1 minute earlier...
As soon as we turned on the light we both let out bloodcurdling screams.
A male stranger was sat on the couch looking at us with a smile.
"Well it's nice to meet you finally Rae, Alishbah."
Our screams could have broken a window. I think my heart stopped for a moment. Who the fuck is this person?!
"Whats with the screaming?" He said taking a sip of- HES DRINKING MY ICED TEA!
"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!" Lishi screamed throwing her heel at him which he smoothly dodged.
"Oh that could hurt someone be careful with that." His face was indifferent and honestly it makes me get more mad.
"Careful?! I'll show you careful!" Lishi took off her other heel and was about to go over and beat his ass with it before I pulled her back.
"Lishi we have no idea if he's dangerous! He could have a gun for all we know!" I warned tugging at her arm which was holding the shoe.
"You. Talk. Now!" Lishi held up her shoe ready to throw.
He sighed and got up walking closer to us, causing me to take a subconscious step back. His next words had both of us speeechless.
"I'm the one on the other side of the screen. You guys know me as Unknown." He spoke holding out his hand to shake.
I'm sorry he said what now?
Unknown?? I mean I understood I'd see Unknown at one point but I didn't think he'd break into my damn apartment! I looked at his hands warily before he dropped them and shrugged as if to say 'ah well'.
"If you are Unknown... prove it." I looked him dead in the eyes trying to evoke some kind of admission. If he's saying the truth he can prove it.
"You'd have to be watching us constantly to be Unknown, so tell me when did Rae get a call from Lightbook." Lishi said with a raised eyebrow. Damn I wish I thought of a good question like that.
"Exactly 2:37pm, followed by excited screaming from you girls." He replied coolly. I sighed and crossed my arms, I'll let him stick around and prove himself.
"Okay. Why are you here and what do you want." I questioned sitting opposite him.
"Rae are you just gonna sit down and chat with him wh-,"
"I know it's hard to believe, but you can actually trust me. I've always been on your side." Although his words were directed at Lishi his eyes were firmly locked into mine.
His eyes are a bright vibrant green, and something about them look so familiar. But not in a bad way, I don't feel unsafe quite the opposite I feel pretty comfortable around him. I wonder why...
"You can stab me with a stiletto if I make you mad." He added on this offer making me chuckle slightly. She was going to do that anyways.
"I was going to do that anyways." See what I said?
"I'll be blunt. There's people after you." He said putting down MY ice tea. I'm still not over this. Drinking my damn ice tea.
"No shit Sherlock. I got that after the suicidal mugger." I replied.
"I was hired by someone to keep you safe. These are bad people. And when I say bad I mean top level Satanic cult people bad." He grabbed my laptop and opened it up typing for a few seconds before turning it around to show us.
Lishi had moved in closer to see it better and what we saw staring back at us was a symbol of a snake coiled around a dripping apple. The apple was dripping what looked like blood. What's strange is that I've seen this before. I know I have. When I first was brought to Aunt Ina that was branded onto my skin. Branded like cattle. It took some surgery to fix the burnt skin and other damage but I turned out fine.
"I know that symbol. Poison Apple is the only thing that comes to mind." I could feel an oncoming headache from processing a new memory.
"Funny enough that's the name of the organisation. We don't know much about them but since they've set a hit on you I'm here to keep you safe." He said closing the laptop.
"Okay two questions. One is who the hell hired you, and two is why the hell would they be after Rae?" Lishi had a good point (as she so regularly does), why would they be after me.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out. And in the meantime I'll be here." He shrugged and started taking a sip of my god damn ice tea again.
"Here as in staying here?" Lishi asked curiously.
"I'll be staying in the apartment next door. But I'll be constantly following you guys around!" He spoke mock excitement and waved his hands in the classic cheerleader move.
"Oh hell no!" Lishi exclaimed in opposition.
"He is not going to be around us 24/7 what the hell!" She added standing up from her spot and crossing her arms.
"Don't worry I'll be perfectly respectful of your jobs, you won't even notice I'm around." He smiled with so much sarcastic joy it was kinda funny. Lishi turned to me and I threw my hands up.
