Hyukjae woke up from his deep sleep.  For the first time in months, he felt refreshed and recharged. He was ready to get back to his busy schedule. He was thankful that manager hyung had allowed him to rest and recover for one day despite the urgency to rehearse for the upcoming concert.

Wait.

Where am I? Why am I at home? Didn’t I fall asleep in the dorm?

He looked around the room and found Choco happily sleeping beneath his feet on the bed.  His confusion was temporarily forgotten seeing his loveable dog.

He got out of bed and walk out of his room. In the living room, was his elder sister Sora, watching the television.

“What are you watching?” Hyukjae asked his sister who was munching away in front of the television. He rubbed his eyes sleepily.

“Just the news. Did you have a good rest?” she asked, not taking her eyes off the screen.

“Yes. How did I get home? I thought I slept in the dorm? Was I drunk?”

“What are you talking about? What dorm?” Sora was confused.

“Super Junior’s dorm! What is wrong with you?” Hyukjae replied, slightly annoyed by his sister’s ignorance.

Sora burst out laughing. “Are you all right? Your high fever last night must have damaged your brain or something.”

Hyukjae starred at her in disbelief. ‘Is she kidding me? Is she doing this on purpose to annoy me further?’

“Oh! Super Junior! Look! They are in the news!” Sora exclaimed and pointed excitedly to the screen.

Hyukjae was about to protest but the news captured his attention. It was news about Super Junior’s Leeteuk leaving the army soon.

I miss Teukie hyung….

“Hey! Why did they skip me? Where is my photo? They always show everyones’ photo but mine. What in the world?” Hyukjae whined and sink himself down onto the sofa.

Sora turned to his younger brother, eyes widened from the words that just came out of his mouth.

“What are you talking about? Are you being delusional again?” she asked.

“Huh?” Hyukjae was still upset by the media’s preference to often skip giving him, his rightful air time.

“Dear dongsaeng ah, I know you really wanted to be a singer but please, you are not a Super Junior member. Please stop this nonsense or I am telling Mom.” Sora muttered.

“What?!”

Hyukjae dashed into his bedroom and started to open his drawers and his wardrobe. He rummaged through this clothes and stuffs furiously. Sora, who was worried for his brother who was not his usual self, followed him into the bedroom and witnessed him rummaging through this stuff.

“What are you looking for?” she asked, curious by Hyukjae’s unexplainable sudden actions.

“Our albums! Where is it? I thought I displayed it in my room, where has all it gone to?” Hyukjae asked in frustration as he continued to search high and low, literally going through every inch of his bedoom.

“What album?” Sora asked again, still confused.

“Super Junior albums! Noona, help me look for it!” Hyukjae requested in desperation.

Still confused, Sora answered, “I don’t think you have it. You gave them all to me remember? I don’t even know why. You were such a big fan, suddenly you just turned into an anti-fan overnight. I have it in my room.”

Hyukjae stopped searching. It was as if Sora’s words froze him and he stared at his elder sister in disbelief.

“What in the world? Why would I not be a fan of my own group?!”

“What the hell are you talking about?!”

Hyukjae sunk onto his bed and sighed loudly. “Can I see it, the albums?” his requested. He calmed down a little, because there was no point getting into an argument with his sister over this matter.

“Wait here, I will go get it.” Sora answered and stormed off to her room, looking agitated.

Hyukjae’s remained frowned, not really sure why his sister was saying such nonsensical things. However, he was puzzled as to he was unable to locate the Super Junior albums. It was usually on the shelves, easily reached. He started to look around his room, it does seem different.

There were no posters on the wall, no albums on the shelves, no stacks of fanarts on his table, no bags of letters from fans and no boxes of gifts from ELFs. As he continued to scan his room, he realized that his room did seem more spacious without all those familiar things that were usually within sight.

‘Have I lost my mind? Why does my room look different? Where are all my stuff?’ he wondered. All this confusion was giving him a headache. He rubbed his forehead lightly.

“Here!” barged into the room and dropped a whole bag of cds onto Hyukjae’s lap. “I really do not know what is wrong with you. One minute you are in love with the group, the next minute you hate them and gave all their stuff away to me. And now you want them back? Please make up your mind!” Sora complained.

“I am going to tell Omma when she reaches home later!” she complained before leaving the room.

Hyukjae stared at his sister. ‘What is up with her?’

Hyukjae held the bag of cds. A part of him could not wait to open it up and check the cds. Another part of him was fearful. What if what Sora said was true? That he was not a member of the group? That he was just a delusional fan who thought he was one of the group members?

Hyukjae finally gathered all the courage in him to open the bag. They were cds of Super Junior albums. All the songs were correct. Their first album ‘Miracles’, their worldwide hit album ‘Sorry Sorry’ and there was also their latest Japanese album ‘Blue World’. Everything seemed normal.

