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“Are you sure you want to go through with this, young man?” the old lady asked once more, her worried gaze going from Minho, to his luggage, to his three cat carriers. “You don’t have to, we can just demolish it instead…”
The lanky boy nodded, one strand of his dark hair falling messily over his eyes. “Yes, Mrs. Kim, I’m certain. This house is perfect. And it would be a shame to destroy something as beautiful, especially when you’re renting it this cheap” he added with a smile, hoping to reassure the owner. The sooner he could get her out, the better.
“Alright, well if anything happens, you know where to find me” she insisted, sending one more glance around the house.
“I will Mrs Kim. Have a good day” Minho bowed politely, his shoulders relaxing only once the old lady shuffled out and closed the door behind her.
“Meow?”
“I know Dori, I’m sorry. Here, you guys can explore” he apologetically rushed to his cat carriers, opening them to let each of his three cats out. The little furry beings scattered away, already sniffing every dark corner of the old wooden house.
It was three stories tall, built in a Victorian style, with lots of windows, a pointy roof and a round tower on the southern side. There were at least four bedrooms, and just as many bathrooms, with an attic and a basement that were both furbished. It had a decently sized garden, with a wooden fence surrounding it, giving the house a perfect luxury-cottage aspect. It was also helped by the fact that the house stood alone at the end of a cul-de-sac, on top of a green hill, overlooking the entire neighborhood.
Minho saw all of this as great things, especially since the property was rented t the price of a small flat on the outskirts of the city – very cheap. His need for space and his wallet were both thanking him to have found this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
However, not everyone saw it the same way. There were rumors that the place was haunted. In fact, those rumors were so prevalent that they drove out fifteen tenants before him. Now, no one wanted to set foot in the creepy old wooden house that terrified kids as they passed by.
Minho didn’t care. The rent was cheap, and his cats could roam along as much as they wanted: that’s all he needed.
With a grunt, he heaved his bag up the staircase, going to the first floor to settle his things in what was to be his bedroom. He had not found out just yet how he would occupy all of the rooms. Maybe he wouldn’t. Still, he had time to think about that later on. His priorities were to make his bed, fill the fridge and go to sleep early. He never liked to sleep in late when he had a dance class in the morning.
He entered the first room he saw, which held a bedframe, a lone desk and a big window, letting all the sun from the end of the afternoon in. Just as he put his duffel bag on the bare mattress, a loud clang echoed out on the landing. Minho jumped, surprised. His wide eyes scanned his surroundings, in search of what had made the noise. He tiptoed carefully to the door, slowly peeking his head out, looking at the empty landing in front of him…
“Soonie!” he breathed out in relief. The orange cat looked guiltily up at his owner, the lamp that he’d just knocked over still swaying back and forth on the floor next to him. “We just arrived, you can’t break things yet!”
“Meoow”
“I know you’re hungry. Let me get us some food, okay?” he amended, putting his jacket back on. “I guess my bed can wait a little…” he mumbled to himself, mentally mapping out the way to the nearest grocery store.
His bed did, in fact, have to wait a while longer. Minho groaned as he stretched his limbs, sore from sleeping on the couch. Laid out on top of him, looking just like a very comfortable chicken, was Doongie. The cat stared at his owner, yawning, before kneading Minho’s chest with his little paws.
“Don’t look at me like that, you’re the reason I had to sleep here tonight” the dancer grumbled, his voice hoarse. “Since when do you claw my bed sheets? Is it because we’re in a new place?”
“Meow!” Another feline answered him, pawing at the empty food bowls.
“Alright, you little rascals, I’m getting up!”
With a now full fridge and a pop playlist playing on his phone, Minho gracefully waltzed through the kitchen, making food for all four of them. The one plate he’d managed to find at the bottom of a cupboard was filled with eggs, a toast and some vegetables that he engulfed, along with a weird tasting coffee. He put the special tang on the age of the coffee maker – which seemed to have seen a few wars – before running to his room to get dressed. Minho almost fell down the stairs, trying to put his shoes on with half his toast still in his mouth. As he took a breather to put on his rain jacket, he yelled through the house.
“I’m coming back tonight! I left a window open if you guys want to go out! See you!”
Instead of meowing, he was met with a wooden creak, making him slowly turn around. There, to his left, a door was slowly opening. The faint staircase and pitch-blackness that appeared in the opening made Minho suspect that it lead to the basement. He door stopped before hitting the wall, the darkness inviting Minho with open arms, beckoning to discover the secrets of this place.
