Link to that chapter: http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/161132/4

Doojoon's PoV

"Yah! Hyung! Where's the newbie?" 

"She's sleeping, Dongwoon. And I can't blame her. She looked like she hadn't slept in a month. That being said, I'm not waking her up, so you can start your umma rant now Hyunseung." I looked to our group mother as I said the last line. He didn't look as irritated as I had anticipated. He almost looked like he was debating my request in his head. 

He sighed and said, "I suppose it would be alright to let her sleep. But she has to eat dinner tomorrow. If that means waking her up from well needed sleep, then that must be done. I would really have rather had her eat tonight, but if you're willing to face the wrath of an over protective mother to let her sleep, then she must really need it." I did not see that coming. Perhaps my worry for the girl was showing on my face. I really was worried about her. She seemed so terrified of everything, especially me. Not to mention the fact that she looked like she might break in half a second. 

Now, we've dealt with hundreds of slaves, and we took in all kinds. That didn't mean we were used to this. Normally, I asked for the ones who were rebellious not because I liked a challenge, but because they were the ones who were live-wires. They were the ones whose mouths got them into trouble. They were the ones who got beaten almost daily. They were the ones in the most danger because they still had the will to fight. Will power cannot exist in our world. It is stamped out as quickly as possible. The rebels go from cracked and chipped to broken. It's easier to fix something that's cracked before it breaks. Once something breaks, it's almost impossible to put back together. And even if you can, the person's never the same. 

Broken dolls are immediately submissive. They rarely have opinions and are always obedient. They are perpetually afraid of everything. They won't act up or put a single toe out of line. They are safer in that respect. But they are severely broken, sometimes even shattered. Some are renditions of walking corpses. The others are simply terrified to breathe. The walking corpses are the ones you can't fix. They're already dead inside. They just go through the motions. The terrified ones can usually be fixed but it's immensely difficult. 

Laeri wasn't a walking corpse. She was terrified of everything and everyone though. We would have to watch her carefully. I waited until the others finished eating and left before voicing my apprehension to our resident Umma. 

"Well, it will be hard. That goes without saying. I would have to talk to her before I could tell you how far gone she is and how we need to approach helping her," he said wisely. 

"Um, that's the other thing I forgot to tell you. She's mute." I flinched and waited to be yelled at. When I only received an irritated stare, I explained further. "She's so fragile looking Seungie. I couldn't stand leaving her there. She would have shattered into a thousand tiny pieces after another week with Sebastian. I just had to save her." I gave him the most sincere look I could. 

He sighed. "If she can't talk then this is going to be a lot more difficult. I suppose it is good that you got her out of there though. How close to becoming a zombie is she?"

"She didn't look too far off, but when we first went outside, it's like she changed personalities. She was like a light, shining like the suns. Then she saw me, and it's like her world collapsed around her face. She looked almost suicidal. She's so scared, Hyunseung, of everything." I could feel my expression darken. I wouldn't dare let her see my face like this; that wouldn't help her. It's so hard to stay cheery around her though. 

"Well, that's to be expected Doojoon. If she can't talk, then she has no defense against anything. Try to put yourself in her shoes. Try not talking for the next ten minutes." Sometimes Hyunseung could make really strong points. And this was one of those times. I nodded even though I knew this would practically kill me. If that girl could go her whole life without talking, I could last ten minutes. 

"Don't think I'll let you get off easy," Hyunseung said. "I'm gonna ask you questions and talk to you and say things you won't like but you can't talk. Alright?" I nodded again with a slight grimace. "Good boy," he snarked. I almost snapped at him, but I stopped myself. "It's not easy to keep from responding is it? I bet there's about a dozen choice words you'd like to tell me, but you can't talk. You can't say anything to me or against me." I knew he was purposely trying to provoke me, but that didn't make it any easier to stay quiet. 

Changing gears, Hyunseung started asking questions. "Is the new girl pretty?" I nodded. "Do you think she has any significant injuries?" I opened my mouth to say 'Probably' but then I remembered my promise to not talk and nodded. "I hate that stupid illusionary spell they use to try to fool us into paying more. It just makes it more difficult to help them. You didn't over pay Sebastard did you?" My lips twitched at the nickname we use for that slimy worm of a living being. I shook my head no. "Good. Better that bastard get less of our money. I know he molests those poor girls any chance he gets. It makes my blood boil. I'm actually glad you got her out of there. By the way, you have another eight minutes to go." I stared at him with a shocked look. "Oh, didn't think you had that long left?" He smirked at me while I glared a hole through his forehead. "Oh come now, glaring at me isn't going to make time pass faster. You said you would try to see things her way." I sighed, which technically doesn't require talking so I figured it was safe. "Besides, now you only have seven minutes left," he said with an obnoxiously happy smile. 

