“I mean he's confused right? Like I don't really like judging a book by its cover but the dude looks like a total stoner so I don't know how he manages an entire building I especially don't know how he could confuse an occupied flat with a vacant one when clearly—”

“He said that no one is living there?”

“Yeah”

“You mean he doesn't know?”

“That's what I just said.”

“He offered the apartment to you as if it was unoccupied?”

“He sort of offered it. Just said that no one had rented it since unforeseeable circumstances a while ago.”

He paused and looked at Jongin who was deep in thought. Jongin already knew why the apartment was empty of course, he just didn't want Sehun to find out. What if Sehun inquired more about it. What if they ran into Kyungsoo and Sehun mentioned it and Kyungsoo was caught off guard and the secret was let out. He was overeating of course. He did everything in his power to manage to be away when he would be most likely to hear something happening next door, even though he now knew that nothing really was. He had also done his best to keep everything out of his mind. But the topic being so casually mentioned by Sehun threw him off slightly.

“Jongin, did something happen while I was gone?”

He looked up in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“I mean you're acting really weird, you're barely looking me in the eyes, and you're asking really weird questions.”

“I don't know if I can tell you….” He whispered

“Tell me what”

“You won't even believe me”

“Believe wha—? Jongin stop this right now and tell me what the is going on.”

Jongin thought about it. If Sehun didn't believe him then he would just think he was crazy, to be honest he still couldn't believe it himself but if he did believe him… well he didn't know what would happen. Should he even be getting Sehun involved in this in any way?

He looked up at Sehun, snowflakes from earlier, the first snow of the year, adorning his hair like a crown, and hanging off his bangs looking like diamonds reflecting the headlights of passing cars.

He wishes he could do this somewhere more comfortable. Like in bed. But Sehun had been over to his place plenty of times now meaning he had to be affected by Luhan's essence or whatever and if he had the timeline right, then Kyungsoo would be crying all night and Sehun would be able to hear it. He didn't know if he could handle that. He'd been sleeping in his living room to avoid the truth of the next door apartment. Sehun would eventually start feeling like something was going on, and then Jongin would have to tell him the truth anyways.

He guessed that a park bench, late in the evening, in the dark and cold was as good a place as any for a ghost story

“He’s dead, Sehun,” Jongin started.

“Who’s dead?”

“Kyungsoo.”

“He died while I was gone?!”

“No. He’s been dead this whole time. Five years to be exact. And he just relives the last week of his life over and over again.”

“Jongin,” Sehun sighed impatiently. “I don't understand. Can you just please tell me what’s going on in a straightforward manner?”

So Jongin tried to explain as best he could. From hearing gunshots and having a panic attack to breaking into Kyungsoo's apartment—which Sehun did not comment on—and finding it empty, to his theory about Kyungsoo killing his abuser and then running away, all the way to everything Kyungsoo had explained to him about being dead and stuck between this world and whatever there was after life. He omitted the details of the murder itself, only stating that there had been someone else that used to live in his apartment that had also been murdered but his soul had not become stuck like Kyungsoo’s so only certain aftereffects remained, and that was why Jongin had been hearing things and feeling things he couldn’t explain.

“So after a while this Luhan guy’s soul starts taking effect on you and you start hearing and feeling what he did in extremely realistic hallucinations.”

Sehun listened quietly, his hands clasped around Jongin’s and rubbing them to keep them warm. Jongin did his best not to cry while talking but he would feel Sehun squeezing his fingers every time he sounded a little choked up.

“Do you believe me?”

“I-I don’t know.”

“I know it sounds far fetched.”

“It does.”

“But you yourself told me that Yixing said the apartment is empty. And you’ve seen Kyungsoo.”

“That’s what I told myself when Yixing told me but, Jongin, it was dark and we were high.”

“Weed doesn’t cause hallucinations. And I definitely wasn’t high when the rest of it happened.”

Sehun doesn’t reply.

“You think I’m crazy don’t you.”

“No I think you really believe this. You obviously have a reason to believe it so you must have seen something or gotten some kind of definitive proof right?”

Jongin stayed quiet. No, he didn’t yet have anything that couldn’t be waived off with an explanation.

“Does anyone in the building know anything?”

“Minseok and Jongdae were hesitant to talk about it. They were his friends. But I talked to Jongdae and he explained some things. Pretty much the same things Kyungsoo told me but a little more from, you know, the living perspective. Like how quickly the police had been in and out and how the crime scenes were pretty much spotless only a day later. How everything was swept under the rug and how there was only a passing mention in the newspapers and then no one ever mentioned it again.”

