“What the ,” Minho swears. It’s the first time you hear him swear ever and it makes quite an impression, coming from his mouth, especially when he’s supposed to be one of the most respectful people in the school.

You have an odd thought about the weird way your brains seems to work in a situation like that and you distantly wonder how can you contemplate Minho’s popularity when he’s freaking out upon seeing a ghost.

And it’s not a metaphor.

“He popped out of the air!” The boy screams so loudly is actually echoes. You look around the neighborhood, seeing miss Choi looking at you both with distant worry, and you quickly grab the boy by the collar to drag him inside. Minho stumbles over the doorstep and almost ends up face-first on the floor, his face pale and his hands clammy. You close the door quickly while he stands between you and Taemin with utter fear on his face.

“Are you pleased?” You ask Taemin with a false smile. The boy shrugs, so you quickly grab a shoe from the floor and throw it at him. Taemin, even though it’d have just go through him, makes a quick dodge and sticks his tongue out, ready to bolt.

“Oh, don’t even try to disappear now ! I wasn’t the one to throw stuff at the poor human!”

“I’m that poor human?!” Minho asks, still screaming. “Wait, what? Why did he materialize from thin air? What’s going on?!”

You close your mouth, your shoulders heaving. You look at him, open your mouth to answer, but nothing comes out. You look back at Taemin and then at Minho again.

“Uh,” is the only thing that comes out finally. Minho makes a disbelieved face at you. He looks at Taemin and gets pale again.

“Why is he so… hazy?” He asks, pointing at the ghost half-heartedly. “Why is he… what’s—“

“You need to calm down,” you say, making vague calming gestures. Minho eyes you carefully. “He’s not dangerous or anything—“

“I can freeze you to death with the touch of my finger,” Taemin hisses and claps his teeth together just because he can. Minho swallows hard and looks ready to run away, all muscles tense and his side turned towards the door. Good thing you locked them.

“Shut up,” you say, drawing out the last word. “Wait, can you?”

Taemin opens his mouth to answer but Minho’s loud, scared growl interrupts.

“Who is this guy?” He asks, pointing at Taemin.

“Yah! Show some respect!” Taemin hisses, looking as if he wants to slap Minho’s head. He stops himself in the last moment, but he wouldn’t have to, since Minho quickly moves as far away from his as he can, standing right beside you.

“You look my age,” he counters, although his voice is weak.

“Okay, stop fumbling around you two,” you say, standing by Taemin’s side so you’re facing Minho. He covers his torso with his hands protectively which makes quite a sight.

“Good, be scared, that’s what you get for bullying Eun Ri,” Taemin says, cocking his head. Minho makes a grimace.

“Taemin,” you say with exasperation. “Stop scaring him, he’s pale enough. Minho, meet Taemin. Taemin is forty-two years old and he’s a ghost.”

*

Minho goes through a minor panic attack once you show him that Taemin is indeed a ghost. It takes four very long hours to explain how that happened, why he’s still here, how the ring works. He asks a lot about Taemin’s past but the ghost doesn’t feel cooperative at all.

In fact, he’s pulling as many weird tricks as he can, disappearing all of a sudden and reappearing in front of Minho, throwing stuff at him and being basically lurk-y. For you it’s like observing a cat that wants to have fun (he’s hiding behind plants and curtains, dammit), for Minho it’s like being a part of a horror. 

“And you’ve been living with him all these years?” He asks finally, pointing at Taemin with shock. “All this time?”

“All this time,” you nod.

“So, the rumors at school…?”

You shoot him a look. Minho deflates. Taemin smirks under his nose, disappears and throws a bag of skittles at Minho’s face. The boy flails around, almost falling off a chair.

“Play nicely,” you say. Taemin snorts from somewhere in the room, appears beside you. Minho jumps, you roll your eyes.

“Not rumors, ,” Taemin says.

“Why do you hate me? You don’t know me,” Minho says. Taemin raises his brows, at which Minho’s eyes widen and he looks down in fear. “I m-mean, why do you hate me, Taemin-sshi?”

Taemin claps his hands and starts to laugh. He makes some kind of weird circle around himself, visibly pleased with the attention and respect he’s getting.

“From all the stories you told me I had no idea he’s such a respectful brat,” he says, nodding at you. You roll your eyes again. “Careful, your eyes will fly out.”

You snap his teeth at him and Taemin laughs, playfully this time.

“You told him about me?” Minho asks. You shrug.

“You were mean,” you say. “What was I supposed to talk about? I spend half of my childhood alone because you decided that everything I say is funny. I understand now that what I was saying was nonsense, but somehow, no one really cared until you showed up and told them I’m a freak.”

