He should be somewhere in here-

The lack of decorations in the room and the way the dark curtains casted shadows in the dim room gave you the chills. But you shook them off as you finally found a room with the door unlocked.

You shuddered when a pungent smell struck you the moment you stepped into the room. However, unlike the rest of the house where the furniture was untouched, this room was in a wreck, with shards of glasses on the ground, books off the shelves, papers strewn everywhere.

But it was the trail of red on the ground that got your attention, as your eyes followed them to find someone at the end of the room, with something dripping off his arms, and a sickle in his hand.

'Leo oppa?' The moment he turned around and locked his bloodshot eyes with yours, you gasped, unconsciously backing into the door that closed behind you.

It was blood. Blood was everywhere.

'Oppa a-are you okay?' You managed to ask as your hands fumbled behind your back for the knob, but you couldn't find it anywhere.

Not a single sound came from him as he dragged his feet towards you, his eyes not leaving yours for even a mere second. And you noticed how empty his eyes were.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

He shoved through the broken furniture, the distance between the both of you diminishing at an extremely fast speed. And yet you could not seem to find a way to get your feet to move.

'It's m-me, Jieun- Leo oppa?' Nothing seemed to be going into his head and you could hear your own heartbeat in your ears. The smell of blood - his blood, was making you dizzy, and the stuffiness in the room was choking you up.

You were confused, but most importantly, scared. And your eyes widened as you saw the sickle being lifted up, moving closer to you as he leaned in.

'Leo oppa- D-Don't do it please- Don't you remember me?' You could feel the chilly metal blade inching closer to your neck, all the while not a single word was spoken by him as a tear escaped from your eyes.

'Taekwoon-ah-'

You gasped as you woke up, breathing heavily as you clutched onto your chest. Looking around frantically, you recognised the purple decorations in your room, the walls lined with your pictures, and you could not help but to heave a sigh of relief.

It's just a dream.

But you could not calm yourself down easily, and only when you were about to smack your cheeks to wake yourself up, did you realise that they were wet with tears.

Just how did it manage to feel so real...







You were afraid, not having Leo in sight. And it was the weekend, which meant that you couldn't even see Taekwoon around in school to ensure that he was actually fine.

Hakyeon's ring tone pulled you back into reality as your homework before you replaced the image of an injured Leo in your mind.

Not wanting to risk having the same, or even similar dreams anymore, you quickly set off to Hakyeon's place that morning, hoping to get everything off your mind.



'Hakyeon-ah, who's this guy that Jieun is dating?' He immediately looked over at you who was staring intently at your papers, making a mental note to check if you were actually doing your work once he was done with the call. 

How did hyung find out about- 'Jieun isn't dating any-'

'He goes by the name Leo?'

They met? 'H-He's just an acquaintance.'

'His personality doesn't seem too good. If Jieun likes him, then I won't say anything. But help me keep an eye on them.'

'Sure hyung.'

'Wait. One more thing.'

'Yes?'

'Never mind. I'm probably overthinking it.' Right. He can't possibly be a case of DID right?

'Okay hyung.'





I'm pretty sure the teacher said something about this question before- You were just about to get started with your work when you got interrupted by Hakyeon, who didn't sound too pleased. 

'Jiji, how did Minhyuk hyung know about Taekwoon?'

You paused for a slight moment, not sure if you were supposed to tell him the truth straight away or attempt to find a way out. But knowing that it never ends well when Taekwoon was mentioned, you went for the former. 

'They met at my place.' At that, his expression did not change, and you were actually thankful that it didn't turn for the worse. 

'You brought Taekwoon to your house?'

'It was Leo, he was trying to harm himself- The only way that I could stop him was...'

'What do you mean by harm himself? What about you, did he do anything to you?'

'He wouldn't do anything to me.'

'What makes you so sure?'

'He really wouldn't do anything to me. You can tell that sunbae doesn't have much injuries anymore right! That means its working!' And that got his attention. To think about it, what you said was true. Though Taekwoon would always wear a sweater to cover up his wounds, whenever Leo discarded them, his arms don't seem that horrifying anymore.  

'What's working, to be exact?'

