The sound of an alarm clock wakes Sehun from his dream. Sehun smacks the alarm off and slowly opens his eyes. He squints as bright rays of sunlight shine into his room through his window. A yawn escapes through his lips before getting out of bed and getting ready for school. Sehun quickly fixes his bed and puts on his clothes. He patters down the stairs, zipping up his hoodie in the process, and greets his father as he enters the kitchen.

 

“Good morning, Appa,” Sehun says. He grabs an apple from the kitchen counter and bites into it.

 

“Good morning, Sehun,” his father smiles warmly at him. “Do you know if your sister is awake before you went down?”

 

Sehun crunches into his apple again. “Knowing Noona, she is probably still asleep,” he replies dryly in between bites.

 

“Would you please go wake her up?” Sehun sighs but nods. “Thank you Sehun.”

 

Sehun gives his father a quick bow and runs back upstairs. He knocks on his sister’s door. He receives no reply. Sehun gives his sister a minute to answer, eating his apple patiently. But in his mind, he knows his sister is still sleeping in. Sehun bursts into his sister’s room and walks over to her bed. She is sleeping on her side, mouth agape, with a slight bit of drool seeping from the corner of . Sehun’s eye involuntarily twitches at the sight.

 

“Noona… Noona…” Sehun whispers, giving her a shake. When she lets out a groan, Sehun shakes her harder. “Sooyoung noona! It’s time to wake up!” he says more urgently.

 

Sooyoung’s eyes are revealed as she struggles to wake up. She sees Sehun’s indifferent expression and smiles. “Good morning, Sehun-ah,” Sooyoung greets with a raspy voice.

 

“Good morning to you too, Noona,” Sehun sighs. “Appa wants you to be ready and downstairs soon.”

 

“I will…” Sooyoung yawns. “I’ll be down in about five minutes…”

 

Sehun raises an eyebrow at her drowsy behavior but he nods and quickly leaves to join his father at the table downstairs. True to her word, Sooyoung joins her brother and father and eats breakfast with them. As usual, Sooyoung always ends up eating a lot more than she should and Sehun complains he doesn’t get enough of what their father made.

 

“It’s about time you two head off for school,” their father comments after they all finished eating.

 

“Thank you for the food, Appa,” Sehun and Sooyoung say at the same time, bowing to their father. They both grab their backpacks and hug their father before leaving the house to walk to school.

 

It is a beautiful March day. The sun is shining brightly with a nice cool breeze accompanying it. The blue sky is vibrant for all to see with no cloud in sight. In short, the weather is just right. Sehun and Sooyoung walk next to each other. Sooyoung has her trademark smile on her face while her brother has his usual bored expression on his face. Sehun sneaks glances at his sister, thoughts of the past wandering in his mind.

 

It has been exactly five years since he found Sooyoung inside that cave in the woods.

 

After his father got to Sooyoung in the cave, they immediately packed their things and carried her down the forest trail and drove to the nearest hospital. Sooyoung stayed in the hospital for about a week to recover from fatigue and shock. Sehun and his father learned that although Sooyoung recovered physically, she was also emotionally traumatized that it resulted into her being diagnosed with amnesia. All Sooyoung knew was her name; she could not remember anything else or why she was in a dark cave in the middle of a forest. It did not help that the hospital could not find any documentation on Sooyoung. At first officials questioned if Sooyoung was an immigrant, but they brushed the thought that she looked Korean and spoke Korean too well despite her condition. Sehun didn’t know the exact processing, since he was too young back then, but his father offered to adopt Sooyoung.

 

That is how the girl he found in the cave became his sister.

 

Although Sehun didn’t know how old Sooyoung was, he immediately called her “noona” when it was announced she would become his sister. Because his mother died giving birth to him, Sehun never knew what it was like to have a mother. Wanting Sooyoung as his older sister was the closest thing he could get to having a mother. Sehun hasn’t admitted this fact to anyone, but these past five years with Sooyoung in the family were the happiest times of his life. He also noticed his father was happier with Sooyoung around, especially since his accident the year before finding Sooyoung that left him limping, which resulted him leaving his position as a frontline policeman and now doing desk work at the station. Both of their lives brightened when Sooyoung came along and Sehun would do anything to protect his sister from harm. He might not express it, but Sehun cares deeply for Sooyoung.

