Beomgyu woke up and panicked at the unfamiliar surroundings before remembering he was at the hotel with Soobin and the others.
He looked around him- Taehyun and Hueningkai were fast asleep beside him, and Yeonjun and Soobin were in the other bed tight in each other's embrace.
What time was it? Beomgyu checked his clock that said 3:32 a.m.
Feeling wide awake, Beomgyu slowly got out of bed, careful not to wake Taehyun and Hueningkai up.
He went to the bathroom to wash his face when he almost slipped on the floor in shock when he saw a little girl inside.
Beomgyu sighed. Were the ghosts following him or was he following the ghosts?
Despite having black, unsettling eyes, the little girl seemed pretty innocent.
"Hi," Beomgyu whispered, a friendly smile on his face.
Looking scared, the little girl took a step back, clutching her teddy bear even tighter.
"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise." Beomgyu laughed.
"What's your name? Mine's Beomgyu," he asked, trying to make friends with the little girl.
"J-Jasmine..." she mumbled quietly, still clutching her teddy bear.
"What are you doing here, Jasmine?" Beomgyu asked curiously.
"I'm finding my parents, I can't find them! Can you help me? So many people have been ignoring me and you're the first one who's actually noticed me," she whispered sadly.
The friendly smile on Beomgyu's face slowly faded away.
Poor kid.
"Ok! Beomgyu will help you find your parents, sounds good?" he asked, and the little girl smiled and nodded happily.
Leaving the others in the room, he and Jasmine went out of the room and wandered into the halls.
Beomgyu didn't care if he looked like a madman talking to nobody, he just wanted to find this little girl's parents.
"How about you? Where's your parents?" the little girl asked curiously, and Beomgyu suddenly felt his heart ache.
"I....I don't know either Jasmine," Beomgyu smiled bitterly.
"But we'll find them, right?" Jasmine asked, and Beomgyu could tell she was trying to be optimistic.
"Yep. We will."
Beomgyu just met this little girl, but he somehow already formed a bond with it. Was it because she's the first genuinely kind spirit he's met? Or was it because they both didn't know their parents?
He entered the elevator and pressed the third floor button. He didn't even know what he was doing, he just pressed a random button.
The elevator ride from the 18th floor to the 3rd floor was pretty long, and all of a sudden the lights went out and the elevator completely stopped.
"Beomgyu!" he heard Jasmine yell in fear, clinging on to his waist.
"It'll be fine, don't worry. Beomgyu's here," he smiled, patting the little girl's head in the dark.
Beomgyu pulled out his phone from his pocket and turned on the flashlight.
"Better?" Beomgyu asked, and Jasmine nodded in relief.
"Sheesh...what do we do now?" he asked nervously.
Beomgyu considered calling Yeonjun or Soobin at least, but they were probably deep asleep because they were so damn tired. Besides, there was no signal in the elevator.
"Beomgyu? It's hot..." Jasmine panted, and Beomgyu wiped the sweat off her forehead.
He was already starting to feel suffocated because of the lack of air inside the elevator. Slowly, he sank to the floor and tried to take deep breaths.
Then a miracle happened- the lights went back on and the elevator started working again.
"Oh, at fucking last," Beomgyu breathlessly mumbled.
"What does fucking mean?" the little girl asked curiously.
Oh.
"It's a bad, bad word, ok? Don't ever try to say it!" Beomgyu panicked, and the little girl nodded in confusion.
"Which floor did you and your parents stay in?" he asked, trying to change the topic.
"The third floor, you already pressed it actually," Jasmine answered, and Beomgyu's eyes widened- he was able to guess the floor they stayed in?
They arrived in the third floor, and Beomgyu wandered around for a while.
"Do you remember where your room is?" he asked.
"I think it was around that corner...?" Jasmine mumbled, sounding unsure.
Beomgyu followed Jasmine and soon enough they reached their room.
But there were barricade tapes on the door, and everything around it looked burnt.
"W-what happened here?" Beomgyu asked Jasmine who stayed silent.
