Chapter 2

Hyungsik had been sitting in the infirmary, munching on a muffin while reading when the door opened. Ayeong walked in followed by Jinwoo holding Yumi protectively in his arms.

"What happened?" Hyungsik asked, worried. In the morning, everything had seemed fine.

"Awakening," Ayeong responded, her hair darkening, its colour shifting with her emotions.

Pressing his lips together, Hyungsik didn't say a word. There were too many people in the room, people who didn't know his secret. He wasn't about to reveal the things he knew. Not so soon at least.

Once Jinwoo had covered Yumi with a blanket, he rolled up his sleeves and headed towards the door.

"Don't hurt him too much. He's a child," Hyungsik called out.

"He hasn't been a child for years," Jinwoo muttered and left. Now that he had set his mind on something, no one could stop him.

Sighing, Hyungsik put away his book, worried about what would happen next. But before he could start picturing the scenarios in his head, a hand tapped against his shoulder.

"You tried your best," Ayeong assured and Hyungsik smiled, glad to at least have here.

┈┈┈┈․° ☼ °․┈┈┈┈

Taekyung groaned as Jinwoo slammed him against the wall. He should have known this would happen when he decided to follow the older boy to the terrace. But at that time he wasn't thinking, his thoughts occupied by her.

"What did I tell you?" Jinwoo growled but Taekyung didn't answer him. "You never listen do you?"

"To you? Nah." Taekyung grinned, refusing to back down to threats.

"How much are you going to hurt her?" Jinwoo asked and Taekyung's bravado faded.

"I--I didn't mean to," he whispered.

He looked so heartbroken that for a second, Jinwoo felt bad for him. But then that second passed and he kneed the younger boy in the stomach.

"That's what you always say," he growled, tired of hearing the same excuse over and over again.

"Stop it!" Jaeho screamed, struggling to breathe as he stepped onto the terrace.

A few moments ago, he had been eating his lunch peacefully when a classmate ran up to him, telling him about what was happening.

"If it isn't Boy Wonder," Jinwoo smirked as he let Taekyung go. "I'm done here anyway."

"I don't know what's going on but you can't just go around hitting people," Jaeho snapped rushing to his friend's side.

Hearing those words, Jinwoo almost laughed. How defensive Jaeho was of his friend, running as fast as he could to save him. Yet when it came to his sister, he was nowhere to be found.

"I wonder how different things would be if you cared so much about Yumi," he commented, feeling a sense of satisfaction as Jaeho flinched. "You know what happened, don't you? You just want to ignore it because you don't want to be caught associating with the rejects."

Shaking his head, Jinwoo headed to the door. It wasn't his place to say anything else. To intervene. After all, Yumi didn't want anyone to hold a grudge against Jaeho for what he had done. But Jinwoo had spent days watching as the person he cared for fell apart over and over again.

What Yumi didn't know couldn't hurt her.

"Hyerin would be so disappointed if she saw the person you had become," he said, the words he had been holding back for years.

The words he knew were true. After all, Hyerin adored both her siblings, loved her more than anything in the world. If she knew what Jaewoo had done, if she knew how he had abandoned Yumi, it would have broken her heart.

Just like that, Jinwoo had hurt Jaeho without touching him.

"You should go to her," Taekyung whispered as Jaeho held him up, his body trembling.

"She'll be fine," Jaeho whispered, trying to convince himself more than anyone else. "Yumi will be fine."

Jinwoo knew he had made the right decision.

┈┈┈┈․° ☼ °․┈┈┈┈

Hyungsik held Yumi's hand as she gripped the white sheets, her brows furrowing together as sweat formed on her skin. She was in pain, so much pain but there was nothing he could do for. The first moments after someone's awakening were usually gentle and calm. Yet for Yumi, that wasn't the case. Taekyung, in his fear, had broken the spell that would have helped her awaken without a worry. Now, she had to pay the price for it.

"Why is this happening?" Yumi asked, finally opening her eyes.

Squeezing her hand, Hyungsik sighed, seeing things that no one else could. Yumi's emotions, her pain, her confusion and her newly found powers, all laid out for him to read as though they were nothing but passages in a book.

"Maybe this is your true ability, something that existed before Hyerin did what she did," he explained.

"I didn't need this," Yumi whimpered. "Now there are so many voices in my head and I can't shut them out."

"How much can you hear?" Hyungsik asked, wondering how strong Yumi's new abilities were.

"Everything," Yumi answered and Hyungsik knew that from here on out, her life wouldn't be easy.

"You'll be able to control it soon," he assured but Yumi didn't say anything.

