It's a double update! (Chapter 13.5 & Chapter 14)

Wonshik was tired and annoyed. If he hated anything the most, it was being exhausted. That was the reason why he decided to be confined in a mental hospital in the first place. But there he was, carrying buckets of paint in his hands just because Hakyeon and Jaehwan told him to do so. Hongbin beside him looked just as exhausted even if Hongbin were really the reason why Wonshik was exhausted in the first place. Hakyeon told Wonshik to get a bucket of paint from the storage and so, Wonshik did. But Hongbin did not seem very happy with the baby pink color so Wonshik had to go back and forth to the storage room to get a paint that would satisfy Hongbin. In the end, Hongbin decided to grab the paint with Wonshik and they both ended up getting as many colors of paint as possible.

“Ah, I’m so tired. This could cause wrinkles, you know?” Hongbin managed to complain even while he was already panting because of exhaustion.

Wonshik just nodded his head, too tired to argue. After a few seconds, they reached the hangout. It was not made of cardboard anymore but of plywood. However, the ceiling was still low and it still looked like something Taekwoon would knock out all of a sudden. “Why are you guys sleeping?!” Wonshik exclaimed when he saw the others fast asleep. Hakyeon was sleeping on the floor outside the hangout. Jaehwan was sleeping as well while leaning on the wall and holding a box of cereal on his hand. Sanghyuk and Taekwoon were both sleeping inside the hangout while looking very much like a father and son tandem. The four guys were startled so they all slowly opened their eyes.

“Oh, you’re back.” Hakyeon even had the guts to yawn as he spoke upon waking up. “That’s good, go on and paint the hangout. I’m too tired to move.”

“I’m tired too.” Wonshik protested. He was not happy.

Hongbin rolled his eyes. “There was no way that I’m going to hold the brush that is full of germs to paint that wood that is full of bacteria.” He pointed out. “I would rather go back inside my room and rest with a facial mask on my beautiful face.”

“Me too. I would rather sleep again.” Wonshik said, nodding his head as if agreeing with his own statement. “I used too much energy just to get those paint buckets. Do you know how much sleep I’m sacrificing? Well, no. No, you don’t because you were all asleep.”

Sanghyuk sat up all of a sudden,  hitting his own head in the process. “That hurts!” He groaned before crawling out of the hangout. “Why’d you make the ceiling even lower, Hakyeon hyung? Are you that short?” He complained. “This ceiling is so annoying.”

“Why? It’s good that way.” Hakyeon reasoned out. “Don’t worry about it. It won’t break because it’s already made of wood.” He added, smiling reassuringly as if it was the thing that Sanghyuk was worried about.

The youngest could only sigh. “By the way, instead of wasting our time here, why don’t we just think of an escape plan? It’s been a while since we last talked about it. It seems like we forgot about escaping already and that’s not good!”

“Yeah, it’s been a while since we talked about it because you were so busy playing with Jaehwan and stealing him away from Wonshik.” Hongbin rolled his eyes. He was still bitter about that memory that he did not really want to remember. “But I agree with you. We should just talk about that than to waste our time painting this dirty hangout.” He said.

Hakyeon was silent for a second or two while the others waited for his reply. “So, you think that it’s a waste of time? You think that what we are doing is just a child’s play?” He asked dramatically.

“Well, yes.” Wonshik, Hongbin, and Sanghyuk replied at the same time in a lazy manner. Jaehwan was, for once, quietly watching the events in front of him while Taekwoon was having a hard time in crawling out of the hangout that had a very low ceiling.

Hakyeon gasped dramatically, putting his hand over his chest (while looking like an evil mother in a Korean drama). “Look at these kids!” He turned to Taekwoon who just finished crawling out of the hangout. “Look at how they talk to me. They think that this hangout is worthless.” He complained. “I sacrificed my time and energy for that and they think that it’s worthless. Tell them that it’s not a child’s play, that it’s an important thing for us and our friendship.”

“Why would I lie?” Taekwoon sounded annoyed and looked really annoyed. “It’s a worthless piece of trash.” He pointed out. The other four guys laughed—including Jaehwan who was supposed to be in Hakyeon’s side. They knew that Hakyeon was barking up the wrong tree. Why would Taekwoon, who detested Hakyeon the most, say something nice for once?

