“WHAT!?” You yelped in surprise. You could feel your eyes opened wide, so wide that they probably looked as big as golf balls. And for a moment there, you thought that your brain had stopped functioning.

You stared at the six men in front of you, hoping for a loud laugh to suddenly burst out, breaking the awkward silence. But nothing happened. Just a single glance at these boys and you could easily tell that they were not joking.  

Saviour…?!  ME?!

“We need you... we really need you.” N finally spoke.

“We need you to save us and break our curse.” Ravi calmly added.

Curse? What the hell are they talking about!? I don’t understand a thing!

Suddenly, your body started to limp. You couldn’t feel your legs anymore and your head became somewhat dizzy. You could faintly hear loud gasps came from the boys, but your eyes somehow forced themselves to shut. You could feel your body swayed to the side. But just before it could land on the floor, leaving a possible crack on your head, a warm pair of hands saved you.

“Whoa~ be careful there!”

You weakly opened your eyes, only to be greeted with a gentle smile.

“You must be shocked, right? We’re really sorry then…” He chuckled and you could see dimples formed on his pale white cheeks.

Hongbin.

You remembered his name. But what followed after that was darkness that finally took over your sight.

“Ya, what should we do now?!” Ken whispered in panic.

“Can’t you be quiet for a second!? I swear you’ve been asking the same thing for 30 times already! Aishhh…” Hyuk shoved Ken’s shoulder aside.

“I can’t take this anymore... just call me when she wakes up!” Hyuk stormed out from the room, probably to calm himself down.

Ravi let out a faint sigh and shook his head. He then stared at your sleeping figure on the bed. “She must be… scared of us.” He whimpered.

“You bet. There’s no way a normal girl like her would stay calm after finding six strangers in her house, especially when they claimed her as their saviour... right?” Hongbin answered with a smirk.

N slowly walked into the room, “She hasn’t woken up yet?”

Ken repeatedly shook his head and pouted, “What should we do? Eottokaji?”

N motioned towards you and sat beside your bed, “I’m sorry, ___. I shouldn’t have said that in our first meeting…” His eyes were filled with sadness. He looked very guilty.

“Next time, think before you speak.” Leo, who had been leaning quietly by the window for the whole time, suddenly spoke.

N quickly shot him a glare, “Ya! You haven’t spoken a single word since you woke up today and that was the first thing that came out from your mouth!?”

Leo remained indifferent with his usual straight expression set on his face. He then casually walked outside the room, joining Hyuk at the living room downstairs.

“Damn. He sure got some issues.” N groused in annoyance.

Ravi smirked, “Isn’t he always like that? Don’t mind him. But what he said actually got some point though.”

“YA! What’s wrong with all of you!? I said that because I really wanted her to know about everything as soon as possible! Is it wrong for me for wanting us to be freed from this curse as soon as possible!?” N peevishly stood up.

“Did you realize that you just said exactly the same words twice?” He chuckled.

“You--!!!” N gritted his teeth, ready to throw a punch at Ravi.

“Shhh! Cut it down you two! You’ll wake her up!” Hongbin put a finger on his lips, signaling the two to shut up.

Ken tilted his head, “Then that’s good! Isn’t that what we want?”

Hongbin leered his eyes in disbelief. He was about to throw tantrums at Ken when you suddenly shifted on your bed, releasing a soft moan.

N gasped, “She’s awake!” He quickly scooted back to his seat beside you.

You grunted and slowly opened your eyes. Your vision was still blurry so you had to blink a few times to adjust your sight. You recognized the ceiling of your room and closed your eyes again as you sighed in relief.

Thank God it was just a nightmare…

“Feeling better?”

Those two words instantly made you jump in horror as you shot your eyes open. You gulped and turned your head to the side, only to see four pair of eyes staring at you.

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!”

You screamed in shock and slid back. You were trying to cover your body with the blanket when you suddenly felt someone grabbed your right wrist. And that made you scream even louder.

“Relax! Relax!! It’s us! I-it’s just me! N!!” N tried to calm you down.

With your left hand you quickly grabbed your pillow and hit him with all your strength. “Go away, you thief! Get out from my house!! Kyaaaa!! Let me go! You ert! Thief! W-whatever! Just let me goooo!!!”

“Ouch! Ouch! S-stop it! Ya! Ouchhh! Omo…! S-someone-- help me...!” N whined in pain while trying to avoid your merciless attacks.

