Chapter 5

I discovered pretty soon that Lay was very talkative, and had the tendency to grab people’s hands when he wanted to discuss something; at first I was uncomfortable with that, but I relaxed very fast thanks to small, soft caresses that he made with his thumb. Lay also liked to stay as close as possible to Joonmyeon or me as we went out the small house and started walking, but it was understandable as he was blind. He often half-hugged my arm, and by the time we arrived at the cafeteria, I had finally understood why Joonmyeon wanted me to meet Lay.

The peaceful halo around him made me less nervous and anxious, in a couple of minutes I had already forgotten what happened to me in the past. Joonmyeon left me and Lay next to an empty table to get some warm food; I realized I was starving only when I sat down and the Rah’Ki smiled to me. “Do you like this place?” He asked, as he searched for my hand; I took it and chuckled. “It seems very nice. I’m surprised that there’s something like this underground.”

Lay giggled as well, patting my hand a couple of times. “It was something built before the Great Deportation you humans had to experience. There are air shafts, chimneys, electric lights powered by wind turbines and solar panels. I really don’t know how those things keep working, though. Oh, and I think there are at least 100,000 beds for everyone…” He explained before pausing for a second. “You’re very young, Sehun. I’m sorry that you had to experience such things. It must have been hard to see people suffering so much.”

I bit my lips and I frowned again. Lay had his empty gaze on me, and he had suddenly turned serious. “H-how… how do you know about those things?” I shyly asked. He chuckled and he patted my hand a couple of times. “That’s because it’s one of my abilities as a Rah’Ki; maybe one day I’ll show you what I can do.” He grinned happily. “I came here a couple of years ago; Joonmyeon found me when I became blind and he helped me a lot. I’m sure he’ll help you, too.”

He arrived right in that moment, and before I could say a thing, he had already placed warm food in front of me. I heard my stomach growling, and without waiting for another second, I started eating after I muttered a quick ‘thank you’. I stole a glance at Joonmyeon, who sat in front of me and looked at Lay with a soft smile, and I immediately felt like I shouldn’t have seen that. I lowered my gaze to my food and I kept eating, not caring if I was making too much noise or if I was going too fast.

“I’m glad to see that you’re hungry! I’m sure that Chanyeol will appreciate that you’re eating with such hunger.” Joonmyeon laughed quietly. I blushed a bit as I gulped down the food and I noticed that he was glancing at Lay’s hand, as if he wanted to grab it; I smiled sheepishly and I looked away once again. “It’s been a while since I had a decent meal. At the Great Blue Capital the food wasn’t that good… and back home I had to manage with whatever I had in my hands.” I explained with a shrug.

I hated the fact that I couldn’t speak to my family in any way. I didn’t know if they were okay, if they were going to come here, too. I doubted that I was going to meet them again, and the thought of having lost my mother forever made me tear up a bit. I felt a hand on my cheek and I sniffed a bit, seeing that it was Lay caressing my face. “You don’t need to worry; we will be your family from now on.” I nodded with a strained smile and I finished quickly my food.

Since when was the last time I tasted something this good? What about the coziness of a warm hug, the smell of a soft blanket on a bed or the feel of the grass on my fingers? With time, I had lost the pleasure of doing such simple things. I had forgotten when I stopped loving the wind on my skin, or the sun on my face. I realized I had forgotten how love tasted like. “We have to go and register you and then you can come to live with me or next to me, so that you won’t be alone.” Lay told me with a small whisper.

I nodded again and I smiled, feelingbetter already. I missed being pampered like that, my mother and I didn’t have enough time to relax and spent some time together and before I went to the Capital I barely had the time to see her in the morning. It felt a bit strange that there was someone ready to make me feel loved once again. We stood up and Joonmyeon guided us away from the cafeteria, while Lay grabbed my arm.

As we were walking away, a tall, lanky guy saw us and he started waving with a huge smile on his face. He immediately ran towards us when Joonmyeon waved back. “Hey, it’s been a while! And who’s this?” He turned towards me and he patted my back without stopping smiling. I bit back a cough and I gaped at the man, surprised by his behavior. “I’m Sehun!” I almost snapped at him. He pinched my cheek, making me whine loudly, and he laughed at me. “Wow, you look so young! I’m Chanyeol and I cooked your food!” He exclaimed without letting me go, making me whine again.

As Lay chuckled, Joonmyeon lowered Chanyeol’s hand and huffed at him. “He’s just arrived, give him a break… you can talk properly tomorrow, after he's gotten a nice rest.” I massaged my now red cheek and glared at him, slightly pouting, and the lanky guy’s shoulders fell. He looked sad, but after a couple of seconds he shrugged and smiled again. “It’s fine, then I’ll see you tomorrow! Gotta get working, have a nice sleep, Sehun!”

Joonmyeon quickly apologized to me, explaining that Chanyeol had always been like that with everyone. “I just hope he won’t pinch my cheek again.” I muttered with a scowl on my face. Lay chuckled again and he tugged me ahead, and we started walking again, towards the streets of Home.

