Haunted House | a jaehyungparkian story

Chapter 2: in which Brian tries to act cool but ultimately fails

"I think Jae's avoiding me," Brian said.

Dowoon blinked. "What makes you say that, hyung?"

The maknae's gaze, which was glued to the cup of noodles in his hand, instantly switched to focus on Brian.

They were back in their shared room at the Day6 dorm, each occupying their respective spots on their bunk bed-Dowoon on the top bunk and Brian on the bottom. The older of the two was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling as if in deep contemplation. Dowoon was leaning against the wall, cup of instant noodles on his lap. Usually his hyung would nag at him whenever he ate such an unhealthy midnight snack, but tonight Brian was unusually quiet.

A few seconds passed until Brian answered. "Well, to start off... Jae isn't here."

Dowoon turned to look at the empty bed across from them. Jae's tall form was nowhere to be seen. "True."

"He's been gone for hours," Brian continued. "It's already past midnight."

Dowoon thought about it for a bit. While he did so, he decided to climb down from his bunk and plop himself onto Brian's bed. It was a magnificent feat considering the cup of noodles in his hand. Finally after settling himself in a comfortable sitting position, Dowoon replied. "I'm sure Jaehyung-hyung knows what he's doing."

"And." Brian sighed. "Other things happened."

The drummer blinked. "Such as...?"

Again, Brian was quiet. He replayed the last few days in his head.

Three days ago, he kissed Jae. On the lips. In a haunted house. Afterwards, they pretended as if nothing happened. They even rode a few more rides together, clinging onto each other and screaming together. But on their way back to the hotel, Jae wouldn't even look at him. Upon reaching their shared room, Jae threw himself onto the nearest empty bed and proceeded to make loud, exaggerated snoring noises. He practically faceplanted into his pillow.

Two days ago, Sungjin encouraged all of the members to spend time at the hotel's swimming pool. On that day, Jae clambered onto the highest diving board. He nearly shrieked when he saw that Brian had followed him. And when Brian opened his mouth to speak, Jae immediately jumped off the diving board and into the deep waters below.

Brian couldn't even get his friend's attention on the flight back to Korea. The second they took their seats, Jae stared intensely outside the plane window. Afterwards he watched the in-flight film, laughing loudly whenever Brian tried to talk to him.

"This scene isn't even funny," Brian said.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA," Jae said.

"You've watched this film literally a dozen times," Brian said.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA," Jae repeated.

And one day ago, they were back in Korea. The band ordered pizza and ate at the dorm. Jae would usually fight over the last piece of pizza, but he surprisingly told the other members that he was full and ran back to his room. When Brian opened the door of their shared room, Jae was already hidden in a cocoon of blankets, snoring loudly.

Fast forward to the present day. Dowoon was looking at him eagerly, and Brian could only sigh.

"I think I might have done something that freaked him out," the bassist answered carefully.

There was a pause before the maknae answered, "Such as...?"

"Um..." Brian shook his head. "You know what, never mind. I think I'm just overthinking it."