Work Text:
Isn’t there something about our perceptions influencing our thoughts which in turn lead to us feeling an emotion? Maybe if Hyunjin doesn’t perceive this drive from hell as awkward, it will be so awful.
Maybe . But it’s not going to work.
Firstly, Jisung is scowling so hard that it looks like he has a unibrow, and secondly, they’re driving in utter silence except for the whisper of a ballad that Hyunjin is playing on the car radio. Some things enhance silence, and that’s what this ballad does as the singer hits a high note. He wishes that he had never insisted on taking control of the aux cable.
“How much farther?” he asks, to check whether there’s any sliver of hope to hold onto.
“Lots,” is Jisung's reply, clipped and viper-like. He jabs his phone harder. He has been texting non-stop and Hyunjin is sure that it’s all complaints about him. “Just keep driving till I tell you to stop.”
“Highway to hell,” Hyunjin mutters under his breath.
Jisung snorts. “I agree,” he says, derision dripping from each word.
_________________
It’s all Changbin’s fault. He’s the one who had chosen to take off to his fancy weekend home with his cousins and raise hell. Then he had dragged himself back to college without his laptop.
“You know how accountable I am,” he had whined at Hyunjin, all sniffly and cute. “I would’ve totally gone if I wasn’t sick!”
“Right,” Hyunjin had said from the kitchen as he decanted the take-out soup into bowls, “I’ve already told you that you can use my laptop.”
“Yeah, but…”
Hyunjin had turned in spite of knowing what awaited him. Changbin’s patented puppy dog eyes – this time with his dimples out in full force. “All my research papers are on that… and I don’t have time to look for papers all over again.”
Even though he had retched at the blatant attempt to cajole him, his heart – ugh. Fuck, why did Changbin have to be so cute. “Fine,” Hyunjin had sighed, “but you need to buy me dinner for a whole month and also pay for fuel.”
“Done!” Changbin had perked up immediately, “I promise, you wouldn’t have to go through a lot of trouble, Hyunnie. The cleaning company we usually hire said they had placed my laptop on the living room sofa where they found it.” He sneezed and cleared his throat. “So, you’ll just have to pick it up. The charger should be there too. I had taken it out.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Hyunjin had waved a hand, “You’re lucky I tolerate you.”
Changbin had beamed, and it was another arrow right at Hyunjin’s stupid, soft heart. “Sure, sure. I believe you.”
_________________
“I still don’t understand why you had to come with me,” Hyunjin says after driving for half an hour in utter silence. “You’re just blindly following that map.”
Jisung sighs. “How many times do I have to tell you that this place is not easy to find after a point?”
“I think you just wanted a joyride,” Hyunjin says, even though he can’t think of one reason why Jisung has agreed to spend time around him. That man’s hatred for him is as deep as it is unfathomable. “You didn’t have to come! Like, I can’t even enjoy my music!”
“Bro, your music taste is 90% people whining about love,” Jisung snaps, drumming his fingers on the dashboard. “I just wanted some variety.”
If there’s a limit to hypocrisy then Jisung has just shot past it on a fucking rocket. “Oh ho,” Hyunjin laughs, “and your music taste is people whining about love but rock version, ha! You’re literally one of those people who thinks they’re above everyone else, don’t you?”
“That’s you,” snipes Jisung, but doesn’t say anything else. When Hyunjin darts a look at him, he can see that Jisung’s face is now a storm cloud.
Hyunjin allots a point to himself, and a mental high-five.
_____________
“How much farther?”
“Farther than your dreams.”
“I know you were trying to insult me but that was so childish that I feel sorry for you.”
“Fuck you.”
______________
“I don’t understand why I have to be with him, Changbin hyung!” Jisung whines, “he keeps asking if we’re ‘there yet’ like a pathetic overgrown child!.”
“He doesn’t fucking tell me anything properly,” Hyunjin grips the steering wheel hard. “God, I should’ve never agreed to help you.”
“Oh my god,” Changbin groans over Bluetooth, “grow the fuck up and get my laptop!”
_______________
“Next time he lectures me about being responsible, I’ll remind him about how he made us drive to the ends of the earth for his stupid laptop,” Jisung says.
Hyunjin nods in agreement. It has been long enough that his annoyance has found another target – Changbin. The person who is the cause of this endless, boring drive to fetch a bloody laptop. “We should’ve just let him handle it. Dude, I thought it would take like, 2 hours or something. I think we’ve been driving for hours.
