Characters: Big Bang, OC
Rating: PG
Chaptercount: 1/6
Summary: Kim Ae Cha wakes up in a room that is not her own, with no recollection of how she got there. Soon she starts discovering things that change her perception on the world forever.
A/N: The first English story I ever wrote about Kpop and probably around the 3rd or 4th story only ever written in English. This story has genres going in overdrive (read; comedy-drama-romance-drama-comedy-fictio
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It was extremely quiet. She opened her eyes, suspicious because of the silence. It took her a few minutes to realise she was staring at a ceiling. An unknown ceiling. If it had been white, she had known she was in a hospital, which would have been understandable, but instead, the ceiling was brown. It was made out of some sort of wood in a very special way. She blinked when she realised she was still staring at a boring ceiling and closed her eyes again for a bit.
The last thing she remembered was a huge shock going right through her when she had tried plugging in the vacuum cleaner. Too late she had noticed the loose wire sticking out from the cable. The full amount of volts had rushed through her and she had felt herself thrown back, hitting the wall with her head. She had seen a few possible outcomes flash before her eyes, before the unconsciousness had taken over.
She opened her eyes again. Still the same ceiling, so it had to be real. She couldn’t help sighing as she slowly sat up. She was lying on a bed, still wearing the same clothes as she had before. The room was totally unfamiliar to her. She didn’t recognise a single part of it. She looked around, only to suddenly freeze when she noticed she felt no lingering effects from the shock she had gotten. What had happened since? Where the hell was she?
Right when she was about to stand up, the door opened. Some guy walked in, put something on the desk in the corner, opened the wardrobe to get a sweater out of it and then walked out again, without even noticing her. Confused she stared at the door after he had gone already. It was not like her clothing had the same colour as the bed, so how could he not have seen her? She tried finding a way to calm herself down. Maybe he was just a very distracted person. That must be it. The door opened again and someone else came in. When he looked at her, a little smile spread over his face. He closed the door behind him and then bowed at her.
“Agassi, you’re awake!” he said. He had a low, hoarse voice and looked like some dangerous gangster, yet he didn’t appear to be as rude or uncivilised as his looks made her think. She let her eyes spy over him. Something about him seemed very familiar to her. Maybe it was his gangster like clothing and the cap on his head. Maybe it was something in his face that reminded her of someone she knew. When she realised he expected her to say something, she quickly got out of the bed to bow too.
“Yes. I’m sorry to ask, but where am I?” she asked, as she bowed again to apologise. She looked around once more, to see if maybe she did not recognise something after all. She didn’t.
“You’re in my room.” he said. “I found you here about an hour ago, when we got back from.. When we got back. I was hoping you could tell me how you got here.”
She had noticed the hesitation, but didn’t want to push him into saying anything he didn’t want to say. It was a weird and awkward situation for the both of them. As she looked around once more, she slowly shook her head.
“I’m sorry, I have no idea. Last thing I remember is getting a huge shock from a loose wire in the cable of my vacuum cleaner. I got knocked unconscious and when I recovered, I was here.” she said slowly, trying to rethink every word in her head first before saying it. “I’m sorry, I will leave and go home. I really don’t know who brought me here. I’m very sorry.” she immediately added, walking towards the door while bowing in his direction all the way.
She quickly grabbed the handle, opened the door and walked out of the room. She was surprised to end up in what was probably the living room. There were four guys sitting in the couch, watching the TV. They all seemed very tired. In the one that sat at the outer left, she recognised the guy who had walked into the bedroom only moments earlier.
“I’m sorry.” she said, while bowing yet again. “I’m sorry for disturbing. Thank you for your kindness.” She was walking towards the door as she said that, trying to get away as fast as she could, but when none of the guys looked at her, she stood still. She had walked right through their sight, but they hadn’t even given a sign of life. She must have gotten in the way of the TV at some point, yet they didn’t even glance at her.
Shocked, she looked back at the door she had come from. The guy that did see her, motioned her to come back. He send her a slightly pleading look, but stayed out of sight from the other four. A little unsure of what was happening, she slowly walked back to him. He closed the door again once she was in, then turned to her.
“You didn’t give me time to finish. They don’t see you. When I told them there was a girl in my room, they ran in, as freaked out as I was, but then got mad at me for toying with them. I bugged them about it for a while, until I realised they weren’t acting. They really can’t see you. They also can’t touch you. One of them sat on the bed, right where you were lying, but he went right through you.” he said, pulling up his shoulders a little out of insecurity.
His stance made her realise for the first time that he was actually a shy guy. He had seemed so open and straightforward, but apparently he didn’t feel at all as sure as he pretended to be. Suddenly the real truth of what he had said hit her and she staggered back a step, keeping herself standing with help of the wall.
“They don’t see me?” she mumbled. He shook his head. “They can’t touch me?” He shook his head again. She stared at him for a bit, not able to say a word. Then finally she opened her mouth again. “I’m sorry, what is your name?”
“Choi Seung Hyun.” he immediately replied.
“Look, Seung Hyun, I don’t know what kind of game you’re trying to play with me here, but it is not funny. I would really like you to stop with this nonsense and take me home.” Her insecurity had changed into an upcoming anger. That new emotion in her voice obviously surprised him.
“I assure you that I am not playing any games with you. I’ll prove it.” He called out a name and motioned her not to move. She still didn’t trust it all too much, but decided to let him try and prove his ridiculous statements. A few moments after he called, the guy that had been in the room before, walked back in again.
