Chapter 2

Hallucinations

Mangnae Hyuk did not deserve this. He did not have to suffer the consequences of the epic stupidity of his hyungs. He did not have to feel his soul wither away as embarrassment wrung the life out of him. He did not have to feel like wanting to crawl under his sheets and crying himself into the next millennium.

And yet, here he was, standing under the incrimination glare of four beams of light with his co-workers, also whom he had the joy and the misery of calling his family.

Hyuk decided that if he were to come out this ordeal with his dignity and soul intact, he would give up his life of fame and gopchang, shave his head, retreat into the serene solitude of the Himalayas and live under the ever understanding embrace of the Great Buddha.

Hyuk squinted against the light, trying to make anything out of the people on the side. But to no avail. Seconds ticked by in silence and it wasn’t improving their current situation. Grumbling at his ill fate internally, he opted to do the one thing his mom taught him to do in situations such as these.

He smiled broadly, waving cheerfully and greeted, “Good evening!”

At least, that’s what he inferred at the age of five.

However, the reaction he received was unexpected.

The empty room erupted in a high pitched squeal which echoed around the now empty room and painfully pricked his ears.

“Oh, lord…” a voice squeaked sounding slightly nauseated.

“I know, right?!” another voice responded excitedly, followed by a sharp smack. The squealing stopped shortly, but in a few seconds time picked up with renewed fervour.

Hyuk sighed in immense relief and his soul became lighter. They’re Starlights! I don’t have to shave my head after all! All he had to do was make up some excuses and talk them into keeping this meeting a secret. Knowing the VIXX fandom, they wouldn’t hesitate to help out their oppas. Ah, he could almost taste the gopchang!

Stepping forward, he opened his mouth to speak when an immense weight collapsed onto his shoulder, making his shirt to slip off, revealing a delicate collarbone and creamy, unblemished skin.

“N hyung! What are you doing?!” Hyuk hissed at the quivering leader, hastening to fix his shirt. He tried not to blush when a quiet “yeep!” emanated from the other side of the room.

“Trying to save your innocence! What are you doing trotting over there?! Who knows what they might do to you?! There have been too many atrocities happening to impressionable young men nowadays!” Leader Cha hissed back, looking at the youngest with wild, wide eyes. He clung onto the mangnae’s arm so desperately, Hyuk could feel his skin beginning to turn cold from inadequate blood supply.

And for the first time since being caught (why did he suddenly feel like a criminal?), he looked at his hyungs. Furthest away was rapper Ravi, who incessantly kept trying to pull his snapback over his head in an attempt to hide face. He repeatedly cleared his throat to either, according to Hyuk, speak up to dissipate the situation, or bust out in freestyle rap as a result of nervousness.

Next to Ravi stood Hyuk’s favourite, Hongbin. He stood motionless, like a statue, staring out into the darkness. Even from where the baby giant stood, he could see the emotionless visage of the dimpled visual. The glassy, lifelessness of his eyes made Hyuk’s heart clench. Apparently, much like the youngest himself, Hongbin had lost all hope of ever going back to his life with this night neatly tucked away somewhere in the labyrinth of all the asinine things they did that only they would know of. Amidst feeling sympathetic towards Hongbin, he was also glad that someone was normal enough to feel what he was currently feeling.

Next, his eyes drifted to another one of his favourites, Ken. But tonight was one of those rare nights where he turned a blind eye to that. Oh, how he wanted to stomp over and shake the singer until all the stupid slipped out and all the wonky gears in his head rearranged themselves. The vocal was currently trying to smile and not faint at the same time which evidently ended him looked severely constipated. His eyes flitted between the lights in front of him and his shoes. He has very smartly opted to wear his famous ahjumma slippers. No doubt you regret it now, hyung! Yes! Suffer! Hyuk snickered to himself.

Suddenly Ken flinched and Hyuk’s eyes darted to the looming figure standing beside his fellow anime lover. If Hongbin resembled him in his embarrassment, then cat-eyed Leo represented his fury. The older singer preoccupied himself with glaring between Ken and N, master planners of their little (failed) escapade. Often, Leo’s body would burst with erratic movement as his hands would move to deliver a haemorrhage inducing smack to Dumb and Dumber but he always stopped short of actually doing it. Much to the mangnae’s dismay. Therefore, the expressionless vocalist took to glaring them to death. Ah, if looks could kill, no one would be alive to find out for one look and one could find themselves on God’s lap, sipping blessed hot chocolate.

