𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄 ! lee felix.

030.

ஓ๑ ────────  。.° ☆ °.  。──────── ๑ஓ

CHAPTER THIRTY
❝ the common room's new lass ❞

──────

it was finally nearing christmas. some of the students had gone home to their beloved families for the holiday, but the nine stayed in the academy — jiseon staying since she had nowhere else to go and the eight other boys staying since their parents were staying over the month.

it was jiseon's first time spending christmas without her parents and with no doubt, she felt horrible. but the past is the past and there's nothing she could do to undone what had happened. even though she told herself countless of times that it was bound to occur to get to where she is right now, the lass was still glum from the thought.

inquiries like 'what would they be doing right now?' or 'are they happy they finally got rid of me?' girded around her head countless of times and the worst part was that no matter what she did, they never ceased and wouldn't come to a halt.

jiseon felt somewhat selfish that she was all that way over here, in the middle of nowhere, living her best life while her biological parents were still in the same house, now without a daughter because she ran away.

but come to think of it, jiseon ran away because they were going to kill her — incinerate her whole body until all that was left of her were her ashes and she would be known as the wicked witch of the town.

the 8 boys were trying their best on cheering the girl up without letting her know what they were doing — which was pretty difficult in their case — playing games and having conversations until late hours to distract the lass from her own wrecked mind that was shredding her to pieces, starting from her mind, spreading to her whole body.

it was actually working but once you gave her even a few seconds of silence, jiseon would start overthinking and things would escalate from there. it was exhausting, really.

"hey, jiseon. you feeling okay?" hyunjin asked in a much softer tone after noticing that the lass was spacing out for the ninth time in an hour.

the group of friends were currently in the junior's previous common room — even though, they assumed they weren't supposed to be there — to hang out for awhile.

"huh...?" the said teen looked up from the polished wooden table, perceiving that all of them were staring at her, waiting for an answer to slither out of her lips.

"oh... uhm..." she wavered whether to answer truthfully or not.

"yeah, i'm good. you guys don't need to avert my attention away from my thoughts. i'll be fine." she gave a small and rather insincere smile.

jiseon saw the way their face flickered from worrisome to shock, some opening their mouth to explain.

"i need some alone time. and before you say anything," jiseon hurriedly cut them off before they could think of how to explain to her what their intentions were and use their vocal chords.

"i know this is what you all prevented me from doing but, i need to sort all my thoughts out. i hope all understand. thank you for diverting my attention away from my ruinous thoughts, though. i appreciate the kindness. see you guys tomorrow. goodnight." jiseon gave a smile once again and waved before leaving the room.

walking through the deserted hallways of the academy felt like she was in a whole fantasy genre movie. only now did she take in every detail of the academy — usually too busy with assignments to stare at anything in particular. the windows were almost as long as the ceiling down to the floor, the moon shone, inviting itself through the transparent glass, the curtains held a maroon hue, and it seems as if every inch of the walls were carved and engraved with different designs.

after walking for a few minutes, the lass finally got to the girls' common room. you see, they were sorted by what kind of power your dominant abilities fall in. for an instance, changbin and jisung fell in the topic of minds — changbin being able to telepathically talk to someone and warp a particular person's reality while jisung was able to read minds and control one's mind. as for jiseon, she fell in the topic of nature — minho, hyunjin and seungmin accompanying the lass.

with a long sigh, the teen idly let herself fall on one of the loveseats, making herself comfortable — putting her legs up on the arm of the chair — before bringing a hand up, creating a flare of fire and throwing it on the fireplace with ease.

"i would've usually said that was really dangerous but that was so cool." a voice from behind jiseon said.

"i'm sorry. not to be rude or anything but, who are you? i've never seen you around before."

"well, now i know you aren't really observant of your surroundings." the other chuckled, sitting down on the couch beside the loveseat jiseon sat on. jiseon only stared and cocked her head to the side, confused on what the other human being inside the room meant.

"i enrolled after red phantom and scarlet venom had trespassed." the girl explained.

"and what makes you think i'll trust you after you told me that." jiseon said, crossing her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"what do you mean?" the unknown girl asked, raising an eyebrow.

"i've never seen you before and you claimed you joined this school after the unfortunate events. you might be one of them for all i know." the lass explained staring at the other with boredom.

"i'm 16 and my parents died because of them, no way am i teaming up with them. i'm cha baerin, by the way. nice to meet you too. big fan. i've seen you practice with one of your friends." she said, bringing her foot up on the coffee table and hugged a pillow.

"i'm sorry for your loss." jiseon said, feeling bad for the girl.

"oh no, it's fine. that was years ago. i moved in with my aunt and uncle but they never really told me who murdered them." baerin explained.

"so, what are your abilities?" jiseon asked after nodding, and though she still looked like she was bored, interest glinted in her eyes.

"animals. i can talk to animals. boring, right? unlike you. i also can fly but i can't go up so high. kinda get dizzy and pass out if i go too high." she frowned.

"hey, that's not so bad! that's cool."

"i'm honestly honored that you complimented me but i know you're just saying that to make me feel better." the other frowned even more, sighing in the process.

"no, really! how far up can you go? can you talk to snakes like in harry potter? oh and can you talk to lions like in narnia? i'd love to be able to talk to one!" jiseon ranted, the bored look on her face replaced with enthusiasm and curiosity.

"actually, i can! i found out in a zoo. talked to a tiger but i'm pretty sure the lion was listening to me in the other cage. their stories were pretty sad actually."

and their conversation went on and on and on until late at night, too absorbed into the chat of getting to know each other better. jiseon found herself being giggly and smiley that night as she found a new friend she could relate with. and she truly hoped, at least this one would stay.

_______

19 august 2021
wc: 1099

note ;
new character >:) sorry for the late update 😭😭 thank u for reading this chap and a small reminder to vote for skz in mama !!