"Yeah, it's pretty far away from the city." Jisung sighs. "It's this really old property, and his family bought it to be away from the bustle of the city. But obviously weekend plans were not possible, so we just went there for the summer holidays. It kept the children far away from the parents, you see."
"We?" Hyunjin raises a brow at him. They're idling at a red light, and he desperately regrets every decision he has made since yesterday. "You went there for holidays too?"
"Yeah.” Jisung shoves his phone into his pocket. “He always invited me, and my parents pushed me to visit a few times.” He rolls his shoulder and slumps lower on his seat. “It’s a huge house, and there’s a lot of space for kids. It was a perfect place for kids, I suppose.”
Jisung’s tone doesn’t make it sound like it is a positive thing. Hyunjin wants to prod, and he would peppered him with questions if they were anything more than antagonistic acquaintances. Hyunjin doesn’t have to hold back, however, because Jisung continues talking.
“But it was too big and it’s awkward being the only non-relative among a bunch of cousins,” says Jisung with a frown. “Plus, it’s ugly as muck.”
The passion with which he says it startles a laugh out of Hyunjin. "Ugly as muck? I saw the photos that Changbin hyung posted on IG. It's definitely not ugly."
Jisung scoffs. "It looks pretty in pictures but it's just sprawling, old and ugly. Like, you never feel like you're alone because the house keeps making these weird as shit noises, and it's very grim and depressing." He says it with a dismissive flick of his hand, but Hyunjin can see that he is chagrined.
It's difficult to understand Jisung. Of course, Hyunjin doesn't know him at all, but he overhears his conversations with Changbin when he comes to visit, and it's so full of adoration. He can't believe that Jisung is talking shit about a place that Changbin seems to like. Where he had been invited to spend summers too.
None of Hyunjin's friends had invited him home during summer for more than a week, and neither had he.
"Well, it seems pretty to me," he says, as he eases his car forward, now that the signal has finally blinked green. "And all houses make noises."
"God, you haven't been to that house and you're defending it just 'cause it's Changbin hyung's. You've got it so bad for him" he mutters.
Hyunjin wants to throw him out of the windshield. Just once. Or maybe twice. "Shut up!" His cheeks are hot. Wonderful. "What do you even know? That house looks like something out –."
"Just ask him out and put us out of our misery," says Jisung. "Stop being a baby."
Hyunjin is gripping the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles are white. Anger throbs against his temples. "Shut the fuck up, Jisung."
"I don't even know why you keep dancing around it, he'll obviously say yes."
"Really?" He regrets it the moment he says it. God, this is pathetic. How to disown one's own tongue?
Jisung laughs and it's loud, jarring. "Yeah. It's unfortunate but it's cute, I guess."
"Whatever," Hyunjin grumbles. He sees Jisung's smirk from the corner of his eye. "That house is definitely dreamy."
"Once you see it, you'll understand," Jisung says. "Once we couldn't find one of hyung's cousins while playing hide and seek. So we searched everywhere , right? And then she just emerges from an alcove kinda thing no one knew about. There are many alcoves there. It's a hazard for kids.”
"We're not kids though, it looks great for a party." He knows that he is dragging out this petty argument but it's much better than driving in pointed silence.
"I don't know, maybe..." Jisung sighs. "It's ornate and obviously a rich person's house, but I never felt like it's a home. More like a venue? And it's weird to go there without Binnie hyung, or without anyone. It'll just be the two of us."
It will only be the two of them, Hyunjin realizes. It's a discomfiting thought. He has looked through all of Changbin's photos from the trip and there is so much empty space in his photos. The kind of space that is disquieting because you know you can't fill it up, no matter how much you try.
"It'll take twenty minutes at the most," Hyunjin says, over the nervous laugh bubbling in his throat. His voice comes out all garbled. "Also, I just realized, couldn't his neighbors have couriered it to him or something? I mean if they had access to the house. We've been driving for a long time now."
"Oh." Jisung sounds surprised. "I don't uh – I don't know actually. I mean, I thought hyung had exhausted all options. But I don't know, I don't remember if they have given the keys to a neighbor…"
"Really? Well, he just asked me to drive down and get it." Hyunjin bites his lips, trying to hold back a smile. "Maybe he didn't want his neighbors to snoop through his laptop. Who knows what he's got there."
