UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL

Subin stares at the front door from the kitchen as the knockings became louder each time.

“Just a minute!”, she shouted as she turns off the stove and cover the pot. She’s making lunch for her family today since her mother is out to buy groceries.

Subin quickly wash her hands and dry her hands on her shirt messily before rushing towards the living room.

Actually, she has an idea of who’s knocking on the other side which is why she’s sort of reluctant in opening the door.

And she was right.

There they are again, making it their third time visiting this week.

“Good morning Subin”, Yixing smiles as he greeted, Chen giving her a one hand salute behind him.

“I’m starting to think that you guys are jobless.. come inside”, Subin said honestly as she opens the door widely for them to invite them in.

”You’re not wrong about that”

Chen was the first to come in— even though he’s behind Yixing earlier. The latter guy slowly came in as he ask her, “How’s your father today?”

Subin watch as Chen made himself comfortable on the couch already while answering to Yixing, “He’s starting to get confused with all the memories coming into his head”

Yixing hummed, “But he’ll be fine. Once everything comes back, he’ll start to make sense of everything”

Subin turns to him and sigh, “It you say that he’ll be fine, why do you guys come here every day despite me not wanting you too?”

He didn’t reply. Yixing bit his inner cheeks and starts to walk towards her father’s room, “May I?”

Subin nodded, she watches as he enters the room. Seconds later, he could hear his father greeting him happily, “Oh you’re here again? Good morning”

“It’s his way to deal with his guilt.”

Chen suddenly answered her overdue question. Subin looks at him and frown, “Why? None of this is your fault though”

He sighed and brush his hair away from his way, “True but we come from their bloodline. We can’t help but feel like we’re responsible for their selfish act”

Whether they like it or not, the first generations were their ancestors and the fact that they had overthrown the royal reign to get the power; the apprentice suddenly find themselves with divided opinions.

Subin stays for a while as she thinks about what will happen to the world if the truth goes out. Even the apprentices look lost right now, it’s been 3 days and none of them are ready to talk about it yet.

“Drinks?”, Subin offered as she makes her way to the kitchen.

“Just water please, thank you”, Chen said before standing up— he heard Yixing calling his name repeatedly and quickly made this way to her parents’ room.

When Subin entered the room with three full glasses of water, she could see Chen’s hand on her father’s forehead— using his power on her father.

The first time she saw that, she freaked out and always slapped his hand away but after knowing that they’re just helping to ease his headache away; she relaxed.

“How’s he doing?”, she asked them this time while handing a cup to Yixing.

“Better each day. In one month or less, he’ll go back to normal”, he said and thanked her before downing the cup of water.

Subin softly gazed at her father’s sleeping figure and sighed in relief. Finally, the nightmare is over. How she missed her father goofing around the house, playfully teasing her with non-existent boyfriends and cooking with her.

Unknowingly, a tear escaped from her eye and she only noticed it when Yixing handed her his handkerchief with a smile.

She chuckled and took it, dabbing the handkerchief on her cheeks. Funny how she could cry easily when it comes to anything related to her father.

“Done”, Chen whispered and stood up from the bed. He was sitting on the edge earlier.

All of them went out and lingered around the hallway as Subin close the door. Once she’s done, she invited them to eat lunch with them— like always.

She went back to cooking, telling the guys to sit and relax. They usually listen but somehow, today they decided to linger around the kitchen as she cooks.

The atmosphere is awkward, it was too silent and she could feel that they’re watching her. She hesitated to start a conversation because she knows nothing about them, no common grounds can be detected so she asked something she already knows.

“How’s the rest? Still won’t talk about it?”, she asks as she stirs the soup in the pot. She turned her head back briefly and saw Chen sighing.

“We still haven’t talk about it, everyone seems to have different opinions” Chen told her and Yixing added, “Our leader won’t talk to us about it too. Well, he did greet us whenever we bump into each other but he avoids talking about it every time”

“Did you try asking?”, she asks.

“He’s cooped in the study room all by himself, he looks stressed so we decided not to bother him until he’s ready”

Subin frowned, “What is he doing in there?”

Yixing exchanged stares with Chen but sadly, none of them knew the answer.

“We don’t know”

“Are we interrupting something?”, Yeseul asked from the door to the couple in the dining room who seems to be talking in a hushed tone; close to each other.

They were even sharing plates— sharing breakfast together.

Behind Yeseul is Yina, who is already frowning seeing them two together.

Her twin quickly shifted away and shook her head, “No no! Come and join us”

“You sure?”, Yeseul asked again with a teasing grin and Xiumin chuckled, crossing his arms as he leans backward to his chair to stare at the newcomers. “It’s not what it looks like”

“I’m sure as hell it looks intimate, sorry for crashing”, Yina said sarcastically before entering. She approached the long table to see what food they serve for breakfast this time.

“Pancakes!”, Yina cheered in a low voice as she wiggles her body in happiness. Her twin on the other hand felt second-hand embarrassment because of her.

