Revised on 11-04-20

Chapter 2

Baekhyun stopped the car by a small restaurant near the highway. I wasn’t sure if he had heard my stomach growling or not, but I was glad we could finally stop to eat something. The ride was getting pretty long – about three hours had passed since I had woken up – and we were already much farther than I ever went before. My adoptive family wasn’t one that enjoyed traveling, so except from the school trips I had done, my experience was very limited. When I opened the door to get out, I was surprised by the rather strong wind blowing. There wasn’t much to see around us, all I could see was the woods,  the highway and the restaurant we had stopped at. The latter seemed to be almost as old as the trees.

“Where are we?” I asked and looked over at him, still not used to see such person right in front of me yet. Baekhyun got out of the car, putting on his pair of sunglasses and I almost laughed at how unrealistic the whole scene looked. Just stay normal.

“Not far away yet.” He said simply and I frowned, following him inside the surprisingly occupied place. The restaurant seemed quite abandoned from the outside, but the small amount of cars in front of the building and the people chatting inside as the waitresses made their way around with huge plates in their arms showed just how popular the small place must have been. It was the typical deli you’d see around, with all types of cheap décor that merely fit together just to make the place a bit more lively. What struck me the most, though, was the strong smell of coffee and food.

I walked in without asking any more questions, waiting along with Baekhyun before someone came to greet us, giving us a table in a quieter place of the restaurant. Baekhyun sat in front of me and started checking the menu, clearly avoiding to look up at me. I didn’t know if I was supposed to feel insulted or not but I simply brushed it off, doing the same and checking the menu for something to eat. We ordered rather quickly, Baekhyun making it quite clear even without speaking that he didn’t want to spend so much time in the open air.

When the waitress left with our menus, I finally landed my eyes back on the man in front of me. I had seen many times on social medias that idols looked even more perfect in real life, but I never thought they would look that perfect. I bit my lip for a second, letting myself almost drool at the sight. I had surprised myself by how normal I’d been acting toward him since he literally barged in my class to tell me the most unimaginable things in the world. I’d been following him nonetheless, because somehow what he had told me about a supposedly other world we were both part of seemed somehow more normal than the world I’d been living in my whole life.

After a little while, Baekhyun probably felt my staring eyes on him because he finally dared to look at me. It took me a while to come back to reality and notice he was staring too and I felt my cheeks heating up suddenly. I froze and didn’t dare break the eye contact, which made him raise an eyebrow. “Is there anything on my face?” He said simply and I shook my head, both to answer him and to clear my mind of the invading thoughts. I looked down at my hands on my lap, slightly frowning. I had so many questions to ask, yet none seemed to be able to form in my mouth. They were all there yet they didn’t seem clear enough for me to form words or sentences to get my answers.

Baekhyun seemed to notice my uneasiness and chuckled a bit, leaning closer to speak quietly. Somehow his tone seemed way softer than it had been for the past hours. “Sorry this is all a bit abrupt. I know it kind of , and that you probably have a thousand of questions to ask, but that will have to wait for later. We’re not safe at all here and-”, he stopped talking and I frowned. I was about to ask what he was about to say when the waitress arrived, putting our two full plates on the table. I gave him a quick nod before looking down to eat, trying to control the pace of my fork but I really couldn’t. I ate hungrily, taking in quite huge bites, not even noticing the funny look Baekhyun gave me before he started eating as well.

When I finally looked up from my plate, I had half of the food down my stomach and I sighed, making the man in front of me chuckle. I looked over at him, slightly embarrassed because I probably looked like a pig. I gave myself a mental note about trying to act a bit more civilized. The least I wanted was for Baekhyun to have a bad first impression of me and I gulped down, this time managing to eat a bit more slowly and we both continued eating quietly. I looked over at Baekhyun from time to time, noticing how he kept looking behind me since a few minutes and my brows furrowed again.

“Is everything alright?” I asked in a quiet tone and he finally looked over at me, slightly frowning as well. He leaned closer again, his eyes not leaving the window behind me and I wondered if I was supposed to look as well or keep my eyes on him.

“Don’t turn back to look, but I think there are people for us outside..” He whispered and my eyes widened. I tensed a bit and he soon noticed it. He didn’t even have to look and in a quick movement he reached for my hand. I frowned and looked down, a part of me wanting to scream because wow, one of Byun Baekhyun’s perfect hands was touching mine but I swallowed it back. I looked back up again, waiting for an explanation but he didn’t say anything, eyes still staring somewhere behind me and I felt a shiver run down my spine. For a mere second it’s like his iris turned yellow and I held in a gasp. I was about to speak but he was quicker than me, letting out a quiet curse before holding onto my hand tighter and it’s like a small electric shock ran through my hand, and then up in my arm, spreading in my whole body. I blinked, completely confused, but Baekhyun didn’t even give me time to try and rationalize what had just happened. He stood quickly and since he was still tightly holding onto my hand I did just the same. I looked around to see the people’s reaction because we clearly should have gained attention with the way we stood.

Though not a head was turned in our direction. It’s like we didn’t even exist at all.

I frowned and suddenly yelped when Baekhyun tugged on my arm. He was already walking rather quickly toward the door leading to the kitchen. “Baekhyun what are you doing?! People can see u-”

“People can’t see us, Eunji. We’re invisible. For the humans anyways, but the people looking for us can see, so I’m getting you out of trouble.” He explained quickly, tugging on my hand again since I had stopped walking. I looked around as I started following him once again, noticing how no one paid a single mind to us. Baekhyun led me to the kitchen and we hid behind the door. He peeked through the small window and I did the same, following his gaze. Just as the door to the kitchen closed, the main entrance of the building opened to three men that seemed quite normal. I suddenly had a bad feeling about the little group and I felt Baekhyun tense beside me, his grip on my hand tightening some more.

The men looked around the restaurant and, again, no one seemed to notice them, not even the waitress who passed by without even a greeting. They seemed to be searching for someone, their eyes scanning the place in unison.

“Humans can’t see them either.” Baekhyun answered my unspoken question and I looked at him. He was still staring at the men. “Can you hear what they say?” He added and I frowned, looking at them again. One seemed to be talking to another yet I couldn’t figure what they were saying.

“Of course not, they’re way too far for me to hear them!” I answered in a faint whisper and I heard Baekhyun chuckle. He leaned a bit closer, asking me to keep my eyes on them and so did I. I could feel his warm breath fanning on my cheek and my whole face reddened at the sudden proximity.

“Look at the one who’s talking. Concentrate on his mouth, on his lips, on the words he’s forming. Don’t let your mind wander on anything else but the words coming out of his mouth…” He whispered to me and I tried my best to do just that, watching as one whispered something to another who seemed to be the leader. I frowned a bit, starting to wonder how it was possible for me to hear anything but I quickly pushed the thoughts away, and the more I watched as his lips moved, the more it seemed like I could feel his voice getting to me. It was becoming clearer and clearer until it seemed like the man was speaking right into my ear.

“...told us they’re supposed to be here. Someone that goes by the name of Baekhyun is supposed to be with her, they shouldn’t be so hard to find, Asians aren’t so hard to spot in such a place after all…”

My eyes widened and I looked over at Baekhyun, who guessed by the look that I had given him that I could, indeed, hear what the man had been saying. He smiled at me and I did just the same, looking back at the little group and frowning.

“If we can hear them, then why can’t they seem to hear us?” I ask, looking at Baekhyun who simply answered without looking.

“Can you still hear them?” He asked and that’s when I realized their voices had vanished when I looked away. I stared at them again, not hearing anything of their conversation. “The enhanced hearing never lasts lo