“Ah! Kai, Minhee, you guys are here, good,” Hana entered the back room and looked at both of them. “Oh and you’ve scanned the books, good job. Before you put them away I wanted to talk to you about this charity event we’re hosting with the community center.” She sat down opposite Kai and Minhee.

“Charity event?” Minhee repeated.

Hana nodded, “The community center is a little far from here, but the place is nice and big so it’s a great place to host it.”

“So, er, what exactly happens?” Minhee asked.

“Well we’re bringing a bunch of books to sell at book stalls and the center is organizing a dance show type thing. Both sides are going to contribute to a bake sale and all the money from the event will go to a children’s hospital,” Hana explained.

“What do you want us to do?” Kai asked.

Hana smiled, “Well you two will be at the bookstall for the event and I’d like you both to bake something for the bake sale. Minhee, do you think you could make something?”

Minhee nodded, “I’m pretty good at making things.”

Hana looked at Kai, “Since you’re a guy and are probably hopeless in the kitchen, you can make something with me, Kai.”

There was a pause in which Hana smiled creepily at Kai and Kai’s eyes widened in horror and disgust.

“Um, I think I’d work better with Minhee,” he said at once. “She’s in my class and our schedules could work together a lot better. Right, Minhee?”

He turned to Minhee and gave her a pleading look.

“Right,” Minhee nodded.

“Oh, alright then,” Hana said, not looking very happy about this. “In that case, Minhee you can finish with these books and Kai you can help me somewhere else.”

She stood up and beckoned Kai out so without a choice, he followed her.

“Lift me up so I can put these books away,” Hana said. They had arrived in the religious, spiritual section of the library and there was a large stack of books on a cart in the aisle she had brought Kai to.

“Excuse me?” Kai blinked.

“Come on, we don’t have all day,” Hana said impatiently.

“Um, aren’t there any stools?” Kai asked, feeling quite uncomfortable at the thought of lifting Hana up.

“Just lift me up so it’ll be faster!” she half-yelled.

Meanwhile Minhee, who had finished with the books, followed Hana’s rising voice until she found both her and Kai. Hana was coming closer to Kai who was backing away into a shelf.

The scene seemed very amusing to her though Kai’s expression was of utmost revulsion.

“Um, Ms. Shin, not to be rude or anything but could you please maintain your sense of professionalism?” Kai said, sarcasm coming from his polite voice. “I’ve been trying to ignore it for a while, but your blatant and to be quite honest, disgusting, tactics of getting closer to me in a way that shouldn’t happen between a manager and a volunteer is crossing the line. Please keep your distance.”

Hana’s mouth opened but she was quite speechless. Kai looked to his side and saw Minhee who was looking like she was fighting the urge to laugh out loud. He threw her a dirty look telling her that this was not funny.

“I-, well- it seems you’ve misunderstood what I meant,” Hana said jerkily. “Very well, I have a different job for you.”

“What?” Kai asked in a bored voice.

“I need you to read to the kids,” she smiled sweetly, recovering from her momentary speechlessness.

 “What?” Kai stared at her.

“Read to the kids. There are some books on the far shelf behind the reading stool. Read one or two of those,” Hana said. She looked at her watch, “The next read aloud session is due in another fifteen minutes. And mind you read properly or I’ll report you.”

Kai gritted his teeth and nodded.

“Good, I’ll be watching you,” she said calmly before striding away.

“I see what you mean by annoying your soul,” Minhee commented.

“Minhee! Come here and take care of these books for me!” Hana called.

“Coming!”

“Where did she say the books were?” Kai asked as they walked out of the religious section.

“Behind the stool in the kids reading area,” Minhee replied. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Kai mumbled and went to the children’s area to choose a book while Minhee went to find Hana.

Kai looked through the shelf and found ‘The Three Little Bears’.

