Omfg I put so much blood, sweat and tears into this damn finale for two weeks straight y’all don’t even understand. But HERE IT IS!!!

It’s 11 pages long so bust out the popcorn and your favorite beverage, turn off all the lights and don’t turn around because Luhan might be behind you because ya gonna be here for a while! Just a warning that this does get very intense but if you made it this far, this might be the intensity you were all waiting for.

Please… ENJOY!!! *drops dead from exhaustion in a corner*

Also, special thanks to HummingBirds for making this amazing poster!!!!

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-Chapter 30-

The End

The air felt like it had been vacuumed right out of your lungs in a violent awakening gasp. You laid completely immobile, feeling every part of your body now trembling against your own will and covered in a thin layer of sweat that cooled against the air yet scalded your own skin. By instinct, you extended both of your arms on either of your sides and allowed your fingertips to graze along the surface you were lying on. 

Despite being in a frantic and flustered daze, you finally realized that you were lying on a bed. And by just the sight of the high ceiling looming above you alone, you recognized that you were in fact lying on your own bed, in your own room.

The initial shock of your abrupt awakening began to gradually wilt away, though you still laid inert in your sleeping position on your bed. Confusion still lingered ardently in your mind. What just happened…? You thought. It felt like I was in a dream this whole time. Actually, I don’t even clearly remember coming back to my house, let alone how I ended up lying here on my bed.

You took your time to prop your elbows up in order to raise your head up from your pillow just a few inches. But the moment your head lifted off the cushiony surface, a tinge of lightheadedness blew pass you and causing you to wince in pain a bit.

“How did I get in here? And why do I feel so woozy??” you quietly groaned to yourself. Looking over, you were stunned to see the condition your room was it. It looked like a tornado had gone through it at least three times if not more. Strew all across the floor were your once shelved and organized books, picture frames, even forgotten knick knacks—pretty much anything that was once high off the ground was now lifelessly lying upon it. Upon further inspection with a curious squint of the eyes, you realized that it didn’t just look like everything fell onto the ground. It almost looks like someone might have hurled it right off their respected areas in some type of angry huff.

No sooner than later after staring perplexedly at the floor did a sudden realization crash into you. “Jongin?” Came the name on impulse. If your fuzzy memory served you right then Jongin was with you when you had first came into this house, but the older boy was absolutely no where to be found. “Jongin!!” You called out a bit urgently now, eyes frantically jumping from one part of the room to another in search of him. Despite your cries, all you got back in response was solid silence.

You cast your sights downward as an unsettling feeling began to crawl up your skin in the most uncomfortable way possible. “Where is he? I know for sure he was with me. I mean, how else could I have gotten here if it weren’t for him…” You gave a small shiver and vigorously rubbed away at the goosebumps that were beginning to form on your arms. It was at that moment when the fact that the house felt eerily still suddenly dawned on you. Not a single sound could be heard inside the house; you couldn’t even make out the sound of the muffled traffic noises that usually managed to slip through the cracks of your nearby window and into your room. The house felt as though it was frozen solid in time completely undisturbed and this didn’t settle well with you at all…

 

At this point my beautiful Jaeyun… Yoona can’t protect you from me any longer. 

 

The sudden words that had popped into your mind felt like a knife that cut deep into you, sending shivers down your spine. “I remember I heard Luhan’s voice saying that to me. But… what could he have meant by that. I-I mean… it can’t be that he…” you trailed off in your words. The truth, the meaning behind those words of his; it seemed so very obvious what it must of meant but there was just something in your heart that was hindering the acknowledgement from truly being realized. All those doubts and suspicions you’ve have about Luhan that you’ve kept tucked away for so long, it was all starting to trickle back little by little.

“It couldn’t be… there’s no way Luhan would ever be…”

 

AAAHHHHHH

 

With a tiny yelp, you tightly clamped your hands over your ears and squeezed your eyes shut. This unknown screaming that was blaring in your head just kept going; getting progressively louder with each second that past by. It was the most terrifying sound you had ever heard in your entire life. It definitely wasn’t an ordinary scream, this scream sounded like the pure embodiment of fear and despair. Silently whimpering to yourself, you hunched your body over into a sort of fetal position and silently endured the cries that were soon becoming too much to handle.

But just as suddenly as the shrieks had switched on, it switched off in less than a second and was now replaced by another sound. Slowly bringing your hands down and opening your eyes, you honed your hearing onto the new noise. You turned your head and stared at your closed mahogany door.

You could hear something behind that door. Not only that but you could see the vibrations from it subtly shaking the door’s loose metallic door knob.

 

Step. Step. Step.

 

You could hear footsteps and it was coming from down the hall. It was coming towards your room. There was no denying the sound of heavy shoes stepping against the creaky floorboards set across the hallway. The footsteps weren’t rushed though; sounding one after the other in a sort of casual manner. It was that sort of relaxed speed that was gradually layering up your anxiety, slowly ripping apart at your sanity one step at a time.

It was coming closer and the wait was killing you, despite the fear of who the perpetrator actually was that also poking at you. Your heart began to race as well as your thoughts. One thought in particular was rearing its way out the most for you though. Those footsteps… it sounds so familiar… I only know of one person whose footsteps sound identical to these… 

The moment had finally come when you finally caught a glimpse of the silhouette of two feet peeking through the crack at the bottom of the door. Chills ran down your spine at the very sight. Whoever it was just standing there. (It was almost as if they had this sixth sense that this waiting game was becoming unbearable for you) Your breath hitched up at the sound of your door clicking open and swinging forward with little to no haste at all.

Who could it be? …What could it be?

The breath that you had wedged between your throat and lungs at last rushed past your parted lips and you felt all your muscles relax. “Jongin…” you breathed. Much to your relief, the person who stood behind your door was the one you had almost lost hope in searching for. Jongin stood at your doorway, thankfully looking fine and completely unharmed.

…Though, that little detail did bother you a bit. Why did he look completely unscathed?

Bringing your sights upwards to meet eyes with him, you saw that something else about Jongin seemed a little off to you. He seemed okay but for some reason, he just stood there. Smiling at you.

“You’re finally awake.” Jongin’s voice pleasantly rang. Pleasantly.

“Uh… yeah, thank goodness right?” you uncomfortably nodded. You watched Jongin quietly shut the door behind him and casually stroll towards you. During the entire walk he made to close the distance between the two of you, not once did his eyes leave yours. And that smile of his… it stayed risen on his face, not even giving a single twitch or anything. You’d be lying if you said being under his daunting stare didn’t make your skin crawl just a little…

“Jongin, where have you been? Are you alright?” you worriedly asked once he had made it to your side and situated himself beside you on the bed. He didn’t answer or even make an effort to at all. He just kept staring at you with the same stiff grin. You stared back at him, searching his eyes for some type of clue as to why he was acting to strangely and out of character. Jongin would never look at you like this or smile at you like this either. You weren’t even sure Jongin was even capable of beaming at someone like that in the first place…

“Jongin, why are you staring at me like that? …It’s creepy…” you uneasily admitted. Once again, not a single word came out of his closed mouth. “Jong—“ You were cut short with a small flinch when Jongin suddenly reached a hand over and extended it towards your face. You shrank away from his imminent touch a bit until you saw his hand reach past your range of sight where he had gently rested his hand onto the side of your head. Then slowly, dare you admit almost tenderly, he lightly ran his fingertips down the length of your hair—allowing each strand in his grasp to softly spill past his digits. His caressing persisted and you awkwardly averted your eyes.

“… Jongin, what are you doing?”

