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a study in demons

PAIRING ▸ yang jungwon x fem!reader

GENRES ▸ horror, angst, psychological thriller

WARNINGS ▸ profanity, semi graphic depictions of violence and gore, character death, mental illness

SUMMARY ▸ always keep a supply of latex gloves on you. wear shoes bigger than your actual size. if you’re looking for a nice and clean death, a couple of visine eye drops in a drink should do the trick. 

or, yang jungwon doesn’t want to be a murderer. he just wants to get away from all this, and that’s not easy when nishimura riki’s next target happens to be you.

WORD COUNT ▸ 2,846 words

TAG LIST ▸ @mindprismus @ily-cuz-i @mmsriza @changmin-wrlds @13isacoolnumber @from-xero @svnglvs @acciomylove @sakuracoffee @nyujjan @goldenhypen @bbanggami @honeyju @lvsunq @notmangojuice @luvrjn @cb97curls @jakeyuni @soobisms @rikibae @soobin-chois @xiaosimp3​ @outrologist​ @nabinthegardnn​ @viagumi​ @mxnuilx97​ @euphorecore​ @kpoplover718​ @duolingofanaccount​ @jjongsha​ @teawithbucky​ @fiantomartell​ @baekhyunstruly​ @mykalon​ @heelariously​ @hobistigma​ @simplyxlea​ @wntrsgf​ @person-standing​ @ja4hyvn​ @dnyamight​ @candidupped​ @shmooooo​ @pr0dbeomgyu​ @heeyunkist​ @sunshine-skz​ @hiqhkey​ @kp0p10v3r2​ @baekhyuns-lipchain​

AUTHOR’S NOTE ▸ hihi it’s been a while since i posted writing here, and this is more halloween themed oops but this is inspired by mix & max bleeding darkness !! i analyzed their dancing and performance for this :’) sorry jungwon i literally bias u and all the fics i’ve written for u are horror </3 hope y’all enjoy this little installment ♡ my search history looks so concerning now sobsob

THE FIRST TIME YANG JUNGWON SAW SOMEONE DIE IN FRONT OF HIS EYES, HE WAS NUMB.

It was a strange feeling, like crushing a bug slowly and watching its guts spew out while it struggled under your grip. Not that Jungwon did that—regularly. But that was what he thought of as he watched Nishimura Riki drive a knife into someone’s stomach. Jungwon felt a strange feeling of dissociation as he watched the light leave the other man’s eyes.

He thought the first sight of death would be accompanied by a wave of nausea, a lack of control over his limbs, and echoes of screams in his head. Instead, Jungwon remained still and observant. Maybe if he avoided allowing his presence to be known, then Riki wouldn’t even notice the accomplice standing next to him.

There was something horrifying about the way a human would stop begging for their lives and succumb to their fate. Jungwon always shuddered a little when he saw the last drop of hope get squeezed from their eyes. Riki never failed to point out how they stopped looking for mercy and started waiting for freedom.

That was then. Now, Jungwon wasn’t sure if he could ever shake off the dreadful feeling in his gut.

Keep reading

against the world

PAIRING ▸ park sunghoon x fem!reader x sim jaeyun (ft. park jongseong)

GENRES ▸ fluff, angst, psychological, horror, thriller

WARNINGS ▸ profanity, murder, descriptions of gore, unrequited love, found family, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, mc is an unreliable narrator

SUMMARY ▸ if you could change anything about your life, it would be meeting park sunghoon.

WORD COUNT ▸ 14,064 words

PLAYLIST ▸ back to black by amy winehouse • the french library by franz gordon • perfectly splendid by the newton brothers

AUTHOR’S NOTE ▸ hello !! this fic is a rewrite of one of my first horror fics that i’ve written :') it badly needed reworking and i completely changed the ending. i hope you guys enjoy my spooky szn contribution ♡

THE TRUTH WAS, YOUR LIFE BEGAN TO FALL APART EVEN BEFORE YOU MET SIM JAEYUN. 

You realized this as you woke up, face pressed against the ice-cold, concrete floor of a holding cell; when the guards dragged your uncooperative, limp body into an interrogation room; when you were face-to-face with Detective Lee Heeseung and handcuffed to a cold, metal table as he read your Miranda Rights. The handcuffs dug into the flesh of your wrists, but you only fought against them once and gave up as soon as you realized they wouldn’t give in. You just wanted to thumb away the crusted blood staining your hands and pick out the flakes under your nails.

The room was foreign to you. It was something you’d seen in movies and read in books, but you never fathomed the idea of being in an interrogation room yourself. There was a two-way glass that you aimlessly stared at, wondering who was listening in on the other end. 

You couldn’t figure out just how you ended up in this situation. Everything was smooth in your memory up until your supposed arrest—a tear in the fabric of your recollection. You hardly remembered what happened on the way to the police station or when you were getting booked in. You dug your palms into your temples and then pressed against the soft flesh under your eyes, frustrated by the stunted gears in your head. As much as you begged than to click and start spinning, they remained stuck and rusted in place. 

But you couldn’t ask the brooding man standing over you. You couldn’t look up into his cold, unforgiving eyes. After all, he knew you were a murderer. 

“There’s no use in lying to me, Y/N,” Detective Lee said gruffly with a gaze like steel, “the prints match.”

You drummed your fingers against the table—a habit that was rooted in your anxiety. Your fingers were stained and pruned like roses, and as hard as you tried to paint the table red, it only flaked off. You were sure your heartbeat was faster than the tapping of your fingers, your mind perhaps speeding off twice as fast.

Your stomach twisted. If Jaeyun was going to prison, too, then you could no longer protect him.

There was a limit to how much he could take; you knew that being thrown in the slammer would be intolerable for him. You knew you needed to get to him immediately because Jaeyun was the guy who felt too little and too much at the same time—the guy who looked for the part of him that ran away, who self-destructed when he felt the world closing in on him.

After all, Jaeyun was a stick of trinitrotoluene lit at both ends. 

You worked up the courage to look Detective Lee in the eye, which made him stiffen up, biceps flexing under his white button-up. 

“Where’s Jaeyun?” you asked. 

Detective Lee’s lips pressed into a thin, grim line. Cutting into his pale cheeks. You decided that couldn’t be a good reaction. 

You continued, “He didn’t do anything, I swear. He was just there. He didn’t do anything.”

“If you cooperate with us, then you can see Jaeyun again,” the detective answered in a clipped tone. “I can sit here all day and wait.”

Cooperate. You hated that word.

You knew Detective Lee was just trying to sugarcoat your betrayal. You knew he was looking down on you, ready to push you to your limit. 

But there was nothing you could do in this room. There was no way for you to escape or talk your way out of it to see Jaeyun. You knew quite well that staying silent would only prevent you from making sure your boyfriend was okay. 

You had no other choice but to work with Detective Lee. 

“Will you at least make sure he’s not hurt?” you inquired, to which Detective Lee agreed with a nod.

“I’ll ask again: Will you cooperate?”

You stayed silent. You despised your old habit of shutting down like this, but you couldn’t help it.

Detective Lee sighed and sat in the chair across from you so that you both were eye-level with each other. “Listen, Y/N, you’re young. This murder investigation—this is serious stuff, okay? We just need to know the full story before we jump to any conclusions and make a false arrest. Can we start from last night?”

Deep down, you understood. But it’s all too fresh—too soon. The grief had yet to settle. The recollections of blood and lifeless eyes poisoned your head; it was all you could see when you closed your eyes.

You sounded hollow when you said, “It didn’t… start from last night.”

Detective Lee acknowledged this and leaned forward, hands clasped in front of him. “Then let’s hear it from the beginning.”

If you could change anything about your life, it would be meeting Park Sunghoon.

Your first meeting was at the age of fourteen. Moving schools was an unexpected shift in your life, and you didn't expect to find many friends at your new school. Starting new in the beginning of the year was one thing, but entering unknown territory with people already acclimated in their respective groups was another. 

People flocked to comfort, and you were sure that no one would want to step out of their comfort zone to bring a stranger into their friend group.

And then Sunghoon swooped in, like an angel sent from the heavens.

Initially, he was awkward. You were both fourteen-years-old and going through the initial stages of puberty—all voice cracks and awkward intervals of growth stunts. Sunghoon was soft-spoken and didn’t have many friends when he approached and befriended you. 

It started when you both found out you shared a love for novels. You spent hours talking about your favorite books, and Sunghoon shared his dream of wanting to craft the perfect story. Oftentimes, Sunghoon would share some of his writing with you, and then his eyes would sparkle upon hearing your feedback. 

You two were classmates, sitting right next to each other in the back of the classroom, conveniently right next to the door. You got to know Sunghoon slowly—the same gradual feeling of starting to care for someone. You knew his boundaries, though, because you were aware that you could never be the closest to Sunghoon. He and Park Jongseong were attached at the hip, and you couldn’t lie to yourself; you felt like a third wheel in the beginning.

But there was some comfort in the security of your friendship.

“It’s you and me,” Sunghoon would tell you, “the two of us against the world.”

You knew you should have been grateful to have made friends in the first place, but you didn’t exactly know if you belonged with them. As comfortable as you felt, there was always a whisper in the back of your head, telling you that you would never be their number one.

You would never be anyone’s number one.

“I don’t understand girls,” Jongseong said one day, hands tucked behind his head as the three of you were hanging out in Sunghoon’s room. You were flipping through some comic book that Sunghoon had laying around, and you shifted uncomfortably upon hearing the question. 

“You don’t have to.” Sunghoon’s eyes flitted from you, and then back to his phone. He swiped through some apps, but you could tell he wasn’t really paying attention judging by the glazed-over look in his eyes. “Girls make no sense at this age.”

Jongseong nudged you. “You have anything to say about that, Y/N?”

To be honest, you didn’t understand yourself much either. You were just starting to go through puberty, and it wasn’t ideal for a teenager as young as you to only have guy friends. You couldn’t relate to any of the girls your age, nor could you ask them if they were going through the same changes you were. 

You were acquainted with several girls, of course, but you never got close enough to ask what feelings and experiences they had. You wanted to know if they were becoming as conscious of themselves and others like you were, but you kept those questions bottled up since you only had Sunghoon and Jongseong.

“Nope,” you replied. “I couldn’t tell you.”

You supposed Jongseong was having girl problems again, and it all clicked because lately, he had been hanging around a pretty girl in their class. They were cute together and clearly into each other, but you could pick up on the issue: Jongseong was on the down-low about their relationship. More importantly, he had been on the down-low about it around Sunghoon, which had to have been breaking some sort of best friend code.

Jongseong asked, “You like anyone, Hoon?”

Hoon, your brain echoed, and you imagined yourself using the name as casually as Jongseong did. It sounded awkward coming from you, though. Friends gave each other nicknames, right? What if you gave Sunghoon a nickname? How would he react?

Sunghoon flushed behind his phone screen. You could tell he wanted it to go undetected, but you caught a glimpse of his flustered expression before he was able to compose himself.

“Oh, not really,” he replied with an air of indifference. “I dunno. I guess I haven’t really been looking.”

“How about you, Y/N?”

You faltered for a moment before you realized you had been addressed. It was a normal question; you should have expected it, but it hit you like a tornado and your mind was swirling. Dating had crossed your mind a few times, sure, you had never prepared an answer because you thought it was going to be straightforward—a simple “yeah, there’s a few cute guys in class.” But that wasn’t the case this time, and you were wondering why there wasn’t any clarity in your head.

Come on, Y/N, you urged yourself, as if you were complaining to multiple, uncooperating attendants working in your brain. Just say something—anything. 

Your mind was blanking, though, and you were scared. You couldn’t quite grasp why your stomach felt like a never-ending pit, but it only worsened when you couldn’t spit some guy’s name out. You wanted to open up your skull, thoroughly examine your head, poke at the areas refusing to work, and figure out who you couldn’t just list some attractive guy in class; on top of that, you wondered why you couldn’t just flat-out refuse the statement and claim that there was no one you were interested in.

You were struck with a painful realization that there was only one person you could think of.

Sunghoon.

No, no, no, your brain and your heart screamed at each other. Get ahold of yourself.

You quickly decided that it was just a passing feeling that you needed to suppress until it went away. It was just stupid teenage hormones and puberty making you feel this way and starving you of affection that you didn’t actually need in the first place. If you didn’t get a hold over yourself, you were going to crumble and ruin the good things you had going.

You internally convinced yourself that everything was fine. There were plenty of teenagers your age who had moments of weakness like this with their guy friends. You just needed to branch out more, that was all. 

Sheepishly, you replied before the boys could chew you out, “There’s no one I’m interested in right now.” 

You weren’t a very good liar, but as long as Sunghoon and Jongseong were sold, you were content with how things were. 

Your group expanded when you turned fifteen, and you and Sunghoon grew closer—maybe even closer than Sunghoon and Jongseong were. 

You were laying down in your bed one night, breaking into sobs when you realized that you needed more than one hand to count the number of friends you had now. Your shell was broken and your world was bigger. You normally lived like your uphills were mountains and your downhills were cliffs, but, lately, the mountains were getting easier to climb and the downhills weren’t that big of a drop. You didn’t need to stop and catch your breath or worry about hurting yourself on the way down.

You never felt lonely anymore. If Sunghoon or Jongseong weren’t free, you would call Nishimura Riki to catch grasshoppers in the creek with you, or you’d go play video games with Yang Jungwon. Kim Sunoo called you nearly every night to bother you, but you didn’t mind. You liked them; they made you feel important, like you were wanted.

“Come on,” Sunghoon teased Jungwon one day as he was blushing over some girl. “What are you being so shy about?”

“It’s embarrassing!” Jungwon complained, and you giggled over how a flush of red started creeping from his ears to his cheeks. “I’m not a smooth-talker like you are, Hoon.” 

Sunghoon snorted. “I’m not a smooth-talker.”

“He’s practically, like, bulletproof,” Jongseong chimed in. “We can’t tease him about anyone. He just brushes it off.”

“I’m not bulletproof,” Sunghoon argued, but anyone could see the pride behind his expression. “I’m just not interested in anyone right now.”

You thought you had finally squashed the weird, gooey feeling that arose in your chest every now and then whenever Sunghoon came close. It was primarily due to the fact that Sunghoon was a respectful individual who didn’t try to weasel his way into your personal bubble as he pleased. That was probably for the best because you were sure your brain would go haywire if Sunghoon was too close for comfort.

And then there was Sim Jaeyun. 

Jaeyun entered your circle pretty easily. With his radiant personality and warm presence, it was no shocker that he was accepted by the group instantly. He possessed some odd charm that drew people to him, and you couldn’t seem to figure just how that worked. You were almost jealous of him, honestly, with how much of a social butterfly he was.

Out of all of them, Jaeyun seemed to take a particular interest in you. It drove you crazy, though, and you couldn’t figure out how to get the guy to stop teasing and messing around with you. The others couldn’t figure it out either; you just weren’t as bright and bubbly as Jaeyun was, so it was odd that he kept nagging the one person whose wavelength wasn’t on par with his. 

Sometimes it was cute—endearing even—but sometimes it was just flat-out irritating.

“Hey, Y/N.” Jake grinned, and his voice was all light and airy as he approached you. “What’re you doing for the summer break?”

“Probably sleeping in, hanging out with the others, and some more sleeping,” you replied, hardly sparing him a single glance. 

You were too focused on clearing out your locker of all the books and papers you had tossed in during the year. Gotta keep this, gotta throw this away, gotta return this one, you rattled off in your head, mentally preserving a reminder of your various items. But Jaeyun knew how to push your buttons and grab your attention. He never took your deflection without retaliating back. That was one of the many reasons why you found it so difficult to be around him.

“And hanging out with Sunghoon, huh? Have you realized it yet, or are you still pretending it’s not there?”

You closed your locker with a swift swipe of your hand, revealing Jaeyun’s smug expression. Your eyes were practically bugging out of your sockets as you stared him down. Somehow, you knew exactly what he was hinting at, but you refused to spell it out for him.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” you questioned, but Jaeyun was already walking away from you. He was turned away, but you could visualize that stupid smirk of his like it was carved into your memory.

Jaeyun was smart. Too smart.

Your summer was filled with laughter, beach trips, and shy glances at Sunghoon. He drove you around places and you sat in the passenger’s seat next to him, toes curled in your shoes because you were so overjoyed. The car was always loud with music and laughter, and whenever it was silent, it was because everyone else was sleeping on each other after a long day of being outside.

You still masqueraded around, playing the role of Sunghoon’s best friend who definitely had zero romantic feelings toward him. It was quite hard when you had to pretend like your heart didn’t flutter whenever Sunghoon’s fingers brushed against yours.

“Sunghoon,” Jaeyun would complain, rousing laughter from everyone at how impatient he was, “are we there yet?”

“You’re so annoying,” Sunghoon retorted, clearly as a joke. You couldn’t help but laugh at his outburst, but it quickly died on your lips once you caught a glimpse of Jaeyun winking at you in the side mirror.

Jaeyun had a mischievous glint in his eyes when he said, “But you still love me, Hoon.”

Oh. 

He was trying to make you jealous. 

You fought down the urge to laugh at him. You might have been harboring a small crush, but you were never the jealous type, especially not over petty things like this. There was one little thing, however, that you couldn’t seem to shake.

For some reason, the anticipation to call Sunghoon by a nickname made you anxious. You never tested it on your tongue; it just floated around in your head. However, when you addressed him as Hoon one day, your heart skipped a beat when Sunghoon responded with a smile that rivaled the brightness of the sun.

You grew closer to Jongseong, too. You didn’t feel like the third wheel with him and Sunghoon anymore; you felt like you were all at the same level of closeness. You and Jongseong hung out sometimes without Sunghoon, and despite a few awkward pauses in your interactions, you two warmed up quickly and you learned how to joke around with him easily. 

Jongseong wasn’t all stiff and dry like you were initially afraid of; rather, he was surprisingly fun, and every time you learned something new about him, like how he adored cats but was allergic to them, you were even more amazed. 

It wasn’t just Jongseong, though. You and Sunghoon grew far closer than ever before, whether that was for the better or worse. 

Sunghoon only lived a street away, so it was convenient to hang out, and when you didn’t hang out with him, you two called each other. You could see him unravel in front of your eyes; he became visibly more comfortable when it was just the two of you—smiling, laughing, and bursting into laughter with tears of unrestrained happiness. 

It wasn’t just the jubilant memories that tugged you two closer, though. It was also the despair.

In the first place, it was an accident that you even happened to break down in front of Sunghoon.

You two were in his room when it happened, and things were as they always had been before you sensed the calm before the storm. You joked around as usual and passed the time by playing video games. Sunghoon was perched on his usual spot in the corner of the bed. You looked over at him and realized how close you two had become as friends.

Friends. Just friends.

It was right at that moment when you realized that this wasn’t what you wanted. You didn’t want to just be Sunghoon’s best friend. You wanted to be the reason why he smiled, the one to make him blush, and the one he could share his pain and happiness with. 

But your feelings were the scariest thing you’ve ever had to face, and you felt ashamed for even wanting to cross the line drawn between you and Sunghoon.

You couldn’t dare bring yourself to confess. You were almost positive that Sunghoon didn’t feel the same way, and you would be risking a fall-out in your current relationship if you admitted anything. What if Sunghoon ended up hating you? What if you lost him and all of your other friends? What if you weren’t the closest person to him anymore?

That was why you felt like Sunghoon was in another dimension, always a layer away. Always.

This was your own fault. You were the one who fell for your best friend. You were the one who did this to yourself. You broke your own heart.

You couldn’t help it when you started falling apart in front of him. It started with a broken cough that was supposed to cover up a sniffle. You were thankful for the loud battle sounds in the game that drowned out your quiet sobbing. But the video game didn’t stop Sunghoon from noticing your shaking hands gripping the controller.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” 

“Don’t worry about it. I’m okay.”

Your voice is so shaky, so broken. Sunghoon knew you were crying before he could see or hear it.

He paused the game and put the controller down, but your eyes were still trained on the screen, hands shaking as you clutched the controller until you were white-knuckled. Sunghoon was on edge—panicked. Although, it was a different kind of panic from all the times you would be stressing over an assignment and Sunghoon would offer some lame piece of advice in return.

“What happened? What’s wrong?” His tone was frantic now as he searched your face for an answer.

You smiled, although faint melancholy was tucked away in the curl of your lip. “Nothing. I’m fine.”

“Now, I know that’s not true.”

Your smile broke. It was so unfortunate that Park Sunghoon had to have a heart so big.

You could almost hear Jaeyun in the back of your head: Have you realized it yet, or are you still pretending it isn’t there? 

You started crying, and it wasn’t something soft with a gradual crescendo. It was loud and all at once, like a wounded animal. Your hands shook more, and you finally dropped your controller, burying your fingers into your roots, as if tugging your hair hard enough would make it all stop, as if it would hurt more than the ache in your chest.

Sunghoon was quick to get off his bed and slide to the ground, right next to you. He wrapped an arm around your shoulder and it only made you feel ashamed. You stiffened up and shrunk back, hoping he wouldn’t notice how you tensed up at his touch. You could hear your own heartbeat, but you were pretty sure you were hyperventilating at a faster pace than the pounding in your chest. The world under you moved, bounced, so you decided to lean into Sunghoon.

The logical half of your brain informed you in a calm, clipped manner that you were having a panic attack. The other half meanwhile was screaming and shutting itself down. 

Five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste, you tried telling yourself, but your senses overwhelmed you completely. Your tears were blurring your vision, you couldn’t hear anything but your sobs, and your lungs felt as if they were on fire. 

“Y/N, talk to me,” came the softest voice that eased the painful ringing in your ears. 

“I can’t,” you stuttered out. “Not right now.”

You wish you hadn’t let it get to this point. You were completely humiliating yourself in front of Sunghoon right now. This was the one thing you couldn’t let him find out about. 

Your heavy gasps grew more labored. You then curled into yourself, sweaty hands tugging and knotting at your hair. And, shit, you couldn’t breathe. 

“I can’t, I can’t,” you repeated again and again, like a broken record. The desperation in your voice was so ugly.

There was something fierce in Sunghoon’s eyes, like he was ready to protect you from anything or anyone that tried to hurt you, but there was also softness in his voice. “You know, you can tell me anything. Whatever it is, I’ll hear you out. I don’t want you to suffer alone, Y/N.”

With a small smile, he added, “It’s just you and me, right? The two of us against the world.”

That only made you cry even more. You just replayed Sunghoon’s words in your head, like it was your favorite song.

“Alright.” You breathed in real deep, through the aching chest and everything. “It’s really stupid.”

“If it makes you cry this hard, it can’t be stupid.”

You bit your lip, embarrassed. “I think I like someone—someone I can’t have.”

Sunghoon didn’t respond for a moment, and it rattled your brain. He probably was wondering this underwhelming confession warranted a breakdown from you, and you couldn’t blame him. However, it was the only way you could avoid lying to your best friend without giving him the whole truth. 

For a split second, you wondered if Sunghoon simply just didn’t hear you. But you didn’t want to repeat yourself; you didn’t like repeating yourself. 

To your surprise, Sunghoon just smiled. “Do I know them?”

You opened your mouth to speak, but no words were stringing together in your head to form a coherent sentence.

“Uh, well, you don’t have to tell me if you’re not ready,” Sunghoon continued. He flushed and flicked his thumb under his nose—an awkward mannerism of his that you grew to love over the years. “Actually, I think we’re in the same boat. There’s someone I like, too. Someone I can’t have.” 

His words bounced in your skull. Settled. Bounced again.

“Really?” you spluttered out, and it took you a moment to recuperate from the heavy sadness that was filling your chest. You brought yourself to ask, “I mean, you’re so popular, so why don’t you just ask them out?”

“Can’t.”

“Why not? Are they dating someone else?”

There was a sad smile on Sunghoon’s lips when he answered, “No, Jongseong likes her, too.”

At the age of sixteen, you realized that you couldn’t get over Sunghoon, but you could suppress your heartbreak and lingering feelings. 

It physically hurt to think about how deeply ingrained your concept of friendship was with him, and the possibility that Park Sunghoon would never think of you as more than a friend. You two had shared too many experiences—worn each other’s shoes and walked miles—to ever become more than what you were.

Nothing would ever change.

You were hanging out by a creek near Jongseong’s house. It was just the two of you—no Jaeyun to poke fun at you, and no Sunghoon to distract you. It was just the two of you, and it was somehow so easy to be with Jongseong like this. You could laugh with your stomach and smile with your eyes without feeling the need to close up or shut down. 

“It’s getting annoying, isn’t it?” Jongseong asked under his breath at one point. When you shot him a puzzled look, he clarified, “Sunghoon.”

You picked up on Jongseong’s annoyance toward Sunghoon over the past few weeks, but his words confirmed your suspicions now. You wondered if it was geared toward the girl they both liked—whoever she was. 

You never thought to ask, mainly because you didn’t want to know. Either way, if Sunghoon wanted to share, he would’ve done so already. 

You swallowed down the lump in your throat, trying to grab at words and shove them together, but you genuinely didn’t know what to say. 

It had always been you, Sunghoon, and Jongseong. You never thought about them turning on each other. The very idea made you feel sick to your stomach. 

Over the past week, you had seen Sunghoon’s indifference toward Jongseong, but you were too afraid to ask about it. Your friend group was slow to pick up on it, but you noticed the way Sunghoon would purposely avoid conversing with Jongseong, or the way Jongseong would walk quickly past him if they crossed paths. It was odd, though, because everyone knew that Sunghoon and Jongseong were the best of friends—inseparable. How could you hold onto someone for so long and just let go of them like that?

You recalled that Jongseong and Jungwon went over to talk to Sunghoon about his moody behavior, but Jongseong never told you whether the talk went well or not. You figured it just never happened because Jungwon called in sick the very next day. 

You prayed that he would hurry up and get over his cold. He had been out sick all week, which checked out since everyone was getting sick around this time of the year. Jungwon would know how to get Sunghoon and Jongseong to reconcile. He was always the friend that helped everyone patch things up. 

