"It's giving me a headache." Jeonghan massaged his forehead as his fellows made a fuss of the ongoing discussion.

Jeonghan, Mingyu, Joshua and Hoshi were gathered in the meeting room to discuss their new guests.

"What's wrong Jeonghan?" Joshua finally asked.

"I know." Mingyu laid back on his chair, "We've been discussing it for an hour and we still haven't found a conclusion of how they escaped the forest."

"I don't know why we are even discussing it." Hoshi sipped his coffee, "It's good news right? They'll be our sacrifice and that's it. We just have to make them blindly trust us."

"No Hoshi." Jeonghan spoke up, "What if they're one of those demons? Don't forget that our main job is to protect the West Scarlet Coast. We've only one option, let's visit the forest. The elfs are in charge of that spell, they must definitely know if they're actually humans or some illusion."

"We can visit them this evening." Mingyu stated, "Anyways, we've got a lot of time before the sacrifice."

"It's both an advantage and disadvantage." Joshua brushed his hair, "We've got plenty of time to lure them and similarly plenty of time to get caught."

"Whatever." Hoshi rolled his eyes, "Can't we just hypnotise them or something."

"Then they'll not be eligible to be sacrificed." Mingyu smacked Hoshi's arm slightly, "If we have to gain power from them then they shouldn't be under our spell or they shouldn't be forced by us. They're to walk into the trap themselves without any hesitation. And for that, we have to gain their trust."

"I can see the bigger problem." Jeonghan's orbs glowed red for a brief second before getting back to normal, "The Rose Quaryz stylth would have got the information by now."

"Damn I totally forgot about them." Hoshi rested his chin on his palms, "Now they'll definitely pick a fight and we can't let those humans see our war or it's all over."

"From what I can picture is that it's impossible to keep our identity hidden for that long." Mingyu tapped the table gently, "Why don't we let them know everything and gain their trust as who we are?"

"That won't work anymore." Joshua shook his hand in a no, "We've already lied so much."

"Let's keep up with our drama until we can." Jeonghan concluded, "Whenever they get to know our real identity, all we have to do is to play with their emotions."

"Exactly what I wanted to say." Mingyu chuckled, "We'll have to play some cliche tricks and trap them gradually."

"Yeah but don't get casual because we have a back-up plan." Joshua intervened, "We'll have to try our best to keep our identity hidden."

"And about those shit heads." Hoshi referred to the Rose Quartz Stylth, "We can subtly frame them as bad guys in front of the mortals."

"That's actually great." Jeonghan pointed at Hoshi, "We can gradually frame them as the bad ones, without being obvious. All we have to do is to keep SVT inclined towards us so if the time comes, they will always choose us."

"And we already have an advantage." Joshua flicked his hair, "We don't need to worry that much."

Jeonghan laughed briefly, "Anyways, Hoshi and Joshua, take them for a shopping spree or something. Buy them good clothes, food and whatever they want. Please them as much as you can. Me and Mingyu will visit the forest in the meantime."

Hoshi ringed the doorbell while waiting for it to open along with Joshua. In a while, the door opened revealing Seungkwan.

"Oh Hoshi and Joshua hyung, you're already here?" He greeted them with a slight bow.

"Yeah, are you all ready?" Joshua asked, "I texted Jun that we were arriving in a while."

"You know about the plan right, I called Vernon yesterday night." Hoshi hesitantly asked.

"Oh yeah, of course I know." Seungkwan looked back into the apartment, "We've guests over."

"Guests?" Joshua glanced at Hoshi and then turned back to Seungkwan.

"Yeah actually- "

"Seungkwan, who's it?" A voice echoed as a male walked through the hallway.

Hoshi's smile faded away. He would prefer to jump off a cliff rather than standing against that particular person.

"Vernon was looking for you." The man patted Seungkwan, "Don't worry, I'll attend them."
-

"Woozi." Hoshi managed to smile even when his red puffy eyes refused to co-operate, "I knew you'll come back to me."

Woozi nodded while taking a seat beside the older, patting his back, "Hoshi, hear me out. Let's fix everything-"

"Are you here to defend him?" Hoshi's voice turned stern.

"I'm not here to defend him." Woozi scoffed, "Who am I to do so? But these things are useless. If he says he didn't do anything, at least hear him out?"

"Yeah, it's easy for him to say that he did nothing." Hoshi chuckled sarcastically, "It's easy for you guys to forget everything. But it was definitely not easy for Jeonghan hyung. It's definitely not easy for us without him."

"I know right." Woozi held the older's hand, "It's not easy for us either. But life is all about moving on."

"Moving on?" Hoshi retracted his hand from the younger's, "What do you mean by that? Is it that easy for you to forget him?"

"I'm not talking about forgetting him. You are being so sensitive because you're afraid." Woozi held the latter's shoulders, "I'm calm because I trust him, that he'll come back to us."

"Do you know when he'll come back? 1 month? 1 year? 10 years? 100 years? Do you not worry about how he would be doing right now? Do you not wonder where he will be surviving right now? Do you not miss him? Do you not miss his affection? Or are you happy that he's gone?-"

Woozi cut off Hoshi by embracing him in his arms, "I know you're suffering and so am I. I do miss him, a lot, I just chose not to show it. Hoshi, just look around you, just because someone isn't saying it through words, doesn't mean they're happy. Even Seungcheol hyung-"

"Not him again." Hoshi broke the hug, "He's at fault, we all know that."

