It was quiet when Minseok finished.

Kyungjin knew she couldn’t just say anything. Even she had more sense than that.

But she felt that she had to say something. Something that could let Minseok feel like he was needed, that he was just like her and everyone else in the town. Simply normal.

“Minseok,” she said softly.                                                                                                    

He barely turned to look at her.

“You know what makes humans human?”

He didn’t respond, looking despondently at the floor.

“The fact that we aren’t perfect. I’m not perfect, and you’re not perfect.”

Kyungjin looked nervously at the boy next to her. He wasn’t responding; in fact, it seemed like her words were just going through one ear out the next.

“Minseok,” she tried again, a little louder.

But he still didn’t show any indication of hearing her.

Kyungjin became a bit more frustrated. What was the point of helping him if he wouldn’t listen to a thing she said?

“Minseok!” she cried out loudly. “Listen to me, will you? Or would you like me to headbutt you again? Because it seems like you won’t listen unless I do such drastic measures!”

The boy seemed to respond to that as he looked at her. “You’re going to headbutt me again?”

“I will if you keep acting like the whole world is against you!”

He frowned. “Didn’t you hear what I just said? The whole world is…”

“Yeah, I listened to your story!” she interrupted him angrily. “And what I got out of this is that this Chanyeol guy is freaking ridiculously stupid and not to mention wrong! Like hell you’re a monster! And you’re just as ridiculous to think the same thing! Since when did you listen to what anyone said?”

She scoffed, “I don’t know who I’m angrier at. You or your stupid old friend.”

Her tone turned softer. “And I know you, Minseok. And I definitely don’t think you’re a monster. Blunt, sarcastic, and all together detached, but you’re no monster. I know of your ability, and I don’t give two flying pigs.”

Minseok looked away. “You’re different. You’re not like everyone else. Normal people would be scared of someone like me. Chanyeol was right. Neither he nor I could understand everyone else. And that’s why we are like this.”
Kyungjin made a face. “So you’re saying I’m not normal?” She shook her head of that thought. “No, I think that’s where you’re wrong.  You keep saying that you aren’t normal. But really, what defines normality? That you are like everyone else? But that’s not possible either. Everyone is different from each other. But one thing remains the same. We are all human.”

“Me,” she said, pointed to herself, “You,” pointing to Minseok, her finger hovering right above his heart, and then she threw her hands up in the air. “Even that stupid Chanyeol guy.”

She sighed. “So, you can hear thoughts. So what? That makes you who you are. If it wasn’t for that, you wouldn’t be the Minseok I know today. The Minsoek who’s sitting next to me moping around.”

He looked at her curiously. “It makes me who I am,” he stated in a questioning tone.

Kyungjin nodded. “If I wasn’t sick, I wouldn’t be who I am today either.”

“You mean not as crazy?” Minsoek muttered while rolling his eyes.

“Yes!” Kyungjin exclaimed.

Minseok stared at her oddly.

She sighed. “Look. I know I’m more energetic than your average person. I’ve gotten a lot of people tell me that already. They always say ‘Oh, Kyungjin. You’re so happy despite your circumstances’. But that’s because I want to be. I could be moping around, asking why out of everyone I’m the one who’s sick. I could hate everyone, everything, and me. And to tell you the truth, there was a time where I did think that.”

She leaned back onto her arms, looking at the ceiling. “But then one day I thought, what’s the point? If I’m going to stay depressed for the rest of my life, well, what’s the fun in that? I would much rather spend it happily.”

She shook her head. “But it seemed like no one could understand that. And trust me when I say that I’m not putting a false front. No way. Not anymore.”

She looked at Minseok, pulling her body so that she was facing him with her legs crossed on the bed. He glanced at her but still did nothing.

“The point of this is that my past doesn’t define you but instead shapes you. People make mistakes, people screw up becuase people are simply human.” She pointed to herself. “My sickness doesn’t define who I am. It’s only a part of me. I have a whole personality that it doesn’t even make the whole of it. My actions that I portray each day, and every day in the future, will continue to shape the future me.”

She then pointed at Minseok. “And that power of yours doesn’t define who you are, just like with me and my condition. It’s only a part of you. And it’s your personality that decides how to use that power. Have you ever used your ability for the wrong reasons? Think about it. Think about who you really are. And how you changed.”

Minseok had to think about that. Had he? Had he used his ability to hear what others thought to fulfill his own selfish reasons?

The more he thought about it, the more he wasn’t sure about it.

Sure, he had heard his fair of lies and deceits, but he never acted upon it. He never told anyone else about what he had heard. And he could have.

