Caratland [Seventeen FF]

-30-

Jeonghan poV:

We were standing in front of the portal. Only Seungcheol, Seokmin, Jisoo, Hansol, Seungkwan and I remained.
"Since when do you have enough time to come with us?", Seokmin asked Seungcheol.
"Since I found a way to postpone my work for the next few hours", he proudly grinned.
"So, I'll go this time with Seokmin", Jisoo declared, putting an arm around Seokmin.
"Since when were those two a thing?", Seungkwan asked judgemental, looking at them from head to toe.
"Soonyoung changed them all", Hansol whispered for everyone to hear. That sentence somehow became the new inside joke when someone did something he usually wouldn't do.
"Why? Sick of wine?", Seokmin questioned grinning, but Jisoo shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, see you tomorrow morning then", Jisoo bid goodbye and dragged Seokmin into the portal, he going right after him.
"Good they're gone", Seungkwan sighed relieved.
"What?", I asked confused. I guess Seungkwan realized he messed up, since his eyes grew bigger in size, while Hansol slapped his shoulder shocked.
"I-I mean it's g-good that they go together", he tried to laugh it off, but no one took him seriously. He quickly stopped laughing and cleared his throat. "Okay, let me explain this", he started.
"But Jeonghan-", Hansol complained, but got cut off by Seungkwan.
"Don't make it worse then it already is", Seungkwan sighed. I wanted to make a comment, but I decided to let Seungkwan speak. Seungcheol also seemed kind of interested.

"So, Hansol and I were eating late night snacks at the food court when your brother suddenly came. We wanted to greet him, but then saw that he talked to his secretary, so we shut our mouths and kept talking. It just happened that they didn't notice us and kept on with their conversation, which was probably meant for only their ears. They were talking about Soonyoung, about his world to be specific. I don't know who told him about his little problem he gets when entering a world of ours. Anyways, firstly they were making some weird jokes about Minghao's world, but that's not important. They went on with a theory of why Soonyoung gets worse if he goes to our worlds", Seungkwan told us.
"Stop beating around the bet and finally tell us", I rolled my eyes impatiently.
"He used some complex words my vocabulary doesn't include, but you could explain it like that: If a hamster enters a hamster wheel, it runs without problems. But if it runs for too long it'll get stuck and spin with the wheel, getting all dizzy and stuff. Eventually hamsters can die from that, which I didn't know myself", he explained.
"So, in other words: Soonyoung is the hamster and if he enters the portal to often he will end up getting devoured by the world", Seungcheol concluded. Hansol and Seungkwan agreed with heavy nodding, making Seungcheol all thoughtful again.
"But isn't that something we already know?", I asked confused.
"The difference between Soonyoung and us is that he doesn't have a world. We die if we stay there for too long, but he gets devoured if he goes there too often", Seungcheol explained me. I still don't understand how Seungcheol could conclude that from a hamster theory, but I guess he's a genius.
"Whatever. Can't we just go to the other side? The only thing I heard about the last times is Soonyoung", I moaned annoyed.
"Fine, you unpatient sloth", Seungcheol playfully rolled his eyes and pushed me through the portal, leaving Hansol and Seungkwan behind.

The way to the other side was short as usual. We were in Seungcheol's world. His world was literally a wellness center. Like why wasn't my world a wellness center?
"So what do we do this time?", Seungcheol asked.
"I don't know. You're the person who needs massages not me", I shrugged my shoulders.
"But you enjoy it anyway", he countered.

"Do you know what I need? I need a new haircut", I changed the topic from dancing geckos. We were walking to the big building. The random people on the way either left or followed us too.
"Why? I thought you liked your shoulder long hair", he said.
"Yeah, it's fine, but I wanna try something new. Like short hair", I thought aloud.
"I like your hair like that though", he murmured, making me grin a little. Seungcheol's compliments always felt sincere.

At the wellness center we went to the massage chairs. While they prepared everything for us, I took out my phone and played a random game.
"I'm jealous", Seungcheol said as he looked down on my phone.
"Why? Because I once preferred Jisoo over you?", I questioned grinning.
"What? No! What the hell?", he immediately denied, turning all red around his ears.
"Seeing from your reaction, I was right", I laughed.
"No, I'm jealous since you can use your phone in your world", he gave his reason.
"Being able to use your phone is not that special", I rolled my eyes.
"Do you think Soonyoung can do it too? I mean he had a pretty normal life, just like you", Seungcheol asked.
"How should I know? After all I have a world, but he doesn't even though we lived 'normal' like you said", I shrugged my shoulders.
"Well, you're just bad from the way you think", he laughed.
"Hey! Without me you would just be a hopeless wreck, be a little thankful!", I complained. He just kept laughing. It stayed quiet until Seungcheol broke the silence.
"What should we do with Soonyoung?", Seungcheol sighed.
"You adopted that kid. Not my fault", I said.
"But you're basically his mom. Show some caring", Seungcheol complained.
"In my opinion we should let him be. We don't know if it's true what Hansol or Seungkwan said", I went back to the actual topic.
"I like how you don't deny the fact that I called you a mom", he grinned.
"Come back to the topic!", I boxed his shoulder.
"Okay, okay. Maybe you're right. As long as he stays next to Jihoon, he won't do something bad, right?", Seungcheol calmed himself down.
"But Jihoon's being weird lately too. I mean that tension between him and Wonwoo", I said, while still looking on my phone.
"Oh, they had a fight. But you're right...", Seungcheol noticed.
"Can we stop talking about worries? We're in a wellness center. Let's forget the real world for a while, hm?", I changed the topic again.
"Okay, let's do that", Seungcheol sighed and leaned back onto the couch.

To be honest I was worried too. Even though I don't show it so obviously I still worry for these kids. But I didn't want Seungcheol to worry so much. He already has insomnia. He doesn't need some extra stress on top. I just hope nothing bad like that incident from a year ago happens again...