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

Chapter 19|The Dance of the Blue Butterfly

Wooyoung lay awake, wrapped up in his blanket, alone in the king-sized bed, looking out of the window where the moon shone brightly in the sky and illuminated his room. He had been lying there like that for hours, tossing and turning on the soft mattress, but he just couldn't fall asleep. He was wearing fresh dark blue pajamas with light blue dots on them that he had found in the closet opposite the bed, luckily for him, because the clothes he had worn before urgently needed to be washed. Especially since Wooyoung had finally been able to take a shower today, he didn't want to wear those dirty, muddy clothes again before they had enjoyed the luxury of the washing machine that they had started up in the kitchen. Immediately after Wooyoung had come out of the bathroom to leave San alone to shower and give him some space after the treatment Wooyoung had to put him through, Seonghwa had arranged for them all to go shower one after the other so that he could then turn on the washing machine. He would only make food when they were all wearing fresh clothes. The others reluctantly agreed with him. Although they were all very hungry and would have liked to eat something right away, they understood what Seonghwa meant when he said that he didn't want them to sit at the dinner table so dirty and smelly. When they were all clean again and wearing fresh clothes, Seonghwa started the washing machine and prepared the food. It was nothing special. In the pantry, which Jongho had finally been able to open after the situation at the front door, there were only canned goods, with which he tried to conjure up a somewhat edible meal and even though it didn't taste particularly good, the boys still had a lot to eat and were all full at the end. So they had spent their evening washing, showering and eating and then were all so exhausted that they immediately went upstairs to sleep after helping Seonghwa in the kitchen. The fact that there were enough rooms in the house so that everyone could have their own room suited some of the boys preferences more than others. While it felt like a dream for Hongjoong to finally sleep in his own room and his own bed, far from Mingi's snoring, Wooyoung, for example, did not feel comfortable at all. The bed he was lying in was big and comfortable, but without his friends he was just cold and lonely. When he finally gave up on sleeping, he sat up cross-legged in bed and sighed. He rubbed his tired eyes and pondered what he should do now. Sitting motionless in bed was not how he wanted to spend the night. He looked around in frustration when his gaze fell on the door to the room and he hesitated for a moment.

Would Yeosang let me into his bed? Maybe he was still awake. Or maybe San.

He thought, longing for someone whose breathing he could at least listen to. Since he woke up in the desert, not a single night had passed in which he could not hear the calming breathing of one of his friends, and not hearing it now made Wooyoung feel as if he had lost her. Yeosang was barely a few meters away from him in the next room, but Wooyoung could neither see nor hear him and that was killing him. After wrangling with himself for a moment about whether he should really go over, he finally kicked off his blanket and swung his legs out of bed. He stood up and tiptoed over to the door, grabbed the door handle and then carefully pushed it down. With a quiet squeak, Wooyoung opened the door and stuck his head out into the hallway. It was pitch black. Only a little of the moonlight from outside shone through his open door, illuminating the hallway just enough for Wooyoung to see the outlines of doors. As he was closing the door behind him, his eyes needed a moment to come to terms with the darkness. When he could see a little again, he wanted to head towards Yeosang's room, turned around, but his heart sank in shock and he took a huge step back.

"Shit fuck damnit-" he held his hand over his mouth to suppress his curse and not wake the others when he recognized the pink pajamas that Yeosang was wearing. The mint-haired man stood somewhat perplexed in front of Wooyoung in the hallway, with his pillow under his arm and completely sleepy. Relieved that it was just Yeosang, Wooyoung took a deep breath before looking at him questioningly.

"Yeosang? What are you doing?" He asked and Yeosang just shrugged.

"I could ask you the same thing. I almost punched you." They were silent for a brief moment and Wooyoung noticed how Yeosang carefully tried to hide the pillow in his hands behind his back, as if Wooyoung hadn't already seen it. It made Wooyoung smile. The whole way Yeosang stood there, hiding his pillow in pink pajamas and with a slightly embarrassed expression on his face, made the otherwise cool Yeosang look like a five-year-old who had been woken up by a nightmare and now wanted to crawl into bed with his parents. Wooykung pulled a face, pretending to be clueless.