“… Nope.”
Minho swiftly closed the basement door, turned around and made his way out of the house.
“I’m baaaack” Minho yelled as he came in, the sky behind him dark and filed with stars. “Sorry I took longer, I had to buy new sheets because of a certain someone” he emphasized heavily.
Still, it didn’t stop him from petting all three of his cats as they came running to him, rubbing up on his legs and pawing at his knees.
“Yes, yes, I know, you’re starving kitties in need of love and attention” he rolled his eyes. He went to the kitchen to feed his babies, giving them all a heaping portion. He opened the fridge to find something for himself, then reconsidered as he lifted his arm and the smell of sweat tickled his nose.
“Shower first” he grimaced, taking out a steak and putting it on the stove to settle at room temperature while he cleaned himself.
He climbed the stairs two by two and quickly chucked all his clothes off, knowing he’d quickly have to find the washer to do his ever-growing pile of laundry. Being a dance student at university left you with little other option!
The shower was a real piece of heaven, the water pressure being just right on his aching muscles as he shampooed his hair. A small creak told him that the door to the bathroom was opening, and he quickly scolded the intruder, without even opening his eyes.
“You three little scoundrels are so needy! Just give me one moment, I gotta finish showering!”
No meowing answered him, and he assumed that whichever cat it was had just left. He sighed, enjoying the water for a few more minutes before resolving himself to get out.
With a towel around his waist and another one over his hair, Minho came downstairs, ready to cook his steak. His stomach rumbled, shouting his need for food out in the open. The dancer made a beeline for the stove, knowing that’s where his meal was waiting, but stopped straight in his track. It wasn’t there.
He frowned, looking around the kitchen quickly, but there was no sign of the juicy meat that his belly was craving so loudly. With hesitant steps, Minho made his way to the fridge, opening it. There, on the first shelf, the steak was looking back at him innocently.
“What the…? I swear I put it out!” He blinked, taken aback. “Whatever, I must be more tired than I thought… Of course if I hadn’t slept on the couch, I would be more rested!” he shouted the last part over his shoulders, hearing a purr answer him from somewhere.
“Yeah, sure, you’re cute. But it won’t save your butt every time!” Minho mumbled, although he knew very well that he would forgive everything if one of his cats looked at him with their big eyes.
“Let’s get this steak ready” he opened a drawer, looking for a knife to finally start cooking and answering his body’s pleading.
Something made him halt however, as he glanced at the stove one more. There, placed neatly and in plain sight, was a butcher’s knife. The tip of the blade was directed towards the dancer, he blinked in shock.
He stared for a minute, then shook his head. “Nope.”
He grabbed the knife, threw it in the sink and rummaged through the drawers to find another one.
Minho woke up with a startle. Something was not right. He hushed his heavy breathing, ignoring the sweat that was trickling down his brow as he stayed very still in bed, trying to understand what had woken him up. A few seconds of silence passed before the sound was heard again. It was a low moaning, the type that could either be made by someone or by the wind outside.
Then, another sound, much more recognizable this time; a cat hissing.
Minho jumped out of bed, rushing to open his bedroom door. Outside, Soonie, Doongie and Dori were all waiting, hissing at the empty space of the landing. Ushering them in his room, Minho slammed the door behind them. The cats quickly jumped on his bed, still obviously nervous. Their owner followed them, sliding in his sheets, cuddling his best friends. The moaning noise was heard once more, and Minho took his pillow, slamming it over his head. “Nope!”
It had been a couple of restless nights, resulting in the huge dark circles under Minho’s eyes. He lounged on the couch, not ready to sleep yet despite his tiredness and the late hour. The moaning noise came back nightly, waking the dancer regularly and leaving him grumpy in the mornings. That night, since it was a Friday and there was no class the day after, Minho had decided to watch a movie, knowing that he wouldn’t get any sleep anyways. It was better to be in front of a screen, watching some dumb show than in your bed with your pillow over your head because of a stupid noise.
Now, Minho’s choice of a movie for the night might not have been the best idea he’d ever had. He put that on his tired state as he pressed play on the horror flick that was the most recent thing out on his streaming platform. He settled in the couch, a blanket over his legs and a bucket of homemade popcorn next to him, with what looked like at least two cats in his lap. Insensitive to the gory horror that happened on the screen, he pet the mass of fluff under his hand, the purring comforting him.