It just so happened that there was a janitor cleaning around that place that time, and Beomgyu ran up to him.
"What are you doing here this early in the morning?" the janitor asked in confusion.
"I- I couldn't sleep...anyways, what happened to that room over there?" Beomgyu pointed towards the room Jasmine said.
"Oh that...it's quite tragic actually-
A rich family was supposed to stay there for five nights, but on their third night someone committed arson in their room and the fire killed the whole family," the janitor explained.
And boy did that feel like a huge slap across Beomgyu's face.
The janitor walked away, and Beomgyu slowly turned to Jasmine.
"Jasmine?"
"...yeah?"
"I think it's better if you don't look for your parents."
"But...why not? Do they not want me anymore?" Jasmine asked sadly.
"It's not that... It's just-" Beomgyu hesitated.
Jasmine died along with her parents because of a fire, but her soul was still looking for her parents who were probably not in this dimension anymore.
"They're in a better place now," Beomgyu smiled sadly.
"How about me? Why didn't they bring me along?" Jasmine said, starting to tear up.
The poor kid couldn't cross to the other side because she was still stuck here looking for her parents.
"Jasmine, listen to me. They're in a better place now, you can go after them right? Imagine there was a carriage that brought them to that place and only two people were allowed to ride at a time. Maybe that's why they couldn't bring you along!
But that was a magic carriage- you wouldn't be able to ride it if you were worried about something. Maybe your parents were able to ride it because they weren't worried about you being left behind, they know you'll also come right after them!
Your parents are waiting for you in that place, are you going to keep them waiting?" Beomgyu asked, and Jasmine shook her head.
"See? So you need to go ride that magic carriage before your parents start looking for you! But you can't ride that carriage if?"
"If I'm worried about something," Jasmine answered, an excited smile on her face.
"Exactly! You're smart, huh? Now don't worry about your parents- they're right there, waiting for you."
"But how about you? How will we be able to find your parents?" Jasmine asked Beomgyu sadly.
"....don't worry about me, Jasmine. I'll find them soon," Beomgyu smiled bitterly.
All of a sudden, Jasmine hugged Beomgyu tightly.
"Thank you Beomgyu!" she squealed in excitement, and Beomgyu chuckled cutely.
"I'll go now, I'll miss you!" Jasmine waved goodbye, and Beomgyu felt a tear escape his eye.
Damn it, why was he so soft today?
"Take care, hmm?" Beomgyu asked, his breath shaking.
Jasmine nodded happily, and Beomgyu watched as she disappeared down the hallway.
***
"Where'd you go?" Taehyun asked in the darkness as Beomgyu entered the room.
"You fucking scared me, you idiot!" Beomgyu hissed.
"What are you doing outside at 4 a.m.?" Taehyun asked in confusion, and Beomgyu sat beside him next to the window.
"I should be asking you that," Beomgyu muttered.
"I just woke up and couldn't go back to sleep, how about you?" Taehyun sighed, staring out the window.
"Same, actually."
"I...I wonder where my parents are..." Beomgyu mumbled quietly.
"...Is there something wrong? You don't usually talk about them. Come on, you can tell me." Taehyun smiled, wrapping his arms around Beomgyu.
"I- I just wanna know if they're okay, I just wanted an actual mother and father, you know? When I went to school I always envied my classmates who had parents, they always had a blast during family day. They had parents to cook them meals, to tuck them to sleep, to help them with their homework, to play with them during weekends, I mean-
I'm not saying the four of you aren't enough. You're like my family, I literally grew up with all of you. But still, knowing my actual parents is still different. I...I don't know why they abandoned me. Didn't they want a son?" Beomgyu asked, and this time the tears wouldn't stop flowing.
Taehyun listened silently. He's never seen Beomgyu become emotional like this, so he knew Beomgyu might've been hiding his feelings for a long time.
The Beomgyu all four of them saw everyday was happy, playful, and even annoying. But they never saw the heartbroken Beomgyu who missed his parents and just wanted them back.