“What’s up, hyung?” he asked. He didn’t close the door as he stepped inside the room. He probably didn’t intend to be inside long. She watched him closely, but he gave no sign of noticing her.
“Come sit on the bed with me for a second, please. I need to talk to you.” Seung Hyun walked towards the bed, evading her so he wouldn’t bump into her. She decided that that was proof he was lying, because if he was scared of hitting her, he obviously couldn’t walk through her. Yet, before she had finished that thought, the second guy followed him to the bed, thereby walking right through her.
She just stood there, staring at the door, not able to grasp what she had just seen. Eventually she turned around. Seung Hyun wasn’t looking at her, but was having a short conversation with the other guy. Her eyes hovered over them as she slowly walked closer. When she tried reaching through the guy she didn’t know, it didn’t work. She hit him right in the chest, but even though she felt her hand hurt a bit, he didn’t seem to notice anything.
Again she stood there a while, amazed by the weird situation, before she tried again. Her hand was stopped by his body a second time, but, like the first time, he didn’t seem to notice. Yet, when he got up to leave, he again walked straight through her. This time she felt a flash of concern going through her and a few incoherent images of an audience and a big stage flashed through her head. The images left when he walked out of her.
The silence returned to the room as he closed the door behind him. Seung Hyun only looked at her, trying to give her the time to recover from what she had seen. She wondered what it had looked like for him, seeing his friend walk through someone. He must have been surprised too when it had happened, but no one believed him. At least she did have one person who saw the same miracles happen as she did. She just wasn’t sure if that was because they both were crazy, or because the others were strange for not seeing it.
“I’m sorry, Seung Hyun.” she said, as she bowed for him. “My name is Kim Ae Cha. I don’t know what is going on, but as I can imagine that you don’t know either, I will try to find this out on my own. I thank you for having been so kind to me and not ignore me as well in the hopes that I would disappear.” She smiled at him, a quite shy smile, to which he smiled back.
“It was nice meeting you, Ae Cha.” he replied, as he got up from the bed to bow. She looked at him a short moment, before bowing too, turning around and walking out the door again. He followed, but when he sat down on the couch with the other four guys, she walked through the room and sneaked out through the door, into the hallway. She stood there for a few seconds, breathing in and out to calm herself, before she left the apartment.
She had walked through the streets for about an hour. No one noticed her. People walked through her, cars drove through her,.. Only some dogs seemed to evade her, but not like you would evade something you see, more as if they could faintly feel something was there and decided to stay away from it. At first she had to keep herself from screaming when people seemed to just bump into her, but after a while she got used to it. It was scary, yet fascinating to be unseen by everyone.
Whenever someone walked through her, she would kind of think their thoughts as if they were hers. Yet, the further she walked, the weaker she felt and the less clearly she ‘saw’ the thoughts. Even her sight seemed to get more blurry. She decided it was because the effects of being electrified finally started showing, so she looked around for a bench or something to rest a bit. When she finally found one, she walked towards it.
Right when she wanted to take her last step, the surroundings suddenly changed and she walked straight into a wall with a thump. As she softly stroke her hurting head, she heard worried voices in the room next to her and a few moments later the door opened. A guy walked into the room, looking a little unsure and worried. When looking around her, she realised she was back where she had started. In Seung Hyun’s room.
The unknown young man looked around too, his gaze passing over her without seeing her, then started leaving the room again. She immediately ran towards him, slipping through the door opening before he closed it behind him. As he walked back to the couch, she followed. Seung Hyun’s eyes immediately focused on her when he saw her and his expression turned surprised. She signed him to shut up as she walked around the couch to stop behind him.
“Nothing.” the boy she had followed meanwhile said. He sat down again and was immediately pulled into a hug by the other boy she had seen before. The two other boys that she didn’t know, didn’t even pay attention.
“Nothing? Strange. I was convinced I had heard something.” the hugging boy said, but he pointed his eyes to the television again. When she was sure they weren’t going to talk again, she put her hand on Seung Hyun’s shoulder and started talking herself.
“Keep looking at the TV, please, and for God’s sake, don’t answer.” she said. He nodded, almost unnoticeable if you weren’t looking straight at him. Of course she did see it and continued. “I walked outside, through the streets. No one was able to see me. They all walked through me. When I wanted to sit down because I felt a little weak, I was suddenly back in your room and walked into the wall.”
He couldn’t help smiling at her last words and she couldn’t blame him. It did sound quite funny and if she had been able to see herself, she would probably have laughed out loud. A little smile appeared on her face and she stared at the TV a while in silence. She had no idea what they were watching, as the show didn’t look very familiar to her, but since they had been sitting in front of the TV for quite a while now, it must be something very interesting.
“What I did notice is that the moment I was back here, my weak feeling disappeared. I have no idea what is happening. How can I suddenly be here and be invisible. How can they walk through me like I am some kind of ghost, while when I try to go through them, I get stopped?” she finally said after quite a long silence. Seung Hyung seemed to freeze beneath her hand.
“What’s wrong, Top, hyung?” the first boy on his left asked. It was one of the two she hadn’t seen before yet. She wondered why he had said ‘Top hyung.’ Maybe Top was a nickname. It would be easier to say Top than to repeat his full name all the time. She decided to call him Top from then on. In response to the boys words, Top shook his head, relaxing again.
“Nothing, Daesung, I’m just a bit tired. I think I’m going to bed.” he then said, while starting to get up. He was pulled back by the boy he had called Daesung.
