S

°°"I swear to the universe, if y'all don't get off each other this instant I'll drive my dagger into your skulls and watch you bleed while feasting on popcorn and soda!!"

The couple pulled apart staring at beomgyu as if he suddenly grew another head.

"What the heck were you talking about Choi beomgyu?"

"Don't act like I just didn't catch you two eating each other's faces"

"You need to get your eyes fixed, we weren't eating each other, do we look like monsters to you??"

"Whatever..what were y'all doing then?"

Soobin gave yeonjun a look, quietly asking if it was okay to tell the younger, yeonjun quickly shook his head as no unfortunately getting noticed by his brother.

"What did you do Hyung?"

Beomgyu already had his suspicions, he just prayed to the universe it wasn't what he was thinking...the universe knows what he'd do to him if it ever was what he was thinking about..

"It's nothing beoms..."

The younger waved him off, pulling the hem of his shirt up immediately only to be greeted by the sight of a newly bandaged torso and belly. Yeonjun froze on his seat, looking at soobin to at least help him out of this one, but the older only gave a slight shrug before mouthing a 'you got this' as he left the room, an angry beomgyu was a beast.

"Hyung...did you try to kill yourself again?"

Yeonjun widened his eyes at his brother thinking of possible lies to tell the boy so he could believe him, but currently, his mind was just a desert.

"Answer me?"

Beomgyu gritting his teeth was definitely not a good sign..

"I umm.... * yh*"

Beomgyu took a deep breath in, squeezing the older's shirt in his hands as he tried to control his anger....

"Why?"

Yeonjun looked down, tears glistening his eyes as he thought of all the answers to the 'why'...it was quite a lot if he started listing them....he was sick too, just like jaehyun, maybe even worse...he was tired of living, living with nothing but fear, fear of one day going berserk and hurting his loved ones, not like he had never tried to on several occasions.

"Beomgyu i-"

"Hyung!!!.....can you not do this to yourself all the time, I know it's hard, it's hard living with yourself like this, but have you thought about what soobin Hyung would do or be without you by his side, have you thought of how I would be without you.... it's already hard enough seeing you battle with yourself alone...you have me, soobin Hyung and the entire community.... promise me this would be the last time Hyung"

Beomgyu couldn't keep his tears in as he watched his brother weep in front of him, yeonjun meant the whole world to him after they lost their parents and his lovers, he swore on their grave he was gonna take care of his brother to his best abilities.... especially that incident that turned yeonjun into what he is now.

"I..i'm s..s..sorry beoms.. Really sorry..I just...I...I hate living like this..I.. it's hard... having to constantly fight it... it's hard..."

He wrapped his hands around his younger brother's waist, hugging his face close to his clothed belly as he sobbed bitterly...

They pulled apart from each other, beomgyu crouching down to his brother's level to wipe his tears as yeonjun did the same to him, if yeonjun was gonna keep doing those things, then there was absolutely nothing stopping his younger brother from taking his own life too, afterall, they only live for each other and soobin.

"Hey guys-oh sorry did I interrupt something?"

The brothers turned to a pale looking mingi who just walked into the medical room.

"Oh no...is everything okay?"

"Yh...I just -have you mayhaps seen lady nay?"

"Yh...I left she, baekhyun and Zico Hyung in the kitchen, I think they were taking records of what needs to get stocked in the kitchen or something"

"Ah..thanks...."

Mingi wanted to turn back and head out, but stopped when he suddenly remembered something.

"....I hope you get over what was making you guys cry"

"Thanks Hyung...but are you okay?...you look very pale today... didn't you eat?..or is it yunho Hyung?"

Mingi gave a bitter smile, it wasn't news to him again that the whole community knew about his undying crush for yunho, even to the extent they knew about their little 'affair'.

"Mingi....you should seriously tell him you can't keep on going with this relationship between you two, it's toxic, especially for you..."

