CHAPTER IV

“Jaejoong… Jaejoong…” that voice again, “Jaejoong… Jaejoong” such a sad tone was in that voice. Jaejoong woke up, got out of bed, put on his robe and slippers and walked to the door like a zombie following that voice that kept repeating his name over and over again.

Heechul and Yunho woke up when they heard the door open and saw Jaejoong leaving. They hurried up and followed him outside, “Where’s he going?” Yunho asked, “Dunno, I think he’s sleepwalking.” Heechul answered while they both saw Jaejoong going to the tower. “He’s gonna catch a cold.” Yunho said, “So are we.”

“It’s better to wake him up, but carefully, I’ve hear they can die if you wake them up all of a sudden.”

They approached Jaejoong and Yunho took him by the arm while talking softly, “Jae… Jaeboo… What are you doing out here?”

“I don’t know, I hear someone calling me.” Jaejoong said coming out of a trance. “You were sleepwalking.” Heechul said, “No, I can still hear him, listen.” They all stood still trying to hear something, “It’s the wind Jaeboo.” Yunho said and gently pulled Jaejoong by the arm, “No, it was a voice, I heard it loud and clear, it was calling me from there.” Jaejoong said and pointed to the tower, “It’s just one of your nightmares Jae, there’s no one in there,” Heechul said while closing his robe tighter to his body trying to keep the heat, “Besides the door is l…” he couldn’t continue that statement when he saw the door open, “See? Someone opened it for me.” Jaejoong said, “Then let’s find out who is there.” Heechul said and went to the door. He was about to grab the lock when the door shut on his face making the three boys jump, “Shut up, it was the wind!” Heechul tried to reason, “No, there’s someone there,” Jaejoong looked up and pointed “Look!” The boys looked up and saw the faint face of a boy that stared at them. “Let’s get out of here!” Heechul screamed and ran off along with Yunho but Jaejoong was petrified in his spot, Yunho noticed and ran back to him, he pulled him by the arm but to no avail so he picked him up in his arms and ran back to the dorm.

Once safe in the dorm, they woke the rest up and told them what they saw while Yunho laid Jaejoong in his bed and gave him some water. “We all saw it, in the window tower. He was looking straight at us.” Heechul was telling the boys, “Was he ugly?” Junsu asked, “No, quite the opposite, and he has hair down to his shoulders.”

“Well… maybe you dreamed it?” Junsu pondered, “The three of us, at the same time?”

“Then we need to do something.”

“I say we tell this to Principal Lee.” Changmin said, “Is snitching the only thing you do!” Siwon told him, “Well, at least they can say a prayer for him; he must be a troubled soul.”

“Those are superstitions, there must me a logical explanation.” Yunho said. “No, he is trying to tell me something.” Jaejoong said.

Suddenly the door opened, “What is going on here?!” Principal Lee yelled, followed by Professor Bae. “Uh, it’s just that I… I had a nightmare and…” Jaejoong said “Yeah, h-he screamed and woke us up.” Yunho quickly said, “We were trying to calm him down.” Junsu exclaimed and the rest just nodded. “Very well, go back to your beds.” They all went to their respective beds and took off their robes, Heechul was wearing close to nothing under his robe, he was wearing a very small, very tight boxer short and no shirt. The principal approached him and you could see the smoke coming out of his ears, “Kim Heechul! Why aren’t you wearing the same pajamas as the rest of your classmates?!” he yelled, “I was hot and…”

“No temperature justifies this kind of… indecency! I don’t ever want to see you wearing it ever again! Understood?!” Heechul nodded and left to put on his pajamas. “Was it the same nightmare than before?” Professor Bae asked Jaejoong and sat on the bed. Jaejoong looked at him and then to the principal who was listening close by, “N-no, it wasn’t.”

“Go to sleep Kim Jaejoong because I want to see you in class tomorrow.” Principal Lee said and turned to the door. Professor Bae tucked him in and left after the principal, turning the lights off.

The next day during lunch, while everybody was eating Changmin was reading ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ out loud.

“Eliza had been brought up by her mistress, from girlhood, as a petted and indulged favorite. The traveler in the south must often have remarked that peculiar air of refinement, that softness of voice and manner, which seems in many cases to be a particular gift to the quadroon and mulatto women. These natural graces in the quadroon are often united with beauty of the most dazzling kind, and in almost every case with a personal appearance prepossessing and agreeable. Eliza, such as we have described her, is not a fancy sketch, but taken from remembrance, as we saw her, years ago, in Kentucky.

Safe under the protecting care of her mistress, Eliza had reached maturity without those temptations which make beauty so fatal an inheritance to a slave. She had been married to a bright and talented young mulatto man, who was a slave on a neighboring estate, and bore the name of George Harris. This young man had been hired out by his master to work in a bagging factory, where his adroitness and ingenuity caused him to be considered the first hand in the place. He had invented a machine for the cleaning of the hemp, which, considering the education and circumstances of the inventor, displayed quite as much mechanical genius as Whitney's cotton-gin.”

The principal raised his eyes from his plate and saw Heechul and Siwon whispering and giggling while looking at something and not paying attention to the story. He got up and approached their table, “Look out!” Siwon whispered and looked away, Heechul immediately covered whatever he was looking at with his napkin and tried to play the fool. “Heechul,” Principal Lee said out loud, “I would like to know what is distracting you from Changmin’s reading.”

“Nothing sir, I wasn’t distracted.”

“Give me what you’re hiding under your napkin then.” The principal ordered, “There’s nothing there, honest.”

“Do you prefer I take it myself?” Principal Lee asked and extended his hand. Heechul pulled out Hangeng’s photo and gave it to the principal. He saw the photo and smiled, “I see you’re attending to your own novel. I’ll keep this until your parents come to visit you.” He turned around and went back to his table. Heechul was beyond pissed.

“That son of a , I wanted to punch him in the nose!” Heechul said furious while walking in the garden with Junho, “Now you’re gonna get in trouble with your parents.”

“Nah, I’m not worried about that, they already know Hangeng and are aware of our relationship.” Siwon, Junsu and Yunho approached them, “Dude, when the ogre took away the photo, a cold chill ran down my back.” Yunho said, “Well he’s not gonna have it for long because I’m getting it back.” Heechul said with confidence, “What?! Man, love makes you do the dumbest things.” Junho said, “Not dumb, I know he’s gonna keep it in his desk and I’m gonna go get it tonight.”

“To the ogre’s office? Are you insane?!” Yunho said in fear, “Yeah right,” Siwon mocked him, “And at what time are you planning to do this ‘rescue’?”

“Midnight”

“My, my, at the witch’s hour”

“Yes, so I’m sure you’re awake to see it, sweetie.” Heechul answered and messed up Siwon’s tie. The rest were just as intrigued as Siwon to see what was going to happen that night.

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