I happily ran down the stairs to the basement in Jake's house, getting greeted by Emiko and Riki sitting on the couch as per usual. Soomin and Millie sitting and discussing something with Lin.
"Alright meeting officially started," Jake announced, following after Sunghoon and I into the basement, "we can start without Heeseung and Jay with ease."
"Where are they anyways?" Millie frowned as I wandered over and plopped down on the floor by the couch, seeing as the last place on the couch was occupied by Jungwon and I didn't want to crowd the couch.
"As far as I could understand Heeseung had gotten himself grounded and Jay had to go fix something with Kumi," Jake excused as he placed down a plate of fruit on the desk.
"Here, give me your wrist," Jungwon urged and extended his hand.
Without saying a word I quietly extended my arm backwards and let Jungwon press in the code on my bracelet. The moment it deactivated I had summoned a few boats of orange from the fruit plate fly over into my hand, relieving a small pressure inside my head.
"Your skill is literally just an excuse to be lazy," Millie commented, simply earning a wide smile from me as I shoved the first boat of orange into my mouth.
"Agenda, Jake," Sunghoon reminded and Jake immediately nodded.
"So... we do catching up on what have happened in the recent week and then we figure out if we need to do this every second day or if we can pass with it just being once a week," Jake stated and clapped his hands together, "adjusting, how's it going?"
"I hate my class," Emiko casually spoke up with a shrug.
"She has to tone down a bit in P.E, and she's not happy about that," Riki excused.
"How is it fair that I have to pretend like I couldn't outrun all those douchebags and kick them across the whole gymnasium?" Emiko complained loudly, "at least just... let me outrun them without it being unrealistic."
"The moment you're suspiciously stronger or faster than someone you will be noticed," Riki reminded, "we were supposed to keep our skills hidden. You don't see me teleporting to and from school."
"Both Jungwon and Sunoo used their skills!" Emiko defended.
"Well, it's not that obvious as yours is Emi," Lin softly reminded, "I dare you to say that out loud. I dare you."
"Can you stop?" Emiko exclaimed, "you always just start reading whenever I'm in a bad mood. I can't have any privacy around you!"
"How often does this happen?" I turned to Riki making him sigh and rub his eyes.
"She complains about it everyday after school, and spends at least an hour of the evening running around our room, because she doesn't get her energy used at school," Riki sighed before looking at Emiko, waiting for her to continue.
"And what about you?" Jungwon questioned making Riki quirk his eyebrows before casually shrugging, "you don't have the same urge?"
"I just glitch every once in a while," Riki murmured, "Heeseung complains that I look like a hologram."
"Jiyeon's been getting headaches as well," Sunghoon revealed making me look to him in silence, wishing he hadn't said so.
"So... having to keep your skills hidden only hurts you," Soomin declared and we all nodded, "Riki glitch, Emi has exessive amount of energy, Jiyeon gets headaches, and the rest of you?"
"Itchy throat," Sunoo piped up.
"I don't really hold back," Lin shrugged, "and neither does Jungwon. As far as he thinks."
"Couldn't have said it better," Jungwon simply shrugged and leaned back in the couch, "Lin and I are lucky enough for our skills to be well hidden... but at the same time they're pretty useless in serious situations."
"What Jungwon is saying, is that if the lab returns to look for us, we can do absolutely nothing to defend ourselves," Lin remarked, "maybe Jungwon can make him disappear for their eyes, but that is limited to a time."
"Unlike Yeon, who is literally a killing machine if used right," Emiko complained making me stiffen up slightly, "but she's to innocent to use her skills like that."
"We've been over this... eat an orange," Jungwon whispered picking up an orange boat from my hand and holding it up to my mouth.
"I don't have an appetite," I murmured and grabbed the orange in my hand, pulling it away from my mouth.
"So we need to find a solution to you guys suffering under your skills," Jake murmured quietly, "I guess... we could... there's a track outside of school, Emiko and Riki could go there. I guess Jiyeon could get her bracelet turned off when at home."
"No," I immediately shook my head, "I don't dare. I need someone there to help me calm down if I panic."