“Kennie! You’re supposed to be on my team!” Hakyeon exclaimed, turning his attention to Jaehwan.

Wonshik furrowed his eyebrows. “His name is Jaehwan. Don’t call him that.” He said but he was ignored.

As if he just remembered, Jaehwan grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, Hakyeon hyung. I just got too carried away because it was funny.” He snickered. “Don’t worry, I got you.” He said before standing up and facing the other guys. “Guys, you know, this simple hangout could make a difference in our lives. It’s always like this, it starts from a plywood and then it starts to grow! With this wood, we can make a difference, a legacy even! Because change starts from yourself, not from somebody else. The moment we finish painting this worthless piece of plywood, who knows if things would be different by then?” He said his monologue as dramatic as he could manage—as expected from a theater actor.

Wonshik liked his Jaehwan hyung so much but he could not fight his sleepiness any longer so just slept on the floor (he lied flat on his back). Taekwoon looked like he was about to lose his mind—if he still hadn’t, that was. Hongbin and Sanghyuk, on the other hand, were quietly playing ‘rock-paper-scissors’ to get rid of the boredom that they felt while sitting on th floor. Then, there was Hakyeon who looked very proud of whatever Jaehwan was saying to the point that he even stood up. He and Jaehwan were the only ones who appreciated the monologue.

“We don’t know if tomorrow might be the end so we have to stand up now. We don’t have to be scared. So, we have to do all of these now, the things that make us happy.” Jaehwan continued, not caring if no one wanted to listen to his useless monologue. If he had to be honest, he also had no idea about what he was talking about. All he wanted to do was to talk. “And that’s why we have to treasure everything, even the 10 won (about $0.00847)! Do you guys understand?”

There was silence (though not exactly silent because Wonshik was snoring as usual). Taekwoon was trying to calm himself down, Hongbin and Sanghyuk were wordlessly playing, while Hakyeon was tearing up, touched with whatever Jaehwan said.

“No, we don’t.” Sanghyuk bluntly replied when no one bothered to say anything.

Jaehwan grinned sheepishly. “That’s good because I also don’t understand.” He laughed in a childlike manner. “What was I saying again?”

“No!” Hakyeon exclaimed, making Jaehwan face him. He even gripped the shoulders of the latter. “I understand you and what you were trying to say Jaehwan. I understand everything.” He dramatically stated. “It’s okay even if you don’t say everything out loud because I understand you just by looking at your eyes. It’s okay even if you don’t speak a lot.”

“Sorry to burst your bubbles but he speaks too much.” Hongbin pointed out the obvious to Hakyeon.

“Shh!” Hakyeon hissed, turning to Hongbin. “Don’t ruin the beautiful atmosphere.”

Taekwoon scoffed. He was 5000% done with everything. “What’s there to ruin? Everything is ruined.” He muttered under his breath in annoyance. For him, everything inside that mental hospital was ruined already—especially the mind and sanity of the five other guys with him. “Let’s just talk about escaping.” He  stated with a sigh.

“Fine.” Hakyeon pouted. “But shouldn’t we finish what we’ve started first?” He asked. “Only the beautiful color is missing. It would be a waste if we leave this artwork here alone without colors just to escape.” He reasoned out even though his reason was not good enough.

“Yes, we should finish what we have started.” Jaehwan agreed with Hakyeon. “Because we already started. We can never know if something really good would come from what we’re doing. That’s why we have to take small steps at a time in order to create this legacy.” He babbled once again.

“Ah! I don’t know!” Hongbin exclaimed, already dizzy because of the amount of nonsensical words that were coming out from Jaehwan’s mouth. “I will come back later when he’s done talking because it’s making the wrinkles come out of my face. I really can’t take talks like this, I might throw up.” He whined before standing up and walking away.

“Me too. See you later, Jaehwan hyung!” Sanghyuk bid before standing up and dashing after Hongbin, afraid that Hakyeon or Jaehwan might stop him from escaping. He was not interested in painting those pieces of woods that were in the middle of the hallway of a mental hospital. That would just make him look insane—and he believed that he hadn’t lost his mind just yet.