Sleep had almost won him over, as he nodded off in front of the TV. Another idiot character was walking through the woods at night alone, and Minho only had enough strength to scoff at their lack of foresight as a werewolf loomed behind them. He was ready for another jump scare, he truly was. He’d stopped being startled after the second one. With the way this movie was abusing the technic, this had to be at least the 35th jump in the past sixty minutes.
Still, when it happened, Minho jumped.
Not because of the movie, or the fake looking werewolf that was now eating its prey. Not because of the loud music that came from the speakers, or the flashing lights on the screen. He jumped because something else had made a noise. In the house.
Also partially because his three cats had leaped so high in the air, fur fluffed up and claws out, that he felt like he had a mini-heart attack.
The dancer cautiously stood up, tiptoeing to the entrance. The noise sounded like something broke upstairs. Carefully, he made his way up, one step at a time. It didn’t sound like it came from the first floor, which he was occupying. It sounded like it was up. On the second floor, which he’d never visited yet. His breath faltered as he called out: “Hello?”
Only silence answered him as he made his way one floor up, to another, more desolate landing. Everything here seemed covered in a thick layer of dust, as if no one had been there for years. Minho composed himself, shaking his hands to help alleviate his nervousness and fully stepped on the landing with an ominous creak.
Only one door was opened. Peaking in slowly, Minho saw that it was one of the many bathrooms, plunged in the dark and covered in cobwebs. The one thing that seemed freshly out of place however was the mirror. It was broken in pieces, some of the glass shards laying in the sink, others on the floor. A quick flick of Minho’s fingers on the switch inundated the room in light, which immediately helped appease the boy. He looked at the mess, at the mirror, and then turned the light off.
“Nope,” he shrugged, closing the door behind him so his sneaky little pets wouldn’t cut themselves on the shards.
“I tried everything. EVERYTHING!” Jisung shouted, waving his arms around wildly. “Did you see that, Chan? He didn’t even flinch!”
The dark-haired boy pointed towards the retreating human. “After all those efforts, he’s just gonna go back to sleep on the couch with his cats!” he yelled dramatically, slapping his face in desperation.
“He has been here a full week. Longer than anyone else” Seungmin nodded in faint admiration, floating a few inches off the floor.
“It’s okay Sungie, we’ll get him out, like all the others” Hyunjin patted his friend on the shoulder reassuringly. “I’m sure if Lix keeps moaning in his ear every night, he’ll go away out of pure tiredness.”
“You’ve already been hard on this guy” Chan frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. “What if he’s not scared of us? Maybe he’d make a good housemate?”
“NO!” Jisung yelled, glaring daggers at the oldest.
“You know how Sungie feels about this,” Changbin scolded Chan. “He wants the house only to ourselves – meaning, abandoned by the rest of the world.”
“Yeah, but Jisung is also right when he says that we tried everything on this guy” Felix piped up from where he was sat on the rail of the landing. “I mean, I even switched his salt and sugar pots! He’s been drinking salty coffee for a week without complaining” he whined.
Silence fell over the other six boys as they looked at their sunshine member, who’s worst idea of haunting a place was to switch the salt and the sugar.
“Yeah… we tried everything” Jeongin added unconvincingly, staring back at the others. “I don’t know how many times I can ‘misplace’ items in the house, it’s getting tiresome.”
“There’s one thing we haven’t done” Chan said with a wince, wanting to take his words back as soon as they were out of his mouth.
“What is it?” Jisung jumped in anticipation, eyes wide.
“We haven’t… made stuff move in front of him.”
“Minho,” Seungmin added, matter-of-factly.
“Uh?”
“His name. It’s Minho.”
“Oh… well, yes, we haven’t made stuff move or levitate in front of Minho. That’s a sure-fire way of getting him to run away like the others.
“Of course! I’ll go do it now!” Changbin rushed off, floating downstairs at high speed.
“Wait hyung! Not tonight. It’s not because we’re ghosts that we’ve got bad manners. If we scare him off now, he would be out in the dark with his three kitties! Or worse, he could abandon them! No, let’s do this during daytime,” Felix insisted.
Changbin grumbled but would never disobey Felix’s wishes, of course. So, with hope renewed amongst the small group of ghosts, they went back to their attic for the night.
Minho had never slept better since he moved into the house a week prior. He stretched, smiling at the sunlight from the window, predicting a great Sunday. He hadn’t heard one peep during the night, nothing broke and his pajama was just where he’d left it before. Things seemed to be coming back to normal, finally!
