Pieces of Me

Nov. 2023

The elevator dings, signaling your arrival to the floor you were to get off on. You were nervous. You readjust your grip on the painting and slide it in between your legs for a second to take off your black trench coat. After you lay it over your left arm you rub your hands on the front of your dress to get rid of the feeling of sweaty hands. You were wearing a yellow floor length, off the shoulder long sleeved ruched dress with a slit on the side. You look down at your toes, you flex them a bit because they were getting cold inside the elevator.

You sigh, you should've worn flats instead of these open toe wedges. But this was a big deal, you were meeting him alone for the first time to give him his final piece to his collection. You pull out your phone to check the time. Perfect, it's 10:58 am you were right on time.

You put your phone back in your small purse on your shoulder. You feel uneasy right now and rub your chest. You longed for any sort of contact with them. You had been away too long, after this visit you were sure you could go another couple of months without seeing them again. You still needed to come up with a definitive plan to tell them they were your mates.

You blow out a huge breath of air, your cheeks puffing and turning red from how flustered you were. "Don't be nervous Rae, you got this," you say to yourself. You needed to give yourself a pep talk before you talked yourself into turning back around.

Fuck, Why did this feel like a trap? Why did it seem like all communications for the last month with all of them was strained? Like they were pissed at you for something. They didn't find out, did they? Nah, no way, you were careful. You are always careful, you had to be.

You just needed to calm down. You can't help but think about Hyunjin some more though. He had been collecting pieces by you for years now. After you found out about him being your mate, you made sure you were never alone with him and always kept the meetings at your mother's art gallery. Maybe he is just too tired to travel right now. They did just get back from touring a couple of days ago.

You smiled politely to the bodyguards outside of the room. There was only one door down the hallway, so you figured this was it. God, they both looked like huge body builders. You were getting intimidated. JYP must've really vamped up security. Once you were close enough you bowed your head a bit and told them that you were here to meet Hyunjin to drop off a painting.

One of the guys knocked on the door and cracked it a bit to let you know it was okay for you to go in. You take a deep breath before taking a step in. Before you get too far you turn to say thank you to the guards but they were both walking away, getting into the elevator. Ummm okay? Maybe they are off the clock now. "Hello?" You peek in a bit almost afraid to go all the way in.

You had to be careful, real careful. You knew you couldn't risk touching him and setting off the mate bond. So you made sure to grab the ends of your sleeves to cover your fingers, a habit you couldn't wait to break. "Please come in, take a seat," Hyunjin says. It sounds like he's far away.

God, just the sound of his voice sent tingles down your spine. 'Get it together Rae. Just smile, drop off the painting and go. You can do this, it's simple.' You finally walk in and looked around. The layout of the place was nice.

It reminded you of your New York apartment. You wondered if they used this apartment often because you could see some of his own creations on the walls. This must be his private apartment or something. The television was on and set to a low volume.

Maybe he had been trying to relax before you came, or at least that's what it looked like if you hadn't spotted all the turned over beer cans and soju bottles on the side table by the biggest couch in the room.

You must have caught him before he could clean up. You cringe a little trying to convince yourself it's just two people here, no big deal. You don't feel anyone else in the room with him.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything. We can reschedule if you need to." You hope he wants to reschedule cuz you were too nervous to finish this meeting. "No please I'd like you to stay, have a seat. Make your self comfortable. Would you like some water?" Why is he talking to you this way? It's sounds weird. He walks forward glass in hand. You watch him come closer looking like he's walking in slow motion. 'Damn, no wonder everyone is so entranced by this man.'

His hair is so long now nearly covering most of his face. He looks like a damn fairy, a fairy prince at that. This man is so graceful and poised you were afraid to be near him. He has on a white shirt underneath a black button up that was not buttoned and just hanging loose with some black slacks on.

Jesus is that a silk button up? How does he make that look so good? He sets the glass on the table in the center then reaches for your hand. You freeze. You were tense, ready to flee at any given moment. You swallow before you square your shoulders, it's time to work. "Ummm. It's great to see you again," you say try not to show how nervous you were about being alone with him.

You plaster on a professional smile and tuck the sleeve tight between your fingers as you shake his hand. You can see him staring at your clasped hands, a look of anger flashes across his face before he can conceal it.

As if he can sense your stare he puts on a fake polite smile. He gestures for you to sit. Brows furrowed you set out to do just that. You take a seat in an armchair and turn your body to the right to face him as he takes a seat. You look around at the set up of the room. It's nice here.

You can tell that the guys must come here a lot because you see the more you look around the homier it looks. Even the couches here could easily fit all of them. You set the painting to the side of the couch and remove your purse from your shoulder and place it behind you before you cross your legs. As you open your mouth to tell him details about the painting, the door to your right opens and out comes the rest of Stray kids.

The look on their faces say it all. This was a trap. You can't breathe. Is that why you felt so uneasy earlier? Did having them all here mess up your senses? You were clenching your hands in your lap now, biting your lips. You couldn't look. You were going to pass out, you were sure of it.

