WHO ARE YOU?|ATEEZ FANFIC (In Editing Progress)

Chapter 9|Illusion in the sea

That night, Yeosang just couldn’t sleep. With his eyes open, he was laying on his back in the center of the bed between Wooyoung and San, who both had an arm and a leg around him and were snuggling up to him like a sticky octopus. Although it was relatively cool outside that night, it was practically impossible for Yeosang to freeze in this bed with the two boys pressed against him like that. He was sweating from the tight embrace, felt the heat coming from their bodies, but he was sure that wasn’t the reason for his insomnia. That was exactly how he had slept the last couple of nights. Yes, at first he had needed to get used to it. Not only was he not used to being cuddled all night long, but also he was not used to being close to the other boys and especially with Wooyoung he never thought he could be that close. He was happy about it though and that’s why he hadn’t had any problems sleeping in their embrace until now, but that night something was different. No matter what he did, he just couldn’t fall asleep. He turned to Wooyoung, turned to San, turned to his stomach, turned to his back, but he just couldn’t find a comfortable sleeping position. He was also pretty sure that it wasn’t the bear snoring that he could hear from the living room. He was used to Mingi snoring like that after all and it wasn’t so extremely loud, that it would be keeping him awake. After a while, Mingi’s snoring even subsided and stopped completely, but even then Yeosang couldn’t fall asleep. It frustrated him. Outside the bedroom window, the birds in the trees were already beginning to chirp, announcing the arrival of next day with the sun slowly raising on the horizon, and a light breeze was blowing past the window. The next morning was already dawning. Frustrated, Yeosang rubbed his eyes and yawned.

It doesn’t work… I can’t sleep…

He thought to himself and then carefully freed himself from the tight embrace of the two cuddle-addicts. He sat up straight and sighed. The early first sunlight  broke through the curtains into the room and shone in his face. He raised his eyebrows and grumbled quietly. Tired, he rubbed his eyes and yawned extensively, before he quietly and carefully slid forward on the mattress to the edge of the bed. When he stood, he raised his arms above his head and stretched thoroughly, until something in his neck and back area cracked quietly, then he tiptoed out of the room, careful not to wake anyone. He carefully opened the bedroom door and sneaked out of the room, through the hallway and into the bathroom, where he freshened up, before he quietly tiptoed down the stairs. The quiet ticking of the clock was the only sound Yeosang could hear on the ground floor. As he stepped down the last step, he turned toward the living room, where he expecting to see Hongjoong and Mingi sleeping, but he was surprised when he saw only Hongjoong. The armchair where Mingi usually slept was empty. Yeosang frowned in surprise.

“That explains the silence in the house.” He whispered to himself. He looked at Hongjoong, who was lying on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, sleeping peacefully. A pout adorned his plump lips and his hair was a total mess, as if someone had ruffled it aggressively. His position didn’t look particularly comfortable. He was lying on his back, one arm hanging from the couch and one leg stretched over the backrest, his chin pressed against his chest because of the way too big pillow under his head. That couldn't be comfortable, and yet Hongjoong slept like a baby. Yeosang would never understand why Hongjoong didn’t just sleep upstairs with Seonghwa. The bed was big enough and certainly had enough room for a boy of Hongjoong’s small stature. The front door was locked, so intruders would have to find another way into the house, through the window or with force through the door and that would most likely wake up somebody, so Hongjoong sleeping here in the living room was not really necessary. Yeosang shrugged und looked over at the empty armchair again. Where was Mingi? He turned around to the entrance area of the house, where the boys had their shoes stored in a small shoe cabinet next to the door. Mingi’s shoes were missing. If he was out for a walk? Yeosang tiptoed over to the shoe cabinet and grabbed his pair of shoes, put them on before quietly opening the front door and going outside. The fresh breeze that blew in from the water hit Yeosang as he walked down the narrow gravel path to the garden gate and blew the mint-colored strands of hair out of his face. He narrowed his eyes slightly and took a deep breath of the fresh air surrounding him. The morning beach was awash in cool colors and gentle waves broke on the shore against the cliffs at the edge of the rock wall that completely framed the town and the beach in a U-formed shape. Yeosang opened the garden gate and stepped onto the grey asphalt road that bordered the beach before taking off his shoes and dipping his feet into the white sand. He looked around. The song of the birds grew louder as the sun rose on the eastern horizon and the first calls of the seagulls echoed across the beach. They flew in circles over the coast where they had built their nests. Yeosang smiled at the sight before walking barefoot along the road to the beach. Small white grains of sand tickled between his toes with every step. It was a pleasant feeling and it relaxed him. As he walked, he kept his gaze fixed on the deserted city. It was a mystery to him why there was no one else here. This city was so beautiful that he would have expected to meet someone even at this time of day for a morning jogging session or someone taking their dog for a early walk. But there was no one. However, as empty and lonely this town felt for him, if he was honest he actually preferred it like this. He was content not to be confronted with any more strangers when he was already having trouble socially interacting with the seven boys. What he was most happy about, however, was that since he was locked in this glass box he didn’t have to meet another Halateez. His last encounter with a Halateez was deeply burned into his memory. It wasn’t the fact that they had ambushed him and locked him up, or that they wanted to let him die in that glass box, that had taught Yeosang to fear the Halateez. Rather, it was the feeling that Yeosang had as he stood in the glass box, the Halateez on the other side of the glass opposite him, with whom he had maintained eye contact for a little while before Wooyoung and Mingi had entered the room. One detail that Yeosang had left out of his story to Hongjoong and the others was what the Halateez looked like. Even now, the memory of it sent shivers down Yeosang’s spine. Unlike the Halateez on the screen in the warehouse, the Halateez in front of him was not wearing a mask to cover his face, so Yeosang could see his face clearly. Sharp almond-shaped empty eyes, gray in color, his hair strawberry blonde and a face that Yeosang knew just too well. A birthmark had adorned his left eye. It was his face. Yeosang wasn’t quite sure, if it was reality, or if it was the result of his lack of oxygen inside theglass box. It must’ve been. A hallucination was the only way Yeosang could explain the enormous resemblance. The Halateez really did look just like him, only he seemed a little younger and somehow lifeless. Pale skin, dull empty eyes that looked at him with a hint of sadness in them. The others certainly wouldn’t have believed him if he had told them that the Halateez was his spitting image. He would’ve probably sounded insane to them. He himself didn’t know, if what he saw was real or just his head playing games on him. He just knew, that if any of the others would’ve told him something like that, without Yeosang actually seeing it, he wouldn’t have believed it. It sounded way to crazy.