"I know yeonjun, but...I love him too much"

"It's destroying you Hyung...he doesn't reciprocate the feelings and you know that, he's just using you for his sexual desires because you're the only one able to fulfil it all in the name of the love you have for him"

Mingi stared down at his hands, it was true....it was destroying him slowly, he just couldn't come to terms with it, he loved yunho too much to back out of whatever they had now, even though the older couldn't reciprocate his feelings back, he still couldn't deny the fact that he enjoyed every intimate moment they had with each other, especially when yunho was always so gentle with him.

"Thanks guys, I'll think about it....I should go now..."

He bid the brothers a goodbye as he headed for the kitchen. There was absolutely nothing for him to think about in all honesty, no matter how many times he told himself to stop whatever he had with yunho and just come to terms with the fact that he could never have the older's Heart.

He took slow strides towards the kitchen as the voices of the older ones resonated in the hallway that led through the kitchen. On getting there he found the three beomgyu had mentioned earlier currently checking the refrigerator for what he was sure was meat, he stood at the entrance of kitchen just watching as the three surveyed the area, taking down notes at some point, none of them had noticed him until he cleared his throat a bit, forcing the three to look up from what they were doing, a small smile made it's way to naya's lips as she went over to the younger .

"Mingi...what brings you here?"

She asked in her thin voice, placing the note pad in her hand on the counter and kept the pen behind her ear.

"I actually wanted to talk you lady nay"

She nodded, briefly glancing back at her boyfriend who just gave her a nonchalant shrug before turning back to baekhyun.

"Inform jimin to get ready for hunting probably tomorrow or the next, we're running out of meat, Skyler also came to me about that, and also get some of the guys to go supply hunting with you"

"But kai and some of the guys had gone supply hunting a few months ago Hyung"

"Remember this is a huge ass community baekhyun, not a camp"

Mingi watched as baekhyun and Zico left the kitchen, their voices dying down as they got farther and farther away. Finally having the kitchen to he and the older lady, he turned fully to her and sat on one of the stools, naya mirroring his actions as she waited patiently for the boy to speak out.

"Lady nay?"

"Yes mingi...I'm all ears"

"The last time I actually umm...went for a stroll at night...I saw something... something....sickening"

The lady furrowed her brows, she was the only female in Neo culture community due to her undeniable skills, the fact that she was older than the other guys was like an added advantage for them, they saw the lady as more of a mother figure and would always go to her if anything even though she was quite the introverted type and would prefer burying her face in books than interact with people that are not her boyfriend or the other guys in the community. Mingi had only thought about coming to meet her after his effort to try talk to yunho about his little problem went in vain... again.

"What did you see mingi?"

".........my.....my dad"

Naya sat up straighter, staring the boy dead in the eyes as she tried digesting his words...

"But I thought..."

"Yh I thought too ..but you remember I said I actually ran off before actually witnessing the whole thing"

"Yh but- anyways, how was he?"

"Disgusting, putrid, cannibalistic.....

"He's one of them now isn't he?"

Mingi nodded timidly trying his best not to cry again.

"I'm sorry gi, I understand what you must be going through Right now...you know, just like you...I had encountered my mum in that same state too; putrid and disgusting, I couldn't kill her no matter how hard I tried to...it was hard you know, watching what was once something elegant, beautiful, down to earth and nice turn into a monster....she ended up dying...not by my hands but zico's, I hated him to the core for doing that, but I knew it couldn't be helped, it just had to happen, the only thing I regretted was never telling her my last 'i love you' before she died in front of me... again"

Naya's eyes were void of any emotion as if she had gotten used to the fact that she had seen her mum die in front of her, not once but twice. She wasn't used to it yet, she just always hid it, because she knew there were other people in the community, both regulars and Neo, that had probably faced something worse than she had and that's why when she saw a single tear drop from the male's eyes, she quickly wiped it away with her sweater sleeve.

"That's why I'm worried lady nay, I don't want to be faced in a position where I'd have to take my dad's life, undead or not"

"Let's just pray the universe isn't that heartless .... But I assure you if it ever happens, just know it's better that way"

She gave the boy a weak smile, one that held plenty emotions, one of which was longing, longing for something she couldn't have, something she couldn't hold dear again, something she couldn't see....

Ever again.