You cringed slightly when Jongin unexpectedly let out a hearty chuckle which almost painfully contrasted with the silence enveloping the two of you and causing your ear to ring a bit. “Jaeyun,” he almost warmly said. “You really are beautiful.” And just like that, you froze up and your stomach churned.

Right now… you felt a little scared.

You managed to withdraw yourself from Jongin’s touch with a small turn of the head and looked into his eyes once again. “Jongin you’re acting really weird. Did something come over you? Are you really alright right now?” You asked all in one breath, hoping you didn’t say it too fast for him to actually comprehend. Once again, your question was met with another laugh from Jongin, almost as if you were the crazy one here…

Using the same hand, Jongin brought his hand over and resting it upon yours without even the slightest hesitation as if it was a normal thing between you two.

“Jaeyun, I’ve always been like this.”

And that’s when it hit you. The way he talked, the way he smiled, the way he acted and that look in his eyes…

 

“…L…Luhan…?”

 

Delight visibly danced around in his dark eyes as his smiled widened, eagerly nodding in response. Bending his upper body forward, he softly whispered, “I told you we’d be together.” You gazed at him in complete horror. Looking into Jongin’s eyes, you could now see all too clearly right through to Luhan. There’s no way… this can’t be… How is this even happening?!!

You blinked when Jongin had already leaned in close enough towards you where your faces were only a few measly inches away. The moment you felt his breath that blew past his mouth lightly brush against your lips, you hastily snatched your hand away from his and pushed on his chest to put some much needed space between the two of you.

You remained fixed in your position with head hung down low. Hesitantly peering up, you slowly withdrew your hands away from Jongin. Jongin on the other hand was looking down at you a bit startled by the abrupt interruption but didn’t miss a beat and grinned at you once again. “Jaeyun, what’s the matter?” he laughed.

“Jongin, stop it. This isn’t funny.” You firmly stated, managing to hide your fear and nervousness pretty well. (You hoped…) You could have sworn you saw the corner of Jongin’s mouth drop just a tiny bit. After a nerve-racking moment of silence, Jongin quietly laughed to himself with a shake of the head.

“You’re breathing unevenly and I can see you trembling. Are you really that scared right now?” The amusement was practically dripping from his tone.

You didn’t answer him.

But swallowing hard, you were able to say something to him. “Luhan… i-if that’s really you… then how?? How on earth is this happening??”

“I already told you Jaeyun. In order for us to be together, I needed him.” Jongin patted his chest a couple of times with both hands to illustrate his point. “I needed your friend’s body as a sort of vessel for my spirit. Now, I can finally talk face to face with you in the person!” He joyfully beamed with a genial smile. You looked at him with a dead expression. How were you supposed to react anyways?

“Luhan,” He paused and glanced over at you, anxious to hear your response. “… You… you possessed him??!” The statement sort of just blurted out. You didn’t mean to make it sound so accusingly or for it to come out so loudly but with the way you were feeling right now, you didn’t really care how he took it. “Taking over someone’s body definitely isn’t something that’s okay to do, Luhan! I know you’ve wanted us to be together but this just isn’t the way to go about with it! I knew something was wrong when I remembered hearing Jongin screaming before I feel unconscious… Why was he screaming Luhan? If this was really okay, then why was he screaming in terror??!”

You finally stopped talking when you realized the words had just spilled past your lips without you even thinking about it. The once continual smile that Jongin had on his face had finally vanished somewhere along the way when you were practically pouring out your emotions onto him. His eyebrows were raised and he was rendered utterly speechless. Was this the first time Luhan has ever seen this agitated side of you?

“…Jaeyun… I think you’re being a little ungrateful here…” he slowly said.

Ungrateful? You thought.

A small weary chuckle pushed up Jongin’s throat, which gradually built up into a hysteric laugh. “Jaeyun, have you even grasped the current situation right now?? I took over this boy’s body—I used up every last bit of my energy just so I could finally be able to sit here in front of you face to face!!” The smile once again disappeared out of sight and his expression began to grow dark at an alarming pace. “Jaeyun, isn’t this what you wanted this whole time? To finally be with me??!!” You couldn’t speak, all you could do was stare at him and sustain yourself from allowing your whole body to visibly shake out of fear. Jongin grabbed hold of your upper arm in a bruise inducing grip. Tears were beginning to well up in the corners of your eyes. “You said you loved me Jaeyun!!! That you wanted to be with me forever!!! Was all that a lie??!!!” You let out a small cry when his strong grip painfully tightened even more.

You just couldn’t say anything or even look directly into his eyes. All you could feel was your body violently trembling, your vision sinking into your tears and your heart ramming against your eardrums faster than ever before. “Ahh…!!” you cried when Jongin’s almost super human strength squeezed and twisted at your arm even more. It felt like he was about to actually break the bone in your arm if he were to put even a little bit more force into his relentless grip.

“You’re both the same…” Jongin quietly said. “I thought you were different from her… but you two are the same!!!” In one motion Jongin violently yanked at your arm, causing you to collapse onto the floor with monstrous force and sending sharp shocks waves of pain to shoot through every part of your body—especially your healing legs. There was no way you could have stopped the loud shrieks of agony that exploded up your throat the moment the pain struck your entire body. Your body instinctively curled into a ball to somehow compensate for the blinding physical suffering.

Not even a moment after, Jongin marched towards you and kneeled down where he scooped up a handful of your hair and pulled up on it to have you look at him at eye level. “How pitiful.” He spat sourly. “That look on your face… it was the same look she gave me. It’s disgusting.” Barely being able to focus your vision, you managed to get a glimpse of his face that hung in front of yours. He bore no expression and was completely straight-faced but his eyes made up entirely for that. It was so dark, so evil, so clouded by such hate. His gaze alone was enough to cause fear to escalate throughout your entire body. How did Luhan manage to even make Jongin look so ominous with just a single stare? Was this the true look of the man you had known this whole time? Was this… truly the face of Luhan?

Jongin carelessly tossed you back onto the ground like you were complete trash. Standing straight back up, he stared down at you while wiping his hand on his shirt in disgust. “You little wench…” he growled. “All I ever did was love and care for you but the moment you think I did something wrong, you just throw it all away huh? Like it was all nothing?” Jongin stopped when he was tipped off by the fact that you weren’t paying him any attention at all. How were you supposed to when you were completely paralyzed in agonizing pain and choking up on your tears, teetering between consciousness and oblivion. His fingers tightly curled into his palms and he looked over at your legs. He finally realized it was your legs that was giving you the most pain and was rendering you from listening to him.

Without a second thought, Jongin lifted a leg and mercilessly stomped on your own legs. The pain had now tripled to a point where you couldn’t even recognize the strain for a single moment. A scream or even a cry could not fully make it past your throat on time with the pain and you were left lying on the cold wooden floor just seconds away from falling unconscious from all the torment. “It hurts, doesn’t it?!!” Jongin exclaimed. “Well imagine how painful it must be for me to have been betrayed again!!!”

“Lu…han… PLEASE…!!!” you begged with all your heart and soul, choking up and coughing on your own tears. At the sound of your plea, Jongin kneeled down in front of you again.

“Now don’t go saying my name like that Jaeyun. Are you trying to make me feel bad?” Jongin calmly spoke. “Don’t worry my little Jaeyun. It’ll all be over soon enough.” And with those parting words, Jongin stood up and proceeded out of the room, making sure to firmly shut the door behind him.

And now, you were alone. You were only accompanied by the silence and your own pain. Your entire body was burning up and your face was completely drenched. You weren’t sure if it was your sweat or your endless tears that were still rushing from your eyes; burning your cheeks as it ran down and silently dripped onto the floor. Screaming wasn’t enough for you nor was crying. Nothing could have made this suffering and this fear any better. Your eyes laid vacantly onto the floor beneath you.