Taekwoon, without a word and as quiet as he could, crawled away from Jaehwan and Hakyeon. If the others were not interested in doing the task, count Taekwoon out. He hated being stuck with the noisy ones. And rather than worrying about a hangout, he should worry about escaping from the hospital and getting rid of the five weird people in the process.

“Then, there would be no one left!” Hakyeon exclaimed when he noticed that everyone else aside from himself, Jaehwan, and the sleeping Wonshik. “Who would paint the hangout then?”

“Not me! Arf!” Jaehwan replied, going back to being a dog. “I’m tired just by talking. I need to rest now. I don’t have the energy to paint the hangout. Arf! Arf!” He barked.

“Then, who—?” Hakyeon cut himself off when he finally noticed the background song—Wonshik’s snore, that was. “Wonshikkie!” He happily exclaimed upon seeing his poor target.

“But wouldn’t we get caught like that?” Taekwoon asked Sanghyuk. He was sitting on the floor of the ward that he shared with Hakyeon and Sanghyuk. Sanghyuk was lying on his bed, reading a comic book that he stole from the storage room. Hongbin was lying on Hakyeon’s bed with a facial mask on his face. The facial mask was from Hakyeon’s cabinet and Hongbin kind of borrowed it without the older guy’s permission. Hongbin insisted that it was fine because Hakyeon was the source of his wrinkles anyway.

The three boys were having a serious discussion about how to escape without a fail. So far, they had at least five plans but those were not foolproof—especially with Hakyeon and the ‘dumb and dumber’ in their group. A simple error could ruin the whole plan and it would not take a genius to know that Hakyeon and the dumb brothers were not very wise.

“We would get caught.” Sanghyuk nodded his head, replying to Taekwoon’s question. “I mean, it isn’t an easy plan. But I cannot think of any plan that has no negative side on it. Everything seems dangerous. But you can at least listen to my new plan.” He excitedly said. Both Hongbin and Taekwoon turned to him in curiosity. Sanghyuk was an evil genius and he could come up with evil yet genius plans. “How about we just leave the three of them behind?” He suggested.

“Nice idea!” Hongbin’s role as Sanghyuk’s number one supporter was back. “Should we escape now? I mean, we should really hurry and escape now before Hakyeon hyung could catch us. His sixth sense and intuition are really something. His intuition is scary.” He shivered at the thought.

Taekwoon nodded his head in agreement. He saw how scary Hakyeon was (in an annoying way) and he did not want to go through it once again. “We have to hurry and leave.”

Sanghyuk was about to stand up to start packing his things when something hit him. “I cannot do it.” He told Hongbin and Taekwoon. “I mean, I want to but thinking about it, Jaehwan hyung is a precious friend. We cannot just leave him behind! Wonshik hyung told me that he has no plans on leaving but leaving him behind with Hakyeon hyung seems so cruel, don’t you think?”

“Now that you think about it, yes, it does seem a bit cruel.” Hongbin nodded his head. He was as pliant as a bamboo when it came to Sanghyuk. He easily changed his views just so he could support Sanghyuk. “But what do we do?” He asked. “Should we just continue planning now and wait for the right time to strike?” He added more questions. He wanted to leave the mental hospital as soon as possible.

“Exactly, hyung.” Sanghyuk nodded his head. “That’s the safest choice. We think about a great plan and come up with a foolproof strategy that the guards or Nurse Park wouldn’t think of. The question is what it is?” He wondered, scratching his head in the process.

“I thought you and Jaehwan had a plan.” Taekwoon spoke up his thoughts.

Sanghyuk smiled sheepishly, looking like a sweet innocent kid. “The truth is we do have one but we’re uneasy about it. I don’t think that anyone would be willing to do it too. If it’s just me or Jaehwan hyung, we’re fine by it as long as it means a foolproof escape. But I don’t think that the five of you would agree since it is not a very easy task. It requires energy, time, and lots and lots of shamelessness.” He explained.

Both Taekwoon and Hongbin had their eyebrows furrowed in confusion. They wondered why such a foolproof plan would require shamelessness. “What is it?” Taekwoon asked.

