DYSTOPIA | BOOK 2 of Death of the Future Series

FIVE

A pair of hands touched his mouth, stopping him from speaking. He blinked a few times, realising a bit too late that his eyes were cloudy. He looked at Seo and saw the look on her face, his heart constricting in his chest.

She shook her head as her bottom lip wobbled. Pulling her hands away slowly, she touched his cheeks and rubbed the tears away from his face.

"You're my brother, Jae," Seo said, her voice shaky. "And as far as I'm concerned, Appa has seen you as his son. You're not a disgrace or whatever it is you got in that head of yours."

Min Jae touched her hands. "That could just be you."

"Or," Seo said, "it could just be you thinking that way."

Min Jae felt his defences dropping and his mask breaking a little as more tears gathered in his eyes. Before he could open his mouth to make an excuse and leave, Seo hugged him, wrapping her arms around him like a security blanket. Min Jae didn't even hesitate to hold her back as he buried his face into her shoulder.

The pain he didn't think he was actually experiencing exploded in his chest along with the heavy regret of being too late.

Seo whispered assurance to him in Korean, things that only he would understand as he soaked the attention, not for the first time and certainly wouldn't be the last time— yearning for Appa to have taken the chance to know him.

***

"Ricky's the leader?" Min Jae asked, staring at the cup in his hands filled with water.

Seo shrugged, leaning against the walls of the small common room. She swirled her own cup, tossing the remainder of the water into her mouth. Min Jae followed suit and sighed, pressing the cup against his forehead, closing his eyes for a few seconds.

"Jae..." Seo said.

"It's not like I haven't expected that," Min Jae said, pulling the cup away as he opened his eyes to look at her. "And it's not like I'm envious of him in that sense. I don't want to lead a rebellion. Appa's been training him for it."

Seo didn't say anything for a second but it was clear from the way her lips thinned and her eyes narrowed that she didn't like his reply.

"He didn't want this either," Seo said. "Ricky, I mean."

Min Jae raised his eyebrows. "Why not?"

"Believe it or not, Jae, he's not really Appa," she said. "He's— Ricky."

"He's Ricky and that's why he got chosen for this," Min Jae said, shrugging. "Appa saw potential in him. As always."

Min Jae took the silence he received as she agreeing with him. He placed the cup on the small table in the room, looking at her as he tried to find the words for the next thing he was about to say. It had been on his mind for a while now and he never dared to approach Seo with it, not wanting to completely lose her.

But now that nothing was at stakes for him with Appa gone and the responsibility of the future of leading people no longer in his hands, he wanted to move forward with his life.

"Seo," he started, waiting for her to nod at him before he continued, "isn't it time we— left?"

Seo tensed. "Left?"

"Yeah," Jae said, stopping himself for a second to look over his shoulders. "Leave, Seo."

"I don't get it," Seo said, shaking her head.

Min Jae took in a deep breath, glancing at her before looking at the table. He switched into Korean and continued to speak, hoping she understood how serious he was about this idea.