Part one of the double update!!!!

 Emory’s POV:

     “Are you sure this plan will work?” Jihun asked nervously. His hands kept fidgeting with the hem of his new blue blazer as his eyes watched the ground in front of him. It had been four days since the Mall, meaning four days since we welcomed Jimin and Hyuk into our family. And today marked my first day back at school. N, Leo and Allissa finally thought that my wound looked healed up enough, but had warned me that if something happens, they’ll make me stay home for another week. I rolled my eyes at that but agreed.

     During the duration of those four days, N focused on making a plan that can keep Jihun by my side so our bond could get stronger. So, he ordered a tailored uniform – the school didn’t have any in his size- and enrolled him in as a transfer student whose parents were too busy to see him off to school, so they asked N and Allissa to fill in for them. The plan would officially start once we entered the front doors of the School. Which were currently only a few feet in front of us. Once we entered, Heejun would turn me along with himself invisible so I wouldn’t have to leave Jihun’s side.

     “Don’t worry, Hunie!” N patted his shoulder. “The principal invites us to his special Christmas parties every year as a token of friendship. Trust me, he won’t suspect a thing!”

Though Jihun nodded, he still didn’t look fully convinced. So, I slipped my hand into his and gave it a squeeze. 

     “You alright?” I asked him. He met my gaze with his nervous one. “I-Ithing so. Just… this is my first time doing this. You know? Like, I’ve been to the academy before. But never as a student. So, coming here, not only as a student, but pretending to be a HUMAN student… I feel like I’m gonna mess up and ruin your cover.”

“Hey. It’ll be ok.” I urged. “Just remember- Heejun and I will always be here. If you EVER need help, just let us know and we’ll figure something out. Ok?”

     “Ok…” He agreed. Though it was small, he finally smiled, making my heart skip a beat at how cute he was. But, our sweet moment was short lived once Heejun cleared his throat. Turning my gaze towards him I noticed that he was glaring down at Jihun’s hand in mine. After a second of silence, Heejun stalked over to me, took my other hand and started dragging us towards the front door.

“Let’s get this over with before we’re late for class.” Was all Heejun said when I asked what was wrong.

Just as Heejun’s hand touched one of the door handles, I over heard N clap. “Woah! Heechin’s getting bolder!”

“Jihun!  How tall are you?”

“Hi, Jihun! It’s nice to meet you!”

“Jihun! Jihun! Are you some sort of model or something? You’re so handsome!”

“Jihun! If you ever need help with homework, I’m always free!”

     I sat there, wide eyed and mouth open in shock, staring at the crowed of girls surrounding Jihun’s desk. After succeeding in getting the principal to believe that Jihun had moved in next door and his parents had asked N and Allissa to see him off at school in their places- even I don’t know how they came up with that idea- they were able to completely enroll him in school. Then, Heejun and I walked him to our class while I explained to him how he should introduce himself.

“Just say your name and a few things about yourself.”

“Things like what?” He asked me. I could tell his was even more nervous than before.

“Well, like where you’re from…. How old you are…. And why you moved here.”

     “Probably no in that order though, unless you want everyone thinking you’re a robot.” Heejun said after knocking me lightly on the head. I would’ve elbowed him in the ribs for that, but he had a point. So, instead, I stopped walking and told Jihun to practice on me.

He quickly straited up, with his feet together and hands at both sides.

“My name is Kim Jihun. I’m from….”

“Abroad.” Heejun and I said at the same time, trying to help him out.

“I’m from Abroad. I’m eightee-“

“Seventeen.” We corrected him.

“Seventeen! And we moved here because my father was promoted to DOE of his company.”

“CEO.” We corrected again.

     We had him practice at least three more times and suggested a different order that the facts should go in. Before we knew it, we were in front of the classroom doors and Jihun looked a little bit more confident.

     “it’s ok, Hyung. You got this.” Heejun reached up and patted Jihun on the head. Annoyed, Jihun swatted it away, making Heejun snicker. Before I could laugh at their antics, I quickly spotted our teacher walking down the hallway.

I took Jihun’s hand again.

“Remember, we’ll be just a few seats away.” I said, hoping it would comfort him a little more.

He nodded. “And we’ll be able to eat lunch together?”

I grinned at that. “You bet!”

     With one last squeeze, I let go of his hand and followed Heejun to our seats. A few minutes later, we watched as Jihun trailed in after our Teacher, who explained to us that we had a new classmate to meet. Then she asked him to introduce himself.

Just like Heejun’s first day here, Jihun looked right at me with nervous eyes. After I gave him a nod of encouragement, he took a deep breath and stuttered out.

     “H-hello. M-m-my name is J-jim Ki- I-I mean- Kim Jihun! I-I’m S-sevent-teen. I’m… I’m from abroad. My family moved h-here b-because my father got… Promoted to…”

My heart dropped when he stopped and blanked out.

