"Jihoon, it would be good for you to get a change of scenery. We know it's not the biggest place, but it's the best we could find for you right now."

Jihoon sighed as his two best friends drug him towards a small apartment complex off a side road in Seoul. He regretted ever telling Jeonghan and Jisoo about his failing financial state the moment it left his lips. Ever since being evicted from his old apartment and forced to move in with his friends, the pair had been nothing but nice to him. They fed him and drove him to and from work so he didn't have to waste money, and now had found him a cheap apartment. Saying he wasn't thankful would be a lie, he couldn't have asked for better friends, but he just felt so... So worthless. Helpless. Like a child.

Jeonghan smiled charmingly at him as they went up to the fourth story and down to the end of a poorly lit hallway. An old red door with a rusted plaque and the number "17A" engraved on it lay in front of the three boys. Jisoo handed him the key excitedly, “Go on, open it,”. Jihoon took a breath and slowly opened the door.

He didn’t know what he was expecting. In fact, he thought he had no expectations, but this apartment was definitely not what he thought it was going to be. The apartment was the least bit impressive. It looked as grungy and old as one could ever imagine a place could be. To be perfectly honest, it was a dump.

A lopsided wooden table sat in the middle of the room with a stack of old newspapers from over two years ago on top of it. In the corner was a rusting sink and a white fridge both taking up a little too much space than was necessary. There was a door to the left that was wide open revealing a toilet and a shower head that continuously dripped, but nothing else. The door next to it was shut and Jihoon didn’t even want to know what lay behind it. On the other wall was another room left wide open.

Jihoon wandered towards the room, and realized it was his bedroom. The walls were a faded white and probably looked actually pretty at one time, the same story went for the dark wooden floor that was warped and covered in dirt. The bed was wooden and lopsided like the table causing some concern; but all in all, the rest of the empty room was somewhat inviting. Jihoon set the box he was carrying down on the floor with a thud and slowly sat down on the bed, afraid it could break in any second. He laid back on it and closed his eyes, trying to ignore the whispering voices in the other room bickering over "how crappy the apartment was". Jihoon sighed and got up.

"I like it," he commented as he entered the room surprising the boys. "It's simple and liveable."

Jisoo smiled sadly. "We really tried to get you the best, but it's hard to find anything nice with your price range and-"

"I said I liked it and I meant it." Jihoon cut him off, forcing his smile. Sure, he would like some place nicer and less dusty, but he could never say that to his friends that worked so hard to get him this in the first place. And Jisoo was right. With a salary like Jihoon’s it was a miracle he could even afford this place.

"We'll keep our eyes open to see if anything nicer comes up!" Jeonghan piped up. Jihoon smiled and shook his head but made no comment.

Jihoon walked around a bit more as his friends made sure all the plumbing and electricity worked correctly. He reached the shut door and tried the handle but frowned when it turned out to be locked. "Jeonghan, Jisoo, what's in this room?" Jihoon asked. He didn't like the idea of being locked out of a room in his own apartment.

Jisoo shrugged and Jeonghan muttered, "The stubborn landlady wouldn't tell us." Jihoon turned back and looked the door up and down confused. “You better hope you don't have any problems Jihoon, that landlady is about the rudest person I've ever met!” Jeonghan huffed, still obviously aggravated from the last time he spoke with her.

After getting Jihoon settled in and unpacked, the three boys hung out for awhile before the couple decided to leave. "If you need anything, give us a call," Jisoo said, hugging Jihoon tightly. "We picked this place partly because it was a ten minute walk from our house for a reason. So please actually call us if you need us,"

"Thanks guys, I'm okay though." Jihoon faked another smile as the boys left his new home.

He sat down on the floor by the table, a little peeved that there wasn't any chairs, and slowly took in the apartment. He couldn't picture himself living here at all. He missed his old apartment with the big windows and bright blue walls and mentally cursed the landlord for not giving him a few more days to come up with the money. This apartment was dull with grungy white walls and dark wooden floors that creaked as you walked. It only seemed to dampen his mood more.

How was he supposed to live here? Home was the place he could relax and feel at ease. But now, being in the new, uninviting place, he felt more restless than ever. All his troubles, all his worries, seemed to enhance that minute he was left alone in this room.

He was suddenly brought out of his thoughts by the front door swinging open. A tall boy with dark, black hair ran into the room, almost forgetting to close the door behind him. Jihoon quickly put up his hands, prepared to get knocked out or robbed but was surprised when the boy sat down next to him with a giant grin.

Woah, almost didn't see you there!” the boy smiled as Jihoon lowered his hands. “No need to be afraid; I'm Choi Seungcheol! Your roommate!"

Roommate?