And then, there was the mighty leader himself, quaking like a leaf on a windy afternoon. He still clung onto the mangnae’s arm, wringing it as his nerves fried slowly. He kept mumbling about not wanting the flower of his youth to be trampled on. Hyuk rolled his eyes and sneered at the shorter one who just whimpered away.

“Um, if you guys could find the light switch, then maybe we can explain yourselves and probably convince you that we are not after your dignity?”

Hyuk jumped at the voice. Between the hyperventilation and the painful screaming, he didn’t know how any one of them could find their rationality.

Just then, from the corner of his eye, he saw Leo’s hand descended at lightning speed on Ken’s neck. The crisp sound of skin hitting skin rang through the room and stunned silence followed. Without a shred of sympathy, Hyuk closed his eyes slowly and revelled in the sound as it echoed though the room.

“Turn on the lights,” Leo spoke in his usual soft voice but the unmistakable iciness in his voice made every one of them shiver.

Ken nodded, head lowered as he held the back of his neck and snapped his fingers. The lights flickered for a while before burning white with an audible buzz. Hyuk caught the sight of Ken’s watery eyes just before the vocalist blinked them away. His heart panged with guilt and shame, recalling his previous behaviour. He made a mental note to go and comfort the big nosed man when they got to the dorm.  

Sighing, he turned to the four women before them and momentarily, mangnae Hyuk forgot to breathe.

x--------x

Hongbin shifted uncomfortably on his seat. If you could call a wooden crate a seat. His eyes flickered up to the scene in front of him. The four women who had ‘caught’ them were now seated on similar crates in front them in a semicircle. VIXX also were seated the same way but the distance between the two groups was big which made the seating formation seem like weird brackets.

Hongbin looked up at the women and once again and found himself pleasantly amused. Ten minutes into this awkward gathering they had only gotten as far as knowing their names. Hongbin’s eyes swept over every one of them, taking in their general appearance.

First, sitting closest to the door was Su Hyeon. She was the tallest among her friends but only by a couple of inches. Her face was a perfect round with no excess fat and peach coloured skin that shone with a healthy glow. Her lips were thin and but not the kind made her face split in half when she smiled. Her eyes were big and shone hazelnut brown under the light. Hongbin noted a mole just below her left eyebrow. Her hair was short, locks of brown hair grazing her collarbones. She was thin, he could make it out under the baggy shirt. The curve of her hips and the fleshiness of her legs peeking through her baggy shorts indicated that she wasn’t one to skip meals.

Su Hyeon caught Hongbin’s inspective gaze and automatically smiled warmly, her eyes crinkling at the edges revealing smile creases. Hongbin smiled back just as warmly. She reminded him of her sister who was an air hostess. His sister also smiled just as easily, inducing a sense of normalcy and safety.

His eyes flicked to the next one. Shin Mi was her name. He chuckled quietly to himself as she bounced up and down on the crate, a wide, excited grin permanently grazing her small, pink mouth. She too, like Hongbin, had dimples. Her skin as a tad bit tanned than her friend but shone just as healthy. Her eyes were small but ever twinkling behind humungous glasses that added to her child-like appearance. Her curly black hair was knotted into a ponytail and her bangs curtained her forehead and hung beside her cheeks. She resembled Su Hyeon in body structure, except her shoulders were much broader. She was tall but not enough to intimidate a man.  The excited demeanour reminded him of a child entering a shopping mall.

Shin Mi turned her gaze to Sa Ra and Hongbin followed her and he knew immediately why she had been named Cheon Sa Ra. She truly looked like an angel. Her skin was clear and white, cheeks dusted with pink fairy dust. She had a small mushroom-like nose resembling Hyuk’s. was small and cherry. Her eyes were dark and glistened with warmth, like hot chocolate on a winter evening. Her hair were a dark brown shade that hung loose in waves just below her chest. When she turned to acknowledge one of her friends, neon pink streaks made themselves known. Her body was small and light with delicate curves almost as if wings would sprout from her back and lift her away.

