Cursed - Enhypen FF

Sunghoon

Jungwon walked to his room upstairs. He wanted to lay down for a while, hoping that his headache would somehow fade away.

As soon as his hand touched the doorknob, he felt something weird. Nonetheless the young man shook his head, ignoring said feeling.
After all it was probably just the headache.

He opened the door, taking a deep breath.

"Uh, Jungwon?" asked a familiar voice.

Jungwon instantly smiled, his headache forgotten for a little while.

"Hey Jay" he greeted with a smile.
"Look I don't mind you coming in here, but could you please knock before opening the door?" asked Jay.

Jungwon frowned.

"But, this is my room too" he said, not understanding why Jay would say something like that.
"What?" asked Jay, apparently as confused as his visitor. "You've always shared rooms with Jayoung."

Jungwon almost threw up in his mouth from the news. He was convinced that this was his room. That Jay was his roommate.

"Ah ah, very funny" he replied.

The only plausible answer was that Jay was pranking him. However, Jay was still looking at him with the most lost expression Jungwon had ever seen.

And it only took one look around the room for Jungwon to understand that Jay was right.

There was only one bed -the one Jay was sitting on- one wardrobe, one chair...

Jay was right, this was a one person bedroom.

"Oh, I'm.. I'm sorry" babbled Jungwon. "I... for a second there, I was sure we were roommates... I guess I was wrong..."

Jay was frowning as well.

"It's going to sound weird, but now that you mention it... It does feel right to think of you as my roommate" whispered Jay.

The two young men stayed silent for a few minutes, trying to grasp the truth.

"Why... why aren't we roommates then?" asked Jungwon, frowning.
"Aren't you roommates with Jayoung?" asked Jay. "She's your girlfriend."

And just like that, Jungwon almost threw up in his mouth again.

Everything in Jay's words felt sickening.

"Why do you look so shocked?" asked Jay.

Jungwon shook his head. He needed to get out right now.

"Sorry" he mumbled, leaving Jay and his one person bedroom behind before the latter could protest.

Jungwon was storming out of the house rapidly and soon enough he noticed something.

Or rather, he noticed someone.

Sunghoon was outside as well, and he did look as upset as Jungwon.

"Hey" he greeted, approaching the taller boy.
"Gosh, you scared me" replied Sunghoon, turning around.
"Scared?" asked Jungwon.

He would have understood Sunghoon being surprised, but scared? That didn't sound like him.

"I.. I thought you were someone else" he mumbled.

Someone el- oh

Oh

"Are... are you scared of Jayoung?" whispered Jungwon.

A cold breeze passed through them, shaking the branches of the tall trees around them.

"Well.. I think if I'm being honest I'm not scared of her" whispered Sunghoon.

"I am terrified" he added.

Jungwon nodded.

"I feel like I'm going crazy in this damned house" continued Sunghoon, apparently finally saying out loud things he had only whispered in his mind for a long time.
"I get it" added Jungwon.

Sunghoon glanced at Jungwon, trying to figure out to which extent he could open up to him.

"You know... sometimes it feels like..." started Sunghoon, letting his voice die without finishing his sentence.

"Like we're trapped..." whispered Jungwon.

"Haven't you noticed how we all seem to have those episodes of déjà vu? How we all get so many headaches?" continued Sunghoon. "That can't be normal, right?"

Jungwon slowly nodded. Sunghoon was right.

"But what could be the cause of this?" he asked.
"I... I don't know" said Jungwon. "To be honest, I've been confused ever since our home was burned down."
"That's the thing" said Sunghoon. "Do you really remember anything from before?"

Jungwon nodded.

Was it weird that he had never tried remembering his previous home?
Was it weird that he somehow didn't feel any kind of attachment regarding said home?
Was it weird that he didn't seem to care about any of this?

"To be honest.. I don't" replied Jungwon.
"I know" replied Sunghoon. "None of us does."
"What do you mean?" asked Jungwon.
"Look, we're trapped, but I don't know why. What I know is that none of us remembers life before this place, so my guess is that everything must be connected somehow" explained Sunghoon.

"There must be a good explanation" said Jungwon.
"Yes, obviously" replied Sunghoon. "The problem is that every time I get closer to any kind of answer, a headache starts and I'm forced to go to bed. I've been thinking about it and I think that these headaches are a defense mechanism."
"A defense mechanism?" asked Jungwon.
"Yeah.. I simply don't know if it's our own bodies trying to protect us from finding out the truth, or if it's... or if it is a defense mechanism someone uses against us to keep us from discovering the truth."

Jungwon nodded, trying to let things sink in. He had a lot to process.

"To be a hundred percent honest with you, I've also been thinking about the "how", as I don't know the "why"" added Sunghoon. "I've thought about the headaches, dreams and the déjà vus, everything... I think I know what is happening to us, but if it's true, we are in big trouble..."
"What do you mean?" asked Jungwon.

"What if... what if we were trapped in a loophole or something?" said Sunghoon.

Loophole.

Loophole.

Thankfully, Jungwon was sitting down, he would have lost balance otherwise. That word, loophole, was the explanation he had been looking for this whole time.

Out of nowhere, everything made sense now.
With that word also came a new realization.
There was only one person who had never complained about having headaches, weird dreams, nor déjà vus.

"Looks like I need to have a talk with Jayoung" he said, slowly getting up.