"That's what I'm saying, at least trust him for once?" Woozi caressed the older's hand, "Try to understand his sufferings too."

"Please ask him to stop this drama already." Hoshi stood up, "Him saying shit won't change anything. Don't we all know that he killed Mr. Yoon? But we all believed him that Mr. Yoon was actually the wrong one. Even Jeonghan hyung chose to trust him rather than his own dad. But what happened next? He proved that he wasn't worth trusting. Because of him, Jeonghan hyung had to endure so much humiliation and pain. He left, because of him. And there's no explanation for it."

"Hoshi-"

"No it's enough." Hoshi fixed his shirt, "If you're going to defend him for his sins, don't do it in front of me. If you've moved on, good for you, but don't expect me to do the same."

It was when a third voice was heard as the person walked in and greeted the duo.

"Oh Hyungwon hyung-" Woozi shook hands with him.

"I was looking for you Woozi." Hyungwon catched his breath, "You aren't going to cancel our plan for lunch and golf right? I've already booked the place for us."

"Ah y-yeah hyung, please wait for me in the parking lot, I'll be there in a minute." Woozi smiled awkwardly as Hyungwon left.

Before he could say anything, Hoshi let out a bitter laugh, "Seems like you've definitely moved on, from me as well. Not that I'm complaining, I know I was never the one for you."

"It's not what you think." Woozi explained, "There will be other friends too, you should trust me-"

"Trust him, trust you, trust this, trust that, just fuck it all." Hoshi's patience finally broke, "Stop taping the broken glasses, it's of no use. This facade of trust isn't doing any better to my fucked up life. Just go, enjoy yours at least. Congratulations for moving on, I'm jealous of you for being able to do so."

Woozi wanted to embrace the older one into a tight hug. He knew about how broken Hoshi was from the inside.

He wanted to tell him that he was there for him to rely on. But Hoshi needed to understand that he, Mingyu and Joshua weren't the only ones suffering.

He was not accepting the fact that even the ones who were defending Seungcheol and even Seungcheol himself weren't any better either. They were as broken as the other three.
-

"What are you doing here?" Hoshi growled as soon as Seungkwan left.

"Hoshi calm down." Joshua mumbled while holding his arm.

"Is that your business?" Woozi crossed his arms against his chest.

"It is." Hoshi chuckled sarcastically, "We own this place. They, are our guests."

"One, this place belongs to the people who currently live here." Woozi counted on his fingers, "Two, you don't own them just because they're your guest."

"Ridiculous." Hoshi muttered beneath his breath. He clenched his fist trying his best to hold his temper.

"Are you going to punch me or something for stating the obvious?" Woozi mocked.

"If you want that so bad-" Hoshi stepped forward but Joshua halted him, "Stop it Hoshi, we're not here to fight."

"Whatever." Hoshi rolled his eyes.

Before the situation would heat up, Dino walked up to them, "Oh hyung, you're already here. Please come in."

"Yeah sure!" Joshua smiled but Hoshi held him back, "I think all of them are here." He whispered.

"Just ignore them, focus on your mission." Joshua whispered back.

"That's nonsense." Hoshi whinned.

"That's our priority." Joshua glared him and dragged him along.

As expected, Seungcheol, Wonwoo and Seokmin were also present in the hall along with Jun, Minghao, Vernon and Seungkwan while Woozi and Dino followed them.

Joshua decided not to look at Seokmin or his softening gaze would bring both of them in trouble. Hoshi entirely ignored the presence of Rose Quartz Stylth and faced Jun with a charming smile.

The tension in the room was increasing exponentially but the humans were unaware of the internal swearing going on.

"We're almost ready." Jun replied before being asked.

"Seems like you guys already have plans." Seungcheol stood up, "We'll take our leave."

"At least." Hoshi scoffed.

"Do you guys- know each other?" Minghao asked out of curiosity.

"Yeah we do." Hoshi laughed it off, "Kind of."

"It was nice to meet you guys." Wonwoo stood up, "Hope to see you around again."

"Yeah, genuinely." Seokmin added, "You guys are really sweet."

"So are you." Vernon retorted, "It was a pleasure hanging out with y'all."

"Next time, the treat is on me." Seungcheol declared, "At our place."

"Sure hyung!!" Seungkwan beamed.

Hoshi and Joshua just sighed internally. They never wanted their enemy stylth to begin their plan of luring the humans for obvious reasons. According to them, they had the entire rights over the mortals as they were the ones to find them first.

The other four vampires left while mocking Hoshi and Joshua. They successfully conveyed that Rose Quartz wasn't losing the game at any cost. They weren't here to play and so wasn't Serenity.

"We'll just clean up really quick." Dino walked towards the table.

"Don't worry." Joshua held Dino's hand, halting him to continue his task, "You guys should get ready, we'll clean up for you."

"No No." Seungkwan made Joshua and Hoshi sit on the sofa, "You don't need to."

"There's no problem, I swear." Hoshi stood up again gently pushing the other five away from the hall with the help of Joshua, "Just get ready really quick."

"Hyung but- "

"I'm the eldest here." Joshua finally used his age card, "Just do what I say."

The mortals gave up and left to their respective rooms. After making sure that the doors were shut and they weren't being watched, Joshua flicked his fingers and the mess in the hall got cleaned up immediately.

Too much hard work.

A/n : Y'all can visit the Instagram account mentioned in my bio, I post edits related to my ongoing work there!

Vote, comment and share, that would help! I love reading your feedbacks!

Take care!

-Jeonghanneyonghaseyo