(In which the doll has a lot of questions and no answers.)

The last thing the strange doll remembers before he woke up this morning was the aching pain that took over his body, right when he was still talking to Nari. It had spiralled from the bottom of his foot slowly to his hands and arms, leaving behind a lingering sting that had the doll crying out, unable to do anything to stop the pain.

It burned him; his entire body roaring to fight back against whatever it was that was attacking him. Needles poked at his head, sharp and precise that the doll felt like it was about to explode. His eyes flashed. Something was eating him up from the inside.

Nari had dashed out of his arms when he dropped to the floor, peeking from underneath one of the leather couches. She hissed at something beyond his shoulder and when the doll reached out a hand to calm her down, Nari scrambled further underneath, terrified. Her bright green eye was the last thing he saw before everything dimmed to total blackness.

It was the first time he woke up to the sound of his heart beating in his chest.

To say he is surprised is an understatement - the doll is shocked. A human. He is an actual human! His mind is still whirling from this because none of it is making any sense. How did he change into this? Who changed him? Why? Did they finally hear his wishes; the same prayers he uttered for as long as he could remember? And if that is true, will the doll stay like this forever or will the spell - or whatever it is that transformed him - wash off?

Questions hoard his head, loud and unbearable that he can't even think straight. He wants nothing more than to find out the answers but so many things have happened since he opened his eyes this morning, each and single one of them blurred together in a span of an hour. The doll is tired. He is scared and he wants to go home.

“Taeyong? Taeyong, hey, you OK?”

The doll jolts, his reverie shaken by the gentle grasp of a hand on his arm. The man - Jaehyun - looks at him with worry. Taeyong. Yes, that’s his name now - he must remember that! Truth to be told, he doesn’t know why he chose that name. It felt...right, the way it rolled off his tongue.

Taeyong glances around. Everything is white in this room - the lights, the ceilings, and even the weird cloak they dressed themselves in. It’s also really crowded, outside the room. So this is a hospital, Taeyong notes, his eyes wandering to every crook and cranny from where he’s sitting on a bed, waiting.

There’s not much Taeyong knows about hospitals, just that it’s a place people go to when they’re injured or unwell. At least, that’s what he made sense of from the newspapers Nari would occasionally bring for him. Every time Taeyong stumbles upon the word ‘hospital’ in the articles, bad news come right after. It wasn't exactly a comforting thought.

"Taeyong..."

Jaehyun is still staring at him, waiting for a reply. Taeyong hesitates. He doesn’t know what to make of him, of this strange man named Jaehyun. Earlier when he had glanced up from his panicking - which was justified, who wouldn't panic if they were in his shoes? - to look into Jaehyun's eyes, Taeyong was confused. They were bright, shining almost when he reached out his hand. But most of all they were gentle. 

And the way he spoke? They were just as soft as the orbs that reflected back at Taeyong.

The last thirty minutes he had spent with Jaehyun on the way to the hospital only gave Taeyong more headaches - he can’t figure out why Jaehyun is helping him or why he’s even here in the first place. He remembers Jaehyun mentioning something about owning the store and that leaves an awful pit in his stomach. What if Jaehyun finds out about where Taeyong actually came from? What if he notices how strange Taeyong behaves?

The questions had made his head pound so much Taeyong had shut down and ignored Jaehyun the entire car ride even when the guy kept asking him questions. This is too much. Please, just stop! He wanted to scream. 

Taeyong gnaws on his bottom lip. “Why are we here?” He asks because Taeyong is neither injured nor ill. He doesn’t even remember why he said yes when Jaehyun mentioned the hospital. He just needed to get out of the place quick because Taeyong needed to think, to collect his thoughts and figure this bizzare situation out. 

A confused expression flickers through Jaehyun’s eyes. “For a checkup.” He answers.

“But why?” Taeyong insists.

“To make sure that nothing is wrong with you. Look, Taeyong, you said you don’t remember anything right?” Jaehyun asks, looking at him in confirmation. Taeyong gives a reluctant nod; he can’t really see where this is going, to be honest. “Then we’re just going to do some scans in case you have a minor injury that caused the memory loss. I mean, it could just be a concussion for all we know.”

Taeyong frowns. He doubts those scans would explain anything since he’s pretty sure he doesn’t have a minor injury or a concussion. Whatever that is. Taeyong is about to ask Jaehyun what a concussion is when the door to their room suddenly swings open.

A woman walks in, dressed in the same white cloak like he’s seen a few others wear. She's older, weary lines stretched across her face that speaks of