-Chapter 16-

The Truth

Sehun breathed out a heavy, worn out sigh as his eyes followed the older boy’s fingers tick-tacking away at the computer keyboard beside him. Nothing feels worse than having to stare down at something for long periods of time with painfully heavy eyelids weighed down by exhaustion. Well… actually there were many things that could have been worse than that but right now for Sehun, it was an excruciating thing for him.

Why did Jongdae have to ask him to meet up at their local library on a perfectly nice Saturday morning at 7 in the morning? And why did Jongdae have to have ‘special’ connections with one of the panda eyed library workers (whose name escaped him) which allowed him to come into the library two hours before it even opened? Weekends and waking up early definitely did not mix well for Sehun. To add onto the frustration, Jongdae wouldn’t even tell Sehun what this was all about. “You’ll find out once we get to the library.” Was all Jongdae would answer back when Sehun persistently asked him of his intentions for this uncalled for meet up. All he told him was that it wasn’t for their history project. If it wasn’t school related then what in the world could it have been about??

Sehun propped his elbow up onto the desk and rested his chin in his open palm, momentarily allowing his fatigue stricken eyelids to drift closed. “Found it!!!” Sehun jolted up as if he had been struck by lightening and almost slipped out of his seat. Snapping his head to the side to gape at the older boy, his eye twitched in annoyance at an eager Jongdae.

“What did you find?” Sehun asked behind gritted teeth. Jongdae pointed a finger at the computer screen and looked over at Sehun with gleaming eyes.

“Does this look familiar?” Jongdae asked, an undertone of amusement in his voice. Giving Jongdae a small look of loathing, he turned his head to squint at the small picture depicted on the glowing computer screen. Almost instantly, Sehun’s raised his eyebrows at the picture and he was instantly jerked out of his drowsy morning trance.

“That’s… my house…” Sehun’s slowly uttered out. Sehun tilted his head to the side and continued staring at the picture with interest. It looked to be an old picture, for his house illustrated in the photo looked brand new, appearing to have been built most likely a month or so before the picture was taken.

“Yup, that’s your house alright.” Jongdae nodded. “The caption says this picture was taken in 1940- the same year it was built.” Sehun turned his head and stared at Jongdae inquiringly.

“Jongdae, why are you showing me this picture?” Sehun curiously asked.

“Like I said Sehun, I know things about your house that you probably have no idea about.” Jongdae nodded.

“I know, you told me already- how could I forget something like that.” Sehun said with a hint of repugnance. “But why are you so eager to tell me about it anyways?” Jongdae surprisingly didn’t have an instant reply for Sehun for the first time ever and he had stayed silent as he vacantly stared at the computer screen in front of him.

“I have my reasons.” Jongdae finally responded. “But, aren’t you curious to know though?” Now Sehun was the one who couldn’t find the words to say. Did he...? Jongdae didn’t falter from Sehun’s silence and continued on. “Take a look at the residents who used to live in your house.” Rolling his index finger on the scrolling wheel on the mouse, he scrolled down and Sehun was soon face to face with a picture of three people standing in front of the house. There appeared to be, what Sehun assumed, a married couple and a man standing beside them.

Sehun found himself being drawn to the only woman who stood in the picture. She was incredibly beautiful with long brown hair, a fair complexion, and light feminine facial features. His eyes wandered onto the woman’s husband who stood happily by her side. The exact second Sehun looked into the man’s eyes, an excruciatingly sharp pain shot through Sehun’s head, causing him to flinch with a low grunt. He had to bring himself to looking away from the man and stared down at the floor as he felt himself recovering from the abrupt pain. Jongdae seemed to not have noticed Sehun’s distress and continued talking.

“Back when your house was first built, there lived a married couple-to-be and the woman’s younger brother.” Jongdae explained. Sehun wearily stared back up at the picture, and tried hard to block the man’s face out of his sight in order to avoid that pain from coming on again. “The name of the beautiful woman in the picture was Im Yoona. And her brother’s name was Kim Minseok.” Sehun stared once more at Yoona, slightly stricken by her beauty, and then brought his eyes over to look at her brother Minseok. A strong tingle suddenly shot down Sehun’s spine that made his whole body go completely numb. “The funny thing about Yoona and Minseok is that they’re actually step brother and sister, which explains why they have different last names.” Jongdae continued. “Despite that, they were said to be fairly clo-“

“Jongdae….” Sehun abruptly intervened, placing a hand on Jongdae’s shoulder. Jongdae glanced over Sehun’s hand on him and was somewhat stunned by the fact that Sehun’s hand was actually trembling. With eyes glued to the screen, Sehun spoke once again. “T-that man… Minseok…” Sehun couldn’t find the words to go on.

“What about him?” Jongdae asked. That can’t be right… this Minseok guy… looks exactly like the guy in front of my house the other day… It could have just been a guy who looked like him but they look absolutely identical! From the hair, to every facial feature! Are their clothes the same too… I-I can’t remember but for some reason I feel like it was…

“If you’re curious about him, I can tell you more about him.” Jongdae said. “Let’s see here… Kim Minseok was the younger step brother of Yoona. Born around the 1920s and surprisingly lived a long life- dying about five years ago.”

