𝐬𝐭✰𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥

you see the door to hongjoong’s studio getting bigger as you approach it and you can’t help but hold his hand tighter. he takes out his keys and swiftly unlocks the door before pushing it open. a front of cold air hits your body as he guides you first inside the dark room, his hand carefully letting go of yours. the only things helping you see are the colourful lights of his monitor and the light from the hallway. 

you turn around to face hongjoong who still hasn’t said a word and who seems almost distant in the way he stands so far away from you, expressionless and cold. there’s a moment of silence where he simply looks at you, hand on the doorknob, expecting something. 

you quickly connect the dots in your head, immediately dropping down to your knees. hongjoong slightly nods, finally expressing something that looks like contentment. 

“good girl. you’ll stay there for me,” he calmly begins, “nice and quiet. alright?” 

that, you don’t understand. your heart accelerates, mouth slowly parting. is this a punishment? have you done something bad? you don’t think so. you haven’t been punished, or lectured, as hongjoong calls it, in a very long time. you don’t need to, not anymore; you’re fully trained, that’s what he said—what they all said. 

you crawl towards hongjoong, wanting to close the gap between you, but he makes you stop in your tracks as soon as you put a hand in front of you. 

“don’t.” his mouth is in a straight line, but you see his brows twitching. he’s displeased—hongjoong is clearly not as patient today, he won’t let anything pass. “i’ll put you in your cage if you want to be a brat.” you recoil at that, shaking your head. “so when i tell you something, you do it.”

he stares you down, as though daring you to do something else, but you keep still. that is until he walks out of the room, pulling the door with him, and you crawl as fast as you can across the floor, terrified he’ll leave you there. 

hongjoong is already on the other side of the door when you reach it. “joong!” you cry, pulling on the handle, but it’s obviously locked. “joong, please!” you hit the metal with your flat hands, banging on the door. your eyes quickly fill up in water and your throat starts to close. “don’t leave me, please! i’m so sorry!”

you notice the shadow of his shoes moving and you watch him stepping away from you, leaving you alone and helpless in the complete dark. you stand up to switch the light open, but no matter how many times you flick the switch up and down, nothing lights up. you start wondering if this isn’t working on purpose, too. 

you sniffle, wiping your tears with the heel of your palm. the last time you were in this situation, you had disobeyed your leader, but also seonghwa—which made it worse for you—by missing your daily check-up. hongjoong is the one in charge of it, though, this time, seonghwa had been the one to do it, if you hadn’t accidentally missed it. 

it’d been a long and exhausting punishment. instead of the studio, it was the bathroom adjoining hongjoong’s room. no contact with the members for almost 36 hours, only the incessant buzzing of the lights and the cold tiles that you’d slept on for the night like a mistreated dog.

since then, no punishment has been necessary, you make sure of it—except now.

you almost miss the bathroom—at least, you could look at stuff. hongjoong’s pc is the only thing you can see and the keyboard in front of his monitor. after an hour or two, looking at it becomes boring and annoying. what did you do for him to want to punish you?

sitting on the ground hugging your knees and nearly dozing off, you get startled by voices coming in the hallway. you recognize san’s and wooyoung’s voice, which has you rushing to the door, knocking on it. 

“sannie?” you call, hoping for him to hear you. 

the voices pause. after a second of silence, san calls out your name, too. “baby? is that you?”

“yes! please, can you open the door?”

your heart beats faster as you hear the lock being turned and the door opens about an inch, the sudden light blinding you. it’s open enough to see you, but not enough to let you out. 

“what are you doing here?” wooyoung asks.

you feel your nose stinging, new tears appearing in your eyes at the reminder of how you ended up locked in hongjoong’s studio.

“please, it’s- it’s been…” you don’t finish your sentence, not even sure of how long you’ve been in there. “hongjoong didn’t tell me anything. what’s happening, guys?”

at the mention of your leader’s name, san and wooyoung look at each other briefly before putting their eyes back on you. “we have a meeting in about 20 minutes,” san answers. 

you frown. “well, then… let me out,” you say, but with the expression on their faces and the look they shared, something tells you they don’t intend to do that. 

“doll, you know we can’t do that,” wooyoung responds, sounding disappointed, like he’s pitying you. “i don’t think joong wants you there.”

you don’t have anything to say in return, you’re speechless. what does that even mean?

“but i’m sure he’ll come back after.” san smiles, though it doesn’t reassure you a lot. what if he doesn’t? will you have to stay here another day?

“please,” you beg with tearful eyes, your voice down to a desperate murmur. 

“we’re sorry, baby,” san says, his smile now feeling bittersweet to you. “give us a kiss before we go. what about that, mh?”

you know his request is a way to tell you to not worry your head about it, like you’re too dumb to understand, but you nod your head anyway. 

san leans down to your level and you kiss him, wooyoung offering his lips to you just after. soon enough, the door closes back on you and you listen to their chatter until it becomes a distant and unintelligible sound.