PHANTOM | ATEEZ

06.

You arrived back at your apartment shortly after noon only to find the front door was already unlocked. You focused inwards, paying attention to the frequencies and fluctuations of the energies around you. Phantoms had managed to follow you home before, and you knew it was only a matter of time before one showed up again. However, that morning, nothing seemed awry, and with a deep breath, you opened the door.

A quick skim around the living area revealed nothing was out of sorts, and you relaxed. Perhaps you'd simply left the door unlocked when you left the night before. It was careless and uncharacteristic, but it was still possible. With a groan, you plopped down onto your couch, letting your true amount of exhaustion take control. As you laid there, sprawled out along the cushions, you kept running through your confession to Yunho and his reaction, or lack thereof, to what you'd told him. In fact, looking back, he seemed to almost blow you off entirely, chalking up what you saw to a bad dream, something you didn't need to worry about. It frustrated you, how he could just dismiss you like that, how he could be so nonchalant about something you explicitly said terrified you.

"Welcome home."

The sound of Hongjoong's voice caused you to jolt upright, and you leaped up from the couch. When you saw your friend's head poking out from the kitchen doorway, you let out an exasperated sigh, your adrenaline levels lowering.

"Joong, what the hell?"

Hongjoong exited the kitchen, a family sized bag of chips in his arms. "Yeosang called, said he texted you last night and never heard back." He popped a chip in his mouth and continued to speak through his chewing. "I thought that was weird, so I decided to check on you."

Your heart skipped a beat at the mention of Yeosang's name, but you pushed your excitement deep down. With an exaggerated roll of your eyes, you walked over to the young man and snatched the bag from his hands. He smiled.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," you grumbled. "And give me my spare key back."

"Nope," Hongjoong replied, his smile only growing. He then brushed past you and hopped over the arm of the couch, plopping down onto the cushions. "So, what's the deal? Why are you ignoring Yeosang?"

"My phone died," you murmured, setting the chips onto the kitchen counter before joining Hongjoong in the living room, relaxing onto one of the lounge chairs.

"And you didn't think to charge it last night?"

Hongjoong seemed skeptical of your excuse, and you didn't blame him. Yet there wasn't much else you could say without giving away where you were and what you were doing the night before. You were eager to get him off of the subject. The last thing you wanted to deal with was him digging into where you were the night before, asking questions you didn't want to answer.

"What did Yeosang want?" You asked, walking toward your bedroom. After the eventful past twelve hours, all you wanted to do was take a shower. You could still feel the poltergeist's grip on you. Just a small amount of residue was enough to keep you from feeling normal; if you didn't get rid of it soon, wash it away with all of the pain, Joong would notice that something was wrong. You wouldn't be able to get any lie past him at that point.

Your friend remained skeptical; you could tell merely based on the feeling of his eyes boring into the back of your head. You turned to him as soon as you reached the doorway of your bedroom.

"He said he's having a party tonight," Joong cracked a smirk, letting his words hang in the air for a moment before continuing. "And we've been personally invited."

If you were alone, you might have screamed. You would for sure have jumped up and down, running to and fro about your apartment in pure bliss. Yeosang often had parties, get-togethers of sorts for his literary crew, but you had yet to be invited specifically. Though his parties were always open invitation, you'd never been bold enough to just show up. It didn't seem like it would end well. But now, you were invited. Yeosang made a point of contacting you, of contacting Hongjoong to invite you when he couldn't reach you. Despite your excitement, though, you kept yourself calm. Hongjoong constantly bombarded you with jokes and various forms of teasing all inspired by your feelings for Yeosang. You refused to give him more ammunition. That, and final exams were coming up, and with your new partnership, you'd neglected to begin preparing.