Sanghyuk rubbed his nape, refusing to meet the eyes of Taekwoon and Hongbin. “Well, you see… it’s quite a long story…” He trailed off. He was too embarrassed. He could not believe that he thought of a plan like that in the first place. Of all things, he wondered why he came up with that. “For sure you would not want to do it.” He informed the two older guys.

“It’s okay, we’re listening.” Hongbin assured Sanghyuk. “We would not laugh or get angry.”

“...are you fine with cross-dressing?” Sanghyuk asked, still refusing to meet anyone’s eyes.

“Shouldn’t you just help them figure out an escape plan?” Wonshik was trying his best to come up with good excuses to escape from Hakyeon and Jaehwan. He did not want to paint the hangout all by himself. He just wanted to sleep. “We shouldn’t be wasting our time doing this thing. There are more important things for you such as escaping.” He reasoned out. He just wanted to escape. He hated being tired because of things that he didn’t even like.

Hakyeon raised a brow. “Do you want to another monologue of Jaehwan about finishing what you have started?” He asked Wonshik while Jaehwan prepared himself for another round of monologue. Jaehwan was enjoying the fact that he could freely talk a lot.

“As I was saying, we really have to finish what we’re doing. Because we don’t know if tomorrow would be the end, right? That’s why we have to work hard now and do everything we want to do.” Wonshik did the monologue for Jaehwan. “I get it now. I’ll paint this thing if that will make you guys happy.” He said, picking up and brush to start painting the hangout halfheartedly.

Jaehwan grinned at Wonshik in approval. “You listen to my words really well!”

“That’s cute!” Wonshik, being Jaehwan’s number one fan boy, cooed.

Hakyeon looked like a proud mother as he stared at Wonshik. “You learned quite a lot. Look at you, you’re all grown-up. Before I could only imagine that. Mama’s proud of you.” He said, wiping his invisible crocodile tears.

“Mama?” Wonshik frowned. Now, now, he did not want Sanghyuk’s nightmare about Hakyeon being their mother and Taekwoon being their father to be true. Wonshik did not want his family to be like that. That would be really scary—an endless nightmare even.

“What are you doing now?!” Nurse Park’s angry voice echoed throughout the hallway. She walked towards the boys with an angry expression. The three boys did not know if they were supposed to be surprised to see an angry nurse but they believed not. The old nurse was always angry anyway. “Who gave you the permission to build that piece of junk here?!”

“Junk?” Jaehwan asked in a dramatic voice. He was ready for another round of monologue. “You know, this simple hangout could make a difference in the lives of the six of us. It’s always like this, it starts from a plywood and then it starts to grow! With this wood, we can make a difference, a legacy even! Because change starts from yourself, not from somebody else. That’s why we’re working so hard. But have you ever think about it? No! You only think about yourself.”

“What the hell is he saying now?” Nurse Park asked, looking even more annoyed.

“I don’t know.” Jaehwan, Hakyeon, and Wonshik replied at the same time.

“Why am I not surprised?” Nurse Park scoffed. “Anyway, I am here to inform you that the six of you will have to meet Dr. Choi tomorrow. He’s going to see if you can finally get out of this place and I hope that you can because I’m so sick of you. But seeing you now, I doubt it.”

Hakyeon and Jaehwan looked so happy as if they were sure that they could finally leave. “Don’t worry. I don’t know about the others but I am sure that I can finally leave.” Hakyeon proudly said while Jaehwan barked in agreement.

Author's Note: (One-shot Stories & Update Schedule)

How are you, guys? I missed all of you. /3 But school was really cruel to me so I wasn't able to update even if I wanted to. To make up for my lack of updates and as a gift for this coming holiday, I decided to write 1-3 one-shots starring VIXX. I will be posting them on December 23-24 (GMT+8).

Also, because I'm in vacation, I might start updating regularly (weekly) once again. But I'm not too sure since I decided to join the theater club as a scriptwriter. I'm going to write a script! Wish me luck for the elimination. <3 <3 <3 And guys, the usual? (Comments xD)

Special thanks to all those who commented. And to those who upvoted, marlia91, LeeJi98, Karenkitty1092, Taotic, Sweatervest_Suho, hongbeann, love_kris, Hala-bear, Zhuchu, Lola20, and pink_baekbaek thank you so much! It means a lot to me.