Byun Baekhyun was wrapped in his toasty cocoon of blankets when the bright sunlight from his bedroom window practically slapped him in the face in the morning. With his vision still blurred from his tired eyes, his fingers stretched out; seeking the flat mobile phone at his bedside table to check for the time. 6:00am. Another hour before he’d have to get ready for school.

Groaning at himself, he buried his head beneath the covers, wanting to return to dreamland and remain in his warm bed until the built in alarm clock on his phone would actually be made useful and wake him up. But of course it didn’t work that way for him, since Baekhyun was the type that when woken up- can’t get back to sleep.

After attempting to shut his eyes and sleep, he finally threw the covers off of his body and headed out of his room. He strolled along the hall, making his way to the bathroom when he abruptly halted at a white wooden door, light seeping throw the gaps. His eyebrows furrowed before he casually pushed it open. “Hey, don’t tell me you’re…” He prepared himself to scold the girl still sitting on her desk however, his sentence got cut short when the girl was in fact fast asleep in bed; paper and pens scattered everywhere.

She probably woke up in the middle of the night again to record her ‘wild and amazing’ dream and accidentally fell asleep. 'Accidentally' since the pen was still sitting in her hand and her desk lamp was burning bright. No surprise. This wasn’t the first time. “Seriously, this kid…” He mumbled as he stepped into the spacious bedroom, but every time he entered with the intentions of either telling her to go to bed or turning off the desk lamp, Baekhyun always found himself lost and stunned by the skillfully drawn pictures and pages of professional calligraphy that were scattered across the room and stuck onto the walls. Not to mention the huge bookshelf covering a whole side of her wall that was full of her note and sketchbooks packed with her original artwork had never ceased to amaze him.

He’d never understood why or how she could pour so much devotion and patience into creating these kind of things, or even how she’s been able to keep her white room looking so clean and colourless despite her over-use of coloured ink.

Approaching the desk lamp located right beside her bed, Baekhyun took a glance at the 17 year old girl, sleeping soundly as if not a care in the world. Her long caramel coloured hair was still braided into the two very loose plaits as per usual. Baekhyun had started that hairstyle a couple of years ago when her hair started to grow really long and she’d loved it so much that the only time she’d take the elastics off was when Baekhyun had to do it himself. 

He sighed at the girl once again before tugging at the string beneath the bulb and switching the light off. The room was still light though, with the sunlight starting to seep through the blinds, which was a chance for him to carefully take the pen out of her hands before the ink could splatter everywhere. He gently placed it on her bed side table and slowly pulled the blankets over her body before he left the room.

He took his time getting ready for school (he had the time after all). He changed himself into his black school uniform with the gold lining blazer before heading downstairs for something to snack on for breakfast. “Old man! Get up for work!” Baekhyun called towards the room next to the kitchen as he switched the lights on. His eyebrows knitted together after there was no reply, or even a simple groan. “Hey old man!” He repeated before a yellow post-it note stuck to the fridge caught his eye. Baekhyun snatched off the note so that he could read the poor Korean penmanship better. “Baekhyun-ah, emergency at work again, won’t be back soon, sorry…take care of Zora for me” He read out loud to himself before shaking his head in disapproval, crumpling up the note and throwing it perfectly into the trash can. “Ridiculous” He spat spitefully.

Forget work- his uncle never comes home anyway. It was as if the only time he ever came was to attach these meaningless notes saying that he’d either be at a business meeting or drinking with his co-workers, not forgetting to end with a reminder to take care of Zora for him. Of course the last part was a given. His uncle has always treated her like such a baby despite the fact that she's seventeen, Baekhyun still didn’t understand it. They weren’t related to her. And he highly doubted that he even knew her parents anyway. She doesn’t have any disabilities either; she isn’t retarded, nor was she ever diagnosed with any mental illnesses...

She’s only a mute.

Maybe a strange one, but still- only a mute.