“W-wait.” Sehun swiveled his head around to stare at Jongdae. “He died recently?”

“Of course. It was an imminent death considering he was well into his 80s.” Nothing made sense. The man Sehun saw in front of his house unmistakably looked like Minseok, or at least the young 20-something year old Minseok Sehun saw in this picture. It couldn’t have been the actual Minseok though because Minseok was an old man and was well… deceased right now. It couldn’t be him but, the man did say he lived in the house before… If that was the case then… who was he talking to the other day?

“Minseok isn’t all that important here though. What I really wanted to talk about was Yoona and here fiancée Luhan.”

…Luhan…

…Luhan?

…Luhan.

The name echoed throughout Sehun’s head. He knew that name. He had heard it before. But… he didn’t want to admit how he knew it. He didn’t want to allow himself to come to such a realization. He wouldn’t allow it and he wouldn’t bring himself to admitting how he knew it. As the name stewed into his head, his body had gone limp. He didn’t know how to feel now or what to think. All he could do was blankly stare down at the table and listen to Jongdae talk.

“You see, your house is well known for a reason. Not just because it was owned by Luhan, one of China’s richest tycoons at the time, but also because of the horrific incident that happened there years ago.” Sehun turned his head and silently watched Jongdae as he spoke. “You see… your house was the site of a horrendous murder.”

“Mur…der…?” Sehun vacantly repeated. Jongdae nodded and looked back at the photo of the house’s past residents with a remorseful face.

“Although the exact information on the murder is very iffy and little evidence was found, most people agree on how the murder had happened. You see… Yoona had murdered both Luhan and herself.” Sehun stared wide eyed at Jongdae and slowly brought his attention on the beautiful woman on the screen before him. She murdered him…? Someone who looks so pure and so stunning… murdered herself and her fiancée? Sehun thought.

“Why did she do it?” Sehun finally asked.

“Like I said, the story is unclear. All experts know is that there was a note left behind written by Yoona herself. In the note, she wrote how much she loved Luhan- how much she adored him. She wanted him all to herself but Luhan wanted to get away from her despite his former love for her. People say there was a lot of arguments and jealousy in the relationship. In the end, police showed up at the house only to find Luhan and Yoona dead on their bedroom floor with the note tucked away in Yoona’s dress.”

Jongdae stared at a smiling Minseok in the picture. “Minseok was said to have witnessed the whole thing. Police and pretty much everyone in town kept nagging him to tell them the truth of how it all started and how it played out, but for some reason he never told a soul. Eventually, he took those secrets of his to his grave for no one to ever find out. It must have been hard for him to see his older sister and best friend die right before his eyes so I don't blame him for wanting to never revisit such a memory...”

Sehun solemnly soaked in everything Jongdae said. However, something was bothering him. Why am I thinking about Jaeyun during all of this…? Sehun thought. “Sehun…” Sehun twisted his head to the side to meet eyes with Jongdae’s piercing ones. “There… was obviously a lot of anger and tension in that house in the past so what I’m wondering is if the couple that once lived there… are still roaming in your house.”

Sehun silently eyed Jongdae. What was he supposed to say? He couldn’t bring himself to saying yes but at the same time he couldn’t bring himself to saying no. “…Maybe…” Sehun faintly said. Jongdae nodded and allowed a sigh to trickle past his lips. A moment had past as if Jongdae was allowing Sehun’s answer to settle into the air.

“I thought so… You need to be careful Sehun. Both Yoona and Luhan died in a very terrible way. Spirits can't cross over if they left the 'living world' with pains and regrets. Who knows what type of pain their spirits could be harboring or what it could transcend into now…”

Sehun spoke without even realizing it. “…Say they really were still in the house… say that their spirits really were wandering around… Who would you say would be more of a threat? Yoona… or Luhan…?”

“I’d say the murderer is definitely more of a threat. So of course, it’d be Yoona. But, Luhan had died with a lot of sadness and pain bottled up inside, so I really can’t give you a definite answer.” Jongdae paused before continuing. “You have a sister, right?”

Sehun was surprised but cautiously nodded.

“I’d keep an eye out on her if I were you. I’ve heard… rumors going around school about her. Let’s just say that, Luhan might have found someone he could finally reach out to.”

Sehun suddenly became alert and stared at Jongdae in disbelief. “W-what…? W-what do you mean by that…?!”

“Yoona was accused for murdering Luhan out of possessive jealousy after all.” Was all Jongdae said.                  

`Author's Corner

I confused myself so much writing this chapter, it's not even funny. Which is probably why it doesn't exactly make sense or has some holes in the information. Hopefully I'll be able to edit it later or something. But yeah, hoped ya'll found this insightful.

And asdfghjkl exo's comeback *jumps off mountains* Luhan and Sehun look so UNF-a-licious