"You mean to say... he's dead?" Seungcheol scrunched up his eyebrows, not believing a single word he had just been told. The officer in front of him nodded solemnly,
"Yes, sir, Kim Mingyu is dead. I'm sorry for the loss of your friend." The officer then bowed and left, Seungcheol slowly shut the door and just stood there. He really wasn't sure how to respond.
"He's dead." He whispered, at that moment someone else had passed by. The paused when they heard Seungcheol's words and titled their head in confusion.
"Who's dead, Seungcheol?" They asked, Seungcheol quickly identified the person as Joshua. Seungcheol opened his mouth but couldn't really bring himself to say anything - Joshau moved a little closer and placed his hand on Seungcheol's shoulder. "Who's dead?" He asked once more.
"Mingyu," Seungcheol's voice came out as a cracked whisper "Mingyu's dead." Like Seungcheol, Joshua wasn't exactly sure how to respond but his heart shattered once he saw exactly how pained Seungcheol looked. The two spent a good few minutes by the front door just sobbing, they both paused for a moment to breath. "I have to tell everyone else don't I?" Seungcheol looked at Joshua painfully - he didn't really want to do it. Joshua nodded,
"Yeah, should I go get everyone?" He asked, Seungcheol nodded and Joshua left to go and get all of the others. Seungcheol walked to the bathroom,
"This isn't good," He mumbled, "Let's just hope there isn't more to this and the police can figure it out quickly." He heard the front door open and there was a small glimmer of hope that it was just Mingyu, but in reality he knew it was just Minghao and Seokmin coming home from their shopping trip.
"Oh, you two are home?" Joshua rushed to the front door to grab them and bring them to the living room.
"Yeah.. why? Is something wrong? Do we need to be somewhere?" Seokmin inquired,
"Just put the stuff in the kitchen and go to the living room." Joshua said, ushering them in that direction. He quickly poked his head into the bathroom "Oh, good, you're here. I got everyone together, so whenever your ready." Seungcheol sighed and followed Joshua out to the living room.
"Hey, what's this all about?" Soonyoung asked, everyone else let out noises on agreement. "Also, shouldn't Mingyu be here?"
"Mingyu won't be here," Seungcheol mumbled "This is about him anyway." Everyone's eyebrows furrowed. "Now you all might not take me seriously, but... well, Mingyu?" Seungcheol paused and inhaled.
"Hey, what is it? Is he like, dead or something?" Seungkwan said, "It can't be that bad, right? Oh, you're crying... why? Wait hold up is he actually dead?" his voice slowly got louder and more concerned as he kept talking. The other found themselves in various degrees of pain, some were in denial and asking Seungcheol if what Seungkwan said was right and others were already crying.
"I didn't really want to say it but, well, yeah... he's dead." Seungcheol stepped back and watched everyone's emotions spill out - including his own. He stepped into the kitchen to try and find a way to take his mind off the situation. Spotting a letter on the table addressed to him he picked it up and ripped it open.
Unfolding he read through its contents, doing double take over the piece of paper he read it again. Dropping the letter he stepped backwards until his back hit the fridge, he sank to the floor and cried. "Why?"
One is fake, lying, laughing at your stupidity.
Finding this easy, and amusing.
Your pain becomes my happiness;
I hope you have fun trying,
even though you won't find me until the end.
By the way,
My name is dead.
Why?
Because I want you dead.
Choi Seungcheol.
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