“Nonsense. You can sleep here too. Stay with us a little longer, you have been so absent all day.” Daesung wrapped his arms around Top’s middle and nuzzled his cheek against Top’s. She smiled when she saw that act of love like they were real brothers. She put her hand back on Top’s shoulder, thereby restraining him from getting up. As he looked at her in a very subtle way, she shook her head and smiled a little. He sighed, but didn’t leave, instead he leaned against Daesung, turned his head and kissed the guy’s cheek.
“Ah hyung, dang it! Do you really have to do that?” Daesung had let go of Top and was rubbing his cheek. “Blegh. You know I don’t like it when you do that.” he complained. He punched Top against the shoulder, but only got punched back because of that.
“You also know that I don’t like it when you hug me, yet you still do it. Then I am the kind hyung and I let you do it every time, so I think I can get a reward from time to time for being so kind.” Daesung was silenced by those words and Top grinned.
“But I can still hug you, can’t I, hyung?” the guy to the far right asked with a sad face. It was the hugging one from the two guys that she already knew.
“Only when you ask nicely, Ji Yong.”
“Can I hug you, please, Top, hyung?” The question was accompanied by two very puppy-like eyes.
“You are hugging Seungri already, so maybe later. It wouldn’t be nice of you to dump him for me.” Top smoothly talked himself out of it. “But I really want to go to bed, guys.” He got up after all and walked towards the bedroom. “Please be a little quiet when you enter later on, dongseng.”
As he walked away, she quickly ran after him, so she could walk through the door with him. If she would follow later, they would hear the door open and close twice and they would probably think that a little strange. Top let her walk through first, which she thanked him for with a bow, and then followed. As he closed the door, she went to stand right behind him. He turned around and bumped straight into her, not expecting her to be so close. She was pushed back because of the sudden impact, lost her balance and landed on her butt.
“Are you alright?” he asked worried, immediately kneeling down next to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. She nodded, but didn’t try to get up.
“How comes you can see me and can’t walk through me while everyone else seems to have no problems whatsoever with it?” she asked, not bothering to whisper like he did, because they wouldn’t be able to hear her anyway.
“I don’t know, Ae Cha.” he replied, taking his hand off her shoulder as she started to stand up again. When they both were on their feet, she turned her head to look at him.
“I have the feeling that you’re stuck with me for the time being.” She sighed. “I’m sorry, I don’t know how long it will be. I might know if I had even the slightest clue why this is happening.” She bowed as an apology. He nodded with a thoughtful expression.
“What you said back there, I think there might be some truth in it.” She was surprised to hear him say such words, but didn’t interrupt him. She just looked at him, hoping he would explain. “You said they walk through you like you’re some ghost. Earlier you also told me you got electrified. Maybe you really are a ghost. Maybe you died.”
She listened to him, the words almost too much to grasp. Was she dead? Had she died so early in life already? If she was, then what was she still doing here? Why did she end up in some guy’s room? She couldn’t have died. That was just impossible. She must just be having a bad dream. Yet, dreams were something you made up yourself, so where did she get the inspiration for these five guys and this incredibly weird situation?
Top seemed to notice she wasn’t really able to say something to his words. He crouched together a bit and quickly tried to soften up his words. “Of course that still wouldn’t explain why you’re here or why I can see and touch you, so maybe you aren’t. But I don’t see any other possibilities.”
She was so confused that she stopped thinking about it and started looking at little details. Top had been keeping the same distance from her ever since they met. He had touched her only once, when he had crouched down worried, but his touch had been very soft and timid. The way he stood in front of her now, showed his shyness a lot. He was obviously worried for her, because she still wasn’t saying anything, yet he was too shy to do something about it.
She took a better look at him. He had black hair, that seemed to be very entangled, but was actually very neatly taken care of. He had a very smooth skin, at least his face had. She didn’t see much more of his skin than that. His eyes were probably the most intriguing thing about him. They were smaller, like the typical Asian eyes, but very explicit. They were the first thing one would notice about him. His face was a bit round, but not totally, so that it still had a nice shape. His lower lip was a little bigger than his upper lip, but together they made a very cute mouth, a little feminine even.
During her study of his face, she had continued to look at him, ever more intense. It was only when he turned his face away, blushing a little in obvious embarrassment, that she noticed how long she had been staring at him. She immediately turned her eyes to the ground, as she felt her face flush too. She bowed, while backing away.
“I’m sorry, Seung Hyun oppa.” she said, turning around, to walk even further away, as if that would make the moment less awkward. When she arrived at the bed, she sat down on the edge. Slowly, a little shy because of her intense staring before, she looked up at him again. “You should go sleep. If we go on much longer they might come to bed too and possibly they will hear you talking.”
He had looked at her again too when she spoke and a little smile started to break through on his face. The sight of it made her feel a little less gloomy as well. She couldn’t help smiling back. That made his smile become more sincere too. Thinking about what she had actually said, she got up from the bed again and walked towards the door.
“I’ll go sit with the other four and watch some TV, I guess.” she mumbled. “If you would be so kind to go to the toilet or something so that I can leave too.”
“Of course. If you give me a minute, I’ll grab the things I need.” he replied, moving again too now that he actually had some idea of what to do. He grabbed some stuff then opened the door and let her pass through first. She walked into the living room, to sit down on the ground next to the couch. Top walked from his room into what was probably the bathroom. After a few minutes he walked back out, said goodnight and walked into his room again.
