I woke up earlier than I should, before my alarm clock by half an hour. Yesterday, I hadn't asked the boys to return back to their cards because they didn't want to, and the minute I opened my eyes I found Sehun's face meters apart from mine. Instead of blushing like how he does whenever he's caught doing something out of his character; his intense gaze didn't change at all. He was staring at me as if trying to search for any signs of whatever he was searching for, and when I blinked my eyes to break him out of his haze, he only squinted his eyes.
I looked down at his hands, and realized he was intertwining them over his chest. I lifted my body up silently when he continued to watch me, and turned around to notice the boys all scattered around. Jongdae was crouching down, following the trails of an ant village that was somewhere behind the walls of my bedroom. Baekhyun was sitting on his regular beanbag, a teenage magazine in his hands that he kept frowning at. He obviously didn't like the information provided within. Joonmyeon, Xiumin and Kyungsoo were talking to one another with hushed voices while standing in front of the single large window, reflecting light over their faces. I looked to my far right, to where my desk was; and noticed Chanyeol and Jongin wrestling one another to the ground silently not to wake me.
Where was Lay?
As the question popped in my head, a crash noise resonated from outside, followed by a womanly yell. The noise reminded me of when Baekhyun went downstairs in my home to practice chopping the carrots, and my mom caught him. My eyes met Baekhyun's across the room, and I knew he was thinking the same.
Throwing the blankets off of my body in haste, I slipped my feet into my slippers with rocketing heartbeats.
"No one follows me." I told the boys immediately, shooting them a glare. Joonmyeon turned to me and he seemed like he wanted to protest against my decision, and I sent him a look. "No, Joonmyeon. Those are three five-ranked Wielders, have always been here before me and you know what kind of rules they have applied. I'll fix this myself."
"We can help you." Kyungsoo seemed to grow annoyed as well, and I helplessly let out a noise of disagreement.
"No, Kyungsoo. You'll stay. They were looking for a mistake to attack and now they've found one. Your presence will only worsen things." He bit his lips at my words, looking away frustratingly. I knew that he wanted to help, that they all did; but their help can be anything but helpful in this situation.
I strolled out of my room and gently closed the door behind me after I gave my boys a look not to intervene. I only hoped they wouldn't do anything reckless. I headed to the kitchen, following where the voice was the strongest. I remembered their rules of no warriors wandering around our dorm apartment, and I hadn't been making my warriors out of my room at all. Why was Lay out? Why did the boys even let him when they already know the rules?
I went inside the kitchen and found the three triplets all crowding around Lay, scowling at the poor Wielder who was looking at the ground, where a pile of broken glass was close to his feet. I realized that one of his feet was bleeding, and I smacked my head. I should've bought them flip flops for home as well.
"What's going on here?" I went inside the circle they made around Lay and stood in front of him protectively, giving an appropriate distance between the glass and I. Lay didn't lift his head from the ground and I didn't expect that from him. He probably thought I was just like the three Wielders that were staring him down like he had made a crime.
"Oh, Hani is here." Mia said sarcastically, twirling one hair lock around her finger with a wide smirk on her face. They were all already wearing their uniforms, ready for school, and I pursed my lips thin.
"Don't you remember the rules?" Mae scowled. She looked the angriest, and I shifted my eyes to look at her. "I told you we don't want any warriors inside our residence. We already gave you permission to have them inside your room, but not in the kitchen."
"I just wanted a glass of water." Lay mumbled from behind me, and I looked back at him with an angry face, not because he didn't play by the rules, but because I was angry at the stupid triplets for making such a big fuss because of something as trivial and harmless as this. They probably haven't even heard his part of the story.
"Did you hear him? He said he only wanted a glass of water. No harm has been done. Why are you making a big fuss out of it?" I twirled back to face the triplets with a scowl of my own. I know how awful and demanding Wielders can be, but they are honestly being too much.
"Excuse me?" Maia sounded angry too, but she still held herself with an air of arrogance and dominance. "There were rules, and you should've applied to them."
"He even broke a glass," Mae continued her sister's words, furrowing her eyebrows at the small flash of bravery that she had witnessed from me. I can tell she didn't expect it. "That is the harm. He needs to pick up his own shards."
"Also wipe down the water he poured." Mia added, looking smug and confident. I wanted to shove a shard of glass down her throat, but I shook my head; thinking of something else less dangerous.
"I'll do it." I announced, turning around to face Lay one more time, catching his moist eyes; before falling down to my knees and picking up the glass one by one, piling them further away from Lay's feet. I can hear them snickering, scoffing and calling me names with loud whispers so I can hear them purposely. I could see Lay's knees shake, and I looked up to shoot him a comforting smile. He pursed his lips in worry and another undefined expression I couldn't read.