"You'll have nothing to worry about when home," Sunghoon frowned making me look to him, "we can work on it. We'll turn off the bracelet for an hour at home, and you'll slowly see you can be calm at home."
"I do think... Sunoo might actually be our problem," Jake murmured, "Jiyeon's can be harmless, but I find it hard to see how Sunoo's can be comfortable for the people around him..."
"He can just do it on me," Lin suffered holding her hand up to cut Sunoo off before he even got the chance, "I don't care that you don't want to. Your throat is having problems because of it and you can choose to do mild things, keep that in mind."
"Well... then I suppose that's settled," Jake murmured, "anything else."
"I don't want to turn off the bracelet on a daily basis," I quickly turned to whisper to Jungwon.
"If you get headaches from just being prohibited for two days you need to trust that you can do it," he softly reminded, "remember what we talked about?"
"Yeah, but what if... if I see something out of the window and I accidentally trash his sister's room?" I questioned making him smile softly and just run his hand through my hair.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Soomin questioned loudly and I looked over at him, "you were afraid of trashing his sister's room?"
"He let me stay in there while she is away," I nodded quietly before looking over at Sunghoon, who slowly shrunk in his place.
"Park Sunghoon, we've been over this!" Soomin loudly exclaimed as Millie and Jake clearly went dead quiet and sad expressions spread over their faces, "I told you! I told you the day you introduced us to them. She is not your sister, and she can't replace your sister! Jiyeon is not Yeji, and no matter how much you think they're alike they will never be the same person. How does your mom even let you do this?"
"She's still enough beside herself for me to convince her it's Yeji," Sunghoon whispered quietly, "she is of the impression that dad is the only one... you know..."
"That is messed up man," Jake commented eventually as Sunghoon just let out a sigh and pressed his thumb into the corners of his eyes.
"What do you guys want me to do?" Sunghoon questioned as he eventually looked up athe other, "you were there that night Jake! You heard me in the car when they stumbled out on the road. The fear in her eyes was the exact same I imagined Yeji had."
"This is not a way to heal," Jake shook his head, "if anything you're making it worse for yourself."
"What... happened?" Emiko whispered making us all look to Lin, who only sat with a frown on her face.
"I can't exactly see when... though, but it must be within the last six months," Lin murmured quietly as she cocked her head to the side.
"Sunghoon if you don't realize what you're doing is sick I'm gonna have Jiyeon move in with me as well," Soomin insisted, "I have done everything I could to help you, but I can't do more than this."
"I'm not... I'm not trying to pretend she is my sister," Sunghoon shook his head quietly.
"Ah..." Lin slowly nodded and we all rushed to sit closer to her, in order to get clarification on what happened, "it's not really coherent everything. Just small bits. But from what I see there is a curled up car and a funeral replaying in his head. I think... his sister and dad might've been killed in a car crash or such, recently. He thinks Jiyeon reminds him of his sister."
"Poor boy..." Emiko whispered as she glanced over at Sunghoon, who just quietly stood in his spot while the other three were trying to speak him to his senses.
"I uhm... I think I'm gonna go home, right now," Sunghoon excused once silence had fallen, "do you want to come with me or do you want to stay?"
"I uhm..." I trailed off before eventually shrugging.
"I just... I don't see you as my sister or relate you to Yeji. I just... I want to be kind to you and help you as good as possible, don't get the wrong view of me, please," Sunghoon whispered and I just nodded in return, "I'll see you at home?"
"I just want to spend a bit more time with them," I excused and gestured to the small circle I had ended in while the others had been discussing with Sunghoon.
"That's fine," Sunghoon nodded, "I'll see you at home."
Sunghoon sent me a sad smile before just turning around and mounting the stairs behind him.
"Jiyeon, if he as much as just begins to call you another name I want you to tell me," Soomin warned, "I'll have you stay with Jungwon and I for some time. Neither of us will mind."
"Not the slightest," Jungwon smiled brightly.
"He tells me stuff, you know," Soomin commented with a small smile, looking to Jungwon before giving him a small wink, "he will love having you visit some more."