“Billy is snoring in his room.”

I shouldn’t have expected to be able to simply say that and be left alone to my own convenience. Instead, I should have known Baekhyun would react to it, grab my arm and prevent me from hiding from whatever he would have to say to me.

“What did you just say?”

I blinked, turning my head to look at him in the most innocent way. Okay, I probably shouldn’t hide the fact that I was able to hear the fisherman’s snores from the outside and opposite side of the boat. It was something rather unusual and that could be used to our advantage. Something I didn’t know why I had, but still something I could get answers to.

“If I concentrate enough, I can hear Billy snoring from here,” I explained, pointing at the direction of the fisherman.

Baekhyun seemed confused for a second before he walked back inside, still holding onto my arm. I yelped, barely having the time to close the door behind me before I was dragged to the center room, in which Baekhyun not so gently made me sit on one of the chairs. “I’ll be right back.” He said quickly, heading toward the hallway. He didn’t close the door behind him, so I saw as he leaned his head by Billy’s door. I also saw how his eyes widened after a few seconds, probably finally being able to hear what I’d been hearing from outside.

Just as quickly, he went back to the center room and took a seat in front of me. This sight was a bit too familiar, making me remember the sour conversation we had not too long ago. While I stared, Baekhyun seemed once again caught in his thoughts, a small frown making his eyebrows crease.

“The earphones last night, and now this. You definitely got something going on.” He thought out loud, his fingers tapping a random rhythm on the table. “Are you sure you don’t remember anything of the sort happening before? You suddenly hearing things that were actually too far away for you to normally hear it?”

I sighed and closed my eyes. “I don’t know, Baekhyun. Maybe? I don’t remember anything. It might have happened, but I forgot about it.” I explained and he grimaced before his eyes widened, an idea probably making its way throughout his mind.

“What if that is your power given by genes?”

I frowned at what he suddenly said, raising an eyebrow. “Could it be?” I asked, not really knowing the diversity of these powers enough to know if it could be a possibility or not. Baekhyun shrugged, resting his chin on his palm.

“Probably. What it cannot be, though, is that you learned the ability so quickly you already mastered it after, what, two times? That’s impossible, but yet again, they told me yo-“

Baekhyun stopped abruptly and blinked a few times before standing suddenly. “For now, let’s stick with the idea that it is. It could end up being useful.” He said instead, very not subtly showing he had started to say something he didn’t wish to finish.

“What did they tell you about me?” I asked, raising as well to face him. When he finally managed to hide any emotion from his eyes, he shook his head and walked to the couch to grab his book.

“It’s not important, I didn’t really think before speaking, it’s nothing to help, really.” He said just as quickly.

“If it concerns me, I’m pretty sure I have the right to know.” I retorted, my eyes searching for his but he was clearly avoiding mine. He was definitely hiding something from me and, by the attitude he was taking, it was probably something rather important. Baekhyun sighed and walked toward the hallway to the several bedrooms before looking my way again.

“They think there’s something different with you. Something you have that others don’t and that’s why some people are searching and hunting for you. That’s why the Superiors want you on their territory as soon as possible, so you can be safe. I have a job to fulfill and it is not in my duties to inform you of everything that is going on. I only know a couple bribes here and there, do you really think they’d tell me everything? Usually, the less I know, the most important it is.”

His last words reminded me of Billy’s when I had a conversation with him in the command’s room and I shivered. Baekhyun disappeared in the hallway, this time closing the door behind him, not letting me a single microsecond to ask him any more questions.

***

I did a pretty good job avoiding Baekhyun for the rest of the day. I spent it either outside, watching the water around us, or reading. There was a small bookshelf in the living room where Baekhyun had fetched his book and I decided to do the same, taking a random one and wiping the dust away before going back to my room to read.

The meals were rather simple and quiet. The three of us ate without many words told. Billy sometimes tried to revive the conversation with some basic subject, which I tried my best to reply to. I found myself eyeing Baekhyun a bit too often, watching as he picked on his meat, his mind apparently lost somewhere too important to mind about the two other people in the room right by him. It was tempting to ask him what was on his mind, but I wasn’t sure he would voice it up.

First, because the fisherman was there and I wasn’t very sure Baekhyun would speak up in front of him. Secondly, and most importantly, because he looked like he was in this kind of mood I’d rather not interact with too much.

Billy went to his command room soon after to follow the development of the journey, quickly informing us that the last 24hours had been good and that we were heading to the island at a good speed. When he left, the room was filled with silence once again.

I stood and, noticing Baekhyun was done as well, I took his dishes and brought them to the counter, reaching for soap and a sponge to wash everything. I let the water fill the sink, concentrating on the sound and barely hearing Baekhyun stand to walk next to me. He pushed on my shoulder slightly and I looked at him as he almost gently pushed me on the side to be in front of the sink.

With a rather surprised expression, I watched as he took the dishes and dipped them in the warm water, putting soap in the sink to start cleaning everything. Noticing I didn’t bulge at all, he looked up and raised an eyebrow. “Don’t look at me like this, you’ve prepared the meal, so I should at least do my part.”

Doing my best to push all the dissing retorts that came to my mind, I instead smiled, opting for being nice. “That’s kind of you, thank you.”

Baekhyun simply nodded at that and I took it as a way of saying ‘you’re welcome’ since I clearly knew he had probably reached his limit of nice actions for the next decade. Leaning against the counter, I crossed my arms over my chest and eyed him. “Something’s been preoccupying you, what is it?” I tentatively asked, mentally crossing my fingers and hoping I could get some answers.

“Tomorrow morning, we’re going to train your hearing, so don’t stay awake too late tonight. We’ll start early.”

My face fell at his words and my eyes widened. “You- Seriously? That was what was filling your mind to the point you couldn’t participate in the conversation at all during dinner?” I asked, rather doubtful about it. Baekhyun simply shrugged, the whole time keeping his eyes on the dishes.

“This and that, some other things too but I don’t think they’re worth sharing so I’ll stick with just that.”

My lips formed a thin line and I simply nodded, not really minding if Baekhyun could see it with the corner of his eyes or not. “Okay.” I said simply, turning on my heels and walking toward the hallway to the bedrooms before stopping. “By early, you meant very early or relatively early or-“

“If you continue asking questions I’ll go wake you up at 3am.”

I scoffed at his answer, though I wasn’t really able to be mad at him for the tone he used was more playful than utterly annoyed. I shrugged it off and continued my way to the door, not seeing how Baekhyun’s eyes watched my back until I disappeared in the corridor.

***

If he wouldn’t tell me at what time Baekhyun wanted me to wake up, he could at least have warned me about what would.

Even on school days, I used to have some well-chosen songs that would wake me up in the morning so drifting off sleep wouldn’t be too harsh. I then wasn’t at all used to the high-pitched ringing noise alarm clocks made. The sound took me out of sleep abruptly and I sat up in bed, head turning in a frantic motion in order to find what in the world was happening and if this meant I was going to die in the near future.

Getting out of my still-sleepy state took a few seconds and I was then quick to realize it wasn’t the sound of a loud fire alarm I was hearing, but actually the small clock o