"Roommate?" Why didn't Jeonghan and Jisoo warn him about a roommate? They knew how bad he was at social interaction and how he would need time to prepare himself. Forgetting this detail was the worst thing the pair could do. “Really?” he asked dumbfounded. The Seungcheol boy nodded eagerly.

"Yep! I'm so thrilled you moved in!" Seungcheol commented with a grin. "I was beginning to get so lonely here," Jihoon furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion.

"Sorry, I wasn't aware I had a roommate.” Jihoon spoke urgently. This had to be a mistake.

“Yeah, Miss. A, the landlady, is really bad at filling tenants in on details like this. Here’s my key if you don’t believe me!” Seungcheol held up a shiny silver key that matched Jihoon’s own causing the boy to sigh. “See I live here. Not a mugger I promise!” he winked making Jihoon relax just a little.

“Well, um, nice to meet you. I'm Lee Jihoon." He stuck out his hand uncertainly to shake but the boy ignored him and instead lent back against the table leg.

"I hope we can become great friends!" The boy beamed. Jihoon scoffed under his breath putting his hand down. What was this kid? Saying such weird things, acting so happy? Jihoon felt a headache beginning to form. He stood up slowly and began to walk towards his room.

"We'll see about that I guess."

If moving into a new place wasn’t hard enough, finding out you’ll have to share that with another human is a whole other level of difficult. And another person as so bright and obnoxious as this Seungcheol kid came off was the worst case scenario. This was going to be an entirely different world. It did however explain the locked room in the house to be Seungcheol’s room which made Jihoon feel slightly more at ease.

He shut the door to his room and abruptly locked it, afraid Seungcheol would invade his privacy if he didn't. He decided first thing tomorrow he would set up some ground rules with his roommate.

He slowly walked around his room taking it all in before stopping in the center. Jihoon stared for a moment at nothing and then decided to shove the box of his things into the closet instead of getting them out. “I’m not gonna be here for long anyways if I can save up my money,” He muttered to himself. Not having anything else to do he sat down in his bed and quickly nodded off.

~~~
 

Thud.

Creak.

Bang.

Jihoon shot up in bed, startled by the noises going on outside his bedroom. “What the hell is going on?” he murmured as another loud thud erupted outside his door. He quietly slipped out of bed and crept towards his door, his floor giving away his every move. Pressing his ear against the rough wooden door, he could hear some movement quite close to his room.

Thud.

He swung the door open, expecting to see Seungcheol or a thief or something, but instead was met with nothing. The house was still and silent. Nothing was knocked over or touched, as if all the noises had been his imagination.

Determined to figure out what it was he walked a few steps forwards towards the only other room that had something living in it. He knocked a few times on Seungcheol’s door before he tried the handle which he discovered to still be locked. “He probably just fell out of his bed or something,” Jihoon muttered before walking away.

Still on edge he sat by the table for a while waiting for another noise to sound. Much to his relief everything stayed quiet and he decided to go back to bed. The moment his shut his door his cell phone burst to life. “Dear god!” he whisper screamed quickly grabbing it out of his work backpack and answering it without looking at the caller ID. “Hello?”

All he could hear was breathing. “Hello?” More breathing. Jihoon sighed, prank callers these days. “I can hear you breathing.”

“Help.” was all a man’s voice whispered before the call disconnected.

The cell phone fell from Jihoon’s slender hands as his legs began to shake. He was beyond the point of freaked out right now. The voice rang throughout his mind over and over again as he quickly crawled back into bed and prayed for sleep to hit him quickly.  

It never came.

~~~
 

“How was your sleep, roomie?” Seungcheol excitedly asked when he opened his door to see Jihoon already wide awake, sitting by the table with a cup of coffee. “Wonderful? Amazing?”

“Absolutely horrible.” Jihoon muttered much to his roommate's dismay. Seungcheol frowned and started towards the kitchen. “You really didn't wake up last night?” Jihoon asked after a few seconds. How could he not have woken up? Those noises were so loud even the deceased could have heard them.

“What do you mean?” Seungcheol asked, pondering through the nearly empty fridge.

Jihoon turned towards his roommate quickly. “There were these awful noises! All of these thuds and bangs, it was really terrible to listen too. I couldn't sleep at all,” By now Seungcheol had turned around and stared at him curiously.

“Really?” He mused. “I guess I'm just a deep sleeper,” and with a chuckle he turned back to the fridge.

Before Jihoon could reply he jumped at the sudden ringing of his cell phone. He grabbed it quickly off the table and answered it with a rushed “Yes?”

“Hey, we’re outside.” Jeonghan’s voice sounded over the other line. There was a long pause before he continued. “Didn't you ask for a ride today to go check up on your mom?” he trailed off when Jihoon finally remembered.