“She gets a little too excited when it comes to her favourite”, Inna told them while shaking her head.

Yina rolled her eyes and picks up a fork— pointing to her twin’s direction. She was about to retaliate but was cut off by Xiumin.

“You do that too”, he said with a teasing grin. “the happy wiggle”

“Exactly!”, Yina harrumphed. “Even though you don’t say anything but you do the wiggle too”. She said in an offended tone before picking up her pancakes.

“So this is what it looks like to have twins in action”, Yeseul gaped as she looks at them back and forth.

Suddenly, Yina nudged her. “Pancakes Seul?”

“Oh yes, thank you”, she picks up a plate and held it up as Yina puts 2 pancakes on her plate.

Once the girls got their food with desired toppings and syrup, they sat across the couple on the dining table.

Again, they noticed that the couple kept talking in a hushed tone while they were stacking food on their plate earlier.

They didn’t want to interrupt them but they casually steal glances at them to catch hints on what they were talking about.

For sure, it isn’t the lovey dovey type of conversation. They look too serious.

Then Inna sighed and lifts her head up to stare at the girls, “Whose fault do you think it is: the princess, the first generation of guardians or neutral?”

Her question took them aback, both of them froze. Is that what they’re talking about?

“Why?”, Yina asked slowly as her eyes shift nervously to the apprentice. He is currently face palming, his hand on his face in frustration.

“Inna, let’s not debate about this again”, he mumbled against his hand.

“No we have to talk about it. The team is falling apart”, Inna whispered harshly loud enough for all of them to hear.

“We’re not falling apart-“, he tried to say but Inna gave him a look so he cut his sentence off. He then shrugs his shoulder, “Maybe”

“You guys literally won’t talk about it. Suho locks himself in a room doing god knows what, Baekhyun ran off, the rest of you guys have divided opinions and formed some sort of sub group-“

“You’re talking about S.K.Y?”, Yeseul pipped in and they all raised their eyebrows.

“Really now?”

Yeseul snorted, “They call themselves that because they’re beginning to think that they’re on their own now. Y for Yeol by the way, not Yixing”.

Xiumin groaned, “They’re stupid”

“They’re strategic”, Yeseul defended as she stress the word out. “Currently, they’re training on how to fight without hurting anyone with the forsvars”

Xiumin raised his eyebrow, “You’re defending them. Do you like one of them?”

“What? No! I just think that they’re smart and accepted the truth better than the rest of you. It’s better to do something about it rather than nothing”, Yeseul said in a clear tone as she voices out her opinion.

”They don’t even know whether we’re still continuing or not; they’re being too ambitious”

Inna tries to calm him down by patting his hand when she noticed that his face has turned red, “Even Aecha is kind of hesitant whenever she meet you guys, she’s a mess right now. I feel bad for Kyungsoo”

At the mention of her name, Xiumin’s facial expression fell. He can’t help but feel guilty.

The fact that her kinds either got their powers stolen, living the runaway life or killed for nothing; it’s going to haunt them.

She lost her parents and grew up in tough conditions and yet she’s been helping them after all this time; taking care of them in ways that they didn’t think that they need. Aecha probably feels like sh*t right now but Kyungsoo is affected too.

Speaking of the devil. Kyungsoo came in the room with a frown on his face. He still hasn’t notice that they’re there, looks like he has a lot in his mind.

Suddenly, the weather starts to be glum. They looked outside the window and saw dark clouds starting to form, lighting threatening to come out.

“Kyungsoo”, Xiumin warned him and the guy flinched; shocked to see that he’s not the only one in the room.

“Oh, good morning”, he greeted blankly. Xiumin immediately pointed outside the window with his thumb and Kyungsoo apologized before calming weather.

“What happened?”, Yina asked him as he plops beside her blankly. Kyungsoo sighed and took a toast from Yina’s plate; the girl lets him regardless the lack of permission— it’s a normal thing for the team to share stuffs.

“I saw her coming out of her room when I was on my way here. Offered her to eat breakfast with me and she declined, telling that she’s not hungry”

“She didn’t eat dinner last night though”, Yeseul told him with a frown.

Aecha is probably avoiding them again and decided not to eat breakfast.

Kyungsoo sighed, “I feel like there’s that barrier again between us— it got worst. I thought we went pass that 3 days ago”

“Well, that’s before sh*t goes down”, Xiumin told him the obvious and Kyungsoo threw a piece of his toast on his face.

“She’s trying. We talked last night, she doesn’t blame any of you”, Yeseul told him. The two girls share a room together and it was just last night when Aecha poured everything out to Yeseul— which is why she skipped dinner because she’s too exhausted after all the crying.

“It’s just that.. she’s just upset how her kinds are being treated in a way that they don’t deserve. They deserved better” Yeseul continued carefully, trying not to spill the details too much because Aecha doesn’t want them to feel additional guilt.

Kyungsoo suddenly stood up, “I’ll try to talk to her and maybe send breakfast-“

“She needs time Soo, let her be. I’ll do it instead okay?”, Yeseul prevented him, also standing up and starts to fill an empty plate with various breakfast menu.

