Taekwoon groaned as he accidently bumped his head to the ‘ceiling’ of the ‘hangout’. Because the ‘hangout’ was made of cardboard, it did not hurt him that much. But what he could not accept was the uncomfortable position he was in. Since the ‘hangout’ was just a cheap place made of cardboard, its ceiling was low. The others had no choice but to lay down – with half of their bodies outside of the ‘hangout’, of course. Taekwoon was the only one who was sitting down but he had to slouch down so that he would not hurt himself. He looked around and he’s the only one who seemed to be uncomfortable.

Hakyeon looked like he was having fun while playing with his new dog – Jaehwan. But what did Taekwoon expect? The ‘hangout’ was Hakyeon’s idea, after all. Jaehwan did not seem bothered and he seemed to enjoy being a dog as he kept on barking. It was no surprise that they were in a mental hospital. In annoyance, Taekwoon glared at them but the two did not even notice. Then, Taekwoon turned his attention to Hongbin and Sanghyuk who seemed to be close to each other right away. The two of them were talking about nonsensical things and laughing out loud. Taekwoon glared at them too but they did not notice. A snore then caught Taekwoon’s attention. Whose snore was it? Wonshik’s, of course. That guy loved sleeping so much. He’s always asleep. Sometimes, Taekwoon would wonder if Wonshik was really crazy or if he’s just a bum who wanted to escape from paying bills. But that was impossible, right? No one in his right mind would do that.

Hakyeon suddenly let out a sigh, grabbing everyone’s but Wonshik’s attention. “Seeing you like this, I suddenly want to settle down and have a family. I want to get married and have kids.” Hakyeon told everyone. “I want to have kids and those kids should resemble you because you guys are funny.”

Unlike the other three who were listening attentively to Hakyeon (with Jaehwan barking), Taekwoon was rolling his eyes. Getting married was not even an option when you’re in a mental hospital, trapped in a cardboard – literally – with five other guys. Taekwoon could only scoff as he felt too lazy to talk.

Hongbin nodded his head, agreeing with Hakyeon. “I agree with this hyung. I want to get married and have a family too.” He said. “But I found no girls worthy of me and my time. I am too handsome, too kind, and I resemble the flowers. They won’t be able to handle the awesome me.” He heaved a sigh. Why was he so perfect?

“Girls are troublesome.” Sanghyuk snorted. “They nag, they whine, they act cute, they shop so much, they go on a diet and you will not be able to eat as well if they do that! And worst of all, they have a red tide every month! My elder sister is scary during that time of the month.” He cringe at the thought.

“Red tide?” Hongbin asked. “What’s a red tide?” He was confused. Girls had a red tide?

“Oh, it’s just a term that I and my friends use to describe the monthly thing of the girls.” Sanghyuk replied but no one seemed to get it so he continued. “You know, the blood that comes out from—”

“Stop!” Hakyeon cut Sanghyuk off, covering his own ears. “Don’t say it or I’ll be traumatized.”

“As for me, I don’t want to get married.” Jaehwan finally decided to speak like a normal being, stopping himself from barking. “I will never be whipped because of a girl.”

“What? Heol*, are you gay? You’re not straight, are you?” Hongbin asked, grinning teasingly.

[*헐 or heol is used to express shock or surprise.]

“I’m not exactly saying that I am straight…” Jaehwan replied then gasped upon realizing what he just said. The others, except for Wonshik who was sleeping like a dead person, were looking at him in surprise. “No! No!” He shook his head. “I am not gay! I’m straight! I’m straight as a rainbow!”

“Rainbow? The rainbow is not straight plus it’s the flag of the LGBT community, right?” Sanghyuk smartly said. Hakyeon and Hongbin laughed at that smart statement while Jaehwan’s expression turned sour. Taekwoon wanted to laugh too but he’s too busy to think of a way to get out of the cardboard when the others were guarding it. “Ah, by the way,” Sanghyuk trailed off, looking at Wonshik who stopped snoring. “Is he dead yet?” He asked as he noticed that Wonshik was not moving.

“Not yet.” Hongbin replied. “Just leave him alone. He’s always like that. What we should be thinking about now is what to do right now. I’m bored. Playtime will be over soon.” Honestly, he could not wait for the playtime to be over so that he could come back to his comfortable bed back in the ward. But then, that would mean that he would be stuck with Wonshik and Jaehwan. He preferred to stay with Sanghyuk because Sanghyuk seemed to be perfectly normal unlike the two guys mentioned earlier.

Hakyeon seemed to think for a moment before speaking. “Well, is there anything that you want to do?” Jaehwan, Sanghyuk, and Hongbin all shook their heads in reply. “Taekwoon?” Hakyeon asked.

“Go home.” Taekwoon simply replied with his soft, barely audible voice. Everyone heard it and everyone heaved a sigh, again, except for the sleeping Wonshik. Here’s the catch, Taekwoon was not out of his mind. It’s just that he was so obsessed with lattes that he threw a fit when he was not able to drink coffee for one week straight. Thinking that he had gone insane, he was brought to that mental institution.