With a smile, he got out of bed, putting his usual pop playlist on as he made his way downstairs. He expected Soonie, Doongie and Dori to come and great him at the kitchen door as usual, claiming loudly to be fed, but his boys weren’t in sight.
Frowning, Minho kept going all the way to the living room, where he saw what the hold-up was. His three pets were in a corner, hissing, as a chair floated above the table. It was moving up and down, like a ship rocking at sea, and Minho’s mouth dropped right open.
He blinked a few times, took his breath, and shouted.
“STOP!”
Silence fell. There was no more hissing, and while the chair was still floating, it wasn’t moving anymore.
“Stop. This is getting ridiculous. Put the chair down, please,” Minho sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Wait… Is he talking to us?” Jeongin whispered, unwilling to move by fear of breaking the stand-still.
“Yes, I’m talking to you. To all… seven of you! Gosh, I didn’t think there were so many” Minho muttered.
“Wait… You can see us?” Hyunjin exclaimed, shocked.
“Yes, I can see ghosts, one of my ancestors was a chaman, yada yada,” Minho brushed off their stunned faces with a quick swipe of his hand. “Now, usually I live well with ghosts. I don’t bother them; they don’t bother me. Soonie, Doongie and Dori don’t like ghosts very much, but they can tolerate them. But you guys… You just keep making my life a living hell! And I don’t know what to do about it anymore! I even left you the whole last floor to do your own stuff!”
Minho finished his rent, a little red in the face and with his arms crossed, indignation seeping out of him like a black cloud.
“We’re… sorry?” was Chan’s first reflex as he saw the unpleased young man in front of them.
“No we’re not!” Jisung fought back, placing his hands on his hips. “This is our house and nobody else’s! So, just like all the others before you, you’re gonna leave!”
“This house will be demolished if no one leaves in it,” Minho explained very simply. “I am the last person that the owner is willing to let in here. If I leave, you guys leave too.”
“But… we can’t leave,” Felix frowned, shaking his head.
“Are you guys attached to the house?” Minho asked, tilting his head.
“We died here, of course we’re attached to the house” Jisung stated, as if it was obvious.
“Well, you’ll learn that not all ghosts are linked to a place,” Minho explained, gritting his teeth to not let a snarky comment slide. “Usually, it happens if your death was brutal, or unexpected.”
“It was… unexpected I mean,” Seungmin quickly added, seeing Minho’s eyes widening. “CO2 poisoning. It was quick. None of us felt it.”
“Were you all roommates?”
“Bandmates. We were actually practicing in the attic when it happened. This house belonged to Jisung’s family, but they sold it after the accident,” Chan explained in a soft voice.
“And now you don’t want any tenants because…?” Minho asked, intrigued.
“Because this is our place, no one else’s” Jisung hammered, set on his position.
“If we had to share this space with someone who couldn’t even see us, without being able to go anywhere else, it would be…” Jeongin started, wincing at the thought.
“Hell. It would be hell,” Hyunjin completed, nodding.
“Really? You’re a bunch of ghosts who’re scared to have a bad roommate?” Minho summed up, lifting an eyebrow.
“Well, when you say it like that…” Felix pouted.
“But you said the house would be demolished if no one stays in it?” Changbin frowned, floating closer to the human.
The dancer nodded. “Mrs Kim and pretty much half of the townspeople are sure this house is haunted – and for a good reason. She wanted to demolish the house after the last tenants left, but I managed to convince her to let me try to live here first. I knew if it truly was a ghost problem, I could solve it.”
“Why didn’t you tell us before, though? You made it seem like you couldn’t see us at all!” Jisung stammered.
“I wanted to see what type of ghosts you are: good, annoying, or evil.”
“And?” Hyunjin asked curiously.
“You definitely fall in the annoying category” Minho deadpanned.
“Hey!” Jisung shouted, offended. The loud noise sent all three cats flying out of the room in a flutter of hisses.
“Like I said: annoying,” Minho insisted, glaring at Jisung. “Now, I can do you a favor. If you leave my cats and I alone, we won’t bother you either and I’ll stay here so the house doesn’t get demolished. You’ll see, I’m told I’m a pretty good roommate. In the meantime, I can look for a way to help free you from the house…”
“We can’t do that!” Jisung whined, turning to the others.
“We might not have a choice, Sungie,” Chan explained. “Minho, will you give us a minute?”
“Of course.”