'Sunbae will get better soon?'

'And then?'

'And then I'll stay away from him, like you told me to!'

'Are you sure?'

'Mmhm!'

If she really manages to help Taekwoon out, it's actually a good thing right? 



 

The moment you saw Leo approaching you that day, you unknowingly heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately for you, he was wearing a shirt which made your inspection of his arms much more easy, and seeing that his wounds were close to recovering fully, it meant that your dream was entirely inaccurate.

However, you soon had another problem coming at you.

It always came straight to you, whenever it involved differentiating them. As if by instinct. But at that brief moment, you could not help but to feel confused.

'Yoon Jieun.' 

You looked up at him as his grip on your wrist tightened, and you saw the hesitation in his eyes. 

'I-I'm sorry.' His eyes darted around slightly, before looking back into yours. 'I'm sorry.' He repeated, seemingly unsure of what he just said. 'For what I did the last time.'

Leo was starting to panic as he saw your blank expression back at him, while you were trying to persuade yourself that he was Leo and not Taekwoon.

And his next action caught you off guard once again. As if Leo walking towards you and apologizing, instead of dragging you off somewhere else the moment he saw you, wasn't alarming enough. 

'Yoon Jieun, just don't push me away. I won't do that anymore.' His voice didn't sound confident like the usual Leo, and the fact that he was hugging tightly onto you without you being able to see his face made you even more doubtful of yourself. 

He's Leo, right? Taekwoon sunbae wouldn't come near me, he's not sunbae. But why is he acting like this? 

You finally mustered enough courage as you shrugged out of his embrace slowly, before looking up at him. He's Leo. Leo. 'Oppa, did something happen?' 

'Nothing happened.'

'Are you sure?' Leo nodded, as he grabbed onto your hand and linked it through his. Seeing that he was being exceptionally passive and quiet, you found yourself continueing the conversation for the first time. 'I can't go out with you today though, I have assignments to finish.'

'Then can I follow you back? I'll stay really quiet.'

You blinked at him, before nodding slightly, and silence ensued as you found him leading you back. 





It was easier than you thought to ignore his presence right next to you, as you focused on your work that you had to finish.

Until you suddenly felt him wrapping his arms around your waist as he rested his chin on your left shoulder.

Leo felt you flinching at the sudden contact, and quickly spoke before you could say anything. 'Shh, I wouldn't disturb you.'

You didn't know how or what to respond, and all that came out from your mouth was a strange and inaudible 'huh'.

However, you could not turn to look at him, knowing that he would probably be too close to you, and you didn't want to risk anything from happening, though he didn't seem like the cheeky Leo he was as usual. 

But I can't just leave him like- You froze when you heard a steady breathing from beside your ear and felt his arms going slightly limp around you. Is he, asleep? 

Oh no. This is bad. What if he wakes up and goes back to being Taekwoon? I'll get whacked if that happens...

But what's with Leo? Why did he-

You slowly turned your head to find his face up close to yours, his soft breathing heard clearly as he slept.

Is Leo trying to act like sunbae or is sunbae trying to be Leo but failing at it? Or is it an in between? 

Or is it related to the dream the other day-

This can't be a sign right? 




 

You managed to wake him up the other day, and thankfully, he was still Leo, which meant that you had fewer explanations to come up with.

On the other hand, fortunately for you, your temporary break from band practice only lasted for two sessions, and with some help from Hakyeon and Jaejin, you were back learning the ropes from them. Though you perhaps would have preferred for it to not happen too soon when you found Leo hanging around when you were about to head for practice. 

Leo, too, managed to once again get himself into the practice room. But this time he promised to stay quiet, and gave them permission to kick him out if even the slightest cough came out of him.

And you were surprised that he actually stuck to his promise, seeing him crouched on the ground as he focused on the pencil and scrap paper in his hands throughout the entire session. 

 

'Let's call it a day.' You could tell that they too were quite shocked that practice went smoothly, seeing that they were expecting a fight to happen midway through it. But thankfully, nothing of that sorts happened.

'Thank you for today oppa!' You chirped, grinning as you waved to all of them, while Leo waited for you by the door.