"Are you going somewhere?" He asked, Yeosang pulled his lips into a slight pout before countering Wooyoung's question with a counter question.

"And you? Where are you going in the middle of the night." An awkward silence fell over the two of them. Caught, Wooykung lowered his gaze and looked at his feet.

"Nowhere." He muttered, when suddenly the sound of a door squeaking sounded behind him and he jumped in shock and turned around, only to see the door opposite his own room open and look into the tired face of Yunho, who was sulking out of his room in yellow pajamas with white paw prints on them and looked at the two boys in the hallway in bewilderment, then grinned amusedly.

"Can't you sleep either?" He asked, knowing full well why the two would be standing in the hallway at this time if not for that. The two hesitated, looked at each other briefly and then nodded. Yunho nodded too and closed his bedroom door behind him.

"I thought so." He said and sighed.

"You too?" Yeosang asked and Yunho nodded.

"I can't sleep in these beds. They're much too big for one person." The two immediately agreed with a nod before Yunho looked around the hallway.

"Where were you going?" he asked curiously, but the two just shrugged uncertainly.

"I was thinking of going to San." Wooyoung muttered and Yunho gave Wooyoung a small grin.

"Who would have thought." He joked, which confused Wooyoung, but Yunho didn't give him a chance to ask before turning to Yeosang.

"And you?" Yeosang shrugged again and then scratched the back of his tousled head.

"I would say San too." He agreed with Wooyoung and Yunho nodded contentedly.

"Then let's go to San." He turned around and away from the two to sneak towards San's room. Yeosang and Wooyoung followed him, but when they reached the very end of the hallway and stood in front of San's bedroom door, Wooyoung hesitated and held back Yunho, who was just about to grab the door handle.

"What if he's already asleep?" He asked and Yunho just shrugged.

"Then we'll just sneak in." Wooyoung folded his arms in front of his chest, raising his eyebrows.

"Don't you think that will wake him up?" He asked, but Yunho just ignored him, turned to the door and pushed the door handle down as quietly as he could. When it was ajar, the three carefully stuck their heads through the opening and sneaked into San's room and contrary to what they had expected, namely to find a soundly sleeping San, the blonde was sitting upright in his bed and looked somewhat surprised over at the door, where he saw the three intruders and sighed slightly in frustration.

"You too?" He asked and the three nodded together. San couldn't help but smile as the three looked at him with wide eyes, almost begging. He wasn't surprised that none of them could sleep. Neither could he. Partly it was because he was in pain, which he would never admit to his friends, especially not to Wooyoung, who had already felt bad enough that evening after patching San up, but a large part of San's insomnia was due to the same reason he suspected the boys had. He was lonely. San sighed once and then pulled his blankets away from him to make room for the three of them.

"Come here." The boys didn't need to be told twice. Yunho opened the door before he and Yeosang rushed to San's bed, who of course fell on Yunho, who quickly ran to San's bed with his long legs and immediately jumped into bed next to the blond. Yeosang looked grimly at the tall boy, who snuggled into bed next to San with a broad grin, before Yeosang also climbed onto the bed at the edge and punched Yunho in the arm.

"You cheated!" he scolded quietly, which made Yunho giggle.

"Not at all."

"Yes, you did!" Yeosang countered.

"With your unnecessarily long legs. Cheater!" He kicked Yunho with his knee, whereupon Yunho pulled a pouty face and wrapped himself under San's blanket. Wooyoung closed the door behind him, amused, and then walked through the room and around the large bed, where he lay down on the soft mattress on the other side of the bed to the right of San. He slid as close as he could without wanting to get on San's nerves and took what Yunho and Yeosang had left him from the blanket.

"Anyone who pulls on the blanket will be thrown out." San warned the three of them, which made Yunho grin.

"That's OK for both of you, isn't it?" He joked to Yeosang and Wooyoung, who were both lying there with the last bit of blanket and while Wooyoung just shrugged his shoulders, Yeosang grumbled angrily at Yunho.

"Yes, because you cheated." He kicked Yunho in the leg again, for which he received the revenge of the big man, who reached out and tickled Yeosang's ribs with his fingers. Yeosang immediately flinched and cringed.