 

What have I been doing…?

 

What have I done…?

 

Your eyelids drifted down and hooded your eyes. For some reason, this sort of eased the pain a bit. Is this supposed to be the pain that’s felt before someone is about to pass? I never wanted to die in a painful way but closing my eyes like this… sort of helps the pain go away. Maybe I’ll be spared a painful death if I just stay here like this…

Behind your closed eyes, a whiteness began to engulf your vision. The more the whiteness spread, the more you felt your body beginning to pull away from the pain that encased you. Just let me die… please just let me die right now.

Just then, a couple suddenly appeared in the whiteness. It was blurry and you couldn’t tell who they were so you kept staring.  At last they came into focus. It was your parents. They were looking back at you, both smiling warmly at you; the smiles that you had seen everyday growing up.

Mom… and dad. They wouldn’t want to see me die, would they?

Your parents suddenly vanished into the whiteness and in their place now stood a single person. It was a tall and lean boy who was your about age. It didn’t take long for him to come into clear focus.

It was Sehun. But in contrast with your parents, his expression remained stolid. 

Sehun. My first brother, my first best friend and…

The more you looked onto Sehun, the more you began to feel the once descending pain from your entire body now move to your weak heart.

My first love…

You felt another slight tug at your heart.

I’m sorry Sehun for never telling you. For never saying out loud that I had always loved you too since the very beginning when we were little kids. We were becoming brother and sister so for our own good, I denied you and had tossed away my feelings for you completely. I was able to do that but I know it must have been hard for you to do. It’s my fault our relationship became the way it is now. It’s my fault you had suffered for so many years. And it’s my fault that you believed you were someone insignificant to me when in reality… you’re the most important person I have in my life.

I rejected you and ignored you for so long, so I know more than anyone else that I don’t deserve you. I missed my chance long ago. I know we could never be together as lovers, but… I think I would be just fine staying together with you as your sister.

And in that very moment, Sehun’s expression softened and the corners of his lips pulled up just a tiny bit into what looked like a gentle smile. And it was that one smile that seemed to have touched you the most. It was such a pure smile, such a genuine smile. Up until this point, you always thought Luhan’s smile was the most striking smile you’d ever seen. But the truth was, it was the one Sehun wore right now that was the most beautiful smile you had ever witnessed.

In a flash, the whiteness that had besieged you had all completely evaporated away when you had strained your eyes to open up half way. It can’t end like this. I’m not going to give up, not after everything that’s happened! Although with you now fully conscious again and the physical strain crashing back into you, you knew that you had to do something quick if you were going to somehow survive. If Jongin, or rather Luhan, is gone then that means he was planning on doing something to you and with this new found glimmer of hopefulness, you weren’t letting your chance to do something slip away that easily.

Firmly pressing the palm of your hands onto the cold floor for stability, you exerted as much energy as you could to heave yourself up off the floor. But not even a inch or so up, your arms gave way and you collided back down onto the floor. You silently winced at the wave of pain that washed over your body for a moment from the sudden movement. It’s impossible… It hurts too much and I’m too weak to push myself to even sit up! The tears felt like it was just seconds away from threatening to pour out your eyes again. You absolutely hated how weak you were and how easily you settled for the idea of giving up.

There was no one who could save you now like all those other times. Not Sehun or Yoona or anyone else. The only savior here was you and you alone.

Bringing up all your strength both mentally and physically, you lifted your head up to thoroughly scan your entire room in the hopes that an idea would somehow pop out at you. Even the simple act of lifting your own head up felt like a vigorous obstacle that excruciatingly strained your entire body— even in places you didn’t even think would be hurting.

You had done a full scope of your surroundings at least five times and yet nothing was coming to you. You inwardly cursed to yourself at how useless you really were at such a crucial time. And just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, you were proven wrong.

Your heart jumped up when you made out the sound of footsteps now coming up the stairs in the distance. He was coming back.

You were now in a full panic and your mind became absolutely deserted of any other thought except for utter fear. What do I do? What do I do?? I know for sure when he gets back in here he’ll hurt me even more or even worse… His footsteps, unlike before, were approaching your door fast. You didn’t have much time left before he would swing that door open and end it for you.

Searching around your room once more, something finally stuck out to you. The bed. You can hide under the bed. “I know this won’t guarantee my safety but at least it’ll buy me some time to think of something else to do—even if it’ll only be just a couple extra seconds spared…”

Getting to the bed a couple of feet away was the biggest issue here though. Extending both of your arms above your head, you dug your nails into the wooden floor planks and proceeded to drag yourself towards the bed. The throbbing sting that coursed through your full body with each little movement you made earned a few pained whimpers from you, but you continued on nonetheless.

The echo of Jongin’s shoes pacing against the floor down the hall signaled that he would show up inside this room any second now. Using every ounce of your energy, you bolding made a sharp movement forward that managed to get you right near the bed but at a great cost with all the discomfort you now felt. You heard his footsteps now stop right behind the door and in one breathless moment, you clenched onto the skirt of the bed and flung yourself underneath the bed just as your bedroom door clicked open.

You rested lifelessly in same spot you managed to toss yourself into, still refusing to push out even a bit of air out of your lungs or peek out to see what he was doing. The horrendous wail coming from the rusted hinges of your door echoed throughout the entire room. You didn’t sense any movement. He must be looking around for you meaning that he didn’t know you were under your bed. A sudden chilling laugh from Jongin had startled you, almost causing you to blow your own cover. “Are you kidding me? Oh Jaeyun, you’re making this into such an amusing game.”

And with that, his footsteps started up again. You clamped both of your hands over your mouth, praying that this would help make Jongin not hear your panicked heavy breaths. It didn’t sound like he was close by in the room, but you were still edgy regardless. “I know you couldn’t have gotten too far with those legs of yours.” He called out in an amused, challenging tone.

Please… oh god please! Don’t let him find me!! You begged and pleaded, burning tears stinging at your eyes and running down the sides of your face. You didn’t even realize that you were pressing your hands against your own mouth so hard that you might have been close to suffocating yourself on the spot.

It was a complete gloomy sea of darkness underneath your bed with the only source of sunlight peeking through the bottom of the low hanging bed skirt. Being reduced to hiding underneath this bed with a psychotic maniac walking around just a few feet away from you made you feel so… trapped.

“You do know this hiding game is making me angrier, don’t you Jaeyun?” You squeezed your eyes shut. You just knew that any second now, a terrified scream was going to explode out of you.

And that’s when something came over you. Something powerful. It was a strong, almost potent odor of blood.

The distinct stench completely filled your nostrils, plunging you head first into the essence and making you lightheaded. You were hoping that the powerful smell wasn’t coming from you and that you weren’t somehow profusely bleeding somewhere without you even realizing it. Because if that was the case then Jongin would find you in a second…

The overwhelming scent was starting to make you nauseous, striking up the urge to gag. Swiveling your head to the side in an attempt to avoid the smell, your eyes shot wide open and goosebumps broke out throughout your whole body.

You weren’t alone. Lying beside you… was a woman.

She was resting on her side with her body fully facing you. Her face… her petrifying face was the thing that urged you to scream the most. On her ghostly pale face resting on two deep bags were empty eye sockets and mouth that hung open widely. Her mangled brown hair laid almost like lifeless snakes and spilled onto the floor. You weren’t even sure if calling her a regular woman was even right because this thing looked like it had crawled right out of your darkest and worst nightmares. You certainly didn’t see this figure underneath your bed when you first crawled in so did she just suddenly appear before you just now?

