I've Searched the Universe [discontinued]

IV

The next morning Joohyun wakes up to Seungwan knocking on her door. "Unnie?"

Joohyun rubs her eyes but doesn't open them. She responds roughly with, "Yes?" and doesn't expect her voice to sound so... groggy.

She doesn't receive a response as she groans in annoyance and frustration. "Seungwan, what do you want?"

"I just wanted to know if you were awake yet," the girl finally speaks.

"Oh. I guess I am," Joohyun croaks.

"Can I come in?" Seungwan asks.

Joohyun raises an eyebrow with the knowledge that Seungwan couldn't see her yet. "Of course."

The door opens, revealing Seungwan standing there with a concerned look on her face. "J-Joohyun..." She mutters timidly, "...you're okay, right?"

"Yeah..." Joohyun looks her in the eye, her eyes lingering with confusion. "Why?"

"You sort of... had a mental breakdown yesterday, remember?"

"Remember?" Joohyun repeats.

Remember?

--

"Don't you remember?" he questions.

"Remember what?"

"Remember what I said?" Junmyeon grins. "Of course you don't remember..."

She looks at him, confused. "What did you say?"

"I really like you. Don't let anything or anyone change that." He suddenly pulls her into a hug, almost making her recoil. "And... if you ever have any problems, or you just want to vent to someone... just come to me, okay? I'll listen to everything. I won't judge you."

She stares at him, confused.

"Joohyun, are you okay?"

"Joohyun?"

"Joohyun?"

--

"Joohyun?" Seungwan's voice brings her back into reality.

"Yeah?"

"You went blank for a moment. Did you have another flashback?"

Flashback?

Joohyun looks at her in awe, as if Seungwan was the piece that made everything complete.

She was so close - almost at the end.

Then, all of a sudden, more paths are added, and she has to find her way through her labyrinth again.

This happened over, and over again, every single time she thought she was at the end.

She didn't tell anyone about it because she didn't want them to get lost in her mind. She was surprised Seungwan even knew.

Joohyun hated it.

She hated Seungwan, although she was her best friend.

She hated that Seungwan knew and she didn't.

"How... how did you know?"

Seungwan licks her lips, swallows, then goes to sit on the bed next to her. She swallows.

She finally speaks timidly and softly as if she's scared she'll say the wrong thing. "Look, Joohyun, I don't know if you're ready to find out..." she trails off.

"Find out... about what?" Joohyun sits up to look at the younger straight in the eye.

Seungwan's eyes widen as she quickly breaks their eye contact, biting her lip. "You've been having these flashbacks every since..." She pauses, trying to find the right words to use, "...the incident."