"N-no! No tickling-"

"Psst!" San said seriously and the two of them immediately became quiet and pulled themselves together. Frustrated and rolling his eyes, San turned to his side and saw only Wooyoung's back. The black-haired man had covered himself with the blanket as best he could and kept a slight distance from San. He smiled. That was exactly what he had missed so much. The quiet commotion in the overcrowded beds, the arguing about the blanket. He had missed Yeosang always complaining about only getting the pathetic remains of the blanket, or Yunho, who loved to snuggle up to others at night, but in the beach house his mistake had been to keep venturing to Jongho, which usually ended with Yunho ending up on the floor. What he had also missed was that it was always somehow warmer in bed with others, but that was not the case in this bed. Lying on the edge of the bed with his legs outside the blanket and only a bit of his upper body covered by the blanket, Wooyoung quickly started to feel cold. He shivered slightly while the two on the other side of the bed became quieter and as if by magic, they fell asleep in San's bed after just a few minutes. When San, who was trying to sleep behind Wooyoung, finally noticed that Wooyoung was so cold, he opened his eyes and looked at the black-haired man with concern. He lifted his head from his pillow and turned slightly to look at Yeosang and Yunho, who were both already in dreamland and sleeping peacefully. Convinced of this, San slid back a little, closer to Yunho, which left a little more blanket on his and Wooyoung's side of the bed. Then he cleared his throat and Wooyoung flinched slightly in shock. He turned a little, confused, and looked questioningly at San, who lifted the blanket a little and opened his arms for him.

"Come here." He whispered quietly and Wooyoung looked at him questioningly when he finally understood what San wanted. Cuddles. He hesitantly followed this invitation and slid a little closer to San until San managed to put his right arm around Wooyoung's waist and pull the younger boy close to him with a firm tug. With red cheeks, Wooyoung lay in San's arm. He also carefully put his left arm around Wooyoung, careful not to put too much strain on the arm and Wooyoung, who needed a moment to get comfortable in the embrace, then snuggled up to San's warm and muscular chest, breathing deeply. They were silent for a moment. While San snuggled up to Wooyoung with a smile, rested his chin on Wooyoung's crown and tenderly ran his fingers through his hair, Wooyoung breathed in the sweet scent of the shampoo that San had used in the shower. Although the hug was so peaceful and comfortable, Wooyoung couldn't help but worry for a moment.

"Does it still hurt a lot?" he whispered questioningly, referring to San's freshly stitched wound, and San shook his head.

"It's getting better." He answered half-honestly. While it hurt a little less than it did when he was eating or showering, it still hurt a lot, but he didn't want to tell Wooyoung that. It was clear that it would hurt more again at first. Wooyoung gave San four stitches for the stab wound, so he was of course prepared for it not to feel better immediately. Wooyoung also knew that San wasn't telling the 100 percent truth, but he was happy with that and snuggled closer to San, breathing deeply.

"Good night then." He murmured, and San nodded slightly.

"Sleep well, Woo." Smiling, Wooyoung put an arm around San's slim waist.

"You too." Wooyoung replied and San closed his eyes with a gentle smile on his lips. Before Wooyoung closed his eyes, he felt a pleasantly warm feeling spread in his chest that made him smile before he finally succumbed to his tiredness and exhaustion from the day before and fell fast asleep in San's arms.

~

The first to wake up the next morning with the light tickle of sunlight on his face was Hongjoong. With his hair completely disheveled and feeling as if someone had knocked him out, he opened his eyes and grumbled sleepily. He grimaced as he looked directly into the bright rays of the sun shining through the window into his room and looked away before rolling around, stretching his arms and legs and yawning loudly.

"Mhhh..." He said sleepily as he relaxed his muscles again and lay on the mattress like a dead man.

