Chapter Text
“So,” Kim Raebin tentatively breaks the silence, raising his hand like he’s in a classroom, “Did you ever learn about their music composing process?”
“Uh,” Moondae doesn’t know why he’s surprised. He uses the same excuse as before. “It’s classified.”
Cha Eugene slaps the disappointed Kim Raebin on the shoulder. “That wasn’t a good question! You should ask why they broke up! Hey, hyung, why did—”
“No, that much is obvious,” Bae Sejin interrupts brazenly, and the younger Sejin nods in rare agreement. “Shin Cheongryeo is a scumbag. You should really ask, WHY THAT BASTARD OF ALL PEOPLE?!!!”
That was something he often wondered himself. Why did he ever put up with that guy? But Moondae couldn’t actually articulate any of this, so he just shrugged half-heartedly and says the first thing that comes to mind.
“He’s handsome.”
“....”
The other members fall silent. No one could disagree with that, but they can’t help but feel wronged. Wasn’t Moondae constantly surrounded by handsome men? Couldn’t he have at least picked someone within their group, instead of that crazy sunbae? Wasn’t Seon Ahyeon leagues more handsome than Cheongryeo?
“And, you know,” Moondae waves a hand around, grasping for straws, “He has a cute dog.”
“We should have known,” Ryu Chungwoo teases. He seems a little more lucid now, at least. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Seon Ahyeon cracking a small smile. Everyone immediately relaxes.
“Yeah,” Cha Eugene nods so fast that Moondae gets a little dizzy just watching him. “I can see Moondae-hyung getting tricked by a cute dog.”
Kim Raebin mutters, “He really is a Moon puppy…”
For some reason, this statement erases any and all confusion surrounding how Moondae, of all people, dated Cheongryeo. He feels like he should be offended, but he can’t deny that Kong-ie did play a major role in their relationship. Hell, without that dog, Moondae doubts he would have ever lowered his guard.
“Hold on,” Lee Sejin’s brows crease into a familiar frown. He must be more shaken than he looks, because the next thing he says is so woefully lacking any sort of his characteristic tact. “Were you guys still dating when he kidnapped you?”
“WHAT?!” The other members cry out in alarm, quickly removed from their canine musings. They are summarily ignored by the two Sejins.
“Could it be...” Bae Sejin’s eyes go wide, like a hamster having an existential crisis. He places his palms on his face in a manner nearly identical to Edward Munch’s “The Scream”, mouth agape and all. “Could it be that he locked you up as revenge for dumping him?!”
What the hell has this guy been reading?
"No!" It’s not like he can explain that VTIC’s leader tried to convince him to kill himself so that he could reset, or that he could explain the System or his own identity of Ryu Gunwoo. So, Moondae does not elaborate. Instead, he stands up and claps his hands twice. "No more questions. If you ask me about this again, I will throw up on you. Good night."
Satisfied with this conclusion, he goes straight to bed and passes out, leaving the rest of the members shell shocked in the living room.
"..."
The rest of the members turn and look at each other, then at the direction Moondae left, then back at each other again.
It's Ryu Chungwoo, in true leader form, who breaks the stunned silence. "Let's give him some space. He'll let us know if or when he's ready to talk about this again."
Everyone nods and murmurs in agreement. None of them want to make their friend uncomfortable.
"Yes, l-let's not pressure him," Seon Ahyeon says. This is the most his friend has willingly revealed about his personal life in ages. If they kept pressuring him to reveal more, he doubted Moondae would ever talk about himself again. All the walls they'd painstakingly broken down would be brought back up without so much as a warning. Still, there was one thing that was bothering Seon Ahyeon, and that must have been bothering the others. "But, Sejin-ah, what did you mean by kidnapped?"
The Sejins both turn pale. Bae Sejin searches for an escape route, and Lee Sejin chuckles nervously, "I wasn't supposed to say that."
It was a good thing that they had nothing planned the next day, because the interrogation was far from over.