The dancer watched as all seven of the boys floated away to the kitchen, hushed whispers following them. A sound caught his attention, coming from upstairs this time. He stayed still, making abstraction of the group of ghosts chattering next door to focus on the upper floors. Something else was hiding there, but it was lurking in the shadows, not revealing its presence.
“We’ve decided.”
“Ah!” Minho jumped, startled by Chan’s voice behind him. “What?”
“Your proposition. We’ve decided that you can stay,” Chan explained, glancing at him with a concerned look.
“Oh. Great. Alright, I’ll head to sleep now, please stop moaning during the night?” Minho asked distractedly, glancing at the stairs once more.
“Yup, sorry, that was my fault,” Felix raised his hand apologetically.
“I can’t believe we’re letting him stay” Jisung huffed, turning his back to his friends to show his disapproval.
“Good night, see you in the morning,” Minho said, unbothered. He climbed up the stairs, stopping at the landing, before the second step of stairs that lead up. He understood that it was the ghosts main living area, and he would keep his promise about not bothering them. He wouldn’t trespass in that space. However, something was bothering him. Something bigger than seven boyish ghosts throwing a temper tantrum.
“Minho?”
“Ah! Chan! You have to stop doing this!” Minho yelled, turning around to find the boy at his side. He was alone however, the dancer feeling the other’s presence still downstairs in the living room.
“Something is upsetting you. Can you share what it is with me?”
Minho frowned, looking at the boy. He was young; they all were. Their deaths had obviously been unexpected, and they’d had to face the other side on their own, with no one to guide them. Still, Chan was concerned about something that was bothering Minho, like he wanted to help him. These ghosts might’ve not all been as annoying as he thought, in the end.
“It’s something I can feel. A presence. How much do you know about the afterlife, Chan?”
“Uhm… I know that we can’t leave the house, and that we’ll be stuck here probably until the end of times, or until the house is demolished?”
“Well, that’s the thing. No one stays here until the end of time. There’s an expiration date, even on ghosts,” Minho explained, memories of his grandmother sharing this knowledge with him when he was barely ten-years-old resurfacing.
“An expiration date? Like… a second death?”
“Yes. And it can be brutal,” Minho added in a whisper. “Basically, if you don’t manage to fulfill your last wishes and break all the ties that link you to this world, an entity comes for you. It’s like death, but for ghosts. And from what I’ve heard, it’s much better to go out of here by your own means than by waiting for this thing to take you away.”
“And you think it’s after us?” Chan whispered back, anxious.
Minho nodded. “I believe the other presence I can feel in the house… it’s the entity. It’s coming for you guys.”
“You have to help us get out of here before that!” Chan hurriedly begged, looking at Minho with pleading eyes.
“I will do my best,” the dancer promised. “For now, try to think of what could be the thing that forces you all to stay here, and we’ll meet tomorrow to discuss it.”
“Alright… Thank you, Minho” Chan sincerely said, bowing at the boy.
Minho bowed back, retreating to his room, and slipping in between his sheets. He felt that the upcoming day would be eventful.
“Alright, so what do you think is forcing you guys to stay in this house? Does anyone have any unfinished business?” Minho clapped in his hands as they all sat in a circle on his rug in the living room.
He’d made himself a cup of coffee – with sugar this time – and was ready to start searching for a solution to his new roommates’ problem.
“We talked about it last night, but nothing really came up,” Chan said, disappointed.
“Really? No one could think of something?” Minho raised a brow.
He quickly scanned the group, seeing open and earnest faces until he landed on Jisung’s. The boy was as flighty as a bat; it was obvious he was hiding something.
“What about you, Sungie? Do you have something to share? This was your family’s house after all,” Minho purposefully goaded him, knowing the dark-haired boy’s short temper.
“I have no idea! If I did I would share, you dumbass!” Jisung quickly answered, crossing his arms.
“Jisung!” Changbin scolded.
“Nah, it’s okay, I’m sure it’s not linked to him. It has to be something important, meaningful. I’m not sure he even knows what that means” Minho scoffed, glancing at Jisung’s shaking form.
“You little-“
Minho didn’t even let him finish, something taking over him as he kept on egging the boy. “Seeing how childish he is, he probably doesn’t even understand the depths of the emotions that are necessary to trap a ghost to a place!”
Minho felt more than he heard his voice darken, as a sick smile made its way across his lips. This was wrong. He didn’t want to smile.
“Minho?” Chan asked worriedly.