"I haven't slept this well in weeks..." He muttered to himself before sitting up in bed with a flourish and looking around. As he had expected, his room looked much friendlier and more inviting in the daylight. When he went to bed the night before, he was a little nervous about spending the night here alone, but once he was in bed, he quickly forgot about these worries and fell asleep within a few minutes. Well rested and refreshed, he got out of bed and went over to the wardrobe, which was opposite his bed and was the only piece of furniture in the room. It really wasn't a well-equipped room, but Hongjoong was more than happy with it. Before going to bed, he had found the orange pajamas he was wearing in the wardrobe, but that was also the only colored item of clothing there was in the wardrobe. Everything else was monotonous in the same gray, white and black tones that the boys had been wearing since the desert. This colorlessness was slowly getting on his nerves. Did the people who stock the wardrobes and shops in this hellhole have no sense of fashion at all? Without thinking about it any further, Hongjoong took a white T-shirt out of the wardrobe, along with underwear, gray shorts and socks. He put his clothes on and threw his worn pajamas on the bed before going to the door and leaving the room without further ado. His room was on the left side of the stairs at the very end of the corridor, opposite Yeosang's and next to Yunho's room. As he had expected, it was absolutely quiet on the first floor. They had all been so exhausted that Hongjoong was not at all surprised that they were all still asleep. He tiptoed across the corridor to Yeosang's room, carefully grabbed the door handle and pushed it down. He opened the door as quietly as he could and stuck his head through the gap, just wanting to take a quick look at Yeosang when he suddenly froze. The bed that Yeosang should have been in was empty.

"Yeosang?" He asked, opened the door completely and entered the room. It was empty. Hongjoong walked quickly over to the bed and felt the mattress with his hands. It was cold, untouched, as if Yeosang had never slept in it. The blanket was folded up at the foot of the bed and the pillow seemed to be missing, but Hongjoong didn't care. Where was Yeosang? Panic rose in him and he quickly left the room. He looked over at Wooyoung's door, which was right next to Yeosang's, and walked quickly towards it. Maybe Yeosang had spent the night with Wooyoung, after all they had been sleeping partners the whole time. When he got to Wooyoung's room, he tore open the door, but here too the bed seemed untouched and Wooyoung was not there.

"No, no, no..." Hongjoong mumbled in panic, closed the door again and then turned to Yunho's room. He opened the door and when he saw that Yunho wasn't in his room either, he started to get really scared. Where were the three of them?! He slammed the door in frustration and ran his hand through his hair in agitation. He had slept so soundly himself, what if the Halateez had come in the night and taken his friends? He shook his head in panic and walked quickly down the hall to the bathroom. He knocked on the door.

"Is anyone in there?" He asked nervously, but got no answer. His heart was beating wildly in his chest with worry and fear as he turned around and looked at Seonghwa's room.

Hwa...

"Oh please no..." He breathed and ran over to Seonghwa's door, grabbed the door handle and suddenly opened the door. His heart sank when he saw Seonghwa standing by the wardrobe, slightly startled, tying his pants, still shirtless and looking at Hongjoong.

"Hongjoong, what-" he asked when he saw the panic in Hongjoong's eyes, mixed with relief at the sight of the older man. Seonghwa's expression softened and he quickly ran over to Hongjoong.

"What's going on?" Hongjoong took a deep, nervous breath and then pointed down the hallway.

"Yunho... Yunho, Yeosang and Wooyoung are gone." He said, Seonghwa hesitated and then had to smile slightly. Hongjoong looked at him in confusion.

What was there to smile about now?

He thought as Seonghwa grabbed his wrist and walked past him out of the room.

"Come with me." He pulled Hongjoong behind him into the next room, where San had settled in, and stopped right in front of the door. Hongjoong's face twisted in confusion, when Seonghwa pointed to the door and looked at Hongjoong invitingly.

"Open it." He said in a whisper. Hongjoong hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward to the door, grabbed the door handle and opened the door a little. When he saw the bed, filled with his sleeping friends, who were squashed together and partly on top of each other in San's bed, sleeping soundly, relief flowed through his upper body and a smile spread across his lips. He shook his head.

"I should have expected that." He whispered and Seonghwa, who looked at Hongjoong with amusement, nodded and then looked over at the boys.

"The three of them sneaked out of their rooms in the middle of the night to sleep with San and then argued about the blanket for at least ten minutes. Apparently they weren't able to adapt to their new single rooms." Seonghwa explained and Hongjoong nodded. He lowered his gaze slightly. Now, in retrospect, he was embarrassed that he had panicked so much when he should have expected that maybe not everyone would be happy about the new single rooms, but only some of them. It only made sense that Yunho, Wooyung and Yeosang didn't suddenly want to sleep alone after three weeks of always sleeping somehow close to each other. When Seonghwa gently put a hand on Hongjoong's shoulder, Hongjoong looked up again and Seonghwa smiled gently at him.

