Clean House

Lucifer's Butterfly

After most of them exited, she fidgeted for only a few seconds before leaving the room without excuse. Jonghyun and Key, left behind to clean up the mess of broken furniture and sweep up dirt, deflated with a sigh.

 

With tired breath, Key started, "Come on. Let's get started." He tossed a broken, slightly bloodied table leg aside.

 

She roamed the halls in a daze, not sure what to do and where to go anymore. She didn't even know how to think. Her plans had been hit or miss so far. And when she missed, the consequences were always too high.

 

Somehow, she ended up with her slippers in a puddle of water. Looking up at the sound of sloshing, she peeked around a doorframe to spy on Onew who was mopping the floor with a rather dissatisfied expression on his face. This was a job for more than one mop, but it was his mess and he couldn't just leave it alone for too long. No matter how many times he wrung out the mop into a bucket, he was still mopping the same spot he started on five minutes ago.

 

She just watched him for a while. He didn't notice. Either that or he was ignoring her. She really couldn't tell by appearance anymore. Onew finally looked up and upon seeing her there, hugging the doorframe but watching him quietly, he managed a shaky smile.

 

"Hi," his quiet voice carried over to her.

 

In response, she gave a small nod. No other words were exchanged as he continued to mop and wring. It was uncomfortable for the guy, having her scrutinize him without a word.

 

"Why didn't you stop me?"

 

He started at her voice and almost slipped but recovered well. Turning towards her, he saw that she was standing straighter now, holding her ground in the middle of the doorway. Even so, her hand still gripped the wood of the frame as an anchor for her boldness. His confused look prompted her to speak again.

 

"He turned his back to you. You could have tried harder. You could have made me try harder." She stated facts. "Why didn't you?"

 

He was quiet for a good while before opening his mouth. While gripping the mop's handle tight enough to turn his knuckles white, he evenly replied, "You think we're the bad guys. But we aren't." Her face scrunched up in objection so he revised, "You saw that there are more evil things in the world. I admit that we've approached you in not the best of ways. You used to say that we never gave you a choice. I let you choose this time."

 

"Do I get to choose again then?"

 

He wiped the slight sweat from his forehead. "While you were sick, I promised to think more about your feelings. I was going to give you choice. Little by little." The corner of his mouth upturned wryly. "I wasn't planning on having something like that be your first freedom to choose situation. " 'It was both your punishment and gift.' "I'm sorry," is all he said after a pregnant pause.

 

"You confuse me, Lee Jinki."

 

"You've confused me since the beginning."

 

They stared at each other for a long moment before she broke eye contact and shuffled away. The sound of wood cracking reverberated off the tiled walls. Jinki looked at his hand and mentally pried his grip from the handle of the mop.

 

He wasn't lying when he said he had decided to grant her more opportunities to choose on her own. However, they both knew their was one choice that would not be offered to her anytime soon. She still wasn't going home. 'Her home is here now. With us,' Jinki thought, but for the first time since her stay at the mansion, there was no firmness behind his thoughts.

 

The girl was actually looking for Luna now. She was worried about the wolf, remembering that it had tried to protect her from Gyou. Her feet took her to the indoor garden habitat. 'I just want to check on Luna,' she told herself to gain the courage to peek into the garden where she knew Taemin would be cleaning up. It was only logical that a wolf would rest in the most natural setting of the house.

 

"Luna, don't sniff that! Shoo!" Taemin waved a spade at the animal to try and get it to move. The wolf's ears perked and it trotted over to the girl who was awkwardly standing behind the farthest bush.

 

Taemin's eyes followed the animal's path and then he glanced at Key, who had left Jonghyun to clean the other room alone. The older boy was staring at the girl. 'Good. I'm not hallucinating,' Taemin thought. He started to approach but then froze. "Hey…," he started softly, like how he talked to young animals as to not frighten them. "How are you?" Key hung back in silence.

 

She glanced at where she knew the secret passage was (unless the guys had blocked it). Focusing back on the two, she replied slowly, "I'm…handling it."

 

Taemin's hand clenched the spade's handle as he asked, "If..if I run towards you right now and hug you, would you be okay with that?" As if he really was just a young boy, his eyes looked at the ground while he shifted nervously.