Lastly, he turned to turn Hee Na. Something about her made Hongbin want to burst out in giggles. Maybe it was because he looked like she could faint any moment now. Her long black hair was braided loosely to the side stopping just below her chest like her friend, giving her a mature, elegant look. Her eyes were big and emotive. Currently, they were nervously flitting about the room. Her skin looked like coffee with too much milk in it, a soft pastel brown. Her lips were full, pink and luscious.

She certainly knew how to dress herself, donning a full sleeved shirt with the sleeves pulled half way up her forearm. The shirt was tight enough to accentuate her generous bust but was loose enough to avoid making her body bulge unnecessarily. The collar of the shirt was just low enough to expose creamy collarbones but hid her cleavage. Her skinny jeans hugged her legs and hips, outlining the curves perfectly. Hongbin could easily count the number of women who would kill to look like her and he would need more fingers.

Hongbin noticed identical rings worn by Sa Ra and Hee Na. They were silver, thin and in the shape of the peace sign. Both wore the rings on their right index finger. It reminded them of several of the identical rings the group members donned on from time to time. To Hongbin, it represented the familial bond they shared. He wondered if it were the same for the two of them.

“Um, are you okay?” a voice called softly. Hongbin’s eyes snapped back up. Hee Na was looking at Ken, eyebrows crinkled together in concern.  

Hongbin poked Ken’s arm and jerked his head towards the black haired female when he got his attention.

Ken stared blankly at Hee Na who, when convinced he had not heard her, repeated, “Your neck,” she said, pointing to her own, “When you got hit, it must have hurt a lot. Are you okay?” She titled her head ever so slightly to the side, waiting for a reply.

The singer blinked a few minutes, before sputtering a reply, “O-Oh, of course!” Then his voice changed along with his pronunciation, “Nothing can hurt Kenjumma!” Then he proceeded to puff out his left cheek, close his right eye and brandished a horizontal V sign just before his left eyes.

Hee Na was slow to respond but when she did, she sent him a kind smile. One that indicated that she wasn’t going to prod deeper into the subject. Apparently, she wasn’t convinced by Ken’s flimsy cover up.

How observant of her… Hongbin thought, grimacing in acknowledgement.

Ken sat back and smoothened his sideburns, eyes downcast as before but the increasing redness of his ears didn’t go unnoticed by Hongbin. It made the visual want to giggle and tease the other. Perhaps later.

“Uh, what… what happened to the arcade machines and everything else?” a new voice, Sa Ra, spoke.

Panic rose from the depth of his stomach. How were they going to explain themselves without exposing themselves?

And then, a thought struck his mind; would it really be so apocalyptic to let loose their secret? In confidence to the other party, of course.

Hongbin glanced at his leader waiting for him to speak up. But looking at the death pale face of N, Hongbin wanted to smack himself.

“Um… Well, you see… that… it’s kind of…” N became a sputtering mess as he tried to find a valid excuse. Finally giving up, he settled for a high pitched laugh that made him sound like a horse.

Hongbin put his head in his hands and leaned into Ravi shoulder, seeking comfort. The older, already used to this habit, gently patted his back and let out a sigh of hopelessness.

However, what happened next was enough to convince the visual that jumping out the widow would be the best thing that could happen to him all night.

Drawing a long breath, Leo took matters into his hands, “You were hallucinating. You’re still hallucinating. We’re not really here. It’s all in your heads.”

And the matters slipped from his hands and dropped to the ground with a humiliating thud.

x----------x

Su Hyeon had always wanted to meet her favourite idols one day. Probably squeal her head off as they smiled at her, ask for a sign and chat for a few minutes before parting temporarily until the next concert or fan sign or something. All will be well and normal in the world.

But what was this? What in great god Poseidon’s beard was going on? Her mind reeled, trying to find some rationality in what was just said. But who was she kidding? This is VIXX sitting in front of her and her friends right now, in wooden crates in an abandoned building in the middle of the night.

Su Hyeon gasped. What if all this was a hallucination? That maybe she was the only here, her friends were also part of this very weird hallucination that was totally uncalled for? But why would she hallucinate about them escaping when her fantasies were much more… interesting?

Wait, do we have a say in what we would hallucinate?  

She looked over at the six men sitting before her and she was convinced of the contrary; she wasn’t in fact hallucinating. She was also convinced of another thing; Leo had just lost whatever shred of normalcy he had in him.