Jisung doesn't laugh. He looks thoughtful as he stares at the dashboard. "Did he just ask you to go there? Or did he say that there was no other way to get it?"
"I don't know," Hyunjin says, confused. "He just asked me to go get it asap because he has a paper due soon."
"So?"
Hyunjin is confused. "He has his research papers on his laptop. He needs it to access it," he says, darting a glance at Jisung.
He is frowning now. "His laptop has cloud backup."
"Yeah so? He obviously needs it. Dude, it's an expensive ass laptop. Why are you so bothered by it?"
"Nothing! Just, it's odd," Jisung mumbles. "Usually, hyung's very crafty, I guess. He gave into the most annoying option, so..."
"He's also sick," Hyunjin points out, still unsure about what the issue is. Yeah, the long drive is annoying but he'll definitely go to the ends of the earth if he'd forgotten his laptop somewhere. Or broken down crying. It's that expensive.
Jisung laughs, but it sounds nervous. Hyunjin darts another mystified glance at him. "Yeah, yeah – you're right. Anyway, do you want to stop for lunch? I'm kinda hungry."
______________
Hyunjin can't believe that he's laughing with Han Jisung, but here he is with a stitch in his side as Jisung recounts stories of his stay with Changbin.
“So, then I hid there in the dried up well,” Jisung says, fiddling with the strings of his hoodie as they wait for their lunch order. “Mosquitoes ravaged me and Binnie hyung was so mad that he lectured me for ten minutes straight without taking a breath. After that I started crying, so he hugged me and lectured me.”
“That sounds like him,” Hyunjin says, between gasps of laughter. “What else did you guys do?”
“Oh we used to tell each other scary stories,” Jisung nods, steepling his fingers together. He is smiling too, and this is probably the first time that it is due to genuine amusement. “It’s a very old house and has a lot of rooms. So we had ghost stories about each room.”
“Like what?” Hyunjin watches Jisung fold a napkin into an origami fan. "Isn't that house big? How many stories did you guys have?
Jisung’s eyes flicker up to him, and he grimaces suddenly as if he has just remembered something awful. “Ugh, all sorts. There were a lot of older kids and they were always so inventive – there were witches, doppelgängers, ghosts, blah, blah. But the worst thing was the way they said it...like you know how campfire stories are always about a murder that happened long back or like something that happened to someone in the past?”
"Hmm-mm," Hyunjin says. He usually avoids any sort of horror stories and movies, or loudly vetoes them if someone suggests them. He hopes that Jisung doesn't repeat them to him.
"They used to say it as if it had happened to them just last night. 'I went to the bathroom and the light was already on even though I had switched it off.' Or 'I keep hearing sounds of scratching under my bed, and it kept me awake for the whole.' The thing is, they would look scared and sleep deprived –"
Hyunjin clears his throat, "yes, it's all bog-standard stuff." He takes a sip of water. "Sounds like they were just really making an effort to scare you kids."
Jisung purses his lips and looks away. "Yeah well, it was scary as shit. Only your Changbin hyung never got scared." He says the last part in a petulant tone, as if he's trying to mollify Hyunjin.
Hyunjin doesn't understand him. He's being weird about the place. Being weird about a lot of things, actually. But then, Hyunjin thinks, maybe he's just feeling awkward about going to his best friend's weekend home with a person he doesn't like.
Awkwardness sometimes comes across as weirdness. Right? “Don't let Changbin hyung hear you,” Hyunjin says. He feels like he’s gingerly reaching out to a cat that may or may not bite him. Jisung just raises a brow. “He’ll be so disappointed to know that you’re, like, scared of ghosts.”
Jisung’s neutral expression morphs into another uni-browed scowl. “I’m not scared of ghosts! In fact, I’m not scared of anything…I’m spending time with a stinky goblin like you, aren’t I?”
Hyunjin rolls his eyes, trying to stop a smile that’s threatening to creep across his face. “Wow! Whatta comeback. Will we find your long-lost brain along with the disembodied bits and bobs floating around in that house?”
“At least I can find mine, but you don’t have one at all. What shall we do about you?” Jisung asks, snickering.
Hyunjin kicks Jisung’s ankle, but he can’t help chuckle as well. He is mature to enough admit (though only to himself) that it had been a good zinger.