You were so stricken in such unexplainable cold fear that you just continued staring at her as she gaped back at you. This real life nightmarish figure remained completely still. She couldn’t be alive, especially when she looked like that. You were certain she was dead… until she spoke.

 

“He knows you’re here. He’s watching us.”

 

Prior to you even getting a chance to actually retain what she had just said, she suddenly brought her face right up to yours and screamed at the top of her lungs. And in the spur of the moment, you were suddenly grabbed from behind and yanked out from underneath the bed and into the open. You were viciously thrown onto the ground once again.

“You thought you could hide from me, didn’t you??!” Jongin wickedly questioned. Looking up, you caught a glimpse of a large kitchen knife in Jongin’s clutches.

“Oh my god… PLEASE LUHAN!!! PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!!!!” you frantically implored, grabbing onto Jongin’s leg in desperation.

“How can I promise you that when you hurt me so much already??!” Shaking away your frail hand, Jongin a foot forward right into your stomach. Instantly you screamed out in absolute pain and gripped onto your abdomen for dear life. Bending down on one knee, Jongin pushed your arms away with little to no effort at all and lifted up your shirt only to reveal a long recovering wound with stitches still sewn together straight down it. “Ah, I remember this.” He cruelly reminisced. “At the time, I thought partially possessing you for a moment would have made your death a lot easier and quicker. But that wretched Yoona somehow used an incredible amount of her energy to intervene and stop you before it was too late.” He shook his head in absolute disgust.

Jongin’s attention was suddenly grabbed when he felt your shaky, feeble fingers weakly clench onto his wrist. You had gone inhumanely pale and your eyes were almost swollen shut from all the tears you had been shedding. From what Jongin perceived, it seemed like you were having a hard time breathing too from all the hysterical bawling and after being under such a massive weight of torment. Jongin extended an arm over and gently your messy hair. “Believe it or not,” he casually started. “But it pains me to see you like this. I prefer seeing you happy, especially when I’m the one who causes it. But you obviously don’t seem all too happy with me right now.”

He leaned in closely and craned his neck over so it hung just over your face. “You know, I never heard you say the words ‘I love you’ to me.” He smiled. “You want me to stop hurting you right? To spare you?” he playfully asked with a wave of the knife in his hand. “Then tell me those words. Tell me you love me.”

You didn’t say anything. You felt so detached, so tired. No matter how much you kept tossing motivating words at yourself, everything was just becoming way too much for you to handle on your own like this.

“I know you’ll say it.” Jongin continued on. “Because even though you’re somewhat similar to that wretched Yoona, you were a lot more submissive that she was.”

Submissive…?

“You did everything I told you to do and you even believed everything I said. It’s almost laughable how strongly you doted on me.”

I did… didn’t I…

“Your weak spirit and lack of confidence is just what I like most about you, Jaeyun.”

…Weak… I’m weak, aren’t I?

“So just say it right now Jaeyun.”

Luhan… you’ve watched over me for four years… four long years. And then you suddenly made you presence known to me and have constantly been staying by my side ever since then. You told me everything I always wanted to hear and more… that you’d protect me, that you’d always be there for me, that you loved me… In the end, I chose you over everyone and everything. Even other my brother Sehun, the one who truly loved and cared for me constantly all along. I really did love you with all my heart Luhan…    

You parted your dry lips and began to quietly push out the words as best as you could. Jongin patiently waited eager to hear you finally say those words to him. With a tiny grunt you turned your head to the side to stare at him right into his dark, wicked eyes. Inhaling a deep breath and clenching your eyes tightly shut, you shouted at the top of your lungs.

 

“I ING HATE YOU!!!!!”  

 

Jongin’s jaw went slack as he gawked at you in full shock. Not tarrying in his astonishment for too long, he shot up onto his feet and savagely kicked your tiny, fragile body into a nearby wall. Without even giving you the privilege to in another breath, he barreled towards you to lifted you up by the neck. “You little !!! How dare you speak to me with such vulgar?!!” he ferociously snarled. Bringing his face in close to yours he said in a low voice, “Stop lying to yourself, Jaeyun. Don’t you dare try to be like that woman. I know you love me… Just say it right now a-and I’ll forgive you for everything you said just now!!”

You struggled to maintain eye contact with him when his fingers were wrapped around your neck so tightly, almost completely blocking  your airway. “All… t-this time…” you gasped. “You took advantage of me, just because I was an easy target. A-and I know you were probably enjoying every second of me slowly breaking down— like it was some type of sick entertainment for you.” You paused for a moment, feeling yourself becoming lightheaded. “I-I believed in you like an idiot… a stupid blind idiot!!! You changed me and completely distorted how I view everything including myself. I could never EVER love someone as vile and disgusting as you!!!”

Instinctively, you turned your head away and clenched your eyes shut, bracing yourself for the worst. You expected him to yell at your some more, hit you again, maybe even put that lonely knife of his to use. However after a few long seconds, the worse never happened. He hadn’t done a thing. Pulling your sights upward you bravely gazed up at him. Staring deeply into Jongin’s eyes, you almost instantly saw right through  him; straight through to Luhan. And right now, for the first time since this whole hellish nightmare began, Luhan didn’t look angry or furious at you, but rather…

He looked sad.

You didn’t stay too enthralled in your observation for long when Jongin held his knife-wielding arm high up above himself. “All of you…” he whispered bitterly. “ALL OF YOU ARE THE SAME—“

AAAAAHHHHHH

Jongin belted out a powerful cry of pain and dropped both you and the knife onto the ground with mighty force. Choking up on a raspy cough as oxygen finally rushed back into your lungs, you forced yourself to look up at him. He had a hand pressed tightly against his ear with teeth gritted and face scrunched up in agony. “What the he—“ Jongin’s words came to an abrupt halt right at the tip of his tongue when he had suddenly straightened up his whole body and stared off into space.

Slightly twitching in pain, you wondered why he had stopped so suddenly without any warning at all. But then it suddenly dawned on you that he was silent now for a reason.       

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The very quiet, very distant sound of banging was itching at your eardrums. It sounded like it was coming from downstairs. But why were you hearing banging in the first place? You suddenly flinched when you saw Jongin quickly seize the knife on the ground and you were hoping to god he wasn’t going to continue where he left off while disregarding the noise. But thankfully enough, Jongin turned away from you and speedily strode towards the door.

Before he made his way out, you heard him quietly mumble something along the lines of, “Someone’s trying to break into this house, huh?” And with that, he jetted out the door and was out of sight. With Jongin’s absence from the room, you felt a warm sense of relief spread across your whole chest. How badly you wanted to just relax all your muscles and settle down after all that courage you had to put up just a moment ago but you couldn’t because even though he was out of the room, he was still inside the house. You couldn’t afford to put your guard down for even one second.

Someone’s trying to get inside the house…? You thought. You had to do something about that. Your moments of solitude were your only chances at saving yourself after all. You had to think of some type of plan once again, and you had to think fast.

BANG BANG BANG

“!!!” Sehun indignantly shouted, hurling one last anger fueled kick at his defenseless front door.  Whirling around, he grimaced at the two onlookers who had been watching him pummel the living daylights out of the door for a good five minutes now. “This is all your damn faults for dragging me out without letting me even get my house keys!!!” Sehun barked.

“Sehun, take a deep breath now.” Jongdae heeded, deeply inhaling through his nostrils and exhaling out to illustrate his request to which Sehun disregarded completely. Clearing his throat awkwardly he continued, “We thought that your parents would have been home by the time we were done talking to you. We never considered the possibility that you would have been locked out.” Sehun rolled his eyes with an exasperated groan and carried on with his useless attempt at yanking his door open— as if he somehow had the strength to actually do something so outrageous in the first place.