It was silent. The four guys didn’t talk as they watched TV. She sat there, following the program as well, even though she had missed a part of it. Her eyes wandered over the faces on the screen, her thoughts somewhere else. She was still making up theories on how she had possibly gotten in this situation. The more she thought about it, the more Seung Hyun’s theory seemed to be the only possible option. She had died and had come here as a ghost. That left her only the question how he could see her then if the rest couldn’t.
“Seung Hyun seemed strange to you too?” Ji Yong suddenly asked as he tore his eyes away from the television to look at the others.
“Yah, the whole thing about the girl in his room. Somehow he looked really serious. Even when he gave up the discussion, he didn’t look like it had only been a joke.” Daesung responded.
“But think about it.. There was no one there. I even went to sit on the bed and there was nothing, just a bed. If he really saw a girl there, then there is definitely something wrong with him. If there was a girl, she’s probably still here and then maybe he went ‘to bed’ early to talk to her. I don’t hear him talking, do you?” That was the guy whose name she still didn’t know.
“Maybe she is not in his room, maybe she is here now.” Ji Yong said again.
“If that were so, she would be listening right now. So if you’re here, mysterious girl, please show a sign of life.” Seungri said, his voice full of sarcasm. He obviously didn’t believe a word of it. She wanted to hit him or pinch him somewhere so that it hurt really bad, but she knew he wouldn’t feel it anyway. “See, no one’s here. Why are we even discussing this?”
“Because Seung Hyun looked really troubled and when he wanted to talk to me later, he was very absent and seemed worried. There is obviously something bothering him. If this girl exists or not, as long as he claims to see her, I believe him.” Ji Yong replied again, poking a finger in Seungri’s belly. The latter chuckled and pulled away, trying to avoid being poked a second time.
She smiled at Ji Yong’s words. At least someone believed Top, even though the story sounded so incredible. She got up and walked around the couch to put her hands on his shoulders as a sign of her gratefulness. The boy, who had been laughing, trying to poke Seungri some more, suddenly froze, put a hand on his shoulder, going through hers, and looked back right at where she stood.
After a few very tense seconds he looked away again, without seeing her, but she knew he had felt her hands, or at least something. She decided to try out this new awareness of him. With a pounding heart, she softly tickled his cheek with a finger. She had barely touched him or Ji Yong lifted his hand to scratch his cheek.
“Hyung, are you okay?” Seungri asked, looking back at Ji Yong who still sat almost frozen.
“I could swear..” the latter replied, but then he shook his head, as if to clear his mind. “Yes, I’m fine. All this talking about invisible girls probably makes me a little sensitive.” He grinned and poked Seungri again.
“Well I hope you’re not going to start believing this nonsense as well. It is nothing like Top to act this strange, but when you start too, I’ll be convinced someone is feeding us something bad to make us go crazy.” It was again the one guy she didn’t know by name yet who was talking. She would have to ask Top for his name once. If that one or Seungri ever started feeling her touch too, she would give them a good kick in the butt. That would teach them.
“Let’s go to bed, guys.” Ji Yong said, sighing as he let go of Seungri. “It has been a long day and we have to get up early again tomorrow.”
“That’s a good idea.” Daesung responded. He turned off the television and got up.
“Hey! I was watching that!” Seungri protested.
“Well, you’re not anymore, dongseng.” Ji Yong said. “And if you don’t go to bed now, I will have to poke you a bit more.” Seungri immediately jumped up and wrapped his arms around his middle.
“I’m going, I’m going.” he quickly said, walking towards a door that probably lead to his room.
“Good. Little boys need their sleep.” Ji Yong grinned as he said that, teasing Seungri with his younger age.
They all got up from the couch and set off towards their rooms. Daesung shared a room with Seungri apparently and the unknown guy slept in the same room as Top. Ji Yong was the only one with a room solely for himself. A few minutes later the boys came back out one by one to go brush their teeth and stuff like that. Curious as she was, she walked through the open door that lead to Ji Yong’s room.
She looked around a bit and smiled. Slowly she went a little further in. There was only one bed in the room, pushed against the left wall. In the far right corner was a desk with a computer. It was packed with lots of papers and other stuff. A white wardrobe stood in the opposite corner. The walls were white as well, like almost everything in the apartment seemed to be.
A sudden thump behind her made her jump in surprise and look back. Ji Yong had come back in and had closed the door. She immediately realised that she was stuck in the room now until he slept. When he did, she could silently sneak out, but if she left now, he would notice the door opening and closing, which would probably creep him out.
As she thought about it, she wondered where she would sleep, but the moment she thought about that, she noticed she wasn’t tired at all. The thoughts immediately started rushing through her head again. She hadn’t felt hungry, thirsty, sleepy or whatever since she had been here. Some hours had passed already, so she would normally have gotten at least a little thirsty by now, but nothing.
That new realisation made her freak out. She wanted nothing more than to run to Top’s room, wake him up and tell him about this in the hope that he had an explanation. The only thing keeping her from doing that, was Ji Yong, who walked through her right at that moment. Again she got a flash of his thoughts.
There was a feeling of worry and even a little bit of an uncomfortable feeling. She saw the image of Top, pointing at the bed, looking as if he had seen a ghost, and then the memory of a faint touch on Ji Yong’s own shoulders. That was it, as he had passed through her by then. She realised that he was seriously thinking about everything that had happened and was on the edge of starting to believe Top’s story.