I slammed my head into the table. 

"You know, if you weren't a demon, that could have really hurt you." I glared a second hole into his forehead. "You do realize that that's getting you nowhere, right?" I let my head thump back onto the table. "You're going to cause serious brain damage that way. That girl didn't go around banging her head into things in frustration, did she?" I sat up and hesitated before shaking my head shamefully. "I didn't think so. Are you going to let yourself be out willed by a little girl? I mean, I know that you're weaker than me, and Junhyung, and Gikwang, but come on." I straightened up in my chair and narrowed my eyes at him. "Ah, there's the spirit I'm used to. Six minutes."

This was unbelievably difficult. I couldn't snap at Hyunseung, I couldn't say anything, I couldn't ask any questions. The entire situation was out of my control. I wasn't a control freak, but that didn't mean I liked to be the one being controlled. It was not in my nature to be submissive. I was an alpha male. I led and took command. Hyunseung knew this, and he used it against me. I chose to glower at him in response. 

"Five minutes. Don't give me that look. I'm just trying to help you understand our new guest. I honestly think we should try this with the others, too. I doubt that Yoseob would be able to though. And Junhyung has the advantage of not talking anyway. It would still be good for them to see things her way though. Have you noticed that even though there's no limit on your movement, you haven't tried to throttle me yet?" I was taken aback by his question. It was a valid point. I couldn't tell him off, but I could attack him. For some reason the thought hadn't even occurred to me. "You're thinking about it now aren't you? Why you didn't think of it before? It's a perfectly reasonable response if you think about it. Parents and teachers often demand silence from children, so we are trained at a young age to associate silence with obedience. There's also the fact that not being able to talk takes away your control over a situation. If you can't control a situation, it will control you." I nodded. It made sense. I was surprised that I had gotten half of it by myself. 

There was silence for a bit while Hyunseung stared at his watch. "Three minutes left. This isn't as difficult as you thought now is it?" I gave him a look and he put his hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright! At least now you can understand what the girl is feeling. She's completely helpless and that will lead her to be more fearful than usual." I had to admit, it was kind of nerve wracking not being able to talk. And I was just taking vocal abuse. There's no telling what kind of mental and physical abuse she went through. Hyunseung made a very good point. We should put the others through this. Tomorrow, we'll do it tomorrow. "Two minutes."

I let out a huff and slouched in the chair. This was becoming boring as Hyunseung had decided to shut up. I looked at him and couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't talking. He merely watched me while taking frequent glances at his watch. After a while longer, I couldn't take it, and I bared my teeth at him. His lips pulled up into a half smile. "You know, it amuses me that you can't even stand a minute of silence. I think there was silence for about thirty seconds. But the good news is," he paused for a few seconds. "One minute left." I let out a huff of relief. "See? You've almost gone through ten minutes of what she permanently has to go through everyday." My eyes widened at the last statement. I had been complaining silently this whole time, and it had only been ten measly minutes. She had to go through every day like that. "Times up. You can talk."

I was silent for another minute. "That was one of the most difficult things I've ever done, and it was by choice. She is forced to do that every day. She can't just wimp out and talk like I considered doing."

Hyunseung stared at me thoughtfully for a while. "It looks like you got the message. Can I see the girl's file?" I grabbed the papers out of the pocket of my jacket that was hanging on the back of my chair. I handed them across to him, and he settled back in his chair to read them. "Healer evaluation proves she cannot speak. Perfect vision, average hearing, and she has slight attention and focus issues if she's not being directly attended to. In other words, she minds her own business and tries not to hear anything she's not meant to. She's good at puzzles and is apparently very intelligent. I have to give Sebastian some credit. He does good evaluations. And he uses good doctors too."

"I think it's easy enough to see how smart she is. She can't talk and yet she's living in this world without going catatonic. Stronger than her have broken in a few months trapped here." 

"I agree. She knows the way she's supposed to act, and that's probably saved her life several times over. That doesn't mean that this will be easy." Hyunseung stood up and gathered the papers back up. "I'm going to go file these away and go to bed. It's late; go to sleep." He disappeared out the door. 

I sighed and grabbed my jacket before heading out the door. I walked out to the hallway and down the corridor. At the fork, I went back up the mirroring hallway to my room. Changing into my pajama pants and a t-shirt, I made a plan for tomorrow. I needed to wake the girl up and give her some time to look around before meeting the others. And Hyunseung demanded that she eat supper with us tomorrow, so I might have to wake up at a normal time. Damn, I liked sleeping in til noon. I crawled into bed and set my phone alarm before dropping it on my nightstand and slipping into dreamland.


