“It’s time,” Yunho suddenly announced during the middle of dinner.

The clattering of utensils and quiet chatter stopped abruptly at his words, and all heads turned to his direction.

“Time for what?” Luhan cocked his head.

“It is time to make the final decision,” Jaejoong continued. “Tomorrow is when we will be finalizing your powers. You will not go to training, but instead you will all come to our lab to receive the final injection that will imprint your powers with you forever.”

“Today is the last day for any changed minds,” Yunho added. “Any member who chooses to not continue on their path will have two days to spend with the rest of the members and say your goodbyes.”

Yunho’s words caused all eyes to shift over to wear Chen was sitting, who suddenly shifted awkwardly in his seat.

“If you need more time to decide, Chen, that’s fine,” Jaejoong smiled kindly. “However, your decision will have to have been made by tomor—”

“I’ve made my decision,” Chen interrupted with a confident tone. When all eyes stared even harder at him, however, all of his confidence disappeared. His eyes shot nervously from side to side, and you tried to give him encouraging smiles from the across the table, but they weren’t much help.

“I…I'm not going to keep my powers,” Chen finally murmured quietly under his breath.

Although it was silent before, it became absolutely dead silent after Chen’s words.

A few minutes passed before Kris awkwardly cleared his throat to break the silence, “What do you mean, Chen?”

Chen stated, “I mean what I said, I will not be continuing on with you all any longer.” Silence engulfed them all once again.

Chanyeol let out an awkward chuckle as his eyes darted nervously around the dining room table. “Ha…haha…ha, that’s not a funny joke, Chen.”

“I’m not joking,” Chen responded with a firm tone.

“You’re leaving us?” Xiumin spoke softly with a betrayed expression. Out of all of the Exo members, he was the one who had become the closest to Chen after all of their years spent together, and felt his heart cleanly break into two at his friend’s decision.

“I…It’s not…I don’t…” Chen stammered as he averted his eyes from the latter’s pain filled ones. “I...I’m leaving.”

“What do you mean you’re leaving?” Xiumin asked. His voice had lost the betrayed tone, and now a rather angry sound consumed his voice.

The room instantly began to get chilly, and you would have assumed that it was simply because of the tension in the room if it wasn’t for the icicles that soon formed under Xiumin’s chair.

“Xiumin, control yourself,” Kris stated warningly as he watched the glasses of water across the dining table freeze into ice.

Xiumin ignored the leader’s words, and continued to stare coldly at Chen. “How are you going to leave us like that, Chen?”

Now it was Chen’s turn to furrow his eyebrows at Xiumin. “It’s not like I have a choice, Xiumin.”

The screech of Xiumin’s chair sliding from the table echoed across the tense air as Xiumin stood on his feet. “You have a goddamn choice, Chen, so why are you choosing the wrong one?!”

Now it was Chen’s turn to climb rashly to his feet. The chair clattered loudly to the ground when he stood, and added even more tensity to the atmosphere. “Who are you to say that I’m choosing the wrong one?! I don’t believe this is your decision!”

“WE’RE BROTHERS!” Xiumin shouted as he slammed his hand down on the dining table. Tears now filled his eyes, and they were threatening to spill over his cheeks. “We’re brothers, Chen,” Xiumin repeated with a softer tone. “Or at least…I thought we were.”

A distressed expression took over Chen’s face, and he pleaded with Xiumin, “We still are, Xiumin. We’re still brothers.”

Xiumin stared at him for a few seconds before stiffly shaking his head. “No, we aren’t. Last I checked, brothers don’t abandon each other…You’re no bro