“I’ll be right down!” he yelled into the phone, bouncing to his feet and fumbling around in his pockets to check and make sure he had his room key. “I'm going out, see you later.” He yelled to Seungcheol. Before storming out of the room, he paused at the door. “By the way, you might want to go shopping. A lot of that food is way past the expiration date. Like way past it,” and with that he raced out of the room. Seungcheol gave a simple smile as the door slammed in his face.

“I am so sorry, I completely forgot!” Jihoon panted as he slid into the backseat of the car. He buckled up as Jisoo speedily drove away.

“Don't worry about it, there's a lot going on,” Jisoo smiled up to him in the mirror. “Anyways, the hospital is only five minutes from here so we’ll be there quickly, you won't be late.”

Sure enough, Seoul Hospital pulled into view within the next second. Jihoon waited impatiently for Jisoo to drive around to the elderly patients wing. As he hopped out of his car Jeonghan stopped him quickly. “Hey, we’ll be waiting here when you're done. Good luck,” Jihoon nodded before sprint off.

He entered the familiar wing that he'd walked down so many times before. The white walls seemed to immediately start to close him in, a claustrophobic feeling oozing out of his pores. The flickering lights gave him a headache as he walked quickly to room A96. The faster he got in, the quicker he could leave.

He opened the white door to reveal a completely white room with nothing but medical equipment and a single bed. Not even the window in the corner seemed to help the room feel more homey. His mother lay asleep in the bed barely catching her breath. Her frail white hair lay in a mess up on her head and her boney, wrinkled hands sat peacefully intertwined on her fragile chest. How much he hated her. How much frustration and downright sorrow he felt at that moment was almost entirely overwhelming until she began to stir.

Her once bright and cheerful green eyes flickered open to reveal accusing, frightened dull ones. She slowly turned her head towards him, taking in his presence in the room; acknowledging he existed.

“Why hello?” her voice like honey filled the room. “Come in,” Jihoon sighed and shut the door behind him before slowly approaching the bed. “My dear,” she murmured to herself as Jihoon sat down next to her bed. “How are you?”

“I'm good mom, I'm doing wonderful.” He lied through a smile. “I just moved to a new apartment. It's gorgeous with bright walls and a million rooms all filled with luscious, expensive furniture.” He smiled through his fantasy, almost believing himself for a split second.

“I'll have to come visit then deary. How's Jeonghan and Jisoo?” She asked with a smile, remembering the two boys. “What lovely boys they are.”

“They're doing great. I think they're thinking of adopting a kid here soon. That'll really be something to watch,” Jihoon laughed causing his mother to chuckle. Her cold hand found his, gracefully holding it with hers.

“Tell me Yoongi, how is Serah?” There it was. The confusion, the misunderstanding, the forgetfulness. “Have you proposed to her yet?”

Jihoon smiled defeated. “Mom, it's me Jihoon. Yoongi and Serah got married six years and they have a beautiful baby girl, your granddaughter, named Meri.” Jihoon explained slowly.

“Ah no, that can't be right. You told me yesterday you were going to propose silly,” she laughed squeezing his hand. “Tell me how you're doing it,” she smiled excitedly.

Jihoon sighed and recalled his brothers proposal. “Yoongi took Serah out to her favorite restaurant and bought her her favorite dish. Then in the middle of the meal her favorite violinist emerged and played a song while Yoongi rapped this cheesy love rap that ended in “Will you marry me?” it was sweet.”

“Dear that sounds lovely! I do hope she says yes. Now, how is your brother… uh oh yes, Ji, how is he doing?”

Jihoon wanted to scream. “Mom, I'm right here and I'm doing great. I've been evicted from my house, now I'm living in a dump with some strange guy that I don't know, and my stupid mother is taking all of my money because she wasted all of hers on some man that didn't stick around for more than a month and now she's in the hospital with altimeters disease and can seem to remember everybody else except for the one person that comes to visit her!” He stood up in a fit of anger, tearing his hand out of his mother's grasp violently.

“I… I don't understand why you're yelling at me?” she said shakily, tears visible in her dull eyes.

“You don't? Then I'll put it simply, I wish two things could happen. One, you die and leave this world with at least some of my respect. Or two, you never gave birth to me so I wouldn't have to live this ty excuse for a life. Obviously one of those things is impossible to do so chop chop on the other one,” Jihoon sneered before walking away from his mother's bed. The next thing he knew screaming filled the room.

“GET OUT YOU HORRIBLE, DISGRACEFUL BOY!” His mother screamed, trying to escape her bed. “I DON’T KNOW WHY YOU’RE HERE BUT YOU NEED TO LEAVE!” Nurses filled the room quickly removing Jihoon and slamming the door in his face. A few tears fell from his eyes as he began to leave the hospital, but they were gone by the time he got to the end of that long hallway.

