▬ Chapter 12: Coming Clean ▬

Dongwoo placed his tray on the table and sat down, grabbing his plastic fork and spoon along the way. He poked a small piece of potato and swished it in front of the other guys. “So, what now? We’re practically back to where we started.” Waiting for their response, he brought the piece of potato into his mouth and started to chew.

“Yeah,” Sungyeol instantly responded while his mouth was still full to which he hurriedly tried to swallow the whole contents before he continued but ended up choking in the process. L, who sat beside him, shook his head in disgust but he gladly helped his friend by patting his back. Hard. After a few more coughs, Sungyeol swatted L’s hand aggressively. “Hey! That hurts!”

“Then don’t speak openly with your mouth full and then try to swallow the whole thing in a second, you idiot.”

The taller man glared at the man beside him but reluctantly changed the topic before he lost his train of thought. “What I meant to say earlier was yeah, except that we’re ten times more creeped out and grandpa over here,” he pointed to the person sitting across from him, “decides to act all tough and make us wait until something bad happens.”

Sunggyu retorted, “Like I said, the premonition–”

“We don’t even know if that’s real. Plus, why is it that only you got that premonition and no one else did?” Woohyun added when he took out a fish bone and waved it in front of Sunggyu. “That sounds fishy to me.”

“Your puns are as lame as always.”

Woohyun looked up and to his surprise, a familiar man stood behind him. “Well, look what we have here.”

Dongwoo poked another potato and spoke, “It’s rare to see you come to us at lunch, Hoya.”

Hoya raised an eyebrow when he took a seat beside Woohyun. “Is that a problem?”

Sungyeol mumbled under his breath. “Yeah, you’re freaking me– Ow!”

“Nope, not at all,” Sunggyu responded while L tried to contain the overly honest man beside him. “What brings you here?”

Hoya remained silent and just looked that the guys while they ate their lunch. When he didn’t speak up after a while, the members of INFINITE looked up one by one and faced his direction in confusion.

Dongwoo stopped munching midway and looked straight into the man’s eyes. He noticed that they looked different from the cold-looking eyes that looked at him these past few weeks. “What?”

Hoya cleared his throat once before speaking, “This may come off as weird but do you think I’ve changed the past few months?”

Upon hearing his concern, Sungyeol and Woohyun choked on their food, L and Sungjong looked up from their plates, while Sunggyu remained silent. Dongwoo, on the other hand, ended up chuckling as he couldn’t believe what he just heard.

Confused, Hoya let out a dry chuckle to break the awkward atmosphere. “Did I say something wrong?”

Dongwoo was the first one to admit, “You know, we don’t really know much about you so I can’t really tell. But in a sense, yeah, you’ve been weird.”

“More like freaky– Ow! What the hell is wrong with you?!” Sungyeol rubbed his leg where L just pinched him.

“Stop saying nonsense to the poor guy,” he whispered. “Just look at him.”

Sungyeol did as told after a few more leg rubs to subside the pain. At first, he didn’t get what L meant but the moment he locked eyes with Hoya, he somehow knew what was up. The man clearly looked innocent and lost. Feeling embarrassed for his outburst, Sungyeol scratched his head. He was also starting to get confused to what was happening. “Sorry. Carry on to what you were saying, bro.”

“Okay?” Hoya smirked as he found Sungyeol’s change of attitude entertaining.

When Sungyeol saw him smirk, his heart started to pound faster. Maybe it has become a conditioned response after seeing Hoya with that creepy expression all this while. Yet for some reason, deep down inside him, he didn’t feel the threatening aura that was once there.

“Then let me confess,” Hoya continued and brought his legs inside the table to sit down properly. He intertwined his fingers and placed them on the table before returning to face his brothers. “I stole a cell phone from the restricted section in the library that night and since then, I’ve been talking to some chick named Han Hyerin. I’ve been conscious since then yet at the same time, I didn’t feel like myself. Today though, just a few minutes ago actually, I felt I came back — like I’m myself again.” Hoya sighed and shook his head when he didn’t get any solid response from the group. “I feel like I’m just talking . This doesn’t even make sense to me.”

“No, continue,” Woohyun chided. “We already know the basics.”

“You what?”

“Hey, it’s not our fault that someone felt like he was haunted so we kept tabs on him,” Sungyeol spoke after he swallowed a piece of carrot.

“You what?” Hoya repeated but this time, in a more aggressive tone.

Sungyeol’s eyes grew wide when he realized what he just said. He frantically slapped the man beside him with worry. “Hey, hey, hey! You were supposed to slap me before I said anything stupid!”

L glared at him and yelled, “Stop, damn it! That hurts! And it’s not my fault that whatever comes out of your mouth is stupid. Should I slap you every time you talk from now on?!”

“Anyways,” Dongwoo brushed off the comedic duo and looked at Hoya, “we can’t do anything for now according to Sunggyu. Right, hyung?”

All this while, Sunggyu has been silently eyeing Hoya and noted every single move that he made. It was clear that his personality did indeed change and not one speck of animosity can be felt from the young one. Were things supposed to be this way? He’s back to normal even after the summoning ritual that he just did?

Something was amiss and Sunggyu had the urge to reread the book that he found in the library again. This time, he thought to go secretly during his break to not arouse any suspicion from the other guys. Plus, they have been involved and scared enough as it is.

“Hey hamster, why are you looking at me like that? Do you have something to say?”

“Are you okay, Gyu hyung?”

After a small nudge from Woohyun, Sunggyu’s face softened. He leaned forward a bit to get a clearer view of Hoya since Woohyun sat in between them. “Do you have the cell phone with you?”

“Yeah, in my pocket. Why?” Hoya took out the phone and stretched his arm out in fro