“I don’t think I want to attend the party.” Jeonghan quietly said as he applied concealer to Seungkwan’s face.

        Seungkwan was just about to protest until Jeonghan uses one hand to squeeze his cheeks upwards. Realizing Jeonghan’s intentions to stop him from questioning him too much, Seungkwan simply asked him, in a muffled voice, “Why?”

        Jeonghan let out a sigh as he continued applying the concealer on Seungkwan.

        “You know why, yet you’re still asking me that.”

        Seungkwan pouted, believing Jeonghan is mad at him. Once Jeonghan released his hand from his face, he spoke while massaging his cheeks, “He might not come to the party, you know. Besides I heard from Sooyoung that Seungcheol is her makeup artist.”

        Seeing Jeonghan stop what he is doing, Seungkwan continued speaking, “Sooyoung also told me how it looks like Seungcheol is single. You know what it means…do you?”

        After hearing the words “Seungcheol” and “single”, Jeonghan found himself frozen in his inner thoughts. It has been 7 years since he last saw or spoke to Seungcheol. He didn’t have pleasant memories of that day when he walked in on something that broke his heart. The one thing Jeonghan regretted when he ran away from the scene is, he never tried listening to Seungcheol’s side of the story.

        “Jeonghan?” Seungkwan called out, concerned. “Are you okay?”

        Jeonghan, still frozen in his inner thoughts, slowly began considering changing his earlier decision. He felt maybe this is a sign of some sort, a sign that he and Seungcheol might have a second chance. He only hopes Seungcheol is also willing to get back together with him. This time, he will listen to what Seungcheol has to say about that incident.

        “Jeonghan?” Seungkwan called out, placing a concerned hand on his shoulder.

        “I think…” Jeonghan took a deep breath for confidence. “I changed my earlier decision. I’ll go with you to Baekhyun’s party.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

5 Hours Later

        Jeonghan and Seungkwan were the first two to arrive at Baekhyun’s house. The strangest thing is that Baekhyun wasn’t there to greet them, instead, they were greeted by the butler and the cook of the house. They learned Baekhyun left instructions on what to do but it seems he might not appear at the party. Seungkwan didn’t seem to think anything about it as he believes Baekhyun is running late. However, Jeonghan finds it odd because why would Baekhyun host a party and not appear at it.

        Seeing everyone else makes Jeonghan happy as everyone has been friends for 7 years. The only “friend” he found himself feeling uncomfortable seeing is Minji who happens to be the cousin of his good friend Mingyu. Jeonghan remembering hearing a friend of Baekhyun’s, Zhang Yixing, describes Minji as a “white lotus”.

        “White lotus is slang for a woman who looks innocent on the outside but the inside, she’s secretly scheming.”

        When Minji smiles brightly, it makes Jeonghan wonder what is on her mind. He used to think of her as cute and how she always clings to him and Seungcheol. Right now, he realizes he’s seeing the real Minji whose eyes reflect a deep hatred for him. He never understood the reason Minji hated him until that moment he walked in on Seungcheol being kissed by a drunken Minji. It turns out she was after Seungcheol and saw him as the rival who stole her true love.

        All he wants to do when he sees Minji is to stay far, far away from her. She may look innocent but who knows what she could do to him if they’re alone in a room. He even wonders if anyone else, including Mingyu, knows the kind of person Minji truly is.

It seems that everyone who is invited to the party is paired up as roommates. The only exception is the girls who can choose to room up with another girl or have a room of their own. The boys are paired up into twos but like the girls, they are also allowed to pick a room of their own. Jeonghan thought he’s get paired up with Seungkwan who ended up being paired with Hansol.

“Looks like we’re roommates again,” Jeonghan recognized that voice, a voice he longed to hear. “Jeonghan.”

Everyone else already left to go find their rooms, even Minji did. Jeonghan just now noticed that when everyone arrived, he didn’t see Seungcheol. He believed Seungcheol would have come with Sooyoung but looks like he arrived here alone. With just the two of them alone here, Jeonghan wanted to take a long good look at Seungcheol.