"He should never venture inside places he's not allowed in. Lets go girls." Mae said, and I looked back at her to watch her giving me a last glare before turning around with a dramatic twirl, walking away with obvious stomps of her feet to get her point across. Her sisters followed her with snickers, and Maia childishly stuck her tongue out at me, before running after her sisters out of the front door.
I looked back at the glass and sighed. There was a pool of water between the smaller shards, and I stood up to look for a mop.
"We need to wipe the water first. Why don't you pick up the bigger ones I had already picked and dump them in the trashcan?" I gave Lay a wide smile, and he sniffed. He gave me a long stare filled with raw emotions I couldn't read, before silently doing what I asked him. I searched for the mop relentlessly until I found it, and then begun cleaning the remaining mess made by Lay. I crouched down to pick up the smaller shards with a small broom, shooting the awaiting Lay a grin.
I cut myself with a smaller shard and a small circle of blood started appearing on my finger. I sighed helplessly and finished the rest. This was probably the reason why my mom never allowed me to do anything of this sort, because I was both clumsy and careless, even when I didn't try to be.
After finishing, I glanced at Lay with a focused stare, noticing the redness of his left cheek fading into nothingness. Had one of those assholes slapped him this hard so only now it faded? I took a small step forward, and Lay's eyes shot up to meet my eyes almost right away.
"Lets talk. In the rooftop."
"Yes, Ma'am."
For just this time, I won't comment about calling me Ma'am.
-
"Sit." I commanded with a blank face, pointing at the single bench around. He gave me a mere stare before politely sitting down and dropping his head low. He was wearing a dark red sweater and plain jeans, and god knows how he was convinced to wear such things without being traumatized. I think Joonmyeon was responsible, since the man was the only one who was excited to do so.
I crouched right in front of him, on my knees; and looked up at his face. He looked away right away, and I sighed at his reluctance. In a moment of bravery, I reached out for his hands and clutched them in mine. He snapped his head to my hands wrapped around his, before slowly lifting his head up to me with moist eyes. Was he scared of me this much? Even when I haven't done anything to him at all? This sudden display of emotions startled me so much that I turned speechless. I didn't know what to say, and the things that I wanted to say before vapored like thin air. He didn't need to say anything at all to render me awestruck, and I found myself blurting out my plans.
"I'm going to free you out." Both his and my eyes widened at what I just said, and I cleared my throat right away. He sniffled and wiped his tears furiously with his sleeves, staring at me with awe soon after.
"What?" He softly murmured, blinking his eyes.
"The witch that had turned you? I found where she is." Even when I urged myself to stop speaking, I still did speak, and continued to blurt out everything I know. "Or was. I know where she used to live, and I'm going to start my plan of freeing you out, all of you; from that place."
"How?" He seemed quite intrigued, and his soft murmurs was louder than before. In his moment of curiosity he forgot that I'm a Wielder and he should respect me. I was glad, and hoped it became permanent.
"The spell—I'm going to make her reverse it. You've lived long enough in this form and it's time you stop."
"She lived long too. Do you believe she's still alive?" He gave me a wide-eyed stare, and my lips curled into a half smile unconsciously. I squeezed his hands more.
"I've thought about this, and no, I don't think she's still alive, but there's a great chance a descendants of her family are there."
"What if they aren't witches like her? Joonmyeon said you get to choose what path you take in witchery. He chose to be normal with his family. Most of his relatives did too."
"I'm sure there are some who chose like her," I squeezed his hands again, giving him a determined face even when I was quivering from inside. I had thought about this too, and he was right. What if there were no witches? And all hopes were just that, hopes? "We have to search. I'm not sitting around doing nothing when you're all suffering."
"Why? Why do you care? It has nothing to do with you and yet you act as if this whole thing is because of you." Lay seemed frustrated when he asked that, and he even pulled his hands away from mine. I pursed my lips again, staring at my empty hands that were tingling at the loss of warmth from Lay.
"Because the moment I found you all it became my business. If I had moved on and did nothing knowing what kind of suffering living like this brings you then it makes me no better than all those Wielders that have abused you."
"Basically, you're doing this because you feel burdened, and you don't want to be labeled as a bad person."
"No," I declined angrily, not believing he had accused me of such absurdity. Lay was speaking up his mind and it delighted me, but I didn't like how little he saw me. I wasn't thinking about myself; actually, I never thought about myself even when knowing how hard my quest is going to be. I had never, ever thought of myself, even with all these burning questions about who I really am. "I'm doing this because I care. I've grown to your presence with me, and I've begun to develop positive feelings towards all of you. I know that you don't believe me, but I care, and I want you guys to be happy. This is my priority at the moment and I would stop at nothing to achieve it."