“Okay, calm down now Mr. Bipolar.” Kris finally intruded, pulling at Sehun’s shoulder to get his attention. Sehun peered over his shoulder at the taller boy impatiently. “Just a second ago we were all at a peaceful, mutual understanding and yet right now you’re over here screaming at everyone and lashing out at a locked door. What gives anyway? Why are you in such an urgent rush to get inside your house anyways?”

Sehun’s eyes lowered, his demeanor now twisting a bit in uneasiness. “I think I heard Yoona’s screams in my head not too long ago.” In perfect unison, both Kris and Jongdae’s jaws went slack and their eyes rounded in shock. Without even needing to dive deeper into details, the two automatically knew the urgency of the situation at hand now. “I haven’t heard her voice in a while now. So if she were to randomly reach out to me so suddenly then that means something must be wrong, right? And I instantly had this unexplainable gut-wrenching feeling that told me to get to my house as soon as possible.”

“Right. We understand now.” Jongdae nodded. Kris on the other hand remained silent. He couldn’t explain why but for some reason he too had an unnerving feeling churning away in his own stomach… Without any further objections left, Sehun extended his arm out to grab hold of the door handle once again.

Click.

Sehun blinked, easing back a bit. “Oh! You managed to get the door unlocked!” Jongdae called out, dashing over to Sehun’s side. Wait, hold on a second. I didn’t even grab onto the door yet. How did it just unlock like that? Sehun stared at his own outstretched hand that hadn’t even gotten a chance to brush against the doorknob yet. And just like that, the door began to swing open—again with no type of physical contact from Sehun. As if gravity was somehow deliberately pulling at it all on its own, the door let out a horrid wail as it swung open completely. The wide entrance of the house now stood completely exposed, leading into a thick, endless sea of unknown hazards.

The three boys stood planted in their spots outside the entryway staring into the ominous empty unknowns inside the house. The seasonal wind nipped at their exposed skins and whispered past their ears, softly forewarning them of the oncoming dangers they might be moments away from stepping into. Kris stationed his hand atop of Sehun’s shoulder and the younger glanced over at him.

“Sehun… are you sure about this?” His gentle words in contrast seethed into Sehun right at his very core. Kris’ fingers pressed against Sehun’s shoulder tighter as if it would somehow reach Sehun’s suspended common sense. “You know as well as I do that something definitely doesn’t feel right here.” Sehun nudged Kris’ grasp off himself. 

“And that’s exactly why I have to go check things out in there.” Without waiting for a response, Sehun turned and bravely advanced through the door into the house. Jongdae took a step forward with a weak hand reached out towards Sehun until Kris stuck an arm out in front of him; stopping him. Jongdae looked up at Kris.

“Kris, what if something happens to him?” Jongdae urgently whispered.

“We’re just going to have to stay close to him.” And I just know that we’re going to have to one way or another…

Kris and Jongdae both trailed after Sehun, making sure to stay close behind him. Just one step in and the boys all felt similar discomfort crawling up and down their skin. It was dark and quiet. An undeniable sense of restraint coated every inch of this house—as in it felt as though this intimidating silence was just some type of obscurity that hid a whole world of chaos and vice.

Having already memorized the layout of the house, Sehun managed to find his way over towards the light switch even through the dim darkness. Flicking his index finger against the light switch, Sehun was in disbelief that the lights didn’t automatically flicker on. Flipping the switch several more times, Sehun grunted in annoyance. “The lights are out…”

“It’s okay, we can manage. The sun is still out a bit so we can just use windows to see through the darkness.” Kris pointed out.

“It’s so cold in here… It might even be colder out here than it is outside.” Jongdae shivered, wrapping his arms around his own body in an attempt to warm himself up to no success. It really is cold… Sehun thought. He tilted his head up, looking around at his surrounding. There was no doubt in Sehun’s mind that Luhan was behind all of this. But the problem was… What the hell is he planning anyways?

The trio all silently scoped around the whole room using extra concentration just in case they were to miss anything. However, Sehun just couldn’t shake off this feeling that was making him feel uneasy. It was a persistent, itching feeling. Sehun peered over at Kris and Jongdae who were both off taking care of their own searches—both of them not paying Sehun any mind. If that was the case then why did he feel like… someone was watching him?

BANG

The boys jolted up at the abrupt racket. Looking over, they saw that the front door was now closed shut.

“Sehun, look out!!!”

From his peripheral, Sehun caught a glimpse of a solid figure lunging at him from the side. Reacting just in time, Sehun turned his whole body and instinctively seized the attacking figure’s wrist, momentarily preventing them from making contact with him. With his senses now rushing past him at double speed, Sehun immediately stared the attacker right in their face. Without even a second thought, Sehun froze up because he recognized this person instantly.

“Jongin??!!” Jongin clenched his teeth and pushed his arms against Sehun’s constraining grip with unbelievable force. The knife in Jongin’s fist that Sehun finally noticed was now getting dangerously close to him and Sehun felt his grip beginning to weaken fast. But just in the nick of time, Kris and Jongdae had sprung into action and had ripped Jongin off of Sehun. The two both managed to restrain both of his arms behind his back, confiscating and tossing the knife in his possession off to the side.

“Sehun, who is this punk anyways?!” Jongin violently thrashed and struggled against Kris and Jongdae’s secure clutches, screaming and grunting in fury. Sehun stepped forward and stared at Jongin in shock, being in completely disbelief of what he was witnessing.

After about a minute of attempting to break free, Jongin finally began to settle down. Panting heavily, Jongin looked up and exchanged looks with Sehun. Just one look into his eyes, and Sehun knew what was wrong. “You’re not Jongin…” Jongin gave a callous scoff, smirking at him. Sehun barreled towards Jongin. “What the hell did you do to my friend?!! Who are you??!!”

Jongin didn’t reply back. He stayed limply hung from Kris and Jongdae’s grips, gazing up at Sehun with the same cold smirk plastered on his face. “Answer my question right now.” Jongin let out a loud maniacal cackle.

“Who else do you think it is?” He challenged. “I’ll give you one hint, boy. I’m the man your precious sister chose over you.” The words instantly stung Sehun like deadly venom from a snake. Sehun snapped an arm down and clenched onto the collar of Jongin’s shirt.

“Luhan, you bastard!!!” he roared. Luhan?? He managed to possess this boy?! Kris thought. “If Jongin is here then where the hell is Jaeyun, huh?!!” Jongin’s smirk turned into a calm, relaxed smile which only made Sehun’s blood boil even more. Sehun lifted a fist up, more than ready to launch it at Jongin. But it seemed like his own conscience was physically holding him back as he stared into the face of his long time best friend, despite the evil that had taken control behind those dark eyes of his. Biting down on his bottom lip, Sehun threw his hand back down to his side. Jongin hysterically laughed at Sehun to which he responded with a hard glare.

“Not brave enough to harm your own friend? How unfortunate for you.” Jongin sneered in a sarcastically saddened tone.

“Shut up!!” Sehun retorted. “Just because you’re in Jongin’s body doesn’t mean I’m not afraid to hit you. But we need you conscious so you can tell us where my sister is.” Jongin scoffed in response with a shake of the head.

“When are you going to get it through that thick head of yours?” Jongin questioned with a tilt of the head.

“Get what?”

“That your sister will never return your feelings.” The corners of Jongin’s lips pulled up into a wicked smirk seeing the astonishment quickly taking over his expression. Not even giving Sehun a chance to respond back, he continued, “I’ve seen how you treat her. I’ve seen the way you’re always desperately going after her and always sticking your nose into her business. And yet after all of that, she still denied you and came crawling over to me.”