The other five just stared at the expressionless singer in stunned horror. N’s hands flew to his cheeks and he looked strikingly like Munch’s The Scream. Hyuk just glared at the ground, looking like a child who just been betrayed by his parents. Ken’s head swiped his head towards Ravi so fast Su Hyeon thought he might just snap his own neck and die.

She heard him hiss, “Did he just say what I thought he just said?!” His question was rewarded by a curt nod by Ravi who took to staring blankly at the window behind the girls. He continued to gently pat Hongbin’s back who was beginning to look like a trauma victim.

Then she heard a snort and looked over to Hee Na. The corner of twitch and her eyes were like saucers. Had they ever been normal sized in the course of the night?

Then she began blinking rapidly, just as she would do whenever she tried comprehend something. “Wait, are you being serious right now?” she looked at each one of them waiting for a reply with furrowed eyebrows.

Su Hyeon gulped. She was begin to get irritable. Things would not go well if she were to get pissed off. Su Hyeon screwed her eyes shut and silently prayed to the idols to just come out with the truth.

But the universe seemed to be against her tonight.

N jumped in his seat, slapping his hands on his thighs and began, “Ye- yes! We are! This- this building was sprayed with a strong hallucinogenic gas a few years ago and it seemed there is still remnants of the gas which is why you guys are hallucinating about the us right now. Oh, but I’m really happy that you hallucinated of VIXX instead of anyone else. It really means a lot to me when our Starlight-”

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?! WHAT IN THE WORLD IS WRONG WITH THE TWO OF YOU?!” Hongbin thundered at the oldest two, face red and veins bulging in his neck. He sprang up, almost pushing Ravi out of his seat in the process. The rapper tittered for a few moments on his before regaining his balance and sat upright.

 “HALLUCINATIONS?! THAT’S WHAT YOU CAME UP WITH, LEO HYUNG?! HOW CAN FOUR PEOPLE HALLUCINATE THE VERY SAME THING?! THEY AREN’T CLOSE ENOUGH TO EXPERIENCE A FOLIE À DEUX! AND I’M NOT GOING TO EXPLAIN WHAT IT MEANS!” Hongbin pointed to N as he ended when the older opened his mouth, probably to ask the term meant.

The room descended into stunned silence. No one dared to move or speak. Su Hyeon herself had forgotten to breathe for a moment. Ravi, Ken and Hyuk sat frozen, eyes wide and frightened. Leo’s eyes darted between Hongbin’s beautiful, enraged face and the top of Ken’s fluffy brown head. N opened his mouth, probably to assert his position once again as leader but the words died out even before they came out when his eyes met with Hongbin’s. 

The room was quiet save for Hongbin’s laboured breathing. He sat back down and heaved a great sigh and slowly the words came out of mouths, “Hyuk-ah, let’s tell them the truth.”

Hyuk started and whipped his head towards his hyung, in astonishment. “I don’t think we should-”

“We don’t know how they might take it. Or if our secret is safe with them,” Ravi spoke for the first time in the course of the night. And he sounded uncharacteristically serious. “We might not know what they would do with it.”

“Or they might just not believe us,” Ken added.

Out of the corner of her view, he saw Shin Mi raise a hand, “Um, not wanting to sound rude but, uh, can we be the judge of whatever it is that you have to say. So why not just be out with it? The suspense is really killing me!” she bounced in her seat in impatience and concluded with a sweet smile.

“I agree with her. How bad can it be that you all are hesitating so much? I know we are strangers to you but whatever this big secret might be keeping, it will be safe in our confidence.” Sa Ra further offered.

N sprang from his seat, squinting comically and swept a pointed finger between the four women. “How can we believe you?”

“Well, I guess it depends on whether or not we believe you or not, doesn’t it. If we believe you, we’ll gladly protect your secret. If we don’t like Ken-sshi said, then what’s the harm? You’re secret is still a secret either way.” Hee Na concluded, looking resolute in front of the idols.

N puckered his lips thoughtfully and glanced at each one of them as Su Hyeon offered, “Try us, I mean, our trust. We are your fans. No fan would ever want to make things difficult for their idols, right?”

It seemed enough to convince N who nodded and turned to Hongbin, suddenly adopting the leader position once again, “I think it’s alright to trust them.”