“What about your boss? He lives in your building too right.”

“Sehun I haven’t even been able to think straight these past few days without you here. I tried to talk to as many people as I could but I just—” he sighed, feeling drained. “And then most nights, when I hear what’s happening, what happened, and knowing that Kyungsoo is reliving his murderover and over and I can’t do anything—and you don’t believe me either.”

“Hey calm down okay? Look, as hesitant as I am about believing in ghosts after half an hour of you telling me about them, I trust you, always, with all my heart, I don’t think you’re crazy.”

“Thank you, Sehun,” Jongin said quietly.

“Relax, alright?” Sehun pressed a soft kiss to Jongin’s temple. “Let’s get through tonight and then tomorrow we can see about getting you out of there.”

“What?”

“Well, you can’t stay, right? You can’t seriously want to stay after all this?”

“I guess not. B-but I just feel like I’m abandoning him. Like I’ve done nothing.”

“What can you do? Catch his murderer?”

Jongin scoffed. Kyungsoo had refused to give him a name and Jongdae kicked him out when he asked. “That was my first thought. But there’s no way I could manage that. We’re criminology students Sehun, trying to solve a double homicide so many years after the fact is like trying to swim through jello. Professor Kim said so on the first day of first year.”

“Exactly. Now we gotta find a place to stay for the night, maybe its best if we don’t go back there for a while.”

 ----

They found solace at Chanyeol and Baekhyun's shared apartment, closer to the campus than Jongin's. They didn’t question Sehun when he called them from Jongin’s phone, likely thinking it would be explained when the two arrived there, but after seeing a frozen red eyed Jongin, and only slightly better in condition Sehun, they didn’t say anything, setting up their couches with pillows and blankets for the two and ordering pizza even though they had both already eaten.

Jongin and Sehun explained a few things, leaving out talk of murder and ghosts, just so Chanyeol and Baekhyun wouldn't worry about why the two needed a place to stay in the middle of the night when Jongin already had a place. Of course Jongin trusted them with the truth, but he didn't want freak them out or have them think he was losing it. It was bad enough that Sehun probably thought he had gone nuts.

The next morning, Jongin tells Sehun that he doesn't want to move just yet. Sehun agrees but let's him know that he thinks it's ridiculous that Jongin wants to stay in an environment that's causing him so much stress.

They go talk to Yixing together and tell him they'd like to move in together in a slightly bigger apartment than Jongin's. They didn't exactly plan for it to end up that way, but it seemed to be the most natural decision once they entered Yixing's office.

Jongin also finally cleared up things with Yixing, assuring the man that he wasn't complaining about Jongdae and Minseok lifestyle. He tried to pry a little by mentioning that it was the empty apartment that he was hearing things from.

“Oh gosh! I should have guessed that's what you were saying Jongin. I'm so sorry! You're not the only one who's said it. Jongdae and Minseok are sure 411 is haunted or something, but I don't really believe in that stuff.”

He said it so casually that Jongin had to take a second, sharing a worried glance with Sehun, before he could reply.

“Even though a lot of people have had those kinds of experiences?”

Yixing looked thoughtful. “I just don't think haunted is the right word for it. So, 7th floor? 706? You're both happy with that one?”

They nodded simultaneously.

“Great! I'll have it ready for you to move into in a month. That work?”

They nodded again.

----

            Jongin was good at research. He knew where to find things, but this time it was different. It felt like he was searching for something that wasn’t there. He had gone down to the local library and scoured through the newspapers from five years ago. Surely enough, he found an article. Just one. He finds out that Kyungsoo and Luhan went to his school and other things that Kyungsoo had already told him, that they lived next to each other and that they had been shot.

            However that was about it. No suspects. No conclusion to the case. It was ridiculous.

“You’re going to drive yourself crazy trying to figure out what happened.” Sehun told him.

“If I could just figure out—”

“Who it was that did this? How would that help Jongin? He obviously has ways to get around the law. If he can get away with a double homicide, I’m sure he could get away with more.”

Jongin knew Sehun was right. But he just couldn’t get it out of his head. Maybe moving apartments truly would help.

I wrote this chapter while I was sick so I don't entirely remember what it's about lol

I was hoping for this to be a bit longer but I'm currently on my death bed so I didn't know when I'd next get to post something.

Hope you enjoy!