“Sehun, don’t listen to him! He’s only trying to get you angry!” Jongdae warned.

“Just face the facts that you’re just an annoyance to her; a nuisance.”

“Will you shut the up already?!” Kris yanked at Jongin’s arm while also nervously eyeing Sehun. The boy wasn’t saying a single word to Luhan and remained completely composed. It surprised both Kris and Jongdae how Sehun’s silence seemed to speak an even louder message than the usual chaotic array of anger fueled gibberish and curses that typically spilled out his mouth when he was irritated. But despite this and Kris’ demand, Jongin continued egging onto Sehun even further. It seemed like he wouldn’t be satisfied until he manages to tread on the most dangerous regions of Sehun’s patience.

“Even if there was a small glimmer of possibility that she actually did return your feelings, she’d be far too busy worshipping the very ground I walk on to even notice her insignificant feelings for you.” Jongin smiled at Sehun, highly amused beyond belief at viciously stabbing at Sehun’s psyche one word at a time. Jongdae and Kris were about as speechless as Sehun was at Jongin’s carelessness in his words which terrified the two even more than it should have. There’s no telling what Sehun could actually do to Jongin at any given moment at this point after receiving such insensitive verbal abuse. Luhan, you sick monster. You really are a master at psychological torture! Kris thought.

Everyone seemed to be on edge, waiting for any kind of counter from Sehun.

“You think I don’t know that already?” Sehun lowly spoke. “You think I don’t know how ing pathetic I look for going after someone for so long without so much as even a bit of acknowledgement? Of course I know she doesn’t like me. Of course I know I don’t have a chance in hell of ever getting even one second of my feelings being returned. But you know what? When you love someone—when you truly love them, you can’t help but act like a blind idiot because of them.”

Jongin’s once amused smile faltered just a bit. Just a tiny bit.

“You don’t think that I’ve tried to ignore my feelings for her? I’ve tried more times than I can even count but it’s just all so ing useless because this stupid thing called love is something you can’t just throw away or even control in this matter. So yeah, I might seem like the dumbest guy on earth for sticking to her for so many years—hell, she might actually find me annoying like you said. But as long as these feeling I have for her still plague my heart, whatever actions I may pull for her sake are completely out of my control.”

Jongin remained silent.

“And let me tell you something.” Sehun stepped up and leaned down so he could stare Jongin right at eye level. “I’ve already acknowledged the fact that I lost Jaeyun to you, but call me a sore ing loser because there’s no way in hell that I’m going to give her up so easily to the likes of a monster like you.” Sehun’s conclusion was slow to soak into Jongin’s mind until he finally gave a silent uncaring chuckle at Sehun, though his arrogant attitude appearing to have lessened a little unbeknownst to Sehun.

“Now tell me where the hell my sister is. Right now.” Sehun firmly pressed. But Jongin didn’t respond and continued locking eyes with Sehun in what he believed was in the most bothersome way possible. Sehun clenching his hands tightly. “Now you decide to go quiet?!! Answer me!!!”  

“You want to know where she is, hmm?” His tone was laced with ice. Sehun refused to respond. “You all could have saved yourselves a world of trouble from staying out of this. But if you all really want to see her, then allowed me to lead you to her.” And with those last chilling words, Jongin spontaneously gained a spurt of impossible strength and propelled both Kris and Jongdae off of him and onto the ground. In a matter of seconds, Jongin had already dashed towards his discarded knife on the ground and bolted at full speed up the stairs.

As if a sudden charge shot through every part of Sehun’s body, he instantly darted right at Jongin’s tail without a second thought with Kris and Jongdae hastily rushing along side him. Sehun knew instantly, and was punching himself internally for not realizing it sooner, that the only logical place for you to be was in your own bedroom where Luhan had committed his first heinous crime. If she was in there this whole time without even making a sound then that must mean that… Oh god, please let her be alright!!

Jongin was the first to make it in front of the room with the others only a few steps behind. “NO!!” Sehun screamed, but spoke too soon when Jongin had already drove the door open and charged in. Sehun’s breath was stuck to the top of his lungs, praying to everything that he wasn’t even a second too late to save his own sister from the clutches of this malevolent creature. Skidding to a stop in front of the exposed doorway, the trio stared fearfully at Jongin whose back was towards them. However, something was wrong here and all four of them knew it straight away. Being the first to voice out the one question on everyone’s mind, Jongin quietly spoke.

“Where is she…?”

Too flushed with astonishment themselves, Sehun and the others remained stuck to their spots and frantically looked around the entire room. There seemed to have been no indication of you being inside the room at all. Where did you go?

“!” Jongin loudly cursed. He hurried over to the bed and ripped the bed skirt up but did not find you finding refuge beneath it as before. Heaving out a massive sigh, Jongin stood up straight and continued scooping the room.

“Could she have escaped from the room somehow??” Jongdae quietly wondered aloud. So many possibilities were speeding through Sehun’s mind too fast for him to even handle. Where is she? Did she escape? If she safe? Is she still alive?

Jongin felt his annoyance now hanging by a very fragile string. Just then, he suddenly heard a small crunching noise beneath his feet when he had taken a step forward. Reeling his eyes downward at the foreign, contrasting sound, he pulled his foot away and saw that he had stepped onto one of the fallen picture frames that had dropped onto the ground earlier. His eyes flickered up just a moment to see it was rested in front of lone wooden bureau and then brought his eyes back down to stare at the picture.

Bordered with golden metal framing was what Jongin perceived as a photo of you as a small child sitting in a patch of dandelions, and seated beside you was a boy of equal age. The striking resemblance told Jongin in a second that it was a photo of you and your older brother Sehun. But it wasn’t the aged photo that kept Jongin’s attention fastened securely onto it, it was the fact that the glass that once shielded the picture was now missing a large piece, leaving behind a few crumbs of glass remains. Something’s not right here…

“AHHH!!!” Jongin strained out an anguished cry of pain when he suddenly felt a shock of pain blast up his right leg. Twisting his head to look down, he caught a brief glimpse of your figure on the ground, having been emerged from the other side of the bureau, now piercing his leg with the exact large piece of glass he was investigating a moment ago that was clenched tightly between both of your hands. Jongin collapsed down onto the ground, wrenching in pain with the foreign object still sticking to his limb, now painted and dripping with his crimson blood.

“Jaeyun!!” Sehun called out, hurrying into the room.

At the sound of his voice, you swiveled your head up. “Sehun—“ you were cut short when you felt cold fingers enfold onto the hair on the back of your head and yank you backwards. You fell back hard into Jongin’s chest and now had his arm wrapped around your neck with suffocating force. Sehun halted in his steps in shock when he saw Jongin now attempting to stand back up with you held tightly in his grasp.

“You thought you could get the better of me with a little stab to the leg, huh?” Jongin murmured behind clenched teeth into your ear, his breath scalding your skin on contact. He had the knife held up just a breath away from your neck and you were using all your might to tear out of his grip, but to no success.

“You let her go!!” Kris demanded, running up to Sehun’s side along with Jongdae.

“Don’t any of you even dare to come any closer!!!”

Jongin had extended his arm out and had the blunt knife pointed directly at the boys. “If any of you even think about taking one step forward, I’ll kill not only Jaeyun but Jongin as well.” Tilting his head to the side to expose his neck, Jongin pulled the knife back and held it severely close to his own neck. “My spirit will be fine, but these two here will lose their lives in a matter of seconds. Then the three of you will be held responsible for both of their deaths.”