It has been 7 years and Seungcheol still looks the same, the only difference is his short hair is now an icy silver that looks like blue when light shines on it. He still looks the same, the one feature of him that Jeonghan love is how his face looks when he smiles. Jeonghan was so distracted staring at Seungcheol he didn’t realize or notice his hand is being held by Seungcheol who is leading him to their room. He can feel his face flushed hot just from feeling the warmth of Seungcheol’s hand.

Once they were in their room, Jeonghan remembered what he wanted to do when he sees Seungcheol. With Seungcheol’s back facing him, Jeonghan placed his arms around Seungcheol’s waist.

“I know it is 7 years too late to apologize,” Jeonghan said in a shaky tone. “I just want you to know that I’m sorry. I’m sorry for moving away and not saying anything.”

Jeonghan took a deep breath, feeling himself on the verge of tears. “I know it might take some time for us to work things out. If you need time, I will wait until you’re ready…”

Jeonghan became quiet when he felt Seungcheol’s hand holding onto his tightly. A few minutes of silence pass and Seungcheol didn’t say anything, making Jeonghan believe he’s going to reject him. He tried to pry his hands away from Seungcheol’s waist but Seungcheol still kept his grip onto them.

“I know you’re probably expecting me to reject you and tell you that I need time,” Seungcheol said as he caressed Jeonghan’s hands. “but I don’t think I need time especially when you’re here right in front of me.”

Jeonghan burst into tears of happiness as Seungcheol turned around and place his hands on Jeonghan’s waist, pressing his body to his. Seungcheol wiped Jeonghan’s tears away, both let out a small laugh of happiness. They held onto each other, pressing their foreheads together as they gazed into each other’s eyes.

Unbeknown to the two, a figure stood outside their door, listening to their conversation with a listening device. Minji’s hands were shaking in anger as she continued to listen, only stopping when she thought she heard a sound. She wanted to break open the door and stop whatever the two were doing, just as her hand reached for the doorknob, she felt a hand on her shoulder forcibly leading her away.

“Minji, stop trying to get close to Seungcheol,” Mingyu said, looking around to make sure no one heard them in this quiet hallway. “You already caused enough trouble 7 years ago when you got between them. We don’t need a repeat of what happened.”

Minji scoffed, folding her arms, “Why should I stay away from my true love? I can’t let him end up in the arms of that temptress!”

“Minji, enough!” Mingyu scolded. “They have been together before I introduced you to them. From what I remember, you told me Jeonghan confided in you that he was going to confess to Seungcheol. If I had known what you were going to do, I would have stopped you.”

Mingyu let out an exasperated sigh with his hands on his hips. He knows he’s supposed to protect and care for Minji but when she doesn’t crazy things like this, it always makes him feel like he needs to choose sides. There are at least some moments when he feels like just not caring about her. If something happens to Minji, it can only be her fault because he tried his best but she refused to listen to him.

“Minji, this is going to be my final chance for you. I have always helped you through your troubles but this time, I’m not going to help you.”

“How can you say that Mingyu! You promised my parents to look out for me!”

“I did but look at how you’re repaying me for that. I nearly lost a good friendship because of your antics in hurting two of my friends,” Mingyu turned away, unable to look at Minji when she is crying. “As your cousin and guardian…I hope you make the right choice. If not, you’re on your own and I won’t lend a helping hand like before.”

Mingyu walked away, heading to the room he shared with Jihoon. Upon seeing the red eyes and hearing him sniffle, Jihoon comforted Mingyu. Earlier, Mingyu had talked to him about settling things with Minji.

“It’s okay,” Jihoon said, holding Mingyu in his arms. “You made the right choice. It just depends on what Minji will choose.”

Minji, still in the hallway, angrily wiped her tears away. She stopped in front of a portrait of Baekhyun, modeling for a video game. Minji wanted to tear up the portrait, feeling as if Baekhyun is taunting her with his smile.