“I wanna go home too.” Sanghyuk pouted. “It’s just my first day here but I wanna go home now.”

Hongbin pursed his lips. “Me too. I don’t like to stay here.”

“Arf! Arf! Arf!” Jaehwan barked, earning himself a glare from Taekwoon which he annoyingly ignored.

“He said that he wants to go home too.” Hakyeon translated Jaehwan's bark. “We all want to go home but what do we do? We cannot do that.” He sighed. “Actually, I’m not really crazy. I was just brought here because I was depressed. Then, I saw some patients playing together. I missed my childhood so I played with them and it was fun!” He narrated. “Then, I was told to stay here. I’m not crazy.” The others nodded but in reality, none of them were convinced. After all, that’s what all the people in mental institution say.

Hongbin grinned before speaking. “Me too! I was brought here because I was framed by my co-workers who envied my awesomeness and decided to frame me. So, here I am.” He narrated. He did not believe that Hakyeon was in his right mind but thinking about it, those guys were a bunch of crazy people. Hongbin did not mind sharing the truth to them. He got nothing to hide, after all. No one actually believed him too.

“Me too! Me too!” Sanghyuk chimed in. “I had a tour here and I told the doctors how interesting mental hospitals are and so on. They thought that I have gone insane, so did my parents. And so, they decided to keep me here.” He told his story. He, too, did not believe Hakyeon’s and Hongbin’s story but if the others were going to be like that, he should at least tell his story. But then, no one believed him.

“I’m not crazy too.” Jaehwan said, finally speaking in a human’s language. “I just like imitating dogs. For some reasons, I was sent here. I think that it’s because the other musical actors are envious of me. Because who wouldn’t be jealous of my amazing voice, right? Arf!” Then, he barked once again. So, obviously, no one even believed him. But he was serious, believe him or not.

Taekwoon stared at everyone. He decided to speak up for once because it was not like he had anything better to do. “…I was only sent here because there’s no latte. I hadn’t had latter for a week so I threw a fit.” He explained in his barely audible voice, even nodding slightly at his own words. It seemed a bit believable but the others knew better than to believe someone who was in a mental hospital.

“Me too…” Wonshik suddenly spoke up in his deep voice. His were still close but he was speaking. He’s probably half-asleep. “I’m just a lazy bum who wants to escape from the bills so I went here.” He explained. But then again, who would believe him? So, in the end, all of them laughed out loud except for Wonshik who came back to dreamland almost right away and for Taekwoon who remained poker face.

“This is so funny.” Hakyeon laughed. “I am the only sane one. But you’re all saying that you’re sane too and even giving out reasons. This is too funny.”

Just then, someone knocked on the ‘door’ of their ‘hangout’. They assumed that it was a nurse. “Playtime is over. You guys have to go back to your rooms.” The nurse said.

Taekwoon let out a sigh of relief but the others groan. Taekwoon would never get why those idiots wanted to be with each other. He never liked them and their presence. But then again, birds of the same feather flock together. In Taekwoon’s mind, he’s already thinking about how to escape from this nightmare called the mental institution. Yes, being in that place was already a nightmare but being stuck with the other five made it seem like he was in a nightmare that was inside of a nightmare.

“Guess we don’t have a choice then. Let’s all head back to our rooms.” For once, Hakyeon sounded responsible and Jaehwan and Sanghyuk seemed to admire him for a moment. “I can just sneak you guys out later, anyway.” Hakyeon grinned, disappointing both Sanghyuk and Jaehwan. They thought he was responsible. But Hongbin and Taekwoon were not even surprised. For the few days that they had known Hakyeon, they knew that the boy was anything but responsible.

Oh wait, Hakyeon was responsible. He was responsible of sneaking in and out of the rooms with his amazing skills of opening the doorknobs. He was responsible of the reason as to why the hospital management had to change their locks a few times even though the guy had only been staying there for five days. He was also responsible of causing troubles. See that? The others could swear that he was a thief in his past life. It did not seem very impossible.

“We’ll get scolded again. Yesterday, we got chewed out by the old nurse.” Hongbin told Hakyeon.

“This time, we won’t.” Hakyeon assured Hongbin.

“How can you be so sure?” Hongbin asked.

Hakyeon grinned as he looked at Sanghyuk. “That kid’s parents are rich! They help fund this hospital. If not for them, this hospital wouldn’t have existed. We can just use him. Let’s just say the magic word – his name – and we’ll be fine.” He talked as if Sanghyuk was not there. Taekwoon and Hongbin had never been too sure. Hakyeon was indeed a thief and a con artist.

Sanghyuk furrowed his eyebrows. “Hey! I’m not going to let you use me.” He childishly said. “And how did you know about that anyway? I did not tell you that. As far as I know, it’s also a secret from patients.”

