SHINHYE

I felt better after the chat I’ve had with Baekhyun the previous night. He was really amusing, but that didn’t suppress my longing to see Jinhae. I haven’t slept the whole night, but my leg felt better already. The whole night, I paced around the room, making slow progress from the wall to its opposite. Chin visited me once and panicked when she saw what I was doing, but she wasn’t able to do anything about it since I told her that my leg would heal faster if I exercised it. She didn’t seem to get what I meant, but she let me do it anyway. I wasn’t about to rot in bed and wait for it to heal. It didn’t hurt that much anymore so I didn’t see any reason why I should be idling about.

I didn’t know how long I’ve slept, but when I woke up, the sun was high on its place. I didn’t know how I would begin the day. I just hope I wouldn’t have to see any of them after what happened during dinner. I wouldn’t want to cross paths with the one named Sehun either. I didn’t know what I did to him, but he certainly didn’t like me. Oh well. The feeling was mutual. I was sure that it wasn’t his usual behavior since the others kept chastising him about the way he spoke to me, but still, no one came to my defense while he was basically pounding on me in our little argument.

They called their world Elyxo, a world that existed and thrived with its traditions and old ways. I’ve figured as much and if I was going to stay here like Suho was claiming, I knew it wouldn’t be pleasant. I didn’t like it one bit. People from old worlds didn’t really welcome change and they prefer to stay archaic. Another thing was that they were fanatics when it came to their beliefs. I understand the fact that it wasn’t the human world, but the rest of it was a blur. I didn’t think I was ever going to know the reason why they existed beyond human knowledge.

I shrugged the thought off and went about with my business, getting ready for the day. After Baekhyun followed me around the forest, watching like we would be attacked anytime, I had every reason to believe that I was in danger. He was definitely there to protect me no matter what and his denial made me all the more certain. I decided that if I was going to find my sister, I needed to be prepared to at least protect myself and her. Her ballet skills surely wouldn’t do that for any of us, but I’d bet my combat skills would.

I rummaged through my luggage, looking for my loose, draw-string pants and my sports bra to match it. I planned to look for some sturdy sticks in the forest and make my own kendo stick. I wasn’t about to stay inside the manor and wait for fate to come and get me. I have to find Jinhae and fast then we could both go home and continue our life like nothing happened.

I took my camera as well, hanging it around my neck. I planned to take pictures. I had to make sure that I wasn’t actually imagining things and that I was as sane as I was before I came to this strange place. I definitely wasn’t dreaming when I saw that strange bird flying past my window when I finally decided to retire. It had red and gold feathers, huge, sharp eyes that were the color of blood armed with huge claws, not to mention the fact that it was actually the size of a peacock. It looked like it as well except that it could fly. Maybe I’ll see flying rodents, too. I didn’t know what to expect after all that I’ve witnessed.

I went out of the room and bumped into someone. I took a step back, leaning against the door to maintain my balance. When I looked up, I saw Baekhyun and Kyungsoo standing in front of me. I continued closing the door before finally facing them.

“Good morning,” Kyungsoo said, not meeting my gaze. His eyes kept straying to the floor while Baekhyun was looking up at the ceiling.

I frowned. “Good morning,” I answered, trying to sound enthusiastic. What the hell were they doing in front of my door? “Were you about to enter the room?” I asked when none of them spoke.

“Well…uh…” Baekhyun looked at me briefly then continued looking at the ceiling. “We were supposed to call you for breakfast.”

“I see,” I said slowly, emphasizing on each word. I followed the direction of his gaze. “What seems to be so interesting about the ceiling?” I asked when I saw nothing but the high arcs of mahogany above us. It was an impressive architectural structure, but I didn’t see any reason why he should be too engrossed about it as he had been living there since he was fourteen, roughly seven years ago.

“Miss Shinhye…” Kyungsoo spoke, risking a glance at me. They surely were behaving oddly.

“Just Shinhye.”

He nodded, but he couldn’t speak anymore, his eyes rounding. I shrugged, shaking my head. “If you’re just going to stare at me as if I have two heads then I’ll be off now,” I told them and started walking off when I felt a light cloth being draped over me, stopping my progress. When I turned around, I saw Sehun’s tall figure standing behind me. I risked a glance at his face and saw that he was wearing that arrogant, bored mask just like during dinner, but that wasn’t what caught my attention – he was barefoot, wearing what seemed to be khakis and he wasn’t wearing any shirt.

I took the cloth that was draped across my shoulder. “What the –” I stopped talking when I saw the light blue, button-up shirt I was holding. I looked up at him again and he smirked.

“You’ll catch a cold,” he said flatly then walked away.

I just stared at his retreating figure until he disappeared into the intersecting hallway and I finally regained my composure. What was that all about? One time, he would be ing me out in front of the others and then the next, he’s giving me his shirt, trying to protect me from colds? It didn’t really make any difference since he just casually draped it on me and as far as I was concerned, there wasn’t any improvement in the way he treated me, eyeing me coldly like I’ve had a lot of faults against him.

I eyed the other two then, flashing them a confused look. Just then, Kyungsoo grimaced and looked at me. “You’d better put that on.”

“What’s the big deal? It’s not even cold,” I complained.

“Just –”

“Fine,” I muttered and draped it on my shoulder, not bothering to button it up. It was too warm that I was sweating even while wearing such light clo