Even with Chanyeol. He never told anyone else about it. And he could have. He could have let someone, anyone, know what he knew. To exact some kind of revenge.

And he knew that if least one person had suspicions, it would only grow. Even if it was about Park Chanyeol.

Yet, Minseok had no plans back then and even now.

He simply didn’t care what happened. If Chanyeol had managed to work his way to the top using those methods, so be it. Whatever happened to him was none of his business. Well, not anymore.

And that was simply his personality. Even if his aloof character was due to his ability, it was who is now.

So, what was the answer?

It was simple.

No. He never had any ill intentions with his ability. It was always just there.

Something that was part of him even if he disliked it to some extent. And it was here to stay.

It was then Minseok realized that he had never fully accepted his power as part of him. It was always something foreign, something that didn’t belong, something that made him abnormal.

And then he understood that he had begun to accept himself for who he was. That the moment Kyungjin had accepted his ability when she found out so naturally, it was then that he had begun to change.

Change to the point where he subconsciously begun to like himself and accept his own ability.

And with that thought, Minseok felt a wash of relief come over him. As if his own heart was waiting for the moment his mind understood that he was simply a boy with a special ability.

He was something as simple as a human.

And thinking that, Minseok let out a small smile.

Kyungjin watched Minseok sit and delve into his thoughts. And with each passing second, her shoulders lessened their tension.

And when she finally saw him smile, she couldn’t help but let one out herself.

He was going to fine.

She just knew it.

She bounded behind him, a smile stretched on her face and an extra skip in her step.

 “Where are we going?” she asked, observing the boy in front of her who didn’t look back and continued walking straightforwardly with a determined posture.

“You’ll see.”

She couldn’t help but to be slightly excited. It had been a few days since Minseok revealed himself in front of her. They didn’t say much after that when Kyungjin realized in a panicked moment that she had to go back to the hospital.

She left him in his room telling him not to do anything stupid and to remember what she had said.

And when they finally met up again, she was mildly surprised to hear Minseok say that he wanted to take her somewhere.

Minseok had never taken charge and initiated anything. It was usually she who would drag the uninterested Minseok behind her.

Though mildly surprised might be considered as an understatement because Minseok blinked at her and told her to close before flies flew in. Despite her surprise, she was all for going with Minseok to do what he had planned even though he wouldn’t tell her where they were going.

Lost in her thoughts, she almost bumped into Minseok who had stopped in front of a building. Kyungjin looked up and then to Minseok with a tilt of her head in wonder.

“Why are we here?”

Here being in front of Jongin’s bookstore. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but she had envisioned it to be more exciting. Which she also said out loud.

Minseok barely glanced at her with those words before pulling the door open without a word.

Kyungjin stared as the door swung shut. She hesitated, a nagging feeling pulling her. It almost felt foreboding to enter the threshold of Jongin’s bookstore. Not that she had anything against her friend. It was simply the fact that she felt that once she stepped inside, she wasn’t going to like what she saw.

The door opened once more and Minseok’s head popped out, a bland look of his face. In spite of having the same passive expression on his face, she had begun to see that there were minute differences in which she could understand his expressions. For example, right now Minseok was looking at her with a slight arch of one eyebrow and a more thinly pressed lips. And his eyes, for as long as she could remember, his eyes shone with a sort of a dark intensity. But today, there was a lining of something warm and a bit of nervousness.

“Are you coming inside?”

Her eyes rose to meet his and nodded, but not before expressing what she was feeling. “Am I going to like this? Because I feel like I’m not.”

Minseok blinked at her, faintly avoiding her gaze. Kyungjin frowned in response.

“Just come in,” he murmured softly, removing his hand and allowing the door to close once more.

Kyungjin decided to trust Minseok. She knew that she was depending on him too much despite his disapproval of her doing so, but she felt immensely reassured at the fact that he was next to her. His own impassive self when people gossiped about him, not letting rumors or bad thoughts get to him. The way that he treated everyone the same despite everyone having completely different circumstances. She admired him for that, even though she had her own ways of coping with those same things.

But Minseok was going to be in there. So, she took a deep breath and entered the building.

To say that she didn’t like what she saw was true to a fault.

That bright blonde hair that once used to be a nice shade of brown.

The piercing dark eyes that ranged in its intensity from bored soulless eyes to dark angry flashing eyes.

The same daunting smirk that she learned to associate with the same person.

But the moment she walked in, it fell off his face and was replaced with a deep frown.

He turned to the shopkeeper who was watching the two of them like it was a tennis match, his head whipping to and fro to each of them.