___________
The rest of the ride is spent in silence though it's not the tense kind now. Jisung mostly stares out of the window, and calls out directions when needed. The radio is humming but he can see Jisung mouthing along to the words instead of being an ass.
It’s a peaceful ride. Whatever blurs past him is now more green than concrete. He’s sure that if he opens the windows, then he’ll smell earth and the grass.
“We’re almost there,” says Jisung. “This is the part where it's a bit confusing – the online maps are absolutely shit at this part for some reason. So, just pay attention to me.”
Hyunjin nods, holding his tongue. He wants to say that Jisung has done nothing but force him to pay attention since they started their journey, but he knows that it’ll just lead to another argument. He doesn’t want an argument, he just wants to get this done with.
The woods that line both sides of the road get thicker, more dense as he drives. There are no other vehicles on the road, except for commercial ones. Houses, buildings – any kind of normal architecture is sparse except for a few sprawling industrial/corporate spaces. “Wow, it’s secluded, yeah?”
“Only rich people can afford absolute silence these days,” Jisung says. He chews on his lower lip. “I think that was the highlight for whatever poor Seo uncle or aunty got saddled with us. Everything is so vast here that if they locked themselves in a room, they wouldn’t even hear us.”
“Have you been here?” Hyunjin asks, “recently, I mean?”
“Nah, I stopped going after a point.” He shrugs. “And now they only have family get-togethers so it’ll be weird if I just tagged along.” He doesn’t sound too sad about it.
Hyunjin falls silent, unable to come up with any response that can keep the conversation going. The roads are winding now, tight and narrow like knotted yarn. It doesn’t seem like an affluent area but then his idea of affluence is informed by the media. Who really can know what lives the wealthy lead?
It’s disorienting – all roads look alike. He follows Jisung blindly – left, then right, then left again. Another left. Hyunjin sees a house at a distance. It stands right at the end of the road, encircled by a thicket of trees.
Jisung was right; this place is huge. Sprawling . Hyunjin watches with wide eyes as they get closer to it, and the sheer scale of the house impresses itself upon him. The gate is tall and imposing but parts in the middle with only a soft whir when Jisung enters the passcode. Hyunjin had expected a lot of screeching.
The house itself looms over them, multiple square windows peering at them blankly. It’s all a lot, honestly. It just seems comically big for a weekend home. Also, there’s complete silence here – the kind that is a physical presence, and so pristine that even a squeak of his boots will carry in the wind a long way. The sound of him closing his car door certainly does. What do people even do with such large houses? he wonders as he locks his car and strolls towards the front door. Real estate makes no sense.
Jisung enters another passcode and then unlocks the door with a key. “I’ll just go to the bathroom,” he says, shoving his shoes off his feet, and taking a turn to the left. “You get the laptop.”
“You could’ve gone to the washroom at the restaurant,” Hyunjin grumbles, as he carefully unlaces his boots and places them upright instead of sideways like Jisung’s shoes.
The house smells like potpourri, and interior decoration of the house has obviously been done by a professional. Everything is gleaming, and cohesive in a way that shows the amount of thought and money that has gone into it. He beelines towards the living room, and towards the huge leather sectional couch that dominates the room.
Except, the laptop is not there. Nor is it behind the cushions. Or on the coffee table and any of the multiple side tables in the room.
Hyunjin straightens a cushion and rubs his brow, thinking. He’s pretty sure that Changbin had said – wait! “What the…” he mutters, jolting upright. He’d seen something flicker from the corner of his eye for a quick second. Curtains?
He turns on his feet, staring at the room. There’s nothing there – not that he can see much in any case. He’s working in the light streaming from the doorway, and a few measly lights that Jisung had flicked on while going to the bathroom. Hyunjin shakes his head and turns back to the couch.
His heart is all weird, however. Disquieted. It’s probably because of Jisung and his dumb stories. Ugh.
Another quick sweep of the room yields nothing, so Hyunjin tries calling Changbin. He doesn’t pick up, so Hyunjin sighs and texts him.
Hyunjin : Listen we reached your weekend house
Hyunjin : The laptop’s not there in the living room
Hyunjin : Did you stash it somewhere else? Or the cleaning people did?
Hyunjin : Jisung is taking a shit btw
“Dude, there’s something wrong in there,” Jisung says, as he exits the bathroom. There are streaks of water on his t-shirt like he had shoved his hand under a rapid flow of water. He beckons Hyunjin closer. “The mirror’s fucked up. Come here for a second.”