“How did it go?” Jisoo asked the minute he climbed into their car. “Awful or durable?”

Jihoon thought for a moment before answering with, “This was actually a better time. She asked about you two and if you were doing well.”

“Momma Lee, so caring when her mind lets her be,” Jeonghan laughed. “Poor old woman,”

When Jihoon got home he was surprised to find the apartment empty. “I guess he has a life then?” Jihoon mused as he took off his shoes and wandered towards his room. His cellphone scared him for the second time that day the moment he reached his door.

“Yes?” He answered, slightly annoyed at how easily his stupid phone could scare him.

“Yes, is this Lee Jihoon?” A deep voice on the other line asked. “This is Doogi, CEO of Pledis Advertising and Business Management. Due to budget cuts I regret to inform you that you will no longer be needed in the company and we wish you the best of luck in the future.”

Jihoon shocked, almost dropped the phone onto the ground. This could not be happening. At least not right now. “Look sir, I understand but I really really need this job. My mom's in the hospital and I have bills to pay and-”

“I am sorry to hear that. We will continue paying you till the end of the month, that is all I can do for you.” Jihoon’s heart sunk at the words.

“Alright, thank you sir.” He hung up before he started to yell at the guy. “The end of the month, huh?” He opened his calendar on his phone and wanted to scream. “Those s, it's the 26.”

Jihoon drank a lot that night. Way more than he ever had before. Probably more than anyone he'd ever met drank before. Way more than the bartender should have allowed, that's for sure. Luckily the walk back from the bar to his apartment  wasn't much of a challenge, and he made it back without any strangers trying to “make sure he made it home safe”.

With a bottle of beer in one hand and a broken heart in the other, Jihoon collapsed on the floor by the table once more. He glanced over towards Seungcheol’s room, the door shut and the lights off. “Seungcheollie, are you home?” Jihoon called into the dark apartment. “Are you sleeping you lazy boy?” No answer. “I guess it's just me then,” Jihoon sighed taking another swig of his beer.

His plan was to wait up for Seungcheol all night since he had nothing better to do and drunk Jihoon wanted someone to share his problems with, but the next morning he awoke in his bed, with a water and bottle of aspirin placed on the floor next to him. Slowly he got up, completely aware of the pounding headache he had, and took the medicine.

He walked out of the room, glancing at his phone to see it was already a little past noon. The apartment was eerily quiet for a Saturday afternoon. “Seungcheol,” he called wearily but was met with no reply. “I'm beginning to believe I imagined him the first day,” he muttered to himself as he walked towards the coffee pot.

After pouring a cup of coffee, Jihoon ungracefully plopped down next to the table. He sat his cup down but quickly picked it up when he noticed the piece of paper he sat it on. It was yellow notebook paper, folded poorly in half. He opened it to see perfect cursive handwriting in blue ink.

Jihoon scoffed at the note. “You want me to find you, Seungcheol? What are we five and playing hide ’n seek?” Rolling his eyes, Jihoon shoved the note in his pocket and left for Jisoo and Jeonghan’s place.

It was a cozy home, decorated brightly yet simple showcasing both of their individual qualities. Jisoo had his American influence, being from America and all, all around the home, while Jeonghan had his succeeding business company plastered anywhere he could get it. Jihoon always felt jealous going over there, seeing how marvelous his friends were doing.

“Hey Jihoon, what brings you here?” Jisoo smiled when he saw his friend at his doorstep. He let him inside gratefully.

“I came to grab my sweatshirt I left here and to get advice,” Jihoon explained walking into the familiar home. He bent down and reached under the couch pulling out a black sweatshirt with big block letters “17” written on the back.

Jeonghan walked into the room with an entertaining smile edging at the corner of his lips. “Did someone say advice?”

“Yeah, I have a problem with my roommate,” Jihoon explained slipping on his sweatshirt. He turned around to two bewildered faces.

“What roommate?” Jeonghan asked confused. “You don't have a roommate.”

“Yes I do,” Jihoon said slowly. “His name is Seungcheol. His bedroom is the locked room the landlady didn't mention.” He explained slowly. “Anyway, he wrote me this note asking me to do something but I don't know if I want to,” Jihoon explained pulling the letter out and handing it off to his friends.

“An adventure?” Jeonghan laughed raising an eyebrow. “How exciting,”

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “Give me serious advice. Should I go or not? I mean I don't even know the guy,”

“I say you go” Jisoo said abruptly. “It's your chance to really get to know him and you could use a break from everything,”

“Plus, he invited you to a hotel,” Jeonghan winked causing Jihoon to shudder.

“Fine I'll go but just because Jisoo said so.”

And so off he went. On the journey that changed everything.

♦•♦•♦

Thank you so very much for reading chapter one! Chapter two will be published soon!

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Have the most wonderful rest of your day~