"Don't be ashamed. You were just worried about them." He said and Hongjoong nodded.

"I really thought they had disappeared for a moment. I have no idea what I would have done if they had really not been there anymore and neither would you and the others."

"You don't need to worry. If someone had tried to kidnap them at night, we would have found out." Seonghwa said and then looked back at the completely overcrowded bed. Yeosang was lying on the edge of the bed with one arm hanging out of the bed and his pillow, which had been missing from his own bed, under his head. His mouth was open and a thin thread of drool hung between his lips and the fabric of the pillow. Yunho was lying on his back a bit like a starfish with his arms and legs spread out. His left leg was across Yeosang's legs and his arm was trapped under Yeosang's pillow, while his right arm rested on his stomach, which rose and fell slightly with each deep breath. Hongjoong shook his head with a smile when he noticed San and Wooyoung, both of them cuddled together on the other side of the bed. Wooyoung had buried his face in San's chest and his leg was wrapped around San's hip.

"They look a bit like puppies." Seonghwa suddenly whispered and Hongjoong smiled. He was right. Sighing, Hongjoong turned his gaze away from the pile of snuggled-up sleepyheads as he looked at Seonghwa and paused for a moment. Hongjoong had completely forgotten that he had caught Seonghwa getting dressed and had stopped him from putting on a top, which is why the black-haired man was still standing shirtless in front of him. Hongjoong's cheeks immediately turned red at the sight of the half-naked older man and he quickly looked away.

"Um..." he stammered, embarrassed, and scratched the back of his head nervously.

"You should probably put something on." He then mumbled and Seonghwa looked down at himself in surprise and only now realized that he hadn't gotten around to putting on a T-shirt. He grinned and nodded.

"That's right," he said. Hongjoong looked at him briefly and then pointed in the direction of the stairs.

"I'll go down to the kitchen." He stretched out his arm to the door to San's room and quietly closed it again before turning away from Seonghwa in silence and hurrying to the stairs, while Seonghwa only looked after him slightly confused.
When Hongjoong arrived on the ground floor and turned to go into the living room, he was slightly startled when he saw someone sitting on the couch in the living room and stood frozen in the doorway. For a moment his heart stopped in his chest, but when he realized that it was just Jongho, who was sitting sleepily and yawning on the couch, wrapped up in a wool blanket with a cup of coffee in his hand, Hongjoong quickly calmed down and went in.

"Good morning." He greeted the younger one, who just looked up grimly and grumbled.

"Morning..." A smile appeared on Hongjoong's lips as he approached Jongho and sat down on the second couch

"You don't look like you slept particularly well." He stated and Jongho just scoffed. He had deep dark circles under his eyes and looked like he was about to fall asleep sitting down at any second. His hair was standing on end, probably from all the rummaging around and somehow Hongjoong had the feeling that Jongho was not to be messed with today.

"You don't say." He grumbled.

"What was wrong?" Hongjoong asked curiously, Jongho took a sip of his steaming coffee and then pointed upwards.

"I couldn't sleep after I was woken up in the middle of the night by those four assholes who thought they were going to throw a pajama party." He explained annoyed and Hongjoong had to smile. Was he the only one who hadn't noticed anything?

"That sounds a lot like them." Hongjoong replied when he saw two boys trudging into the living room.

"What sounds like who?" Wooyoung asked, yawning and stretching slightly. He entered the living room, followed by Yunho, who rubbed his eyes and then sat down on the couch next to Jongho, who just gave the older man an angry, almost deadly look.

"If you march through the halls again at three in the morning to throw a pajama party in San's room and wake me up, I'll kill you with my bare hands." He threatened Yunho, who seemed a little taken aback at first and then had to grin. He didn't think they had woken anyone up. They had made a special effort to be quiet. He just shrugged his shoulders and looked at Jongho with a grin.

"You could have joined our pajama party. We would have found a little space for you." He said, looking briefly at Wooyoung, who shook his head doubtfully at Yunho's words. There was hardly any room for them, Jongho would definitely not have fit in. When Yunho looked at Jongho again, he only got a slightly threatening shake of the head from him.