Kyungsoo slowly sat back down and ran his finger through his hair in frustration. “Make sure you get her blueberries, she likes them”. Yeseul nodded at his request with a smile.

“How’s Suho?”, Yina asked him. Kyungsoo shook his head in reply, “He didn’t sleep in our room last night. I think he fell asleep at the study room”

Hearing this, Yina suddenly has the urge to visit him to see what he’s up to. The thing is, he never lets anyone enter the room because he always locks it.

Too bad, she might have to break in with a hairpin. She’s capable in doing so.

Yina stares at her twin’s hair and just like she expected, she saw her wearing a hairpin to keep her baby hairs out of her face. She grinned and cleared her voice to get her attention, “Inna, can I have your hairpin? My hair is getting in the way and I can’t tie it because it’s too short”

Her twin frowned and gave her a look, “You never get annoyed by your hair”

Yina cursed in her head, she’s right. She likes her hair down and it never bothers her. Automatically, her hand lifted to touch her hair— trying to convince.

“That’s when my hair is long, it’s short now and it gets in my way twice as much”

Shrugging it off, she gave the hairpin to Yina without asking anymore.

“Thanks”, she said and stood up. Thankfully, no one asks her where she’s going when she exits the room.

On her way there, she grips the hairpin nervously. She in it to get it, she’s going to get yelled but does she care? No.

She’s basically immune to all the yelling and nagging Suho had done; what she’s nervous about is seeing what type of condition he’s in right now.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this”, she mutters and she bends down to the keyhole’s level. She inserted the hair pin and starts to figure out the how to unlock it.

“When’s the last time I did this.. eighth grade?”, she mutters again.

Growing up, she’s more to the rebellious side unlike her proper sister. She usually gets locked in her room because she often stays late at night out but it didn’t stop her since she self-taught herself how to unlock doors with various materials.

A click on the door made her grin.

She then straightens herself up and use the hairpin on her hair, “Still got the skill. Good job”, she pats herself before opening the door in the quietest way possible.

Yina peeked in and could immediately spot him. As expected (and she prayed), his head is buried in his arms on the table— she hoped that he’s still sleeping so she could at least sneak in to catch a glimpse about what he’s doing for the past 3 days and not get kicked out even before she could lay her eyes on it.

She entered quietly and closed the door. The study room is dim with a little sunlight peeking through the gap of the curtains but it’s enough for her to see what he’s been doing.

“Woah”, she whispered as she stares at the study room.

It’s full of writing and scribbles. Some walls are made up of screens that acts as a board for him to scribble on electronically and almost half of them are filled.

There’s books scattered around as well along with papers on the floor.

She quietly approaches him and pick up a book nearest to him. She narrowed her eyes to figure out the title, “History of Elyxion”. She read and put it back down.

Her eyes go back to the screened walls, since it’s electronic— she could see his writings clearly as it is lit in a white-ish glow.

It didn’t take her time to figure out what this man was up to.

He listed out possibilities of how to continue their plan but there’s a lot of Xs on it. He’s stuck, he couldn’t figure out the best way on how to continue.

She could see that he’s stressed about it but hid it when he’s in front of them— it’s visible in his handwriting and scribbles.

Yina wondered why he kept this all for himself; she gets it. He’s a leader and yes, the rest has been waiting for his decision on what to do but the group is getting restless each day and starts to think that he’s aborting the mission.

Some of them might even continue without the rest soon judging from S.K.Y’s training schedules and their small but long meetings with each other.

Yina lets a sigh through her nose. Well, she already got what she wanted and her curiosity dissolves. She starts making her way out quietly when suddenly, he woke up.

“Oh crap”, she froze midway and turn her head around. Unexpectedly, she’s greeted by his confused eyes as he tries to let the information sink in. She’s in the room. In the locked room. How?

Yina sent a wave awkwardly, “Hi” she squeaks out.

Suho yawned and stretched his arms upwards, “Morning, how did you get it?”

Yina almost had her jaw to the floor because this is the first time he’s not yelling at her. What just happened?

“So you’re not mad?”

He stood up and starts to open the curtain drowsily, “I am but I expected this to happen”, he said calmly and Yina snorted.

“Why are you here?”, he asks with his eyebrow raised

“Just curious. You’ve been in here for 3 days and banned the rest from entering, I just want to know what you’re planning”

“You’re quite nosy you know that?”

Yina shrugs her shoulder and approach on of the walls, “What’s this?”

“Don’t touch it-“

Too late, she already touched it and his whole writings disappeared once her finger touched the screen. She froze and winced, “Oops?”

He sighed loudly, “Out”

“What type of screen wipes out all of its date just by a touch? That’s weird”, she defends herself and touched it again— making the screen next to it erase its data too. “Oh my, ok I need to stop touching it looks like”

“Yina”, his voice gets louder but the girl kept on going around the room to read all his writings without touching anything.

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