Hyunjin frowns and moves towards the bathroom. “What? What happened?” He nudges Jisung with his elbow when he doesn’t answer.
“Ouch! Just wait for a minute,” Jisung grumbles, pushing the door and stepping inside.
The bathroom is beautiful – all white marble with blue accents – and with a shower stall that looks like it can hold at least three people. It also has frosted glass. Damn . Now he understands why people want big houses.
Jisung moves further into the room and points at the mirror that has been fixed above the washbasin. Hyunjin goggles at it, uncomprehending.
It’s… broken in half.
“What the fuck,” Hyunjin says, touching the bare upper half of the mirror. The wood is cool to touch, and beneath it is the fanged remnants of glass. “Who the hell did this?”
Jisung chews his lips and squats down to open a cabinet beneath the basin. “They put all the glass here,” he says. “I checked the trash can and it was empty so yeah…” he trails off, shifting a thick blue towel to the side. The light gleams off pieces of broken debris.
Hyunjin can guess what he’s thinking, even if he doesn’t want to think about it. Unless the cleaning service that Changbin had hired were unprofessional to the extreme, they would’ve cleaned up properly and disposed of the glass if they had accidentally broken the mirror. Also, they would’ve informed Changbin.
Even if it is one of Changbin’s cousins who is the culprit, Changbin would’ve been told by the company about the broken mirror.
“It’s like someone tried to hide it – but this is so bizarre!” Jisung mutters, poking a shard of glass that’s resting on the towel. “What’s the point of hiding away the glass if there’s a huge fucking hole in the mirror?”
“Maybe they want to fix it?” Hyunjin suggests and realises how dumb that sounds the moment he says it. “I mean –“ he rubs his brow.
“Maybe they stopped thinking right when they broke it,” Jisung says, closing it and looking at the mirror again. It only reflects the bottom half of their bodies. It’s weird to see just a bunch of arms and cloth. “We oughta tell Changbinnie hyung.” His voice cracks somewhere in between.
Hyunjin’s about to reply but his eyes catch a flicker of movement again and this time he’s shrieking before he realizes it. Jisung startles and yells too, his voice echoing in the bathroom. His hands flail and his knuckles hit the basin with a hard thwap . All this only registers vaguely in Hyunjin’s mind because he rushes out of the bathroom, and looks around wildly. Everything is empty.
Empty and silent. Silent enough that he can hear his heart trying to beat out of his chest.
“Dude, what the fuck!” Jisung says, grabbing Hyunjin’s shoulder, and turning hima round. There’s a line of sweat on his upper lip. “What the hell was that?”
“I don’t…” Hyunjin grabs his hair with both his hands and ruffles it. “I think I saw something – crouching outside the door… like the edge of the door was reflected in the mirror and I thought…” I think someone was crouching and I think I saw their hand. They were probably at the – “I don’t know.”
Jisung’s eyes are wide and they keep darting everywhere even as he leans forward. “What?”
“Maybe it was a shadow,” Hyunjin says. Yes, yes – no, of course it is a shadow. They haven’t switched on all the lights and besides he’s pretty sure that the weirdness with the mirror, and Jisung’s earlier stories has just made him…susceptible. Yes, absolutely. He laughs in relief, “sorry! I think I just got freaked out… it was probably a shadow.”
Hyunjin watches as Jisung’s face shifts from fear to confusion, and then settles on irritation. “You’re such a dick!” Jisung slaps Hyunjin on his arm. “I’m not interested in your dumb jokes!”
“Hey! Fuck off!” Hyunjin shoves Jisung’s arm away when he tries to hit him again. “Who the hell do you think you are? I thought I saw something –”
“Right! As if I’m supposed to believe you!” Jisung rolls his eyes, “you’re telling me that you yell and shriek like that every time you see a shadow?”
“It seemed human; you dick!” Hyunjin snaps, “I didn’t know that only you are allowed to be scared of things! And you were the one going on about ghosts the whole time!”
“Whatever!” Jisung turns away and stalks towards the sofas, “where the fuck is hyung’s laptop?”
“It’s not there.”
“Then call him!”
“I called and texted him,” Hyunjin grits his teeth, trying not to give in to the pulse of anger that throbs behind his temples. “He isn’t replying.”