This is short and no need for too much expression. Kai thought as he held the book. He sat on the stool at the head of the carpet as children were entering the Read-Aloud section and taking their places on the carpet. Kai was waiting in agony; he did not want to read a book to a group of snotty 5 year-olds.

“Okay everyone!” Hana clapped her hands. She was standing behind the kids who were facing Kai. “Today, Kai will be reading to you. So put on your listening ears and listen very carefully.”

Kai awkwardly looked at the kids.

“What are you reading?” One girl asked.

“The three little bears,” Kai replied.

“Isn’t it Goldilocks and the Three Bears?” she asked but Kai pretended as if he hadn’t heard, already growing irritated at the kids.

“You should start now, Kai,” Hana smiled. Kai nodded and opened the book. He began reading and another boy shouted, “We want to see the pictures!”

Kai held back on the menacing glare and held the book up and then began reading.

The kids shouted more things along the way, asking him to move the book around so they could see the pictures. Some kids took to asking stupid questions like ‘What kind of stool was it?’ and ‘Why didn’t the bears eat Goldilocks?’

“Why does Goldilocks have yellow hair? Shouldn’t she be like Yellowlocks or something?” One girl asked.

“I don’t know,” Kai shut the book when he was done and got up from the stool.

“He’s boring,” he heard the girl whisper to her friend who nodded.

“Kai I think the kids are really enjoying this,” Hana said, as she watched Kai try and walk away. “Why not read another one?”

Poker face, Kai, poker face. Kai reminded himself and he nodded and picked another random book.

After reading three more, the kids began to leave and Kai could finally stop.

“Friggin’ bratty snot rags,” Kai muttered angrily as he began re-shelving books with Minhee a couple of minutes later. “And that stupid old evil grandma, her fault for not being able to find someone her own age....”

“You were good though,” Minhee laughed as she watched Kai mumble to himself.

He glowered at her.

Minhee cleared , “Um, I mean, you were horrible.”

A small smile appeared on his face as he let out a small laugh. There was a large stack of books on a cart that they were putting away. Kai would push the cart around, putting away books that could be done so on his route. Minhee was picking books up and just putting them wherever they belonged around the library.

“Wasn’t that fun, Kai?” A voice behind him said.

Oh God, could this woman please just go away? Kai rolled his eyes and turned around. “Yeah, it was a lot of... fun,” Kai gave her a tight smile.

“Great, so you wouldn’t mind reading to the kids next week?” Hana asked brightly.

“Not at all,” Kai said, gritting his teeth once again.

“Wonderful. And when you’re done with these books, you have to take those old magazines out of their boxes and organize them by year. We’re opening a section with material from the past,” Hana said. She pointed to a pile of dusty boxes on a table in the studying section. She smiled again and walked away.

“Great,” Kai muttered. “I’m allergic to dust too!”

“I can help,” Minhee offered.

“It’s okay, she’ll probably find some other way to torture me then,” Kai shook his head.

“I’ll finish this then, you get started on the magazines,” Minhee said, pushing the cart towards herself.

“Ah, seriously?”

Minhee nodded.

“Thanks a bunch,” Kai said, walking past the cart and Minhee, going to the studying area. Once in front of the pile of boxes on the table that was in front of the display case, Kai opened a box and let out a sneeze.

Oh great. Kai thought as he looked at the dust covered, old magazines. Better get started.....

Every time he picked up a magazine, he sneezed once or twice. Organizing them wasn’t hard; they seemed to already be sorted by year.

Kai sniffled as he opened the third -and last box.

“Here,” Minhee appeared by his side and handed him a tissue.

“Thanks,” Kai took it. She began taking the magazines out.

“Wow, these are cool!” Minhee said, looking at them.

“I just want to get this over with,” Kai sniffled again and he and Minhee quickly finished with the newspapers and magazines.

“Thanks a lot Minhee,” Kai said gratefully.

“No problem. I have to go now, my brother is probably here,” Minhee said. She bid him goodbye before grabbing her things from the backroom and leaving.

