Chanyeol walked towards her bed, with no sign of minding the other sleeping patients in the ward. Like how Junmyeon had described, his face was like a zombie’s. As he walked closer, she noticed that his posture was horrible and the skin under his eyes had a tinge of purple.

“Chanyeol?” She frowned as he drew the curtains so the other patients wouldn’t be able to see them. “W-what are you doing here?”

She shrank back into her bed, chopsticks still in hand. He stepped closer and squinted, as if scrutinising her. After a while, he spoke in a scratchy voice. “Why don’t you look like you’re afraid of me?”

“What?”

“You’re still looking at me like how you used to. Like you’re trying to figure me out.”

“I am afraid of you, but I’m still trying to figure you out at the same time,” she replied. “I don’t have a history with you like Sehun or Junmyeon, so I don’t really know what your true intentions are. I’m not really sure where you get your drive to put things on fire. Surely not just for your father?”

Chanyeol sighed, dragging the visitors chair closer to the bed. “My father has been drilling into my head countless times about where my loyalties should lie, and what has to be done to gain ultimate power. Who wouldn’t want that, right? Plus, so many years of research and so much money was spent just to achieve this. And for everything to go to waste?”

“But why would you go so far as arson? Or threatening Junmyeon and Jongdae as one of your missions?”

He frowned. “It was the least I could do for him. Like I said, so much time and money was spent to create this. Compared to that, I couldn’t dream of a smaller sacrifice.”

Hyejin felt her fear wash away slowly, only to be replaced by curiosity. “If your father cared about you, why would he ask to put yourself in such danger?”

His eyes darkened considerably. “I know what you’re getting at. And I know, it is foolish of me to come to terms only now that he was just using me. What a laugh, right? I’ve been doing things for him left and right, because I thought that I would be standing next to him when it is all over. And it turns out that he’ll treat me like the rest of the boys, regardless of being his son.”

He looked around the both of them to see if anyone was watching before producing a small flame with the snap of his fingers. It gave Hyejin a fright, and sent her backing away to the other side of the bed. Her bowls were knocked over a little in the process, which spilt some of the soup. Chanyeol shook his head as if to say he didn’t mean any harm.

“Fire has always looked beautiful to me. All the colours it has; the reds, oranges, yellows and blues too. My favourite part of it is how the flames always flicker as if they want to get closer to you.” he explained, as his eyes brightened up ever so slowly. “After I got my power, I wondered how I managed to live without it for so long. Of course, I didn’t have much control over it at first, which caused the burning buildings, but once I did, it was so fascinating.”

She could only gape at him. Was he a madman? Did Junmyeon feel the same way about water too?

He continued, staring at the flame in his fingers. “But the fire came with a price. I lost my morals, my sanity, and I lost my friendship. I actually found it amusing how afraid people would be of fire, so it never really felt wrong when I set buildings on fire. Of course, at first, they were just accidents because I couldn’t get the hang of my powers. But it transformed into something much more than that. It sickens me to think how twisted I was.”

She felt the colour drain from her face. “Why are you telling me all this? What are you going to do?”

“Don’t interrupt me,” he chided, putting the flame out with another snap of his fingers. “Where was I? Oh yes, I lost my friendship as well. Sehun and I have been close since ages ago, and whether it seems like it or not, I truly do value our friendship. He’s someone I can tell my worries to, someone to listen to in return, someone I’ve grown fond of after all these years. And now, because of my fire, he hates me.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t hate you,” she responded automatically.

“But he does. And that is actually the main reason why I’m here and why all of this is happening. Sehun was a wake-up call to me and I want to tell all of this to someone before I leave.”

“Leave where?” Hyejin asked in surprise. “And why would you tell this to me, of all people?”

“Like you said earlier, we don’t have much history between us, but you’re actually one of the only friends I have that isn’t stemmed from the influence of my father. The day we met was merely coincidental, though the following ones may have been because of Junmyeon.”

“But where are you leaving to?”

Chanyeol ignored her question again. “I’d also like to apologise for how much you were brought into this mess, all because of your relationship with Junmyeon. You got kidnapped, burnt in a fire… and yeah. All of that was for the intention of blackmailing him, but I never realised the severity of my actions until recently. If you choose to not forgive me, it’s okay. I can totally understand why and I wouldn’t blame you.”

She could only stare back at him in surprise. It was astonishing how much he had changed from being a psychopathic pyromaniac to this. He really needed his best friend to be thrown into the whispers of death to make him come to his senses.  She didn’t know whether to forgive him or not. Could his actions now pardon everything that he had done? It looked like he was sincerely remorseful.

Suddenly, she was struck with the thought of how she had wanted to look for him in the first place. “Could you do me a favour then?”

“Sure.” The look on his face showed that he wasn’t expecting that.

“I’m not sure if you’ve heard this,” she began in a small, hopeful voice. “But someone told Junmyeon to move his parents out of here, and I’m almost a hundred percent sure that it’s your father-”

“You’re right. My father told me that he was planning to attack Junmyeon’s parents if today’s attack failed.”

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