Cooked // NCT Groupchat

-48-

"What do I do?" Lucas mouthed to Yangyang as he loosely held the crying girl. He had no idea what to do.

Yangyang pointed towards his phone showing text from Kun who he had texted for help. Lucas slightly squinted to look at the message that read "Kun♠️: Help her wipe away her tears and tell her that the situation isn't as bad as she might think, just really messy!" While his arms still embraced the girl, Lucas gave Yangyang a thumbs up with his free hand.

The younger nodded and grabbed a cloth that sitting on the kitchen table. "Rosa?" He spoke softly as though she was a scared creature. The girl sniffles as she turned toward him.

He outstretched the cloth and said "You should wipe away the tears. It's not as bad as you might thing but it's really messy." He told her as she looked at him, then the cloth, and then back at the worried boy. Rosa turned her gaze towards Lucas who looked terrified with stiff arms encircling her. The girl bit her lip to stop the sobs from leaving mouth and grabbed the cloth.

"Um...thank you." She quietly replied before looking down at the ground. Rosa felt stupid and ashamed for putting the two in a really uncomfortable situation.

This isn't fair to them.

Rosa gingerly took Lucas' hands and unwrapped them from her torso. "Thank you guys but I'm going to need some time by myself."

The two didn't say a word in fear of making things worse, instead, the shuffled out of her apartment and gently closed the door behind them. When she heard no more sound coming from the hallway, she looked up.

"So you are really gone, huh?"

She paused for a response, as though she would get one, as though a dead person could talk back.

"You know, after I became friends with Mark, I realized how amazing they are all..."

Silent tears fell down her checks as they made soft taps onto the hardwood floor.

"I started calling you Ten because I realize that is who you are now."

Her shaky voice started to grow from its quiet whisper to something angry, frustrated, and tired.

"But now... now I wished I had the chance to call you by that stupid childhood nickname one more time."

She spoke into the empty space. It's silence was deafening to her, it made her want yell, but she knew it would only drown her out.

"I knew... I fucking knew!"

Her voice started to grow louder as her vision blurred from the oncoming stream of tears.

"But you told me that you wouldn't disappear and I believed you!"

Her tears never stopped but bitter sweet laughter started to ring through the small space.

"Life is funny like that isn't it?!"

Rosa was practically yelling into the nothingness. Frustration and anger racked through her body.

"BECAUSE ITS ALWAYS THE SAME JOKE!"

She knew that this pain was emotional but the girl could feel her heart shrink and shrivel as her mind kept racing. Her mouth wouldn't stop it's monologue because she knew the glass was finally breaking.

"IM ALWAYS LEFT ALONE!"

"I'm alone now!"

"I'm alone Cheeto."

Her voice went back down to a defeated whisper as her arms crossed over her chest. She wanted to shield herself form the oncoming shiver caused by the frigid touch of that cold night.

Realization was sinking in and her heart felt like it would shrivel up on her. She tightened her crossed arms and closed her eyes. She had to wrap her head around her truth. She had to keep her head steady.

No one was coming to save her. No one ever came to save her.

"You aren't alone."

Rosa looked at the boy with messy hair, puffy eyes, and an sweet smile.

"Mark... what are you doing here?" She asked not being able to fathom why he came. However, the answer was so obvious to him as he looked at her standing in the middle of the room.

"Rosa you won't ever have to feel alone." He spoke from the doorframe. His voice was shaky yet calming and so full of both pain and happiness.

He took a step towards her.

"I'll be here when you smile."

Another.

"I'll be here when you laugh."

And another.

"I'll be here when you want to curse the world out."

Until he took that final step that brought him to her side.

"And I will especially be here when you need a shoulder cry on." His thumb gently swept away her stray tears and his arms slowly embraced her. "Ten is ok. He gave us all a real scare but he is going to be alright. He is resting at the dorm right now so don't worry."

Rosa was at a loss for words. So many thoughts ran through her head in that moment, however, she uncrossed her arms, no longer needing to fend for herself, and held him too.

In his arms, Rosa felt her heart flutter with an abundance of warmth that grew from the words he whispered to her. Her worries and sadness melted away.

"I'm here. I've got you."