*beep, beep, beep, beep*

What the hell is that? I glared in the direction of the annoying racket and noticed the lit up screen on my phone. I groaned but convinced myself to roll out of bed and turn off the irritating alarm selection. "No one in their right mind should wake up at eight in the morning. No one," I complained to myself and the empty room. I continued grumbling as I stumbled around, getting ready for the day. When I finally decided that I looked put together enough to be seen in public, I splashed some water in my face and made my way to the mess hall for breakfast. 

"Oh my god, it's a miracle," Hyunseung said in awe as I walked in. "He's up before lunch. Someone take a picture!"

"Shut up. It is too early and I'm not in the mood," I snapped at him. I plopped down in a chair and loaded my plate with enough food to feed a pack of wolves. I glanced over at Gikwang who was currently sleeping on the table next to me. I nudged him with my elbow. "Yah, Sleeping Beauty, you have a bed for a reason. Don't sleep on the table."

His head rose up slowly, and he rubbed his eyes. "Shut up Doojoon. I didn't sl- Doojoon!" His face registered shock as his brain woke up and caught up with the situation. "How long was I asleep? Is it lunch time already?" He looked around in confusion. 

"Yah! Show some respect! I can wake up early if I need to." I smacked him on the back of the head.

"Ow! Hyung!"

"That's for the disrespect, and to wake you up. Where's Woonie?" I looked around for the maknae but didn't see him. 

"He was about especially early this morning. I think he went out for a walk with Yoseob or something," Hyunseung informed me while drinking from his coffee mug. "So to what do we owe this honor?"

"I'm going to go get Laeri up, so she can have time to explore before she meets the rest of you." I had finished piling food on my plate, so I reached for coffee and filled my mug with it. "Is this decaf? Cause if I'm going to be up for the rest of the day I'm gonna need the real stuff."

Hyunseung chuckled. "It's not decaf. And what happened to letting her sleep?" 

"I do want to let her sleep, but she deserves a chance to look around. Plus, it might make her more at ease with us. I think giving her a little freedom of movement will do her good."

"You could be right, but I'm not sold on the idea. If she needs rest, we should let her sleep. Kiki please stop sleeping at the table." The black haired boy shot up and looked around. He yawned and rubbed at his eyes. 

"Well, there's another thing I didn't tell her. She doesn't know that there's six of us." I sighed at the thought of having to confront her about that later. 

"You didn't tell her yet?! Do you know how traumatized she is?! She'll probably try to commit suicide if we leave her alone!" I flinched back at the loud outburst, barely suppressing the urge to cover my ears. Hyunseung was practically fuming at this point. 

"I'm going to tell her when I wake her up. That's why I want to give her a chance to move around the house on her own. If we want her trust, we should let her explore. She may end up feeling better when she doesn't find anything harmful."

"I still disagree with you. She needs to be told, but if you don't let her rest she might make herself sick with worry. Lack of sleep will not help anything." He crossed his arms and sat back in his chair. 

"Um, Hyung, if she's as psychologically messed up as you say she is, I can assure you that she'd rather be awake," the youngest said. 

His outburst seemed to shock Hyunseung. "What do you mean Gikwang?"

"She probably has nightmares. Most of them do. She's probably been drifting in and out of sleep the whole night. She may be awake now and wondering where she is. I think that would scare her more." Gikwang picked up his fork and stabbed at his eggs. 

I stared at him in wonder. I couldn't help but think that he had experience with this by the way he was talking. "He has a point Hyunseung."

Said person was currently staring at the table with a conflicted look on his face. I really hoped he would listen to us. He sighed and said, "I still want to argue, but the evidence is stacked against me. I'll let you go through with your plan, but I have some conditions." I nodded having expected as much. "I don't want anyone wandering around. Tell everyone that they're supposed to stay in the third hallway and lock it off. And the six of us are going to talk about what to do with this girl." 

"Alright, last room in hall 2. We'll all meet after I go talk to her. I'll make sure Junhyung is up before I get to her room. Gikwang, go send the news through the tables and tell them to catch the stragglers. Hyunseung, can you find Woonie and Yoseob?"

"I can look for him, but I can bet that Gikwang will find them first. He and Dongwoon are inseparable." We both chuckled at that. 

"You know I'm sitting right here, don't you?" Gikwang complained. He was pouting. 

"Yah, don't you have a job to do?" He grumbled, but got up and stomped toward the tables. As soon as he reached the them, a smile broke across his face. I sighed. He really is an incurable flirt. All the girls around him were giggling like the teenagers they were. "Aish, that kid."

"Oh, he can't help it Doojoonie. Just leave him be." I looked at our group mother in shock. 

"You would let him corrupt your babies?! What kind of a mother are you?!" I stared at him with mock horror while he glared back at me. "Right, I'll shut up now. Better yet, I'll go wake up Laeri now."