You kept hitting him when a hand suddenly snatched your pillow away from you.

“Slow down, baby~ if I’m not mistaken, the last time we talked, Ken told you that we came in peace, right?” Ravi playfully shook his head and threw the pillow to the floor.

“Yes! Don’t be afraid, we’re not going to eat you!” Ken joked.

You stared at the four boys with eyes still perked up in shock.

“Look! You just ruined my hair! You have no idea how long it took me to style my hair today, all because I didn’t want to look bad in front of you!” N put out a fake cry while pointing at his ragged hair.

You blinked and finally recognized them. You finally remembered all the crazy things that happened this evening.

So… it wasn't a dream? I-it’s real!?

“I… I’m sorry…” You softly whispered, reflecting on what you just did.

“Hahahaha!” Hongbin blurted out a laugh while holding his stomach. “Aigoo~ you’re so cute, I like you~” He winked.

You automatically looked away, blushing.

Wait… the last time I saw these guys, there were six of them. Right, six! So where are the other two?

Suddenly, you could hear loud footsteps marched towards the room. You lifted your head and spotted both Hyuk and Leo with their bodies hunched, panting at the door.

“I-is everything okay?!” Hyuk gasped for breath as he rested his back on the door frame.

“Yep, everything is under control!” Ken grinned.

Leo was panting hardly with both hands perched on his knees. He was glaring at you. You flinched and unconsciously looked away to avoid his gaze.

Shoot! Why does he always look scary despite of his good looks!?

Leo straightened his body up and cleared his throat. After he made sure that nothing serious happened, he turned his body and went back downstairs, still with the same flat face roosted on his face.

“What did you guys do, huh? I’m sure she wouldn’t have screamed that loudly if you guys didn’t do anything nasty.” Hyuk suspiciously shifted his gaze to Ravi.

“We did nothing, really!” Ravi answered with both hands stretched up in the air.

“All we did was staring at her face when she sudddenly woke up.” Hongbin explained, “But then she got shocked and screamed.”

“Am I right?” Hongbin glanced at you and you felt even guiltier.

“…I’m sorry, I was… I kind of thought that it was just a dream…” You sheepishly bowed your head.

“Haha~ of course not! We’re real! Real real~” N flashed you a smile, “And sorry for scaring you… twice.” He scratched his head.

“N-no! It’s entirely my fault… I shouldn’t have hit you with the pillow…” You glanced at the pillow slumped beside Ravi’s feet.

“…You hit N?” Hyuk asked with eyes widened in shock. You suddenly got scared and looked at him, “I-I didn’t mean it! I was just surprised! R-really…!” You nervously bit your lower lip.

Just when you thought that you were going to get scolded, Hyuk unexpectedly cracked up, “Hahaha! It’s totally okay, then! Just hit him as much as you want! Oh, and I’m glad that you finally regained your consciousness.” He grinned.

N furiously stared at Hyuk with fists balled, “If you’re not running as I counted to three, I swear you won’t be sleeping peacefully tonight, Han Sanghyuk…”

“Oh nooo~ I’m so scareeed~” Hyuk mockingly with both hands wrapped around his body, faking a shiver.

“--THREE!” N suddenly rushed towards Hyuk.

“W-whoa! You said you were going to count to three! Y-you’re cheating!!” Hyuk yelped as he ran away from N.

“Don’t you dare running away from me, you kiddo! Ya!” N’s voice filled the whole corridor as he chased the youngest downstairs.

You grew confused, “What the--”

You felt a soft pat on your shoulder, “I’m sorry for those two idiots, ___. But I’m sure you’ll get used to them soon.” Ken playfully grinned at you, “For your information, they are always like that.”

“O-okay…” You reluctantly flashed a smile. Which quickly turned into a frown, “W-wait wait wait! What did you mean with I’ll get used to them?”

“Huh? What did I mean?” Ken blinked his eyes innocently as you nodded.

“Well, I don’t know you guys anyway, so what’s the point of me getting used to whatever you guys do? I mean… no offense, but... there’s no need for me to understand your habits or whatsoever, right? We’re strangers after all…” You shifted your gaze to the three boys in front of you.

The three of them looked at each other and you started to have a bad feeling about this. Ken, Hongbin and Ravi then stared at you with a wide grin on their faces. And that was when you realized that nightmare had really come to your life.