…⁠ᘛ⁠⁐̤⁠ᕐ⁠ᐷ…⁠ᘛ⁠⁐̤⁠ᕐ⁠ᐷ

The male sighed dreamily at the twins playing catch on the training ground, lately his thoughts have been going south; his best friend, his little problem and his huge huge humongous crush...how more fucked up could life get than it already is...

"I still can't believe you like her...what are you?..a pedo?"

"You don't understand ju.. it's like..ughhh!!"

Juyeon chuckled, yeosang was such a hopeless romantic; I mean..what could be worse than having romantic feelings for someone 6-7 years younger than you are.

Truth be told, yeosang also didn't know when he had started falling for Shea son, probably when he first set eyes on the girl the minute jungkook and jimin brought she and her twin brother to the community...it really was unexpected, but when he found himself falling deeper, he couldn't really do anything about it, the only thing been for him to keep it in him till he probably dies, the only person who knew about it was juyeon; hyunjae's immediate younger brother and his best friend; mingi.

"But seriously Hyung, I think you should tell her..the girl literally gives you the hearts anytime she sees you"

Yeosang gave juyeon *that* look, not believing a single word coming out of the younger.

"She looks at everyone like that ju, especially jungkook Hyung"

"What did I do?"

They both turned their heads towards the voice's direction, jungkook was coming up to them with a sulky looking hyunjae and a pissed off jimin.

"Oh nothing Hyung, we were just talking about..umm...you??"

Jungkook gave yeosang a skeptical look before shrugging it off and took a seat beside juyeon.

"What's up with you two?"

"Apparently baekhyun Hyung told us to get ready for hunting probably tomorrow or the next and hyunjae here says he wants to tag along... But I forbade him to..cuz it has just always been me, kookie and jeno"

"But letting me tag along won't hurt Hyung, why do I feel like your just tryna hide something from us?"

"I'm not, okay?!!....just fuck off and go sulk somewhere else, you're disturbing my eyes"

"It's not fair you three get to only be the one to go without having any other person tag along"

"Don't tell me you guys are going hunting again?"

Everyone's eyes turned to Shea who appeared suddenly from nowhere scaring the shit out of yeosang.

"Yes and?"

Jungkook raised a brow at the girl, knowing what was gonna come out of her mouth the next minute.

"Let Shawn and I tag along plllleeeaasee~"

Jimin yelled a quick no, shutting the girl up immediately. She went to take a sit right beside yeosang latching onto him for dear life.

"Oppa can I see you for a few?"

If yeosang said his heart didn't just do a backflip, he'd be lying, his breath was caught in his throat, he was in a total daze, lost for words, because his long time crush, Shea son just asked to see him, just them, no one else....

"Y..yh..s..sure"

And with that, they both left the training vicinity with Shawn not forgetting to shout a Goodluck to his twin sister and the other guys just giving each other a knowing look, turns out it wasn't only mingi and juyeon who knew afterall.

"I like you oppa"

"...."

"Oppa?!?!"

"....."

"I said I like you"

"O..oh...umm....y..y..you...d..do?"

"Yh...I guess since the first time I set my eyes on you"

Yeosang definitely wasn't expecting such a bold remark from the girl, neither was he even expecting they shared the same feelings towards each other. it was silent for a while, with yeosang just staring at the girl with an unreadable expression and Shea giving him an expectant look.

"I know you like me too oppa...."

"W..what!?!"

"You've never really tried hiding the way you look at me..."

She nonchalantly shrugged at him, waiting patiently to hear what she wanted to hear. Yeosang turned a bright shade of pink, thinking back to how stupid he must have looked in the girls eyes, especially when noticing his longing stares.

"I umm...."

She raised a brow, now bouncing on a spot giddily.

"I...."

"....like me too..right?...c'mon it's not that hard to word, just three words"

"I....like ....I like you too... probably for a umm....l..long time too"

Shea smiled brightly before throwing herself shamelessly at him, hugging him as tight as she could, her face buried deep into his chest. Yeosang been flustered a bit widened his eyes for a few seconds before relaxing into the hug and wrapped his hands around her, a stupid large grin making it's way on his lips. Maybe he didn't have to keep his feelings to himself afterall.