raven ღ na jaemin

18

after dinner, haechan had been instructed to take you to your room.

"i get a room?" you asked.

"you're gonna have to share with some of us." he gave you a sheepish smile. "sorry, there's 10— there are 9 people living in this house and we definitely aren't rich enough to afford single rooms."

"i don't mind sharing a room."

"even with 4 other people? 4 grown men, to be specific?"

you hesitated. "umm..."

haechan laughed. "just consider yourself lucky that you don't have to sleep in the other room."

"why, what's the other room like?"

he shook his head, smiling. "if you had to stay in there, you'd probably rather sleep outside. but taeyong would never let you, of course."

"it's that bad?"

"well, yeah. taeyong got tired of dealing with them, so he just shoved all the bad ones into one room and let them run loose. i'm not kidding when i say this, but it's like a literal pigsty in there. snorers, sleep-talkers, and it's so messy you have to do parkour to get around. not to mention, there's always this weird smell, no matter how much taeyong tries to clean it..."

"i kind of want to see this."

"suit yourself," said haechan with a sly smile. "don't say i didn't warn you, though."

he led you up the stairs, some of which creaked as you stepped on them. upon reaching the upper floor, you were met with two doors. haechan opened the one on the right, and you saw, with horror, it was just as bad as he said it was going to be.

almost every visible inch of the room was covered in clothes and other things. you wrinkled your nose. "god, what's that smell?"

haechan laughed. "nobody knows!"

you reached for the doorknob, closing the door with a thud. "i think i've seen enough of that."

haechan led you to the other room, which, to your relief, was relatively clean.

"you can sleep there. it's winwin's old bed. we, uh, haven't been bothered to get rid of it yet."

you stared at him for a few moments, recognizing the hope that was blazing in his eyes. "you really think he's still out there somewhere?"

"he's resourceful. adaptive. if anyone can survive out there, it's winwin."

you crossed the room, squeezing through the 4 other beds, and threw yourself onto the small bed that haechan had pointed to. really, it was just a tiny mattress on the ground, but it was comfortable nonetheless. you stretched out your tired limbs, letting out a groan of satisfaction.

"you can wash up if you want. the restroom's outside down the hall. there's only one, so you should go now before the other guys take it up."

"um, i don't... have any clothes."

haechan's eyes widened. "oh. um, well. let me ask taeyong."

he left the room, and you could hear his muffled footsteps trodding down the stairs as he called, "hyung!"

you laced your fingers together on your stomach as you stared up at the ceiling. today was the most peculiar day you had experienced in your not-even-a-week's worth of memory. you peered around, looking for anything that could tell you more about this winwin that everyone was talking about.

you hopped off the bed, searching around the bed for any of his belongings. c'mon, you thought, this man must own something. your efforts ended in vain, and you decided to give up before haechan came back and saw you snooping.

but then your gaze caught on something stashed between the mattress and the wall. you crammed your fingers into the crack and managed to fish it out. it was a small, weathered journal. you brushed the dust off of it, studying it. the cover was aged, and the binding was so worn you thought it would tear. clearly, someone, probably winwin, had spent a lot of time writing in this journal.

you hesitated before opening it, not wanting to invade the privacy of someone you hadn't even met. but then again, he was missing, and what if there was something in here that could help you find him? you flipped it open, surprised to find most of the pages were ripped out hastily. you could make out some letters at the inner edge, but whatever winwin wrote in here, he sure didn't want it discovered.

or was he even the one who ripped the pages out? you thought to yourself as you flipped through the empty pages. you were on the final page when you saw letters, so faint you almost missed them. you squinted to look closer, and you could barely make out the word "raven". a small heart was etched next to it.

raven. raven. raven. you repeated the word in your mind, searching for any meaning behind it. it felt familiar to you, but you couldn't put your finger on it.

frustrated, you shut the book and carefully inserted it back into the space between the mattress and the wall. as soon as you did, the door opened. you shot up.

"what were you doing down there?" haechan asked.

"i, um, thought i saw a spider."

"oh, yuck. anyways, i have some clothes for you."

"thanks," you accepted the bundle of clothes from him. as you left the room, you nearly bumped into doyoung.

"sorry!" you squeaked as you squeezed past him.

you could feel his and haechan's gazes trailing you as you made your way to the restroom. you could barely hear doyoung's faint whisper before he was shushed by haechan: "doesn't she remind you... "

[a/n]:

omg it's been like a year since i updated oops