“What’s with this arrangement?” he growled to Jongin.

Jongin stopped his head movements and shrugged, his palms up in an exaggerated motion. “I didn’t set this up, I only did what he asked me to,” he explained, gesturing the boy who was now standing next to Jongin and was watching both Kyungjin and Sehun.

Kyungjin felt betrayed. After their last heated dispute, Kyungjin had given up talking to Sehun. And she explicitly told Minseok that which he had frowned in response. He didn’t say anything in return, but she expected that this was his true response.

She could tell that Sehun was feeling the same as she was, and she took it upon herself to make the first move.

“It’s obvious that none of us wants to be here. I’ll excuse myself.”

“Stop.”

Kyungjin froze just when she spun around and was about to put her foot out to make the first step. Minseok’s command had a hard edge in it. It almost seemed like he was also making an effort to stay here as well.

She paused and glanced at him. Although he still had his expressionless face, his eyes seemed to be pleading with her.

She sighed and walked with heavy steps towards them.

Sehun snorted. “Well, I don’t have to listen to you. I’m leaving.”

“Sehun, if you leave, I will personally go to your house and burn your collection of comic books,” Jongin interrupted.

Sehun’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t,” he whispered. “You work in a bookstore for God’s sake.”

Jongin shrugged. “Comic books are not the same as reading books. Plus, you are a bit too obsessed with those comics.”

Sehun grumbled to himself, relenting into Jongin for fear of going through with his threat. Kyungjin knew for a fact that Jongin never made empty threats. It was wise for Sehun to listen to him.

Minseok nodded and walked towards Sehun. He looked at him with a long stare before opening his mouth. “I want you to tell Kyungjin the real reason why you suddenly left in the past.”

Sehun narrowed his eyes at him. “What do you know about it?” he growled.

Minseok didn’t flinch at his tone and stared back unwaveringly. “I know that you left so suddenly because you couldn’t see Kyungjin in such a state. That you felt like you were a bad influence on her, so you left just like that.”

Sehun’s eyes widened in surprise, and Kyungjin stared at Sehun. “Is that true?” she asked in a small voice.

Sehun looked away, unable to look her in the eyes or answer her.

Kyungjin took one step forward and then another one until she was face to face with Sehun.

“Tell me the truth, Sehun,” she murmured softly. “Why didn’t you say good-bye? Not even one?”

Sehun blinked once, still avoiding her gaze. He sighed and finally turned to look at her. “When you finally made your decision on staying here, I knew that was it. We always were looking for somewhere that would accept us. The only difference was that you couldn’t see that this town was it. But it wasn’t for me. I always knew, you know? That this was the place was where you needed to be, but I was greedy, and I wanted you to come with me to find my own place.”

He sighed again, closing his eyes and sitting down in a nearby chair. He opened his eyes again, looking up at Kyungjin. “But then you got sick, really sick. And I got scared. What if I took you with me and something bad happened? I couldn’t face that. But then you got better, so I asked you if you really wanted to go with me. Even though I knew you shouldn’t, I still wanted you to come. But by then, I knew it was too late. You already understood that this was your place, and I was getting impatient on leaving.”

“But why did you get so mad when I told you I was staying? Calling me a traitor.” Kyungjin asked in a hurt voice.

Sehun was quiet for a second. “Like I said, I was greedy. Deep down I wanted you to come with me, but I knew you shouldn’t. I think part of it was misdirected anger. I was angry at myself for thinking that way, and I directed it at you. And for that, I’m sorry.”

“And the other part?”

Sehun smiled softly. “It was a precautionary measure. I wanted you to get mad at me so you wouldn’t have second thoughts.”

“Is that why you left without saying good-bye?” Kyungjin asked in a small voice.

Sehun nodded. “I was afraid that if I went to go see you again, I would just whisk you away with me. And I was afraid that you would let me. I wasn’t going to risk that.”

Kyungjin stayed quiet, letting it all absorb. She frowned. “So, it was all just a miscommunication? Why couldn’t you have just told me that from the beginning?” she shouted angrily.

Sehun frowned at her. “We both know that back then if I had told you, you would have left with me. Back then, we relied on each other too much. By separating myself from you, you finally realized that his town was your place.”

“And that’s why you didn’t tell you where you were when you wrote to me,” she added.

“I was scared that if you knew, that you would leave this town and come find me. But I couldn’t just not keep in touch. Even if I was the only one writing.”

“And why did you come back so suddenly?” she asked.

Sehun glanced at Jongin who grinned. Sehun nodded towards his friend. “Jongin was the only other friend I kept in touch with constantly. He wrote to me that you’ve changed, and I thought I could finally come and see you without being so troubled.”