“Ceo! He got promoted to CEO at his company. It’s nice to meet you all.”

He finally bowed, finishing his introduction. But I could tell by the tips of his ears that he was embarrassed.

Well, at least that’s what I thought would happen.

Instead, what he did was more shocking.

     He didn’t even bow. He just glared at everyone, letting out a sharp “Kim Jihun” before going quiet again. My eyes widened with surprise and I couldn’t help but glance over at Heejun, hoping that he’ll explain what’s going on. Instead, Heejun had on an almost nostalgic-like smile. He didn’t see, surprise at all by the way Jihun was suddenly acting. I blinked, turning my gaze back to Jihun, but the scene was suddenly different.

     The Jihun in front of me had black hair held back in a red beanie. He wore a white shirt under an oversized grey hoodie, with black sweat pants and shoes. One of his hands held an iced coffee while the other was hanging lazily in his pant’s pocket. I wanted to look around at the scenery a bit more, but all Heejun did was stare at Jihun’s eyes. They seemed cold and mean.

     “Jihun-ah!” Someone finally broke the awkward silence. Heejun looked to the side, breaking the awkward staring contest, to find Inseong skipping towards them.

     “I see that you two’ve finally met.” The happy giant said, noting how the two were awkwardly standing. “Jihun, this is my friend Oh Heejun! He’s the new member that I’ve been telling you about.”

Jihun’s eyes took another quick glance at Heejun. “I see.” Was all he said.

“Heejun-ah.” Inseong nudged me. “This is Kim Jihun. Our Leader and Choreographer.”

“Ooh!” I felt Heejun nod, finally understanding. Automatically, he raised his hand. “I-it’s nice to meet you.”

Jihun looked at his hand for a second before, ever so slowly, switching his coffee to the other one, and shaking Heejun’s with his own.

“Yeah. Same.” He mumbled, before quickly letting go and walking away with a short “See you later.” To Inseong.

After Heejun was sure that Jihun was out of site, he let out a breath of air that I originally didn’t realize he was holding.

“Now THAT was scary!” He shivered. “Is he always like that?”

Inseong shook his head. “Nah. He’s just shy. Once he gets to know you, he’ll be more friendly and talkative. Trust me. He may seem mean, but Kimchi wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Kimchi?” Heejun asked, but Inseong was already walking away.

“C’mon! I’ll introduce you to Youjin-hyung. You’ll be sharing a room with them both.”

“Them both?”

“Yeah. Jihun and Youjin-hyung.”

     I blinked again and blonde Jihun was now walking over to his new seat. His face still looked cold and mean, yet before he sat down, he sent me a brief glance, asking if he did good. Thinking back to the memory that I just witnessed, I realized that it was just a part of his true personality. Jihun was usually shy and quiet around the people he didn’t know. Right now, instead of being Jihun the wind type Warrior Card, he was Kim Jihun, a regular boy. For me, that was something. So, I sent him a smile and a thumbs up, showing how proud I was. His shoulders sagged with relief.

     But, it turns out that we had nothing to worry about… at all. For the girls grew really excited about the new ‘Bad Boy’ in our class. Which leads us to our current situation. Where many girls, from both our class and others, were crowding around his desk and asking him questions that I knew he couldn’t answer.

     “Wow. Feels nice that someone else can get that much attention for a change.” Heejun commented as he sat back and crossed his arms behind his head. That was when I caught the look of pure panic on Jihun as he looked our way. That’s it.

I started slapping Heejun’s arm.

     “Don’t *slap* just *slap* sit *slap* there! *slap* Go *slap* help *slap* him! *slap*”

“Ow! Ow! OK! OK! Geez! Are you really still injured!?” He jumped out of his seat and away from me as possible before heading towards Jihun.  

“Sorry to interrupt, ladies.” Heejun cleared his throat. “But it’s lunch time and Teach made me promise to show Jihun around during lunch.”

Taking that as my cue, I got up and started making my way to the usual unused classroom, knowing that my Warrior’s were close behind.

Heejun’s POV:

“One Mocha, one Caramel Macchiato, two Iced Americonos, and one Hot Chocolate please.” Emory ordered and payed the guy manning the cash register.

“Your order should be out soon.” He informed, winking while handing her a buzzer. Frowning, I grabbed it instead and held her hand.

“Thanks, man. We’ll be sure to pick them up.” I smiled as he smiled politely back. But neither of our smiles reached our eyes as we stared the other down.

“Heejun?” Emory looked from me to the cashier, clearly confused.

     “Let’s go sit down?” I suggested with a real smile and pulled her away before she could say anything. It wasn’t until we found a table that I noticed Jihun and Emory’s friends trailing behind us, all raising a brow at me in question. I just gave them a sheepish shrug in reply and sat down.