As he walked to his bed and lay down in it, she decided to sit on the chair at his desk. She was happy to notice the chair made no noise as she sat down. She turned towards the desk and let her eyes wander over the papers. When she noticed some of them were lyrics to songs, she started reading the one on top. It was a Korean song with English in between about someone who apparently loved someone else, but who had broken up or something like that.
She looked back at Ji Yong. He appeared to be sleeping. To make sure, she slowly moved the chair a bit so that it made a sound. He didn’t open his eyes or anything. She turned back to the papers, softly moving the top one so she could read the one below. It was another song, this time about how having lots of money doesn’t make one happy and it’s more about the person you are than the amount of money you have. She looked back at the first song, to see it was called Lies. The second one’s name was Dirty Cash.
She proceeded reading the songs one by one, not noticing how time passed. When she noticed the papers had some kind of diary-like text on it or just thoughts written out, she skipped them, not wanting to really intrude his truly personal things. The songs were all well written and the more she read, the stronger the feeling became that she knew them. As if the melody was at the edge of her thoughts, but she was unable to grasp it.
A sudden disturbed sound behind her made her freeze in the chair, hoping that he didn’t wake up. When she turned her head to look at him, she noticed he was turning about in his bed, making discomforted sounds. It took her a few moments to realise he was having a bad dream. He grabbed his pillow and buried his face in it, only to let go of it and turn away merely seconds later.
Looking at him being so troubled, she started to feel a little sympathy and worry. She slowly got up from the chair and walked towards him. She sat down on the edge of his bed, faintly noticing how her weight didn’t make a dent in the mattress. She doubted a moment longer, before carefully reaching out and touching his forehead with her fingers. When he didn’t wake up because of that, she relaxed and softly started stroking his cheek.
“Hush, it’s alright.” she mumbled, trying to make her voice sound calm and comforting. “Don’t be afraid, there’s nothing that will harm you. It’s okay. I’m here for you.” She knew that the things she was saying, weren’t really useful or true, but it was only the thought that counted. He couldn’t hear her anyway. She stroked his hair and cheek, trying to calm him down that way.
Suddenly he turned and grabbed her wrist. His hand didn’t go through her like it should be doing. She was sure she almost got a heart attack. Then he turned his head a bit and opened his eyes, obviously still halfway asleep. The most shocking part of it all, was the fact that he didn’t look through her as they had all done that day. He was looking right at her. A little smile appeared on his face and he let go of her wrist.
“Did you chase away the evil monsters, nuna?” he asked, with a sleepy voice. She could only barely get herself to nod, not even knowing what he was talking about. His smile widened a bit as he put his head back down and closed his eyes again. “That’s good, then I don’t have to be afraid anymore.” He pulled the blanket a little higher up and almost immediately fell asleep again. She, on the other hand, sat there in shock for a long time before finally being able to move again.
He had seen her. Not only that, he had touched her too. He hadn’t just gone right through her. It had been if she was actually there. She didn’t know if it was because he was still half asleep or because something really had changed. The only thing she could do was wait till the morning and see if he could still see her then and if the others could see her too.
As she got up, she noticed the alarm clock next to his bed. She picked it up and looked at what time he had put it. Half past seven. It was four o’clock at the moment. A little shaky still, she put the clock back down and got up. Without looking back even once, she left the room, trying to be as silent as possible while opening and closing the door. Once she sank down on the couch, she started to freak out.
As she crouched together in a ball, her breathing started to accelerate and eventually she almost hyperventilated. Even though she was almost in a state of headless shock, she did find the strength to keep silent in order not to wake anyone. She held on to that little bit of common sense and forced her breathing to slow down again. Bit by bit she calmed herself down, thinking of things back at her home.
After a long time of just sitting there, she finally looked up and took in her surroundings. The clock on the DVD-player told her it was almost half past six. She was getting a little bored just sitting there, so she decided to prepare a little breakfast for the boys. It would probably freak them out to see a completely set up breakfast table with food ready, but they deserved a little of that for not believing their friend.
She got up and started to rummage through the kitchen. The first thing she found was the rice cooker, already filled with uncooked rice. She opened the fridge and found some fish, fully prepared so she would only have to warm it up. Apparently the boys prepared their breakfast well the day before so they wouldn’t take too much time to make it in the morning.
Since it was too early to start warming up the food already, she decided to first find the bowls they would eat from and the cutlery. She easily located them; in the sink, still dirty. With a little smile, she put them aside, trying to make as little noise as possible, and let the water run into the sink. After quickly washing the bowls, it was only five minutes later, so she did the rest of the dishes too.
When they were done, she went to find a towel. That’s when she noticed her hands weren’t wet. Not a drop of water stuck to her fingers. She took a deep breath to keep herself from freaking out again, tore her eyes away from her hands and started to frantically dry the dishes. When she finished, it was fifteen past seven. She turned on the rice cooker and put the fish in the microwave, singing a bit as she did so.
Right when she was done, she heard a door open. Her heart missed a beat and she immediately put down the towel so it wouldn’t be a floating thing for whoever came out. She quickly turned around to see who came in. Her heart must have been beating at hundred beats per second. When she thought about that, she started smiling. If her heart was beating, she couldn’t be dead. Confidently, she put her hand on her chest, right where her heart was supposed to be.
As Top walked into the room, she felt her legs buckle under her and her head hit the ground with a bang. Even though it was a hard hit, she didn’t lose her consciousness. Only seconds after she fell, Top carefully stroke the hair out of her face. When he saw her looking at him, he smiled a little, but the worried look didn’t fully disappear from his face.