"I'm not out to get my ass killed so if he has to stick around he can knock himself out." I really don't love murder attempts on my life so yeah if we can curb that it'll be much appreciated. Lishi sighed and turned jabbing part of her heel into his chest.
"Okay listen if you're going to stick around us a few ground rules are gonna be put into place. First don't go into our rooms, second don't bother me at work and third unless it's an emergency don't blow up my phone." She listed it off and after each point she jabbed the heel a little harder.
"Got it!" He agreed and Lishi nodded in satisfaction. She put her heels away and went to her bedroom to get changed.
"So what's your actual name then?" I asked looking at him curiously.
"Ah my name is Yun-seok you can just call me Yun." He said sitting back in the sofa.
"Well Yun never drink my damn ice tea. Buy your own." I smiled with malice grabbing the remaining ice tea from his hands.
Damnit there's barely any left in the bottle. I mean I have two more, but it's the fact he drank this one- the one I left in the fridge to chill overnight. I love how I'm more annoyed about ice tea than the fact that a literal satanist cult is after me. Well worrying about it isn't going to do much good for anyone is it, so I might as well deal with us as it comes. I opened the cupboard to put away everything and Lishi came out in her regular joggers and hoodie, with her hair in a loose hijab because
Yun is here. She came over and opened the sweets cupboard immediately slamming it shut.
"WHO. ATE. MY. CHOCOLATE." Oh no he didn't- well it was nice knowing him. She turned and looked at Yun who was stuffing a chocolate bar wrapper in his pocket and ready to run out.
"Well would you look at the time nothing is wrong tonight so I mi- AH!" He screamed and ran out the door as Lishi slid over the counter (epic moves) and was ready to beat the ever loving crap out of him.
Well.... that was fun....
Minjae's POV
"Okay guys lets head home!" Jaehyun said as we finished the last bit of our dance practice. I'm exhausted but it's so freeing dancing sometimes.
I never really was the best dancer, but I went to an audition with a friend for moral support and they seemed to like the look of me, and asked if I would audition as well. And the rest is history, my friend ended up realising he liked being a producer better so he took up an internship in the company.
"Guys did you notice Rae looked a little off today?" Yamato's face spotted a look of genuine concern, which surprised me.
"Oh shes fine, she had a bird attack her today." I explained trying to ease his worries.
Yamato had the habit of overthinking everything due to his past. Sweet of him to worry about her. She did look tired though so maybe shes not getting enough sleep.
"Hm. Okay." He replies now back to his normal self.
"Hey Jaehyun how is everything with Rae? You guys getting steamy now?" Lamon snickers finishing his final stretches.
It made me laugh as well, they've progressed really quickly. Who would've thought the random girl who helped him out back in England would've become our friend, and Lishi of course she's really nice too. Finally someone who appreciates chocolate! Jaehyun sighed and paused for a moment before speaking.
"Ah its been hard to talk lately. I dont know how to approach her since we-"
"Yes we know you guys slept together we dont need to get a mental image." Daehyun cut him off with a mildly grossed out look. I matched his look till Jaehyun continued his words.
"I really like her, but idol life and dating is next to impossible." He finished.
I nodded with sympathy, his words are true. Even with our relaxed company rules we have to be careful. Our group is rising quickly in popularity and our fans are super supportive now, but we have to be careful to not upset them. It may seem unfair but that's the life we signed up for. Dating is for the future, focus on the music now. Not to mention Rae isn't anyone famous, the harsh reality is the fans and company will end up shipping people together that will either make the company money or the fans happy. I hope Rae and Jaehyun's future is more secure.
"I suggest talking to her and taking things slow. And no outside dates. Keep it in the dorms and her apartment. Nobody says you cant hide it." Yamato commented after a moment of thought. Oh that's true. I didn't think of that...
"I'll talk to Rae about it. Thanks for listening to me guys." Jaehyun looked more relieved, to which Seungho gave him a hug.