Instead, she traced the scar on her chest, wondering how her life had spiraled out of control.

It was then that the door burst open and Ayeong came back, holding a box in her hand, her hair a bright shade of pink.

"I brought desserts to celebrate!" she announced stepping in. "I had a feeling that something good would happen today and what's better than our lovely Yumi awakening?"

Before anyone could protest, she opened the box and started handing out desserts. It was in Ayeong's nature to do her best to turn every dull moment into a bright one.

"Red velvet with a chocolate base for you," she said handing a cupcake to Yumi who hummed happily.

"Strawberry chocolate mousse for you," he handed Hyungsik his dessert.

"Maybe I'm in love," Hyungsik sighed happily.

"You have a girlfriend," Ayeong pointed out.

"Who was talking about you? This mousse and I could write the greatest love story together," Hyungsik said holding up the mousse.

Rolling her eyes, Ayeong turned her attention to Yumi. "How are you feeling now?"

"Better now that I have cake," she answered and Ayeong grinned.

"See! I always knows best!" she said proudly.

"Sometimes," Hyungsik added quickly.

"Sometimes," Yumi agreed with a nod.

Opening her mouth, Ayeong was about to protest when the door opened and Jinwoo returned, lips still set in a frown. But the moment he noticed that Yumi was awake, his expression softened.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, gently

"I'm okay now and I have cake," Yumi answered, holding up the cake, the sight of which made Jinwoo frown.

"You guys got cupcakes?" he asked as he sat down.

"Yeah I got them to celebrate Yumi's awakening," Ayeong answered. "There's one for you as well."

Still frowning, Jinwoo didn't say anything. He just stared at the box.

𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘦𝘴?

"You made cookies?" Yumi asked and everyone stared at Jinwoo who's face was now red.

"W-what? How did you know that?"

"I can hear your thoughts," she answered and Jinwoo let out a groan.

Grabbing his bag, he pulled out a box from within and shoved it into Yumi's hands, face on fire.

"Chocolate chip cookies! Thank you, Jinnie!" Yumi smiled brightly.

"Thank you Jinnie~" Hyungsik sang, a teasing look in his eyes.

"Yeah yeah whatever," Jinwoo muttered looking away.

And just like that, the group of outcasts descended into carefree conversations, okay with having no one as long as they were all together.

┈┈┈┈․° ☼ °․┈┈┈┈

"Come on guys! Please!" Hana whined loudly, making the people in the hall stare at her.

"Hana can't you just drop it?" Jun asked with a sigh.

"But why? We always used to go for Karaoke after school when Hyerin was here!" Hana exclaimed.

Since the debacle at Lunch she had been trying to convince her friends to hang out after school, something they had simply stopped doing.

"Well, Hyerin is gone and a no means a no," Jaeho snapped. He didn't have the patience to deal with Hana today.

"Jae I--" Hana started but Jaeho held up his hand.

"It's enough Hana. Maybe you moved on but the rest of us haven't. Maybe you don't care about what happened today but we do. Yumi is hurt. Taekyung is hurt. We're hurt so put aside your attitude and understand that we don't want to 'hang'."

With her fists balled up, Hana's expression turned from one of desperation to one of anger as she glared at Jaeho.

"I don't understand why the fuck you care about Yumi anyways. She's no one," she said, never able to control her mouth when she was in a bad mood.

"She's my sister." Jaeho gritted his teeth.

Hana rolled her eyes. "No. She's not. She's just an orphan kid your parents took pity on."

"Control that fucking mouth of yours, Hana," Taekyung snapped, having heard enough. "Just because we put up with your antics all the time doesn't mean you say whatever you want."

"I didn't lie though," Hana retorted.

"Fucking learn when to shut up," Taekyung growled.

"Listen I--" Hana started but was cut off.

"God. Keep a check on how much you scream. I could hear you from the first floor," Jinwoo snapped, walking up to the group, his friends with him, all of them looking at Hana with disdain.

Hana's face went pale when she noticed her former friends, not knowing that they were listening.

"Yumi," Jun whispered but Yumi just smiled at him.

Taekyung took a steady breath, clenching his fists. "Are... are you okay?" he asked, knowing that he wouldn't get a response.

Yumi would walk away, dismissing his existence the way she always did. And he couldn't really blame her.

But something was different today. Instead of ignoring him, the raven-head walked to Taekyung and placed a hand on the injury on his cheek from where Jinwoo punched him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered but Taekyung didn't say a word. All he could do was stare in disbelief.

Stepping back, Yumi turned her attention to her brother. "Shall we go home?"

