Lonely Paranoia // j.w

º 7 º

   Once the six boys arrived home Jeonghan took Wonwoo to his bedroom so he wouldn't hear the others speak about the incident, as a Seungcheol explained better all the details.

  Jeonghan was succeeding on entertaining Wonwoo, until there was a knock on the bedroom's door.

  "Yes?" the older called and Jihoon peeked inside.

  "Wonwoo hyung, you, um, you have a visitor. The CEO sent her." Jihoon said quietly, before a woman in her twenties barged in the room.

   She had dark hair, that fell down to her elbows. Her skin was almost as tanned as Mingyu's and her eyes were small and dark.

   "So, which one is Wonwoo?" the woman asked looking at the two boys.

  Wonwoo slowly raised his hand, and then the woman pointed at Jeonghan and signaled him to leave.

  "Please and thank you would suit you very well." Jeonghan mumbled while leaving.

  The woman grabbed a chair and sat in front of Wonwoo.

  "Do you know why I'm here?" she asked and Wonwoo shook his head no.

  "Your CEO called me, he said he couldn't afford having you get caught going to therapy, so I'll be coming to your house once a week. My name Yongmin." she introduced and stretched out her hand, smiling slightly.

  "What!? A therapist!? I'm not crazy! I want you out of here! Get out!" Wonwoo yelled while struggling to get out of his bandmate's grip, that had rushed in when they first heard him yell.

  "Wonwoo, calm down okay? Just go along. The sooner you give her the answers she needs the sooner she leaves, okay?" Mingyu told Wonwoo, who took a deep breath and nodded.

  The members left when he sat back down and started answering.

  "So Wonwoo, could you describe me this "shadow" you see?" Yongmin asked.

  "Well, I can't see her face. It's mostly covered by her long brown hair, but her skin has a tone of gray, almost blue. She is crooked, and her fingers are so thin and long. Her body looks like as if she hadn't been eating, it's almost just skin and bone. There are also several purple marks." he described and the woman quickly wrote it down.

  "Do you usually stress? Do you feel like you have a lot of pressure on yourself?" she asked.

  "Well... K-idols usually have a lot of pressure on them, and Seventeen is no different... Especially because CEO exepcts a lot from us." the boy explained and the therapist nodded.

  She asked a couple more questions regarding the figure, like what did he feel like when he saw it and what did it say to him.

  After that she stood up.

  "Well Wonwoo, I'm going to give you a prescription for some medicine. It's probably just stress, as it can cause hallucinations." she said and bowed, before leaving.

  Wonwoo crumpled the paper and threw it across the room.

  "I'm not fucking hallucinating!" he yelled and Mingyu and Jeonghan came running in.

  "Hey hey hey now, calm down. Listen it's hard to understand something this big, don't be surprised." Jeonghan said, trying to calm down his bandmate.

  Seungcheol came in as well and sighed. He felt extra guilt because he was not only the leader of the band, he was also the leader of Wonwoo's unit, so he felt extra responsible for the younger.

  Seungcheol looked to the side and saw a crumpled up paper lying beside him. Sighing, he picked up the paper and saw a prescription for the medicine Wonwoo needed.

  "I'm going out to buy these." Seunghceol annouced, ready to leave.

  Jihoon was the member that knew Seunghceol the longest, so he knew his friend was stressed.

  "I'll tag along!" the younger announced and jumped off of the couch.

  Both boys were walking and Jihoon decided to speak.

  "You know, life isn't a bed of roses. Things will go wrong at some point, but it will get better, believe me." Woozi said and Seungcheol gave him a small smile.

  "Thanks Hoon." Seungcheol thanked and Woozi shot him the brightest smile.

  When the boys arrived the dorm he was faced with nine upset boys eating pizza.

  Seventeen knew they weren't supposed to eat junk food, so the leader got confused.

  "What's happening here?" he asked.

  "Wonwoo started crying rivers a bit after you left, and Mingyu refused to leave his side, and Wonwoo didn't want to leave the bedroom. No Mingyu, no
dinner, so we had to order." Seungkwan explained throwing the crust of an already eaten slice of pizza.

  Seungcheol held the bridge of his nose between his thumb and his index finger.

  "Unbelievable." he mumbled under his breath.

  Jihoon rubbed his back and gave him a sympathetic smile.

  The leader headed for the bedroom Mingyu and Wonwoo were in and sat beside Wonwoo.

  Seungcheol took Wonwoo's hand and shoved one of the pills from the container in his hand.

  "I don't want to!" Wonwoo yelled throwing the pill across the room.

  "Please take the damn pill Wonwoo we're all stressing." Seunghceol pratically begged.

  "No! Hyung I'm fine! I'm not taking that!" Wonwoo yelled, seeking for shelter in Mingyu's arms.

  "I know you're fucking fine! I know, okay!? The faster you take these, the faster that woman will leave!" Seungcheol yelled back throwing the box of pills at Wonwoo.

  "What do you mean you know I'm fine?" Wonwoo asked calmly.

  Seungcheol stood up and reached under his bed, grabbing a paper in the process. He handed it to Wonwoo and sat on the edge of the bed.

  Wonwoo quietly read the article the three boys had previously printed out.

  "S-so you mean, she's real?" Wonwoo asked with wide eyes, fear controlling his voice.

  Seungcheol nodded slowly.

  "Or she was... She could be dead like the article suggests." Mingyu said pointing at the paper.

  "What do I do now? I'm not crazy it makes no sense to be in a therapist."
Wonwoo asked wiping his tears away.

  "Well just play along. Don't mention Jinchae anymore, pretend nothing is
happening. The faster she thinks it's gone the faster she leaves. The CEO
won't let you get away form her unless she says you're good to go." Seunghceol
said and the two boys nodded.