He’s trying to pull the same stunt as before…!! Sehun thought. And evil glint sparkled in Jongin’s clouded eyes when he now saw the hesitation beginning to dawn on the boys.

“Jongin—I-I mean, Luhan. Please, we don’t want anyone to get hurt here.” Jongdae cautioned, hands held up defensively. “Just let her go…” Jongin’s arm snapped up and held the knife against your cheek. You let out a tiny whimper of pain when the sharp blade drew a small amount of blood from your cheek.

“Jaeyun…!!” Sehun uttered out in horror. “What the do you even want from us?!!!”

“It’s not any of you that I want! All I want is Jaeyun!!!” Jongin exploded in response. “And there’s no way I’m leaving this damned world until I drag Jaeyun into the pits of hell along with me!!” You could feel the knife in Jongin’s grasp now begin to tremble ever so subtly. He brought his voice down to just below a whisper, to a volume that could barely be heard against the heavy air. “I’m not going to leave alone… Not again… Not like before…” Jongin held the blade up to your neck once again.

“So regardless of what happens, Jaeyun will die no matter what!!!”

A sudden form ran full speed past Sehun from the corner of his eye. “Kris, what are you doing?!!!” Jongdae hollered. Sehun stared ahead and saw Kris now running right towards Jongin head on.

“Stay back!! S-stay back!!” Jongin cried as Kris closed in on him. But in one lucid motion, Kris managed to rip you out of Jongin’s hold and grab onto his neck, ramming him right into the wall behind him. You fell onto the floor with immense force.

“KRIS!!!” Gasping for breath, you looked over your shoulder and your heart completely stopped.

Kris’ back was now covered in a dark shade of red that slowly ran and dripped down onto the floor. And poking out from his upper back was the end of Jongin’s blade.

H-he… risked his life for me…

Jongin gaped at Kris with big widened eyes. Though he was punctured right in the chest, Kris’ face only twisted a tiny bit in pain. Steadying his breaths, Kris flickered his eyes over to stare into Jongin’s. “So is this what it had to take for me to get a word with you?” Kris choked up. Even the simple act of speaking seemed like it was taking a mighty amount of effort.

“If it wasn’t for Minseok… I probably could have saved myself from doing something like this…”

“Min… seok…?” Jongin slowly repeated.

“To the man who loved but didn’t know how to properly love, please find your happiness. That was his prayer for you.” Jongin held his breath, staring deeply into Kris’ eyes. “Everyday… every single day… Minseok not only prayed for his sister but for you too. And he would always say those exact words with you in mind all the time.” Kris coughed, finding it more and more difficult to speak now. “…H-he… sometimes told me that he wished he could tell you this in person. He said that maybe—just maybe, if that could have been his last words to you then your soul might have rested in peace along with his sister…”

“To the man who loved… but didn’t know how to properly love…” Jongin trailed off. Turning his head, he looked past Kris where his eyes had fallen onto you who had been watching on. His eyes were soft and his lips parted. Just like before, your eyes saw Jongin but your heart felt Luhan looking back at you right now. And this look he was giving you, this pained and heavy hearted look; it felt as though this was the true face of Luhan. Past all the fake smiles and evil scrutiny, this seemed like the truest and most genuine expression you had ever witnessed in Luhan…

Suddenly, Jongin grunted in pain and held onto his head with both hands. His eyes were clenched shut and his face contorted in discomfort. “You’re time is finally up now, Luhan. It’s time for you to finally pass.” Kris murmured before he stumbled a few steps backwards and collapsed onto the ground, falling unconscious. Jongin didn’t seem fazed at all by Kris and continued struggling in pain.

“No…! N-NO…!!!” Jongin cried, sliding back against the wall onto the floor, now clawing at his own head. “I-I can’t leave yet…!! I can’t!!!” The whole room now began to rumble underneath everyone’s feet; a low hum now filling the air.

“Jongdae, w-what’s happening?!!” Sehun called out, struggling to keep his own balance.

“Luhan’s immense energy must be spilling out of Jongin!! Jongin must be gaining control of his body now!!”

Chilling sounds of resistance that didn’t sound at all human leaped up from Jongin’s throat as he now had his fingers wrapped around his own throat. “G-get out of my body…!!!” He frantically thrashed around in place as the room began to shake even more violently.

“NEVER. I’M NEVER LEAVING UNTIL I GET WHAT I DESERVE!!” His voice now sounded hideous and distorted as if Luhan’s pure rage enveloped every single word. “I’M NOT GOING TO BE ALONE AGAIN. NOT AGAIN. NOT EVER!!!”

 

“LUHAN STOP!!!” You shouted.

 

And just like that, everything came to a sudden stop. The room was now still and silent and Jongin didn’t move or say a single word. The stillness passed for a fleeting moment when the soft patter of footsteps sounded one by one behind you.

Looking up, you saw a white figure. A woman.

She could almost barely be seen for she was slightly transparent. But even then, her immaculate beauty shined through straight from the heavens. She disregarded the onlookers as if there was no one else in the room and, without even a bit of haste, walked towards Jongin.

“…Yoona…?” Sehun breathed.

Yoona made it to Jongin’s side and delicately kneeled down. Jongin turned his head and stared onto her with slight horror. “No Yoona… p-please… I don’t want to leave yet…!” Jongin quietly begged. Yoona remained expressionless and gently lifted a hand up and placed it onto his head.

In a second, Jongin screamed out in complete agony and pain at the slight contact and before you realized it, the air in the room began to gradually decrease in heaviness and become brighter. All of the ill feelings and sense of despair that was once teeming inside this very room started to lift up before your very eyes.

And in the blink of an eye, Yoona disappeared into thin air and Jongin finally fell to the floor knocked out cold.

Seconds past that seemed like hours. The sense of realization was slow to pass. Was it really over? Was all this really over?

Time finally caught up with everyone when Sehun was the first to take off full speed towards both Jongin and Kris’ unconscious bodies. He dropped down beside the both of them. “Guys! G-guys, wake up!!!” He pleaded, shaking at them.

“Are you alright?” you whirled your head around to see Jongdae crouched before you, frantically checking over your cuts and bruises. You were still in such a shock to be able to answer him right away. “Don’t worry, I’m a friend of your brother’s. Now, are you okay?” he repeated.

“Ah, I-I’m in pain but… what about those two?” you fearfully asked, looking over at the two lifeless figures a few feet away. Jongdae looked over at Sehun, who was now staring at the ground.

“Sehun…?”

“Jongdae…” Sehun said with a shaky voice. He gazed up at the both of you, his eyes now drowning in a sea of red and tears. “Call an ambulance. Jongin is still breathing… but Kris isn’t.”

 

Sehun gently nudged the door open, poking his head inside to see you quietly sitting in your bed. “Where’s mom and dad?” Sehun asked, slipping in and closing the door behind him.

“They're out talking to some police officers.” You simply responded.

“Oh, I see.” He simply answered.

Without another word, he strode towards the armchair near your hospital bed and sat down. Allowing the couch cushion to thoroughly deflate down to his weight, he spoke again. “The police were all over the place when we had first called them. They seem convinced of our innocence in the case, but with them investigating we still need to be alert.”

He looked up at you. You remained silent. He didn’t blame you though. After what you’ve been through, he wouldn’t blame you at all for not wanting to talk. Sehun uncomfortably cleared his throat, rubbing at the back of his own neck to relief some discomfort.

“How are the other two?”

“Hm?” Sehun piped up. “Oh… you mean Jongin and Kris? Jongin is fine. He just had to get some stitches for his leg or something. We can go see him right now, if you’re up for it?”

“And what about Kris?” Sehun blinked at you. You locked eyes with Sehun, looking onto him expectantly. His gaze drifted down onto the ground.