Jisung tips his head back and rubs his eyes. “My god, save me from this hell,” he says. Their unspoken truce has broken in less than two hours. He turns to look at Hyunjin, but pauses. His mouth slackens. “What the –” he mutters, rushing to one of the walls in the opposite end of the living room.
Hyunjin throws a nervous glance at the bathroom. It’s door is gaping open and even though all he can see is the marbled floor, he just…doesn’t want to see it. He scurries after Jisung. It turns out to not be a good option because Jisung is staring silently at a blank wall.
If he’s possessed then Hyunjin is leaving his ass here and running to the nearest place of worship. To either get a stake or a religious artifact.
“There are supposed to be photos here,” Jisung says. He points at the wall and then places both hands on his hips. “Why would they be removed?”
There are dusty squares on the wall. It is obvious that there were pictures here, and now they aren’t here. “Maybe they took it down,” Hyunjin says. “It’s not a calculus problem, Jisung.” He pokes one of the squares and retracts his hand, grimacing at the dust.
“They are always here.” Jisung shakes his head. There’s a stubborn gleam in his eyes as if he’s winding up for a Sherlock Holmes-esque monologue where he explains all his deductions about hats and stained fingers to Watson.
Hyunjin does what Watson never did – holds a hand up. “Let’s call Binnie hyung again.”
Jisung closes his mouth. He looks at the wall and then at Hyunjin. “ Or let’s just look for it in the kitchen and bedroom and stuff. The cleaning people must’ve put it there, I guess.”
That makes sense but Hyunjin doesn’t want to do it. Not when his heart won’t stop racing, and not when all the space he had seen on Changbin’s IG seem to have multiplied tenfold when he’s actually here. There’s all sorts of creaks and squeaks that are echoing here, and he knows that it’s stupid but he doesn’t want to leave the living room and go traversing about upstairs.
He doesn’t want to be far away from the front door.
“I think we shouldn’t snoop about,” he says instead, in the most bored voice he can manage. “Binnie hyung will call us back soon. He always does.” Hyunjin hopes he does because he is spooked now – he doesn’t want to be but tell that to his fucking body, okay?
“Snoop – oh my god,” Jisung gapes at him, “you really are a baby,” he says, rolling his eyes. “I think staying here for longer than necessary is worse than just searching for the laptop.”
“Then you go search for it,” Hyunjin says, taking out his phone and pretending to check his texts. His hands are slippery around the plastic of his phone cover. “I’ll wait.” He bites back a triumphant smile when he sees Jisung hesitate.
“So what? You’re just gonna warm a seat while I have to do all the hard work?”
“Who knows, maybe I’m a pillow princess,” Hyunjin says with a wink, and cackles when Jisung eyes go wide as he sputters.
“You’re such a prick,” Jisung says. But he’s pink around his ears and his cheekbones. “Sit there and do nothing,” he says, squaring his shoulders and taking off towards the staircase. He flips Hyunjin off when he continues to laugh.
Hyunjin : A pillow princess joke did the impossible…
Hyunjin : It made Han Jisung speechless
Hyunjin : btw, someone broke the mirror in the downstairs bathroom
Hyunjin : and apparently the living room photos have been taken down
Hyunjin : also call me back! I want to get back home asap!
____________
Hyunjin lasts for all of five minutes. Five terrible minutes. He checks his messages (none), his Instagram feed (boring), his twitter feed (interesting but not much). He takes a couple of selfies just for the normalcy of it, and pulls up Changbin’s profile to stalk his photos.
The last bunch of photos he has posted are taken in this house. There are few solo shots of him; he’s usually posing in a group most of the time. Hyunjin pauses at the photo where Changbin is in front of a mirror, smirking as he stares at it. Hyunjin zooms in and stares at him.
His eyes seem blank. It doesn’t seem charming but Changbin is always charming. It’s just – Hyunjin jabs the home button. He’s phasing himself out and it is all fucking Jisung’s fault. He has been weird during the entire journey, making vague pronouncements and reinforcing how creepy this house is.
It’s probably a prank, Hyunjin realizes. It doesn’t make him feel better. He glances at the wall of photos. It is odd, he admits, to remove all photos that have apparently always been here. He doesn’t think it was for cleaning the walls or something. No cleaning company worth its salt would’ve left a wall half done like this. Also, the shadow… it had seemed so human –
Hyunjin looks around him, trying to find something to distract himself. Maybe he could just wait by the car but he doesn’t want to leave Jisung all alone in the house. There are books but he doesn’t feel comfortable sitting down and reading… same with watching TV, or catching up on the webtoon he’s been reading. It just seems wrong. Wrong to sit back and…
Well, wrong to sit back and lower his guard.