“You guys are best friends,” was all you could say. “You’ll make up in a few days, right?”

Jongseong clicked his tongue loud enough to make your skin crawl. 

But you didn’t want to drop it this time, you asked, “Seriously, what happened between you guys?” 

For a moment, you wondered if you should’ve brought up what Sunghoon confessed to you—about him and Jongseong liking the same girl. But this couldn’t have been about that; Sunghoon would never let a girl get between his friendships. 

“Sunghoon’s hiding something dark,” Jongseong blurted out. “I don’t think I can get him out of this one.”

“Something dark? What is it?”

“I don’t really know—”

“Jongseong,” you cut in. “If you know something, then just say it. He’s my best friend, too.”

Jongseong shifted uncomfortably, restless. He was silent for a long period of time, so you just waited for him to collect his thoughts. Uneasiness bursted from the tips of your fingers and crawled under your skin. You felt the heat of the sun against your face, so you looked up and covered your eyes with a hand, blinking back red. 

“If Sunghoon did something unforgivable,” he started in a murmur, “would you forgive him?”

“I don’t know,” was all you could say.

“Yeah,” Jongseong replied, his terse words nearly making you flinch. “I don’t know, either.”

The sun grew hotter against your face, and all you could see was blood red behind your eyes. 

You didn’t know how exactly it started, but you slowly started to find solace in Jaeyun.

You didn’t want to admit it, but you were starting to care for him a little more than the people around you. You were starting to get swayed by him—the things he said, the way he looked at you—and it scared you a little.

But Jaeyun felt safe. He felt like home.

You two called at night, sometimes. You weren’t normally one to be vulnerable in front of others, but you shed some tears in front of Jaeyun a couple of times.

The only other person you had cried in front of was Sunghoon.

“It’s kinda sad,” Jaeyun told you one day. You two were spending the afternoon studying together at his place, and you were feeling self-conscious because you were starting to regret not dressing a little cuter. “I’ve known you for a year, but we’ve only gotten close now.”

“I don’t think either of us cared about deepening our friendship back then.”

He narrowed his eyes at you. “You think I didn’t want to be closer? How do you think I picked up on you liking Sunghoon?”

“Because I was obvious about it?”

“No, idiot, because I like you.”

You blinked a few times until you fully processed his words. I like you, your brain repeated, and then you reprocessed the information. 

No, there was an ‘idiot’ before that. Not only were you liked, but he thought you were stupid, as well. 

You became painfully aware of your knees touching Jaeyun’s, but you still couldn’t wrap your head around the idea of him liking you romantically. You had never been in this position. Since your crush on Sunghoon had been one-sided for the past few years, you never expected to be on the receiving end. 

“You…” you trailed off, floundering to find something to say—something that wouldn’t make you sound stupid or mean. You settled with, “You, too?”

His eyes beamed with hope. “For a year now.”

Your world was so small before. It was just you, Sunghoon, and Jongseong. 

Before you could even wonder if there was space in your heart for Jaeyun, you realized that you had already let him burrow his way in there.

“Can I kiss you?” Jaeyun asked. 

You couldn’t help but breathe out a laugh, and every once of nervousness slipped away. You always thought you could attain this level of closeness with Sunghoon, but maybe your relationship with him was just that fragile—where you could just grab the string binding you two together and snip it completely. 

But it was different with Jaeyun. 

“Yeah,” you answered, smiling, “you can.”

And then, with Jaeyun’s breath fanning your lips, you felt Sunghoon completely dissolve from the impounding thoughts racking your brain. Right now, it was Jaeyun and only Jaeyun. 

You leaned in first, cupping his cheek and pressing your lips against Jaeyun’s soft ones. It was weird, kissing for the first time, but he leaned into it instantly so that your movements were less awkward and more guided. 

A fire blazed inside of you, burning hotter than imaginable. You didn’t expect Jaeyun to drive you this crazy—to crave more, to want more. You drew back before you slid your hand into his hair, although you were tempted to go further when his pillowy lips peppered soft kisses along your jawline. 

But you didn’t want to go overboard or ruin anything by going too fast. You settled for leaving another chaste kiss against his lips before pulling back, and you were delighted when you saw how pleased Jaeyun was. He was practically glowing. 

From then on, you and Jaeyun had a relationship that extended past something platonic, but it wasn’t like you two were official. Naturally, you ended up confiding in him over everything. 

While Sunghoon still held a place in your heart as your first love, you grew to care for Jaeyun, who kindled a gentler fire in you. Sunghoon, on the other hand, left you burned and scarred. 

You didn’t want to rush into a relationship, mainly because you didn’t want Jaeyun to think he was a rebound, and he respected that. So he waited for you to figure out your feelings and let your heart choose who was right for you. 

You weren’t stupid, though; you knew that chasing after Sunghoon was a hopeless cause.

You and Jaeyun drifted about in a limbo-state of your relationship. You two went on a couple of dates, got to know each other at a deeper level, and spent a lot of time together. He became the person you thought about when you were falling asleep and when you woke up in the morning. 

You two got along surprisingly well, and you wondered why you ever had doubts about him in the beginning. Sure, Jaeyun still got on your nerves at times, but you just found it funny after the wave of annoyance passed. 

Your friends started to talk about how close you two were and frequently brought up the idea of you two dating. Of course, you always denied it, enjoying the privacy you and Jaeyun had. 

But as your relationship blossomed into something more serious, you decided that you didn’t want things to stay casual any longer. So, you asked him out, and Jaeyun, being the lovesick puppy he was, accepted without a second thought. 

You thought about how much had changed in your life. Sunghoon stopped hanging out with you completely, resorting to being alone most of the time. Everyone was concerned about his behavior, but after several attempts of failed confrontation, they all collectively gave up. You and Jongseong still kept an eye on him, using roundabout ways to find out how he was doing; it was the most you two could do given how little opportunity you had to talk to him. 

You didn’t share many classes with Jongseong anymore, but you two were still close, even after your “two of us against the world” friendship with Sunghoon had gone to shit. 

Jongseong was kind, though, and despite how he was rough around the edges, he was gentle enough. 

But he knew that Sunghoon was hiding something dark, and that alone made you somewhat nervous around him. 

You felt unsettled the entire day, but when your group chat started flooding with texts about Jungwon in the middle of the night, you felt an icy chill travel down your spine. 

It was all over the news. The whole story about him being down with the flu was just a cover-up while authorities were looking for him.

You felt nauseous. 

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT FOUND DEAD NEAR WOODS. FOUL PLAY SUSPECTED.

The 16-year-old boy was found dead at the scene. The parents of the deceased student have identified him as Yang Jungwon. As of now, there are no leads, but authorities have ruled the case as a homicide. 

Police have asked anyone with information to contact their local police department.

You read the headline again. Over and over again until your vision was blurry and the words were convoluted. Your fingers were raw and bitten down to the nail bed by the time you were able to put your phone down so that you could just cry into your hands. 

By the time you got around to reading the details, grimacing at the descriptions of mutilation done to Jungwon’s body and how his body had been decomposing for weeks now, you had to run to your toilet and dry heave everything out. 

You weren’t the closest to Jungwon or anything, but imagining such a bright person meet such a horrific end wasn’t easy to process. For hours, you ignored all of the calls and texts and attempts to comfort from your parents. You stared straight at your wall—so terrified that your chest hurt and your breathing was ragged. 

Later that night, when the world was quiet and dreaming, you received a text from Sunghoon. 

sunghoon: Hey sunghoon: I’ve been thinking about you. Are you doing okay? sunghoon: I haven’t been a good friend lately, I’m sorry sunghoon: It’s still the two of us against the world

There was a time when those words made you feel like you were on top of the world, soaring high over the clouds. 

Now, though, all you could feel was a horrible sensation of dread.

It had been months since Sunghoon and Jongseong’s falling out. 

You were seventeen now, but you felt hollower as you aged. Sunghoon showed up to school and lingered within your group silently, only contributing when spoken to directly. He didn’t approach you anymore or ask to hang out after school. Actually, no one knew what he did after school. He would head straight home and then go completely off the radar. 

Gone off the rails, as Sunoo called it. 

You cried several nights over it. You felt like not only was your best friend slipping away from you, but Sunghoon’s disconnect from the group would soon make you pull away, too. You had Jaeyun, of course, but nothing felt the same anymore. With Jungwon dead, the group felt tense and gloomy. You all started hanging out with other people and slowly stopped responding in the group chat. 

Part of you realized that Sunghoon’s detachment was because you didn’t reply to him the night Jungwon’s murder was publicized. Back then, you suspected that Sunghoon could have been behind it, judging by your conversation with Jongseong earlier. It all added up in your head, but the only thing that was stopping you from believing it fully was that you couldn’t fathom Sunghoon ever doing something so evil. 

“I don’t know what’s going on with him,” you whispered into the phone, even though there wasn’t anyone around that you were worried about listening in. “He’s shutting me out now. Something must’ve happened to him.” 

You heard Jaeyun hum and contemplate for a moment before he replied, “Maybe he just needs space.” 

“I think something happened between him and Jongseong,” you admitted, “but I can’t imagine Jongseong saying anything that would make Sunghoon ignore him for this long.”

“It must’ve been serious, then.” 

“But… but it’s Sunghoon; he’s”—you paused as you recalled what Jongseong once called him—“bulletproof.”

There was a pause.

“I guess that’s the problem with being bulletproof,” Jaeyun spoke gravely. “People think they can just keep shooting.”

What Jaeyun told you that night kept replaying in your head over the next week—over and over again. It hit you a little too hard, and you waited to confront Sunghoon about it. You wanted him to know that he could be vulnerable, too. But you couldn’t even speak to your best friend these days. He had been avoiding everyone like the plague.

You assumed it had something to do with Jongseong, but when you talked to him about it, he was hesitant to get into it.

“You’re the closest person to him,” you told him. Today was colder, and you rubbed your hands together for warmth as you and Jongseong stood by the gates after school. “I think if you guys sit down and talk things out, then he’ll start being himself again.”

“I was the closest person to him,” Jongseong corrected with a scoff. “Plus, there’s nothing to talk about.”

“Nothing to talk about? What about your friendship?”

You couldn’t stop the words from leaving your mouth. Anger roiled deep in your chest, and you were too furious to realize that Jongseong only looked dejected in response. If he wasn’t going to explain what happened, then you couldn’t understand what was eating away at their relationship. 

“There is no friendship, Y/N,” he said slowly, in a voice so low that it sounded like the calm before the storm. His words made everything come to a halt, and you felt like time itself had frozen. “I suggest you let go of Sunghoon, too. You’re hanging onto someone who’s beyond help.”

“But I don’t know what you know!” you exclaimed. “I can’t let go of someone just like that, Jongseong. I need answers.”

He was quiet before he asked, “Do you remember when Sunghoon stayed over at your house once when we were fourteen?”

“When his house caught on fire?” you recalled, but the memory was sort of hazy for you. All you remembered was how you were in complete awe that Sunghoon was unscathed and unbothered by the incident. 

“Yeah,” Jongseong’s voice was grim as he said, “and I bet he never told you that he was the one who started that fire on purpose.”

It was like a punch to the gut. You could only shake your head blankly, lips parted in disbelief. 

He continued, “When we were fifteen, he thought it would be fun to plan out a murder without getting caught—”

No.

“—and, at sixteen, he actually did it.”

No. No. 

“Jongseong,” you whispered, your voice smaller than you intended, “was it…” 

“Jungwon?” He said the name so carefully, as if the world would explode into nothingness if he did. You had been gnawing at your lip so hard that you drew blood, yet that couldn’t distract you from the haunted look in Jongseong’s eyes. “Yeah, he killed Jungwon.”

You felt like you had just been doused with ice-cold water. 

“I shouldn’t have brought Jungwon with me. I knew Sunghoon was gonna do it to someone, but I didn’t know…” He sucked in a deep, shuddering breath that racked his entire body. “I didn’t think it would be him. I brought Jungwon to talk him out of whatever was going on, not to…” Jongseong stopped himself again, covering his face with his hands to wipe away the tears that had started to fall. 

It’s you and me, Sunghoon’s voice chimed in your head. The two of us against the world.

You thought your world had been shattered, but then you realized that it had actually been broken for a long time.

That night, you asked Jaeyun to come over, and he arrived at your door in record speed.

You two were sitting on your bed, controllers in hand, but the screen was off and neither of you were even in the mood to play. You must have trusted him more than anyone by now because the words started spilling with no preamble. You ended up explaining most of your conversation with Jongseong after you had Jaeyun swear on his life that he wouldn’t tell a soul.

Of course, you didn’t expect any normal person to compliantly come to terms with the fact that their friend murdered their other friend, but Jaeyun was a bit different when it came to you. Instead of accusing you of lying or denying the truth, he believed you wholeheartedly. You couldn’t tell if he was patient with you, or if he was just horrified by everything you had told him. 

It had been an entire year since Jungwon had been found dead and the case closed as an unsolved murder, but your words sucker punched Jaeyun like it had just happened yesterday. 

Jaeyun’s tone was urgent when he said, “We have to tell someone.” When he noticed your hesitation, he shook his head at you with a disapproving frown. “Y/N, this is serious. This is Jungwon, my best friend.” 

Your mouth went dry. “I-I know, it’s just—”

Jaeyun didn’t have to cut you off. You froze right when you saw tears welling up in his eyes.

“Y/N.” He said your name gently, but you still flinched. You had never heard your name being called with so much despair. “If Sunghoon really murdered Jungwon, then I can’t keep this a secret.”

“Give me a few days,” you pleaded. “I just want to hear Sunghoon out. No matter what he says, I’ll come with you to testify.” 

He shook his head immediately, eyes fierce. “You are not going anywhere near Sunghoon—not after what he did to Jungwon.”

“Then let me ask Jong—”

“Y/N,” Jaeyun interrupted, letting his hand slide over yours. His eyes were full of concern when he asked, “How do you know you can trust Jongseong?” 

Your hands started to shake.

“Y/N,” he said again, “if Jongseong took Jungwon to see Sunghoon, what do you think he did after Sunghoon killed him?”

Your pulse raced.

“If Jongseong knew about Sunghoon’s behavior for this long, why hasn’t he ever done anything?” 

All this time, you thought your world had grown a little bigger ever since you met Sunghoon and Jongseong. 

But you were living in a fantasy by yourself. 

Not so long after your talk with Jaeyun, your phone rang. You were in the middle of finishing up your history paper when you saw the caller ID flash across your screen.

It was Sunghoon.

You didn’t even give yourself time to think about it first. You just picked up the phone immediately. It was an old habit; you saw Sunghoon and accepted the call without a second thought. You never expected Sunghoon to ever call you again, so you didn’t exactly have any practice in rejecting his calls.

“Y/N?” came the familiar voice of Park Sunghoon—gentle, but almost like he was a caged animal.

“Sunghoon?” You swallowed hard. “Uh, how are you? It’s been a while since we’ve talked.”

“I’m so sorry,” he apologized, but you weren’t sure what he was apologizing for. “It was supposed to be the two of us against the world.”

You frowned. “Sunghoon, what’s going on?”

Instead of answering your question, Sunghoon hesitated before saying, “We should catch up sometime. You can read part of the story I’m writing.”

You paused, and before he could ask if you were still there, you replied, “Yeah, sure.”

“Right.” Sunghoon sounded like he had more to say. You almost didn’t catch it because he was so quiet, and the last thing you heard before he hung up was a quiet, “Bye, then.”

Your deepest regret was answering your phone later that night.

It was hours after Sunghoon called you. Jongseong was more of a texter, so you were surprised when his caller ID flashed across your screen. It was definitely not a reasonable hour for a high school student to be out and about, but nothing could have prepared you for what you heard on the other side of the line.

Jongseong was sobbing. 

The sound chilled you to the bone. You never heard Jongseong cry, but this didn’t feel normal; this cry was frantic and mangled, like he was spiraling out of control. 

“Y/N, you have to come over quickly,” Jongseong begged through broken sobs and heavy breaths. “Please, Y/N, I don’t want him to hurt anyone else.”

“Jongseong, calm down. Tell me what’s happening.”

“You have my location, right? Just hurry. Please.” And he hung up. 

In a daze, you called Jaeyun and asked him to pick you up. 

“I really think we should just call the cops,” Jaeyun offered, almost pleading. “I don’t know what’s going on with Jongseong, but this sounds sketchy, Y/N.”

Pitted fear festered in your throat. You knew something was off, but you weren’t sure if you could handle losing Jongseong, too. You had gotten so used to not being alone that you were paranoid of returning to having no one. 

“Call them as soon as we get there,” you said. “I just need to make sure Jongseong’s okay.” 

Jaeyun pressed his lips into a thin, grim line, but he kept driving. 

It was a port that Jongseong’s location directed you to, and discomfort crept into your limbs as soon as Jaeyun pulled into the area. Maybe you should’ve stayed back where it was safer and let the police handle everything, but you must have been a fool. It was just that Jongseong’s cries echoed in your head whenever you started having second thoughts.

You could hear him before you saw him.

Jongseong’s soft sobs could be heard from behind a metal storage unit, and you and Jaeyun inched closer carefully after getting out of the car. Your heart dropped to your stomach; you were dreading the worst, and when you turned the corner into the closed area Jongseong was in, you realized that the sight before you was the worst it could get. 

Sunghoon’s body.

You waited for his chest to rise, but not even a shallow breath escaped his blue-tinged lips.

It took you a moment to reorient yourself and realize that Sunghoon wasn’t just passed out, he was dead. 

You saw the blood pooling around him and the wounds piercing his torso, staining his white shirt, but you wanted to believe your mind was playing tricks on you. You convinced yourself that Sunghoon was going to get up any second now and start laughing, and then Jongseong would join in and tell you it was all a joke. 

But that wasn’t the case.

It wasn’t fear that overtook you—not an overwhelm of emotion—it was numbness. You stared at Sunghoon’s body as he bled out onto the concrete, blood pooling into the cracks in the ground. You felt an odd sort of disconnect. 

You tilted your head to see Sunghoon’s face turned to the side against the concrete. His blank eyes just stared into nothingness, and you realized that you would never get to see Sunghoon’s warm, sincere gaze ever again. You were never going to see his bright smile. You were never going to hear his contagious laugh. You were never going to read the wonderful stories he wrote. 

You supposed your life was always meant to be a tragedy. 

“H-Hoon?” Jaeyun choked up behind you. He was staring down at Sunghoon’s lifeless body in horror before his expression was slowly replaced with anger. “Jongseong, what the hell did you do?!”

“It was self-defense, man,” Jongseong whimpered out before his body was racked with sobs again. “He pulled a knife on me out of nowhere. I tried to stop him, but he was trying to kill me. I couldn’t do anything else. I couldn’t run, I couldn’t—” He exhaled shakily. “I couldn’t do anything else.”

You didn’t say anything. You just stared at Sunghoon.

“Come on, guys,” Jongseong pleaded. “I can’t go to fucking prison. I’m eighteen now; it’s not juvie, it’s a life sentence.” You didn’t know what he was getting at until he requested the unthinkable, “Help me get rid of the body.”

You wanted to puke. You eyed the shiny metal soaked in blood that Jongseong was clutching. You were never going to see Sunghoon again. You were never going to hang out with him over the weekend. You were never going to hear his voice again. 

“Get rid of the body?” Jaeyun raised his voice, exasperated. “What the fuck are you gonna do when they realize he’s gone missing? You just killed someone! This is on you, Jongseong, not us!”

“Are you going to help me get rid of it or not?!” Jongseong tugged at his hair. “Just help me throw him off the dock, and we can all walk away from this.”

You watched helplessly, horror-stricken. “I… I can’t.”

“The body’s gonna float and show up somewhere,” Jaeyun countered with stony eyes. “They’re gonna catch you.”

Jongseong looked terrifyingly pale. You wondered if it was just the glow of the moon, or if he was also holding in his urge to puke. “I’ll just cut his stomach so he sinks.”

Disgusted, Jaeyun scowled. “You’re a monster.”

You watched as Jongseong tried hauling Sunghoon’s body before giving up and dragging him by the legs. You shot Jaeyun a warning look, mouthing for him to call the police before Jongseong noticed. He lingered back to do so while you followed Jongseong to plead him to stop. His arms gave out as soon as he stepped onto the planks, and he let Sunghoon’s lower half collapse onto the solid wood. 

“Y/N, help me cut open his stomach,” he ordered, hardly sparing you a glance. If he did, he would have seen how horrified you were.

“Oh,” you said, voice wavering, “that’s… that—that’s his…” 

“Y/N, help me.”

“Jongseong,” you begged, “please… please stop.”

He paid you no attention, though. You felt ghastly as Jongseong used a paring knife to make an incision on Sunghoon’s stomach. The smell was putrid. You screwed your eyes shut as the metallic smell of blood invaded your nostrils. Your nausea plunged into your gut, and you had to fight the pervasive urge to hurl.

A stream of Sunghoon’s blood made its way to your shoes, staining the soles. 

Jongseong was cutting your old best friend open. 

The dread had kept you numb for this long, but it was when reality settled in that you finally lost it. You couldn’t handle it anymore and pitched forward over the edge of the dock, throwing up until you were heaving up bile. You sobbed through it all, mournful and low, and your friend paid you no attention while he was cutting through flesh. 

When Jongseong was done, he wiped at his cheek, leaving behind a smear of blood. Sunghoon’s blood. You stared at him, and you had never been more terrified of him in your life. 

And then you really noticed Jongseong. You noticed how Sunghoon’s blood was coated all over his hands, how he hardly had any scratches or bruises on his body, how merciless his eyes were as he stared down at his old best friend. 

The realization that washed over you was frightening. 

“Sunghoon didn’t actually try to kill you, did he?” you managed to warble out. “You killed him yourself.”

A deep silence from him followed—heavy and wretched. Sunghoon’s blood was so dark that it nearly looked black under the dim light, and you could only stare helplessly until Jaeyun made his way to the dock, placing his hands firmly on your shoulders. 

Jongseong turned to you and Jaeyun, clutching his knife tightly. You could hardly recognize the boy in front of you. You never truly understood the term “paralyzed by fear” until you saw the crazed look in Jongseong’s eyes—cold and haunting. 

Jaeyun’s eyes glistened with tears and his throat was thick with emotion when he said, “Jongseong, please—just hang on and… and we can talk this out.” 

The hand gripping his knife started shaking. “You won’t tell anyone, right? You guys won’t snitch on me, right?” When there was no response from you or Jaeyun, Jongseong’s desperation grew stronger. He turned to you with his eyes big and terrified. “Y/N, come on, we’ve known each other for years. You know I—”

“Shut up!” Jaeyun yelled. His protective grip on you tightened. “Cut the bullshit, Jongseong. The police are gonna be here soon, and they’re gonna take you straight to prison once they see what you did to Hoon.”

It was like a switch flipped in him. A distant part of your mind wondered if you could get everyone out of this—somehow bring Sunghoon back and go back to your normal life—but you immediately shut down that fantasy as soon as Jongseong’s eyes darkened. 

In the darkness, you could make out an amused expression on his face. His smile took on a cold edge. 

“Fine,” he bit out. “I’ll just have to get rid of you two before the police get here, then.”

You felt like your world slowed. Your eyes burned with the threat of tears. You could tell Jongseong was walking closer to you while Jaeyun was desperately trying to tug you and get you to run, but you were frozen in place. You wanted to believe that your old friend wouldn’t actually hurt you, but then you didn’t know what to think when he raised his knife. 

It had all happened so fast. Too fast. 

In your brief struggle as Jongseong tried to stab you, you heard a sharp gasp that tore you from your haze, like you had just been drenched in cold water. Brutally sober. You tried to push Jongseong off of you, but he was too heavy, too limp. Jaeyun shouldered his way between you two and shoved Jongseong back, grimacing when his skull hit the wood with a thud. 

You heard one last, strangled gasp from Jongseong before he stopped breathing. The last star in his eyes twinkled until it dimmed for good. 

Jongseong laid flat on the dock with his knife piercing his chest.

As you heard police sirens go off in the distance, Jaeyun wrapped his arms around you before you finally broke down into his chest. 

Your best friends were dead and your world was broken beyond repair. 

“So, it was self-defense?” Detective Lee asked, his piercing eyes boring right into yours. “Purely accidental? You had no intention of harming Park Jongseong?”

You shook your head. “I still couldn’t process the fact that he killed Sunghoon, so I didn’t think he’d actually try to hurt me.”

You wanted to cry. You bit your chapped lip, but all you could taste was blood that you doubted was even there. You couldn’t even say Sunghoon’s name without seeing that radiant smile of his stained with deep red. 

You sucked in a shaky breath. “I’ve told you everything I know. Can I see Jaeyun now?”

Detective Lee eyed you for a moment. Finally, you saw some sort of sympathy in his gaze, although you felt sort of repulsed that you were being pitied in this state. The detective muttered something about him being back later, and he left the interrogation room, leaving you handcuffed to the table. 

A minute passed by. Another. Several more. 

You were pretty sure it had been at least an hour or two of staring at the wall, but the passage of time felt meaningless now. You could wait hours, even days, but you didn’t think you would ever be ready to confront what cruel reality awaited you. 

You were so tired of everything, so exhausted that you didn’t even think about your parents until now. Were they here? Were they informed about your arrest? They must have been worried sick all night. 

When the door opened, your head shot up. 

“You’re free to go, Y/N,” Detective Lee said, pulling out a key to uncuff you from the table. 

You were frozen. You just stared up at Detective Lee with your jaw hung open. 

“I know this took awhile, but there was no security footage at the scene to confirm your story,” he elaborated. “But your stories matched up, and we found more evidence in the trunk of Jongseong’s car that he had been planning this murder.” 

He helped you to your feet and escorted you out of the room. You were able to pick up everything they took from you before you were locked up in the holding cell—your keys, wallet, and your phone. Then, you were taken to the waiting room where your parents were seated at the far end. 