“That wasn’t because I thought so,” Minho defends. You frown.

“What?”

“I was jealous. You could see ghosts! And I thought that if I tell rumors, you—“

He shuts his mouth, looks at Taemin, at you, and then at his hands.

“Should I make him experience death?” Taemin deadpans. Minho looks up, startled, and stands up, ready to bolt, only he trips over the chair and face plants on the floor.

You throw your head back in a loud growl.

“Boys,” you sum up.

*

“What are you gonna do about him?” Taemin asks the same night as you’re brushing your teeth. You look at the mirror and remember that he doesn’t have a reflection, so you turn towards him.

“Nuffin,” you say.

“Nothing? Completely nothing?”

“Wat would I to? He wun’t tell anyone,” you shrug. You turn back to spit the foam.

“How do you know? He might. Maybe he’ll send some exorcists or some other like this.”

“Yeah, Ghostbusters,” you say, chuckling and pouring water into your plastic cup to rinse your teeth.

“I’m not fooling around.”

“He’s too scared to do anything,” you say. You rinse your teeth and spit the water into the sink. “And now he also feels bad for being a to me when we were younger.”

“So because he feels bad you think he won’t do anything?”

“You promised not to, right? Maybe that’ll do. If he accuses me or anything, I’ll just say he’s crazy. It’s my turn to be a .”

“You’re good at that.”

You smile under your nose, look at him with raised brow and see him smiling back.

“That’s so weird,” he says then. “I’m here, insulting you, and you just smile.”

“Oh, that was an insult? I thought it meant I’m awesome.”

Taemin chuckles, shakes his head and turns away from the doorstep, heading for the living room. You pack your bags for school, prepare clothes and go to sleep.

*

A ball of paper hits you in the head. You look left to see Minho raising his hand at you. You frown and look at the ball that hit you. You pick it up and unfold it.

Meet me at the library after school?

You pretend to have a thinking face on. Then you fold the paper again, throw it into your pencil-case and discreetly flip him off.

Minho’s face goes from curious to a full -face. You smirk at him and turn back to the teacher to listen what she has to say on the topic of evolution.

*

“You can’t avoid me forever,” you hear. You let out a sigh.

“Can’t I at least eat in peace?” You ask, looking up at Minho. Kyungmi, who’s on your side, drops her rice before it makes way to .

“No,” Minho says. “I mean, you could, if you’d stop avoiding me.”

“Don’t you have friend you need to go to?” You ask, frowning deeply.

“I’ve got plenty, but none of them a ghost,” Minho says, raising a brow. You kick him in the shin, because it’s the only place you can reach while siting, and he growls loudly, starts jumping in place.

“So… should I leave you alone?” Kyungmi asks, already closing her lunch box. You shake your head no but stand up. You stick your tongue out at Minho while walking away.

*

“He’s everywhere,” you say, stuffing bibambap into your mouth with double force and smearing it all over your mouth. Taemin makes a face from the side where he’s sprawled on the couch. “He asks me about you at lunch break, on the corridors, he follows me around library, he freaks Kyungmi out. She’s convinced we have some creepy, stalkish romance going on,” you hiss. “He’s so annoying.”

“He’s just stubborn,” Taemin shrugs. Don’t let him get into your head. What does he even want?”

“Stuff,” you say. Taemin rolls his eyes. “I mean, I don’t know. He wants to talk I guess. But I don’t have much to say to him. We already explained to him how the whole ghost-y thing works, right? What else would he want?”

“You know he has a crush on you, right?”

You snort into your food. “Yeah, right.”

“Disgusting,” Taemin sums up. “Eat like a girl.”

“There’s gender equality,” you say back.

“Don’t even start that topic,” Taemin warns.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot. You’re ‘80s kid,” you snort.

“If I only could, I’d flick you on the forehead.”

“Oh please, don’t stop yourself on my account.”

“Cheeky.”

You smile and he tries to pick up the TV remote. He succeeds.

“It’s gotten easy,” he says. “Throwing stuff too.”

“I can’t believe that you only started doing it when I told you you should,” you say. “You had so much time. You could be like a Jedi as for now.”

“Shut up, I was lazy.”

“So I bring out the best of you, huh?”

Taemin bursts out laughing. You almost choke on your food when you start laughing too.

*

“You want to know more about him, right?”

“ off,” you say, not even looking at Minho. Who’s hovering above you. Just like Taemin does, ugh.

“I can help you.”

“And how would you do that?”

“I have access to the police department,” he says. You turn your head around at that. “My brother is a deputy.”