"You just met me." Lay weakly argued, new tears gathering at the corner of his eyes and one by one they started falling. His eyes flashed crepe pink, exposing his feelings. I straightened a little in my position so I can reach out for his eyes, and started wiping his tears away.
"True. I've only met you a few days before, and I had wanted to do this because of the other boys. But now I want to do it for you, for Jongdae too; for anyone who I may find in the way and for those whom I don't know, because I don't care about your identity. I know you haven't done anything to deserve it—and even if you did, this isn't the right way to solve things at all. I'm doing this because all of you are innocent, and all of you are scarred for a long time. I think, this is the time this whole thing ends." I stopped to take a deep breath, my fingers moving to wipe new batches of tears from his cheeks.
"You know, Joonmyeon had told me that the way I'm like this is because I was meant to do this, that I was to do great things. I think, my odd abilities to gain EXO cards is for a reason beyond this game everyone are playing, and he was right. I was meant to help the entire society, with you in my side. I think... this was beyond the witch's ability as well."
"You really believe that?" He weakly asked, gulping, and I happily nodded my head, creasing his cheeks. I was glad he didn't push me away, or look somewhere else from my eyes.
"I know so, and I'll fulfill my destiny. Because I want to."
"Thanks. You really are different."
"So I was told." I grinned playfully, and he slowly; did too, a beautiful dimple appearing on one of his cheeks, creating a beautiful sight of a beautiful being that made my heart thump.
"Let me." He suddenly said, taking a hand out of his face; the one that I had punctured the finger of previously. He cradled it gently in his hold, like it was something precious, and I blinked at him owlishly.
"What are you doing?" I questioned weirdly when he raised the hand to his lips.
"Healing you." I immediately pulled my hand away from his grip, grimacing, and he blinked his eyes at me in confusion. I pointed at him sternly, like a mother scolding her child.
"No healing, young man. You'll not waste your life cells on such a stupid wound that'll heal tomorrow." His lips curled to the side to reveal another smile, a gentle smile that made me feel stupid, and he once again tried to take a hold of my hand, despite my attempts to hide it away from his grip.
"The boys have practiced that on you, huh? What I'm going to do is a different kind of healing, I wouldn't use any of my life cells. I promise." I deflated at that and let him take my hand in his, peering at him curiously.
"What will you do?"
"My special power is healing." He answered causally, blowing gently on my wound. In seconds, the tissues started connecting together and a new skin was created. The sensation that spread over my body was different than the sensation of when the boys healed me using their life cells. I felt like a new eruption of powers had invaded me, and the sleepiness I had felt vapored right away. I was ready to run around this roof thrice.
"Woah.. I feel so.. healthy."
"Yeah." He grinned beautifully, but the grin slowly faded into a grimace. "I have another side though, to my powers; and I wouldn't like to use it."
"Why? Is it dangerous?" I eagerly questioned, and Lay popped his head up and down in agreement.
"Just like healing, I can also make your wounds worsen, or make a new brand wounds you haven't had before. I don't like to use it." He continued to grimace, as if his own power disgusted him. The fact the power was giving by a witch, and hasn't been born into him made everything even worse. He felt used, gross, like a monster, and I found myself mourning with him.
"Is this why your previous Wielders think you are useless?" He was quick to agree.
"Yeah, because I never use this side at all. I've never told them about it, so they wouldn't force me to do things I would regret doing to others."
"I'm sorry to hear that." And I really was. No one with a good heart would want to hurt others because he was told so without his will. It will give him nightmares for eternity.
"It's okay. I'll get rid of all of this once you free us."
"You believe in me?" I gaped my mouth at him, awed that he didn't protest and was quick to assume I would free them. He nodded his head with a gentle expression on, an expression that made my stomach churn with gratitude.
"You were quite determined when you explained everything to me. I believe in you, and I want to help you. I'm sure the boys will be ready to help too."
"I don't think so." I admitted my fear sheepishly, scratching the back of my neck. "They are too protective, and most of them have already accepted their fate. Lets keep this between us, okay?"
"I don't think that's a great idea," Lay disagreed. "They would be furious when they find out you hadn't included them."
"They are included, but I'm not ready to tell them.. yet." I gave him my most pleading eyes, and Lay sighed helplessly and nodded a little.
"Okay. But you'll have to tell them sooner or later."