At the sight of you, they all but leapt from their seats to rush over, hands cupping your face and arms embracing your weak, battered figure. There was so much love in their eyes, and their fear over possibly losing their daughter replaced any anger they had toward the situation. However, you wouldn’t have been surprised if you ended up getting an earful the next day. 

“Mom, Dad,” you whimpered out, suddenly overcome with emotion. You were immediately aware of how weak and pathetic you felt. “I’m sorry, I—”

“Shh, it’s okay,” your father silenced you by rubbing your back in soothing circles. “Jaeyun’s family wanted us to let you know that he’s okay, too. They just took him home about ten minutes ago.”

You were slightly disappointed. Part of you was hoping that he would wait for you, but you figured Jaeyun’s family would have wanted to go home right away. You definitely would have felt better if you got to see your boyfriend in the flesh to make sure he was alive and well, but you weren’t going to complain now. 

There was still a ghost of a smile on your lips as your parents walked you to their car. They gushed and gushed about how glad they were about you being safe and sound, and about how they never would’ve expected Jongseong of all people to end up being a murderer.

You were happy to be alive, of course, but you felt so empty. 

You pulled out your phone to try and text Jaeyun, but, as you thought, it was dead. 

“Mom, can I use your phone?” you asked, and you dialed Jaeyun’s number immediately as soon as she handed it to you. You had it memorized because it was a combination of numbers that was fairly easy to remember. 

It rang four times, and by the fifth ring, you were scared that he wouldn’t pick up. But then, it beeped.

“Hello?” Jaeyun answered. “Who is this?”

It was like a huge weight was lifted off of your shoulders once you heard his voice. Despite Detective Lee informing you that Jaeyun was, indeed, alive, you felt more reassured hearing it from your boyfriend himself. You wanted to cry then and there, but you didn’t want to make your parents worry unnecessarily. 

You forgot you were even supposed to respond when Jaeyun spoke again, “Is anyone there?”

“Jaeyun, it’s me,” you mumbled softly. “Y/N.”

You heard him suck in a sharp breath. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I’m perfectly fine.”

Jaeyun gave you the breakdown of how his experience went, which took a completely different turn than yours. After receiving medical attention, they brought him back to his holding cell to sleep for hardly a few hours. The detective interrogating Jaeyun tried to build trust with him, telling him they wanted to help and just needed his confession. They lied about already having evidence that he killed Jongseong, but Jaeyun denied it and told them the whole story. He was only free to leave after they cross-examined his story with yours. 

“Jesus,” you whispered into the phone, breathing out a small laugh. By now, you were already parked at your house and walking to your front door. “This is so fucked up.”

“Yeah,” he mumbled, “but we’ll get through it.”

“Yeah, Jae. Us against the world.”

Sim Jaeyun spent nine hours being questioned by authorities. 

He knew the nature of the crime that occurred was complex, and he was still reeling from the loss and betrayal that left a deep wound in his chest, but there was something that terrified him still. 

It wasn’t the murderous look in Park Jongseong’s eyes, or the blood completely drained from Park Sunghoon’s face. 

Rather, what scared Jaeyun the most was that he spent so long pining after you and getting to know you at a deeper level. He genuinely fell hard for you, even though you had monsters in the closet. He thought he knew almost everything about you, like how you were a terrible liar. 

Yet, you had just lied about everything that went down last night for nine hours straight. 

What scared Jaeyun the most was how clueless he had been about who you really were.

Truthfully, he was also in the wrong for going along with your lie. It was definitely going to bite him back one day. In the moment, though, he was far too much of a coward to go against you. Although he was able to get Jungwon the justice he deserved and allowed his family to finally be at peace with answers, Jaeyun still felt horrible. He just remembered the desperate look in your eyes as your face and hands were stained with blood, begging him to protect you. 

Jaeyun’s downfall must have been that he liked you too much to say no.

It was true that Jongseong called you in a panic, begging you to show up at the port as quickly as possible, and it was true that you wanted Jaeyun to drive you there instead of calling the cops first. 

Jaeyun knew deep down that you were making the wrong choice, but he had hope that you knew what you were doing. Truthfully, although he liked you a lot, he was still wary about how you felt toward Sunghoon. He just couldn’t understand how you were still unconsciously protecting him after hearing what happened to Jungwon. He knew that you wanted answers, but Jaeyun was worried about how you’d react once you got them. 

The real story—the one neither of you told the detectives—never started with Park Jongseong killing Park Sunghoon.

It really started when you and Jaeyun arrived at the port to see that no one was around. It was eerily quiet, and Jaeyun was starting to regret not turning around and heading straight for the police station. When you two got out of the car, you walked several feet down the line of shipping containers before returning to Jaeyun with a confused look on your face.

“I don’t see either of them,” you said, but then your eyes grew unfocused as you stared at something—or, rather, someone—behind Jaeyun. 

He turned around to see Jongseong walking over to the two of you in a calm fashion, as if he had no other care in the world. The port was relatively an open space, so he had no idea where Jongseong could have emerged from. Jaeyun rolled his neck, more frustrated than anything. 

“Jongseong!” you called out. 

When he neared you two, Jongseong shoved his hands into his pockets. “Oh, you brought your boyfriend.”

“What’s going on?” you urged. “Is it Sunghoon? Did something happen to him?”

“Wow, that hurts, Y/N.” Jongseong barked out a laugh, but nothing about his tone sounded sincere. “I call you in the middle of the night and all you can think about is Hoon? Wow. How do you feel about that, Jaeyun?”

Jaeyun didn’t respond. He just glowered. 

Nothing about this felt right. 

You stammered, “I-I just assumed—”

“Put yourself in my shoes,” Jongseong cut you off with little regard for your excuses. “Sorry to say this in front of your boyfriend, but imagine how I feel when the girl I’ve liked for years only cares about my best friend.” 

The air went still.

Your voice was barely a whisper when you asked, “Excuse me?” 

Jaeyun pursed his lips together, and, for a moment, he thought his tongue would start bleeding if he bit it any harder. Sunghoon liked the girl that Jongseong liked, and if that girl was you, then Jaeyun was worried that he already lost you. He knew for months that he would never truly have you the way he wanted. Your feelings for Sunghoon were stronger, and although Jaeyun was able to pack his insecurities into a tiny ball and shove it down his throat, it was all coming out now. 

His uneasy heart shattered into a million pieces once he caught a glimpse of your expression—hopeful and longing. And it wasn’t for Jongseong; it was for Sunghoon. 

“Now that’s a great expression,” came an overly-enthusiastic voice from Jaeyun’s right.

Park Sunghoon was leaning against one of the shipping containers, arms folded across his chest before he uncrossed them and made his way toward the three of you. He must have been hiding behind the containers this whole time because Jaeyun hadn’t seen him at all before. 

The situation was getting increasingly uncomfortable. Jaeyun wanted to shrink back when Sunghoon suddenly took great interest in him, keeping his eyes fixed on him instead of you or Jongseong. He used to have such bright and happy smiles, but, this time, Jaeyun almost thought his grin had been sliced into his face with a blade.

Sunghoon slung an arm over Jongseong’s shoulder. “Wow, Jae, now I really wanna see the look on your face when you’re in total despair,” he crooned, almost mocking. Jaeyun’s blood rushed in his ears when Sunghoon’s tongue swiped across one of his fangs. “You should’ve seen the look on Jungwon’s face.”

Jaeyun lunged before he could even think, but he stopped himself as soon as you held onto him, stopping him from hitting Sunghoon. 

And that was when he knew he already lost you. 

“Don’t,” you insisted.

“Are you serious?” he breathed out, brows knitting into a frown as he looked down at you. 

Shame clung to your throat, keeping your mouth shut, but Jaeyun was more concerned now about the sharp blade pointed at his throat.

His Adam’s apple bobbed.

Jongseong had a paring knife pointed straight at him, and Sunghoon’s smile never faltered. They were clearly on the same side. There was a reason why Jeongseong never did anything about Sunghoon after killing Jungwon. 

Jaeyun felt stupid for not putting it together earlier.

“I’d listen to your girlfriend,” Jongseong warned. His voice crawled all over him, freezing Jaeyun cold to the bone. “You might as well hear us out before you die here tonight.”

“Can’t exactly let you two run off now that you know what happened to Jungwon,” Sunghoon added.

“Jungwon was our friend,” Jaeyun hissed. “He was my best friend, you sick freak! What did you do to him? Why? He’s never… he never did anything wrong!”

“You’re right. He didn’t do anything wrong,” Sunghoon confirmed, surprisingly calm and collected. “In fact, he exceeded my expectations. It was a great performance, actually.” Jaeyun clenched his fist tight—so tight that his nails dug into his palms and drew blood—and Sunghoon took notice of this with a delighted hum. “You should’ve heard him scream, Jae. I had my doubts about him at first, but when he was begging me for his life, I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”

You were distraught. “Sunghoon, you—”

It all happened in seconds, like a rubber band finally snapping after being stretched too thin. Jaeyun used his elbow to knock Jongseong’s arm out of the way, and he shoved Sunghoon as soon as he found an opening, driving his hands into his ribs. He heard you cry out, but Jaeyun could only see red until he was dragged back up by Jongseong, the sharp blade of the knife being pressed to his throat. 

“Stop!” you cried. “Leave Jaeyun out of this! You wanted me, right? Just let him go. Please.” 

“I don’t think so.” Sunghoon wrapped an arm around you. “You two already know too much, and Jongseong and I have been waiting for this finale for years.”

Your eyes had a faraway look in them for a moment before you turned your attention back to Jongseong. “You told me…”

“I told you that when we were fifteen, Sunghoon thought it would be fun to plan out a murder without getting caught,” Jongseong filled in the blanks for you, a haunting smile playing on his lips, “and I was in on it.”

Sunghoon tutted. “But you got it all wrong, Y/N. It wasn’t Jungwon’s murder that we were planning; it was yours.”

You looked up at him in horror.

Jaeyun struggled against Jongseong for a moment, face taut with unbridled anger. He just wanted to get to you. Get Sunghoon’s filthy hands off of you. 

“I’m a writer. I write stories,” Sunghoon continued. “Isn’t it a great twist? Convincing my childhood best friend that I loved her all this time, only to reveal that she’s gonna die at my hands.” He scoffed. “Jungwon was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, but he was good practice. I was too careless back then. I shouldn’t have left all those drawings and papers out like that when he came over, but now I’m gonna finish the job properly.” 

Your breathing was shallow. Jaeyun could see the flood of despair racking your body with soft sobs and quick pants. Your gaze fell to the ground, and Sunghoon peered to catch a better look at you. 

“Good,” he praised. “That’s what I wanna see. Wow, that’s great, Y/N. I can’t wait to see more when—”

“Get the fuck away from her!” Jaeyun yelled, grunting when Jongseong pressed the knife harder against his supple skin. 

With an exaggerated flourish of his hands, Sunghoon raised both arms and backed up as if he was a deer caught in headlights. He wore an easygoing smile, yet something sinister was tucked behind the curve of his lips. Your inconsolable self stayed fixed in place, staring helplessly at your shoes.

“For the past two years, I’ve been isolating myself from the friend group for the sake of this story and its ending,” Sunghoon said. “I think I deserve a little fun right now, Jae.”

“Fuck you,” Jaeyun spat. “You deserve to go to Hell.”

Sunghoon took a step closer to Jaeyun, ducking his head so that they were at eye-level with each other. Jaeyun tried to struggle against Jongseong once more, but he froze when the knife pierced his skin. He felt something trickle down the column of his neck, and he soon realized it was his own blood. 

“It’s hard, isn’t it?” Sunghoon mocked a pout. He lowered his voice by an octave, only for Jaeyun to hear. “Competing with a childhood friend is brave, I’ll tell you that.” 

Jaeyun’s blood boiled. To his surprise, Sunghoon gestured for Jongseong to let go of him. He took the paring knife from his friend and handed it to Jaeyun. 

“Take it,” Sunghoon said. “Why don’t you try killing me? You wanna get back at me, right? I killed your best friend, after all.”

Owlish, he blinked back at Sunghoon, almost absently. Jaeyun really considered it for a moment—like, really considered it. Some part of him wanted to senselessly beat Sunghoon up until he was unrecognizable, but the morally righteous side of him knew that he could never stoop to Jongseong or Sunghoon’s level. 

Jaeyun took the knife by the handle, weighing it in his palm experimentally before chucking it away—far from both Sunghoon and Jongseong. Jaeyun was pretty sure he could overtake Jongseong if Sunghoon turned his back, but he wasn’t sure if Jongseong had another weapon up his sleeve. He heard the blade skid and scrape against the concrete, and he could only hope that Sunghoon and Jongseong being distracted by him would give you time to escape. 

But Jeongseong immediately stopped you as soon as he saw you picking up the knife, and he let go of Jaeyun to grab ahold of you. Jaeyun tried to yank Jongseong back by the back of his shirt, but Sunghoon grabbed a fistful of his hair and slammed his head against the metal of one of the shipping containers.

Jaeyun’s world was thrown off-balance. The ground bounced, tilted, swayed. He was so dizzy and disoriented that he couldn’t tell if his head was spinning or if he was collapsing. 

The corners of his vision grew hazy with white splotches dancing around. Jaeyun tried hard to focus, making out some of the yelling that was going back and forth, but he couldn’t think at all when a newly-formed cut on his forehead was getting blood all over his face and hands. 

He doubled forward, falling onto his knees. Jaeyun had to stay there for a while and ride out the intense waves of vertigo until he was stable again. When the world finally returned to its normal axis and stopped bouncing under him, Jaeyun lifted his head to see you and Jongseong screaming at each other.

And Sunghoon was on the ground.

He stumbled over, and it was as if the white noise in Jaeyun’s ears had drowned out everything in the background. He couldn’t see or focus on anything except the pained look on Sunghoon’s face as the color drained from his neck. Blood was gushing from his jugular vein, and he was digging his palm into his neck to put pressure on the wound. 

“—you stabbed him!” you screamed at Jongseong. Your voice was hysterical; Jaeyun had never heard you sound so desperate, not even when he was being held at knifepoint. 

“Fuck, Y/N, I wouldn’t have hurt him if you didn’t pull on my arm!” Jongseong yelled back. He sank to the ground, simultaneously dropping the knife and dropping his head between his knees. 

The sight was miserable to watch. Jongseong wailed loud and mournful until he couldn’t take it anymore, doubling over so that he could throw up until nothing but bile was coming out. When it seemed as though he had nothing else to heave out of his stomach, Jongseong sat up for a brief moment. You and Jaeyun watched as his eyes rolled back almost instantly, falling onto his back and hitting his skull against the concrete. The exhaustion must have finally caught up to him, and you two didn’t have long until he was conscious again.

Jaeyun turned his attention back to Sunghoon, watching his life bleed out of his body slowly. For some reason, an odd disconnect came over Jaeyun, and he bent down to help apply pressure over Sunghoon’s wound. At first, Sunghoon gritted his teeth, but even he knew when to accept help when it was needed. 

Sim Jaeyun was pretty sure he was broken beyond belief by now, but it was impossible for him to ignore someone who was dying right before him. 

Even if he murdered Jungwon. 

“Y/N, we need to get him to a—” 

Jaeyun cut himself off when he looked up at you to see that your expression had changed. Something was different. You looked like numbness had seeped into your body, coiling around your heart until you couldn’t feel anything. The way you looked down at Jongseong, clutching his knife tightly, made Jaeyun worry.

“Y/N,” Jaeyun said again—slower, “whatever you’re thinking… please put it down.”

It didn’t seem like you were listening, though. Almost as if your body and brain were at two different places. 

“Y/N—” Jaeyun shuddered when you brought the knife down, driving it straight into Jongseong’s chest. 

Jaeyun’s stomach lurched. He watched as Jongseong struggled for his life, hardly conscious as you repeatedly stabbed him over and over again until Jaeyun was yelling at you to stop. He was sure he would never be able to close his eyes again without hearing Jongesong’s blood-curdling screams and seeing Sunghoon’s face drained of color. 

“Wow,” Sunghoon choked out. One last amused look crossed his face before it fell apart painfully. “I told you, Jae, there’s no competing with a childhood best friend.” Jaeyun flushed with anger, but it dissolved quickly when he realized Sunghoon’s breathing got slower, shallower. The look on his face was one of someone accepting their untimely death. “Thanks for the show, though.”

In his arms, Sunghoon took his last breath and went still.

It wasn’t grief that Jaeyun felt. It was something far greater.

“Jaeyun, I—I didn’t mean to,” you sobbed out, shakily holding up your bloodstained hands. “It was self-defense! I tried to stop him, but he was trying to kill me, and then he… he killed Sunghoon. I couldn’t do anything else. I couldn’t run, I couldn’t—” You exhaled shakily. “I couldn’t do anything else.”

Jaeyun didn’t respond. He just stared at you in disbelief. 

“Come on, Jae,” you pleaded. Oh, so it was Jae now. “You have to help me get rid of their bodies. I can’t go to prison!”

“Get rid of the body?” Jaeyun raised his voice, exasperated. “Y/N, they’re dead! We have to tell the police everything. I mean, what are you gonna do when your prints match?”

Your lips pressed together in a grim line. “Your prints are on the knife, too.”

Were you blackmailing him? Jaeyun couldn’t believe what he was hearing from you. He never expected you, of all people, to be the one to throw him under the bus like this. He had trusted you with his life before, and you threw it all away in seconds. 

“Are you going to help me or not?” You looked toward the dock over the water. It was a good enough distance for you to drag Sunghoon and Jongseong’s bodies over to, but Jaeyun sure as hell didn’t want to get involved. “Just help me throw them in the water, and we can both walk away from this, Jae. We can go back to our lives, okay?”

He shook his head sadly. You just sounded like a stranger to him. 

“Please, Y/N,” he pleaded, tears stinging his eyes, “please stop this. You have to turn yourself in.”

But his resolve was shaky. Jaeyun knew that he would still be booked once they found his prints at the scene, and there was no telling what you would do to protect yourself. By now, Jaeyun wouldn’t have been surprised if you somehow pushed the crime onto him. 

“Jae, listen to me,” you insisted. Your eyes were wide and brimming with tears, and Jaeyun couldn’t help but think you looked a little crazed. “We can both get out of this, but you have to help me out here. We’re gonna tell them that Jongseong killed Sunghoon before we got here, and then he chased us until we ended up stabbing him out of self-defense. I mean, that’s all this was, anyway! It was self-defense!”

A distant part of Jaeyun’s mind wondered what happened to you. He wondered if you had always been this way, perhaps keeping it tucked away. In the end, you were still trying to protect Sunghoon in your own way. You were still trying to protect some fragment of his golden image.

“It’s you and me,” you whispered, kneeling down by your boyfriend’s side until you were cupping his face with your hands, staining his cheeks with Jongseong’s blood, “the two of us against the world.”

Just hours ago, Sim Jaeyun looked at you like you were his entire world.

And now, with your bloodstained hands holding his face, there was unmistakable fear behind his eyes as he looked up at you.

AUTHOR’S NOTE ▸ thank you so so much for reading if you made it all the way to the end !! i would lovee for you to guys to share what you thought, but just to point a few things out, jake's pov was the unfiltered version of what went down that night. the dialogue from mc is similar to jongseong's because while she painted him out to be the villain in the end to protect sunghoon, it was really her who said those things. originally this had a happier ending but i'm a lot more satisifed with this one actually. i hope you guys liked it !! <3 also i am deciding against using my permanent tag list this time because i haven't used it in a year and don't know if anyone exactly signed up to read horror 🧎‍♀️

teeth

“let's play together, you make me so thirsty”

pairing: vampire!heeseung x reader

synopsis: you were not thrilled about the move in of your new neighbour. mostly because he was so strange and seemed to be hiding something dark. and partly because you couldn’t stop yourself from getting closer to him because of your unwanted attraction. you were determined to expose his dark secret and get rid of him once and for all. but, it was proving to be a difficult task because he was just so irresistible..and needy.

genre: enemies to lovers, vampire au

warnings: lots of suggestive content!!(read at your own discretion), blood, alcohol, getting trapped in a lift, making out, teeth and biting(obviously)

note: this is like my first time writing something suggestive so i was a little nervous, but i think it turned out well! there's no smut tho. teeth is such a freaky song teehee, i hope this gives off the same vibes. listen to the song while reading this, enjoy!

word count: 5.2k

if you liked it please reblog or comment to give me your feedback! <3

fairy lights strung across the hallway cast a warm glow on the gaggle of your neighbours crammed into the shared corridor. plates heaped with enough food to feed a small army overflowed from a makeshift table, the air thick with the aroma of baked ziti and something suspiciously like burnt brownies.

it was the monthly floor potluck, a supposed chance for neighbourly bonding. you, however, stood alone by the shoe rack, arms crossed and a scowl firmly in place.

the source of your discontent? lee heeseung, the new resident in 3B. he'd moved in a week ago, and in that short time, had managed to charm the socks off everyone else. mrs. kim from 3A gushed about his "angelic smile," mr. lee from across the hall swore he'd single-handedly fixed the perpetually leaky faucet, and even the ever-grumpy mrs. park from 2B had softened to his "polite demeanour." you, however, weren't buying it.

there was something… off about him. he was a little too pale, a little too perfect. the way his eyes seemed to glint in the fairy lights sent shivers down your spine, not the good kind. maybe it was the way he never seemed to eat anything, politely declining every dish offered with a charming smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. or maybe it was just a gut feeling, a primal instinct screaming that there was more to heeseung than met the eye.

as you nursed your lukewarm coffee, heeseung materialised beside you, a plate piled high with (uneaten) pasta in his hand. his smile, as always, was dazzling.

"hey there! i'm heeseung, from 3b. i’ve been meaning to meet you for a while! everyone's been raving about you."

you narrowed your eyes at him. "is that right?"

he chuckled, a sound a little too melodious. "absolutely! they say you make the best chocolate chip cookies on the floor." he gestured to the burnt offering on the table. "though, these brownies look like they could use some work."

a sarcastic snort escaped your lips. "they're mrs. park's. apparently, baking isn't her forte."

heeseung's smile faltered for a brief moment, a flicker of something unreadable crossing his features before he recovered. "well, maybe next time you could bring your famous cookies," he suggested, his voice smooth as silk.

you raised an eyebrow, suspicion solidifying in your gut. "maybe i will," you said, your voice devoid of warmth.

heeseung seemed to hesitate, the air crackling with a strange tension. then, with another dazzling smile, he excused himself and moved on to mrs. kim, who was already gushing about his "nonexistent" culinary skills.

you watched him go, a cold dread settling in your stomach. he might be fooling everyone else, but you wouldn't be swayed by his facade. there was something about heeseung, something dark and unsettling, and you were determined to find out what it was.

weeks bled into months, and your suspicions about heeseung only intensified. he'd become the bane of your existence, a charming yet infuriating shadow that seemed to follow you around the building. every potluck, every hallway encounter was a constant push and pull between your icy suspicion and his playful facade.

he revelled in teasing you, his compliments bordering on flirtatious. "looking lovely today, aren’t you?" he'd purr, his eyes gleaming with an amusement that sent shivers down your spine. you'd counter with sarcastic remarks that usually sailed right over his head, leaving you more frustrated than ever.

one particularly rainy afternoon, you were rushing down the hallway, arms laden with groceries, when the treacherous floor betrayed you. your foot slipped, and you went sprawling towards the cold tile. but before you could hit the ground, strong arms wrapped around you, pulling you upright with surprising ease.

for a moment, you were trapped in heeseung's embrace. your ear was pressed against his chest, and a jolt of fear shot through you. there was no comforting thud of a heartbeat, just a chilling silence. his touch was icy cold, sending a wave of goosebumps erupting across your skin.

you scrambled away from him, a mixture of terror and anger twisting your features. "don't touch me!" you hissed, dropping a bag of groceries with a clatter.

heeseung straightened, his smile unwavering. "whoa there. just trying to be a good neighbour."

you glared at him, your voice trembling. "there's nothing neighbourly about you, heeseung. what are you?"

his smile faltered for a flicker of a second, a flicker you caught this time. but it was gone as quickly as it appeared, replaced by his usual charming facade. "just a guy who likes to help out a damsel in distress," he said, his voice laced with amusement.

but the amusement didn't reach his eyes. they held a glint of something predatory, something that confirmed your worst fears. he wasn't normal. and whatever he was, it was becoming increasingly clear that he was toying with you.

you grabbed the remaining grocery bags, clutching them tightly to your chest as if they were a shield. "don't think this is over, heeseung," you hissed, your voice surprisingly steady despite the fear gnawing at your insides. "i'll find out who you are, and i'll expose you."

he tilted his head, a playful glint back in his eyes. "is that a challenge, darling?" he asked, his voice a low murmur that sent shivers down your spine. "be careful what you wish for. you might just find out more than you bargained for."

with that cryptic message hanging in the air, he turned and sauntered back to his apartment, leaving you alone in the hallway, the weight of his words and the chilling memory of his touch settling over you like a shroud. you were determined to unravel the mystery of heeseung, but a new, terrifying question gnawed at you: were you prepared for what you might find?

sleep evaded you that night. the unsettling encounter with heeseung replayed on a loop in your mind. you tossed and turned, the silence punctuated only by the rhythmic tapping of rain against your window. finally, unable to bear the tension any longer, you crept out of bed and tiptoed towards the door, hoping to get some fresh air.

just as you were about to unlock the door the ‘ding’ of the elevator’s arrival stopped you in your tracks. who could it be this late at night?

peeking through the peephole, you were met with a sight that sent a fresh wave of terror coursing through you. heeseung stood casually a few feet away from your door, the rain slicking his dark hair back from his forehead.

he was whistling a cheerful tune, completely oblivious to your scrutiny. but what truly sent shivers down your spine was the state of his hands. they were stained with something dark and viscous, drying in the cool night air. it looked… suspiciously like blood.

the blood ran cold in your veins. just as you were about to pull back, heeseung paused, his head tilting ever so slightly as if he could sense you watching. a slow, unnerving smirk spread across his face, his eyes seeming to lock with yours through the peephole. how? it was impossible.

panic clawed at you. you stumbled back, adrenaline flooding your system. you had to warn the others. heeseung couldn't be trusted.

the next day, you stormed into mrs. kim's apartment, her usual cheery demeanour replaced by a frantic urgency. you blurted out everything – the coldness, the lack of a heartbeat, and the bloodstains you witnessed the night before.

mrs. kim, however, listened with a furrowed brow. "blood? are you sure, dear? heeseung wouldn't hurt a fly."

heeseung, conveniently appearing in the midst of your outburst, played the part of the concerned neighbour perfectly.

