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The three of you make your way out of Taemin’s office and head toward the main laboratory. On the way there, Taemin stops at a bookshelf and pulls out a few books and places them in your arms.

You read the covers of them while following Taemin: “Exo-ology, Astronomical Empires B.C., Outer Space and its Galaxies… I need to read all of these?” You wobble suddenly and manage to catch yourself, but not before dropping one of the books. Kai, who is thankfully walking close enough beside you, easily catches the book in one hand and places it back on top of the pile.

“If you want to know more about Exo and the twelve, you have to start at the beginning. These were some of the first books given to me by Teacher Choi.”

You enter the previous room you were in and see Luhan and Sungji both seated in front of one of the research desks, deep in conversation. But before you close enough to them, you pause to ask your brother a question.

“Taemin, what happened to your teacher that you talk about him in past tense?”

Taemin stops dead in his tracks and continues to look straight ahead. You suddenly feel like you should have just kept your mouth shut. There’s an eerie silence as Taemin’s shoulders lower as he exhales and he turns his head slightly as he chokes out two words: “He died.”

He turns to face forward once more and walks towards the other two. Kai silently stands next you and puts a hand on your shoulder. “He was very close to his teacher, as I am with him. His sorrow, even after these years, is understandable.”

There are still many things you need to catch up with when it comes to your brother and now you at least know one topic that is sensitive to him, and should probably avoid talking about from now on. You see Luhan stand as your brother approaches him, and he pulls Taemin into a hug.

Sungji sees you from a distance and waves at you, suddenly pointing at Taemin and mouthing, “Your brother?”

You nod at her in response and her face immediately turns into a scowl, pretending to throw a punch at Taemin while his back is towards her. You giggle to yourself and walk up to her, Kai following behind.

Luhan releases the hug and smiles at both of you as you walk up and you place the books on the desk. “So, how are we supposed to do this? Am I just going to read books and that’ll eventually lead me to the others?”

Luhan and Taemin both laugh loudly and turn to each other, sharing mischievous smiles. Clueless, the three youngest, yourself included, look at each other as the two blonde boys continue to make inside jokes. “She’s gonna flip when she sees it, huh.” Taemin playfully nudges Luhan’s arm and Luhan lets out another laugh. “Tell me about it, you should have seen her face when she saw the lab.”

Sungji crosses her arms and sticks her hip out. “Would you quit flirting with each other and get to the point?”

The childlike boy then takes a few steps back and lowers his voice to a hush. “This is how you’ll find them.”

He raises his hands in the air and claps twice and suddenly the lights in the laboratory dim. You look around in the darkness but can’t see anything until suddenly, from the middle of the floor, an opening appears and from the opening, a machine emerges. At first, you’re not sure what it is, but the second it completely emerges, realization hits you.

“Is that supposed to be Earth?”

In front of you is an exact replica of your home planet and next to it is what you assume to be Exo. They are hoisted up by huge metal arms that surround and support them, almost making them look like the globes that you can find in a classroom, except ten times bigger. A small metal pad appears in front of the two globes and Luhan approaches it. He turns to face the group and proudly says, “Welcome to my work space. This is my maintenance headquarters.”

Sungji’s eyes are glowing and, enamored with the technology, she drags her feet towards the globes, practically drooling.

You are completely absorbed in how massive the replicas are and just how many details there actually are on them. From where you stand, you can see the dips and ridges where mountain ranges stand tall on earth, and the oceans’ waves look like small ripples that are pushed around by an invisible, tiny wind. And along with that, they are both complete with each planet’s own sun and moon on opposite sides of each other.

“Luhan, this is amazing,” you manage to speak. “Everything’s here. Even the clouds.” You laugh as you see Luhan shove what looks to be a cumulonimbus cloud into Canada’s atmosphere.

Taemin stands to the side, content in seeing you so impressed.

“How does it work?” You walk around the globes, your eyes drawing imaginary lines from one planet to the other.

Luhan lifts one of his delicate hands and says with a smirk, “daytime”. With a flick of his wrist, the earth’s sun moves from one end of the planet to the other. “Nighttime,” he says before lowering his hand back to his side and grinning wide.

Sungji gasps suddenly and places her hands over her eyes and mouth. “Okay, that has to be against some law of the universe, or something.” Her hands muffle her voice and she peeks at Luhan through her fingers.

Luhan just casually laughs, as if moving the sun was a normal, everyday thing. For him it is, at least. “Come on, everyone’s sleeping anyway, so they won’t even notice.” He gives one more flick and the sun returns back to its original position.

You and Sungji look at each other and then look back at Luhan, smiling. “Do it again,” you eagerly say.

At this point, even Kai is impressed, and he’s seen this plenty of times.

He stands at the back of the group with Taemin next to him, watching as you and Sungji entertain yourselves while Luhan takes suggestions on what he should move next.

Taemin can’t help but stare at you as you laugh and joke with your friends, and inside, he can’t believe it’s really you.

The day Taemin left, he left with the knowledge that he might never see his family ever again; that he wouldn’t be able to be by your side any more like a good brother should be. But with your safety at risk, he felt like there was no other choice. 

Taemin smiles to himself as he continues to watch and he can feel his chest warm up as he crosses his arms in front of him, finally feeling complete again.

For a quick second he glances to the side of him, expecting to see the usual serious Kai, but it turns out to be something entirely different, causing him to do a double take. Kai stands with his hands in his pockets, his eyes longingly watching your every move. A small smile tugs at the side of his mouth and Taemin can tell he’s holding it back.

There’s a small feeling in Taemin’s chest that hits him the moment he sees how Kai looks at you.

Excitement, maybe? Taemin looks back and forth between you and the almost blushing Kai, and he feels it again. Happiness? Fear?

Unable to comprehend his own feelings, Taemin laughs to