Jongdae sighed in boredom as he threw the water ball he created in the air. The ball went as high as it could, stopping just before it could reach the ceiling before descending down. Jongdae caught it again and threw it upwards once more. It has been a few days since their brother went to the North alone. His absence was killing the family. Minseok had more work on his shoulders now that their leader was gone. Luhan was being moody and the only time he was not was when Hyera was with him. Yixing seemed indifferent though, but Jongdae could see that the reason why he spaced out more often was because he was worried about Kris. Zitao was sulking like a little boy and Hyera tried to make him happy whenever he was sulking too much.

Hyung, when are you coming back? Jongdae sighed as he threw the ball.

The figure that was sleeping beside him scooted till she rested her head on his chest. Jongdae smiled and kissed the top of her head. “He’ll be fine.” Jieun mumbled sleepily and snuggled in his chest. Because they were mated, they were able to clearly feel each other’s emotions and hear their thoughts. “He’s our invincible leader. Besides, Minjung is such a sweetheart. She won’t let anyone of them harm him.”

“I know. I trust him to be able to protect himself even if he had to go up against all of them. But I’m feeling unsettled. Even Soojin noona who believes in Kris hyung so much is starting to get worried. And Yejin kept putting the blame on Minjung.”

Jieun opened her eyes at his words and meet his eyes. “Yejin’s being..” She struggled to think of a word.

“Mean? Insensitive?” He suggested but she shook her head.

“Troublesome. She’s being troublesome. I mean why must she say such things especially when the relationship between both continents are already as fragile as a newly formed ice on a lake?” Jieun recalled the multiple times where Yejin tried to separate the couple.

Jongdae nodded. He knew where his soulmate was coming from because he too felt like there was something about that girl. “She kept trying to get rid of Minjung as well.”

“Is it because she likes Kris?”

Jieun might be right. Everyone knew about Yejin’s feelings for Kris and now that he has a soulmate, Yejin became jealous and tried to get rid of her. It all sounded so logical yet Jongdae felt like there was something deeper in this whole situation. The Yejin that they knew was not like that.

A ripple of uneasiness suddenly rippled through his body and Jongdae knew that someone had penetrated his shield made of moisture. His power to control water was more of a defensive skill and Jongdae wanted to make the best of what he could so as to help his family. He created the shield of moisture after much analysis and experimenting. It now became a odourless, transparent shield that was made up from the moisture after the water has been evaporated. Unlike Yixing’s shield where it was meant to keep out people and protect those in it, Jongdae’s shield was like an alarm. Anyone can pass through it and Jongdae will know it the moment they come into contact with the shield.

It was like a soundless alarm for EXO-M to know that someone had invaded the palace ground.

He caught his water ball and quickly connected it to the ring of water on the ground that surrounded the exterior of the palace. A normal person would think that the water ring was just a design when in fact it was for Jongdae to spy on others using the water in it.

A head full of blonde hair greeted him and he frowned in confusion. Was he an intruder or was it his brother? The figure moved and he met eyes with someone he had never seen before. But what shocked him was that it was like that guy was looking at him instead of the water. A smirk formed on the intruder’s face and Jongdae jolted up to a sitting position, startling his poor soulmate. He’s looking at me!

“No way. He knows you are watching him?” Jieun gasped and looked at the water ball. The intruder suddenly blushed a little when he saw Jieun and let out an awkward cough before trying to be serious.

Jongdae moved his ball away from Jieun and narrowed his eyes at the intruder. How dare he look at my Jieunnie like that?

“Byunghun, what are you doing?” A familiar voice asked and the intruder looked away from the water.

“I’m looking at something interesting.” Byunghun told Minjung and the rest of the group that were behind him. As his senses were the best, he volunteered to scan the area while entrusting his Goddess to the rest. It was uncommon for a mythical creature to leave its Goddess’ side but Byunghun knew that her family would be able to protect her as well as him.

Minjung’s face replaced Byunghun on the water ball and Jongdae almost choked on his spit. “M-Minjung?”

Minjung frowned when she saw nothing in the water. There was not supposed to be anything there, which was why enemies did not know Jongdae was spying on them. But Byunghun was a mythical animal. He could easily see through it. “What is he? How did he do that?” Jieun mumbled to herself.

“No way. You can see Jongdae?” Kris voice rang and the both of them could not help but to feel happy. Their brother was finally back.

“Yup. I easily saw it.” Byung