"is everything alright here?" he asked, his voice dripping with feigned innocence. "seems a little tense."

mrs. kim just dismissed him, shaking her head with a small chuckle, “nothing dear, it’s not important.”

his smile was disarming, his eyes brimming with feigned innocence. "oh i see. what were you two talking about so intently then?"

you glared at him, your voice trembling with barely contained anger. "i was just telling mrs. kim about your… unusual habits." you recounted the previous night's events, your gaze flitting between mrs. kim and heeseung.

heeseung chuckled, a light, airy sound that sent shivers down your spine. immediately, his expression morphed into one of concern, looking at mrs kim. "hasn’t she been acting strangely lately? maybe a little… stressed?"

his words stung. he was twisting the narrative, making you seem paranoid and delusional. your frustration grew, your voice rising as you tried to explain what you saw, but your neighbour's eyes held only pity and dismissal.

mrs. kim patted your hand soothingly. "maybe you're just a little stressed, dear. heeseung's a good boy, always looking out for everyone. don't you worry about him."

shame burned in your cheeks. you were alone, your warnings falling on deaf ears. heeseung's smile widened, the glint in his eyes predatory.

"see?" he said, his voice low and menacing, but directed only at you. "sometimes, silence is the best policy."

with that, he turned and sauntered away, leaving you trapped in a nightmare you couldn't seem to wake up from.

back in your apartment, you sank onto the couch, a defeated sigh escaping your lips. you were alone, your suspicions dismissed as paranoia. but the image of heeseung's bloodstained hands, his chilling smirk, burned into your memory. you wouldn't give up. you had to find a way to expose him, to prove to everyone that the perfect neighbour was nothing but a monster in disguise.

the bass vibrated through the floor, the air thick with sweat and the sweet scent of spilled cocktails. you were lost in the music, laughing with your friends, a rare moment of reprieve from the constant worry that was heeseung. the tipsy buzz from the vodka-cranberries only amplified the carefree feeling, pushing his unsettling presence to the back of your mind.

tipsy from a few too many drinks, you excused yourself, needing a momentary escape from the pulsating heat of the dance floor of the club. the cool night air was a welcome change as you stepped into the balcony, the cityscape shimmering under the neon glow. a sudden prickle ran down your spine, making you stop mid-step. it was the distinct feeling of someone's gaze boring into you, a predator sizing up its prey.

your heart hammered against your ribs as you spun around, searching the crowd. there, leaning against the wall opposite the club entrance, stood heeseung. his perfect features were cast in shadow, but the glint of his eyes in the darkness sent a shiver down your spine. he held a drink in his hand, his knuckles white around the glass, as if tightening his grip to control himself.

the moment you locked eyes with him, the air crackled with a tension so thick you could almost taste it. it wasn't just fear this time. there was a strange undercurrent, a dark energy that seemed to emanate from him.

your mind, fuzzy from the alcohol, couldn't quite grasp it, but your body reacted instinctively. panic surged through you, erasing the tipsy haze. this wasn't the charming neighbour; this was the dangerous entity you'd glimpsed before.

you didn't waste a second. turning on your heel, you practically sprinted back into the club, weaving through the crowd. your breath came out in ragged gasps, fueled by a cocktail of fear and the alcohol throbbing in your veins.

with a desperate lunge, you pushed open the nearest door, the sign above it proclaiming it a restroom.

just as you fumbled for the lock, a strong hand shot past your shoulder, wedging itself between the door and the frame. you froze, staring in horror as heeseung casually pushed his way in behind you. he slammed the door shut with a sickening thud, the lock clicking ominously behind him.

he cornered you against the door, his body acting as a wall and a scent that was both familiar and strangely intoxicating. the air crackled with unspoken tension, thick with the remnants of your fear and an undeniable spark of…something else.

“what do you think you’re doing?”, you winced at how weak your voice sounded.

he leaned impossibly close, his breath chilly against your ear. he seemed to be tipsy as well, with the way he stumbled and invaded your personal space.

the alcohol loosened your inhibitions, and his voice, usually smooth and playful, now had a dark, alluring edge to it.

"you looked beautiful dancing under those lights," he whispered, his words sending shivers down your spine. "such a shame you seem to hate me so."

his nearness was overwhelming. you couldn't feel any heat radiating from his body, but the way his lips brushed against your ear sent a jolt through you. his voice, usually smooth as silk, now had a rough edge, sending a shiver down your spine that wasn't entirely unpleasant.

your mind, fuzzy from the alcohol, struggled to process the situation. he was terrifying, yes, but a strange, confusing attraction warred with the fear simmering beneath the surface.

your gaze latched onto the physical beauty in front of you - the sharp angles of his jaw, the way the moonlight glinted off his dark brown eyes. all the warnings you'd tried to ignore hammered against your intoxicated mind, but for some reason, they held no power in the face of the undeniable magnetism of the man pinning you to the door.

“what do you want from me”, your words came out in a hushed whisper, scared as if speaking any louder would ruin the moment.

his gaze flitted down to your lips as he got closer to you, now only a breath away. he leaned closer, the scent of something foreign, yet oddly alluring, invading your senses.

his gaze dropped to your lips, painted a soft pink from the drinks you'd consumed.

before you could register the movement, his lips were on yours. the kiss was a whirlwind of conflicting emotions – the initial shock giving way to a surge of heat that defied logic. his hand slid down your back, pressing you flush against the wooden door.you clung to him, a confused mix of fear and a thrilling sense of forbidden desire coursing through you.

the kiss deepened, becoming desperate, hungry. he tasted of something sweet and metallic, a strange anomaly that sent a jolt through your system. you ignored it, caught up in the intoxicating whirlwind.

his body was freezing cold, save for his lips, his skin a contrast against the heat from your body which made a wave of concern rise up in the back of your head. but it was all forgotten as his hand moved to your neck, his fingers trailing a chilly path before dipping behind your ear.

you gasped at the sudden feeling, and heeseung took the opportunity to let his tongue enter your mouth. the kiss got messier and hotter, as if he was trying to devour you whole.

he rained kisses down your jawline, each one a searing brand against your skin. his touch sent shivers of anticipation down your spine, your breath hitching as you felt his teeth graze a sensitive spot.

it wasn't a bite, not yet. it was a brush, a feather-light caress that sent a jolt through your system. but it wasn't just the touch. there was something… different about his canines. they were sharper, pointier than human teeth, and the sensation sent a wave of surprise through you.

he froze, the movement of his mouth stopping abruptly. his breath hitched in his throat, coming out in ragged gasps like a predator startled mid-hunt. his eyes, locked on your neck, flickered with a mix of hunger and… something else. a flicker of remorse, a struggle you couldn't quite decipher.

the tension in the room was suffocating. you stared back at him, your mind a tangled mess of confusion and desire. but before you could form a question, before you could understand the shift in him, heeseung pulled away. his grip on your neck loosened, replaced by a cold indifference.

his eyes, once filled with a dark desire, now held a chilling emptiness. the warmth of his body vanished as he stepped back, leaving you feeling exposed and vulnerable. he stared at you for a long, agonising moment, his eyes unreadable.

then, in a swift movement, he turned and walked out of the bathroom, leaving you pressed against the door, the memory of the heated kiss a stark contrast to the cold dread settling in your stomach.

the heat of the kiss still lingered on your lips, a confusing memory tainted by the chilling realisation of what he truly was. you cradled your neck, the phantom sensation of his sharp touch lingering long after he was gone.

days bled into a strange silence. the unsettling encounters with heeseung, once a daily occurrence, had vanished. you wouldn't normally miss his presence, but the sudden absence gnawed at you with an unsettling curiosity. you found yourself glancing down the hallway at his door more often than you cared to admit, the memory of the stolen kiss replaying in your mind in a confusing loop.

the thought of venturing to his apartment, of seeking him out after the charged encounter in the washroom, sent a jolt of nervous energy through you.

shame burned in your cheeks at the memory of the heated kiss, a stark contrast to the chilling way he'd left you. yet, a sliver of concern gnawed at you. his absence was unnerving.

finally, curiosity, laced with apprehension, won over your better judgement. you stood outside his door, heart hammering a frantic rhythm against your ribs. taking a deep breath, you raised your hand and knocked tentatively.

the silence stretched for what felt like an eternity before the door creaked open a sliver. heeseung stood there, his face pale and drawn, dark circles smudging the area under his eyes. he looked… unwell.

"heeseung?" you ventured, surprised by the concern that slipped into your voice. "are you alright? you look terrible."

he didn't answer, just stared at you with an icy indifference that sent a shiver down your spine. the playful glint in his eyes, once so unsettling, was replaced by a hollowness that chilled you to the bone.

heeseung scoffed, a harsh sound that scraped against your nerves. "i'm fine. now leave."

the hostility in his voice stung. the concern you felt evaporated, replaced by a cold anger.

"look," you snapped, "i just came to see if you were okay. but clearly, you don't want the help."

he scoffed, a humourless sound. "of course not. why would i need help from the likes of you?"

he slammed the door shut before you could retort, leaving you standing alone in the hallway, the echo of his harsh words ringing in your ears. shame burned in your cheeks, a confusing mix of hurt and anger churning in your gut.

how dare he act like you were the villain? he was the one who made your life a living nightmare, the one with secrets that sent shivers down your spine.

scowling, you berated yourself for your momentary lapse in judgement. you hated him. you had to.

he was a danger, a monster in disguise. yet, the flicker of something vulnerable you'd glimpsed in his eyes, the way he'd pulled away so abruptly… it was a confusing puzzle you couldn't seem to solve.

heeseung stumbled out of his apartment, a desperate lurch in his gait that spoke volumes of his weakened state. he fumbled with grabbing his keys, nearly dropping them, before finally unlocking the deadbolt.

he needed to get out, anywhere but the suffocating confines of his apartment. he threw a glance down the hallway, hoping for an empty elevator, but his luck had run dry. the red "in use" light mocked him above the metal doors.

he slammed on the button, urgency pushing past the haze in his head. as the doors dinged open, revealing you standing there, his heart sank.

heeseung flinched back, shuffling into the corner like a wounded animal. "get… out," he rasped, his voice barely a whisper.

"seriously?" you scoffed, following him with your glare. "that makeout session in the club must have been rough if you can't even stand the sight of me now."

heeseung remained silent, the effort of breathing stealing his focus. you rolled your eyes, muttering under your breath about his lack of manners. you turned away, choosing to ignore him.

suddenly, the elevator lurched to a halt, plunging the cramped space into slight darkness. a metallic groan filled the air.

"great," you sighed, reaching for the call button. "looks like we're stuck."

a strained voice answered through the speaker, informing you that a technician would be on their way shortly.

"shortly?" you groaned. "how long is shortly?"

"it's hard to say, ma'am. there's been a minor fault in the system."

you groaned, sinking down onto the floor.

heeseung remained silent, his body trembling. every passing second felt like an eternity. hunger gnawed at him, a primal urge clawing its way to the surface. he gritted his teeth, fighting against the monstrous transformation that threatened to take over.

"hey," he rasped, his voice barely a whisper.

you shot him a sceptical glance. "what?"

shame burned in his throat, but the need for survival outweighed his pride. "do you… by any chance… have any blood on you?"

you leaned closer, your suspicions finally confirmed.

"about time you admitted it," you cheered, a triumphant smirk creeping across your face. "i knew you weren't normal."

heeseung let out a dark chuckle, a sound devoid of humour. "don't get too excited," he rasped. "you shouldn't be so happy about this."

"oh, come on," you scoffed. "spill it. what are you? some kind of freak?"

a tense silence followed, broken only by the hum of the faulty elevator. finally, he spoke, his voice barely a whisper.

"vampire."

shock flooded your system. it was one thing to suspect, another to hear it confirmed.

"no way," you scoffed, refusing to believe it. "vampires don't exist."

but his next words sent a shiver down your spine. "the reason i stopped you at the club… it wasn't because of the kiss. it was the smell of your blood. it was… intoxicating."

"ever since i've met you…" he began, his voice surprisingly soft despite the edge of desperation in it. "the smell of your blood, so sweet, has been driving me crazy. so different from anything i've ever encountered."

he paused, a tremor running through his voice. "for years, i've resisted feeding on humans. morality, you might call it. i rely on animal blood, a poor substitute at best. but your blood…" he took a shaky breath, "it was like a siren song. after that night, i can’t even smell any other type of blood without my stomach churning in disgust."

you listened intently, a strange fascination battling with the fear that coiled in your gut. this wasn't the heeseung you knew, the playful neighbor who reveled in teasing you. this was a creature raw and exposed, driven by a primal need he could barely articulate.

"years," he continued, his voice cracking slightly. "years of animal blood, a constant reminder of what i can't have. but then you…" he trailed off, the echo of that night in the club hanging heavy between you.

a shiver ran down your spine, but it wasn't entirely from fear. there was a vulnerability in his confession, a desperate need for something more than just sustenance.

"the challenge," he said, his voice gaining a tinge of bitterness. "the forbidden fruit. maybe that's what drew me in at first. but then…" he hesitated, a flicker of something akin to shame crossing his features.

"then what?" you prompted, your voice barely a whisper. this wasn't how you'd imagined confronting a vampire, yet here you were, drawn into his story.

"don't you see?" heeseung's voice rose, a tremor of desperation colouring it. "you make me weak, vulnerable. yet, your defiance only intensifies the pull. you're everything i shouldn't want, everything i crave."

the revelation sent a jolt through you, a terrifying mix of fear and… something else. the line between predator and prey seemed to blur in the confines of the elevator. you were trapped, yes, but there was also a strange sense of being held hostage by a creature consumed by a desire he both craved and loathed.

the silence that followed heeseung's confession stretched on, thick with a tension that was no longer just fear. you understood him, perhaps better than he understood himself.

taking a deep breath, you surprised yourself by what you said next. "maybe there’s another way."

heeseung's head snapped up, his eyes searching your face in the dim light. "what do you mean?"

"i can help" you held out your wrist, the moonlight filtering through a crack in the elevator door illuminating the delicate veins beneath your skin. "you said you needed blood. maybe i can…

he recoiled as if struck. "no. absolutely not. i won't—"

"heeseung," you interrupted, your voice firm despite the tremor in your heart. "look at me. i'm not scared. in fact…" you hesitated, a blush creeping up your neck. "maybe i… feel the same way."

the air crackled with a new kind of tension. heeseung stared at you, his face a mask of disbelief. "the same way? how?"

"like you said," you whispered, "forbidden. a dangerous attraction." you met his gaze, holding it with a newfound resolve. "if this is what you need, i… i consent."

heeseung's breath hitched. shame flickered in his eyes, quickly replaced by a raw hunger that made your own pulse quicken. "but," he said, his voice low and urgent, "i need more. much more. and from… a different place."

your stomach lurched. "different place?"

a flicker of vulnerability crossed his features. "my apologies," he murmured. "to properly sustain me, i need… the jugular."

the word hung heavy in the air, a primal request that sent a wave of apprehension through you. the image of a vampire sinking its fangs into someone's neck flashed before your eyes. but then, against your better judgment, you found yourself nodding slowly.

a surge of relief, tinged with desperation, washed over heeseung. he moved towards you, a predator closing in on its prey. the closeness brought back a memory - the night in the club bathroom, pressed against the wall, his chilly breath on your neck.

he trapped you against the corner, his body a wall of heat, completely different from the other day where he was freezing.

"please," he rasped, his voice raw with hunger and a strange, desperate plea. "i can't control myself much longer. let me…"

his voice trailed off, replaced by a whimper that both shocked and ignited something within you. this wasn't the cold, calculating heeseung you'd feared. this was a creature on the brink, his monstrous hunger battling with a threadbare shred of control.

"alright," you whispered, the word leaving your lips before you could overthink it.

he didn't hesitate. he leaned in, his movements a blur of desperation. kisses, hot and wet, rained down on your neck, each one a branding iron leaving a fiery mark. you closed your eyes, bracing yourself for the pain. but it never came.

instead, as his fangs pierced your skin, a jolt of something unexpected surged through you. it wasn't pain, but a warmth that spread through your body like liquid fire. your mind grew hazy, your senses overwhelmed by a wave of pleasure that originated from the very point of contact.

he moaned, a deep, primal sound that echoed in the confined space. "so sweet," he whispered, his voice thick with desire. "the best i've ever tasted."

he drank deeply, his body trembling with each intake. you could hear him purring, a low rumble that resonated deep within your core. the pleasure was overwhelming, a dizzying mixture of pain and pleasure that left you gasping for breath. your mind turned hazy, each noise tumbling out of his lips sounding like liquid gold to you.

when he finally pulled away, breathless and satiated, he looked at you with an intensity that sent shivers down your spine. he languidly licked away the remnants of blood from the wound, his warm tongue sending a jolt of electricity through you.

he didn't stop there. he swiped at the blood that trickled down your collarbone, his tongue making a suggestive swipe against your skin. a dangerous glint flickered in his eyes, and you couldn't help but lean closer, a thrill coursing through you.

the jarring hum of the elevator coming back to life jolted you both from your current position. heeseung, his fangs retracted, quickly pressed the button for your floor. a strange mixture of fear and elation bubbled in your chest, a sensation as unfamiliar as the pleasure you'd just experienced.

he turned to you, his eyes searching your face. "are you alright?" his voice was concerned, a stark contrast to his needy whines just moments ago.

you hesitantly reached for your neck, expecting a throbbing pain. instead, you found smooth, unmarked skin. a gasp escaped your lips. "it… it healed?"

heeseung nodded, a hint of a smirk playing on his lips. "vampire saliva," he explained casually. "has a few… interesting properties. speeds up healing, for one."

a blush crept up your cheeks as you recalled the wave of euphoria that had washed over you during his feeding. "and…" you stammered, "the pleasure?"

"speaking of pleasure," heeseung's voice dipped to a husky whisper, "vampire saliva has another... side effect."

he leaned closer, his lips brushing against your ear. "an aphrodisiac," he breathed, his words sending a shiver down your spine. "especially potent when mixed with a good dose of desire. all thanks to those initial kisses on your neck i had planted.”

"so that's why…" you mumbled, suddenly embarrassed.

the elevator doors slid open, revealing the familiar hallway. you stepped out, feeling oddly energised despite the ordeal. a playful smile tugged at your lips.

"so," you said, turning to face him, your fingers playfully tapping his arm, "how do you plan to repay me for that little… service?"

heeseung raised an eyebrow, a playful glint in his eyes. before he could answer, he leaned down, his lips brushing against your forehead in a sweet kiss. pulling away, he grinned, his fangs catching the dim light playfully.

your heart hammered in your chest as he took your hand, his touch sending a spark of heat through you. stepping closer to your apartment, he winked.

"let's discuss repayment options in private, shall we?" he said, his voice dripping with a promise of things to come.

he took your hand again, his touch surprisingly warm despite his vampiric nature. before you could respond, he gently steered you towards your apartment, leaving you breathless and caught in the undercurrent of a dangerous, exhilarating game you'd just begun to play.

as you fumbled with your keys, trying to unlock the door in hurry, he leaned down next to you and murmured, his voice a low, suggestive rumble.

"i'm sure you taste just as good everywhere else."

𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘆𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 ©𝗴𝘆𝘂𝘂𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘆𝘆 on Tumblr

˚ · .𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗱

fatal trouble

pairing: vampire!sunghoon x reader

synopsis: your roommate is hot. really really hot. and odd too. really really odd. after a strange experience with him, you slowly start distancing yourself from him. but, it becomes exceptionally hard with your feelings coming in the way. how are you supposed to protect yourself if you can’t resist him? the answer is you don’t need to. your fates are intertwined and there's no letting go.

genre: roommates to lovers, vampire au, soulmate au

warnings: suggestive content, mentions of nightmares and blood, jealous!sunghoon, 

note: dropping this before i go on hiatus for a month due to school work. i haven't proofread it that well i hope there are no mistakes. also im obsessed with vampire aus, enhablr needs more of them fr!! i hope you enjoy reading this!

word count: 6k

if you liked it please reblog or comment to give me your feedback! <3

the soft glow of your laptop screen illuminated your face, casting long shadows across sunghoon's pristine white sheets. you were sprawled out on his bed, legs crossed beneath you, surrounded by a chaotic scatter of textbooks and papers. the quiet hum of the air conditioner filled the room, broken only by the intermittent clicks of your keyboard.

sunghoon sat at his desk, a silhouette against the darkened room, save for the focused beam of his desk lamp. his fingers danced across the keyboard with an almost rhythmic precision, the soft glow of the screen reflecting in his dark eyes. you’d grown accustomed to the sight of him engrossed in his work, a solitary figure lost in the world of ones and zeros.

you’d known each other for a few months now, the kind of acquaintance born out of shared living space and the occasional group project. as roommates sharing the same major, your apartment had become a de facto study hub. computer science had thrown you together more often than not, and tonight was no exception. 

“hey, did you get the part about the algorithm?” your voice, a whisper in the quiet, cut through the comfortable silence.

sunghoon glanced up, his eyes a deep, almost unnatural shade of red in the dim light. for a moment, you were struck by how different he looked compared to the daylight. “yeah, i think so. isn’t it something about minimising the time complexity?”

you nodded, your eyes scanning the code on your screen. “exactly. i’m just having trouble with the implementation.”

a comfortable silence settled over the room as you both focused on your respective screens. the only sound was the rhythmic tapping of keys and the occasional sigh of frustration. you glanced up at sunghoon, his profile illuminated by the soft glow of his monitor. his long, slender fingers moved with an almost hypnotic grace across the keyboard.

there was something undeniably attractive about his focused intensity. his features, normally sharp and aloof, softened slightly when he was engrossed in his work. it was a side of him you rarely saw, and it was oddly captivating.

you shook your head, mentally scolding yourself for such thoughts. he was your roommate, nothing more. and besides, there was no way he could be interested in someone like you.

“hey,” sunghoon’s voice cut through your reverie, “i think i figured it out.”

you blinked, startled. “oh, really? want to explain it?”

he nodded, sliding his chair back and standing up. he walked over to your side of the bed, his tall frame looming over you. as he leaned in to point at your screen, his scent washed over you – a subtle blend of wood and something else, almost sweet, that you couldn’t quite place.

you felt a strange warmth creeping up your neck as he hovered over you. his proximity was unnerving, yet strangely intoxicating. you swallowed hard, trying to focus on the code in front of you.

sunghoon's breath was warm against your ear as he leaned in closer, his voice a low rumble, "try this." his finger hovered over your keyboard, about to demonstrate.

you felt a shiver run down your spine, not from the cool night air but from the inexplicable sensation of being so close to him. his scent, a mix of something woodsy and faintly sweet, was intoxicating. you tried to focus on the code, to ignore the way your heart was pounding in your chest.

he typed a few lines, his fingers brushing against yours. the contact sent a jolt of electricity through you. you forced yourself to concentrate on the screen, trying to understand the changes he made.

"see?" he said, straightening up. "it's simpler this way."

you nodded, still reeling from the physical contact. "thanks," you managed to say, your voice barely a whisper.

sunghoon stepped back, a small smile playing on his lips. "no problem," he said, turning back to his own computer.

you took a deep breath, trying to calm your racing heart. it was just sunghoon, your roommate. nothing more. but the way he had acted, the way he had touched you, it was making it hard to think of him that way.

the room was quiet again, the only sounds the soft clacking of keyboards and the occasional rustle of paper. you were deep in thought, trying to wrap your head around a particularly complex problem when a question popped into your head. on impulse, you asked, “so, sunghoon, what do you do in your free time, when you’re not, you know, studying?”

sunghoon paused, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. a flicker of something, perhaps surprise or amusement, passed across his face before he responded smoothly, “free time is a luxury for a computer science student, don’t you think? but when i do find a spare moment, i usually spend it reading or exploring new coding languages.”

his answer was polite, but it felt rehearsed, as if he'd prepared a response for just such a question. a sense of curiosity sparked within you. you’d always thought sunghoon was a bit of an enigma, but this was a new level of intrigue.

curiosity, a persistent itch, prodded you to ask something more than just about schoolwork.