“Are you okay?” he asked, looking down on her. She shook her head, but sat up straight.
“I have..” she started, choking on the panic that rose in her. She tried again, but felt the same restraint. It took her a few swallows and a lot of self-control before she finally got out the words. “I have no heartbeat.” She felt the tears form in her eyes, but for some reason they didn’t run across her cheeks. Of course they didn’t. She was dead. That thought made her burst out in hysterical, tearless crying.
Top, even though just as shocked because of what she had said, immediately put a hand on her shoulder as a comforting gesture. He didn’t really know what to do to make her feel better. What would one say to someone who just found out that she was dead? Eventually, when her crying didn’t lessen, he sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. He pulled her a little closer and softly stroke her arm. That seemed to work better.
She slowly calmed herself down again, this time by focusing on the sound of his breathing, because she knew that thinking about home now, a place she could never return to, would only make it worse. When her crying finally stopped, she just sat there for a few more minutes, until the rice cooker beeped.
She got up, opened the cooker and got out the rice. Then she proceeded to get the fish out of the microwave and put the two things on the table. She also placed the bowls on the table. When she was done, she finally found enough courage to look at Top. He was still sitting on the ground, looking at her. She looked at him a while, before realising she was staring again. Right at that moment, someone’s alarm clock started ringing.
“Oh! That’s right! I was in Ji Yong’s room last night, because I wanted to take a look but he closed the door before I could get out again. He had a bad dream and I tried to comfort him. He kind of woke up, grabbed my wrist and looked at me. He saw me! Last night he could also feel my touch, but he couldn’t see me. I don’t know why he could back then. I thought it maybe was because he was still halfway asleep, but I’m not sure.” she quickly reported the events.
Top finally got up while listening to her. When she finished, he looked at her in thoughts again for a while. She waited, listening to the sounds of what was probably Ji Yong getting up, but Top didn’t speak again until Ji Yong walked in. The latter obviously didn’t see her anymore, since he just walked up to the kitchen cabinets and grabbed a glass, thereby standing right in her. She wondered how it would look for Top, his friend standing in a girl.
“Hyung, why are you up already?” Ji Yong asked, while pouring some water in the glass.
“I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to make breakfast, but Ae Cha had already done so.” Top replied.
“Ae Cha?” Ji Yong raised an eyebrow as he looked at his friend. “That girl?” Top only nodded. Ji Yong yawned and emptied his glass of water. “That reminds me..” he then proceeded to say. “I had this weird dream. I was dreaming that I was having a bad dream, and when I woke up, a girl was sitting on the edge of my bed and comforted me. Then I went back to sleep and dreamed about our concert and how it all went fine.”
“What did she look like?”
“Ehm.. She had very dark brown hair that reached up till here..” He showed the length with his hand as he said it. “..with a slight bit of curl in it. She had a very well shaped face, and a pair of deep brown eyes. She actually was a very pretty girl.” While he said that, she saw the image he was trying to describe in her head, since he was still standing in her. It was her, at least the way he had seen her. Slightly different from how she saw herself, but pretty close to reality.
“That was her, Ji Yong.” Top said, after a short silence. “She just told me that she saw you having a bad dream and that she tried to comfort you. She also said that you were able to feel her touch yesterday.”
“So it really were her hands on my shoulder?”
She saw in his thoughts that he was really, fully believing Top now. As Top nodded in reply to Ji Yong’s question, a little smile appeared on her face and she couldn’t help chuckling a little. Top smiled when he heard her chuckle, but tried not to show it too much. Ji Yong still noticed it.
“What are you smiling about?”
“She thinks you’re funny.”
“Oh she’s here now?” Ji Yong started to look around as he said that, but of course didn’t see her anywhere. “Where is she then?”
“You’re standing in her.”
He jumped aside so fast that it was hard for both Top and her to hold their giggles. In the end he managed to hold back, but she burst out laughing. That, of course made him laugh too. When she looked up at Ji Yong again, he was staring at her. Well, he was trying his best to, but it was still obvious that he couldn’t see her. She couldn’t help laughing even harder when Ji Yong looked at his friend with a displeased expression.
“Don’t laugh at me! It is unfair that you can see her, while I can’t.” he complained, but when he saw his friend laughing out loud, he couldn’t help grinning a bit too. She decided to test if he could still feel her and poked him. He immediately jumped away from her touch. “Hey! Don’t do that! That’s even more unfair! Poking an unsuspecting victim!”
She laughed so hard, she had to search for something to keep her upright. Closest to her was Top, so she just got over her shyness and leaned against him, putting her arms around his middle. If she had tears, she would be crying from laughing by now, but the only thing she could do was laugh and laugh and laugh. Top put an arm around her too, so she wouldn’t fall, but was slowly calming down himself. He chuckled a bit more, before finally calming down and just patting her back until she calmed down too.
“This is really weird.” Ji Yong’s voice sounded from behind her. “You are patting air.” His words made her laugh even harder and she almost choked out of lack of air. That’s when she realised that she couldn’t die from choking, since she was already dead. That thought, for some reason, only made things worse. She didn’t make a sound anymore, but was just gasping for air now and then, while jolting all over.
“Hey, calm down, we don’t want you to die laughing now.” Top said, stroking her back as he said that, but she could still hear the chuckle in his voice. She tried to stop laughing long enough to choke out a few words.
“I am already dead.” she finally managed to say, causing herself to start giggling uncontrollably instead of laughing. Her response made Top laugh a little too.