His eyes dart back to the bathroom. It’s still ajar, but. Hyunjin tries to quell a shiver. It isn’t – the angle of the open door doesn’t look the same. He knows it can be because of a breeze. The front door is open after all. Still, his stomach churns.
He oscillates on his heels, back and forth, back and forth. It’s just… everything is not as Changbin had told them. The house is technically not cleaned – the company had left broken glass in an unsafe spot, and had apparently stripped the photos from the wall. The laptop is not where they had said they had left it. And…
Okay, it’s only two things. It can be a simple miscommunication, or maybe the cleaning company is just not as professional as Changbin believes. He’s simply over-thinking it and fueling his nervousness. Right?
“Right,” Hyunjin says out loud, and winces when the emptiness distorts his voice. He licks his lips and walks to the bathroom door and closes it. There. No breeze will move the door. He doesn’t know why his palms are still so sweaty.
“Fucking Jisung and his conspiracy theories,” he grumbles under his breath as he turns and walks towards the kitchen. He is going to find the fucking laptop and leave. He will also never talk to Jisung again. “Maybe they got drunk and broke it. Who fucking knows and why should we care? God, people these days.”
The kitchen is spotless and bright. It has been deep-cleaned to an inch of its life, Hyunjin notices. He opens the refrigerator and peers inside. There’s nothing except for a half empty bottle of wine. He picks it up. What if he got drunk? Would that help stop the prickling at the back of his neck? He looks over his shoulder. There is nothing. Of course there is nothing.
Getting drunk would just make Jisung pitch another fit , Hyunjin thinks, sourly as he puts it back. He checks the countertop, and then opens a few drawers more out of curiosity than to actually look for the laptop. Everything is spotless and shiny. He can even see his distorted reflection in the back of the spoons. He goes to a door that stands at the end of the kitchen, and it takes him to the dining room.
Nothing.
Nothing except for a gaping void on a mirror frame.
His heart crashes against his ribs, and his stomach plunges to his toes. He knows that it is a mirror frame because this is where Changbin has taken his photo – the one on Instagram. It’s the same decorative frame and there are dusty squares here too –
What if something is under the table?
Okay, okay. Shut up, brain. Brain, shut up. Hyunjin takes a long, shuddering breath. He’s just too scared to think straight. Yeah, that’s it. Stupid Jisung and his big, fucking round eyes staring at the bathroom mirror as if it was a demonic artifact. Bullshit. Bullshit.
Hyunjin turns – there’s nothing under the table – and walks out of the door – but something is scratching … no, don’t look, nothing moved – bangs his elbow against the fridge – there was an alcove that no one knew about – and exits the kitchen.
He goes to the staircase that leads to the upper floors, glancing at the bathroom as he passes it. There’s no light under the door. Did they switch off the light? He doesn’t remember.
The stairs are sturdy under his feet, and he takes them two at a time. He’s not – okay, he’s scared and he doesn’t want to be here. Wasn’t there a lady who found someone secretly living in her house? Maybe – well, it’s a big house and it remains empty for long periods of time. Who is going to notice unless you break mirrors like an asshole or sell a few ornate frames?
But there are passcodes on the gate and the door. And so many alcoves in this house – SHUT UP!
Beyond the landing there’s a short corridor that splits off towards the left and right. Since Jisung is right-handed, Hyunjin turns right. Look, logic! Most of the doors are open and only a few are closed. Hyunjin rubs his sore elbow as he pushes one of the open doors with his foot. It is dark inside – the curtains are closed. He can hear the faint chirping of birds. He wants to leave.
When he flicks on the lights, nothing is out of place. There’s no indentation on the sheet covered bed. The desk chair is tucked safely against the table. There are no slashes on the wallpaper or splashes on the bed. Hyunjin rubs his brows and considers the closed door that leads to the attached bath.
Just call him, dumbass!
Okay, yes. Wow, he needs to get a grip. His phone nearly falls when he takes it out of his pocket. He saves it with agility that he has never shown. He can’t bear the thought of stopping down to pick it up and coming face to face with the gaping void under the bed. There is a scratching – He calls Jisung as he exits the room, banging it shut, and turning the lock. He is gasping now. He can hear it.