“Remind me why we’re here again?” I asked, sending another glare at the cashier. “I hate coffee.”

      “That’s why I ordered you a hot chocolate.” Emory replied while handing out napkins. “And we’re here because I keep seeing Jihun drink iced coffee in my-YOUR- memories. So, we want to see if it’s his favorite drink.”

     During lunch, she explained the new memory that she saw earlier. Of course, she forgot to mention to her friends about the fact that she can sometimes see my memories. So the entire time they were so confused about what she was even talking about. Making me have to explain. Again. After I had just explained to Jihun a few days ago. They were very amazed to say the least.

“Ok, let me get this straight.” Star lightly slapped the table to get our attention. She pointed at Jihun and me. “You guys have three more Deck Mates to find?”

We nodded.

“Well? What happens when you have a full Deck?”

Huh. Now that’s a question I can’t answer. So I just shrugged.

“You’re telling me that you guys are hundreds of years old and you don’t know what happens when a Deck becomes full?” She raised her brow, unconvinced.

“No one knows.” Emory spoke up. “I don’t think anyone’s been able to complete a whole Deck before. If they have, then they aren’t written down in Rori’s text book.”

“You actually read a textbook on your own accord?” Addie asked, half amused.

Emory’s face grew red. “I got bored last summer. But, anyway. It’s really hard to complete a whole Deck.”

“Why?” Her friends asked at the same time.

     “Because different Decks have different amounts of Cards.” Jihun answered. “Our KNK Deck has five Cards. While other’s can have six, three, even thirteen. So sometimes you won’t know when you’re close to finishing a Deck. Especially since they sometimes pop up all over the place or are hidden really well.”

“Thirteen?!” Star’s eyes grew wide. “What Deck is that?!”

Jihun raised his hand to his chin, thinking. “I’m pretty sure it’s the Seventeen Deck.”

“If they’re called ‘Seventeen’ then whey are there thirteen Cards?”

“No idea.”

“Huh….”

“Ok….” Addie leaned forward in her chair. “So how many are in the BTS and VIXX decks?”

Emory answered this time. “I think the BTS Deck has seven, while the VIXX Deck has six.”

“And they’ll just automatically come to you?”

“That’s what N thinks.” She was about to say more when the buzzer suddenly went off, making us all jump.

     “I’ll get it.” Addie stood, picked up the buzzer, and walked to the counter. I placed a hand over my heart, which was still beating fast from shock. Willing it to calm down. Stupid buzzer.

     “Wow. So that’s how it is.” Star smiled when Addie handed her a what she ordered. “I hope you’ll be able to find your Deck Mates soon. I can’t wait to meet that Seungjun guy. He seems funny.”

“I can’t wait to meet all of them, to be honest.” Emory thanked Addie before taking her and Jihun’s drink. “Alright, Jihun. Ready?”

He nodded, taking the Iced Coffee from her hand. All our eyes were on him as he took a sip.

His eyes quickly grew wide. “Wa! This is so good!” he yelled, taking another sip.

Emory and her friends cheered. I just sat back, amused. Was all this really necessary?

     I don’t know how it happened, but the conversation quickly went from coffee, to favorite food, and then somehow to favorite movies that they wanted Jihun to watch with them. Getting bored, I sipped on my hot chocolate and looked around. I couldn’t help but feel like the place seemed… somewhat familiar. Like I’ve been here before. But I just couldn’t understand why. It looked just like any other ordinary café. Tables, booths, artworks relating to coffee on the walls. Just like you would see on tv. So it would be weird to think that this one alone stood out to me… right?

My eyes kept roaming around until they landed on one of the workers that was cleaning up a table.

                              Wait… is that?

     I narrowed my eyes, taking in his appearance. His blonde hair was short and had an orange tint to it that seemed like it was natural. His face sported babyish features, which clashed with the focused frown he had on. I shook my head. It couldn’t be. He’s a Card Warrior. He wouldn’t be working in a café like a regular human. It’s not possible… right?

                               Xiao?

     Right after I thought that, the boy’s head shot up and looked around, stopping right at me. We stared at each other, until Emory nudged my arm, letting me know that we were going home.

“Are you alright?” She asked me. “You look a bit pale.”

     “Yeah. Don’t worry, I’m fine. Come on, let’s go.” I stood up, leading us towards the front door. But, before I exited, a faint voice echoed in my mind. Sending up shivers down my spine.

                        Heejun-hyung?

I shook my head. Must be my imagination. There’s no way that was Xiao. Right?

Hey ya'll! So this is part one of today's double update! I wanted to do a double update 'cause I thought this chapter was a bit short, but I couldn't find a way to add more to it 'cause I thought it ended pretty well. So I'll have the next chapter up in a sec! BTW, what do ya'll think of the story so far? Who do you think Xiao is? what purpose will he have? Stay tuned and please comment and let me know what you think!