Sunrise [Yungi FF]

25. The Truth

Mingi widened his eyes slightly at Yunho. "San- he told you that?" He frowned. His mind was itching as if he knew there was a piece of memory missing, an empty gap somewhere.

San glanced back and forth between Yunho and Mingi, squirming under his discomfiture. "I- it's..." he scrambled for words and trailed off, eyes darting around nervously. Then his pupils contracted and refocused on Mingi. "You all look tired. We can all talk after we rest and calm down a-"

"Are you kidding me?" Yunho blurted. He flinched and winced from moving his arm.

Jongho snapped his neck towards his friend in surprise. He had never heard Yunho sound like this before. Never saw him like this before - like he was about to hit someone.

"Yunho..." Jongho reached out a pacifying hand, but withdrew it when Yunho inhaled loudly.

The rage traveled back down Yunho's throat like lava. It made his shoulder throb hotly. He clenched his hands into fists, redirecting his anger to himself as his nails dug into the flesh of his palms. "I watched it happen," he continued, voice stretched tight. "Right before my eyes. Mingi was threatening to kill me, and the next moment he was back to normal. You can't pretend like everything's fine anymore."

A look of sheer horror crossed San's face. The kind of horror you had when your secret was exposed right into your face by someone who wasn't supposed to know.

"San, he's right. I want to know too," Mingi said softly, remembering the folder he found in San's room. "This- whatever happened to me."

"You don't understand!" San snapped, now looking at his flatmate with a sliver of distress mixed in with the fear.

"Then make me understand!" Yunho yelled, startling everyone in the room. He glared at San, his fierce eyes the only thing that could pierce through the blanket of tension hanging in the air. "And don't even think about brushing it off with a lie. People are getting hurt and Mingi is confused so don't worsen the situation and tell us the truth so we can do something to help!" He paused to catch his breath, body trembling from vehemence. The pain on his wound was returning, getting more intense each second.

"But that's exactly it,"  San hissed indignantly. "The truth will worsen the situat-"

"No it won't." The voice belonged to Mingi. It was soft, but the firmness gave it an authoritative edge that stopped San mid-sentence.

Everyone turned to Mingi. Jongho felt a ripple in the air between them. "Because I already know what it is. I can feel it. I hear a voice sometimes, in my head. And earlier, I felt another...presence in my body, right before I turned back to normal and realize I wasn't controlling my body." He paused, and no one breathed for a moment. "There's someone else in me, isn't there?"

The invisible blanket ripped apart under the grim implications of those words. Silence filled the room. Silence even weightier than the previous tense atmosphere.

Jongho was so stunned he uttered a bewildered, "What?"

Yunho simply stared at San, waiting for a confirmation. His heart pounded, matching the soft pulse on his shoulder.

A defeated sigh came out of San's mouth. He swayed on his feet and Jongho thought he was about to faint from the pressure, but he straightened himself and disappeared into the corridor that led to his room.

When he returned he was holding a yellow folder in his hand. Mingi's hand twitched at the sight of it.

San walked past them and took a seat on the couch in the living room. Everyone else did the same without hesitation.