"I would have squeezed myself into this overcrowded bed only over my cold, rotting corpse. I can suffocate myself very well on my own." At that moment, San Seonghwa came running through the door and San stretched extensively with a smile on his face.

"I don't think you could have slept with us either." He agreed with the youngest and walked straight past the couches to the kitchen. Seonghwa sat down on the couch next to Hongjoong and sighed deeply. He looked at Jongho, who had obviously not gotten much sleep last night. Seonghwa didn't want to admit that he himself hadn't slept very well. Just like San and the others, he hadn't really felt comfortable in his bed alone. He had been worried about the boys the whole time and he would have loved to crawl into someone else's bed too, just to make sure they were okay, but he had been embarrassed. Apart from the fact that Jongho would have thrown him out of his bed, San's bed was already full and with Mingi, who snored so loudly that you could hear him even now, he could hardly get a wink of sleep. With Hongjoong, he wasn't sure if he would have let Seonghwa sleep with him. Like Jongho, Hongjoong didn't like to cuddle or sleep close to each other, but Seonghwa also doubted that Hongjoong would have kicked him out if Seonghwa had gone to him at night because he couldn't sleep well on his own. He had considered doing it, but on the one hand he was embarrassed and on the other hand he didn't want to risk waking Hongjoong, so he just stayed in his bed and after a while finally fell asleep. Now it was maybe nine in the morning, which meant he had barely gotten five hours of sleep, but still. At that moment Wooyoung looked at Jongho again and suddenly noticed the cup of hot coffee in Jongho's hand and frowned in confusion.

"Where did you get the coffee?" he asked in surprise and Jongho pointed to the kitchen.

"It's all on the counter. We also have rolls and eggs." He said and
Wooyoung's eyes sparkled with joy.

"Really?!" He immediately turned away and ran towards the kitchen. When he arrived, he saw San playing around with a coffee machine that hadn't been there last night. The blonde put a white cup under the coffee machine and pressed a button, then the machine started to steam and just a few seconds later dark brown coffee flowed out of the machine into the cup.

"Will you make me one too?" Wooyoung asked and padded towards San, who looked at him with a smile and nodded.

"Of course. Milk?" He asked and Wooyoung immediately ran to the fridge.

"Do we have milk?" He ripped open the fridge door and could hardly believe his eyes when he saw all the food that filled the fridge, which had been completely empty yesterday.

"Am I still dreaming?"
Half an hour later, everyone except Mingi was awake and chilling together in the living room, when Hongjoong finally had enough of Mingi's snoring and went upstairs to wake the sleepyhead, while Seonghwa prepared breakfast with San and Yunho, made coffee for everyone and put rolls in the oven. It was a mystery to Seonghwa where all the food suddenly came from, but when he thought back to Beach Town, he also remembered the supermarket that magically filled itself up overnight and Seonghwa suspected that the same thing had happened here. It wasn't logical and made absolutely no sense, but he couldn't explain it any other way. Unless the Halateez had come by at night, not to strangle them all in their sleep, but to play food delivery, and Seonghwa found that even more illogical. When Hongjoong came back downstairs, followed by Mingi, who was still half asleep and was trotting after Hongjoong, breakfast was ready and on the table in the next room. Wooyoung and Yeosang got plates and cutlery for everyone, while everyone else sat down at the table and looked dreamily at the food. Seonghwa had once again really made an effort. There was scrambled eggs, bacon, nice brown rolls and all kinds of spreads, so that when Mingi sat down at the dining table and couldn't believe his eyes, he could hardly decide what he wanted to eat. When everything was set and everyone was sitting at the table, they started to eat breakfast and enjoyed it to the fullest. As was usual in the group, they ate mostly in silence and when they were finished, Seonghwa volunteered to do the dishes, but Hongjoong thwarted his plans and made Mingi do the dishes instead, which Mingi accepted with understanding. When he was finished, which took almost half an hour, he came out of the kitchen into the living room and was surprised to see only Wooyoung sitting on the couch with a book from the shelf in his hand and leafing through it. Mingi looked around in surprise.

"Where has everyone gone?" he asked. Only then did Wooyoung notice Mingi's presence in the living room and looked up.