Or so he thought.

He picked up the ‘Sorry Sorry’ album and took a closer look. Something was different.

‘Wait.’

‘Where am I? Why am I not on the cover?’ he was starting to panic. He examined the cover again. There are one, two, three……12 members?! Why are there only 12 members on this cover?!!’

He picked up the rest of the albums and realized one painful fact. Everything was the same except, he is missing from the covers.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hyukjae rubbed his forehead harder as he walked slowly back into the living room. His headache was getting bigger by the minute and he just wishes the pounding on his head would stop. He was still confused by all the new information. His head felt heavy and he felt like he needed to scream as loud as he can to release the frustration.

“Yah! Are you back to normal?” Sora enquired as soon as Hyukjae appears in the living room.

Hyukjae walked listlessly to the sofa and slammed himself down onto the couch. He looked at his sister next to him and saw her worried look. He suddenly felt guilty for causing her sister to worry.

He took a deep breath in, hoping that his mind will be clearer as he breathes the air of confusion out of his head. “Noona, what happened to me?”

Sora widened her eyes, surprised by her brother’s listless voice. He was usually cheerful and full of energy. Are you feeling all right?” she placed her palms onto Hyukjae’s forehead. “You are not having a fever but you are slightly warm. How far did you jog this morning?” she asked.

“Jog?”

“Yeah, you went out for jog this morning remember? You came back and showered and just slept on your bed. You have been sleeping for the past 2 hours?” Sora continued.

Right.

The jog this morning.

He suddenly recalled about his jog where he kept running in circles. He was also reminded of the old man sitting on the bench asking him what his wish was.

The wish.

The old man.

That’s it.

He must have been the one responsible for all this!

“The old man!! He did this to me!” Hyukjae exclaimed.

“What old man?”

“The old man! The weird old man who kept asking me what my wish was!!” Hyukjae stood up and started to pace back and forth. “He must have granted my wish! I thought he was crazy!! How was I supposed to know this would happen!!”

“Woah, calm down. An old man asked you what your wish was? Are you sure you were not dreaming? You just woke up.” She said, still trying to figure out the odd behavior displayed by her brother.

“No! It must be him! I remember coming back to the dorm, showering and changing in the room, and then all of the sudden I felt sleepy so I decided to lay down on the bed to rest. When I woke up, I was here!” Hyukjae explained. He was not sure if his sister would believe him. Heck. Even he was not sure if he believed in his own memory.

“Dorm?” Sora still looked lost.

“Super Junior dorm! I have been staying there since with the members at the dorm since our trainee days!!” Hyukjae yelled, annoyed that his sister still did not know what he was talking about.

Sora sighed. “Are you still talking about this? I think you must have really gone mental this time.” Sora stood up from the sofa and made her way to the kitchen. “Don’t talk to me until you are sane.”

Hyukjae dropped his shoulders. Why wouldn’t his own sister believe him? What is going to do now? He was pretty sure this is too big a thing to be a dream. Furthermore, he clearly remember all the incidents in the morning, he could even remember having an intimate conversation with Donghae.

Oh no.

Donghae.

What will he do now without Donghae? Donghae was always around him, sometimes sticking onto him like a leech. He has gotten used to having Donghae around him all the time. Now in this twisted reality, Donghae is celebrity and he is not. He did get what he wanted. To be normal. To not be a celebrity.

Donghae was also his main strength, always supporting him even when the world was against him, when the world doubted him and when the world turned their backs to him. Donghae was his best friend and the love of his life. He could not imagine living a life without Donghae.

Now they are world’s apart.

What is he going to do now?

He regretted even thinking about being normal. How is he going to wish his life back?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Where did you go?” Heechul asked.

Donghae walked out of the room looking puzzled. He looked around him and frowned. “I was going to do something that was why I got up and walked to the room, but now I cannot remember what I wanted to do.” He scratched his head, trying hard to recall.

“Weird kid. We were talking and you suddenly stood up and walked into the empty room. Teukie is in the army remember?” Heechul commented while still munching on his breakfast.

“I know, but it wasn’t Teukie hyung I was looking for..….I don’t know. I just felt that I was looking for someone and suddenly I cannot remember anything.” Donghae sat down and continued eating his breakfast, still looking puzzled.

Donghae sighed. “Never mind. I will do it once I can recall it.”

“Quickly eat and go rest before your leave for your schedule.” Heechul instructed.

Donghae nodded. However he still could not understand his sudden behavior. He felt that as if his heart was being pulled into the room but he was not sure what and why. 

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Hope you liked this chapter! I seem to lack motivation to update these days, work is hectic an I am tired. I need your loving comments for motivation to update more often! Lol. Drop some comments and questions if you have! Happy mid week!