“hey, i was curious about this” you started, your voice barely audible over the hum of the air conditioner, “where are you from?” it was a simple question, one you would normally ask any new acquaintance, but there was something about sunghoon that made you curious about his past.

he paused, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. for a moment, there was a stillness in the room that was almost palpable. then, with a casual shrug, he replied, "oh, just a small town. nothing interesting." the response was swift, deflecting your question with ease.

confused, you returned to your code, but your mind was racing. there was something off about sunghoon, something that had intrigued you from the moment you met him. you couldn’t quite put your finger on it, but there were strange little details that had started to accumulate.

there were those odd instances – like the time you'd woken up in the middle of the night to find the kitchen light on and sunghoon standing at the counter, completely motionless, his eyes glowing an eerie red. or the way he seemed to have an uncanny ability to appear and disappear without a sound. and then there was the peculiar lack of a reflection in any mirror in his room.

these memories surfaced, sharp and clear, as if your brain was piecing together a puzzle it didn't know existed. you shook your head, dismissing the thoughts as overactive imagination. after all, sunghoon was just your roommate, a fellow computer science student. nothing more, nothing less.

a yawn escaped your lips as you stretched, the late hour finally catching up with you. “i think i’m going to call it a night,” you announced, rubbing your eyes. the weight of the unanswered questions about sunghoon was beginning to feel heavy.

sunghoon nodded, his gaze fixed on the computer screen. “alright, good night then. i’ll probably stay up a bit longer.”

you nodded in response, swinging your legs over the side of the bed. as you stood up, you glanced down at the floor. something was off. the soft glow from sunghoon’s computer cast long shadows on the floor, including a distinct one from his chair. but there was no shadow of sunghoon himself. the spot where his shadow should have been was empty, an inky void against the illuminated floor.

a chill ran down your spine. your heart pounded in your ears. your mind raced, trying to come up with a logical explanation, but nothing made sense. you snatched up your bag, your movements jerky and panicked. without a second thought, you fled back to your room, the door slamming shut behind you. you fumbled with the lock, your hands trembling. only when you heard the satisfying click of the lock did you allow yourself to breathe.

your heart pounded in your ears as you leaned against the cool metal of your door. the realisation of what you had seen was slowly sinking in. no human lacked a shadow. it was impossible. a chill ran down your spine.

you tried to rationalise it away. maybe there was a draft, or a trick of the light. but deep down, you knew better. something was profoundly wrong, and it was connected to sunghoon. the friendly, quiet roommate you thought you knew was now shrouded in an unsettling mystery.

you glanced at the clock. it was late, and exhaustion was starting to creep in. you needed to sleep, to clear your head. but how could you sleep with this looming over you? you decided to distract yourself by pulling out a book from your shelf, hoping the words would drown out the unsettling thoughts.

as you turned the pages, your mind kept drifting back to sunghoon. his unusual behaviour, the absence of his shadow, it all fit together into a terrifying puzzle. you tried to shake off the feeling, but it was like a persistent itch you couldn't scratch.

sleep finally claimed you, but it was restless. your dreams were filled with shadows, long and menacing, closing in on you. you woke up with a start, your heart racing. the first light of dawn was filtering through your curtains. you got out of bed and went to the window. the world outside looked ordinary, peaceful. but you knew the truth was far from it.

something was wrong with sunghoon, and you were determined to find out what.

the days following your unsettling discovery were a blur of forced normalcy. you tried to interact with sunghoon as if nothing was amiss, but the weight of your knowledge cast a long shadow over your interactions. you found yourself avoiding his gaze, your voice trembling when you spoke to him.

sunghoon seemed oblivious to your discomfort at first. he’d always been a quiet person, so his reserved nature didn’t raise any immediate suspicion. however, as the days turned into weeks, his patience began to wear thin.

"hey, are you free to study together tomorrow?" he asked one evening as you were both making dinner. his tone was casual, but you could detect a hint of underlying disappointment.

your heart skipped a beat. you’d been avoiding his study invitations, coming up with increasingly elaborate excuses. the truth hung heavy in the air, a tangible thing between you. you hesitated, your mind racing.

"i... i’m really busy tomorrow," you stammered, your voice barely audible. "maybe next week?"

disappointment flashed across sunghoon’s face before he masked it with a forced smile. "sure, no problem," he replied, his voice flat.

as he turned away, you couldn't shake the feeling of guilt. you'd hurt him, and you knew it.

the night was a descent into terror. you dreamt of shadows, long and menacing, closing in on you. sunghoon was there, but not as you knew him. his eyes burned with an unnatural light, and his form was distorted, monstrous. you were running, but your legs were leaden, and the shadows were gaining on you. a scream built in your throat, but no sound escaped.

you woke with a start, drenched in sweat. your heart pounded like a drumbeat in your chest. panic washed over you as you gasped for air. you were disoriented, unsure of where you were. a noise from the living room startled you, and you jumped out of bed.

the light was on, and there, standing in the doorway, was sunghoon, his face etched with concern. before you could react, you found yourself lunging at him, your hands grasping at his neck. he didn't fight back, instead, he held you tightly, his arms wrapping around you protectively.

your sobs racked your body as you clung to him, finding solace in his warmth. he shushed you softly, his voice a soothing balm to your frayed nerves. gradually, your breathing began to slow, and your body relaxed.

when you finally calmed down, sunghoon gently guided you back to bed. he sat on the edge, running a comforting hand through your hair. you clung to him, your fear slowly dissipating.

in the quiet that followed, you felt a strange urge to confide in him. your voice was barely a whisper when you began, "i dreamt of you... as something... different."

sunghoon stiffened, but his grip on you didn't loosen. something flashed behind his eyes, but he listened intently as you recounted the terrifying details of your nightmare. when you finished, he was silent for a long moment. finally, he whispered, "go back to sleep," and you felt him lean down to kiss your forehead.

with that, he quietly left the room, leaving you alone with your racing thoughts.

the days that followed were a careful ballet of avoidance. you moved through your days with a practised detachment, constructing an invisible wall between yourself and sunghoon. the weight of your decision pressed down on you like a physical burden. despite the burgeoning crush that had blossomed in the quiet corners of your heart, you'd created a formidable wall between yourself and sunghoon. his enigmatic nature, coupled with the unsettling discoveries you'd made, had convinced you to keep him at arm's length. it was a lonely existence, a self-imposed exile that offered a semblance of safety.

your days were a monotonous cycle of lectures, assignments, and solitary meals. you'd found solace in the company of your classmate, lee heeseung, his cheerful demeanour a stark contrast to the storm raging within you. yet, even as you laughed and shared stories with him, a part of you longed for the quiet intensity of sunghoon's presence.

in the vast, impersonal lecture hall, you’d sought refuge in the anonymity of the crowd. but even here, you couldn't escape the weight of your decision. a persistent sense of being watched gnawed at you, a constant reminder of the eyes that followed your every move. and you knew very well who it was. it was during one such lecture that the tension reached a breaking point.

you were engrossed in your notes when a subtle shift in the atmosphere caught your attention. a cold prickle ran down your spine as you slowly turned your head. there, in the row behind you, sat sunghoon, his gaze fixed intently on you. his expression was a complex interplay of emotions - longing, pain, and a flicker of something darker.

your heart pounded in your chest as a wave of guilt washed over you. you'd hurt him, pushed him away without a second thought. in that moment, as his eyes held yours, you realised the depth of your own cowardice.

not to mention, with each passing night your nightmares had intensified. each night a descent into a darker, more terrifying realm. sleep, once a refuge, had transformed into a battlefield, leaving you exhausted and on edge. the physical toll was evident - dark circles shadowed your eyes, and your skin had started to take on a sickly pallor.

despite your deteriorating condition, you continued to maintain your distance from sunghoon. guilt gnawed at you, but fear held you captive. yet, in the aftermath of each nightmare, you found yourself seeking solace in his presence. he’d sit by your bed his silent vigil a comforting anchor in the storm of your nightmares. his touch, gentle and reassuring, had become a lifeline, pulling you back from the brink of despair.

one particularly harrowing night, you woke up screaming, your body drenched in sweat. sunghoon was by your side almost instantly, his arms wrapping around you in a comforting embrace. as your fear subsided, you began to recount the nightmare, your voice trembling.

"i... i dreamt of a place," you managed to say, your words halting. "a dark place, with... with strange symbols."

sunghoon's grip tightened around you. "and you were alone," he finished for you, his voice low and soothing.

your eyes widened in shock. how could he know what you had dreamt about? you hadn’t even managed to complete your story. yet, sunghoon had described it perfectly, as if he had been there with you.

a chill ran down your spine. you pulled away from him, your eyes filled with fear and confusion. sunghoon simply looked at you, his expression unreadable, before turning and leaving the room.

what did this mean? how could sunghoon know about your nightmares? the answers were as elusive as ever, but one thing was certain: the line between the ordinary and the extraordinary was blurring, and you were caught in the crossfire.

the nightmares ceased as abruptly as they had begun. you woke each morning feeling refreshed, the spectre of terror finally lifted from your shoulders. a sense of relief washed over you, but it was tinged with a strange melancholy. the nightly visits from sunghoon, a comforting ritual amidst the chaos, were now absent.

initially, you welcomed the return to normalcy. the constant fear and exhaustion had taken a toll on you, and the ability to sleep soundly was a precious gift. but as days turned into weeks, a nagging sense of unease crept in. sunghoon's absence, once a welcome respite, now felt like a void.

you started noticing subtle changes in him. his eyes, once bright and alert, were now shadowed by dark circles. his once sharp features seemed softened by fatigue. it was as if a weight was pressing down on him, a burden he carried alone.

a pang of guilt struck you. perhaps your avoidance had contributed to his deteriorating condition. you wanted to reach out, to offer support, but fear held you back. what if your presence only made things worse? what if you discovered something terrifying?

you longed to reach out to him, to offer solace and support, but the words remained trapped in your throat. the fear of rejection, of further pushing him away, paralyzed you. it was a cruel irony that the person you yearned to comfort was the one causing you the most pain. 

the afternoon sun beat down on the bustling campus as you made your way towards the nearest convenience store. the promise of a refreshing popsicle was the only thing that could lure you away from the confines of your dorm room. with a popsicle clutched in your hand, you emerged from the store, ready to face the world, one frozen treat at a time.

just as you were about to savour the first bite, heeseung materialised beside you, his infectious grin lighting up his face. "arcade?" he suggested, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. you nodded, the prospect of a distraction proving too tempting to resist.

you split the popsicle down the middle, the sweet, icy treat a welcome respite from the oppressive heat. as you handed one half to heeseung, a strange sensation washed over you. it was as if a cold draft had swept across your skin, a shiver that had nothing to do with the melting popsicle in your hand.

instinctively, you turned around, your heart pounding in your chest. there, on the other side of the road, stood sunghoon, his figure cast in the harsh sunlight. his eyes, usually guarded, were fixed on you with an intensity that bordered on hostility. a scowl marred his usually indifferent features, and his jaw was clenched tightly.

you offered a timid smile, a feeble attempt to bridge the chasm between you. but his gaze remained unwavering, cold and unforgiving. with a final, contemptuous glance, he turned and walked away, disappearing into the crowd.

a wave of guilt and confusion washed over you. you'd hurt him, you knew that. but the intensity of his reaction was unexpected, almost frightening. as you turned back to heeseung, you forced a smile, determined to push the unsettling encounter to the back of your mind.

the encounter with sunghoon left a bitter taste in your mouth. his hostile glare had shattered the fragile peace you'd been cultivating. as you and heeseung made your way to the arcade, your mind raced, trying to decipher the meaning behind sunghoon's outburst. had your avoidance pushed him to the brink? or was there something more sinister at play?

the arcade, with its flashing lights and the cacophony of sound, offered a temporary escape from the turmoil within. you lost yourself in the rhythm of the games, the competitive spirit temporarily drowning out the unsettling incident. yet, even as you laughed and cheered with heeseung, your mind kept drifting back to sunghoon, his angry gaze burning into your memory.

as the afternoon wore on, a sense of unease settled over you. the carefree atmosphere of the arcade couldn't mask the growing storm within. the incident with sunghoon had opened a wound, a raw and painful reminder of the complex dynamics between you.

you glanced at heeseung, his laughter infectious, and felt a pang of guilt. he was doing everything to lift your spirits, to distract you from your troubles. but your mind was elsewhere, trapped in a labyrinth of doubt and fear.

the walk back to your dorm was a solitary affair. the campus, usually bustling with activity, seemed deserted. with each step, the weight of your worries grew heavier. the encounter with sunghoon had forced you to confront the reality of the situation. you couldn't continue to bury your head in the sand, hoping that the problem would resolve itself.

the weight of the day pressed down on you as you unlocked the apartment door. exhaustion tugged at your limbs, but the lingering unease from your encounter with sunghoon kept your mind racing. 

as you stepped into the living room, a jolt of surprise ran through you. sunghoon was standing in the kitchen, his silhouette outlined by the soft glow of the refrigerator.

there was an unnatural stillness to him, a predatory calm that sent a shiver down your spine. his eyes, when they met yours, held a strange intensity, a glint of something dangerous lurking beneath the surface. "fancy seeing you here," he said, his voice low and measured.

you forced a smile, your heart pounding in your chest. "just got back," you replied, your voice barely a whisper.

he approached you slowly, his steps deliberate. "we have that new assignment," he began, his voice low and seductive. "maybe we could work on it together tomorrow?"

your mind raced, trying to come up with an excuse. "i'm... i'm pretty busy," you stammered, avoiding his gaze.

sunghoon's expression darkened. with a swift movement, he closed the distance between you, cornering you against the kitchen counter, his hands grabbing your hips. his proximity was unnerving, his scent, a mix of wood and something faintly sweet, filling your senses. you could feel his breath on your skin, hot and heavy. 

"don't lie to me," he hissed, his voice low and menacing. "i know what's going on."

his grip tightened around you, and you winced. 

"it's nothing," you insisted, your voice trembling. "just... busy."

"busy with heeseung?" he spat out, his jealousy evident in his tone. his eyes narrowed, and you could see the anger simmering beneath the surface.

your face flushed with embarrassment. he was taking this the wrong way. “it’s not like that,” you stammered, your voice barely a whisper.

sunghoon's grip tightened, pinning you against the cool surface of the counter. his breath was warm against your skin, and a strange sensation, a mix of fear and excitement, coursed through your veins.

“don’t lie to me,” he repeated, his voice low and dangerous. “you're avoiding me.”

you didn't know why, but the power dynamic between you and sunghoon was intoxicating. he had never behaved this way before let alone showcase jealousy so blatantly. it was hot. you felt a blush creeping up your cheeks, a mixture of embarrassment and arousal. 

before you could respond, you found yourself leaning in, your lips brushing against his. it was an impulsive act, a desperate attempt to silence him, to end the confrontation. but, to your surprise, he responded, his lips moving against yours with a gentle intensity.

the world seemed to slow down as the kiss deepened. but as quickly as it had begun, it ended. you pulled away, your heart pounding in your chest.

overwhelmed by a rush of emotions, you turned and fled to your room, slamming the door behind you. you leaned against the door, panting, your mind racing. 

the realisation of what you had done hit you like a tidal wave. you had kissed your roommate, a person you were actively avoiding due to a growing sense of fear and unease. the implications of your actions were terrifying. you'd crossed a line, a boundary you had carefully constructed to protect yourself.

a series of frantic knocks on the door jolted you out of your stupor. it was sunghoon, his voice muffled through the wood. "open up, please," he pleaded. your heart pounded in your chest. you couldn't face him now. you needed time to process what had happened, to regain control of the situation.

the knocking continued for a few minutes before finally ceasing. silence enveloped the room, heavy and oppressive. you slid down the door, your body trembling. what had you done?

morning arrived with a sense of foreboding. the thought of facing sunghoon filled you with dread, but the need to uncover the truth was stronger. you waited until the sound of his footsteps faded down the hallway, a sign that he had left for his morning jog.

with a deep breath, you crept into sunghoon's room, a sense of trepidation gnawing at you. the room was immaculate, a stark contrast to the chaos that often reigned in your own space. everything had its place, every surface spotless. there were no hidden compartments, no secret drawers, no clues to the enigmatic man who inhabited this space.

disappointment washed over you. you'd hoped to find something, anything that would explain the strange occurrences, the unsettling behaviour. but the room held no secrets, only a sense of emptiness.

your eyes scanned the room, searching for any hidden compartments or secret passages. everything seemed ordinary, almost mundane. disappointment was beginning to creep in when your gaze fell on a small cabinet tucked beneath sunghoon's desk. it was always locked, a tantalising enigma that had piqued your curiosity countless times.

today, however, there was a change. a key was lodged in the lock, an open invitation to delve into the forbidden. a wave of hesitation washed over you. you were invading his privacy, crossing a line you had sworn never to cross. but the allure of the unknown was too strong. curiosity, like a relentless tide, pulled you forward.

with trembling hands, you grasped the key and turned it. the lock clicked open with a satisfyingly smooth sound. you slid open the cabinet door, your heart pounding in your chest. a mini-fridge, small and unassuming, greeted you. a wave of relief washed over you. so this was the secret? a hidden stash of snacks?

you reached out to open the fridge door, a smirk playing on your lips. but as the cool air enveloped you, your blood ran cold.

inside, lined up neatly on the shelves, were rows of blood bags. the crimson liquid glinted in the dim light, a chilling contrast to the sterile white plastic. the sight was so surreal, so utterly horrifying, that for a moment, you thought you were hallucinating.

your mind went blank. a wave of nausea washed over you as you stared at the horrifying contents of the fridge. this couldn't be real. this was a nightmare, a twisted hallucination. but the cold, hard truth stared back at you, undeniable and terrifying.

the world tilted as your legs gave way, sending you crashing to the knees. blood bags. sunghoon kept blood bags. your roommate, the seemingly normal guy you knew, was a… vampire? the very concept seemed absurd, ripped from the pages of a fantasy novel. yet, the evidence sat before you, a stark reality that defied logic.

panic clawed at your throat, but a desperate hope flickered within you. maybe it was a medical condition. maybe he had a strange blood fetish. anything but a vampire!

"vampires don't exist, do they?", you mutter to yourself still in shock.

"yes, they do," a low voice confirmed, sending a tremor through your entire body. you spun around, scream caught in your throat. sunghoon stood in the doorway, his face unreadable, his eyes a bottomless well of emotions.

shame washed over you in a tidal wave. you felt exposed, not just for snooping, but for the fear and disgust that clouded your mind.

jumping out the window, a ridiculous notion moments ago, now seemed like the only way out. here, trapped in this surreal nightmare, your only escape seemed to be a dramatic leap from the fourth floor. it wouldn't kill you, right? you’d only break a few bones at best, which you were absolutely okay with. 

with a burst of adrenaline, you scrambled to your feet and bolted towards the window, desperation fueling your actions. but before you could reach the latch, a hand clamped around your waist, pulling you back with an iron grip. "don't even think about it," sunghoon's voice was a low growl, the air crackling with unspoken emotions.

you were pinned against his chest, his warmth a stark contrast to the chilling terror that gripped you. his eyes, no longer cold and distant, burned with a mix of anger and concern.

his words hung in the air, a stark contrast to the wildness of your actions. you struggled against his hold, your fear fueling your resistance. but there was an undeniable strength in him, a power that held you captive.

"please, let me go," you gasped, your voice trembling.

sunghoon's grip loosened slightly, and he took a step back. his eyes held a mixture of concern and something else, something you couldn't quite decipher. "i won't hurt you," he said, his voice soft. "i need to explain."

your eyes met his, a mixture of fear and confusion swirling in their depths. sunghoon seemed to read your mind, his expression softening as he took a step closer. he sighed, a heavy exhale that seemed to carry the weight of centuries.

"i know this is a lot to take in," he began, his voice low and steady. "but i need you to trust me."

you nodded, your mind racing. there was something about his tone, a vulnerability beneath the hardened exterior, that compelled you to listen.

"i'm a vampire," he said, the words hanging heavy in the air. "it's not how i wanted things to be, but it's the reality i've been forced to live with."

he paused, his eyes searching your face for any signs of revulsion. but to your surprise, a strange sense of calm washed over you. this was the answer, the missing piece to the puzzle.

he went on to explain his existence, the centuries of solitude, and the desperate hope that had brought him to you. he talked about the blood bags, a necessary evil to sustain his life.

he continued, his voice laced with a hint of vulnerability. "i’ve been alone for so long. i've tried to live a normal life, to blend in. and then i met you."

his gaze softened, a tender look replacing the earlier intensity. "you're my anchor, my reason to keep going. your nightmares, the ones you've been having, are a connection between us. we share them, a soulmate bond, if you will. it's the only way for me to experience human emotions, to feel truly alive."

the revelation was mind-boggling. a vampire? your soulmate? it was a story straight out of a gothic novel. yet, as he spoke, a sense of peace washed over you. there was a truth in his eyes, a vulnerability that resonated with your own.

without thinking, you reached out and hugged him. your arms wrapped around him, offering comfort and acceptance. he froze, surprised by your sudden embrace.

"i don't care," you whispered, your voice muffled against his chest. "i'll figure it out. we'll figure it out together."

he returned the hug, his arms tightening around you. his face was buried in your neck, his breath warm against your skin. you could feel his heart pounding against your chest, a rhythm that mirrored your own. in that moment, surrounded by the warmth of his embrace, fear and confusion faded, replaced by a sense of hope and possibility.

"i'm so sorry about the nightmares," he murmured, his voice filled with regret. "i stopped sleeping for a while, trying to find a way to stop them. i hated seeing you scared, all because of me."

your heart ached for him. he had sacrificed his own well-being to protect you. anger and concern warred within you. how could he be so selfless, so reckless? you pushed against his chest, needing to see his face, to read the emotions swirling in his eyes.

"don't be stupid," you scolded, your voice stern. "you can't just stop sleeping."

you gently pushed against his chest, trying to create some distance between you. you needed to see his face, to gauge his sincerity.

"stop," he whined, his voice laced with playful annoyance. "just stay like this for a little longer."

his words were a stark contrast to the seriousness of the situation, but they had the desired effect. you froze, your body responding to the unexpected shift in tone. sunghoon's grip tightened around you, his face buried in the crook of your neck. his lips brushed against your neck, sending shivers down your spine. the warmth of his breath mingled with the scent of his skin, creating an intoxicating blend that clouded your senses.

you were caught in a whirlwind of emotions, fear and confusion replaced by a growing sense of intimacy. the line between platonic comfort and something more was blurring, and you were dangerously close to crossing it.

his voice dropped to a low octave, a husky rumble that sent shivers down your spine. "i can't stop thinking about how your lips felt against mine last night," he confessed, his breath warm against your skin. he pulled back, his eyes holding yours, a mischievous glint in their depths. 

"can we do that again?" he asked, his voice laced with playful arrogance.

before you could respond, his lips were on yours, claiming your mouth with a fierce urgency. the kiss was a whirlwind, a tempest of emotions and sensations. his tongue explored your mouth, demanding entrance, while your hands tangled in his hair, pulling him closer. the kiss was different from the one you had shared the night before, filled with a newfound urgency and intensity. his tongue explored your mouth, a dance of desire and longing. you could feel the heat radiating from his body, a warmth that was both intoxicating and terrifying.

his hands found their way to your waist, pulling you closer. with a swift movement, he lifted you onto the bed, his lips trailing a path of fire down your neck. he nuzzled your skin, his breath creating a tingling sensation. "you smell so good," he murmured, his voice a low growl. "i had to stop myself from pouncing on you the first time i saw you." 

"from now on, you're sleeping in my bed," he declared, his voice firm. "i need to make sure those nightmares don't come back. and besides, i like having you close."

as he pulled you closer, his arms wrapping around you, you felt a sense of peace wash over you. in this moment, with sunghoon holding you close, everything else seemed to fade away. the line between reality and fantasy blurred, replaced by a single, undeniable truth: you were in the arms of a vampire, and you were dangerously close to falling in love.

his lips trailed down your neck, with such heat that it left you breathless. he nibbled at your skin, his teeth gently scraping against your sensitive flesh. the sensation was both painful and exhilarating, a heady mix of fear and desire. you gasped, your body arching involuntarily. 

"i'm not going to bite you," he promised, his voice laced with a hint of mischief. 

"not yet, at least."

𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘆𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 ©𝗴𝘆𝘂𝘂𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘆𝘆 on Tumblr

˚ · .𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗱

just you, the moon, and the stars — enhypen (teaser)

synopsis. since you were a child, hushed whispers had flurried around you about The Bordered Forest. the whispers weren’t of ghastly tales of people getting torn apart by a ferocious beast, nor were they warnings of a haggard witch who ate children’s hearts for youthful beauty. the whispers were mere wonderings of what could reside in such an ominous forest. everyone in your village knew of it and was curious of what dwelled inside, but no one had dared to venture within an ear of the place.

except for you, of course.

featuring. you & enhypen (sorta).

genres. horror, supernatural, thriller.

warnings. none in the teaser but more will be included in the fic!

word count (teaser). 628 word count (est). 5.3k

taglist. @soobin-chois​ @acciomylove​ send me an ask or DM to be added to the taglist!!

release date. 14 december

notes. um... hi guys! it’s been a minute 😭 ik this wasn’t the fic i promised the last time i was here & it’s a little bit past spoopy season BUT! (1) i am working on the ending of what’s with your kisses? and she should be up this week or next week (fingers crossed) and (2) i meant to post this around halloween time but i had midterms then 😪😪 and i completely forgot about it afterwards! ANYWAYS! i hope u guys enjoy this little teaser 🤭🤭 i can’t wait for u guys to be absolutely horrified by the actual fic!

tysm sage @jaeyunverse for beta-reading this for me!! ❤️ (even though that was like Months ago.. 😪)

p.s. i posted this on my old acc so if u feel like u’ve seen this before... No u Haven’t

It was a normal night. The moon was high in the sky, as round and as wide as anything. The stars pranced around the moon in a circle, praises falling from their lips in the form of twinkles and shimmers. While the winds were harsh and cold, biting at anything they could sink their teeth into, they remained a solace as you set out into The Bordered Forest.

Since you were a child, an innocent babe, hushed whispers had flurried around you about the forest bordering your village. The whispers weren’t of ghastly tales of people getting torn apart by a ferocious beast, nor were they warnings of a haggard witch who ate children’s hearts for youthful beauty. The whispers were mere wonderings of what could reside in such an ominous forest. With such a heavy blanket of mist resting upon it, it seemed like even the Gods had turned their backs on it—and everything inside. Everyone in your village knew of it and was curious of what dwelled inside, but no one had dared to venture within an ear of the place.

Except for you, of course.

The first time you’d neared the forest couldn’t have been more than a few years ago. You’d been playing a friendly game of catch with your friends until your ball had rolled away. Your eyes and legs had been so set on following the ball’s path that you hadn’t realised it had stopped in the opening of the forest until you got there. By then, it’d been too late to turn back, so you’d marvelled at the beauties of such a mysterious place. Fruits you’d never seen before grew from twisted blossoms and tangled vines. Animals, with eyes so big and claws so small, had scurried about. There had been the sound of winds rushing through hollow chimes with every step you had taken. It had been absolutely magical. 

