Entropy

It was late evening the next day when Kyungsoo walked into the bakery. Yulhee had been carefully sweeping the area, knowing that it was not common for them to get customers at this time. She traced out patterns across the floor, spinning slowly about on the blue-and-white tiles, the broom drawing out arcs with her motion. The sun was setting in the distance, the fading light casting shadows on the skinny girl. The murmurs of the other Woods’ children still whispered in her ears, occasionally, whenever she paused, telling her that she didn't belong here, that loneliness and isolation were inevitable and there was nothing she could do to change that. So she sought to keep moving, humming under her breath as her shoes clicked on the tiles.

You have to keep going, or else you won’t survive.

Someone cleared their throat, making her nearly drop the broom. She glanced up very sharply at the sudden noise. Kyungsoo was standing there, scratching the back of his neck in that familiar picture of awkwardness; they were still more acquaintances than they were friends. Seeing that her sisters were at the back of the bakery, Yulhee quickly walked over, hissing out a little harsher than intended, “What are you doing here?”

“What time do you get off work?” he asked instead. Yulhee blinked, momentarily caught off guard. She was still unaccustomed to how single-minded he could be, but then, she knew very little about him at all. She had known him for less than a week, after all. 

“In about an hour,” Yulhee told him, “Why do you ask?”

“Chanyeol is back at his home – and we didn’t finish what we started there,” he explained, suddenly appearing embarrassed. It was almost endearing, because it made him seem less frightening and more human. “That is, if you want to talk to him – sorry, I just assumed…”

“I do want to speak to him,” Yulhee stated plainly, “I’ll see you outside Chanyeol’s house in one hour’s time.”

Kyungsoo nodded, and left the bakery. Yulhee leaned her head on her broom, wondering if they would ever reach a stage where they weren’t quite so pointlessly awkward with one another. "Yulhee, who was that?" Seulgi asked, poking her head out around the door. "And why were they asking you about when you get off?"

"Just a friend. It's not a date, Seulgi."

"Uh-huh." 

The sky was streaked with purple and pink as Yulhee approached the abandoned house, the strands of her short hair floating in the wind. Kyungsoo sat there, evidently waiting for sometime as he had been absently pulling at the strands of grass on the lawn. He stood when he saw her approach. Together they entered the house, going down the steps. “Are you prepared?” Kyungsoo asked her, his hand resting on the doorknob. She recalled the humiliation of her panic and fear the last time she had encountered Chanyeol - it was foolish, for she had seen him so many times before, but he had never threatened her then. 

No, she wasn't – but she knew what she was getting into this time, and Yulhee nodded firmly. She was quite tired of being a weak little thing: she had walked into this with her eyes open, and she would have to live with the consequences of it all.

There was the familiar feeling across her skin that they were crossing into another world as they stepped through the passageway, a strange shivering across the skin as though the body were on some level rejecting it. Chanyeol was stretched out on the sofa, a butterfly resting on his outstretched finger. More and more butterflies encircled them, flitting about the room, perching on Kyungsoo’s head and Yulhee’s shoulders, their blue light warming her, and she felt like she was returning home, for some bizarre reason. Then she shook her head, telling herself not to get caught up within the magic of this place, lest she never be able to return. 

“Hello,” Chanyeol said, smiling at them with sharp, sharp teeth. “Where are my manners? Take a seat.”

Reluctantly, the two sat down on some of t