 

With all that said, Sehun is still curious about Sooyoung’s past. Where did she come from and why was she in a cave in the first place all alone? Where and who are her real parents? Sehun still had many questions, but he knows only Sooyoung can answer them when she remembers.

 

If she ever does remember her past.

 

Their father once asked her what happened the day before they found her, and that caused Sooyoung to scream as she clutched her head in pain, falling down to the floor, and curling up in a ball. It always happened whenever they questioned her about her past. When their father consulted a psychiatrist, the psychiatrist said that Sooyoung is subconsciously suppressing her memories. Whatever happened to her, Sooyoung’s mind delibritely blocked those memories. All Sehun and his father could do is wait until Sooyoung is ready and remembers. Even though five years have passed since that day, Sehun never questioned Sooyoung about her past since the first time he did. He hated the way she would writhe in pain.

 

“Sehun-ah?”

 

Sehun blinks and realizes Sooyoung is looking at him worriedly. She stops walking to look deeper into his eyes. “What’s wrong? You look more serious than usual,” she asks lightly, although there is a hint of concern in her tone.

 

“It’s nothing,” he replies, looking away.

 

Sooyoung gives her brother a long hard stare, knowing well what is bothering him. “You’re thinking about the time you find me in that cave, aren’t you?” When he doesn’t reply, she knows she got her answer. Sooyoung looks up at the sky. “Five years really flew by, didn’t it? I’m already in my last year of high school while you are in your second year. We both have changed since then…”

 

Sehun slowly nods. He notices Sooyoung yawning for about the sixth time since they left the house. “You seem tired lately, Noona. Have you been sleeping late this past week?”

 

Sooyoung’s expression hardens and her eyes narrow as she stares at the ground. She turns around and resumes walking to school. Puzzled, Sehun follows silently after her, side by side. Sooyoung takes a deep breath. “I’ve been having nightmares.”

 

“Nightmares?” Sehun repeats. “What have you been dreaming about?”

 

“I… I’m running through the forest. You know… the same forest where you found me. Then I even end up in the same cave. I lie down on the cold ground, crying myself to sleep. Then I wake up…”

 

“That’s it?”

 

“Yes, but the thing is nothing bad happens in my dream, yet I wake up in a panic. I wake up sweating, and I’m so anxious I can’t go back to sleep until around 5am. And every time I have that nightmare my eyes… you know…”

 

Now Sooyoung has Sehun’s full attention. “You mean… your eyes undergo that change? But that only happens when—“

 

“—When I’m in danger, I know,” Sooyoung finishes with an impatient sigh.

 

“Noona, do you think it has to do with your past?” Sehun asks cautiously, knowing well that Sooyoung does not do well when talking about her past.

 

Luckily, Sooyoung doesn’t break down in pain. She crinkles her brow instead. “Maybe… It’s possible. But if what I’m dreaming is a memory and it’s causing me to lose sleep… what will happen when I remember everything?” Before Sehun could answer, they arrive at the school gate. They see Sooyoung’s friends, Jessica and Tiffany, beckoning over with enthusiastic waves. “We’ll talk about this later, Sehun.” Without waiting for a response, Sooyoung walks over to her friends and they hook their arms on both of her sides and head inside the school.

 

Sehun watches Sooyoung with a worried expression. But then someone comes up from behind him and gives him a hard slap on the back. “Yo Sehun!”

 

Sehun touches his back and winces in pain. “Damn it, Kai! That hurt!”

 

“Sorry man! I guess I went a little overboard there,” Kai laughs. “What are you doing just standing here anyway? Kyungsoo is already waiting for us inside. Let’s go already.”

 

“Yeah, yeah… I gotcha,” Sehun says.

 

He and Kai walk inside and meet up with their friend, Kyungsoo, before going to their first class. Sehun silently tells himself to worry about his sister’s problem later. First he has to get through his chemistry test before thinking about anything else.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

A/N: Hello all and welcome to the beginning of Eyes of Deception! Hopefully you find the story interesting so far. If you're curious or confused, then I'm doing a good job haha! I want you readers to be and stay curious (; More characters and most likely more questions will arise in the next chapter~ See you all then!