“I could have made used of you,” Minji angrily said, staring at the portrait. “You always claimed you would help me with anything. You even had this party, claiming it’s to help me but it’s not, it’s just so your precious Jeonghan can get back with Seungcheol.”

Minji thought it was a trick of light because she could have sworn, she saw Baekhyun’s lips twitched a bit. Repressing the shudder, she continued talking to the portrait.

“Looks like I have to do everything myself. Seungcheol will be mine’s even if it means I have to resort to dangerous means to get him.”

Moments after Minji walked away, a shadowed figure appeared in the spot where she stood in front of Baekhyun’s portrait. The figure’s clothing seems to be soaked, as if he had just been in the water, causing a sloshing sound to be heard as he walks. He seems to have the same face as Baekhyun except his appearance seems to show signs of being dead. Pale gray skin tone that looks rotted with sunken eyes as if there’s no life in him. He stares at the portrait, reaching out his hand to touch it.

“It’s a shame beauty isn’t forever because once you die your beauty decays and all you’re left with is a rotting corpse.”

The moment his hand touches the portrait, Baekhyun’s face begins to corrode away. It’s not just his face but every part within the portrait begins to turn horrendous. It was as if the beauty from the portrait got out and entered the body of Baekhyun who’s dead looks are replaced with the beauty from the portrait. Now when someone walks by the portrait, all they will see is the ugliness of a dead Baekhyun.

“There’s no way I’m going to let her disrupt my plans with her selfish desires,” Baekhyun said staring into a handheld mirror. “I planned this party for a reason and it will go the way I planned it.”

Baekhyun brushes a hand over his eyes, turning his once black eyes into blue. He lets out a small chuckle and smiles. For some reason, his smile turns sad. Even when he tries to make his smile look happy, it still stays the same. Perhaps it might be permanently stuck because he died with a sad smile on his face.

“Poor Minji,” Baekhyun walked away with the sounds of sloshing wet shoes following his every step. “7 years ago, you were meant to be mine. It looks like you still believe you deserve Seungcheol but with me around, Seungcheol belongs with Jeonghan. I’m not going to let you ruin them a second time even if it means I have to kill you to make you see you belong with me.”

Author's Note

I finally decided to go with part 1 and part 2. Since this is a romance story with some supernatural elements, I needed to do a little research in what will make it supernatural. Ghosts are supernatural because people believe it's real so I went for a ghost theme in this one. Along with the fact that if the characters are unaware of anything supernatural related. It's considered a fantasy if they are aware of supernatural things.

Maybe when I first wrote this, I did kind of consider writing but I decided to not write any. I might have read some JeongCheol to get into the mood to write some but nothing came up. The part where Minji believes she heard a moan isn't what she thinks she heard. Sometimes characters who are a bit unhinged tend to easily hallucinate and believe certain things which I got from watching movies on the Lifetime Channel. In the Lifetime movie "Stalked By My Doctor", the doctor believes the girl he saved is thankful to him and wants a relationship with him, he even hallucinates that she's flirting with him. But she has no interest in him and finds his behavior disturbing because she has a boyfriend and the doctor is too old for her.

I might have rushed the relationship between Jeonghan and Seungcheol because I didn't want to make it like an eternity for them to get back together. I've read too many web novels where main characters who are exes take too many chapters to get back together and I didn't want that for the two. If anyone wants to know why I kind of paired Seungkwan with Vernon it's because I remember a video with some funny KPOP moments featuring the two where Vernon tells the fans his favorite part of Seungkwan. Pairing Woozi and Mingyu is because I always believe, in the music video for "Clap", that it was Mingyu that Woozi kicked in the beginning part. Correct me if I'm wrong about that because I couldn't get a good look at who it is.

The part with the portrait is my favorite to write because I was rewatching "The Picture of Dorian Gray", the 1945 version with Hurd Hatfield.

I also happened to be listening to "Fear" as I was writing this which is what I always do with any stories I write. I listen to the music of the KPOP group I'm writing about, it helps me feel motivated.