"Oh, sure. Leave us with fifty people to shuffle toward the third hallway and countless others who are wandering around. At least make sure to send Junhyung to help us out." 

"I will, but you may not need it." I jerked my chin towards the trio running between the tables. Yoseob and Dongwoon looked up when Gikwang saw me looking and pointed. Dongwoon looked shocked but waved. Yoseob just grinned. 

"When did they get here? Did you see the come in?" I gave him a look. "I knew it." He stood up glared at the new arrivals. He started towards them while yelling, "Dongwoon, I have told you a hundred times not to do that!"

I laughed and headed out the door. I followed the hallway back to the window room. A quick trip up the stairs and I was walking down the hallway to Laeri's room. I only stopped to knock on Junhyung's door. "Junhyung. You awake?"

The door swung open slowly. I walked in and looked around to find Junhyung sitting at his desk. His room was dark, the only light coming from candles placed strategically around the room, but that didn't bother me. I have excellent night vision. 

"What do you want Doojoon?" Ooh, it seems that I interrupted him. He didn't look too pleased. 

"We've got a new girl here, as you know, and I'm gonna let her explore. However, Hyunseung had some conditions, and one is us having a meeting." I shoved my hands in my pockets and fidgeted awkwardly. 

"Where?" A man of few words and always to the point. 

"Second hallway, last room." I didn't bother waiting for a reply. He probably wouldn't anyway. I walked out and continued down the hall to the girl's room. I stopped outside the door and listened. We use heavy wood on the doors to the bedrooms to give a little more privacy to our residents, but there's very little that can block my hearing. Finding her breathing slow and even, I carefully opened the door a crack and peeked in. 

A smile slowly spread across my face when I saw her sleeping in the bed so peacefully. Her hair was all over the place from her moving while she slept. The pillow was almost sideways as she hugged it while still managing to keep her head on a corner of it. The blanket had gotten twisted around her legs. I pushed the door open enough to slip through the doorway and then closed it quietly. I snuck over to the empty left side of the bed as silently as I possibly could. I carefully climbed onto the bed and sat cross-legged on top of the covers. She didn't stir. I wouldn't dare wake her now. 

I let her sleep. It wasn't that late in the morning yet, and the others would probably be thankful for more time to round up all the rest of our refugees, anyway. I would wake up the girl later if she was still sleeping. Her head moved slightly causing light to travel gracefully down the golden waves of her hair. She really was very pretty. I propped my elbow up on my knee and leaned my head into my hand. My small movement must have jostled the bed slightly because she started moving and her breathing shifted. I held still and watched her eyes slowly blink open. I used every ounce of my willpower not to laugh as she came out of the haze of sleep like a child. She was facing away from me, so she didn't know I was here yet. Her arms stretched out and her right arm bumped into my knee. I smiled at her shocked face until she scrambled away from me. 

Right off the bed. 

My face lit with alarm as I hurried across to where she had fallen over the edge. She popped up and bowed low before I got all the way across to her. "Are you okay? You just fell off the bed." It's not like these beds sit low to the ground. She could have hit her head on the nightstand too. I gave her a quick once over to make sure she didn't have any scratches or bumps before I remembered that she couldn't audibly answer me. "Are you okay?" I asked again and this time I watched her nod. I still wasn't sure, but I let it go. 

"Alright. Well, I suppose you probably want to check out your new home. If you want to, you can just explore by yourself. There are labels on all the main rooms and if you need any help, there's usually someone wandering around somewhere. Do you want to do that?" I was really hoping that she would ask me to go with her. She started fussing with her hands, something I noticed she did when she got nervous. She nodded and I saw her eyes glance quickly up at me. I tried to hide the disappointment on my face. "Alright. I'll come find you later and introduce you to the others."

I saw the terror in her eyes. Her hands flew around in a flurry. It was almost as if she was having some sort of seizure. "Shhh," I said trying to hush her. I caught her hands and waited for her to calm down. "They aren't gonna hurt you either. You are perfectly safe here." I could still see the fear in her eyes, but now there was doubt as well. I hate that I can't gain even a shred of her trust. At least she was calmer now. 

"Are you okay now?" I asked. Even I could hear how worried I sounded. She nodded stiffly. "Okay. Well, you're still welcome to explore. There's some clothes in the armoire you can use and then you're free to explore any rooms that don't have a person's name on them. Have fun." I got up and walked toward the door with my hands in my pockets. I closed the door behind me and walked back to the window lounge lost in thought. 

That girl had a lot of trust issues. There was not going to be an easy way to fix that. Maybe Hyunseung could reach out to her. He seemed to have an understanding nature that people like. She was scared to death of meeting more people though. I turned down the right hallway and walked toward the end to the last room. I took a breath and braced myself for a long meeting before swinging the door open.