Kai looked around for Hana but couldn’t find her so he took his jacket and left before she could find him. He felt as if it had been ages since he had talked so much to a person. After being separated from his brothers, he had cut off all contact with people, a cold and weird loneliness seizing him.

But Minhee just seemed to have broken that barrier, though Kai had no idea why.

“Sehun! I’m glad you came early,” Lay said as Sehun entered the dance room the following Saturday.

“What’s up?” Sehun asked as he joined Lay.

“You remember the charity event I was talking about? The one with the large library 45 minutes from here? The performance the kids are preparing for right now?”

Sehun nodded.

“Well, I think I can handle the kids for the performance. They’ve been preparing well,” Lay said. “I need you to help with the setting up. Think you can do that?”

Sehun nodded, “Yeah.”

“Great! I’ll see you after class and show you where the event is and what you need to do.”

“Okay,” Sehun said as their kids walked into the dance room.

At the end of a hard yet fun session, the kids high fived the two instructors and Lay talked to Sehun again.

“So the event is in two weeks on Sunday. Can you come on Saturday to help set up?” Lay asked.

“Yeah,” Sehun nodded, feeling like all he did was nod and say “yeah” to Lay.

After discussing a couple more details, including the bake sale, Sehun left to go to his apartment.

He had barely entered the door when he got a call from Sunye.

“Back from work?”

“Just,” Sehun said as he kicked his shoes off and went to the living room. He flopped onto the couch. “I need a favour.”

“Hm?”

“I need you to help me bake something,” he said sheepishly.

“Oh, okay,” Sunye agreed. “Not for you though, for the safety of those around you. I don’t want to be the friend of the one who started the world’s biggest fire.”

In the short time that Sunye had known Sehun, she had figured out that he wasn’t the best in the kitchen. He burned almost everything and he was quite capable of causing a fire.

“Oh shut up,” Sehun yawned.

“Why do you need to bake something?” Sunye asked. Sehun explained the charity event.

“Oh okay, I’ll come over the Saturday then?”

“Yeah okay,” Sehun said. They chatted a bit more for a couple of minutes before calling it a night.

After washing and changing Sehun found himself in his bed, ready to drift off to sleep after a long day.

It was quite random the dream, perhaps it was supposed to be a reminder of the past, or for Sehun to remember that there was a large hole in his heart.

Sehun and Kai were eight years old, Mina was two and Woobin had just turned 19.

They were in the middle of moving houses, the kids’ things, packed in boxes, were sitting in the moving truck. The truck was going to take their things to the new house first, then come back to get the furniture and everything else.

Mr and Mrs. Kim had ushered the kids out, told them to take a walk outside one last time in the neighborhood.

“We won’t be back here, you know,” Mrs. Kim said. “Enjoy the fresh air one last time!”

They were going to move to a house closer to the Kims office.. They were prosecutors, one of the best, and they had managed to find a great house fit for their large family.

Woobin put Mina in her stroller and Kai and Sehun followed Woobin out the door.

“Sehun, guess what?” Kai said as they walked out the gates.

“What?”

“I’m taller than you!” Kai said excitedly, looking between his head and Sehun’s.

“No you’re not!” Sehun argued and they both stopped and faced each other. “See? I am!” Kai said, though he was barely a cm taller.

“Your shoes are giving you height!” Sehun said pointing to his feet.

“Nu uh!”

“Yeah!”

“Shut up and keep up with us!” Woobin yelled, already going down the sidewall towards the park. Kai and Sehun ran to catch up with him.

“Hyung, who’s taller?” Kai asked. “It’s me, right?”

“You both are the exact same height,” Woobun said flatly. “Kai your shoes are just higher.”

“Ha!” Sehun stuck his tongue out and Kai elbowed him. They walked on and after a long stroll they headed back. Mina was beginning to get annoyed in her stroller.