'Breathe Rae, In and out, yeah don't panic.' You can feel them all staring. You fan yourself with your hands and avoid looking at anything but the ground. Is it getting hot in here or what? This is nerve wracking. You hear some shuffling so you freeze and look up. Bang freaking Chan is sitting in front of you on the coffee table in the center of the room. Minho stands at his side slightly in front of where Hyunjin is sitting.

What the fuck? How did it come to this? You were trying to rack your brain and come up with a solution. You can get out of this, you were sure of it. You must have been zoning out for a while because you feel tingles, electrifying tingles where Chan grabs your chin up to face him.

The gasps leaves your mouth before you can process that he is touching you. He's pissed. You can see it. But your eyes close against your will and you bite your lips again to quiet the moan that was slipping out. Your eyes clench tight at the euphoric feeling the tingles are sending through your body. Your hands find the arms of the chairs and you clench your fingers into them. It was hard to stop yourself from leaning into his hand. So this was what touching your mate felt like? Holy Moly. Your mind was officially starting to turn to mush. 'Focus Rae,' you try to scream to yourself.

Your eyes snap open at that thought. He knows. Fuck! There is no getting out of this now. He pulls your bottom lip from your teeth with his thumb and then stands. He leans in and puts both hands bracing on either side of you on the armchair, forcing you to lean back and away.

Why won't he say anything. Everyone is so quiet right now. Did someone turn the television off? Why is it that you can only hear the sound of your breathing? He grabs your chin again. "How long?" He questions you.

You bite your lip again and turn your head out of his hold. He scuffs while nodding his head then and takes a step back. You can tell that he is irritated and is trying to hold back. Your face scrunches as you look down. You can practically feel the anger rolling off of him in waves. He licks his lips and takes a seat back on the coffee table, one of his hands running through his hair. Crap, you can feel him. The bond must have activated.

"How long?" Chan asks again, clearly his patience with you is starting to run out. But you were stuck on his question though. 'How long what? How long have you known that they were your mates? Shit, should she lie?' One look around at all of their faces and you know. There is no use in lying now.

They must know, maybe they are testing you to see if you'll lie to them. Minho reaches forward and grabs your chin. "How long?" He asks, his gaze letting you know that he is not playing today. But you weren't focusing on him. His touch has sent your body into overdrive. Fucking A. The tingles. And his voice. How did you not know his voice gets this deep, this hypnotizing. You clench your thighs together. You couldn't concentrate. 'Focus Rae!' You would rather they just yell than talk to you like this. You feel like you are getting scolded by one of your parents.

You lick your lips. "Almost two years," you whisper. "All the signs were there." You lick your lips feeling parched. "I only realized last November that we were actually mates," you say before you turn and jerk your head out of his hold now. Is that a thing? Did they like grabbing peoples chins? You rub your chin, you can feel your eyes starting to burn.

'Do not cry Rae. Don't okay, just hold it.' You swipe your eyes with the back of your hand. Minho leans away and goes to sit next to Han on the couch who is next to Hyunjin. He made a sound at the back of his throat that made him sound so disappointed in you.

You slump down into the chair. "What was I suppose to do, huh? You guys were the ones being all Hot n' Cold with me? I had every intention of telling you. You guys kept canceling on me though." You try to explain.

You jump at the sound of glass being broken. You lean to your left to look around Chans form to see Seungmin standing up hands balled at his side. Did he just throw something? See this is why you don't anger pitchers Rae. "Two years?" He spat out angrily. He turns to walk towards you but Minho jumps up to stop him placing a hand onto his chest.

"That's was you wasn't it? Singing and dancing with your grandparents? When we were filming Skz Code two years ago?" How can he go from yelling at you to this heart broken puppy in seconds? You close your eyes and lean back again and nod. Fuck this is bad. This is so fucking bad. How can you tell someone that you aren't even originally from this world? That mates don't exist where you come from.

Hell you're not even sure if you were reincarnated or just transported to a parallel universe.

You take a deep breath maybe apologizing will help. You look around and you can practically see how angry everyone is. Yeah apologizing is a good start. You open your mouth to tell them all how sorry you are but the next words spoken has you choking on air.

"We should take this into the bedroom." Felix's deep voice interrupts your inner monologue. You choke a bit and cough to clear it. Excuse me? You whip your head to the left behind Chan to stare at the deep voiced rapper.

Bedroom? Is everyone on the left side of you crazy? Maybe you misheard what he just said. There is no way Felix just said that. He goes to stand just as everyone begins to get up. Your jaw is wide open at this point. What is happening right now?

"I think that's a good idea," Jeongin says from next to Felix. You make an involuntary squeak. Sweet baby Jesus. Not baby bread too. For some reason your mind immediately goes there. Chan squats down in front of you snapping you from your thoughts. He's smirking at you. "You are about to be real sore sweet heart. I think it's only fair we all get comfortable in here, it's going to be a long night. Come along," he says reaching for your hand to help you stand.

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Authors Note

Hey guys. This is my first story. Please like and comment. This is just a small snippet of what's to come.