So, you’d wanted more.

As you grew older, and less reckless, you learned to feed your curiosity in a safer manner. About once a year, you would hover around the edges of the forest with all the charms and crystals you could adorn and pray for a glimpse of a stray creature. Your prayers were never answered—why would the Gods bother with a prayer seeking an abandoned forest?—so your hunger and thirst for more had only grown and grown. They’d grown to the point that one day you had made up your mind to walk all the way to the heart of the forest.

And, here you were. With layers of charms and crystals laid on your neck, potions in your pouch, and memorised spells in your head, you were ready. You were finally ready to discover the secrets of The Bordered Forest.

You inhaled deeply, sparing your village one last glance. The rows of quaint houses seemed to grow as if they were trying to warn you of something. Don’t go further, they bellowed, but you laughed to yourself and turned away instead. A last prayer slipped past your lips when you pressed your fingers against the rough bark of the first tree. “Your child has come before you once again to ask for grace, mercy, and prosperity in this journey. No evil will come near your child, nor will your child fall prey to the enemy. By the will of the Gods, your child prays.”

A short breeze swept past you, and you nearly cried tears of relief. After years of unanswered prayers, the Gods had finally listened. The little worries that’d resided in your heart were quelled, once and for all, and you took your first step into the forest with good faith. Surely, after all you’d done to ensure your safety, nothing would happen to you.

copyright 2022 soobisms, all rights reserved. no translations or reposts of any form allowed.

Enchanted✨

@enhadiares

▷Enchanted Masterlist◁

(Disclaimer: I do not condone this behaviour. This is just imagination and none of the members are like this)

༉ Pairing: Enhypen x reader

༉ Genre: Horror (maybe Yandere)

༉ Synopsis: Y/n is a pyschologist also helps in exorcism. She is a medium. Everything starts to become dark when enhypen members come into the picture.There's something dark lurking within them. Y/N needs to find out what and help them and maybe herself.

༉ Status : ONGOING

༉ Warning: cussing , horror stuff , deaths , threats , violence , possession , dark theme.

✧a/n: Hey guys ! This is the MasterList for Enchanted . Ahhh I'm so excited for this series , hope it doesn't flop and you guys like it. <3<3

Main masterlist

↳(👹) Teaser

Profile 1 // Profile 2

Chapter 1

...........

[TAG LIST IS OPEN]

@itsmebroo @axartia @kimjiho1

Omg read this y'all - it's so damn good🤩✨🧚🏼‍♀️

CHAPTER 1 || ♫︎❣

➸ʚ Genre ɞ : Horror ( killer au )

➸ʚ Pairing ɞ : enhypenxreader!

➸ʚ Warning ɞ : gore, violence , cursing , killing , blood , betrayal , lot of plot twists

➸ʚ Featuring ɞ : Enhypen , Y/N , TxT , Chareoyoung ( itzy ) , Sana ( twice ) and winter ( aespa )

➸ʚ Plot ɞ : Several people are chosen to be in a game of "serial killer" which telecasts all over the world . 14 people Vs 1 killer . The people are unknown to who the killer is . You could think what can go wrong ? The path where the killer has to kill people on reality to win . If the people find out who the killer is , they win . Winners will get 1 billion won each . To confirm the killer , they will have a meeting and a voting will be held . The killer cannot kill after the meeting has been declared till the meeting day is over . If you vote out the wrong person , they'll be eliminated . Will money be the end of thier lives ? Will money be the cause of friendships ending ? Will the need of money cause betrayal and pain ?

➸ʚ Disclaimer ɞ : This is all a work of fiction and my imagination . Credits of the GIFs to the owners . None of the members have the same personality or resonate the traits mentioned below . I apologize in advance for making the idols mean / rude .

'Feather University' . A place to study but mostly escape plan for many students .

Coming from problematic families is the thing that motivates the students to stay more focused on studying . Well that's what the director of this uni thought that made him change the admission rules . Only allowing children that seem to have a pathetic bond with thier families so they can only study and make this university on top . But he didn't seem to think of the corupted minds of the children . Problems gives trauma . And trauma makes a person go insane , offc not always in a manner that they would go on a killing spree but in a manner that would stop the positive thoughts , in a way that they'll go so numb that nobody would really care about what is being spoken to them or if they will ever live . But some people are different . They become so cocky that it ends up being thier death :)

It was another boring day of uni and Y/N had woken up to yet another fight of her parents . It didn't really matter since all she had to do was ignore as she always did . She got a text from her best friend Niki telling her to hurry up as he didn't wanted to be late again . She sighed and went to her bathroom. She came out freshened up and hurried downstairs to the door still hearing her parents fighting again over a silly thing . She didn't bid them a "goodbye" as always but from the looks of it , her parents were too much into the fight to even notice their so called daughter leaving . While walking she noticed how it was too early for uni to start "ahh that little- he tricked me again " . She met up with Niki on the way "Let's stay in the park for awhile , I don't wanna go to uni this early " Niki said grinning. Y/N knew she couldn't be mad at him but she decided to pretend , pulling him by his ear she brought him close "Yah , why do you always call me this early " Niki was hissing in pain "I just wanna spend sometime with my bestfriend , jeez it that too much to ask ?" He said rolling his eyes and pulling Y/N who was laughing at his reaction . They spent some time at the park thinking it was the time to go they left .

Finally arriving at uni they walked to class together like they do everyday , passing funny jokes or sassy comments on whatsoever they were talking . Sadly their seat wasn't together so they had to part their ways . As soon as Y/N sat on her seat she was greeted by her friends . Sana loudly cheering " hello y/n " . She smiled " morning " Chareoyoung clinged to her arm " I forgot to do my math homework and now I would have to go the detention" she pouted . "My chae chae , don't worry I will accompany you to the detention , there is no fucking way I wanna go back to home instead staying with y'all " chae's eyes lit up " omg yay , I am sure Sana would come too " sana who was collecting her things which she dropped looked up and smiled " offc I didn't do my homework too " the 3 friends burst out laughing while there were few eyes watching Y/N laughing with her friends . Cute . They all thought .

On the other hand Niki was went towards his friends . "Ugh can we go somewhere , I seriously don't wanna go home today" said Sunoo . "Yes plz , I don't wanna see my father's face too , that bitch litteraly said he will send me to a boarding school if I continue this attitude " said jungwon . "I am gonna get detention so I guess i got my escape ?" Said jungwon . "Wahh then let's go to detention together , we'll annoy the crap out of Mrs. Lee" said Sunoo sitting on his bench . Niki heard you say that you will go to the detention so he thought why not . "Sure " "Is that because you don't have any option or your 'bestfriend' is coming too Niki?" Asked jungwon with a teasing glint but something was hidden in it . "Both I guess" Niki answered nonchalantly . Few sparks of jelousy burnt in their chests but they weren't the only ones jelous of Niki .

It was lunch time and you went to eat with Niki . "You got detention?" You asked while sipping your chocolate milk "yep , just for you" Niki said winking at you . "Pfft , stop" you laughed . Niki flirting with you was normal . You heard 2 seniors whispering about something like "I heard they will chose them from this uni " but you payed no mind to it . After eating , you , Niki and your friends went to watch the school basketball match . Your school team had the best players . They are all the famous seniors . Heeseung , Jake , yeonjun , taehyun and more but these were the most popular . Near you sat the class press group . They were called that because all the people in that friend group were the class president of their own class . Sunghoon , soobin , jay and huiening Kai . Beside you sat the boy that everyone kinda feared . Beomgyu . He was short tempered and usually got into fights . Gotta stay polite , we don't want a black eye now do we ?

The match was over with your university's team winning and everyone on the benches shouting and cheering thier lungs out . Now all of you had to attend classes again , Groaning everyone went on thier way . The classes were over but you still had detention . Things were gonna change a bit from this detention ...

Master list | Next

A/n : I apologize for posting this late but in my defense I had no idea how to start it out so I hope it's okay . This is not proofread . I am sorry if there are any typos .

I thought that this story can't get any more interesting. But you proved me wrong😭

And the cliffhanger 😃 might aswell drop dead😩🖐️

This series is like on my top 3🤩

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ𓄹 𝓓𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐌𝐀: 𝓢𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌

𖥻 ٫ pairing. ot7 / enhypen x reader

𖥻 ٫ genre. horror, mystery, angst.

𖥻 ٫ warnings. blood, murder, gore, character death, plot twists, blackmail, family / relationship issues, trust issues, secrets, etc.

𖥻 ٫ synopsis. growing up in an unstable family had never been easy, but when your mother’s dark history and secrets come back to bite you in the form of a masked killer, you can’t help but to find your familial issues to be the least of your worries. ☏

𖥻 ٫ status. ongoing. no specific update pattern.

𖥻 ٫ tag list. @msxflower | @hiqhkey | @jungwonize | @saucytaehyung | @maiverie | @ja4hyvn | @jayjayparksblog | @bigtoewinwin | @soobin-g | @kimjiho1 | @nikipedia07 | @chiyuv | @enhasolace | @yn-dere

ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ CHAPTER O7 | NO NORMALITY

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ masterlist | playlist

"For KBS Web Radio, welcome to Autopsy of a Crime. "

Similar to the day prior, the clouds in the sky remained the same and cast the town in a series of blues and grays. The leaves slowly but surely began to part ways with the trees, starting their journey on land and tumbling past your worn-down shoes.

"This is Kim Sunoo podcasting the murder investigation of Lee Chaeyoung, day-by-day as it unfolds."

Hearing the familiar voice crackle through the speakers of your earbuds makes you roll your shoulders slightly, yearning to nullify the ache being caused by the straps of your backpack. You weren't sure why you decided to listen to Sunoo's podcast, honestly. Maybe it was because you wanted to have something to talk about with him, or maybe you wanted to understand him better- or maybe... it was the secret morbid curiosity that every human held but refused to acknowledge openly. Whatever it was, you couldn't help but listen after Dosie had sent you a link. Apparently, some people in one of her classes were gossiping about it- and not in a praiseworthy way, unfortunately.

"It's been three days now since the brutal slaying and local Sheriff James Park is still looking for Chaeyoung's ex-boyfriend, Yang Jeongin, as a person of interest."

As you step onto campus with a chill running down your spine, you spare a few glances at the passing faces, watching the way they all blur together while tugging the navy blue jacket further against your person.

"With this town's blood-soaked history, echoes of Riverfield's homegrown psycho, Goe Iseul, are everywhere. Walking the streets, you can hear terrified locals wondering, could he be back?"

Before you can even begin to feel frustrated by the circulating rumors, a hand brushes against your shoulder and breaks you out of your small bubble with a jolt of surprise. You reach up and remove your earbuds, turning to see Ireh, Dayeon, and Dosie eyeing you with faint confusion and expectancy.

"Uhm, hello? The least you could do is answer my texts. I know you saw them- you have read receipts on—" Ireh's words go through one ear and out the other as you sigh and turn back forward, ignoring her words completely and instead mumbling a small greeting towards Dosie. They trailed behind you closely, opting to accompany you despite Ireh feeling irritated by being brushed off. It wasn't her idea to put Jay out in the middle of Wren Lake, so why were you giving her the cold shoulder? As far as she knew, you hardly even knew the guy.

"Are you listening to it?"

"Listening to what?"

You turn to look at Dayeon as she tried to take a small peek at your phone, curious about what Dosie asked. You look back down at your phone and pause the podcast, putting Sunoo's voice on hold since you found yourself semi-interested in the information he was broadcasting.

"It's that weirdos podcast, isn't it? The one with the pink hair? From class-"

"He's not a weirdo. Does it kill you to be nice to people who have different interests than you?"

You spared a small glare towards Ireh while Dosie muffled her faint laugher, causing the artificial redhead to scoff and roll her eyes.

"Wait- Are you talking about AOC? I'm addicted! Do you guys really have Sunoo in one of your classes?" You felt a bit surprised to hear Dayeon gushing about a criminology podcast and it was evident by the way your eyebrows subconsciously knitted together. Dayeon was smarter than she lead on but usually put on a dumb façade at the expense of Isa, someone who didn't like to be overstepped in any category. Still, while she had some hidden interests, you didn't think this would be one of them. "You're so lucky! I have Jay in my economics course, so he tells me about it sometimes if I'm nice enough."

The image of Jay and Dayeon chatting it up along the backyard porch quickly flashed through your mind, the sound of muffled music still prominent even in your memory.

"Is that what you guys were talking about? At the party? I mean, not to sound like a stalker or anything, but I saw you guys whenever I went to go look for-" You paused for a moment, feeling a moment of weakness shadow over you. "someone."

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, well– Even though we talk about the podcast a lot, we've always kinda been friends. It's just that with Isa around it's–"

"Hard to be friends with the people you want to be friends with?"

You looked over towards the blonde and met her eyes with a knowing look, understanding what she was getting at completely. Honestly, you had no idea that she and Jay were friends, which was what she was probably aiming for the more you lingered on the thought.

"I just can't believe she's another story on the podcast. It's so weird hearing a local case being talked about."

"Isa always did like being the center of attention."

"Yeah. Even with people's boyfriends."

You weren't sure where the sour comment came from, but it rose from your mouth like you had eaten something bitter and needed to spit it out. Maybe Ireh's comments were getting to your head, leaving you with venom on the tip of your tongue whenever the recently deceased was brought up. Everyone had gone silent, exchanging looks between one another as you came to a slow stop at the top of the steps. You turned around and met a certain pair of eyes within the group, being watched by the other two bystanders.

"I seriously still can't believe you told me a month after it happened-"

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm sorry? I know I should have told you as soon as I found out, but you knew Isa just like we did. You know how she gets whenever you cross paths with her."

You observed Ireh in silence and shook your head with a heavy sigh, running a hand through your hair and turning your face away momentarily.

"I was scared, okay? Are you happy? As humiliating as it is to admit, I didn't want her to terrorize me if I got involved." She said, a look of sincerity displayed on her features. You stared at her and she stared at you, and after a few moments of resentment, your tense shoulders dropped and you decided it wasn't worth it. You needed to move on.

"Okay."

You watched a smile come to her face as everyone in your small circle relaxed.

"It's one thing to be hung up over it for months, but I don't think I'd be able to feel good about myself if I let someone like Isa fuck with me even after she's dead and gone." You muttered, turning around to continue through the front doors.

"Yeah, that would be pretty pathetic-"

"Walking on thin ice, Ireh."

"Sorry, sorry-"

"Are you sure you're okay? I still think you should have stayed home today-"

Jungwon's worried voice traveled through the air as the trio seated themselves comfortably at one of the many outdoor tables, quickly dismissing their school breakfast as if they hadn't bought it in the first place.

"Won, I told you already, I'm fine-"

"You could have died. You realize that, right?"

"He's got a point."

"Ah c'mon- Sunoo, really?"

Jay spared an annoyed glance to the side while crossing his arms and leaning them against the table, feeling frustrated when their middle man refused to side with him on their small feud. Sunoo shrugged his shoulders and breached the small aluminum cover to his banana milk with a straw, bringing it up to lips as an excuse to stay quiet.

"I should have gone back. I shouldn't have left you there by yourself. I just thought that by now people wouldn't be this childish still-"

"It's not your fault. I'm done having this conversation with you. I'm not angry and I'm not upset with you, so can we please just drop it already? I was less exhausted trying not to drown than I am going back and forth with you about this."

Sunoo stifled a laugh and ended up choking on his drink as a result, having to turn away while lightly coughing into his sleeve. He mumbled a few apologies, saying something about how he didn't expect Jay to make a joke so soon after it happened. Before Jungwon could respond, a voice cut them all off and left them frozen to their seats.

"Dad...?"

Jay's face morphed into one of confusion as he watched his father approach them across the courtyard, taking note of his uniform.

"As much as I'd love to sit and talk, I'm just stopping by to do my job." Jay nodded slowly, still not able to piece together why his father was standing before them. It wasn't until he spoke up again did he pull an almost offended face, having not expected their confrontation to take this turn.

"Kim Sunoo."

The pink-haired boy sat up with sudden alertness, his features are polite but stiff with sudden anxiety. He wasn't sure why he felt so nervous, but something about being called on by an authoritative figure in a time like this felt like he should be.

"Yes, Mr. Park?"

"I hear you've got an interest in murder cases."

Sunoo blinked a few times and let out a small sheepish laugh, reaching up to rub the back of his neck.

"Well, I've got a lot of interests–"

"Sunoo."

"Sorry."

"Look, I'm not here to make this any deeper than it is. I just need you to come by the station before school tomorrow and answer a few questions for me, okay?"

"Dad, is that necessary?"

"No, no- It's okay, really." Sunoo nodded and smiled, his body language a lot more natural than a few moments prior. He had nothing to hide, right? So it's not that big of a deal. "I don't mind stopping by." He watched Sheriff Park give a firm nod before walking past him, patting Jay on the shoulder before heading back towards the direction of the campus parking lot. Jay watched his father leave up until the police car faded off into the distance, merging into the street and getting lost in the sea of passing vehicles.

"Maybe today wasn't a good day to schedule the next episode," Jungwon mumbled under his breath, deciding to stand from his seat and sling his bag over his shoulder.

"Where are you going?"

Without realizing it, the other two also began to pack their things up, deciding to take their wrapped goods with them, as whatever little appetite they had was now long gone.

"I'm going to the bathroom. I just need to rinse off my face. I didn't sleep well last night and I don't want to pass out in class." He explained, turning to head off before either of the two boys could detest. Jay and Sunoo exchanged looks before heading back into the building, deciding to make a stop by one another's lockers to retrieve the things they needed before the next bell.

"I'm really sorry about that- I don't know why he would even ask you to come in,"

Sunoo exchanged one of his binders for another, shaking his head to dismiss Jay's stressed comment.

"I guess he's not fully convinced that I.N. could be Isa's killer-" Sunoo said, looking over towards the ravenette. "So why not question the guy with a crime podcast. Makes sense, right? Your dad is just doing his job, so I don't blame him." Sunoo reassured, placing his hand against his friend's arm. Jay nodded hesitantly and gave a small chuckle, letting the other relieve him of his disappointment and concern.

"You're right. There's no way he thinks it's you anyway." Jay mumbled, dismissing any leftover worries he had.

"Why not?"

Jay stared at Sunoo with a slightly unsettled and perplexed look in his eyes, watching the way he stuffed his things into his bag without a care for the weight of his words.

"What...?"

The fox-eyed boy looked up, connecting their gazes with a small smile.

"I hated the way she treated Jungwon."

Jay kept his silence, his smile slowly falling as he listened with furrowed brows, trying to catch on to what the boy was getting at. Even if he was just trying to set some kind of example, it didn't make it sound any better.

"You did too, right? Your dad will probably question everyone," Sunoo closed his locker, staring ahead at his mindlessly.

"Because at the end of the day, nearly everyone had a motive against her."

"Did you sleep okay...? The party dragged out longer than I thought it would, honestly..."

You looked over towards Jake, watching him lean his head down to rest it against his arm. His brunette hair wasn't styled like it usually was and laid flat, messily swooping against his face and faintly over his eyes due to the position he took on. For whatever reason, it gave him a much softer appearance than usual.

"Yeah, I crashed as soon as I got home. I think my body just had enough past a certain point."

You paused, staring him down a while longer as he kept his eyes closed, not wanting to accept that class would start in a matter of minutes. In his mind, he was still at home, under the comfort of his sheets.

"You wear glasses?"

"Hm...?"

"You're wearing glasses."

"Oh. Yeah,"

He fluttered his eyes open a bit and stared at you for a moment, lifting his head to run a hand through his hair. "I had a late morning so I didn't have time to put on my contacts. Does it... look alright?" He questioned, placing his hands in his lap and turning his face back in your direction. You gave him a tired smile and nodded, reaching out to gently tap your fingertip against the edge of the frames.

"I like them a lot, actually. I'm not sure if you're worried about it or not, but you look good even when you're dressed down."

You saw him try to hide his growing smile and it made you laugh a bit, especially when he reached out to give you a lazy side hug followed by a series of thank you's in the accent you'd grown to enjoy hearing on the occasion. You both settled down and reminisced about the night prior in the remaining time you had left to chat. And just like that, Mrs. Hwang came in moments later and drew your conversation to a close, forcing you to pay attention to her lesson plan.

"I don't care about what the press says, I.N. is not some crazy slasher lunatic. He wouldn't do something like that, no matter how mean Isa could be sometimes."

You walked beside Dayeon as you made your way through the halls, having bumped into her during your small locker trip. You didn't really know I.N. as well as your other friends did, but he didn't give you any reason to feel off about him- Still, you only saw him from a surface level, so you felt you couldn't make a weighted judgment like Dayeon could.

"I mean from what I saw, he didn't give me any reason to think he'd do something like that either, but if he's innocent, why not just come forward?"

You could see Dayeon's distress as she tried to think of a logical answer, not wanting to believe any of the horrible things being said about someone she was in the same circle with.

"I don't know. Maybe he's afraid- Who wouldn't be? I just wish he'd call me back." She sighed. You gave her an apologetic look before turning forward, wishing you could travel back in time five minutes prior so you could have taken a different route to class. You slowed your pace until you were facing one another, his voice filling your ears and dulling your senses.

"I've been trying to text you–"

Dayeon looked between the both of you, glancing at you to silently excuse herself, wishing you luck on her way by.

"Can we please just talk this out? I'm tired of this weird tension between us. I don't want you to feel like you have to ignore me every time you see me."

You scoff and try your best to walk past Sunghoon, but he refused to give up easily this time, stepping in front of you and gently grabbing you by the arms to hold you in place with a desperate look.

"Y/N. Please. Just let me explain."

You run your tongue along the front of your teeth and grip onto your backpack strap tightly, trying to keep yourself from trembling under his touch. You can't tell if you hate it because you're disgusted by him, or if you hate it because you miss him. He takes your silence as his chance to speak, letting his hands drift away slowly as he clears his throat.

"I know that it's going to sound like an excuse... but the Isa thing– She- ... Look,"

He paused for a moment as if trying to think about his words carefully, something you knew he was doing as to not screw anything up further than he already has.

"I think she was jealous of you. You're nice, smart, pretty- She wanted to take you down a few notches, and she was willing to do anything to do it-"

"So it's my fault you slept with her?"

You watched him since at your statement, his mind working overtime to stutter out some sort of damage control.

"What? No! No, that's not what I'm saying at all-"

"Then what? What possible explanation could you have for doing something so easily avoidable!?"

By now, frustration was overwhelming the sorrow you felt in regards to the situation, your mind recalling all the restless nights you spent trying to get those horrible images out of your head so you could find some peace. It was unfair. It was unfair that everything was so perfect between the two of you only to be thrown away like it never mattered in the first place. You could feel faint tears pricking at your eyes as you stared at him, watching the way your mood rubbed off on him even though his expression still held desperation.

"Will you just listen!? That's what I'm trying to tell you! Isa and I never-"

"Hey."

Before Sunghoon could clarify any further, the voice of another caught the both of you off guard. You whipped your head around to see the familiar set of features that were popular amongst all grade levels. Oddly, you felt relieved. Sunghoon however, was not very pleased by the other male's sudden appearance. He stood straight and eyed Heeseung with a look that showed how bothered he felt about the intrusion, his voice coming out much more blunt in comparison to how he spoke with you.

"Do you have a problem?"

“You’re standing in front of my locker.”

Heeseung was unbothered by the way Sunghoon tried to hold his ground, and you honestly couldn't tell if he was being honest or if this was just some ploy to save you from your distress. You remained silent and tried to think of what to say, but the tension suffocated you and left no room for words.

"And I'm pretty sure Y/N is done talking to you."

You flickered your eyes to meet the upperclassman, your lips parting slightly in faint disbelief. Why was he being so protective? You've hardly had a conversation with the guy, but here he is playing the knight in shining armor. By now, the three of you have gathered the attention of people passing by, whispers filling the hallways as some stare at you with curiosity and others with envy.

"Just stay out of this. Don't get hurt playing hero."

Although Sunghoon paired his words with a smile, you knew him well enough to tell that it was all but genuine. He tended to come off very passive-aggressive when he felt challenged and, even now, that hasn't changed. The two boys refused to pry their eyes off one another, leaving you in an awkward position with agitation slowly crawling up your back. Why were you even in this situation?

"Do you guys want dueling pistols or something? People are staring. Knock it off."

After your venomous comment, Sunghoon couldn't help but scoff, deciding to temporarily accept defeat. He didn't care about Heesung, but he did care about you. If you were uncomfortable, he didn't want to fuel that. Instead, he walked past the both of you, harshly brushing shoulders with Heeseung as he disappeared into the crowd. Silence filled the air and you met eyes, your brain yelling at you to say something to him for getting you out of a conversation you weren't sure you were ready to have.

"Is that really your locker?"

"Is that guy really your boyfriend?"

His witty reply makes you give a tight-lipped smile, your head tilting slightly as you glance to the side.

"Used to be."

He gives you a small smile and takes a step closer to you, causing you to glance up at his towering figure. The both of you stare at one another for a prolonged moment before he spares you a wink, leaving you with a confusing mixture of emotions.

"Maybe you need a new one."

You watch Heeseung walk away, holding himself with a pride you wish you could have for yourself. Truthfully, he interests you, but at the same time, you can't help but feel like something's off. It's a feeling you get in the pit of your stomach, but despite this, you try to brush it off and convince yourself that you're just paranoid.

Similar to last time, you ended up skipping lunch to meet up with Sunoo by the journalism club. Although Dosie protested and jokingly accused you of replacing her, you told her you'd make it up to her by treating her to boba over the weekend which quickly shut her up.

"I already got the forms you need to sign from the front office. All you need to do is sign here, here, and here– After that, I can take them for you and have them authorize you as an official member! Ahhh, this is so exciting! Aren't you excited?"

You smiled a bit at the way Sunoo gushed while pointing towards the different areas that required your signature. The both of you stood by the front of the empty club room, your figure leaned over as your used one of the desks to support the paper and pen in your hold.