"Um..." he nodded in the direction of the entrance area and then pointed to the left.

"They went into that other room." He said. Frowning, Mingi walked past Wooyoung to the living room door to see where the others were hanging out, but he stopped in the doorway again and turned to Wooyoung.
"Aren't you coming?" Wooyoung looked up from the book in his hand again and shook his head.

"I don't feel like it." He just said. Mingi pulled a slightly surprised face, but didn't ask any more questions and left Wooyoung alone in the living room without another word. Wooyoung sighed and looked back at the book. It wasn't that the book was particularly exciting, but it had definitely piqued Wooyoung's interest. Unlike the books that had been on the shelf on the illusion in the captain's cabin, this book was not empty, but full of writing, but Wooyoung still couldn't read a single one of the words. He didn't know the letters and he couldn't say whether they belonged to a language he knew. Although he did not understand what it said, he continued to leaf through the meaningless pages until he finally finished the entire book and closed it with a confused look on his face.

"Hm... strange." He muttered and looked at the book for a moment before he got up from the couch with a frustrated sigh and walked over to the bookshelf, where he put the book back where he had taken it from.

"Why are there always books here when mine can read?" He asked himself and then turned away from the shelf, shaking his head, to finally leave the living room. He could hear his friends laughing about something from the living room and didn't feel like being alone anymore. He stepped out of the living room into the entrance area, closed the door behind him and was about to go and join the rest of the group when suddenly a noise rang out that made him stop in shock. He turned around and stared in the direction of the dining room, the door to which was open, from which a melody was coming. For a moment he stood frozen and stared into the room.

"Hongjoong?" He muttered and took a few steps towards the dining room. The gentle sounds of classical piano music reached his ears and when he reached the door to the dining room and pushed it open a little further, he saw where the music was coming from. A record player that was standing at the very back of the room in the corner on the left. The vinyl record was spinning and the needle was gently sliding over its surface. Wooyoung entered, somewhat surprised. Who had turned the record on? He ran to the record player and looked at it closely, then reached out and carefully took the needle off the record. The music stopped playing immediately and the room was instantly quiet. Wooyoung looked around, somewhat nervous.

"Hello?" He asked. He let his gaze wander around the whole room, but couldn't see anyone and no one answered him.

"Am I going crazy now..?" He turned back to the record player. Maybe it was broken and the needle had somehow landed on the record without anyone else doing it. Sighing, Wooyoung shrugged and reached out to the record player to put the needle back on the record, but just as he was about to reach for the needle, a blue shimmer suddenly fluttered past his eyes and he pulled his hand back in shock. Startled, Wooyoung took a few steps back and looked around in the corner.

"What was-" the words got stuck in his throat as he saw the small fluttering figure again and looked at it in amazement. No bigger than Wooyoung's palm and with beautiful blue wings with black and white accents, something was fluttering around in front of him, flapping its wings happily. Curious, he took a step closer and took a closer look.

"A... butterfly?" He looked at the pretty insect in amazement. Normally he wasn't a fan of insects, the time he had lived on the beach had shown him that clearly. When he had been out with the boys and a bee, wasp or moth had come too close to him, he had always been one of the first to flee and run away from the insect. But not from this butterfly. He looked at it fascinated and watched it fly. There was something enchanting about watching this fragile little creature flutter through space free from any gravity, just like Wooyoung would have liked to be able to. Be free. Without the fear of the Halateez. That must have been really nice. When the butterfly took a break on the vinyl record and landed, Wooyoung stepped a little closer and carefully stretched out his hand. The butterfly stayed put, even when Wooyoung's finger was barely an inch away from the butterfly. He looked at the butterfly and waited. Its curled little proboscis trembled excitedly and its antennae twitched. When Wooyoung's fingers touched the butterfly's feet very gently, the animal twitched slightly and moved its wings, but did not fly away. Wooyoung smiled.

"Come here." He whispered to the butterfly, and the butterfly suddenly started to flutter again, but instead of fluttering away, it circled Wooyoung's finger and landed. Like lightning, an unpleasant feeling immediately ran through Wooyoung when the butterfly landed on his finger. It felt like he was being electrocuted and he flinched in shock, which frightened the butterfly and caused it to fly away.

