A/N: TO MY READERS: I HAVE COLOR-CODED THE THOUGHTS THAT EACH INDIVIDUAL WOULD HAVE PARTICULARLY THE TWINS DURING THEIR TELEPATHIC CONVERSATIONS AND THE THOUGHTS THAT THEY'D GET TO SIFT THROUGH IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE STORY JUST LIKE BEFORE. SHINHYE WOULD BE BLUE WHILE JINHAE WOULD BE RED. OTHER COLOR CODES WOULD BE ADDED AS I EDIT. THANKS!

LU HAN

It had been hours since the Oracle Minister left the manor and yet, Jinhae hasn’t left the den yet. I went up the stairs and saw Lay and Chen standing by the wall adjacent to the door of that very room. I strode towards them and at a closer look, they were wearing worried expressions that spoke of their concern for the person inside the room. Chen was in a rather pensive mood while Lay stared at the wall opposite him. Just then, Yi Fan passed through the hallway, flying swiftly past me.

“What’s with the long faces?” he queried the moment he landed by the door. He then glanced at the door. “I just saw the minister in his carriage.” When he got no answer form the other two, he shifted his gaze to me, arching a brow.

“Yes. He left a long time ago,” I told him simply.

“Yi Xing?” he said, unable to get the answer he wanted from me.

Lay looked up. “She refuses to leave the den,” he said softly.

Yi Fan nodded. “I’m guessing she wasn’t able to realize what she had gotten herself into until the minister told her.”

I frowned. “There’s no need to put it so crassly,” I said to Yi Fan with a smile. 

He sighed. “I’m sorry.” He placed his hands on his waist and frowned. “She’s having second thoughts.”

Tao appeared at the top of the stairs. “What’s going on? Who’s having second thoughts?”

We all eyed him sternly, shushing him. 

“Oh.” He sniggered. “Is he still here?”

We shook our heads. 

“Then how come you all look like you’ve seen a bad omen?”

“Jinhae has refused to come out of the den,” I answered.

Tao gaped. “She knows.” 

“Well, yes. I don’t think she knew that part. Nobody had the guts to tell her,” Chen spoke for the first time.

Before we could react to that, Tao opened the door to the room and barged in. Yi Fan tried to pull him away from the room, but he managed to enter anyway.

“Huang Zi Tao!” Lay hissed through clenched teeth.

Chen whirled around. “What is he planning now?”

“Jinhae , what’s up?” the youngest noble said cheerily and I felt the urge to take a look at how Jinhae would react to that. I think he had gotten her speech pattern.

We found her seated on the window sill, removing the sash of the pink Elyxian robe that Poh had provided for her. I’ve got to say that she looked beautiful in it. She turned her head and eyed us one by one, her gaze lingering for an extra second at Lay then she smiled at Tao. “Hi!”

We all looked puzzled. It’s another one of her strange words. Tao looked at us and beamed. “It’s like ‘hello’ only shorter,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Oh,” Chen said.

Tao walked towards her and offered his hand, helping her down. “Aww, you’re sp cute!” he cooed. 

Yi Fan rolled his eyes. “Will you stop speaking in code?”

Chen chuckled and tapped Yi Fan on the shoulder. “I’m quite sure he meant she is delightful.” He shifted his gaze at Jinhae. “Which she is.” He walked towards her and looked at her at arm’s length. “You look rather sallow though. Is anything bothering you?”

Her eyes widened and she laughed nervously. “N-no. Why do you say that?”

Chen shook his head, patting her head. “If you say so, pet.” He was behaving quite odd, rather warm and so unusual of him. I smiled. I guess she managed to thaw the ice in Chen.

Her shoulders tensed up upon hearing that compliment from Chen. I wonder what she really thought of that. For the past days since I’ve met her, I have been trying to figure out the workings of her mind, but it remained shrouded in the darkness and I wasn’t used to that. I usually see through people easily as I can read minds, but when it comes to Jinhae, it was like treading unfamiliar grounds. It was as if every time I try to read her thoughts, a barrier would come up, preventing me from probing. I wondered if that was a part of her abilities. I couldn’t really be sure if she’s the one doing it since she had been very honest to all of us that it was surprising.

“Thank you,” she said after a while to Chen who didn’t seem to have noticed her discomfiture. Lay was just grimacing the whole time and so was Yi Fan.

“How did the talk go?” I asked to relieve her tension.

Much to my disappointment, it seemed to have worsened. “It was good,” she answered flatly, the usual mirth that sparkled in her eyes gone. 

Tao arched a brow at her. “What exactly did the minister tell you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Jinhae paled and turned around. “I think you know what he told me.”

Tao chuckled. “Well if it is all about the matter wherein you’d have to choose one of us then you could be sure that I’m satisfied with being your friend.”