 

Her hand rested on top of the Luna's head as the animal sat down beside her. For the first time in a while, she replied with complete honesty, "Truthfully, I probably wouldn't be."

 

The youngest boy's grip faltered and he looked down in disappointment, "…Okay."

 

At his crestfallen posture, she managed a quiet "I'm sorry."

 

Having been uncharacteristically quiet so far, Key said, "The chemicals in here reek and aren't good for Luna. Why don't you take her out of here?" He nodded in their direction and then went back to sticking uprooted plants back into the ground.

 

After hesitating slightly, she spun around and left the scene without argument. As she went, she almost blushed in remembrance to how clingy she had been when she used him as a shield.

 

"Why'd you do that?" Taemin asked, referring to his odd quietness and his sending her away.

 

"Let's not mess things up. She's finally acknowledging us. And, she relied on us. We can't mess things up again," Key firmly declared in just over a whisper.

 

Taemin just stared at his hyung before slowly nodding and then continuing his landscaping. The boy stumbled forward as Key suddenly came up and swung an arm over the younger's shoulders.

 

"Our Taemin understands right? Ah, you're growing up fine. I'm so proud!"

 

Taemin just scowled.

 

Luna padded a little ways ahead of her, sniffing the floor. The young woman kept on stopping in hesitation, not sure where to head to next. Luna's sneeze snapped her out of her musings. The wolf sneezed again, irritated by the sandy grit that was scattered all over the floor. The human bent down to swipe her fingers against the wood, and she rubbed her fingertips together at the feel.

 

"Oh!" Minho exclaimed as he came out of the closet right next to her while carrying a vacuum cleaner.

 

She stood up quick enough to feel light headed but just shook her head to clear her vision.

 

Minho looked at her with concern. "You okay?"

 

After taking a few steps back (something that did not go without Minho's notice), she nodded. They just stood in the hall awkwardly for maybe a whole minute.

 

"So…," Minho started but was cut off by her quiet "Thank you."

 

He had to double take, not sure if those words had actually come out of , but she wasn't looking at him. After another few long seconds, he asked, "For what?"

 

"For saving me."

 

"We all helped." He credited the other members.

 

"...I know," she said in thought.

 

"Thank you," Minho repeated her earlier words.

 

She played along. "For what?"

 

They weren't looking at each other at all.

 

"For letting us save you."

 

"…You shouldn't thank me." She whispered while looking down the hall without actually seeing.

 

Minho looked up in confusion but she was already walking away. Luna, who had sat between the two throughout the whole exchange, stood up, gave Minho a long incomprehensible look, and then trailed after its companion. The ice demon didn't know what she meant. He was lucky. He was the only one to not feel the biting betrayal and still went about in peaceful ignorance of the complete happenings of the whole ordeal.

 

"Hey…Does she actually seem sadder now?" 'I thought she'd open up a bit more…' He asked as Jonghyun walked up behind him with a trash bag.

 

Jonghyun, who had only heard the last bit of the conversation as he had turned the far corner, nodded (not that Minho could see). "I don't know if you want to be filled in man…"

 

"Just fill me in." They both stared down the hall.

 

"Okay…but I wouldn't dwell too much on what I'm about to tell you." Jonghyun put his arm around Minho's shoulders. "Believe me," the slightly shorter guy sighed, "it doesn't feel too good to dwell. Just keep remembering how much she depended on us okay?" 'That's the only thing keeping me going right now.'

 

_______

THEA's Corner <3

So....yeah...that's it. I'm going on a field trip this weekend so no writing time then, but maybe I'll get some inspiration while soaking in an onsen.

 

Posted: 17/11/2011

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ebonyexalted #1
Chapter 68: idk if you’ll ever come back to this but i for the life of me hope you’ll finish it. you’re sooo close and such a talented writer like you and this story deserve closure. ik it’s been over 10 years but quality never dies. i came back after all this time and can’t believe there was never a final resolution!!
jonginybear #2
Chapter 1: this is sooooo good!!
Yeoliipopp
#3
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Yeoliipopp
#4
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Yeoliipopp
#5
!!!!
Yeoliipopp
#6
???
Yeoliipopp
#7
I want to complete it
Yeoliipopp
#8
????
Yeoliipopp
#9
???
Yeoliipopp
#10
Authornim