“And you find that funny?” he asked, grinning.
“Actually I do.” She managed to stop giggling and just stood there grinning widely. When she realised she was still holding him, she immediately let go and took a few steps back, thereby bumping into Ji Yong. The latter stumbled back a few steps, not expecting the sudden contact, but he managed to keep standing.
“You know, this invisibility is very annoying. Can’t you turn it off or something?” he said as he put his glass on the table. She chuckled at his words.
“Tell him I will of course press a button on my superwoman suit and make myself become visible.” she told Top. He was still grinning and repeated her words, directed at Ji Yong, who grinned too. “I really do wish he could see me, though.” she mumbled after a few seconds of thinking. The words hadn’t left her mouth or Ji Yong staggered back a few steps and stared at her with wide eyes. It was obvious that he could really see her now.
“How did you do that!?” he exclaimed, pointing at her while staring with an open mouth. She gave him a confident smile, even though the event was just as wondrous to her as it was to both of the boys.
“I told you I would push the invisibility button on my superwoman suit.” she said amused, but then she became serious too. “No, I have no idea how I did that.”
“I might have.” Top said. When she turned to look at him, he had the thoughtful expression on his face again. “But let’s wake up the others first, or they won’t be ready when we have to go. I’ll tell you my idea on the way to the studio.”
As Ji Yong agreed to waking up the other three, she decided to fill the bowls with equal portions of rice already. It didn’t take long for a bunch of noise to fill the air when the two boys reached their destination. She couldn’t help laughing as she heard Ji Yong’s battle cry when he jumped on Seung Ri and Daesung’s beds. Top probably was a little less overactive, since she didn’t hear anything coming from his room. She quickly finished filling the bowls, so that no one would see a floating spoon with rice or something.
It took the three guys about ten minutes to get up, get dressed and enter the kitchen/living room. She watched them as they sat down, staying out of the way. Once everyone was seated, she wished them a good meal. Ji Yong immediately repeated her words, so when they said thank you, it felt a little as if they were talking to her. She thanked him for that and he chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” the guy whose name she still didn’t know asked.
“Oh nothing..” Ji Yong responded, shrugging a little.
“What’s his name?” she then decided to ask, so that she could at least refer to him with a name instead of ‘the dude with the dreadlock-ish hair.’
“Yong Bae.” Top replied.
“What?” the owner of the name asked.
“Oh nothing..” Top responded, shrugging in the same way Ji Yong had done.
“Ok what the hell is going on?” Yong Bae asked with a bit of anger in his voice.
“Nothing.” both Ji Yong and Top said at the same time. They looked up at each other and high fived grinning. She chuckled.
“Don’t try to be funny, ok. I just got out of bed, I don’t feel like this at the moment.”
“Wow, he’s really a bad morning person, isn’t he?” she said, poking Yong Bae’s cheek with a finger.
“Yah, sometimes he is.” Ji Yong responded, chuckling.
“Who are you talking to?” Seungri then asked, getting a little suspicious too.
“Ae Cha.” was the answer.
“Who is Ae Cha?”
“The girl Seung Hyun was talking about.”
“Are we back to that invisible girl bullshit?” Yong Bae seemed to really have enough of it. She decided it was time for her to help her two friends a bit. She stole a little bit of rice out of Daesung’s bowl and threw that at Yong Bae’s face. When the rice hit him on his cheek, he flinched and tried to wipe it off.
“Daesung, what the..?” he said, looking up at his friend. Daesung was staring at his bowl of rice with open mouth. His spoon floated somewhere between his mouth and bowl, unmoving. Slowly his eyes went from the rice in his bowl, to the rice on Yong Bae’s cheek.
“Ae Cha did that.” Ji Yong said, shrugging a bit as he ate another spoonful of rice. He lifted his hand at her and she immediately walked towards him to high five him. The three guys that couldn’t see her gave their friend a very weird look when they saw him high fiving the air.
“So you see her too now?” Yong Bae asked with a very sarcastic voice.
“Yep.”
“And what does she look like?”
“She has very dark brown hair that reaches up till here..” He showed the length with his hand as he said it. “..with a slight bit of curl in it. She has a very well shaped face, and a pair of deep brown eyes. She actually is a very pretty girl.” Ji Yong repeated the exact same description as he had given Top earlier. She couldn’t help smiling when she heard the compliment again.
“Oh really.. So there is a pretty girl in our apartment that is invisible to everyone but you two..” Yong Bae seemed even more unbelieving now.
“Well, technically speaking, she is invisible to you three, we don’t know about the rest yet.” Ji Yong smiled as he took another bite from the fish.
“She’s invisible to people outside on the street.” Top spoke again. He was still eating his rice, undisturbed by the tension at the breakfast table.
“Oh ok, she’s invisible to everyone except for us then. So you’re right, yes.”
“And that doesn’t strike you as strange or unusual? Or something you should be wondering about?” Yong Bae was eyeing his two friends, leaving his breakfast untouched.
“It kind of does, but there is no reason not to eat breakfast because of it, dongseng.” Top said, looking up at his younger friend with an almost deadly stare. Even though he didn’t point that stare at her, she backed away a step, because of the fury in his eyes. The three got the hint too and started eating again.
“So if there really is this girl, then why are only you able to see her?” Daesung asked. He wasn’t as unbelieving as Yong Bae, but he seemed quite uncomfortable with the idea of a ghost wandering around in his apartment. She couldn’t blame him.