As they walked back up the sidewalk, the three brothers noticed that something was definitely wrong. About six or seven people were gathered around their house, screaming and yelling. There were fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars in front of the house.

Woobin walked faster as he steered the stroller, with Kai and Sehun on his heels.

Their neighbor, Song Jaerim, noticed them first and walked towards them with a panic stricken face.

“Woobin-”

But Woobin walked past him, Kai and Sehun didn’t understand what was going on but followed him.

There was smoke coming out of the house and Sehun could have sworn he saw flames from one of the windows.

“Get the kids back!” A police officer shouted.

Woobin was frozen on the spot, staring at the house on the sidewalk. Kai was gaping at the house with wide eyes.

Sehun was the first to shout, “Mom! Dad!”

And he and Kai ran towards the house only to be caught by police officers. There was a long hose leading into their house and the smoke coming out was  beginning to water their eyes.

Woobin was still staring transfixed at the house in horror.

Two police officers had caught Kai and Sehun each by the waist, trying to drag them away from the scene. But Kai and Sehun were using all their strength to break free.

Mr. Song took over the stroller and pushed Woobin to handle Kai and Sehun.

Woobin managed to hold onto Kai and Sehun by tightly putting one arm around either of the two.

A firefighter came out of the house, fixing his mask.

“Where are they?” Woobin asked at once. “Where are our parents?”

But the firefighter brushed past him to the fire truck where he fixed some knobs related to the hose that was inside their house. After that he walked back into the house, ignoring the shouts of the three boys that the house belonged to.

Mina had begun to cry and once he was sure Kai and Sehun wouldn’t run into the fire lit house, Woobin picked her up and put her against his shoulder.

Kai and Sehun locked worried eyes, each displaying the same amount of anxiety on their facial expressions.

The smoke had begun to die down and no more flames could be seen when paramedics and firefighters emerged carrying two stretchers.

“No.. no… no….” Kai panted.

“Mom!” Sehun yelled again. “Dad!”

The paramedics and firefighters headed for the ambulance, passing the children, and Sehun felt the oxygen being knocked out of his lungs.

Their faces and bodies suffered severe burns and their eyes were closed. Neither Kai nor Sehun could hear what anyone was saying, they could only stare at their parents unrecognizable faces. The two so-called twins went in the ambulance that carried their mother, Woobin and Mina with their father.

Only to try and give the kids some sort of reassurance did the paramedics tell them that their parents were gone at the hospital, though they had been dead when their bodies were found. They had suffered from smoke inhalation and burns. It had been an accidental, electrical fire that had taken their parents lives. The flames had spread very fast, leaving not enough time for the firefighters to come and save them.

The brothers were all in shock at first, shocked that they had no parents, shocked that people so close to them had been taken by death, shocked that they were on their own now.

Sehun awoke with a start and his heart was pounding in his chest. Suddenly feeling not sleepy at all, he sat up in bed and put his hands over his face. He was growing tired of past memories haunting him, not that he had any plans for new, better ones to be made, he didn't like to think about the separation. 

He hated remembering that day, hated it because after that day everything had gone downhill.

I didn’t do the double lines on purpose… haha… whoops

School has started! BOO!

But I have periods where I can just do nothing which is great. I told myself I’d do my homework then but….. I either sleep or do anything but homework……

Don’t know about this chapter either… I don’t know about any chapter….

Originally, I was gunna do an authors note chapter instead of an update cause I wanted to talk to you all^^ (and tell you I was going to update soon along with a bunch of other weird things)

But then I was like what if they’re all omg so she doesn’t update for a month and now she’s doing a stupid author’s note? So scratch that.

I like functions guys, they’re fun sometimes. Except exponential, ew exponential functions are so ugly.

And words, I still have a fascination with words.

Oh yes, the deaths of EunB and Rise was so sad :( I sincerely hope that they along with everyone’s loved ones that have left go to a better, happier place.

I’m off now~! Byebye~