Baekhyun opened the fridge, only to find yet another note stuck to the milk carton, he rolled his eyes before reading it. “Don’t be mad…remember she’s still your stepsister…” He always had a habit of reading out loud to himself, but he trailed off after the ‘stepsister’ part. “…Love Uncle Max” He finished, taking the note off of the carton and doing the same to the first; crumpling it up to throw into the trash. “Pftt, stepsister, huh?” He scoffed. That’s what his uncle has been entitling her too since she moved in twelve years ago, yet Baekhyun is still clueless about one of his parents getting remarried- typical. They probably don’t care enough to tell him these things.

He prepared a small breakfast for himself; toast and another bread roll. Not exactly his ideal breakfast, but whatever kept his stomach from rumbling in class. He just took his last bite of the bread roll when he felt the presence of something behind him and reflexively spun around in alarm, ready to break whatever bone came at him first, but what stood in front of him wasn't someone hidden under a burglar mask, just a girl with a pair of framless specs resting at the bridge of her nose in pure white pyjamas, her hands up in defense as if he held her at gun point. 

Baekhyun had a battle instinct of a tiger after only a few years of training in Taekwondo when he was little, and the fact that she'd moved a pace back meant that she knew fully well what he was capable of.

“Oh, it’s only you” He said bluntly, as if he was only startled by a fly. She blinked at him before pointing towards the door.

‘Going to school?’ He interpreted it as. “Yeah, sooner or later” He said, noticing that she’d brought down one of her sketch books with her. Another thing he didn’t understand. She took those things everywhere with her as if she’d permanently glued them to her hands; never once has he seen her without one of them. “Don’t spend so much time drawing” He told her, throwing his bag over his shoulders. Zora crossed her arms and pouted.

‘I have nothing better to do’ He translated in his head.

“Just saying…no wonder why you have bad eye sight” He flicked the rim of her glasses before she flinched away. “Seriously, you don’t even get home schooled…” He complained to himself, as though he was jealous. Zora shone him a victorious smile almost to say she'd beat him in something. Baekhyun scoffed at her. Interpreting that as a ‘in your face’ kind of look. “Sure, whatever Einstein” He prodded her forehead with two fingers, making her fall back slightly and scowl at him.

Zora might be a mute, but her intellect wasn’t something to underestimate. A few years ago, her uncle had her brain checked and her IQ came out as just under Einstein’s at only 13 years of age. The doctors classified her as having some sort of new autism, but they couldn’t diagnose her as anything yet. The point was that she didn’t need to go to school, which in a way- was a win for both of them. Having her in his school or something would be troublesome. Not to mention his friends would probably for having a mime as a sister.

“Uncle Max isn’t here again; just grab something to eat for breakfast” He walked out of the kitchen, but walked back a few seconds later when he felt as though he’d forgotten something, but not quite putting his finger on it. “You still have that phone?” He asked her, thinking that it was probably what he missed. Zora automatically reached into the pocket of her pyjama bottoms and waved around the white and blue phone to him. “You take it to bed with you?” He raised an eyebrow.

Zora pulled a face before miming a series of gestures to him. “You love it so much that you use it as your alarm clock like me since you can’t make any calls?” Baekhyun interpreted. Zora touched the tip of her nose as she nodded, indicating that he was spot on perfect. 

The mobile phone was something that Uncle Max brought for her a few days ago. It seemed meaningless at first since she can’t ring anyone, but then again, phones these days did way more than just making calls.

“Okay. You know my number right?” He asked. She nodded and gestured her four fingers. “Speed dial four?” Baekhyun assumed. She nodded once again as he gave her a curious look. “Why four?”

She shrugged her shoulders and pointed to herself.

“Just ‘cause it’s your favorite number?”

‘Yup’ he interpreted her quick nod.

“Whatever. Text me if something happens, you understand?”

She made a thinking face before handing him the phone at the tip of her fingers. Baekhyun glanced at it and back at her hopeful eyes, quizzically. “…What?” He asked her, refusing to take the white device into his hands. Zora gestured something with the phone, clicking the imaginary button and mimicking a bright flash with her other hand. Finally understanding her, Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “No. No pictures.” He shoved away the hand that held out the phone to him. “How am I supposed to communicate with you if I have your phone, idiot” He snapped at her.

