return, unsure if he should reply on behalf of Chan.
"Of course. If there's anything you want to take from here, might as well do it now."
They all nodded.
"We're going to be fine," Chan added, his voice filled with doubt whatsoever, "everything will be fine."
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