"Honestly, I never really considered taking up journalism as a hobby or extracurricular, so I am a little bit excited. I guess I'm just nervous since it's something I'm not familiar with," You explained, standing up straight and handing the papers back towards the other. He took them with a warm smile and waved them dismissively, turning to place them away in a folder he had resting on one of the other desks.

"We have to write a lot about school-related things, so most of the time people don't want to join because they think it's too boring," He trailed off, keeping his smile although his tone came off a bit dejected. "But it's really fun with friends. We get to take pictures and film things too. Jay even picked it up as a side hobby after we got to mess around with the cameras for the first time." He rambled, turning and noticing your faltered expression.

"I'm really sorry about what happened at the party-"

"It wasn't your fault. Jay doesn't blame you and he'd probably prefer to just forget that it ever happened anyway. He doesn't like to think about the embarrassing stuff that's happened to him." Sunoo explained with a faint laugh, causing you to feel a little bit of relief.

"You're right, so can we not talk about this again?"

With a small jolt of surprise, the both of you turned your attention towards the door to see Jay and Jungwon standing tall. Jay seemed to be over the topic of discussion while Jungwon came off more weary and uncertain due to your presence. You shared eye contact with him momentarily, quickly looking down at your feet to avoid his haunting stare. You hated the tension between the two of you, and you suddenly wondered if this was how Sunghoon felt every time you made the obvious effort to avoid him like the plague. You didn't want to have any secrets between the two of you- you wanted things to be like how they were before.

You wanted to tell him the truth.

"Are those the application forms...?"

Jungwon moved past Jay to approach Sunoo, peering down at the opened folder and scanning his eyes over your signature. Jay followed suit and looked back at you, arching a brow.

"You really want to join?"

You nodded your head with a bit of hesitance, not sure if he was silently judging you and asking you the question with distaste. However, his face formed into a gentle smile as he approached you, slinging an arm over your tense shoulder.

"This is great! We'll have enough members to keep the club running now!"

"That's why it's so exciting! And you can show her how to use the cameras– Oh! We can even invite her to our movie nights!"

"Do you think she'd even like the stuff we watch? You always put on some scary movie. Seriously, I don't understand how you watch that stuff."

"Don't be such a baby, they're not even scary-"

You smiled slightly as Jay and Sunoo bickered back and forth, finding their aimless banter endearing. It wasn't until you met Jungwon's gaze did a strange sense of guilt flood your chest. He looked at you with hidden pain and confusion, as if he didn't know how to feel about you after the moment you shared at the party. You didn't blame him. Nothing you could do or say would excuse the way you left him in the dust all these years, and now here you were, squeezing your way into his close friend group– If you were him, you'd feel lost too. You wanted to clear the slate and start over without any secrets or uncertainty, and the only way you felt you could do that was to be transparent with him.

Your thoughts are interrupted when he breaks eye contact with you to leave the room abruptly. Although you usually knew when to give him the space he wanted, your feet acted faster than your brain and forced you to trail after him, excusing yourself from the other two boys who stood confused and unaware.

"Jungwon! Jungwon, please-"

You watched him come to a slow stop, his body turning lazily as he spared you a tired glance. You left a bit of distance between the two of you, the silence of the oddly empty hallways making you feel even more stressed than you already were.

"What?"

You swallowed thickly and fiddled with the ends of your jacket, trying to find the right words to say. It used to be so easy talking to him, but now it felt like you were addressing a complete stranger.

"Can we talk, please? After school."

"I don't know if we sh-"

"It's important. I want to fix things. So please, just give me one chance. If you don't want anything to do with me after, then I'll leave you alone."

He looked at you with hesitance, a sigh brushing past his lips as he ran an anxious hand through his hair. He wanted to talk to you as much as you wanted to talk to him, but honestly, he was afraid.

What if you just ended up leaving again?

Even after all this time, he doesn't believe you ever fully understood how much it hurt him when you drifted apart.

"Fine. Come to my place after school. We'll talk there."

"Are you sure you're gonna be alright?"

You sat in the passenger side of Dosie's car, staring out the window at the cozy and nostalgic house that you once considered a second home. The house wasn't anything fancy, but it wasn't too shabby either.

The garden was as beautiful as you remembered it, and it made you happy knowing Jungwon's mom still indulged in her green thumb. You remembered the times when Jungwon would bring you a flower, telling you what each one meant. It amused you to find out flowers had their own language. Not only were they full of meaning, but they always blossomed beautifully. Your favorite flower was the Begonia since it was the first one Jungwon had ever given to you, having taken it from the garden without his mom knowing. Because of this, you never knew what it meant, having long forgotten to search it up in your spare time. Her words always rang through your head, encoding a sentimental feeling.

"Flowers are a perfect replica of human life."

"What?"

You snapped out of your thoughts and suddenly remembered you weren't alone. You looked over to the blonde, watching the way her face contorted into one of incertitude.

"Do you have a fever or something? Maybe you can just reschedule,"

You shook your head quickly and unbuckled your seatbelt, opening up the car door before your friend could take matters into her own hands.

"I'm fine, I was just thinking about some stuff. I'll text you later, okay?"

"You better- I mean it! Otherwise, I'll just come looking for you myself-"

"You sound like my mom."

"Get the hell out of my car."

You smiled to yourself as you stepped out, bending by the waist to give her one final look and a wave goodbye. She returned the smile and rolled her eyes, turning up the music as you shut the door before slowly driving off. You remained standing in place until the car turned out of the neighborhood, your eyes trailing over to the house across the street. You could almost see the ghost of yourself through the upper right window, reminiscing on your more secluded life prior to moving. You noticed the lack of cars in the driveway and mentally noted that your mom must have been at work, the idea that she'd soon be examining your "friend" sending chills down your spine.

You took in a deep breath and turned around, walking up the concrete path until your shoes met the steps of the porch, guiding you to the front door. You knew that you could only stall for so long before giving off the impression that you'd never show up, so with one more steady exhale, you lifted your hand to knock on the door.

"Yah-! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

You flinched your hand back as the door suddenly opened before you could make your presence known, the palm of your hand pressing against your chest to calm the quick-paced thumping.

"I saw you from my window. You were standing there for like, fifteen minutes-"

"…No I wasn't,"

"Just- come inside."

Jungwon left the door opened for you as he turned away, disappearing further into the house and leaving you to fend for yourself. You almost forgot that you'd been there countless times, wondering why he just expected you to navigate the place all by yourself. You slipped past the door and closed it quietly, flickering your eyes around the entrance hallway to spot all the familiar family photos lining the walls. You slipped off your shoes and set them aside in silence, making your way to the stairs with fast steps in an attempt to catch up to his long strides.

As you tailed behind him, you caught sight of some of his framed baby photos and felt your heart swell at how long it had been since you'd last seen them. When Jungwon was younger, he participated in Taekwondo for seven years and earned himself a black belt in that time. Because of this achievement, a lot of the pictures were of him celebrating a new medal or taking proper formation for whatever move he was learning back then. While those were cute, you admittedly had a favorite photo amongst all of the ones hung up on the wall.

"Ah, it's still here..."

Jungwon turned to look back at you just as he was getting ready to enter his room, his brows furrowing in confusion as he watched you point to your target of interest. Said photo was a picture of Jungwon at the age of, what appeared to be, three or four, maybe five. He adorned a white fuzzy bear hat with long strips of fabric and bear paws attached to the end. His hands were slipped inside the little paws and squished up against his face, his lips pursed and eyebrows raised. It was a silly picture, one that displayed child innocence perfectly.

"I always thought this picture was cute, is all."

You watched his expression change into one of slight embarrassment, his lips forming into a tight line as he tried to dismiss your comment by hiding away in his room. You followed after him and watched him settle down at his desk, turning to face you in the comfort of his chair while you remained standing. Silence filled the room as you tried to think of what to start with, his expectant stare only making your mind foggy.

"I couldn't sleep last night."

You weren't sure why you started with that, but you did.

"...And that has to do with me becauuusssee...?"

He squinted at you slightly, not catching onto what you were trying to say. You sighed and crossed your arms, subconsciously hugging yourself while deciding not to beat around the bush.

"It has to do with us."

Jungwon leaned his upper body back, resting his weight against the head of the chair and fiddling with his hands in his lap.

"What do you want from me, Y/N." He said, his tone making his sentence come off more as a statement rather than a question. "There's not really an "us" anymore. There hasn't been for a while." The dark-haired boy stood up from his seat, his nerves leaving him unable to stay in one place for too long. "Ireh may have let me into her party, but I really don't think we'll be going out for coffee anytime soon."

"I'm not Ireh,"

"Yeah? Give it time."

You flinched slightly at the harshness of his voice, and by the way you both stared at one another, you can see that he was also distraught by the words that left his mouth. Your lips parted but nothing came out as he glanced away from you in partial regret.

You felt nauseous because of how on edge you were, the pressure in your chest tightening with every passing second. You knew what you were about to say could go one of two ways, and you could only pray it would be the better one. But from a logical standpoint, the chance was slim.

"I was there."

He suddenly looked up at you, his expression unreadable as if he tried to convince himself whether or not he heard you correctly.

"You... filmed me...?"

"No, No, it wasn't me. It was Isa, okay? We were just messing around and they wanted to hang out, and Isa saw you there and I didn't even realize or know that it was you, I just-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait,"

You stopped your messy ramble as your breath hitched in the back of your throat, your eyes scanning over his features as they slowly morphed into a more offended and hurt look.

"So this whole "I miss you, let's be friends again" thing is because you felt guilty or something?"

You stared at him, your voice unable to free itself from your lips as all you could do was flutter your watery eyes and shake your head to deny his claim. He gave you a stern look, but you could tell it was just to hide the betrayal and pain he felt at that moment.

"I- I was begging for help– I was bleeding and hopeless and you're telling me you just sat there? I- You—" He bit his tongue to hold himself back from saying anything else he's regret and instead turned away from you, his hands resting along the back of his neck as he tried to process everything.

"Jungwon, I didn't kn-"

"Get out."

You bit down on your bottom lip to bite back any tears from spilling, not wanting to sob when you were the one at fault. Although you hadn't known until it was far too late, you still had refused to tell him after all this time. There was nothing you could do to cushion the truth, but you undoubtedly believed he deserved to know.

"I'm sorry."

You turned around and ushered out of his room, quickening your steps as you raced down the stairs and hastily made your way to the front door to slip your shoes back on. You wasted no time on pushing yourself out the front door, using one hand to message Dosie that you wanted to walk home to gather your thoughts while the other worked on smothering the tears that now freely streamed down your flustered face.

By now, the sky was at that midpoint in which the sun was set but the moon had yet to come out, leaving the atmosphere casting a dull purple over you. You walked past the many houses within your old neighborhood, your tears causing them to merge and look the same. You sniffled and used the sleeves of your jacket to try and wipe your cheeks, but no matter how many times you attempted to gather yourself, your sorrow came back ten times worse than before. Just as you rounded the corner, the sound of your phone ringing ripped you from your pity party and caused you to halt your steps, your hands digging around in your pockets to pull it out.

[ UNKNOWN CALLER ]

You furrowed your brows and nearly decided not to answer until you remembered that you had given your number to Jay and Sunoo before school had ended, expecting a text from one of them to let you know whether or not your forms got accepted. You sniffled a few more times before answering, trying to cover up your wavering voice to keep them from worrying.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Y/N."

The voice was completely unrecognizable and sounded nothing like anyone you knew. It was raspy and had a semi-lighthearted tone that rubbed you the wrong way. But what had caught your attention the most was the fact that this stranger had just said your name. You decided to keep walking while staying on the line, just wanting to get home before the night completely consumed the area.

"Who is this...?"

"A friend."

You kept your teeth from clutching together in minor annoyance, the timing of some stupid prank call only making you feel even worse than you did before. Why did shit like this always happen to you? Were you that unlucky?

"Sorry, but I'm not in the mood."

You mumbled, clearly vexed.

"Why are you crying?"

Your blood ran cold and you came to a complete stop, your expression showing sudden fear as you whipped your head around, trying to eye the empty streets and house windows.

"What?"

Whatever tears you had been shedding before were now the least of your concern, the only thing running through your mind is the fact someone was watching you and you had no idea where they were.

"I hate to see you so sad."

"Are you watching me?"

As painfully obvious as the answer to the question was, part of you was still in denial and wanted to believe that they could have just heard how upset you were through your voice. You wanted to believe that this was still some sort of prank call and that, whoever was on the other end, was just taking advantage of the gruesome circumstances of your schoolmate's death.

"It's what you want, right? On social media, to the public eye. Perfect smiles, perfect lives,"

You continued to turn in circles, your eyes frantically moving from left to right, up and down, trying to find someone. Anyone.

"But I know the truth."

"Who the hell is this?"

Your breathing was becoming heavier and the palms of your hands felt clammy. You couldn't stop the rapid beating of your heart, practically hearing it ring in your ears.

The unknown voice had gotten more aggressive as they responded to your question, your tear-stained face riddled with a perturbed mien.

"Come unmask me and find out."

[ DISCONNECTED ]

𖥻 ٫ author’s note. r u guys scared … ur so scared huh… LMAO. things r getting spicy. story reviews r always appreciated !! thank you for so much support lately on scream, it really has re-sparked my motivation for this fic <3

COMEBACK Y'ALL ‼️‼️ GO CHECK IT OUT💅🏻

“Believe in fate”

Quote by the great Sunghoon Park

Note: I tried writing a little drabble to see how I write or yk to have an update about my skills . It's not the best . I don't like it honestly but I need it for the feedback and constructive criticism so I can get better. Please bear with me during my getting better phase😞🙏

Warning: Not proofread (I'm sorry I was impatient 😭☝️)

I was walking around in the dim lights of the road . The moon shining and glowing like it found someone to spend it's life with.

Ironic isn't it?

We've always been told that moon shines alone in the dark night sky , but have you thought about the stars it's surrounded with? The numerous stars which shine brighter than the moon alone , yet their size makes the moon outshine them.

Oh how lucky the moon is , to be surrounded with stars which shine bright yet it's the only one which stands out the most .

Sometimes I don't want to fine my moon , but rather my star and be the moon.

I was in deep thought . I had face yet another break-up. When will I find my star? It was agonizing really but it's not in my hands. I'll leave it to fate. I hope I'm destined to be with someone who would love me like the stars love the moon.

Deep in thought I didn't notice another presence, making me bump into them .

I stumbled back , didn't fall tho . It would have been more embarrassing. I looked at the person in action . He was tall , blond hair sticking out - falling on his forehead. His plump lips and his long eyelashes : oh just how jealous all of the girls would be of him . His nose sat upright while his dark shade almond shaped eyes stared back at me in amusement.

“oh I'm sorry , I wasn't looking forward” I stated

He chuckled a bit while looking down then brought his eyes back to mine.

“it's fine don't worry , happens to me all the time”

Then suddenly I felt something on my shoes , I looked down only to see this pure fluff of joy looking at me with so much anticipation, wagging it's tail back and forth aggressively, tongue darted out while painting hard.

“looks like I'm not the only one who likes this pretty stranger” the guy winked

Adorable. Both of them were adorable. So I bent down and started to pet the little ball of sunshine and looks like she really did like me . Although I was unaware of his feelings and thoughts , the moment seemed to take my mind of things and made me calm down a bit. It was comforting really.

I didn't remember about my break up , it's thoughts didn't cross my mind even once during this interaction with this cute duo.

“Im jake and that's Layla , my partner in crime” the stranger , who wasn't a stranger now stated.

“aww she's cute , I'm y/n”

“Pretty girl got a pretty name too. Would you like to join us for a walk?”

I thought about it. Should I? Maybe i should. I mean there's no harm is there? Without any other thought I said yes and we proceeded to walk towards the park .

Little did I know , fate brought me to not one but two stars.

Kkeut.

His collarbones??? His shoulders????

[JUNGWON] 🐻

currently thinking about writing a sunghoon x fem!character horror one shot,, because why not :]]]]

NEARLY DONE YALL,, WE CHEERED !! edit: here it isssss

currently thinking about writing a sunghoon x fem!character horror one shot,, because why not :]]]]

Echoes of Devotion

[uni student!park sunghoon x yandere uni student!female reader]

Genre: horror: psychological; yandere; angst !!WARNINGS!!: MURDER (read at your own discretion); (quite) explicit gore description; nail/teeth pulling; poisoning; strangling; hands/throat slashing; stalking; threathening; putting dead rats at one's door (??); manipulation; vomiting; kidnapping; mention of attempted suicide; profanities Notes: ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY!!!!; written in 3rd person; mention of Heeseung, Jay, IVE's Wonyoung, New Jeans' Minji; they are all uni students; the fem!character went mad MAD yet she tries to play it cool (?!); fem!character goes through a mental breakdown;; feedback is very much appreciated!! Word Count: 7,159

!!! DO NOT REPOST NOR TRANSLATE WITHOUT PERMISSION !!!

Playlist: Jazmin Bean - Yandere | Elita - Sour Switchblade | Madds Buckey - The Red Means I Love You | Melanie Martinez - Pacify Her | Carolesdaughter - Violent | Allie X - Bitch | Royal & the Serpent - Warn You

The university campus buzzed with the lively chatter of students, a symphony of voices blending into the backdrop of rustling leaves and distant traffic. The summer break had been anything but enjoyable for her. Having to move out once again was tiring, yet she knew it was for the good. For her own good.

She navigated the crowd with practiced ease, her gaze flitting from face to face, searching for something—or rather, someone.

It happened in an instant. Amid the sea of faces, she saw him. He stood by the fountain, laughing with a group of friends. His smile was bright, his eyes crinkling at the corners, radiating a warmth that seemed to draw everyone in. Hearing his name from one of his friends' lips nearly made her catch her breath in her throat. "Park Sunghoon!" She knew her old habits would resurface sooner rather than later, but she didn't expect them to be this soon.

There was something magnetic about him, something that set her pulse racing. She had seen many attractive people before, but he was different. His very presence seemed to light up the space around him, making everyone else fade into the background.

She felt a jolt of excitement, a spark of something dark and powerful. This was the feeling she had hoped to bury when moving out. But deep down, she had been waiting for it. The certainty that he was the one. He's next.

A smile curled at the corners of her lips, subtle yet sinister. She watched him intently, her mind already weaving plans and strategies. His every movement, every laugh, every interaction was like a thread she could pull, unraveling the life he knew and reweaving it around her.

He seemed perfect—friendly, trusting, and utterly oblivious to the danger that had just marked him. She could already see how easy it would be to insert herself into his world, to become indispensable to him, to isolate him from anyone who might come between them.

As the bell rang, signaling the start of class, she didn’t move. She continued to watch him, her smile growing more pronounced, her eyes narrowing with determination. This was no ordinary attraction; this was an obsession being born, a single-minded focus that would drive her every action. And she knew that.

She would have him. Completely. Utterly. And no one, absolutely no one, would stand in her way.

It started innocently, with subtle glances during the breaks and passing encounters in the university hallways. She never made herself present to him, not yet at least. Old habits die hard, however; she still managed to get to know his entire schedule—from morning lessons and subtle meetings with his friends at the nearby café, to those football matches that always began at 5:30 p.m. Some might think she had gone completely mad, but little did they know she had been like this since 9th grade.

After some time, she started to get bolder. Maintaining short eye contact, leaving cheesy love letters with his favorite tiramisu-flavored chocolate in his locker. She wanted to keep it normal. She tried to tell herself that this was who she really was. She wasn't the psycho she was back then. She was different now. Yet, in her heart, she knew she couldn’t be normal, even if she wanted to. Even if she tried.

She saw his reaction every single time. The first time he looked surprised as he saw a love letter in his locker. He kept it. It gave her a little bit of hope that she didn't have to revert to her old, scary habits. She even wrote her number there, hoping he would reach out, purposely avoiding mentioning her name. Unfortunately, by the end of the day, he did not.

She persevered. She kept writing those goddamn love letters and buying that goddamn tiramisu-flavored chocolate. Letter after letter. Every time the same reaction, but the annoyance in his face growing with each of them.

When the number of written letters reached fifty, she decided to confront him. She found him in the library, secluded in a corner with a stack of books. Heart pounding, she approached, her footsteps silent on the carpeted floor. “Sunghoon,” she said softly, yet firmly. He looked up, startled. “Why haven’t you responded to my letters?” Tilting her head slightly, boring her dead eyes into him with a slight glimpse of hurt. She wasn't smiling. She was dead serious. She wanted to know why he hadn't reached out, why he ignored her, why he rejected her.

"Oh, you wrote those letters?" Sunghoon shifted uncomfortably in his seat, clearly caught off guard. He closed the book he was reading and looked up at her with a gentle, apologetic smile. “I’m really sorry,” he began, choosing his words carefully. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings by not responding.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “The truth is, I’m not really interested in having a love life right now. I’ve been trying to focus on my studies and my future. There’s just so much going on, and I don’t think I can give anyone the attention they deserve.”

Seeing the slight tremor in her expression, he quickly added, “But I really appreciate the effort you’ve put into the letters. And the tiramisu chocolates were amazing—they’re my favorite, and it was very thoughtful of you.”

Her heart sank at his words, but she masked her disappointment with a tight, controlled smile. "I see," she said, her voice steady but laced with a barely perceptible edge. "You want to focus on your studies. That's understandable." She took a small step back, smiling forcefully. "I'm glad you liked the tiramisu chocolates, though," she added, her tone softening just a bit. "It’s nice to know at least something I did made you happy." A shadow flickered in her eyes, but she quickly blinked it away, maintaining her composed demeanor. "I suppose I'll stop bothering you with my letters, then," she continued, the words sharp despite her calm delivery. "Good luck with your studies, Sunghoon."

Without waiting for a response, she turned on her heel and walked away, her back straight, leaving Sunghoon with a sense of unease. As she exited the library, that forced smile dropped, and her mind raced with new strategies, the sting of rejection only fueling her determination further.

Walking home from the library in a daze, Sunghoon's words replayed in her mind. "I'm sorry, but I'm just not interested. I need to focus on my studies right now." The rejection cut through her like a knife, every word a fresh wound. Her heart pounded in her chest, a mix of rage and despair building with each step she took.

As she reached her apartment, the door barely closed behind her before the dam broke. She collapsed onto the floor, her body wracked with sobs. The tears came fast and hard, streaming down her face as she clutched her chest, gasping for breath.

"Why? Why doesn’t he see?" she choked out between sobs. "I'm the only one who truly loves him. I'm the only one who understands him."

Her cries echoed through the empty house, a haunting symphony of pain and madness. She staggered to her feet, stumbling towards the bathroom. In the mirror, her tear-streaked face stared back at her, eyes wide with a wild, unhinged gleam. She laughed, a high-pitched, manic sound that contrasted sharply with her sobs. The laughter grew louder, more hysterical, mingling with her tears until it was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began.

She grabbed the edges of the sink, her knuckles white as she leaned forward, her reflection distorting in the mirror. "Focusing on the future, my ass," she muttered to herself, the laughter dying in her throat. "The only future that he has is me. He just doesn’t understand yet."

Her mind raced, a whirlwind of chaotic thoughts and dark plans. The rejection had shattered something inside her, leaving a void that only her obsessive love could fill. She stumbled back into the living room, knocking over a lamp as she went. The crash barely registered as she fell to her knees, clutching her head, the pain of rejection fueling her madness.

Her breathing slowed, and a cold, calculating calm settled over her. "I’ll make him see," she whispered, her voice low and steady. "I’ll make him understand that he belongs with me. And if anyone tries to get in my way…"

Her eyes hardened, the wild gleam replaced by a steely determination. She knew what she had to do. The madness was no longer a burden but a driving force, propelling her towards her goal. She wiped her tears away, a twisted smile curling together with a chuckle on her lips.

"Sunghoon will be mine," she vowed, her voice filled with a chilling certainty. "No matter what it takes."

The sun was just beginning to set, casting a warm golden glow over the university campus. Her heart racing with anticipation, she clutched her books tightly as she made her way to the student lounge. Today was the day she would get to know Sunghoon’s friends better. She had spent weeks observing them from a distance, learning their names, their habits, and their schedules and, most importantly, their secrets.

Heeseung's mental health was at its lowest due to his parents' divorce and his unrequited love for one of the most popular students. Jay's family financial struggles and his hidden talent were secrets she had uncovered. Wonyoung was under immense pressure from her parents, yet she kept up her best girl facade while hiding her chronic illness. She knew it all. And she certainly knew how to put that knowledge to use. It was all part of her meticulous plan to get closer to Sunghoon.

As she entered the bustling lounge, she scanned the room until her eyes landed on the familiar group gathered around a table near the window. Sunghoon sat at the center, laughing at something one of his friends had said. She took a deep breath, putting on her most charming smile, and approached the group with a casual confidence.

“Hey, do you mind if I join you?” she asked, her voice sweet and friendly. The group looked up, slightly surprised by the unexpected visitor. Sunghoon, being surprised to see her, smiled warmly, yet still had their conversation from the library in mind.

“Sure, have a seat,” he said, gesturing to an empty chair. She slid into the seat, her heart fluttering as she found herself sitting next to Sunghoon. His friends, a mix of curious and welcoming faces, introduced themselves one by one.

“I’ve seen you around,” said Heeseung, a tall guy with a friendly grin. “You’re in our literature class, right?”

She nodded, her smile never faltering. “Yeah, I’ve been meaning to get to know everyone better. It’s nice to finally put names to faces.”

As the conversation flowed, she skillfully engaged each of Sunghoon’s friends, asking questions and showing genuine interest in their lives. She laughed at their jokes, shared her own stories, and slowly but surely, integrated herself into the group. Every now and then, she would steal glances at Sunghoon, noting how relaxed and happy he seemed with his friends.

“I love your nails, by the way. The color really suits you,” said Wonyoung, the girl who often partnered with Sunghoon in projects. “I'd love to do them for you one day.”

