Painkiller|ws

Chapter 3

"I'll say this before we go in, don't expect much" Wonwoo wasn't happy with that. Why else was he even here? Mingyu went in first, closing the door behind him as he did so. Wonwoo didn't know what this place was. It wasn't this Minghao guy's room, but it perhaps was another common room. He didn't have time to ponder it as Mingyu poked his head out before pulling Wonwoo inside.

He realised it was an art room. The structure was very similar to the common room, except that instead of couches and terrible board games, there was paint everywhere along with both finished and unfinished canvases. That must be why it was different. It must be a recreational room. Wonwoo was admiring all the paintings on the wall when his eyes landed on a boy painting away. 

The way he moved the brush looked beautiful to Wonwoo, so he watched instead of disturbing him. Unfortunately, his black mullet fell on his face, blocking Wonwoo's view. "Hao! This is Wonwoo Hyung. Say hi" Mingyu announced happily, and Minghao turned away from his painting to look.

The shock on both their faces was so evident. Wonwoo wanted to speak, but he was sure nothing was coming out of his mouth. Minghao spoke first, which Wonwoo was glad about. "Wonwoo Hyung!" And Wonwoo let out a choked laugh. "Seo Myungho, what the fuck?" Minghao hesitated before hugging Wonwoo. Mingyu stood beside them awkwardly, not knowing what the hell was going on.

"Minghao?" Wonwoo asked, not at all familiar with the name. "You knew I was Chinese. You just never asked for the Chinese name", and Wonwoo was questioning his life again. "Can you guys fill me in?" And that's what they did.

"Me and Myungho, I mean Minghao, dated in high school. We were fucking high school sweethearts, dated for three years, and you didn't even tell me about the name? What the fuck, dude?" Minghao smirked, finding it amusing how Wonwoo was still in awe about the name. "Don't worry. I never told anyone about the name, not just you. I was his first love and everything" Minghao said the last part to Mingyu.

"Yeah, and then you left me one day and called me from China to say, 'it's not you, it's me'. I remember it all too well, Myungho" Minghao took off his apron before walking towards his various paint cans. "Before you go all Taylor Swift, I didn't have a choice. You think it was easy ending things?" Minghao turned to face Wonwoo again and grew visibly upset this time, but it wasn't because of Wonwoo. He wasn't even looking at him but behind him.

"What? Do you see them again?" Mingyu quickly walked over past Wonwoo to cocoon Minghao in his arms. "Remember what the doctor said, close your eyes and count backwards. There's no one there, Hao. It's just us" Wonwoo watched as Mingyu helped his ex-boyfriend and cradled him in his arms while he stood there, being absolutely helpless. He had no idea what was even happening.

"He has schizophrenia. It gets bad sometimes. You don't need to keep your distance or anything! Hao isn't a violent person at all" Wonwoo believed it. He was always soft-spoken and sweet. It made no sense that he would be in here out of everywhere, especially since he was supposed to be in China.

"It was good for a while in China, but it started getting worse. I knew there was something wrong with me, I never questioned it. Then the hallucinations started, it was all downhill from then" Minghao spoke up once he calmed down a bit.

"They weren't nice in school either, with the occasional 'serial killer in the making' comments, so my mother sent me here to get treatment. I wanted to call you occasionally, but you would've moved on already, and why would you want to hear from your ex who's in a psych ward" Wonwoo had enough of it as he went over to sit beside Mingyu and Minghao, who was now on the floor.

"You should've just called. It's better than me telling everyone in uni that my first love abandoned me and used 'it's not you, it's me' in his break-up speech" Minghao laughed softly at that. "Why are you in here anyway?" Wonwoo explained what happened only to hear Minghao laugh more in response.

"That sounds like a very 'you' thing to do. Remember when someone bullied me in high school, so you went to defend my honour and got beat up worse than me" Wonwoo winced at the memory.

"We bonded in that hospital. It just made our relationship stronger" it was nice seeing Minghao again. Wonwoo was more than happy to see a familiar face in this place, a really familiar one. Wonwoo had to admit he missed even the curse words he used to hear from Minghao.

"Mingyu said you wanted to ask about room 204" Wonwoo forgot about the reason he was here in the first place, but he was happy that Minghao brought it up. "His name is Joshua" finally, a name, Wonwoo was waiting for it. There were so many questions he had, Joshua? So he's not Korean? What does he look like? Can he talk to him?

"Do you like him?" Minghao laughed at how Wonwoo's eyes widened. "Have you at least seen him?" Wonwoo shook his head because no, he hadn't even seen him. "Maybe you should try meeting him first, but then again, I can see how that'll be hard" Minghao stopped talking when he saw someone stand by the door.

The boy let out a soft roar, startling Wonwoo. "Ah Hoshi-yah, it's you" Mingyu opened his arms, and Wonwoo watched as the boy crawled onto his lap, slightly pushing Minghao out of the way. "This is Hoshi hyung, there's Soonyoung hyung in there too. He's much more introverted, they both are, but Hoshi Hyung is a tiger, right?" Mingyu got a purr in return as the boy rubbed his face onto Mingyu's shoulder.

Wonwoo looked at Minghao for an explanation only to see him mouth the words 'multiple personality disorder' and Wonwoo got it. "Soonyoung can be much more innocent. Hoshi is occasionally very hostile because the animal alter was created as a protection of sorts but generally harmless once he likes you. You can see he loves Mingyu and me" Minghao said, patting the human tiger. Wonwoo remembered Jun mentioning him.

"And Wonwoo Hyung, I'll try to introduce you to Joshua Hyung" the 'Hyung' got Wonwoo's attention. He didn't look older, so he asked Minghao about it. "He's two years older than me, so one year older than you" Wonwoo was happy he got at least something about 204, even if he had to get it from his ex, who he was more than glad to see again. Wonwoo just really wanted to meet Joshua at this point. He really fucking did.

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