Mirrored Match // ATEEZ ✔

= 40 =

She drags her feet on the dirtied tiles, her steps echoing through the open market building- or what's it once was. The place where fresh produce were sold is now left to become a rats' nest, with broken furniture and trash scattered all over the floor. She has to walk while trying to breathe through her mouth, trying to control her breathing as she feels her heart pumping erratically. Her outfit is less than suitable for a place like this, with her high heels clacking on the tiled floor while her suit that costed around four figures feel tight as she makes her way up the stairs.

She doesn't know what she's guided by: her intuition or the fact that she knows her twin is in the building somewhere, waiting for her.

She's used to feeling alone but as she walks inside the building, she has no one but herself. When she gets up the stairs to the topmost floor, she spots the prime minister, but of course he's tied to a metal chair.

He looks to be unconscious, and as she approaches him who's sitting at the edge of the barren floor she sees that the chair is connected to another rope, which travels to a pulley located on the roof and ends where it's hooked to a metal that holds it in place. It seems that once the rope is unhooked, it will pull back the chair and throw it off the building.

It's obvious that Soyeon has planned this carefully.

"Welcome back," a voice greets her, and for the first time Danbi hears her proper voice. No obstructions, no screaming.

Danbi turns around slowly and the feelings are all the same as when they first met; she feels a grip of fear around her heart. Her automatic reaction is to look at the person in front of her up and down, picking up every single detail she can. It feels like she's looking into a mirror, but her reflection is acting on her own, bearing a much different expression than her. If the person she has bumped into the house she broke into that night looks scared and apprehensive; this person looks more relaxed, more determined.

What makes their meeting more ominous is that Soyeon is wearing the same kind of clothes as her, styled her hair the same - truly making anyone who don't know them think that they are indeed the same person.

"How does it feel, coming back to the place you were abandoned at?" her voice is calm, but there's a sense of hatred in her voice.

"What do you want?" Danbi shoots back. "Isn't your life enough for you?"

"There can only be one of us," Soyeon sneers. "It's gross to see you acting all dignified, putting on your fake smile for the cameras when you're nothing but a lowly, poor girl who lives with two guys. You should know your place."

"I deserve this place as much as you do. What's so wrong in having both of us live together? We're supposed to be twins-"

"I told you there's only supposed to be only one of us! You think that you're doing amazing, just because people around you have been praising your attitude, putting in only good words for the prime minister's daughter. But they had no idea the person they've been praising is actually a liar."

"So you're jealous?" Danbi stares at her. "Because you can never be like that. If it were you, you'd only be cooped up in your house. Our father would have no daughter to be proud of-"

Soyeon lunges forward before trying to push Danbi onto the floor, slamming her fist against the latter's face before pressing it against the cemented floor. "Shut up. Shut up!"

Danbi doesn't say anything as she feels Soyeon closing her hands around her throat. It feels like a weird experience, to have someone who looks exactly like you to be restricting the air you can breathe in, making you see stars. Her hands reach out to push Soyeon out of the way, but it's only a light push that Soyeon doesn't even budge. She feels the tears sting her eyes, but even if she can throw a punch she feels hesitant to hurt Soyeon.