Her eyes lit up at the suggestion, a flicker of arousal flaring within her. “I’d love that. Maybe we could hang out at my place someday, who knows?”

The girl seemed to warm to her recommendation, discussing potential plans for a weekend nail session. She nodded along, her mind already calculating how she could use these moments to deepen her bond with Sunghoon and subtly influence the group dynamics.

As the evening wore on, she felt a sense of triumph. She had successfully ingratiated herself into Sunghoon’s social circle, her plan unfolding perfectly. By the time they all said their goodbyes, she felt a new sense of belonging and a step closer to her ultimate goal.

Walking back to her house, she couldn’t help but smile. Getting to know Sunghoon’s friends was just the beginning. Soon, Sunghoon would see that she was the perfect addition to his life, the one who truly understood him. And no one, absolutely no one, would stand in her way.

As the weekend arrived, Wonyoung was already at her door, all ready and excited for the planned nail session. Before she could even ring the bell, the door suddenly swung open, revealing the owner of the house.

"Oh, hi. Please, come in." She felt as if the excitement was ready to explode within her, yet she was not letting her facade slip.

As they entered the meticulously decorated living room, her smile never faltered, masking her true intentions. “Make yourself comfortable,” she said warmly, gesturing to a plush armchair. Wonyoung sat down, glancing around at the tasteful décor. “I’ve been working on a new hobby,” she continued, pulling out a sleek, black box. “Let me show you my collection.”

She opened the box, revealing an array of perfectly painted nails, displayed like trophies. The girl admired them at first, her eyes widening in admiration. “Wow, these are amazing! You’re really talented,” she said, completely unaware of the truth. She smiled, a hint of something sinister lurking behind her eyes. “Oh, thank you! Those are some of my favorites.”

Wonyoung continued to admire the collection, completely unaware of the dark truth behind them. “How do you get them to look so real?” “Well,” she began, her voice taking on a playful, almost teasing tone. “That’s because they are real.” Wonyoung laughed, thinking it was a joke. “You’re so funny!”

But her smile only widened. She reached for a small, ornate box on the shelf and opened it, revealing an assortment of perfectly preserved nails. “No, seriously. These are real ” Wonyoung’s laughter faltered as she looked more closely at the nails. “Wait, what?”

Picking up one of the nails, she held it delicately between her fingers. “These nails used to belong to some very… unfortunate girls. Girls who thought they could get too close to someone very dear to me.”

Wonyoung’s eyes widened in horror as the realization sank in. She took a step back, her mind racing. “You’re joking, right? This is some kind of sick joke.”

Shaking her head slowly, her smile never wavering. “Oh, Wonyoung, I’m very serious. You see, I take my collection quite seriously. And I’m always looking to add more… unique pieces.” She placed the nail back in the box and closed it with a snap, the sound echoing ominously in the room. Wonyoung’s hands trembled as she tried to process what she had just heard.

“But don’t you worry,” she continued, her tone now sickeningly sweet. “As long as you stay out of Sunghoon’s business, you’ll have nothing to fear.” Wonyoung nodded frantically, her face pale. “Y-yeah, of course. I-I won’t say anything.”

“Good,” she said, her smile returning to a more innocent facade. “Now, how about we paint your nails? I promise it’ll be fun.” As Wonyoung sat down, trying to steady her shaking hands, she selected a bright, cheerful color from her collection. The juxtaposition of the lighthearted activity and the dark secret hanging over them created a chilling tension in the room.

Her blood ran cold, and she tried to stand up, but her grip was suddenly iron-strong. “You're here because you're Sunghoon's friend,” she said, her voice eerily calm. “And that’s a problem.” Before the girl could react, she produced a pair of nail clippers, her smile never wavering. She held Wonyoung’s hand firmly, isolating her pointing finger. The girl struggled, but the grip was unyielding, the other hand trying to escape from her strong hold.

The sharp snip of the clippers echoed in the room, followed by the girl’s muffled cry. She carefully placed the newly clipped nail into her box, closing it again with a satisfied click. She released the girl, who bolted from the chair, clutching her bleeding finger.

“Remember this next time you think about talking to him, or you'll sniff the daisies from underneath sooner than you would have thought,” she said softly, watching with cold satisfaction as the girl fled in terror.

She could not pinpoint how she happened to be currently in her own kitchen. At 2:18 a.m. Her mind was a whirlwind of dark thoughts as she stood in the dim light, the only sound being the gentle hum of the refrigerator. Meticulously mixing the batter, her thoughts singularly focused on Minji, the girl who dared to call Sunghoon 'Hoonie' with such familiarity. It was a nickname that should only be hers to use, and the thought of Minji’s casual affection made her blood boil. Her movements were precise, almost methodical. As she measured out the ingredients, each step bringing her closer to her goal.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small vial of poison, its contents undetectable and deadly. With a practiced hand, she added a few drops into the batter, ensuring it blended seamlessly. The poison would be subtle, taking hours to take effect, giving no hint of its presence until it was too late.

The next day, during their study group, she brought a tray of freshly baked cupcakes, their sweet aroma filling the room. With a practiced smile, she approached the girl. “I baked these last night,” she said, her voice dripping with false warmth. “I know how much you love sweets, so I saved the best one just for you.”

Minji’s eyes lit up, grateful and unsuspecting. “Thank you! That’s so sweet of you,” she replied, taking the cupcake eagerly. She bit into it without a second thought, savoring the taste. Watching, her smile never wavering, as Minji enjoyed the treat. The study group continued as usual, with everyone focusing on their assignments and discussing their topics. Hours passed, and as the session came to an end, Minji began to feel the first signs of the poison taking effect. She winced, her hand clutching her stomach, but brushed it off as a mere stomachache.

Later that night, as Minji lay in bed, the pain intensified. The subtle poison worked its way through her system, causing excruciating pain. She gasped for breath, her body wracked with agony. Within hours, the poison claimed its victim, leaving Minji lifeless and cold. The lethal gift did its work.

The next day, news of Minji’s sudden and tragic death spread through the campus like wildfire. She could hear the whispers and saw the shocked faces of her peers. She wore a mask of concern, her eyes wide with faux sympathy. Inside, however, she felt a twisted sense of satisfaction, a smirk threatening to break through her facade.

“That’s terrible,” she said to a classmate, her voice laced with carefully crafted sorrow. “I can’t believe something like this happened.”

As the conversations around her continued, she maintained her act, but deep inside, she reveled in her success. Minji was no longer a threat.

She had been shadowing Sunghoon and his friends for weeks, blending into their group with ease. Today, she sat at their usual table in the bustling cafeteria, watching as Sunghoon chatted with Heeseung, Jay, and Wonyoung. Her heart pounded when a new figure approached the table: Joon, a charismatic student known for throwing the best parties.

“Hey, Sunghoon!” Joon called out, his voice brimming with excitement. “I’m throwing a party after the exams. You should totally come. It’s gonna be epic!”

Sunghoon looked up, a hint of hesitation in his eyes. “I don’t know, Joon. I’ve got a lot of studying to do even afterwards.”

Joon waved his hand dismissively while winking in Wonyoung's direction. “Come on, man! You can’t study all the time. It’ll be good to unwind. Plus, everyone’s going to be there.”

Clenching her jaw, her mind racing. This party was a threat, a potential distraction that could pull Sunghoon further away from her. Forcing a smile, she interjected, “A party sounds fun, but don’t you think it’s important to stay focused on your studies, Sunghoon?”

Joon laughed. “Lighten up! It’s just one night.”

Sunghoon finally nodded, though reluctantly. “Alright, I’ll try to make it.”

Her smile faltered, but she quickly recovered. There was no way of letting this new social connection ruin her plans.

She had been watching Joon for days, observing his every move. He who dared to invite Sunghoon to a party was an unequivocal threat to widen his social circle and pull him further away from her. Over several days, she slipped threatening notes and disturbing, gory images into his locker. Each message was more terrifying than the last, escalating his fear and paranoia.

“Stay away from Sunghoon, or you’ll regret it,” one note read, accompanied by a photo of a mutilated teddy bear.

His once confident demeanor crumbled. Dark circles formed under his eyes as he lost sleep. His grades slipped, the terror consuming his thoughts. She watched with satisfaction as he became a shadow of his former self.

One night, as he walked home from another party, his steps were slow and weary. She followed silently, her movements careful and calculated. The streets were empty, the only sounds were the distant hum of traffic and the occasional rustle of leaves. She stayed in the shadows, her eyes fixed on her prey.

When he turned into a dark alley, she made her move. In one swift motion, she wrapped a garrote wire around his throat, pulling it tight. His eyes bulged in shock, his hands clawing at the wire, trying to scream but only managing a strangled gasp. The struggle was brief and silent, the wire cutting deep and fast, severing his cries and his life.

His lifeless body dropped to the ground, a pool of blood forming beneath him. She stood over him for a moment, watching the life fade from his eyes. The thrill of control and power coursed through her veins, a dark satisfaction settling in her chest. She wiped the wire clean and slipped it back into her pocket, leaving the scene as silently as she had arrived, smiling proudly.

The next day, the campus buzzed with the news of the boy’s tragic and mysterious death. She mingled once again with the concerned and the curious, her face a mask of shock and sadness.

Inside, she felt a twisted sense of triumph. One less distraction for Sunghoon, one step closer to securing him for herself.

She had always been meticulous in her surveillance of Sunghoon. Her obsession with him had led her to follow him discreetly, ensuring she was never far from his side. One evening, she decided to trail him after he left the university, curious about his destination.

As she followed him through the bustling streets, her heart pounded with a mix of excitement and anxiety. Sunghoon turned into a small cinema, a place she hadn’t expected. She bought a ticket and followed him inside, maintaining a safe distance. Her eyes widened in shock and fury when she saw him with a girl from another university, their hands intertwined. They were laughing and seemed entirely engrossed in each other.

Her mind raced with thoughts of betrayal and rage. Who was this girl? How dare she come between her and Sunghoon? She gritted her teeth, her hands clenching into fists. As they left the cinema, she snapped a few photos of them together, her mind already forming a plan to eliminate this new threat.

The basement was cold and dimly lit, every corner meticulously organized to ensure no sound escaped. There she stood in the center, a chilling smile playing on her lips as she looked at the bound and gagged girl in front of her. Sunghoon’s alleged girlfriend, now nothing more than a terrified captive, was tied to a heavy wooden chair, her eyes wide with fear.

“I warned you,” she began, her voice soft and deceptively kind. “I warned you to stay away from Sunghoon.” She picked up a pair of pliers from the metal tray beside her, the dim lightglinting off the sharp metal. "But apparently, threatening letters and dead rats at your door do not bother you."

The girl’s sobs grew louder, her pleas muffled by the gag. The girl struggled futilely against her bonds as she approached, pliers in hand. “Sadly, you didn’t listen,” she continued, a hint of mockery in her tone. “Now, you’re going to pay the price.”

With brutal efficiency, she gripped the girl’s jaw, forcing her mouth open. The girl’s screams were stifled by the gag, her eyes rolling back in agony as the first tooth was ripped out. Blood poured from her mouth, splattering onto the floor. One by one, the teeth were extracted, each accompanied by a fresh wave of pain and muffled screams. She hummed a cheerful tune as she worked, placing each bloodied tooth carefully into a small jar. When she was done, she stepped back, admiring her handiwork. The girl’s mouth was a bloody ruin, her sobs now reduced to weak, incoherent moans.

“Look at you,” she said, holding up the jar of teeth. “Such a pretty collection. I think I’ll make something special out of these. Maybe a ring? Or a necklace? Sunghoon always had a taste in unique jewelry.” She set the jar aside and leaned in close, her face inches from the girl’s. “You should’ve stayed out of Sunghoon’s business,” she hissed. “You should’ve known better than to try and take him from me.”

The girl’s eyes were filled with a mix of terror and confusion, her pleas unintelligible. Only laughing, a cold, mirthless sound. “Help me! Help me! No one can hear you,” she mocked. “No one is coming to save you.”

Growing tired of the girl’s incomprehensible cries, she grabbed a large butcher knife from the tray. With one swift motion, she severed the girl’s hand at the wrist. Blood gushed from the wound, and the girl’s screams reached a new, agonizing pitch. “Gosh, stop whining like a bitch and take it!” she snapped, covering her ears. The girl’s continued screams grated on her nerves, driving her to the edge of her patience. Finally, in a fit of frustration, she slashed the girl’s throat. The screams stopped abruptly, replaced by a gurgling sound as blood poured from the fatal wound.

She stood back, watching the life drain from the girl’s eyes. Once she was certain the girl was dead, she set to work with a grim determination. The body was dragged to a large vat of acid she had prepared earlier. She pushed the body into the vat, watching as the flesh began to dissolve, the room filling with the acrid smell of burning skin.

While the acid did its work, she carefully cleaned and dried the severed hands, removing every trace of blood. She placed them in a transparent box, admiring the grotesque display. As she closed the lid on the box, she couldn’t help but smile. Everything was falling into place. Sunghoon would be hers, and no one would stand in her way.

Ascending the basement stairs, her steps slow and methodical. She had cleaned up everything meticulously, ensuring no trace of her gruesome act remained—except for the vat of acid, its contents now dissolving away any evidence. As she emerged from the basement, a wave of nausea suddenly overwhelmed her.

Staggering towards the bathroom, she could feel the bile rising in her throat. She barely made it to the sink before she began to vomit, her body convulsing with each heave. The acidic taste of bile burned her throat, tears streaming down her face as she purged the contents of her stomach.

When the retching finally subsided, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, her breathing ragged. She glanced up at the mirror above the sink, her reflection barely recognizable behind her disheveled bangs. Her eyes, wide and wild, stared back at her. Slowly, a hysterical laugh bubbled up from within her, mingling with her tears.

Her laugh grew louder, more unhinged, as she gazed at her reflection. Tears of anguish and frustration streamed down her cheeks, but she couldn’t stop laughing. The sound echoed off the bathroom walls, a chilling mix of mirth and madness.

Without warning, she drew back her fist and smashed it into the mirror. The glass shattered, shards flying in all directions, some embedding in her knuckles. Blood mingled with the tears on her face as she stood there, panting and trembling.

The remnants of the mirror reflected her fractured image. She stared at the jagged pieces for a moment, her breathing shallow and erratic. Then, her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the bathroom floor, her body racked with sobs.

She lay there, the cold tiles pressing against her skin, her mind a chaotic storm of emotions. The reality of her actions crashed over her, the weight of her obsession and the depths of her madness suffocating her. But even in her despair, a dark satisfaction lingered. Sunghoon was one step closer to being hers, and no one else would ever come between them again.

Lying on the floor, her vision began to blur. She closed her eyes, tears still streaming down her face. Slowly, she began to mouth the lyrics of one of her favorite songs. Her voice was barely a whisper, but the words held a twisted kind of comfort for her.

"This may become a little brutal if I'm honest," she mouthed, her lips forming the words with deliberate care. Her voice was shaky, filled with both desperation and determination. "But it's any- anything for you my dear, I promise."

The words echoed in her mind, a haunting lullaby that mirrored her descent into madness. As the last line left her lips, her strength gave out completely. Her consciousness slipped away, leaving her lying on the cold bathroom floor, surrounded by broken glass and blood.

The house was silent except for the faint hum of distant traffic. In the dim light, her body lay still, a testament to the lengths she would go for her obsession. The darkness enveloped her, a temporary reprieve from the chaos within.

The night was thick with foreboding as Wonyoung finally gathered the courage to approach Sunghoon, her voice trembling with the weight of the secrets she carried. They were alone in a secluded corner of the campus, the moon casting a pale light over the deserted grounds.

“Sunghoon, we need to talk. You have to know the truth,” Wonyoung said, her eyes wide with urgency. Sunghoon looked at her, concern etched across his face. "What's wrong, Wonyoung?" "It's about her. The new strange girl," Wonyoung began, her eyes darting around as if she feared being overheard. "I went to her house. She invited me to paint my nails, but… Sunghoon, she showed me her collection of painted nails. They were real, from girls she saw as a threat. Her house is full of evidence. She's dangerous!"

Sunghoon stared at her, his face a canvas of shock and disbelief. “Wonyoung, what are you saying? Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Wonyoung replied, her voice cracking. “She did this. She ripped off my nail." Saying that, the girl shows Sunghoon her bandaged pointer finger. Tears filling her eyes. "I barely got away. I think she's the one behind all the murders. You have to believe me. Please.”

Lurking nearby, she overheard every single word. "I couldn't help but overhear," she continued, her voice dangerously soft. "You seem to have some serious accusations against me, Wony~."

Sunghoon and Wonyoung turned to face her, both startled.

A sinister smile curled on her lips as she stepped into the light, her presence as chilling as the night itself. “It’s funny,” she said, her voice smooth as silk, “hearing you two talk like this. I had no idea you were so concerned about my little secrets.”

Wonyoung's face turned white. "Stay away from us."

Her eyes glinted with malice as she approached them, her steps measured and deliberate. “You’ve got it all wrong,” she continued, her tone mocking. “I have nothing to hide. In fact, why don’t you come with me? Let’s have a little chat at my place. It’s a bit of a mess, but I’m sure you’ll find it quite… revealing.”

Wonyoung hesitated, her suspicion palpable. “Why would we go to your house? You could be lying.”

Sunghoon, desperate to make sense of everything, placed a reassuring hand on Wonyoung’s shoulder. “Wony, those accusations are severe. We need to see it for ourselves. I have to know the truth.”

Wonyoung grabbed his arm. "No, Sunghoon, it's a trap!"

Yet Sunghoon reassured her, his determination unshaken. "I have to do this, Wonyoung."

Reluctantly, Wonyoung nodded, as she cannot leave her friend alone, and together they followed to her house, each step echoing with foreboding silence. Inside, the house was eerily quiet, the atmosphere heavy with tension. She led them to the living room, her smile still unsettlingly calm.

“Would you like some water?” she asked, her voice dripping with false sweetness. “It’s been a long night.”

Wonyoung eyed the glass of water suspiciously. “No, thank you. I’ll pass.”

Sunghoon, however, nodded. “I’ll have some.”

With a sardonic grin, she handed Sunghoon the glass. “To your health,” she said, her eyes sparkling with malice. “I promise, there’s nothing in it.”

As Sunghoon drank, Wonyoung’s gaze remained fixed on her, mind racing with doubt. “Sunghoon, be careful,” she whispered, but her words were drowned out by the sound of the glass clinking against Sunghoon’s lips.

Minutes later, Sunghoon’s eyes fluttered shut, the dissolved sleeping pill taking effect. Wonyoung watched in horror as he slumped forward, the glass slipping from his fingers and shattering on the floor. Before the girl could react, she felt a sharp sense of pain. Directly after, she crumpled, unconsciously to the floor.

“Come on, Wony. It’s time to play,” she said with a sinister smile, her voice dripping with malice. “Let’s see how much Sunghoon really cares about you.”

The basement door creaked open, revealing a room shrouded in darkness. Leading Wonyoung down the stairs, the air growing colder with each step. At the bottom, the dim light revealed a scene of horror—chains hanging from the wall and a heavy chair on the opposing side.

When they woke up, Wonyoung found herself chained to the wall by her hands and legs, while Sunghoon was tied to a heavy chair in front of her. Panic surged through them as they realized their predicament.

Wonyoung struggled against her bonds, fear and confusion flooding her senses. “Sunghoon! Wake up! We have to get out of here!”

She stood before them, her eyes gleaming with twisted delight. "Welcome to my game room," she said. "Tonight, we'll play a little game."

Her laugh echoed through the room, chilling and triumphant. “Oh, don’t worry, Wonyoung. You’re going to be a part of it as well, of course."

She picked up a set of knives, twirling one in her hand. "Sunghoon, your task is simple. You have three tries to hit Wonyoung in the head with these knives. If you succeed, I will admit to everything and set you free." She paused, a cruel smile curling her lips. "If you fail, you might as well never see the light of day. Same goes to your friends and family. It's quite simple, really."

Sunghoon, bound to the heavy chair, shook his head in disbelief. “Please, don’t do this. I’ll do anything, just don’t make me hurt Wonyoung.”

Her eyes burned with cold resolve. “You don’t have a choice, Sunghoon. You must play. Now, shall we begin.”

She handed Sunghoon a knife, its blade gleaming ominously in the dim light. Sunghoon’s hands trembled as he took it, his mind reeling with fear and desperation. Missing on purpose, the knife embedding itself harmlessly in the wall. Wonyoung's pleas for him to hit her filled the room, her voice desperate and tearful.

“Do it, Sunghoon! For all our sakes, do it!” Wonyoung shouted, her voice breaking.

Sunghoon closed his eyes, the knife in his hand feeling like lead. He threw for the second time, but it missed, clattering harmlessly to the floor. “I can’t do it,” he muttered, his voice breaking. “I can’t hurt you, Wonyoung. I can’t.”

He couldn’t bring himself to do it. With each throw, he missed, refusing to harm his friend. Her smile widening with each miss.

Her smile faded, replaced by a fake expression of disappointment. “Seems like you’re not as perfect as I made you out to be,” she hissed. “Well, you’ve failed. And we do play fair here. Wonyoung, being your friend, makes her my first win.”

Wonyoung’s screams pierced the air as she lunged forward with a knife. The blade sank into her chest, the sound of her agony echoing through the basement. Sunghoon’s heart shattered, his screams mingling with Wonyoung’s, the room turning into a scene of unspeakable horror.

As Wonyoung’s life ebbed away, she sat on Sunghoon’s lap, her knife still in hand.

As she gazed at Sunghoon, her lips slowly curled into a smile that could freeze the blood in your veins. It started innocently enough, a slight upturn at the corners of her mouth. But then, it spread wider, unnaturally so, stretching across her face like a mask. Her eyes, once filled with feigned warmth, now glinted with a dangerous intensity, pupils dilating as if she were a predator honing in on her prey.

The smile revealed perfectly straight teeth, each one gleaming with a chilling, predatory sheen. Her upper lip lifted just enough to expose a hint of gum, adding an unsettling, almost feral quality to her expression. It was a smile that promised not joy or kindness, but a twisted satisfaction, as if she were savoring some private, malevolent joke.

Her head tilted slightly to one side. The contrast between the sweet, almost childish tilt and the dark promise behind her grin was jarring, creating a dissonance that sent shivers down the spine of anyone who saw it. It was a smile that hinted at hidden depths of obsession and a readiness to do anything—absolutely anything—to keep Sunghoon for herself.

This was no ordinary smile; it was a harbinger of the lengths she would go to, the boundaries she would cross. It was the kind of smile that made you realize, too late, that you were already ensnared in her web.

“Mmm, look at you,” she whispered, her voice a dangerous purr. “You’re pathetic, Sunghoon. You let her die because you couldn’t do what was necessary. You’re not the hero you thought you were.”

Sunghoon’s eyes burned with hatred and disgust. “I hate you,” he spat, his voice trembling with rage. “I wish I’d never met you. You’re a monster.”

Her smile faltered, eyes flashing with fury. She jumped up, the knife still clutched in her hand. “You don’t understand, Sunghoon. I did all this for you! I dedicated everything to you! After everything I've done for you? After all the sacrifices, how dare you say something so lethal to me!”

She began to rant, her voice rising hysterically. "You wanna know a fact? Your stupid girlfriend is in that goddamn vat," she pointed to a large container in the corner, "I made fucking jewelry out of her teeth! I did it all for you! Because I fucking love you!"

Sunghoon’s words cut through her madness. “I hate you. I never want to see you again, nor will I ever love you!”

In a fit of rage, she lunged at him, her knife flashing through the air, stabbing him repeatedly while screaming, "How can you say that? How can you not see my love?!" She didn’t stop until the room was filled with the sound of his final, choked gasp. His lifeless body fell to the floor, a silent testament to her unbridled fury.

Sunghoon's blood splattered across the room as he slumped forward, lifeless. She stepped back, panting, realizing the enormity of what she had done.

As the reality sank in, she started sobbing hysterically. "No, no Sunghoon! Wake up!" she pleaded, shaking his lifeless form. Tears streamed down her face as she fell to her knees, her sobs echoing through the cold basement. “I’m sorry, Sunghoon. I’m so, so sorry,” she whispered, her voice breaking with every word. She reached out to him, her hands trembling, but it was too late. He was gone.

Her mind raced, the reality of her actions crashing down on her like a tidal wave. She had killed him, the one person she had claimed to love. The despair was overwhelming, the weight of her guilt crushing her spirit. She grabbed the knife, her hands shaking as she considered ending it all. Her fingers brushed against her throat, the blade’s edge cold and unforgiving.

But then, the distant sound of sirens cut through the silence, pulling her back from the edge. The police were coming. She had to flee. With a final, anguished scream, she stumbled to the emergency exit, her footsteps echoing through the dark basement.

She burst through the door, the fresh air biting at her skin like icy needles. The night was alive with the wail of sirens, the flashing lights slicing through the darkness, growing ever closer. She ran, her legs pounding against the grass, her breath ragged and desperate. The relentless police lights grew brighter behind her, a haunting reminder that she could never escape her sins.

As the sirens blared louder, panic clawed at her throat. She made a final, desperate decision. She couldn’t face the world, not after what she had done. The knife glinted in her hand, its blade sharp and cold, a harbinger of release. She raised it to her throat, trembling as she prepared to end it all. But then, the shouts of the approaching officers pierced the night, their voices urgent and commanding. The reality of her situation hit her like a sledgehammer, knocking the breath from her lungs.

With a final, choked sob, she dropped the knife, her strength evaporating as her body collapsed to the ground. The police swarmed around her, their voices a distant echo, their hands rough as they pulled her from the cold ground. Darkness clawed at the edges of her vision, dragging her down into its merciless embrace. The last thing she saw was the flashing lights, the sirens wailing a mournful dirge, a cruel reminder of the hell she had created for herself.

As consciousness slipped away, a final, despairing thought flickered in her mind: Sunghoon. His name was a whispered lament, a ghost of a hope that had long since died. And then, there was nothing but darkness.