"Hey were all family here." Seungho's words were true. We came here separately but we leave as a family no matter what happens.
We all left and had something small for dinner as we had a lot of snacks, so we just had small ramen cups before bed. As I laid in my bed listening to Lamon's snoring which was loud as hell my thoughts had time to gather and settle. Seungho was right earlier, we are a family. A crazy family of people with love all around. Couldn't think of a better group to be in. And now we have two new people, Rae and Lishi. They're awesome but one nagging feeling wouldn't go away.
Why do I feel like things are about to get a lot more wild around here? Maybe I'm overthinking like Yamato again. Probably.
I hope.
Rae's POV
I woke up that morning to incessant knocking on my door, followed by a scream and a thud. Jumping out of bed I was greeted with Seohyun holding one of her slippers and Yun rubbing the side of his head with an annoyed expression. Huh when did Seohyun get home last night?
"What happened?" I yawned out. It's only 7:34 but at least I slept for a few hours without a nightmare.
"This creep just broke in and started making breakfast!" Her words made me burst out laughing.
"Oh no he's harmless, that's just Yun-seok he's a friend of mine." I explained watching her face go from annoyed to realisation.
After explaining why he was there, and that hes our new neighbour she calmed and went back to her room. I've noticed she hasn't been hanging around us much, maybe it's our conflicting schedules but sometimes she looks mad. Yun however as soon as he saw she closed her door straightened himself out as if he never got hit.
"So what's the plan for today?" He said grabbing some eggs and cheese from my fridge, AND my ice tea. This time he at least poured me a cup as well.
It still weirdes me out how normal hes handling all this. I had to take sleep meds to get some rest because I couldn't stop thinking about this Poison Apple business. The fact that there's people out there ready to take my life- and Lishi's by association- is just shocking. Scary? Yes but I won't let it completely grind my life to a halt. Speaking of Lishi she immediately came and walked out, and dived back into her room once she noticed Yun.
"WARN ME NEXT TIME!" She shouts from her side of the door. She sticks out one hand and gives us the finger.
"Breakfast is ready! Cheese and spinach omelette and roasted peppers, try it together it's so good." He gave me a plate as he spoke which was steaming with a perfectly cooked omelette and roasted pepper on top. Okay and I thought I was the good cook.
We dug right in, and my God I want to have his cooking skills. This omelette can marry me right here. So fluffy, so good. And the peppers had some seasoning which gave it an amazing flavour. My plate was polished off, and so was Lishi's. If he does this every day I would become a giant marshmallow. Not complaining though.
"Well we have a free day what do you want to do?" Lishi said drinking some sort of fancy coffee Yun made. I had some chai tea. Hm I was thinking of a cafe but then the best idea came to mind.
"Let's take your camera out and take some photos! We could even have a picnic later or go to one of those cute cafes." I suggested.
Lishi and I since our first year in university did freelance photography on the side to help pay for some extra things. And we haven't had a chance to explore Seoul properly so it would be a great idea. I could see her eyes light up at the idea.
"Great idea I'll get ready." She hugged the rest of her coffee down almost choking and coughed for a second before rushing to her room.
"Your friend is interesting." Yun said with a small chuckle. I smiled in response.
"Yeah she and I have been best friends for years." I could see a sliver of sadness in his eyes as I spoke. I wonder what's his story, but I wont open that can of worms anytime soon unless he wants to share.
Lishi came out after a few minutes dressed in jeans, a long blue tunic top with a loose grey cardigan, with matching grey and blue hijab. Only the best aesthetically pleasing clothes when photography is involved. I almost laughed at my own words before going to get ready. I decided on the red oversized shirt I got from Minjae and some white jeggings. I left my hair free and wild with some coconut oil and we were ready to go. Yun was dressed in his own casual clothing, black jeans and a grey polo. I quickly said bye to Seohyun who had returned to sleeping in her bed and left her plate in the microwave before walking out with Lishi and Yun
Sigh well I guess this is our new normal. I won't even jinx my luck now, but I hope it'll be semi normal today.
I hope.