Hongbin sent the dirtiest sneer he could conjure up and spat sarcastically, “Thank you very much for the green light,” He turned to Hyuk, “Do you have it?”

The suspense was killing Su Hyeon but she tried not to show it. She looked at each one of the members and took in their grave expressions. What is this secret anyway?

Hyuk nodded and pulled out a blue paper plane out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Hongbin. He held it out and said, “I suppose you know what this is,” he looked up expectantly at the four women.

A few seconds ticked by when suddenly Shin Mi and Sa Ra gasped in unison and jumped in their seat. Sa Ra caught hold of Hee Na’s forearm in a vice-like grip and chanted, “Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no…”

Su Hyeon’s brows furrowed exchanging bewildered looks with a pain stricken Hee Na. “What? What is it?” she called out to Sa Ra over a squealing Shin Mi. In the midst of peeling off Sa Ra hand, Hee Na froze, her face turning deadpan as realization hit her.

“Blue paper plane… six handsome guys…” Hee Na turned to Su Hyeon, her face emotionless and continued, “Where else have we heard those words together?”

Su Hyeon’s eyes bulged and she opened to say something when Shin Mi beat her to it, “Omo, Omo, Omo! So you guys are the wish granters?! If I had known that, I would send you guys wished every day!” she ended her gushing with yet another squeal.

“Uh, it doesn’t work that way…” Hyuk mumbled completely ignored by the fangirl.

“Wait, but how does that equate into all of this?” Su Hyeon asked, her finger circling the room.

Hongbin inhaled deeply and straightened up, “Ah, yes. That.”

“Well, it started when we were having dinner a few hours ago.” Hyuk cut in, aiding his hyung. “We were talking about our debut and all our hardships and somehow, we ended reminiscing about the Rock Your Body era,” the mangnae inhaled before continued, “As it turns out, it was the one single we had a lot of fun making. It left us feeling a bit wistful when…” he trailed off shooting a glare at the oldest sitting next to him.

“When our leader here suggested to reliving the memory for a night. That we should go “howl at the moon” one more time,” Hongbin continued for the mangnae. “And it didn’t take much for him to convince because, well, we are idiots and he doesn’t take no for an answer.”

Suddenly, N cut in, obviously not able to keep quiet for so long, “So, we came here and Jaehwannie with his great memory and powers created the whole setting,” Ken wiggled a V sign and smiled. Su Hyeon was sure she saw Hee Na blush and look away.

“We were doing our thing when we heard you guys. We were just about to escape when Jaehwannie, in his panic, forgot to erase everything.” N reached over to pat Ken’s head, who preoccupied himself with his sideburns in an attempt to hide his embarrassment. “You know how he is under pressure.”

Su Hyeon mind reeled, unable to process the new information that bounced around in her mind. She could feel a headache coming. All she could manage was a high pitched nervous laugh. Next to her, Shin Mi nodded overexcitedly. Su Hyeon thought she saw tears in her eyes.

“You don’t look like you believe us,” Ravi chimed in pointing lazily at Hee Na.

Hee Na, whose face was suspiciously placid the entire time (except when she blushed like a bride), looked up at the rapper with wide, clear eyes. “That’s because I don’t. I rather choose to believe that I inhaled hallucinogenic air. Or that this whole thing is just a weird dream that is going to leave a bit disappointed when I wake up tomorrow.”

“Actually, I kind of agree with her…” Sa Ra trailed off and pursed her lips, her slim bows furrowing together in a cringe.

“Why?! Why?! Why wouldn’t you believe us when we just poured our hearts out to you?!” N argued standing up and glaring and pouting at the girl.

“We have no reason to lie to you,” Hongbin stated calmly as he seized the leader in a headlock.

“Am I supposed to believe that when you clearly lied the first time?” Hee Na asked innocently. “And besides, it shouldn’t affect you either way. Just as I said earlier, you secret is safe whether I believe you or not which as it turns out, I don’t.”

Hongbin looked at her in surprised before breaking into a dazzling grin and began laughing. “Well, I certainly cannot argue with that.” He looked at her once more before chuckling and shaking his head.