“…He didn’t make it…”

The words stung you right in the deepest part of your heart and tears were now threatening to trickle from your eyes. “Jaeyun…”

“I didn’t even know the guy and yet he risked his life for me.” You hadn’t seen this stranger in your whole life but you ended up witnessing first hand his own death. You didn’t know what to feel right now other than sorrow. “This is all my fault. Every single thing that’s happened here was all my fault!” Sehun didn’t say anything. “If it wasn’t for me… Kris wouldn’t have…!”

“Kris was a special type of guy, Jaeyun.” Sehun suddenly intervened. “He cared a lot about everyone. Me, you, Minseok, Yoona… maybe he might have even cared a tiny bit about Luhan because of Minseok’s words. If anything, he’s still happy where he is now knowing that he had helped us all so much.” Sehun held himself back from saying any more, not wanting to risk himself breaking down in a puddle of tears. He was a man after all and had to be the strong one here.

“His efforts didn’t go in vain because he saved us all Jaeyun. Most importantly, you have your freedom back.” His words seemed to have spread across your chest in a certain warmth that you couldn’t even explain.

He was right. After four years, you were free now.

“Sehun,” you suddenly spoke. “Thank you.” You looked him into the eyes once more. “Thank you for always staying by my side. Now matter how blind or crazy I got, you still stuck to me even when the odds were against you. If I were you, I would have given up a long time ago but you didn’t.”

The corners of his lips both rose up into a tender smile, one that was identical to the one you had seen before when you were only moments away from breathing your last breath. You stomach flitted a bit and you subtly averted your eyes from him for a moment. “I guess faith just didn’t want me to let go of the girl I loved so easily.” Love… “What kind of brother would I be if I just ran away in the face of danger. If anything, us men become even stronger in those types of situations.”

You smiled to yourself a bit. It had been a while since you last smiled. It had been a while since you were able feel yourself able to breath so easily without a care in the world. It was a different feeling, though not completely foreign to you, it was a definite change of pace from what you were used to.

Your feelings really were at odds with each other right now.

“So do you want to go see Jongin for a bit?” Sehun asked, standing up onto his feet.

“Oh, sure.” You nodded. Sehun inclined forward and held onto your hand to help you out of your bed and into your wheelchair but you gently slipped your hand away and shook your head.

“No, it’s okay. I can handle this myself.” You said. Sehun looked onto you for a moment but pulled away nonetheless. Pushing your wheelchair near you bedside, you tugged your sheets off your body and maneuvered yourself into the seat.

“Looks like you really can handle yourself.” Sehun chuckled. And with that Sehun grabbed hold of your push handles and wheeled you outside of your room and down the halls to Jongin’s. His room was close by so the transit thankfully didn’t take too long. Now standing in front of the door, Sehun reached out for the knob when suddenly the door swung open.

“Whoa, Chanyeol.” Sehun said, startled by the towering boy now standing on the other side of the entryway.

“Oh hey there, Sehun.” He said with a grin. Almost immediately, his eyes rolled down onto you where he seemed to have become visibly tense. “Um… you guys are here to see Jongin, right?”

“Well we’re in front of his room so of course we are.” Sehun replied back sarcastically.

“Oh, right.” He weakly chuckled. Itching at his head, he side stepped out of the way allowing you both passage. You couldn’t help but notice that his eyes were still fastened onto you the entire time unbeknownst to Sehun of course. Just before Sehun could push you through the door, Chanyeol spoke up.

“Jaeyun!” Sehun paused and halted both of you to a stop. You peered up at him expectantly. Now in your stare, Chanyeol nervously averted his eyes and cleared his throat a bit clumsily. “I’m… I’m sorry… ya know, for the way I treated you before. There was no excuse for the way I shunned you like that. None of us did. So yeah on behalf of everyone… uh… s-sorry…”

This guy is so painfully awkward, it’s embarrassing… Sehun thought, internally judging the older. You smiled slightly, a bit amused seeing his ears turn a bit pink as he spoke.

“Thank you. I appreciate your apology.” Chanyeol’s eyes seemed to sparkle at your words and a huge smile spread across his face.

“I’m glad.” He laughed. “Soo um… I hope this doesn’t seem too sudden but remember how before I had asked you out for bubble tea? Well… maybe we could try that aga—“

“OK, that’s enough of you now!” Sehun intervene, stepping in between the both of you.

“Aw come on Sehun!” Chanyeol whined back, darting his head to the left and to the right to look back down at you only to have Sehun block his line of view every time with his own head. With the two now in a full out squabble, you turned your head forward and wheeled yourself into the room.

Inside, you saw Jongin resting in his bed. He seemed all too engaged in the soccer game that played overhead on the television screen in front of him—he hadn’t even noticed you rolling in. “Jongin?” He twisted his head to the side at the sound of your voice.

“Jaeyun.” Clicking the volume down on his game, he sat up and watched you approach him. “Are you feeling better?” Though his voice kept a monotone tone as usual, there seemed to be an undertone of genuine concern lurking in his voice. Already, you were glad that he didn’t sound at all upset with you.

“Yeah, I told some medication from my nurse so I’m feeling a bit better. And you?”

“Same.” He shrugged. He looked onto you and saw the hint of worry in your eyes. “Don’t worry about me. I get hurt all the time with sports so this is nothing.” He assured. You slowly nodded in response.

“…You remember everything that happened… don’t you?”

“Yes and no. Some parts I kind of remember, other parts are completely lost to me.” He stopped for a moment. “I’m sorry for hurting you like I did. I couldn’t control myself…”

“No, if anything I should be apologizing to you.” you quickly blurted out. “I should be apologizing to everyone, this is all my fault after all…”

“If you admit to it to yourself like that then you might as well be depressed about it for the rest of your life.” He indifferently said. “It’s done and over with and that’s all that matters. It’s the coward’s way to sulk over it so just keep looking forward. Things happen for a reason, don’t they. In the end, you came out of this stronger didn’t you?”

You thought to yourself at the question and you realized he was absolutely right. “Yeah, I did. I really think I did.”

“So that’s the end of that story then. Difficulties that come along the way are only put in your path to help you grow as a person. So when the lesson’s learned, you just move on and look forward to the next obstacle life has to offer.”

“The lesson?” you repeated, tilting your head to the side.

“Yup. And what lesson did we learn today? Never play around with creatures from the other side!” Jongin teased, playfully bonking you on the head. You smiled and shared a laugh with him.

I feel as though the lesson goes far beyond just that. This was the worst experience of my life but like he said, things are thrown at you in life to make you stronger and I really think this experience did just that. I protected and stood up for myself for the first time in my life. I’ll never forget what’s happened today but it’s all a thing of the past now. This is something that I can now put behind me so I can start a fresh new chapter in my life.

Saying your goodbyes to Jongin, you exited out of his room. Seeing that your brother Sehun was still bickering with Chanyeol like a bunch of angry five year olds, you decided to head back to your room on your own. Once you were back in the comfort of  your own room, you wheeled yourself towards your bed to get some more rest.

Bing.

Your ears perked up at the suddenly sound. “A text message?” you turned and rolled yourself towards a table off to the side of the room where your bag that your parents had brought along laid. Rummaging through the clutter inside, you managed to fish out your phone and looked over the message.

 

 

From: %!#@$(g*

Sent: 3:39 PM, August 23

 

i”ll* n.ev#e%r; leA^&ve y@ou)

             

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`Author's Corner

THE FREAKING END. I DIDN'T PROOF READ THIS. So who actually made it lol If you'd like to know all about my thoughts and such then check out the Author's Note chappie after this :-)