I agreed silently. It wasn't like I absolutely didn't want them to know, because I did, but I didn't want them to know now, when I still have so many things to search for. I was sure Joonmyeon will get excited for the idea in itself; maybe even Xiumin as well, but I don't think they would want me to get included. Baekhyun will refuse flatly, because he deny that he could ever be freed; which is a little sad. I'm not sure how the rest will react, Kyungsoo might get really excited because he likes the thrills of a fight, but in the same time I think he would be hesitant, because this is a serious matter; more than just a childish fight. Chanyeol and Kai will definitely get worried for my sake, even Sehun; but they'll silently agree that their freedom is very important, and the fact someone is ready to aid them is quite appreciated. I don't know about Jongdae, because he was quiet and reversed; and I know nothing about him whatsoever.
The door to the rooftop clicked open and Kai poked his head inside, followed by the rest who looked at Lay and I with raised eyebrows. Finally, Joonmyeon crossed over and ruffled my hair.
"You have school, young lady. You're late."
"Yes, Mom." I playfully swatted at his hand, and he grinned before pulling away himself, giving Lay an inquiring stare.
"What were you doing alone?" Sehun asked jealously and I pounced up at him and wrapped his head in a headlock.
"It's a secret between Lay and I, right Lay?" I turned to Lay with a grin, and the boy slowly stood up, dusting the back of his jeans.
"Yeah. Hani and I had a wonderful talk." The others looked shocked at the mention of my own name from Lay's mouth, and I was too, but my shock disappeared soon and was replaced by a grin that I shot at Lay.
"Are you a sorcerer? What did you do to him?" Kyungsoo mumbled with owl-like eyes, extremely wide, and I gave him a mocking look before heading to Lay and standing beside him like an innocent girl.
"As Lay said, we had a wonderful talk and we got to know each other more. Are you jealous?" Kyungsoo seemed to blush faintly at my last sentence and he arrogantly snapped his head to the side, raising his nose in the air confidently.
"Of course not. Why would I even? You're gross."
"I'm delighted to know your opinions about me," I spoke with sarcasm, before jogging to Kai and Chanyeol, looping my arms through theirs happily. "I have enough people around me that think I'm not gross. Right guys?" I shot a smile at Chanyeol and Kai, and the two of them smiled simultaneously, nodding their heads. I gave Kyungsoo a smug look he ignored with a humph. We all started walking out of the rooftop while chattering loudly, all of us mostly picking on Kyungsoo who was burning in embarrassment.
"Hani." Baekhyun called me softly when I lingered behind a little, laughing; and with wide eyes, I turned to him slowly, wondering what he wanted. He looked hesitant to say what he wanted to say, and he looked forward to check if the boys were listening; before reaching for the hem of my pajama T-shirt, pulling me back so I can walk beside him. He turned to me, a soft look in his eyes, and for a minute, I forgot about the angry, malicious look in his eyes when he had yelled at me before.
"Thanks.. for what you said to Lay."
"You heard?" I breathlessly said, my eyes wide and vulnerable. Baekhyun nodded his head meekly, and let go of my pajama T-shirt.
"I did. I won't tell the boys."
We stayed silent for a moment, because I was so surprised I needed to pick out my thoughts, before looking at him slowly.
"And? What do you think?" He eyed me as if he was gauging for a reaction, before letting the corner of his lips curl into a small smile; a small smile in which he immediately took hold of and hide it, when he saw how my mouth fell apart.
"I'm.. happy."
"You are?" I incredulously stared at him, and he so easily palmed my face away so I wouldn't look at him so awestruck-like.
"I am, and I apologize for how I treated you.. before." I was oh so surprised that I didn't know what to do. Had Baekhyun just apologized?
"Are you serious? Wait, are you even the same Baekhyun I know? I would totally understand if you are possessed right now."
"Stop being stupid," he gave me an odd, confused look, and for a second I seriously felt stupid. "I thought I had done you wrong.. a couple of times; so I thought I would apologize. No more, no less. Now hurry your moves and walk with the boys, I'm done with you."
"That's not how things are, you don't apologize and just expect me to—hold up, are you blushing?" I gaped, realizing that the red color that had spread in his naturally round cheeks was actual blush. I was astonished of the capabilities of Baekhyun blushing. What even..
"I'm not." He furiously declined, pushing me from my back so I would walk faster – and apparently, away from him. "You have school, walk faster." The realization made me snigger, and soon; my sniggering turned into full out laughter. I caught the attention of the boys and they all halted their steps to glance behind them with curiosity.
"What's happening back there?" Sehun asked amusingly, finding my laughter contagious. Baekhyun gave me a warning stare, but the blush in his cheeks made him so ridiculous and hard to take seriously.
"Baekhyun is blush—"
"—I'm not—"
"—and he's declining it. See?!" I pointed at him furiously, and the boys all looked at him with surprise. Baekhyun groaned and face-palmed.
"I hate you, Hani."