However, the feisty leader showed no sign of backing down. Flailing against Hongbin’s strong hold, he looked at Hee Na and spoke, “Ah, this woman…! Just you wait, girl! I will make you believe me! No one calls Cha Hakyeon and his children liars!” Ignoring Ravi’s comment that he and Leo were the ones to lie first, he continued, “In the name of my ancestral land, I, Cha Hakyeon, popularly known as N, leader of VIXX, promise that-”

Just then, a voice cracked and boomed sounding like it came out of a loudspeaker. It said, “All right. This is the police. We heard complaints coming from residents claiming that there are people causing trouble in the third floor of this building. If, in fact, there is someone in there, know that you are trespassing on private property. Please come out and turn yourself over to the officers waiting outside. If you don’t come out in the next few seconds, we will be left with no choice but to take you with us by force.”

And just like that, with a crack, the voice stopped and silence filled the room. Every one sat or stood in their place, eyes wide in horror not daring to make a move for fear that they might get caught.

Su Hyeon heart beat wildly in her chest and she was very close to having a panic attack. She looked at her friends. Shin Mi held onto Sa Ra who was frozen in horror and Hee Na was whipping her head about wildly, looking desperate by the second.

No, no, no, no! This is so not happening! I have my whole life ahead of me! I still haven’t sorted out my dreams yet! I still don’t know whether to study deep sea organisms or study the life of animals in the tundra! That’s how young I am! Ah, Hee Na, you better be right about this being a dream…

Ken seized Hyuk by the shoulder and shook the youngest violently whilst chanting, “Eottokaji, eottokaji, eottokaji! Oh… Eottokajiiii!” Panic shone clearly on the singer’s eyes. Hyuk had tears in his and matched Ken’s chanting with his own, “I don’t deserve this! I don’t deserve this! I don’t deserve this!” Leo sat immobile, blinking at the cement under his feet.

N’s eyes bulged and his breath hitched and his mouth opened, ready for a scream which never came as Ravi and Hongbin slammed their hands over his mouth, hissing in unison, “Don’t scream, you idiot!”

Hongbin turned to Hee Na who was still in search of something and whispered, “What do we do?! We can’t get caught! We’re idols, goddammit!”

Suddenly, the pandemonium came to standstill at the sound of approaching footsteps. “Okay, time’s up! You better not have any weapons on you!” a voice called somewhere below and beyond the dented, rusty door.

“Hyung, who do you think is there?” another voice asked. They were getting frighteningly close.

“Probably just some no-good teenagers smoking together,” They were just before the last flight of stairs that led to the door. 

“Found it! The fire exit!” Hee Na exclaimed as quietly as she could and ran towards a dark corner of the room somewhere towards their left. She opened the door which surprisingly didn’t groan or creak despite its appearance and ushered the rest in.

Just the last one squeezed into the narrow staircase, the front door rattled on its weak hinges as the officer rapped his fists against it. Hee Na yelped and closed the door behind her as quietly as she could and mentioned for them to start climbing down.

Without stalling for even a second, the group flew down the flight of stairs. Ravi and Hongbin practically carried N and their hands were still clamped over the leader’s mouth.

In a few minutes, they reached the last flight of stairs and burst through the back door and into the spring night. Some stood, some collapsed onto the pavement wheezing and heaving laboured breaths. Hee Na peeked up to see if they had been followed by the officers. She waited for a few seconds, listening before she heaved a sigh of relief, closed the door and leaned against it.

Su Hyeon joined her and leaned against the wall beside her raven haired friend. Between laboured breaths, she asked, “We got away?”

Hee Na pushed her hair over one shoulder and fanned her face before nodding, too exhausted to vocalise her response. At least something went right tonight.

“How did you know where the fire exit was?”

Hee Na’s voice lowered in volume and she leaned close her friend, “I wasn’t listening to what they were saying most of the time. I was, well,” she her lips, a blush creeping into her cheeks, “I was getting distracted so I took to looking somewhere else in order to not look like a creeper.” She inhaled and straightened up, nodded coolly and continued to fan her face that was getting increasingly red.

Su Hyeon glanced towards Ken who was sprawled across the pavement, his head on Hongbin’s lap. The vocalist was kept repeating that he was dead, looked at Hongbin and breathlessly claimed that his angel was here to take him away whilst the visual’s chin.

A mischievous smile crept onto Su Hyeon which Hee Na caught and responded by glaring at her but she couldn’t stop the blush that making itself very evident.

