I glanced at Casper and Yongseok and blinked. Why does everybody give that answer here?

Sangmin blinked slowly and looked around the room. “…where is she?”

“Where is who?” Casper asked.

“Her.” Sangmin stared at Casper. Sudden interest took over the blank look in his eyes.

“Ms. Kim?” I asked. She was the only other woman I’ve seen in this place.

Sangmin turned to me. “Yes!”

“Why do you want to see her?” For some reason, I felt a rush jealousy run through me.

“I…I don’t know.” Sangmin’s eyes wandered away, deep in thought.

“Looks like he’s got the same thought we all do.” Yongseok looked from Casper to me.

“I knew it!” Seyoung called from the corner.

My gaze remained fixed on Sangmin. “Why do you want to see her?”

Sangmin slowly met my eyes again. “She said some things to me.”

“What kind of things?” The jealousy inside of me only grew bigger.

Sangmin’s confused expression didn’t go away and he couldn’t answer me.

“Takuya, calm down. We don’t know either.” Yongseok carefully touched my arm.

My gaze shifted to him. “You mean she all spoke to you individually?”

“Hypnotherapy!” Seyoung called from the corner.

Casper sighed big and turned to him. “Will you let that go?”

“Nope! There’s too much evidence to back me up!” Seyoung turned around and walked over to us. “Look at us! We’re all confused and yet seemingly fine about it! Takuya, you got really jealous just now! Do you know why?”

I blinked. I felt perfectly fine. “What are you talking about?”

“Exactly! Look at him, you guys!” Seyoung jabbed his crayon at me while looking from Casper and Yongseok excitedly.

“Your expression did change when Sangmin mentioned talking to Ms. Kim.” Yongseok mused.

At the mention of Sangmin, I suddenly felt cautious.

“So what if I got jealous? Why would Ms. Kim want to talk to Sangmin? Or any one of you?” I glared.

Casper blinked and stared at me. “Whoa…”

“Are you calling me a liar now?” Seyoung grinned.

“But how would hypnotherapy be the cause of his behavior?” Yongseok looked at Jianing.

“Um, aren’t you a magician? Should you know these things?” Casper glanced at him.

Yongseok opened his mouth but nothing came out.

“Hypnotherapy changes the way you think or it can even make memories disappear.” Seyoung explained.

I looked at Seyoung curiously. “How do you know that?”

“I’ve seen it through my own eyes.” Seyoung replied excitedly.

“What? How did you do that?” I asked.

Yongseok and Casper were looking at him now.

“The only logical way I could have done that is if I was being hypnotized. When that was going on, I saw many things in front of my eyes. Many images and words.”

“Words?” Yongseok asked.

“Yeah!”

“What were they?” I asked.

“Hm…” Seyoung thought for a moment. “They were sentences, but I can’t remember all of the words.”

“What do you remember then?” Casper sighed.

“…I think words like “me” and “love”.”

“Well that hardly helps our situation.” Yongseok crossed his arms.

My head leaned to the side slowly. “’Love me…you will only love me’”?

Everyone looked at me.

“Yes!” Seyoung exclaimed and pointed at me.

“That sounds familiar to me too.” Yongseok blinked in awe.

“Sangmin, does that sound familiar to you?” Casper looked at Sangmin.

Sangmin glanced at all of us, becoming more and more aware of his surroundings.

“Yes…I feel like I’ve heard that before.”

“Hypnotherapy.” Seyoung nodded. “I couldn’t be more sure about it.”

“You’re saying that someone’s been hypnotizing us?” I asked.

“Not just any ‘someone’.” Seyoung shook his head.

“Ms. Kim.” We all said in unison.

I suddenly felt a weird sensation run down my spine and it made me shiver. “D-did you feel that too?” I bent over a little and looked at everyone.

“It felt like someone else was speaking through me.” Sangmin blinked and touched his chest wide-eyed.

“Isn’t it wonderful?” Seyoung spoke softly.

I stared at him. “What are you saying?! It’s not wonderful! It’s manipulating! She’s treating us like puppets!” But even as I said those words, I felt a strange warm feeling rush through my body, making me sound less sure of my own words.

“I see her in front of me…” Yongseok said quietly.

“Me too.” Casper stared ahead blankly.

I felt myself slipping away into my thoughts. All I saw was her. The beautiful nurse with bright red lips and neatly-tied back brown hair under her nurse hat. I wanted to be near her. Hug her. Let her control me…

I clamped my eyes shut and shook my head. “N-no!”

“What’s wrong?” I heard Casper ask.

“I…I….” I slowly opened my eyes. Everyone was staring at me questionably.

“What’s wrong, Takuya? You left us for a moment.” Yongseok’s hand was on my shoulder.

Huh..? When did he…? I looked at his hand dazedly, trying to gather my words. “What…what just happened?” I slowly looked at all of them.

“You were just standing there staring ahead and got really quiet.” Casper replied.

Seyoung had gone back to his corner and was drawing again.

“I…I don’t remember doing that.” Now I really felt scared. I backed away from them slowly.

“Takuya?” Yongseok and Casper both took steps forward.