“We’re still trying to figure that out too.” Top said. The furious edge was out of his eyes, but he still wasn’t smiling. “The breakfast is delicious, by the way, Ae Cha, thanks for warming it up for us.” he added when he finished his bowl. She smiled gratefully.
“You can call me K’Ae, my friends call me that all the time.” she said, but Seungri spoke at the same time as her, so it became a little incomprehensible.
“I am eating food warmed up by an invisible girl?” he asked, his voice rising a few tones in his disgust. He put down the bowl and stared at it as if it were poisonous. She frowned and folded her arms.
“Ask him if he thinks it is bad then.” she said, keeping her eyes on the youngest boy. He was still older than her, probably, but she wasn’t so sure of it. He looked very young.
“She wants to know if you don’t like it then.” Ji Yong repeated her question. Seungri seemed stunned by those words, but did answer, probably fearing another nasty look from Top.
“Well.. I do.. It tastes quite good..” he hesitated a little, as if he knew that he was already digging a hole for himself with those words.
“Then why doesn’t he finish his bowl?” she asked, at the same time as Top did.
“Well.. I don’t know.. It’s just..” Seungri still didn’t touch his bowl, trying to form a normal sentence.
“Calm down, Seungri. There is no one else here but us, you can see that for yourself. They’re just toying with you.” Yong Bae said, giving his two hyungs an annoyed look, while taking another bite from his fish.
Insulted, she walked around the table to him, grabbed his spoon and pulled it out of his hand as he moved it towards his mouth. She threw the fish back in his bowl, before hitting him on the head with the spoon. After that she dropped the spoon again, walking away from him and sitting down on the ground against the kitchen cabinets.
Top and Ji Yong smiled because of her actions, but the other three stared at the spoon with wide eyes. Seungri was getting a little pale even. Daesung was moving his mouth a little, unable to form the words. They all stared and stared, unable to snap out of their shock.
“What the hell!?” Yong Bae finally exclaimed, lifting his gaze up from the spoon to look at Top and then Ji Yong. “What is this witchcraft!?”
“She was a little insulted that you didn’t believe in her.” Ji Yong said, shrugging it off. That seemed to be the end of the three guys’ self-control. Yong Bae jumped up from his chair.
“There is some invisible ghost-like girl in our apartment and you guys don’t think that you should worry at least a little about what’s happening? Ever thought about the fact that maybe we’re all going crazy? I’m seriously considering the poisoned food option here.” he said, sounding a little distressed.
She wasn’t sure, but she thought she could even hear a tiny hint of fear in his voice. Maybe making a spoon float and hit him on the head with it wasn’t the best idea ever. She sighed and got up again. That’s when he went on talking.
“I don’t know who pumped this crazy idea into your head, Seung Hyun, but if there is really a girl here, then why are you so comfortable with it? She can see and hear everything we do and we wouldn’t even know that she was around. She could just crash in on our most personal conversations and then spill everything to other people. Why are you choosing her side anyway? She is just something you made up.”
Upon hearing his words, she walked towards Yong Bae without hesitation and grabbed his shoulder, turning him around as she did that. He first had a look of surprise in his eyes, but that look turned into shock almost immediately when his eyes searched her face and found it.
“You listen closely, Yong Bae oppa.” she said, her voice on the edge of turning into mindless screaming. “I did not choose to be here. I did not choose to die, leave everything behind and become a ghost to haunt a bunch of idiotic guys that I don’t even know. I did not choose to be here and be an intruder to your personal life, which, if I had a choice, I would never do. I did not choose to be invisible or unreal, so don’t blame me for that.”
Looking at the ground, she had to take a few deep breaths after shouting that to him, but realised that she only imagined breathing, there was no air circulating through her lungs, because she wasn’t real, of course. That thought made her anger fade and made her suddenly feel weak. She looked up at him again, all strength flown out of her.
“But you are right. Maybe I am simply a figment of your imagination. Maybe I am only something that is made up by your mind. Only you are seeing me too now, so if you think Top hyung has gone crazy, you officially did as well.” She patted his shoulder, turned away from him and walked away. How nice it would be to just disappear now. She really wished she could, so that she wouldn’t bother them any longer. A sudden gasp sounded behind her, but she didn’t look back.
“What the..” a few voices said at the same time. Probably Yong Bae, Daesung and Seungri.
“She’s gone.” she heard Ji Yong say. “I can’t see her anymore. Did she leave?”
Those words surprised her and she turned around to look at him. Before she could fully turn, a hand grabbed her wrist and she was pulled back towards the table. Not expecting that sudden force, she stumbled back, crashing into Top’s chest. He fell back on the chair behind him, but pulled her with him so she ended on his lap. Both embarrassed and surprised, they immediately let go of each other and she got up as fast as she could.
“Tell them I will leave. I don’t want to be a burden. I don’t want to create a conflict between you guys. Stop trying to see me, oppa. Forget me.” she said, as she bowed to him, trying to avoid looking into his eyes. She knew if she would look at him, his expression would make her get second thoughts about leaving. “Goodbye Choi Seung Hyun.”
She turned around and walked towards the door. She left the apartment without being stopped. Behind her was a deadly silence as the door closed again. Once outside, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and started walking away. The door didn’t open behind her. On the one hand she was glad, because she knew that if they would chase her, she would stay. On the other hand, it was just more proof that they of course did not care about her. She walked down the stairs and left the building, not knowing what exactly she was going to do.
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