“Hee Na, baby, are you okay?” Sa Ra rushed next to her in concern. Hee Na started, choking on her saliva and began coughing. So instead she resigned herself to using gestures and nodded her head to assure Sa Ra that everything was fine.

When she recovered, she smacked a gleefully hysteric Su Hyeon and seethed, “I hate you. No more pancakes for you.”

x-------x

Suddenly, N sprang up into sitting position using Ravi as support to pull himself up sending the rapper tumbling backwards. He pointed to Hee Na and Sa Ra resolutely and said, “I will make you believe me. You just watch,” he wiggled a finger at the two of them.

Hee Na turned to Sa Ra, “Does this mean more weird VIXX themed dreams?”

“Maybe. But I don’t mind!” Sa Ra placed both hands her cheeks and sighed in content.

“Oh, of course!” Hee Na giggled and flicked her nose affectionately.

N opened his mouth to protest but Leo stopped him by wrapping an arm over his mouth and pulling him into his chest. N looked up at the vocalist, squealed and excitedly snuggled further into Leo’s chest. The singer looked like he had never regretted anything more than he regretted having the overbearing leader against his chest.

Su Hyeon caught sight of Shin Mi whose “fujoshi” had crept to the surface. Any moment now and her nose would let forth a violent gush of blood. She crouched beside the hyperventilating female and turned her head to side and said, “You’ll end up having a nose bleed. After we just escaped the police, let’s try not to make this look like a murder scene.” Shin Mi just giggled like a child and turned away.

The group descended into comfortable silence as they rested from the mental and physical exhaustion. The street was void of any human presence save the ten young adults sprawled over the pavement like spilt water. Anyone who was to witness this scene would just take them to be a bunch friends enjoying the spring night’s air and be on their way.

Sa Ra yawned and her head lolled until it hit Hee Na’s shoulder, jerked her to attention. Hee Na s a hand around her friend’s waist to support her and whipped out her phone. The time on the phone read 2:37 A.M.

“It’s getting late. Don’t you guys have to leave?” she spoke to Hongbin who was balancing an unconscious, drooling Ravi on his shoulder and ended up getting his chin head butted by Ken who shot up straight after munching on whatever candy he could in his pockets which was a lot.

“Yeah, we should,” Hyuk spoke. “Noona, do you know of a park nearby? We parked our car just by one.”  

Hee Na had to compose herself and reign in her noona feels. It was extremely hard to not squeal and pull the cute boy into a hug and ruffle his hair and pinch his cheeks. Finally, when she had calmed down, she said, “Yeah, there is. You’ll find it if you-”

“It on the way to our apartment. We can take you there,” Shin Mi cut in and rubbed her eyes sleepily.

x------x

Hee Na sat on a chair in the balcony of her apartment, looking out into the night sky in a daze. It was a shame that the Seoul sky offered no sight of stars. Her friends had retired to their bedrooms as soon as they entered their two bedroom apartment. Up until an hour ago, she could Shin Mi and Su Hyeon giggle and squeal quietly to each other in their room.

Hee Na sighed and ran a hand through her long black hair messing up her bangs. It had been some two hours since they parted with the six so-called wish granting idols. It had been some two hours ago, when Shin Mi subtly drilled Hongbin with questions about their dorm life, like who roomed with whom, or if they had ever showered together whenever they were late. Basically any question that would feed her “fujoshi” fantasies. But Hongbin, being smart man that he was, skilfully evade the questions.

It had been a little over two hours since Su Hyeon helped Hee Na to support Sa Ra as she kept dozing off and Hyuk hovering over her asking her why she smelt like cakes and bread.

It has some two hours ago since Leo piggybacked a sleeping Ravi on his back with N cooing at the rapper’s cute sleeping face and snapping pictures of his face on his phone.

It had been some two hours since she witnessed Ken sing sensually into the quiet night air with a small smile grazing his lips, leaving her breathless and her heart hammering against her ribcage, each note sending tantalising chills down her spine. It was one of those moments when she could ignore Su Hyeon snickering at her reddened cheek, or awe-struck eyes, or anything in the world and just listen to the one voice that never failed to take her breath away but at the same time fill her with the warmth of life.

Hee Na smiled at the memory and bite her bottom lip. As rational and logical people have claimed Hee Na to be, she desperately wished against all odds that what had happened tonight was a dream.