Stray Gods (SLOW UPDATES BUT NOT ABANDONED)

Chapter 2

3,5 Y E A R S    L A T E R

The alarm clock rang and you opened your eyes.

There was already some light shining through the drawn curtains.

You stretched and sat up in your bed.

The room around you was familiar. After all, it was the same room you had spent the last three years in. There was a desk opposite your bed with a standing mirror beside it. The string of fairy lights above your bed shone dimly, shining some light on the cream-coloured walls.

With a yawn, you climbed out of bed.

It was hard to find a clean outfit in the pile of clothes that decorated both your floor and your chair. You made a quick mental note to do some laundry later. While getting dressed, you took a quick peek at the wall above your desk.

It was filled with drawings, clippings, and pictures. You looked at them every single morning and every night before you went to bed. There was a picture of each of the guys on your wall, some of you and one or a few of them together. Some pictures were group pictures and some fell more into the category of blackmail material.

You chuckled at the picture of Hyunjin and Felix together, both wearing facemasks and hairbands with the pouting looks on their faces immortalised when you had sneaked in and made the picture. They had scolded you at first, something about invading their privacy, but when you had given them both a copy of the picture, they too had pinned it to their walls.

There were some dried flowers on the wall too, which Han had given to you, so your room would smell nice, and a lucky charm you had gotten from Jeongin for your exams.

You smiled seeing those memories.

It had been around three and a half years since the boys had found you. After your decision to stay until your memories returned they had done everything to try and help you. But the memories hadn't returned. The time before you had met them just didn't seem to exist. Minho, Changbin, and Hyunjin had even been through police archives in hopes of finding something. But there had been nothing. No name, no birthdate, no family members. It was as if you didn't even exist.

So instead you had chosen a name for yourself. As a surname, you had decided on Park as it was common and simple.

Lino and Felix had both estimated your age to be around 16 when they found you. After much deliberation between you and the guys, you had gone to high school. You needed something to do to fill your days anyway and they were hoping someone somewhere might recognize you if you'd go out there. But that never happened.

But high school had come and gone. You could remember the proud looks on their faces when they had come to your graduation. Their cheers had been louder than anyone else's when your name had been called out, and for the first time ever they had made you feel kind of embarrassed about them.

Most of the time, though, you were glad to have all eight of them. Their handsome appearance and their constant need to check in on you, drop you off at school, and pick you up, had made you quite "popular". Back then, not a day had gone by when a classmate (mostly girls) had asked you about them.

'Are they your uncles?

Are they your brothers?

Do you know them?

Is he your boyfriend?

How old are they?

What's his name?

Can I have his number?'

The questions never stopped. Sometimes you found it quite annoying but oftentimes you didn't mind as much. After all, it was quite unusual for a girl your age to live with eight other men if they weren't family members.