“I’m sure she’s okay,” Mina said again. “Seolhyun, they do this all the time. They stop by, track us down, and act all kinds of weird.”

Seolhyun stopped in front of the TV, wringing her hands. Fear had rooted deep inside her gut. “You don’t understand. Hyejeong told them we were out there looking for my phone and that I had lost it. And then it rang in front of them.”

“I know, but what’s the big deal?” Minhyuk sat on the couch, kicking his legs up. “There’s no way they would suspect you know anything about Chanmi and Yuna.”

But they knew Seolhyun and Hyejeong were lying, and they all seemed way too smart to miss that.

“I can’t trust anyone here. Suddenly they were gone and the next thing I knew was they’re not humans. After all this time. And none of you told me.” Seolhyun muttered. “It hurts me. A lot.”

“I’m sorry,” Mina whispered.

Seolhyun started pacing again. “And where’s Hyejeong now? That was hours ago. It’s almost ten!”

“Honey, Hyejeong is fine.” Mina got up, clasping Seolhyun’s hands. “They were here first and then went looking for your friends. All they are doing is being annoying and asking questions. To me. Minhyuk. Chaeyeon. Even Yonghwa.”

Seolhyun didn’t look entirely convinced. “But why would it take so long with her?”

“Because they like to give her crap and she likes to give it back,” Minhyuk said, floating the remote control over to his hand. “It’s like a parasitic relationship between the two.”

“But what if they find out? What will they do to her?”

“They aren’t going to find out, Seolhyun. And if they did, you should be more worried about yourself than her.” Mina pulled out a small grin. “Oh, and I’m surprised that you’re so concerned about my sister.”

A flush swept over Seolhyun’s cheeks. “Just because she’s... she’s Hyejeong, doesn’t mean I want anything bad to happen to her.”

Watching her closely, Mina raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure it’s not more than that?”

“Of course.”

“You guys have been spending a lot of time together.” Minhyuk leaned his head back, eyes narrowed. “I’ve never seen her act like that with anyone. Not even my sister.”

“So?”

Mina shrugged. “Okay. If you say so, but I hope you know that if you and my sister have something going on, I’m not going to be mad.”

Seolhyun made a face at her.

“And part of me understands why you two would keep it hidden. You guys are known for your word war and everything else.” She frowned. “But I just want you to know that I’m okay with it. It’s crazy and I hope Hyejeong is prepared for what’s going to happen, but I want her happy. And if you make her happy–”

“Okay. I got you.”

“I wish you would reconsider doing the dinner with us someday. You know you’re welcome.”

“I seriously doubt Chaeyeon and Yonghwa would be happy with me at the table.”

“Who cares what they think?” Minhyuk rolled his eyes. “I don’t. Neither does Hyejeong. And you shouldn’t either.”

“You guys are like a family. I’m not–”

Tingles spread over her neck. Without thinking, Seolhyun spun around and raced across the room. Throwing open the door, she rushed out into the cold night air.

She didn’t even think.

Hyejeong had reached the top step when Seolhyun rushed her, wrapping her arms around her neck, squeezing her tight.

She seemed stunned for a second, and then her arms swept around Seolhyun’s waist. For several moments, neither of them spoke. They didn’t need to. Seolhyun just wanted to hold Hyejeong, for Hyejeong to hold her. Maybe it was the connection wrapping them together. Maybe it was something infinitely deeper. At that moment, she didn’t care.

“Whoa there, Seolhyun, what’s going on?”

Snuggling closer, Seolhyun drew in a deep breath. “I thought the AOE carted you off to some lab to keep you in a cage.”

“Cage?” Hyejeong laughed a bit unsteadily. “No. No cages. They just wanted to talk. It took longer than I thought. Everything’s okay.”

Mina cleared . “Ahem.”

Stiffening, Seolhyun realized what she was doing. Crap. Disentangling her arms and wiggling out from Hyejeong’s, she backed up and blushed. “I... I was just excited.”

“Yeah, I would say you were,” Mina said, grinning like an idiot.

Hyejeong was staring at Seolhyun like she had just won the lottery. “I kind of like this level of excitement. Makes me think of–”

“Hyejeong!” both of Seolhyun and Mina shouted.

“What?” Hyejeong grinned, tousling Mina’s hair. “I was only suggesting–”

“We know what you were suggesting. And I really want to keep my food down tonight.” She smiled at Seolhyun. “See. I told you. Hyejeong is fine.”

Seolhyun could see that. Hyejeong was also smokin’ hot, but back to the whole point. “They didn’t suspect anything?”