He worries his brow with his finger as he waits for Jisung to answer.
He doesn’t pick up. Of course. “God, oh god,” Hyunjin mutters, calling Changbin next. He doesn’t pick up either. “Fuck my life,” he groans. He wants to go to his car and sit there till Jisung comes back. Or find Jisung and drag him to the car by the scruff of his neck. Yes, yes, the second option sounds better.
Hyunjin’s startles hard and trips over his feet when his phone starts jangling. It’s Jisung and Hyunjin answers the call with an alacrity that he has never before shown towards anything related to Jisung.
“Where the hell are you?” Hyunjin demands, keeping his eyes trained on the wall. He doesn’t want to look at the yawning corridor ahead of him. It’s totally rational. “Did you check the rooms?”
“Nah,” Jisung’s voice sounds deeper over the phone, Hyunjin notices even over the frazzled static of his fear-soaked thoughts. “I checked the rooms in the corridor towards the left,” he continues, “then I went up to the library to check.”
“Do you mean the right?” Hyunjin says, carefully, stomach flipping again.
“Pretty sure I checked on the left.”
Exhaling slowly, Hyunjin rubs his forehead. “The doors are open – fuck it, just come downstairs and we can look for it where ever you didn’t check and we can…” he pauses, noticing something flicker from the corner of his eyes.
He turns his head mechanically towards the end of the corridor. It’s Jisung, holding the phone to his ear. “I’m here.”
“This is the corridor on the right, you ass,” Hyunjin says. The words are thick in his mouth. He cuts the call, and pockets his phone. “You obviously checked here and left all the doors fucking open.”
Jisung blinks, then flashes a sheepish smile. “Oops?”
“Good fucking God.” Hyunjin turns and marches back to the landing and turns left. “You’re so – let’s just get done with – with it.” He can’t focus on what he is saying, his mind is sounding a clarion call. He doesn’t understand it, but it is a screaming weight at the back of his mind. His body is moving by itself.
He pulls open the first door he comes across and sweeps his eyes through the room. Nothing.
“Hope it’s still here and not stolen,” Jisung says as he follows Hyunjin to another room. “Changbin hyung will lose it.”
“Yeah – well, he shouldn’t have – ah! Found it!” Hyunjin rushes into the room and towards the desk. The laptop’s open and when Hyunjin swipes his fingers on the mousepad, it comes alive. The photo on the lock screen is of Changbin, Chan and Jisung making a face at the camera. He frowns, staring at the screen.
“Thank god!” Jisung sighs, and cracks his knuckles, “let’s just go and make Changbin hyung get us dinner.”
“Yeah,” Hyunjin replies even though he isn’t listening. He doesn’t know what he is doing anymore because there’s just a dull roar in his ears. The laptop is plugged in and charging. How did they go from the cleaning people have left it on the sofa to this? He turns off the switch and unplugs the charger. It is warm. “Um.” There’s just a weight in his chest. Nothing else.
“What?”
Hyunjin tears his eyes away from the screen and closes it. He gathers the laptop and the charger and turns. His eyes fall on the dressing table mirror. He looks haggard and his hair is a mess. Jisung is standing towards his right, staring into the mirror. He raises a brow.
This is the first intact mirror that I have seen in this house , Hyunjin thinks, even as he shakes his head at Jisung and turns. First proper reflectIve surface. He moves towards the door. it's wrong! Look at Jisung! a voice in his mind says but…
They’re going down the stairs now. Witches, doppelgängers, monsters and... The front door is right there, and they’re just passing by the bathroom. It is… don’t look! A cool wind ruffles his hair when Jisung opens the door. Jisung’s mole? Is it on his left cheek? He unlocks his car and places the laptop in the backseat while Jisung locks the house. He shoves his key inside his pocket with his left hand. Coincidence .
Where is his mole? Right or left? Left or right? Hyunjin can’t really feel the steering wheel beneath his hand. It was on the right in the lock screen photo. Jisung slides into the passenger seat. Don’t look!
“Let’s go?” Jisung asks, putting on his seat belt. There are alcoves here that no one knows.
Hyunjin turns the ignition. The car rumbles and Hyunjin starts reversing. Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear. He’s driving.
He’s driving and the road is endless. They have such a long way to go.
Don’t look.
Finish.