“Fine, fine!” Kyungjin repeated desperately. “But why did you have act so angry when we met? Why couldn’t you just tell me all of this from the beginning instead of having constants fights with me?”

Sehun tsked and looked away.

Jongin answered for him instead. “You know that Sehun hates being wrong. Plus, he hates it when he gets yelled at. It only makes him block out any words you say.”

Sehun glared at Jongin. “That wasn’t just it. You looked like you were having fun without me, and I got kind of jealous. And…”

Sehun trailed off, but not before he glanced at Minseok.

“Me?” he mouthed in silence from behind Kyungjin. He stared in Sehun in disbelief. But after calmly listening to Sehun’s thoughts, he let out a soft, “Oh.”

Kyungjin didn’t hear him, her eyes completely focused on Sehun. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair.

“So what now?”

The three others looked at her.

“What do you mean?” Jongin asked.

She shrugged. “Well, even though I understand the real reason…” She glanced at Sehun. “It still feels awkward.”

There was moment of silence until Minseok spoke up. “Then you two should talk to each other. Tell each other what the other missed over those years. Every time you two met up, it always ended badly. Now that you understand, this is the time to put your differences aside and really talk to each other. Plus, you two have a friendship that can’t be broken that easily.”

Jongin stood up. “I agree. So that means that this fellow is going to the back room so you guys can talk freely.”

“What about your store?” Kyungjin asked.

Jongin shrugged as he walked towards the front door. He flipped over the “Open” sign so it read “Closed”.

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” he laughed.

Minseok nodded. “I think I’ll leave too,” he said as he pushed the door open. He took one last look back and left.

“Hey! Hey! Wait up!”

Minseok slowed down and looked behind him to see Sehun running towards him.

He was breathing heavily when he reached him, but nevertheless starting talking.

“Hey, erm, I’m sorry about before.”

“Before?” Minseok asked.

“I heard from Jongin that I said something to you that I shouldn’t have.”

Minseok thought back and instantly remembered the grocery shopping incident. He wondered how Jongin knew and had a feeling that Kyungjin was behind it. He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Sehun shook his head. “No, I didn’t think much of it because I didn’t think I said anything bad, but that wasn’t the case. So, I’m sorry.”

He looked up at Minseok. “And I also have to say thank you. If it wasn’t for you, I don’t think I would have made up with Kyungjin.” He chuckled bitterly. “I guess we’re both too stubborn for one of us to make the first move.”

He shook his head, standing up properly in front of Minseok. “So, thanks.”

Minseok returned his words with a nod. When he had left the store, he felt anxious and had no idea why. And now that he was talking to Sehun, it only intensified.

He realized that Sehun was still speaking and had missed what he had said.

“Sorry, could you repeat that?”

Sehun raised an eyebrow. “I said that you probably are a better match for her like Jongin said. I couldn’t believe it when he wrote to me, but now that I think about, he’s probably right.”

He looked away and stared off into the distance. “I thought maybe Kyungjin would still have feelings for me like I did for her, but I guess that was too far in the past. And that’s why I was a little hostile with you.”

He smiled sheepishly. “Sorry about that too. But! I’m glad things are working out for the both of you.”

Minseok furrowed his eyes at Sehun, trying to understand what he was trying to say. Minseok knew already that Sehun still liked Kyungjin and that was the reason why he was a bit bitter towards him. But he couldn’t understand what Sehun meant by the last sentence.

“What do you mean?”

Sehun gave Minseok an odd look. “I mean that you like Kyungjin and Kyungjin likes you. I don’t see why that’s so hard to understand.” He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. It seems to me that you two haven’t confirmed it with each other.”

He grinned and patted Minseok on the shoulder. “And don’t worry, I won’t get in your way. Kyungjin deserves better than me anyways. I have to go; I left Kyungjin hanging.”

He waved and took off, but Minseok hardly realized.

His mind was whirling from Sehun’s words, and he had to take them bit by bit to understand.

He liked her.

He liked her.

And it all made sense. Why he always felt anxious when Sehun was with Kyungjin. Why he always seemed to worry about her. And why he always had that funny sensation in stomach when he saw her sometimes.

He liked Kyungjin.

And he was almost afraid to say that he was in love with her.

A/N: Wow. Lots of stuff in there.

Sorry for the long wait, but this makes up for it right?

We got Minseok finally accepting himself, Sehun and Kyungjin reconciling, and Misneok’s big revelation.

All in one longish chapter.

Thanks for reading!