THE SUN AND HIS STARS ✓

09.

"Was that your parents' room?" Taehyung asked as they stood in front of a door upstairs.

They were back in Hoseok's house a day later, continuing the 'tour' that Taehyung had insisted on. ("I gotta know what the inside of a mansion looks like, hyung!")

"Yes," Hoseok said. Hoseok felt Taehyung's eyes on him.

"Are we gonna go in?" Taehyung asked, treading carefully.

"No."

Taehyung looked like he was about to say something when the doorbell rang. Taehyung and Hoseok looked over the railing as Hyunseok answered the door.

Hoseok clenched his jaw at the sight of Jang Mi.

"Who's that?" Taehyung asked quietly.

Hoseok sighed, and, turning to Taehyung, he uttered in a low voice, "Stay here. Don't talk to her."

Taehyung nodded and made a motion of zipping his lips shut. Hoseok resisted from smiling as he took the stairs down and to the front door. He stopped in front of the door, nodding to Hyunseok, who left to the kitchen.

"What is it now?" Hoseok growled. "I'm busy."

Jang Mi patted her purse. In a whisper, she said, "I have something you need to see."

"It can wait."

"No, Hoseok, you need to see it now. It's about..." Her eyes looked up and behind Hoseok, likely lingering on Taehyung. "It's about your issue."

The curse.

"Fine," Hoseok muttered, opening the door wider. "But don't talk to Taehyung. Don't even go near him."

"So that's his name."

Hoseok jogged up the stairs quickly, grabbing Taehyung by the arm and leading him down the hall. "That really big library I showed you. Go and read some books or something. My aunt and I have to talk."

"Okay..." Taehyung trailed off. As Hoseok stopped in front of the library and made to leave, Taehyung grabbed his arm. "Is everything okay. Are you okay?"

Hoseok nodded and tried for a reassuring smile before leaving the library and shutting the door. Jang Mi had made it upstairs, and was lingering in front of the door to Hoseok's room. Hoseok pulled her inside and shut the door.

Jang Mi quickly pulled a large old book out of her purse. The pages were yellow and peeling.

Hoseok squinted at it. "Did you steal that from our library?"

"No." She shook her head and flipped it open. "It's another copy of the one in your library, with the details about the ancient curses, except this one has more information. It took me months to get."

She flipped it open to a page and showed it to Hoseok. Hoseok stared at it blankly.

"I can't read Latin."

Jang Mi sighed and read from the page. "In summary, it says the curse can be broken."

Hoseok felt his heart beat faster. The curse that had caused him so much pain all these years, the reason he isolated himself from others, could be undone?

(But the curse had run through his family for decades, maybe even centuries. There must be a price to pay; there always was.)

"What..." Hoseok swallowed and tried to sound stronger. "How? How can the curse be broken?"

Heavy rain began hitting the window. Hoseok ignored it.

"Friendship," Jang Mi pointed to a word on the page. "Platonic soulmates. That boy, your friend, Taehyung—"