“He can’t show you any documents or files, that’s against the law,” you say.

“Who says anything about showing? I go there after school sometimes. I don’t like to be home alone and my parents are rarely there. He goes out a lot; I have the whole office for myself.”

“And you’d do that because…?”

He shrugs.

“You don’t know?” You ask. “How can you not know? You want to commit a crime and you don’t know why?”

“I’m curious about him too.”

“I’m not sharing any information about him with you.”

“Aw, come on now—“

“Stop making those eyes at me, it’s disgusting,” you say, closing the book you were reading and throwing it into your bag. You swing it over your shoulder. “If you want to get his file, be my guest, but I’m not telling you . It’s not my place to—“

“As if you haven’t been doing research behind his back too,” Minho says. “I know you were trying to find out stuff about him. Probably because he doesn’t want to talk about it, huh?”

“That’s none of your business,” you throw over your shoulder, walking away.

“I’m gonna do that anyway!” He shouts after you, getting scolded by one of the librarians.

“Be my guest!” You shout back.

*

“Tell me just one thing, Taemin,” you say. Taemin looks up from the book he’s reading. “Where were you going the day of your accident? Why were you in such a hurry?”

He looks at you, his eyes getting momentarily hazy.

“I was—visiting someone,” he says slowly. “I’ve made a mistake and I wanted to fix it.”

“What mistake?”

He looks away, stares at the window. You wait patiently.

“I—was a ,” he says. “You already know that. I was selfish and didn’t think about—that other person’s feelings. I was in hurry to see that person and… and meet someone, too. I was afraid I won’t get there in time. It… so happened that there was an equally thoughtless driver on the road at the same time I was there.”

“So that’s the business you haven’t finished?” You ask. “Apologizing to that person and meeting… The other person?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t you want to go see them now?”

His brows furrow in pain and he closes the book, leans on his hands.

“I don’t know,” he whispers. “They can’t see me anyway, can they?”

“They could,” you say. “I could make them see you.”

“And then what?” He asks, looking up at you again, his eyes teary. “Hi, long time no see, I’m a ghost. I’m still nineteen. I’ve been having a good time here on Earth past these twenty-three years, sorry for not visiting you at least once. I’m here so I can go to Heaven?”

You bite your lip.

“No need to be that harsh,” you say. “They’d understand, I’m sure.”

“I don’t want to,” Taemin says. “They’re—They probably have sorted their lives out by now. I’d just ruin them once again.”

“Then you could write a letter,” you say. “And I could say that I found it somewhere in the attic or something. I doubt they’ll do research about your family tree.”

He actually looks like he’s thinking about the offer. But then he just shakes his head.

“I don’t—“

“Taemin…”

He presses the heels of his palms at his eyes, then rubs them. He ruffles his hair a few times, looking away.

“I let them both down,” he says.

“So you’re just going to sit here,” you state. “Wait until… Until what? Until I’ll die too? What will you do then?”

“Maybe I could learn how to move around the world,” he says. “I could watch it grow, I could see what becomes of it. I’m practically immortal, right?”

“You don’t know that.”

“I could see what the world will look like in two centuries, maybe more. I’d see all the futuristic visions coming true—I mean, maybe.”

“And you’d be alone,” you say. “Completely, utterly alone, with everyone you care for gone. If you don’t settle your private matters, it might be too late, and you don’t know what happens then. Maybe you’ll just disappear. Or maybe you’ll leave thousands of years, but all by yourself, until this world comes to an end, and then what? Do you want to become the last soul that ever existed? What if you become a vengeful spirit? Have you thought about it?”

Taemin swallows hard.

“You need to take care of whatever is keeping you here.”

“Do you want to get rid of me?”

You deflate. You stop flipping pancakes on the stove.

“What?” You ask, frowning at him.

“Are you trying to get rid of me?”

“No,” you say. “No, never.”

“Then why—“

“Because I don’t want your soul to travel without a purpose, I don’t want you to be alone!”

“You’ll be alone once I leave too.”

Tears flow into your eyes instantly. You stare at the boy and for two long minutes there’s utter silence between you two. Then you smell smoke and turn to see your pancake almost black.

You turn off the stove but don’t put the pan away. You stare at the pancake, its blackened edges, and smoke coming out from it in slow puffs.

I'm sooo sorry it took me so long to update D: i swear I haven't given up on this fic yet. Thanks for sticking with me! 

And hi new subscribers, nice to see you :) 

A few more chapters to go.

Also if you like EXO and are into supernatural & werewolves, check this out. I'm sorry for shameless self-advertising.