They brought me to an office-like room, where I had to state my name, my birth date, my blood type and many other things; sometimes Lay helped me answer, and he left me speechless every single time.

I was really curious about his abilities, but I knew that I had a lot of time to get to know him properly; I had also decided to live with him, and he as soon as we went back to his small house, he showed me every corner of every room with a huge smile on his lips. I discovered that he didn’t need help inside his house, and I watched as he moved around freely and with no fear of bumping into something. “I spend a lot of time here, I’ve learnt everything about this place. Oh, please do sit on that stool next to the fireplace! Joonmyeon, why don’t you stay here for a cup of tea?”

Lay kept talking while moving around, grabbing pots and shoving things away, and in a couple of minutes we had a steamy cup of tea in our hands. I was amazed to see how Lay changed once he was inside his small house, and I liked seeing him gracefully dance around to get us some sweets. “How did the expedition go?” He asked as he sat next to us. As I blew on my tea, I glanced up, interested to hear what was that. “We have arrived a bit farther than last time, there’s another town and in the next few days we want to check if there’s someone living there.”

“You are searching for other communities?” I asked, suddenly excited. Joonmyeon shrugged and he smiled tiredly. “Well, yes… and no. We surely need doctors and such, but we also need space for food. We’re a bit scared that another community might find us and… start a war.” I gaped at him, not expecting such answer; I haven’t realized that the food I had eaten was that precious to cause a small war. “Do you really think that…?”

Lay stopped our small conversation, grabbing our hands. I immediately closed my mouth, sensing that he didn’t want to listen to another word about that; Joonmyeon left his tea on a small table and rested his hand on Lay’s thigh, who tensed a bit and visibly struggled not to appear taken back by his action. “It might be necessary…” The Rah’Ki gently moved away the fingers on his leg and he lowered his head. “It’s not. We’re here for a reason, but humans are still repeating the cycle over and over again…”

I stared at the two, but I didn’t understand what was happening. Was there something unresolved between the two of them? I felt like I was watching a couple fighting. Probably Lay sensed my uneasiness, because he stood up and he took away Joonmyeon’s cup of tea with an unreadable look on his face. “It’s better if you go back to your place.” He said as he turned around and threw the untouched tea inside the teapot. He sighed and he walked towards the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow…” He mumbled with a sad smile, before going out of there.

As soon as he closed the door, Lay sighed and turned towards me again. I finally took a sip of the tea, and I my lips tasting the sweet drink. “I’m truly sorry you had to see this.” He whispered, keeping his eyes away from mine. “He’s really stubborn about it…” I shook my head, even if I knew he couldn’t see me; I was sure there was something else behind it and it was bugging him a lot. I kept myself from talking by drinking my tea and he sat again beside me. “Since you’ll be living with me for a while, I think you’ll be surprised to see him every day.”

“You must be pretty good friends.” I said rather slowly, scared to say something wrong; however, he chuckled and he put his hand on my back, calming me once again. “Sehun, if only! I must be the only one to think that’s where our relationship should end.” He sighed and he started caressing my back with slow movements that relaxed me immediately. “He acts like that only because he cares too much about me. I hope one day he’ll understand that I don’t need a nanny for a lover.”

I felt myself blushing, and he simply laughed again. I should have expected that when I saw Joonmyeon’s lingering gaze on the Rah’Ki. “Come. I’ll show you our room!” He exclaimed, tugging me away from the fireplace; I was glad that Lay was carefree and that he genuinely liked my company, it made things easier and I felt like I could finally be happy again. The bedroom had two beds that were very close to each other, but for once, I was glad.

During my short stay at the Capital, I didn’t sleep that well: I had nightmares, and my rest was actually more forced than anything. Even though I did felt tired, I wasn’t able to get a nice sleep. I hoped that the presence of Lay next to me was going to help me a lot. He also showed me where I could wash my face and brush my teeth; after I had wiped away the trace of dried tears on my cheeks, he gave me something to wear for the night.

The bed was fluffy and comfy, and Lay even tried to tuck me in it. I felt like he was acting as a big brother, and I was surprised that I still liked the feeling of being pampered like that. “T-thank you…” I whispered with a small smile. He sat on my hand and took my hand, while with the other he started caressing my head. I closed my eyes and I sighed, savoring the moment. “I hope you don’t mind I’ve took your hand so many times…” He chuckled.

I hummed and I felt he tightened his hold on me; I opened my eyes again and I looked at him. Lay seemed unsure of what he wanted to say, but after a few seconds, he finally spoke up. “As a Rah’Ki, I have some special abilities. One of them lies within our skin touching each other, even if there are layers of clothes between them…” He started explaining slowly. “Whenever I touch you, I can see what you’ve experienced and you’ve seen with your own eyes.”

I widened my eyes and I slowly took his hand on mine; he smiled shyly and he closed his eyes. “I am your eyes.” I said, feeling my heart beating faster. He giggled and he shook his head. “You all are. And it’s beautiful.”