“Come on, we all know you’re not brave enough to share your secret with everybody. Why don’t you just forget about all of this, uh? You want me out of here? I’ll go, you don’t even have to ask. Enjoy having the house to yourself,” Minho kept going, even as a pit of despair opened in his chest.
Leaving was the last thing he wanted to do, especially since it would condemn the boys. The house would be destroyed, and their souls with it, without the possibility go to the other side.
“Minho!” Changbin yelled, frightened.
In the reflection of the glass coffee table, Minho saw himself. Or what had taken over himself. He had shining red eyes, and a dark smoke surrounded him, like an aura. He was smiling from ear to ear, with pointy teeth and black veins covered his pale face.
“Minho, stop!”
But it wasn’t Minho. Not anymore. It was the entity.
It had taken over the best vessel to fulfill his duty to bring the seven ghosts to their doom. As a human, Minho was easily controllable, and playing with their emotions could push them just over the edge, to their breaking point. Minho started laughing uncontrollably, a sinister giggle that turned into a full-on laughing fit, louder and louder and lo-
“I LOVE THEM!”
A voice broke out amongst the cacophony, taking everyone by surprise. Even Minho was taken aback, mouth closing as he blinked at Jisung.
“I… I love them. I love you” the boy reiterated, in a softer voice this time. “That’s why you’re all trapped here with me. Because I love you, all of you, and I couldn’t admit it when I was alive. Still today, it’s hard to say the words. I’m afraid that things will change between us; I really don’t want that to happen. We can just stay bandmates and best friends for the rest of eternity, I don’t care. I just don’t want you guys to hate me…” Jisung finished, almost on a sob, as he hugged himself, looking down at the floor.
“I love you all. That’s my secret,” he added, more firmly this time, sniffling and lifting his head up, staring straight at Minho this time. “So, whatever or whoever you are, you will leave us be!”
Minho’s eyes widened, seeming to process the information, before he gasped loudly. His whole body shook as he felt like his soul snapped back in place, the dark smoke around him vanishing with a breeze. Passing a tongue over his teeth, he felt them just as round as usual.
“Was… was that the entity you told us about yesterday?” Jeongin whispered to Chan, who looked panicked.
“I think so? I’m not- … Minho, are you okay?”
The dancer blinked once, twice, letting the red haze disappear from his sight, before nodding. “Yeah, just peachy.” He then turned to Jisung with a smile, but a real one this time. One with a touch of sass mixed in sincere admiration. “Congratulations Sungie, you did it. You chased the entity away and broke the spell binding you all to this house!”
Despite the good news, no one applauded, or cheered, or did anything really. They all just stared at each other, looking like lost puppies.
Jisung was the worst, staring at the floor, playing nervously with his hands in his lap. “I’m sorry. I know you must hate me. You can leave now, be free. I’ll stay here so you won’t have to see me again…”
The boy had varely finished his sentence that Hyunjin was jumping over him, crushing him in a hug.
“I love you too, you big idiot!” He exclaimed. “Maybe not to the full extent of what you feel, but I sure do love you and your big heart! And it won’t change anything in our friendship,” he said almost menacingly as he turned to glare at the others.
A chorus of “no way! of course not!” and “absolutely” answered him, with a few more people joining the ghost pile. Minho smiled, a feeling of fulfillment washing over him.
“And you? Will you be okay?” A voice whispered in his ear, and this time, Minho didn’t jump.
“Yes Chan, I will be. It’s not every day that I get possessed by an entity, but I’m perfectly fine now. Do we have to talk about me moving out again since you’re all free to go where you want now?” he asked, tilting his head towards Chan.
“I don’t want to leave!” Jeongin loudly shouted, followed my Seungmin. “Me neither, I’m perfectly chill here”.
“I don’t think any of us wants to go,” Felix assured, squeezing Jisung’s hand in his.
“I’m glad you all still want to live together” Minho smiled sincerely.
“And you too. If… I’d like it if you stayed too. If you want that, of course,” Jisung added, staring almost shyly at Minho.
The human was surprised, not expecting Jisung out of everyone to ask him to stay. Still, he’d settled pretty nicely in the house over the past week – if you ignored a few incidents – and Soonie, Doongie and Dori never had such a huge place to explore and live in before. Plus, having a few extra roommates actually didn’t bother him. He was certain it would make his days more entertaining.
“Sure, I’ll stay” he said with a smile, encouraged by the loud cheers that came from the band of seven ghosts. His new friends.