Hyejeong shook her head. “Nothing out of the norm, but they’re always paranoid.” She paused, her eyes searching Seolhyun’s in the dim light of the porch. “Really, you don’t need to worry. And you’re safe. Your trace seems to fade out quite fast.”

“But they know my name. They know everything about me.”

“Of course they know.”

It wasn’t Seolhyun she herself had been worried about. “They asked me a lot of questions, especially the woman.”

“Park Choa,” Hyejeong said, frowning. A second later, she was standing before Seolhyun. “She’s apparently a big deal within the AOE. They wanted to know what went down at Evensi Field. They needed to know what kind Chanmi and Yuna are. I gave them my edited version.”

“Did they believe you?”

Hyejeong nodded. “Although, Seolhyun, I don’t think Chanmi and Yuna are Felix. I can’t assess their energy.”

Seolhyun shivered.

Hyejeong’s voice lowered as she cupped Seolhyun’s cheek. “Hey, you’re safe with us. And I will get the whole gardening club back to you. Full team. I promise.”

Seolhyun’s eyes closed. The warmth of Hyejeong’s hand eased some of the fear. “It’s not me I’m worried about. If they think you blew a satellite out of orbit, they could see you as a threat.”

“Or they could just think I’m that awesome.”

“It’s not funny,” Seolhyun whispered.

“I know.” Hyejeong moved closer, and before Seolhyun knew it, she was in Hyejeong’s embrace again. “Don’t worry about me or Mina. We can handle the AOE. Trust me.”

Seolhyun let Hyejeong hold her for a couple of moments, soaking up her warmth, but then she lifted her eyes, meeting hers. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Hyejeong smiled. “I know.”

Seolhyun could have stood there staring at her sparkling eyes all night, but something urged her to run as far away from her as quickly as she could. Something bad was going to come from all of this. It’s only the beginning.

The next morning...

Morning classes dragged. Mr. Lee gave Seolhyun the usual untrustworthy glance throughout the lecturing after his eyes widened upon seeing her. Jonghyun was like the unofficial guardian of the Felix living outside of the alien colony. Probably had more to do with the fact he wasn’t too happy that Seolhyun knew what they really were. His keen stare kept going back to Seolhyun. She knew he saw the trace, and she had no clue what he was thinking.

“Seolhyun, you didn’t do anything for the holiday break?” Whispering, Doyeon pointed at Jieqiong behind her. “You live a life as exciting as Jieqiong.”

Jieqiong rolled her eyes as she straightened her specs. “Not all of us have parents who send us away for a quick weekend in Paris. We aren’t as cool as you.”

It wasn’t like Seolhyun could tell them she did have an exciting weekend, one involving almost getting hit by a truck and proving the existence of extraterrestrial life forms, so she shrugged and scribbled in her notebook. “Just hung out at home.”

“I can see why.” Doyeon tipped her chin toward the front of the classroom. “I would too if I lived next to that.”

“Yummy,” Jieqiong remarked, and Seolhyun hid a smile. Those two were a riot. One as oppressed as the other was ballsy. She always felt like she was watching an insane tennis match between the angel on her left shoulder and the devil on her right.

They reminded Seolhyun a lot of Chanmi and Yuna.

She missed them.

Seolhyun didn’t need to look up from her notebook to see they were now talking about Hyejeong. Last night she had barely slept. Although she had a lot of questions, she ignored them, and it worked right up until Hyejeong sat behind her and she felt her pen poking against her back.

Slowly, Seolhyun set her pen down and casually turned around. “Yes?”

Thick lashes lowered, but not before Seolhyun saw the sparkle in her eyes. “My house. After class.”

Doyeon’s audible intake of breath was sort of embarrassing.

Seolhyun knew she had to hang out with Hyejeong until the damn trace thing faded, but she didn’t take well to being ordered around. “I have plans.”

Hyejeong’s head moved an inch to the side. “Excuse me?”

A small, evil part of Seolhyun leveled in Hyejeong’s surprise. “I said I have plans.”

A second of silence passed, and then Hyejeong smiled. “You don’t have plans.”

“How would you know?”

“I do.” Hyejeong’s gaze slid to the girls. “Is she hanging out with either of you after class?”

Jieqiong opened , but Doyeon cut her off. “Nope.”

“I’m not going out with them.”

Hyejeong tipped her desk forward, closing the space between her and Seolhyun. “Besides them and Mina, what other friends do you have?”

Seolhyun cut her a death look. “I have other friends.”

“Yeah, name one.”

Dammit. “Fine. Whatever.”

Hyejeong gave Seolhyun