Jaeho nodded enthusiastically. Any other day, he would have let her walk home alone, afraid of what people would say if they saw them together but today he didn't care. After the things Hana had said, all he wanted was to be with his sister and prove that he cared.

"What the fuck just happened?" Jinwoo asked but the people left behind had no answer.

Except for Hyungsik, of course, but he wouldn't say anything.

┈┈┈┈․° ☼ °․┈┈┈┈

Hyungsik dribbled the ball in his hand, his eyes on the goal but his mind on things he didn't know how to solve. When he first met Hana , things were simpler and they were young, so young. At that time, they didn't know how cruel life could be, all of them careless in the summer days. Hyerin was still alive and under her guidance, they thought they could do anything. Hyerin always used to gush about how him and Hana would look good together but at that time they were only kids, Hyungsik 12 and Hana 10.

They had a bond back then but Hyungsik was too young to understand what it meant to love someone. And then Hyerin died. Everything spiraled out of control, bridged burned down and no matter how hard Hyungsik tried, he couldn't mend relationships broken. He could only save Hana and so he did, never expecting them to be anything more than friends. But he forced himself to believe in feelings that weren't there.

For Hana's sake. For Hyerin's sake.

But now, with each passing day he knew, Hana didn't love him and he didn't love her. They were just two people too afraid to let go.

Hyungsik was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realize someone else was there until Ayeong snatched the ball from him and made her shot.

"And she scores!" Ayeong announced and Hyungsik grinned.

"Yeah while making all the fouls." He shook his head.

"You're just a sore loser!"

"Sure that's it."

"If you're so good, come get your ball back~" Ayeong teased and took off running, clutching the basket ball to her chest.

"Oh come on!" Hyungsik groaned but when Ayeong stuck out her tongue at him, he took off after her.

Ayeong ran as fast she could, laughing and dodging Hyungsik to the best of her abilities until he grabbed her from behind, spinning her around.

"Cheater!" Ayeong laughed.

"Who's the sore loser now?" he asked.

"I still think it you." Ayeong grinned when he put her down.

Looking at the smiling girl before him, Hyungsik pushed back her hair, his heart starting to sing. But just as it did, all he could feel was guilt.

"What's wrong?" Ayeong asked, noticing how his expression had fallen apart.

"I'm just thinking of all the things I could have done right," he whispered and then took a step back. "Come on, I'll walk you home."

┈┈┈┈․° ☼ °․┈┈┈┈

That night, Taekyung barely ate, his temper ruining his appetite. He couldn't stand to be around his sister but there was an easy fix for that, he could simply shut himself in his room. But what was he to do whn he couldn't stand himself?

He tried to drown himself in games but when nothing worked, he just went to bed, hoping to dream of nothing. But that wasn't meant to be.

Taekyung sat in a garden, green grass swaying with the cool breeze. The air was filled with the scent of flowers but there were none to be seen. And any other day, such a place would be so peaceful but today, he felt miserable.

For some reason, he felt this insatiable hunger, strong enough to make his legs feel like jelly and enough to make him want to keel over. Desperate for relief, he took a fistful of grass and shoved it in his mouth, anything to make the gnawing stop but it didn't help. The hunger just increased, ready to devour him whole it if wasn't sated.

Just then, the scent of something sweet hit him and he was mesmerized. He blinked and before him was a tree, wide trunk and deep green leaves. There wasn't a single fruit in sight except for one ruby red apple that hung right before him. All he had to was go on his tip toes and reach for it. And he so desperately wanted to eat it.

Getting on his feet, Taekyung stretched for the apple, but instead his fingers intertwined with someone else's. And there she was, standing before him in a black dress that reached till her knees, covering her shoulders. A mask adorned her face but there was something familiar about her eyes.

"You can't. He's looking for you and if you eat, you won't be able to run away," she whispered and Taekyung furrowed his brows not understand her.

But just as her hand gripped onto his, the apple began to melt, red dripping off of it like blood and revealing a rotten core.

"Who are you?" Taekyung asked but the girl before him didn't answer.

Instead, she lifted her hand and pointed to the right. There in the distance was a mansion brought to ruin and even though Taekyung had never seen this place before, there was something so vaguely familiar about it.

Leaving the girl behind, he walked towards the ruins, fingers grazing over the fallen marble columns, trying to place them in his memory. He walked through the open doors and looked behind at the girl who stood on the other side, still outside.

"Aren't you going to come with me?" he asked and she shook her head.

"Not yet." And with that the door began to close.

Taehyung watched till the end, his eyes boring into hers until the door was almost closed and she removed her mask. But before she could catch a glimpse of her face, he woke up.