Whenever Baekhyun goes anywhere, Zora always gets him to take any interesting pictures that could spark up a few ideas for her. But the word ‘interesting’ to Zora was basically the complete opposite to Baekhyuns understanding of the word. It was always trees, houses, buildings, animals, random crap like that. Another thing he couldn’t understand. What was so interesting about rotting trees or stray dogs? It was a bother for him nevertheless. Taking pictures of random buildings and trees- people would look at him funny. Not to mention most of the time he would be with his friends, so taking pictures with something that they knew wasn’t his own phone would just make them suspicious.

“Go and...look out your window or something” He shrugged his shoulders. Zora’s gaze fell to the ground with a disappointed frown on her face, obviously not satisfied with that suggestion. Baekhyun saw how upset she’d looked and caved in. “Fine! I’ll take some pictures on my own phone! Are you happy?” He huffed; mad at himself for being so easily affected. Zora rapidly nodded her head, a grin suddenly lit up on her face.

School was just about to end and Baekhyun had found himself scanning and glaring everywhere he went for something that he'd thought would be 'interesting' to Zora. Only when he was alone did he subtly take a few pictures of the empty school buildings that he’d yet to show her from previous years. He got the chance to take a picture of an old piano that was about to get thrown out from the music room when he almost got caught by one of his friends. Baekhyun passed it out by pretending to text his uncle asking when he’ll be back (which he already knew wouldn’t be sometime soon).

“Oh yeah! Your uncle's at work right? If there’s no one at your place then why don’t we call up a few friends for a little get toget-“

“No thanks” Baekhyun abruptly dismissed his friends offer. “I recall your last little ‘get together’ being at Woohyun’s house and having trashed the place. Sorry but I don’t feel like playing maid and having to clean up all your mess when you leave”

“Pft! Fine then stressy, how about we go somewhere else? Wanna go the arcade? They have a new machine there that-“ His friend stopped when a light beeping noise came from Baekhyuns phone. Surprisingly, this time it really was his uncle.

“Won’t be back soon so…” Baekhyun had to stop himself from his usual habit, remembering that his friend was still beside him.

(1) From: old man Max

Wont be bac soon so tell Zora sorry
for missing her birthday
Good thing I gave her that present early huh

Its her 18th so remember to get her
something nice if u already havent

Baekhyun closed his eyes and bit his tongue after he’d finished reading the text, wanting to kick himself but trying to make it as subtle as possible so that his friend wouldn’t ask why.

That's what he forgot. Her birthday's today. 

“Your uncle again?” His friend assumed with an understanding nod. Baekhyun sighed. “Yeah he…wants me to pick up something on my way home…sorry dude” He shrugged his shoulders as if he’d actually thought it was a waste.

Not that he didn’t like hanging out with his friends. But most of the time they did things he never really associated with being fun. Arcades to him was just a waste of time, and not to mention money. House parties were just an excuse to blow off homework and mess around without having to clean up your own trash. Only rarely did they make suggestions on something he’d actually like to do like go to the movies or getting tickets to go see a concert together. Other than that, Baekhyun would admit, he’d rather rest at home with his mime of a sister reading manga books or something.

“Tsch~ Harsh. Your uncle is such a kill joy, catch ya later then man” His friend patted him on shoulder before going off to invite his other friends.

Baekhyun glanced at the text message once more. “So troublesome" He complained before slamming down the screen to his flip phone and heading home.

He got back home in no time, having almost power-walked the way there. He hadn't anticipated how cold the weather could turn out, so he hadn't thought of bringing along some form of winter clothing like a coat or gloves before he went to school. "Zora, I'm back!" He yelled as he slipped his black converse off his feet, expecting the girl to come dashing down the stairs and fling herself at him like she usually did...but nothing. 

Baekhyun faced the stairs...waiting for her to appear. “…Zora?” He called again, dumping his heavy school bag onto the couch and heading upstairs. He came to the white door and swung it open, as usual, not bothering to knock. “I’m ba…” He trailed off, seeing the white room unoccupied. He glanced left and right, eyebrows slowly starting to furrow as an eerie silence filled the house at his pause; an uneasy feeling creeping up on his chest. “Zora!” 

---

A/N: Tell me what cha'll think~