You got your eyes widened as you gasped, “Don’t tell me that--”

Ken timidly smiled, “Yep, starting from today, we’ll be living here with you!”

“NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! I said, NO!” You shouted in frustration with both arms crossed, standing in front of the six boys who were sitting on the sofa in your living room.

“But we don’t have any places to live… so, please…?” Hyuk gave you a pleading puppy eyes and you could swear you almost gave up due to his cuteness.

“N-no!” You looked away from him with blushed face.

You were pacing back and forth in panic because what these boys asked you for was just too ridiculous for you to take.

What the hell!? They want to live together with me!? Me with these six handsome, cute, and hormonal hot men!? No way! I-I don’t even know them!

“___?” N called you with pleading look as well.

“T-THERE’S NO WAY I WILL LIVE WITH STRANGERS LIKE YOU GUYS! PLUS, WE JUST MET TODAY!” You shouted again.

You could see them flinched and sighed in unison.

You were panting as you realized that you had shouted way too much already. Yet these boys didn’t show any signs of giving up, even just for a bit. They insisted that they wanted to live with you. Together under one roof.

“Okay!” You stopped walking around and shifted your gaze to them. “Here’s the thing. You all barged into my house without permission this evening and said nonsensical stuffs that I don’t even understand. Worse, we’re technically strangers. So why should I give you all a place to live?! Don’t you guys have families!?”

“No. We don’t.” Ravi answered with straight face. You could clearly see in his eyes that he was not lying. Guilt immediately rushed into you.

“S-sorry… I didn’t mean to…” You apologized in panic.

“It’s okay. We’re used to it.” Hongbin flashed you a bitter smile, but it didn’t make you feel better at all.

“Since we don’t have any families, can’t you just give up and let us live together with you here?” N said to you in a pleading tone, trying to win your sympathy.

“N-no!” You were back to your senses.

“Umm… ___, actually…” Ken suddenly puffed his cheeks and he looked so adorable that your nearly squealed. Wait, what? No!

“We’re not actually strangers like you just said.” Ravi interrupted, making invincible quotations marks with his fingers.

You gulped nervously, waiting for him to spill more.

Ravi sighed, “You and us… we’re somehow connected. And what we told you right before you fainted back then... it’s all true.”

What!? So, I’m really their--

“--You are our Saviour. We swear that we will never let you go, not that we have finally found you.” Hongbin added as your eyes opened even wider.

“We spent four months… no, wait, five…? Well, whatever… the point is, it took us a long time to find you.” Ken looked down, “It wasn’t easy, you know?”

“We need you.” N repeated those confusing words again and stared deeply at your eyes. “You’re the only one who can free us.”

You could see both pain and frustration in their eyes and you somehow softened, “Free you guys? From what? And why me…?”

They all looked down with their gazes fixed to the ground in silent.

“Who are you guys...? No--” You stared at each of them, “...What are you?”

None of them answered.

“You guys… could it be… you’re not human?”

Still no answer.

They were either stayed still like a statue or looked away from you. And that was when you realized that there was something wrong with the questions.

You let out a sigh, “Please, just tell me. What are you guys--“

“--Dolls.”

It was not the answer that shocked you the most, but the person who gave you the answer was. You stood in silent with eyes bugged out, shocked. He can speak!? I thought he was mute!

“...We are dolls.” Leo repeated as you were finally back to your senses.

“DOLLS…?” Some of them nodded, while some others looked down with shamed look on their faces.

You suddenly burst out a loud laugh, “Dolls?! Hahaha! Yeah, of course! You guys are so funny! Hahaha! Seriously, this could be the best joke of the year!”

You kept laughing until you realized that none of them laughed. In fact, they all looked at you with pained look in their eyes. For a minute there, you thought that they were sad. But no, they were hurt. Badly hurt.

You quickly stopped laughing so conceitedly and covered your mouth with your hand.

Good job, ___. You’ve just hurt their feelings.

Somehow, deep inside your heart, you didn’t want to see them like this. You had no idea where this kind of feeling came from, but for sure, it somewhat made you angry. Because you hated it when they were not smiling.

You awkwardly cleared your throat, “O-okay, so… you guys are… dolls?”

You slowly motioned towards the coffee table in front of the sofa and sat on it. “Well, I’m kind of confused right now. So, if you guys want me to understand your situations,