"Wooyoung..." a voice echoed in Wooyoung's mind. He squeezed his eyes shut in fear and raised his hands to cover his ears, but it was no use.

"Wooyoung... Wooyoung listen to me." He felt dizzy and stumbled backwards a few steps until he crashed into the dining table and fell off it, exhausted.

"Wooyoung." The black-haired boy shook his head desperately.

"No!"

"Wooyoung." When he suddenly felt a hand touch his shoulder, Wooyoung flinched in shock and turned around, his breath caught in shock again and he looked at the person who suddenly stood in front of him as if frozen. He looked into empty brown eyes that looked at him emotionlessly. The person in front of him had purple hair and was wearing the same clothes that the Halateez always wore, with the one difference that he was not wearing a mask to cover his face, which meant that Wooyoung could look the boy in front of him straight in the face. In his own face... It seemed to him as if Wooyoung was hallucinating. The boy looked exactly like him and he knew he had met him face to face like that before and back then too he had thought it was a dream. But it wasn't. He was standing in front of him and he was real. Wooyoung took a step back, scared.

"What do you want?" He asked, and his dark doppelganger raised his hand and held his finger to his lips to symbolize that Wooyoung should be quiet. He pulled a face and frowned. What was that about? Was he afraid that Wooyoung would alert the others, or why did he have to be quiet? Wooyoung really wanted to call for help. He was afraid of his dark doppelganger and afraid of what he wanted to do to him this time, but what he was also afraid of was that it was really just a hallucination and the Halateez wasn't actually there. What if he called the others and they didn't see the Halateez? They would think he was crazy. Just like the last time when Wooyoung was the only one who heard the noise in the desert building and everyone just thought he was dehydrated. He didn't want to be labeled crazy by his friends. As Wooyoung was about to say something again, the blue shimmer of the butterfly appeared in the corner of his eye and he hesitated. He looked at the butterfly fluttering through the air and towards the Halateez, then circled the black fedora hat that the Halateez was wearing and then reached exhaustedly on the black fabric. The image that appeared before him made no sense to Wooyoung. What did the Halateez want from him and what the hell was this strange butterfly all about? Wooyoung took a deep, nervous breath and then looked seriously at his doppelganger.

"What do you want?" He asked, and the Halateez suddenly turned away from him. Wooyoung looked at him, frightened and confused, as he suddenly moved away from Wooyoung.

"Where are you going-" Wooyoung groaned in frustration and started walking.

"Now I'm running after a Halateez, I must be crazy." Wooyoung ran after the Halateez to the other side of the room, once around the large dining table, when the Halateez suddenly stopped, turned around and Wooyoung stopped in shock.

"Gosh, you-" the Halateez raised his finger over his lips again and Wooyoung fell silent. He looked at the Halateez, who suddenly pointed to the door that the boys had already discovered the day before but had ignored until then. It was locked, so they hadn't paid any further attention to the door. But why was the Halateez pointing at it now. Confused, Wooyoung raised his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders.

"It's locked." He said, and the Halateez lowered his hand again and reached into his trouser pocket. When he pulled his hand out again and held it out to Wooyoung, he hesitated and looked nervously at the hand in front of him, then he also held out his hand and the Halateez pressed something into his hand. When Wooyoung saw what it was, he frowned and looked at it. It was a small silver key, the shape of which should fit exactly into the keyhole for the door.

"W-why-" Wooyoung looked up, wanted to ask the Halateez what that was about, why he gave him the key, but when he looked where his dark doppelganger had just been standing, he couldn't see him. Startled, he paused and looked around. The Halateez was nowhere to be seen.

"What the hell..." he muttered nervously. He couldn't have just disappeared. Wooyoung had barely lost sight of him for ten seconds and he couldn't have vanished into thin air. Could he? Wooyoung also ruled out a hallucination, because as far as he knew, hallucinations didn't hand over keys. Uncertain, Wooyoung looked at the key in his hand and turned back to the locked door. He hesitated. What were the chances that he wouldn't survive opening this door? Nervously, he took a deep breath and then shook his head.

"Fuck it." He took the key and put it in the keyhole of the door, turned it carefully and when the lock opened with a clicking sound.