I'll Grow Tall For You - M I N S U N G

𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩

Minho didn't tell Jisung about it beforehand. He should have. That way, when Minho held onto the back of his shirt before he could run away, Jisung wouldn't have had that look on his face. One of utter betrayal.

"What- Who-"

"This is Jisung." The doll grumbled before bowing. Showing him more respect than he ever did to Minho.

"Where did he come from?"

"The dollhouse." Chan's eyes went comically wide.

"The dollhouse? You mean he was inside when we brought it over? Hannah never mentioned anything."

"He came to life because of me." Chan studied his friend carefully, gauging his honesty. "Because of my infatuation with the house."

Chan sat down.

"Sorry. I think I'm overwhelmed."

It wasn't all his story to tell. Minho started with what he knew while Jisung filled in the gaps. Chan's gaze bounced between them, seemingly piecing it together the way Minho had to do.

"Are you cursed?"

"Maybe? My memories fade together on the day this happened. I only remember waking up like this."

"Who found you? The first time?" It was a question Minho had never thought to ask.

"Her name was Emma. I lived with her until she was sixteen." He braved a sad smile. "There was Chloe and Margaret and Tammy too." He didn't meet their eyes.

"Did they help you? At all?"

It was too evasive. Chan had no right asking such things. Jisung braved on.

"Sometimes? I think they were confused. Emma, the most. When I first woke up, all I could do was cry. I'd lost the only world I knew, suddenly stuck somewhere else. In a house I hadn't intended to build for myself."

"Who was it for?" Jisung didn't answer.

"That's enough questions for today." Minho interjected, standing. Chan stood too. "I'll walk you out."

Before he left, Chan caught his wrist by the door. He leaned in.

"You love him, don't you?" He could lie to his best friend, but he would know the truth anyway.

"I do."

"He deserves to know." The chime above the door rang louder than before.

Confessing seemed unreasonable. If his feelings didn't work to make Jisung normal again, would he go searching for someone else? For the person meant to turn him?

Jisung chose to sleep in his own bed that night. It had been months since he'd done that.

"Is something wrong?"

"Nothing... Everything. I don't know anymore."

Minho woke up to Jisung tinkering again.

He chased Minho away much like the last time. The only difference being that this time, he never called for him. They went the day in their own worlds. Minho out front in the store. Jisung in the backroom.

Minho could hear him moving around as he worked. He desperately wished to know what it was that kept the doll busy. He even bugged off dinner.

"But, it's your favorite. I even bought cheesecake." Jisung hesitated.

"Maybe later."

Later never came.

He blamed this on himself. For pushing Jisung when he was so still so obviously uncomfortable with Chan.

Chan visited exactly a week later.

"I talked with Hannah."

"Oh?"

"She says she remembers Jisung. He was her favorite toy." Chan held a hand to the back of his neck. "She also called me out for not believing her all those years ago."

"I can't say I blame you. I was just as shocked when Jisung came to me."

"Anyway, she told me she'd done research back then. Nothing too big, she was twelve after all, but she'd discovered something."

"What was it?" His hopes shouldn't be so high, but they were.

Chan handed him his phone. A picture had been brought up on the screen.

To Eric,

You've wanted one for so long. I hope this one is enough.

The note read.

"But, the house had been through so much? How'd she-"

"It fell out when she moved the house to the corner, a year after she last saw Jisung."

Who was Eric? Was he the reason Jisung was like this?

"Do you think-

"It's been years, Minho." Minho knew, but he wanted to try. For Jisung's sake. Anything to get him back.

At first, he chose not to mention it. Chan wanted to do some recon, but it would be hopeless without more information from Jisung. He pestered him to ask the doll about it, but he held off. The time wasn't right.