Guts (EXO)

What Lies Ahead

Kai sighed, messing up his hair from frustration. “Remember that day I stormed out of M-LX just when we got back from Hong Kong?”

Everyone nodded.

“And then I got into a fight with Chanyeol over…Hyerin?” he reluctantly added, glancing at the said boy through his lashes. “Sorry about that, by the way.”

Chanyeol’s lips tugged upward as he held out a fist to Kai. “No worries, bruh.”

Kai smiled, bumping fists with Chanyeol. “Anyway, that wasn’t really me. Those weren’t my own words, it was” – he sighed exasperatedly – “TOP. He hypnotized me back at that warehouse when the others were kidnapped. Just when I was leaving I turned around and made eye contact with him, and I thought everything was fine until the day we came back to Seoul. He twisted my words and manipulated my emotions once I started talking to Hyerin, but then again-”

He abruptly stopped mid-sentence, holding in the pain-filled expression he knew was about to show on his face. Sure, TOP made him say things he didn’t mean to say, but TOP had to work with something. The bastard used his affection towards Hyerin and the little pent up jealousy he had for Baekhyun against him, and even though he didn’t mean to argue with Hyerin or get into a fight with Chanyeol, he knew, somewhere inside him, that it was true; true that he cared a lot about the girl enough to be absurdly angry at the boy she liked.

He almost forgot that the others were waiting for him to continue.

Kai awkwardly cleared his throat. “All I’m saying is that I never meant to hurt anybody and I certainly did not mean to run away. That was all TOP’s doing,” he assured. “He just completely made me his puppet.”

“And then?” Xiumin urged.

Kai bit his lower lip, shuddering at the memory. Hyeji, noticing this, grabbed a blanket behind her and threw it over the boy’s shoulders. At the corner of the room, Chen didn’t miss the way she reassuringly rubbed the boy’s back, her kind features contorting into concern.

“Running away was the last thing I remembered before I fell unconscious. I don’t know how or when that happened. I have no idea how long I was out but the next thing I knew I ended up…here.” Kai’s dark eyes passed the small storage room. “Here, in this abandoned liquor store, taken in by this young lady.”

He gently elbowed the girl sitting cross-legged beside him, a small smile gracing his lips. “Tell ‘em what happened.” 

Hyeji gave him a hesitant look. When he encouraged her to go on, she sighed and fixed her attention to the floor.

“I found him lying unconscious on the streets one rainy night, his clothes muddy and drenched with blood. He was so thin then, as if all that was left were skin and bone. I was reluctant to help him because I was sure he would kill me,” she said quietly. “I’m a Xinth after all. But I felt sorry for him, and also because I felt guilty about what happened to him.”

“What do you mean you felt guilty?” Kyungsoo asked.

Hyeji bashfully rubbed her wrists. “Like I said earlier, I’m somewhat a…spy for the Noxius Brothers. I was told to keep an eye on you and make sure you’re safe as their gratitude over what you did for them. I’ve been a longtime Xinth acquaintance to them you see. They didn’t have much friends but I was considered one,” she explained, “but then the outbreak happened, they left, and I didn’t have to hide my being a Xinth. I actually managed to use it to my advantage and posed as one of the mayor’s soldiers. I blended in just fine.”

“What does this have to do with Kai?”

Hyeji lowered her head. “One day, I just saw TOP and Blue dragging Kai into this laboratory of some sort inside the mayor’s home,” she said slowly. “He was unconscious, probably after he ran away from you guys. And since I was posing as one his guards I managed to get into the lab without any problems.”