“Well, I saw your profile, didn’t I? I read it. Oh boy, how rich are you? You live in Gangnam*?” Hakyeon said in amazement. Sanghyuk did not reply. All he could do was to sigh. What’s the point with arguing with Hakyeon? It seemed nonsense. “I’ll use you well, don’t worry.”

[*Gangnam is a small town in Korea but it’s a very rich district. The people who live there are rich mainly because the houses are expensive which, I think, the reason why Psy’s song is called ‘Gangnam Style’]

Sanghyuk rolled his eyes. He wanted to argue more but the nurse knocked on the ‘door’ once again. “Get out of there now. It’s time to go back to your rooms.” Sanghyuk heard the familiar voice of the nurse who welcomed him coldly when he first arrived. He cringed.

“Let’s go out now.” Sanghyuk made a face. “That nurse is scary.” He whispered to the others.

Jaehwan barked in agreement. “Arf! I agree! Arf!”

“But what do we do about that guy?” Hongbin asked, pointing at the still asleep Wonshik. Swear, that guy’s going to sleep even if there was a war beside him. He wouldn’t even budge. “It’s hard to wake him up. It’s so troublesome.” Hongbin whined.

“I’ll do it! Arf!” Jaehwan excitedly volunteered. The others looked at him, full of expectations. Jaehwan grinned before without a warning, charging towards Wonshik and biting the arm of the poor guy.

“Ah!!!” Wonshik yelped when Jaehwan bit him.

Sanghyuk could only sigh as he watched. He was pretty sure that he was in a mental institution. But why did it seem like he was in a kindergarten instead? It was even worse. Damn, he’s scared that if he were to stay for one more day, he might lost his mind completely. He realized, it’s not the time to be slacking. He needed a plan, a plan to escape from this place.

“Taekwoon! What are you thinking about?” Hakyeon asked but Taekwoon, who was chilling on his bed, only glared at him. Hakyeon never really left Taekwoon alone and it was annoying for the latter. “What? I was just asking!”

Sanghyuk could only make a face at the two. Their bromance was so strong. Instead, he should fabricate his perfect escape plan. But how? What should he do? He could simply get out of the room and use his parents name but it would be hard for him to get out through the main entrance and exit which was the enormous gate. If he were to climb, wouldn’t the guard notice him right away?

“Taekwoon, what are you doing?” Hakyeon asked Taekwoon once again but Taekwoon ignored him. “Taekwoon! Jung Taekwoon!” Hakyeon gave Taekwoon a headlock.

Sanghyuk rolled his eyes. Seriously, Hakyeon had nothing better to do but to annoy people. Sanghyuk sighed before taking out a notebook and a pen that he sneaked in. He started scribbling his plans on his notebook. What plans were those? The plans to escape.

“What are you doing, Hyukkie?” Hakyeon asked.

“Hyukkie? Who? Me?” Sanghyuk asked. Then, he noticed that Hakyeon was looking at his notebook. Gulping, Sanghyuk immediately covered it. “Nothing, hyung. I’m not doing anything.” He denied.

“Is that a plan to escape?” Hakyeon asked as if it was the most unbelievable thing he had heard. Upon hearing the word ‘escape’, Taekwoon immediately stood up, looking interested. “I wanna join!” Hakyeon childishly told Sanghyuk. “Having teammates is always better than being alone and it’s more fun.”

“Me too.” Taekwoon said. He did not seem like it but he was actually interested.

“No, no, no.” Sanghyuk said in English. “I will not escape. Why will I even escape?” He nervously asked. What Hakyeon said seemed tempting. Sanghyuk wanted to bring them along, especially Hongbin who became close to him right away. But Sanghyuk knew better than to let crazy people escape. He should execute his plans alone. Would he succeed?

Author's Note: (About the next updates, questions, and clarifications)

In case you have noticed, yes, I update every Wednesday. Why? It's just because I started this story on a Wednesday (April 27) and I happened to update the first chapter exactly a week later. Because of that, I decided to update every Wednesday. I am planning on updating next week, Wednesday as well. But that is if I receive five or more comments. I want to know what you think about my story. Pretty please? If I don't receive five comments, I'll update after two weeks. Comments are really important for me so that I know where to improve and what part do you like the best. Please leave a comment? /puppy eyes but ends up looking like a monkey/

By the way, please keep in mind that they didn't know that all of them weren't crazy. I hope you don't get confused... I think I made it confusing. :3

For the next update, would you like it to be a special chapter or should I post chapter 3, instead? If you want it to be a special chapter, whose chapter would you like to read? Continuation of Hakyeon's story? Or another member's? Whose story? 

/clears throat/ Anyway, thanks to those who commented and thanks to all of you who subscribed and read every chapter. 

Special thanks to all those who commented. And to those who upvoted, marlia91, LeeJi98, Karenkitty1092, and Taotic thank you so much! It means a lot to me.

And I should seriously stop writing long author notes because who even reads those? (...I do...)