'You sound too happy saying bye to them.' Leo pulled you by your elbow, tugging you out of the room.

'Can't I be happy that I'm going to spend time with you?' You smiled as your eyes were fixed onto a particular something in his hand that he did not realise.

Moreover, he was too taken aback with what you just said, and as a result was too busy to notice what you were about to do.

Spotting your chance, you swiftly snatched the folded piece of paper from his palm and opened it, to find a drawing of - at least you tried to make it out to be - the both of you having a picnic in the park. There were two stickmans, on a mat, labelled Leo and Yoon Jieun, and you inferred the story from there.

'You have been grinning for a really long time.' Leo finally decided to interrupt your intense staring at the paper.

Giggling slightly, you smiled as your hands unknowingly reached out to caress his face. 'You've been really cute recently oppa.' Only when he stared back at you in shock from your sudden expression of affection, did you realise what you were doing and froze.

'Cute? And what else?' 

'N-No, nothing else.'

Leo grabbed onto your hand that you quickly removed from his face, pulling you closer to him as you avoided his eyes. 'You're falling for me, aren't you?'

'Am not!'

'Come on, it doesn't harm you to admit it.'

'I don't have to admit something that isn't true!' You exclaimed as you shook his grip off agitatedly, quickly stomping off as you left a gap between the both of you for that few seconds while it lasted. 

'Wait till you shout for me when you see him.' You heard him snickering as he caught up from behind you with a few long strides, as you refused to look at him. 

'Like that will ever happen.'

Never did he know, that that was what happened just that morning.

'Opp-' You exclaimed excitedly, already making your way towards him when you saw him exiting the lecture hall. However, you noticed the mistake you had made when you saw him walking away the next instant, that signature poker face on.

Shocked at your own behaviour, you were rooted to the ground for a good few minutes, wondering what spurred your actions just minutes ago.

And that feeling, that feeling of disappointment when it wasn't who you expected it to be, when it wasn't the response you wanted.

This isn't right. You're not supposed to fall for him. You're not supposed to have feelings for Leo, or sunbae. 

But seeing Leo's behaviour during practice made threw your mind into a state of confusion again, as to what was it that your heart is actually feeling. 

'Yah! Girlfriend.' 

'Hmm?' You found yourself responding as you snapped back into reality to find Leo tugging onto your hand. 

'You only answered when I called you girlfriend huh? Looks like I'm succeeding~' A smug look appeared on Leo's face and you internally slapped yourself for zoning out at just the right timing. 

'Where are we going today?'

'I'll walk you home.'

'Are you going to watch me do my work again?'

'Nope.'

'Hmm?' You eyed Leo weirdly this time, but he kept his mouth sealed for the rest of the walk home. Other than the random squabblings now and then when he teased you for zoning out. 

 

You were surprised that all he actually planned to do was to walk you home, with no other motives, and there he was standing by your door, just about to say goodbye. 

'Are you free on Friday night?' You looked up at him as he tugged onto your hand, swinging it slightly.

'Should be?'

'Can we go on a date then?' You tried hard to ignore the flutter you felt when those words came out of his mouth, with him looking straight into your eyes.

'I-I think so?'

'If that's the case, I'll not be coming out until Friday night.' 

'I didn't know you could choose when to come out.'

'I'll just try to behave myself the next few days, so that we can finally go on an actual date.'

An actual date?

'Remember, Friday, 7pm, I'll fetch you. Don't miss me too much in the mean time.' 

Seeing you staring back at him blankly as you tried to take in the information, he smiled gently before giving you a peck on your forehead. 

'7pm.'

'I won't miss it for anything.' You found yourself answering, as you finally noticed your heart pounding loudly in your chest, unknowingly looking forward to it. 

Just then, your dream flashed across your eyes and you felt goosebumps on your skin. It's nothing to be concerned with right? Things are going well between the both of us...

But, I can't fall for him- I'm not supposed to-

[A/N] Update! (I'm still alive hohoho) 

As usual hope that this chapter was fine, and that hopefully you all enjoyed it! 

(btw omg VIXX's comeback GAHHHH and can I just say that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE CHOREO FOR BLACKOUT TOO teehee) 

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