fic: Catalyst :: chapter three
Author's note: Nothing much, but chapter four will have more meat to sink your teeth into (hah). There's a bit of information in here.
She’d hate him. She surely would. Call him a monster, all kinds of names, and she’d try to run. As far as possible. Futilely. It downright killed him that he'd have to contain her.
CHAPTER THREE
"Hard night?" the driver - Seunghyun could never remember his name - asked as he slipped in feeling like death, even though he'd just fed and could feel his blood settle in that comfortable afterglow that brought warmth and colour to the skin. It killed him that he'd had to leave Bom at the headquarters, but then again surely the president had sent someone in to take care of her.
Surely.
But then, he had no one to blame but himself.
Seunghyun looked up, meeting the driver's eyes in the rearview mirror as he laid his head against his headrest. He sighed feelingly. "You have no idea."
"Try me."
Yeah, right. Seunghyun chuckled. "Nah," he teased easily, "I'd rather let you wonder."
The man laughed heartily. "Fair enough, ladies' man, fair enough. So. Where to, now?" he asked, as Seunghyun fished out his handphone to let his hands fiddle with something. "Home," he replied distractedly.
"To sleep half the day again?"
"Ah... yeah, probably."
Shaking his head goodnaturedly, the man tsk'ed. "Ain't healthy, boy. When's the last time you saw the sun?"
"On a bus," Seunghyun replied drily, referring to an advertisement plastered all over town for a travelling agency. People liked to escape the winter during the colder months.
"Ha!"
"Nah, I'm kidding. Let's see... our last round of promotions? Yeah. We had some daytime shoots for the music programs."
"Two months ago?" the driver exclaimed, then was silent a moment. "Damn. 'Scuse the language."
"Pfft. Don't. I swear like a trucker," Seunghyun assured.
"Yeah, except I've been assigned the new girls so, umm, I'll curb the slurs, yeah?"
Seunghyun shrugged. "Suit yourself." Then he drew himself forward, leaning on the front seats. "Have you met them yet?"
"Nope. You?"
"Yeah," he replied. "The eldest trained with us."
The driver frowned, concentration furling his brow. "Hang on, hang on... Dara, is it?"
Seunghyun shook his head, smirking. "Nope. Bom."
"Oh, right. What a name. Lady Spring. Heh. What's she like?"
He blurted out the first thing that came to mind before he could hold it back. "Odd."
The man stared back at him through the rearview mirror, his eyebrow cocked. "You should talk."
Seunghyun shrugged, unburdened. "You'll see."
"Okay, what else."
"Mm... she's very shy, to the point where it can be painful," he recounted. "Sometimes I'll forget she's in the room until she's specifically asked to sing."
"Great," the man grunted drily. "Quiet in the backseat."
Seunghyun wasn't done. "But she's..." He thought about it some more, trying to find the right words. "She's nuts, man. I'm talking party in her head at the oddest times." Just thinking about it made him crack up a bit. "One second painfully quiet, the next babbling her head off about the new Beyonce song. She's really... well, she's something else. And oh, God, her voice."
Seunghyun realised they'd arrived at the dorm when he felt the car stop. But the driver just kept staring at him over the rim of his glasses. "That good?"
"She's amazing," he replied truthfully.
"Huh. Well, I'm meeting the girls tomorrow. I'll tell her you said hi?"
Oh, God, no. "No, um." He scrambled out, sticking his head back in to add, "No need." Since she probably thinks I'm an asshole for leaving. "I'll probably see her before you do." Or something.
"We'll see about that."
Seunghyun only had time to slam the car door before the driver sped away. Then he felt the whole weight of his weariness weigh him down. For the umpteenth time that night, he rubbed his face and grimaced at the ruddy bristling that raked against his hand. Disgusted, he headed inside the building, nodding distractedly at the old doorman behind the desk.
"Good... morning, Mr. Choi," he greeted pointedly.
#
"Where you been?" Jiyong demanded in a surly tone as soon as Seunghyun set foot inside. The pale light from the coffee table illumined his slouched form upon the couch, some muted TV show painting the room with quickly changing colours.
"Out," Seunghyun grunted, pulling his high tops off before stepping in fully. "What's it to you?"
Ji frowned, watching him closely as he shuffled toward the kitchen. "How's Bom?" he asked.
"How would I-" Seunghyun stopped himself with a wince. "It's none of your business," he growled. Like, he so totally wanted Ji to know the details. Right.
But Ji merely smirked, somewhat belligerently. "Humour me." Only then he rolled his eyes, settling back down and guzzling some of the San Pellegrino in his hand. "Nevermind. Teddy called earlier. She is fine, and you're a fucking moron. I hope you fed."
Seunghyun realised he'd been incredibly tensed up when he felt his shoulders drop infinitesimally. "Yeah."
Jiyong didn't spare him any other words, and pulled himself back up to slink away wordlessly to his bedroom.
"Hang on," Seunghyun suddenly said, finally catching on to Ji's words. "You were worried about me?"
Ji just kept on walking. "I'd been suspicious lately." He closed the door on himself.
Seunghyun needed a shower, he figured, but he opted for passing out straight away. Feeding always made him a bit lightheaded afterwards, always a bit... hollow, like however much he drank just fell down like lead and failed to properly vivify him.
God, what a night.