Twins of the future

Huobai let him go, yet Shan felt so distressed inside in contrast to how he looked calm on the outside. He saw that in the mirror, in the first bathroom, he staggered into. 

He was staring in the mirror, but after a brief moment of seeing himself, what he saw there were flashbacks. Water filling his lungs. 

Shan made a turn and just in time he slammed the door of the cabin open and puked his stomach out. The taste and the feeling were disgusting. But even when he had nothing more inside his stomach, his belly was spasming, making him cry in pain.

"Are you okay?" Someone behind him spoke Korean, but before he could answer, his stomach acted out once more. Shaking and crying, he could feel a cold, wet thing on his neck. It was something that made him panic, yet woke him up at the same time. 

But then a warm hand caressed his back up and down and another hand was handing him a bunch of paper towels. 

"It will be alright," he said and his hand was continuing the calming motion, strangely, leaving a hot sensation on Shan's back. He turned around after he wiped his mouth and, surprised, opened his mouth, then reminded himself he had to stink, so he closed it and place his hand in front of it. 

"You are..." Shan stopped himself, speaking Korean. Even though this person looked similar to that C-LAND's person. It wasn't him. He had a slightly different  face.

"Nevermind, sorry. You are similar to the idol from C-LAND…" Shan explained himself but forgot the name of the idol. And he then looked at the person's surprised expression before he took down the facemasks he had on. 

Thinner lower lip, fuller cheeks, different hair, all those little details made the entire image so familiar yet so different. But the biggest difference was the red birthmark this person had on his neck. 

"It's really beautiful." Shan couldn't help himself; he reached out with his hand to touch it, but then he reminded himself where his hands were, so he quickly got up and went to wash his hands. 

"I'm Hwa's twin. Please don't tell anyone." Shan nodded and watched as the tall handsome guy washed down the remains of his breakfast. So embarrassing. 

Shan washed out his mouth and from the corner of his eyes, he was watching Hwa's twin putting his mask back on, and walking towards Shan. He rubbed his hands on Shan's back again and left a hot palm print imprinted there. 

"Don't be so nervous. I think you will do fine," he said and smiled slightly at the mirror resection of Shan. Normally that smile would be stunning yet, Shan didn't notice it at all. He remembered why he was so nervous, and the sound of water rushing into the sink made him jerk uncontrollably. 

"Fuck!" he exclaimed in English as he felt a surging panic attack. His legs became wobbly. He tried to stop the water, but his hands just reached out onto his ears, covering them, while he was shivering and falling backward. 

He couldn't hear what the other person was saying. All he heard was the water rushing. 

The water rushed through the narrow halls. His body was thrown forward. The hand he was holding unexpectedly wasn't there. They were separated. The pressure in his ears from being submerged in water. 

He could suddenly hear a calming sound in his ears. It was a slow lullaby from a Korean quartet. 

'I saw a smile within a dream. A distant memory in the wind.' The voices calmed down a sensitive Shan. He loved music, and it helped him remember where he was. How to breathe? What to do with his body? 

He looked up and was surprised that he was lying on Hwa's twin. He probably caught him as he was falling so now, his body was safely laying with his back against that person's front. Only to heat up Shan's cold and shivering body. 

"What's your name?" he asked, trying to thank him, but he didn't know if he said it or not. He only heard the calm piano songs and beautiful voices. Shan turned his body the other way, looking at the man.

That person took out one of the earphones he put in Shan's ears and smiled at him. 

"I'm glad you are okay now. You can call me Hyun." Now, the smile he showed to Shan was dashing. Part of Yang Shan was okay, the other part still had to remind himself how to breathe properly and not collapse again. 

"Hyun-nim. Thank you for catching me. And thank you for the music. I forgot my own somewhere…" he was giving back the other earphone he had after he wiped it with his uniform. But Hyun only smiled at him. 

"You can take them. If it helps you to calm down, it's good. I can collect them later, or buy a new one," Hyun said and placed the earphone back in Shan's ear. But then took it out again. 

"Do you have a phone?" Hyun asked and Shan nodded, actually quite bewitched by this person. He took it out. Hyun did something on his phone. The music stopped and then he nodded to Shan. 

"Connect it to your phone. They are called Hyun's island…" He chuckled at his private joke and Shan could do nothing else than nod. Hyun then hesitantly stood up and helped Shan up too. 

"Bye then," he said and walked out of the bathroom like that. Shan was looking at the headphones and the case in his hand and the phone in his other, just smiling slightly.

Kindness. Some people were kind to strangers. His team was kind, too. But then, some people were rude even to close friends. Or blatantly killing them with words. 

Shan connected his smartphone to the earphones and walked out of the bathroom. He stood outside in the fresh air for a bit, before he went inside again, unfortunately meeting Jun Jiun again. 

Once he saw him coming out of the room, he changed the course of his walk and went inside the elevator. He was a coward, afraid to face him, but he just couldn't. His breathing became jerky again and now even the music wasn't helping.

His sight became blurry as he started crying, so he was struggling to find a way to his room. He bumped into someone. Someone who hugged him and walked with him. 

"I thought you got better." It was Huobai's voice. Shan heard the beep and the voice in between the songs, but then another song came on and it was just so sad that he started crying again. Now it was a full weeping mode. 

He was helped into a room that Shan didn't recognize, helped to get on a bed, and hugged until his cries wet Huobai's shirt. Many songs passed and Shan knew he had no more tears. Yet, he still wanted to cry. He needed to cry. It was all his fault. Everything that happened was because of him. 

With this, and the songs playing in the borrowed earphones, he fell asleep. Sometime later, Huobai placed a cold towel on his head and covered him with a blanket. Thinking about what happened was so bad that it made a stoic person like Shan cry so hard. 

But Shan was the only one who knew. Shan and Jun Jiun. But they wouldn't tell. They wouldn't tell what was so dark in their past that haunted them for such a long time. But not only them. Hundreds were hunted by the same thing… Even nowadays…