{Baekhyun}

“Me too,” I tell her. I’m not sure if I should be happy that Jihae trusts me so much or to be burdened by it. Trust is not something that can be easily gained, but it can be easily broken. And I don’t want to break it.

“Let’s call the others over to the backyard,” I say. “We’ve got training to do.”

“Training?” She asks me, but I don’t give an answer. Simply because she is going to get one by experiencing it herself.

“Guys! Let’s commence the training!” I shout over to the five of them and gesture for them to come outside. “Okay since Jihae hasn’t really seen all of your powers yet, let’s do a demonstration. Suho hyung, if you’d please.”

Suho nods back at me and walks further away from the rest of us for safety measures.  He takes a breath, then with a swipe of his hand, dozens of water droplets appear and in an instant, they come together to form a small wave. It follows his hand movements as he draws ‘x’s everywhere. Even though I’m standing a good few metres away, I can see the shards of ice hidden amidst the water. One swipe of that water is as deadly as a blade.

That’s when Kai elevates a stone and throws it into Suho’s ‘x’. The moment the water touches the greyish rough surface, it instantly cuts through, leaving the stone broken into half. 

“Wow.” Jihae utters, her eyes glued onto Suho as he gathers the water into a ball and with a snap of his fingers, the water explodes at once, raining over the grass in droplets.

“My gosh that was amazing,” Jihae whispers to me.

“You’ve seen nothing yet.” I reply.

“Me next!” Chanyeol exclaims and walks forward to take Suho’s place. The elevated wooden platform in the middle of the backyard has now become their ‘stage’.

Chanyeol beams excitedly like he always does before he does something spectacular with his powers. At first it seems as though he isn’t doing anything. But when I see several ominous clouds gathering above us, I know he’s about to harness his ability.

His index and middle finger sticks out while the rest are curled in a fist. He sticks his tongue out like he always does when he’s trying to focus. He then moves his fingertips in a zig-zag manner as lighting manifests from the sky and hits all the way to the corner of the garden.

A striking glow blinds us all for a moment, but when I can see again, I notice the grass at that area is completely charred, with bits of soil being dug out.

“Doesn’t your house have a lighting protector or something?” Jihae asks me.

“It does, but if Chanyeol has to, he can summon lighting to even indoor areas.” My reply leaves agape in awe.

My gaze returns to Chanyeol and I see now that he has formed dozens of small fire balls. The heat from those encircled flames are unimaginable as they circle around him.

“Jihae! Come here!” Chanyeol calls out to her. She walks with uncertainty towards the platform, blinking due to the heat from the fire.

“Touch it.” He says and sticks out his palm where a small flame is aglow.

“Are you crazy? That thing will burn me!” Jihae refuses.

“Yah gosh no mutant power can hurt you! Have you already forgotten that?” He reveals a twisted smile.

“B-but I’m scared.” She murmurs, looking a hesitant as ever.

“You’ve got to try Jihae! If you can’t bear to touch such a small fire, how will you extinguish other powers?” Suho says.

“Extinguish?” A confused look takes over her face. Suho merely nods. She turns back to the flame. Chanyeol gives her another encouraging smile and grabs her wrist. My face cringes a little and I feel a slight wince in my heart.

I don’t realise my own hand is clenched up until D.O says quietly behind me, “Are you jealous?”

“W-what of course not!” I deny.

“While your body language betrays you Baekhyun.” He laughs and I shun away from him.

“You did it!” Chanyeol says happily. He wraps his fingers before lifting his palm up once again, this time a larger, fiercer flame generates above his palm. Jihae blinks for a while then she extends a finger and pokes around at the flame.

“C’mon we haven’t got all day you know! The flame isn’t going to eat you up you’re freaking immune!” Sehun chides.

“Give her some time Sehun.” Kai says. “You can do it Jihae. It’s really simple, you just got to believe that you can. The flame can’t hurt you. Just get over the fear that it can.”

The others give encouraging nods and then the attention focuses on her once again. She bites her lower lip and with her eyes sealed, she covers the flame with her right hand, even making a clap sound in the process.

“Yea! High five!” Chanyeol jokes, making Jihae laugh along too.

“Hyung?” Kai asks me.

“Yea?”

“If her power can extinguish Chanyeol hyung’s flame, how does it work for other powers? For say what if I were to throw something at her?” He asks.

“How about let’s find out,” I say. Just as the words leave my mouth, I feel like the world’s most irresponsible boyfriend ever. I’m just letting them use their powers at her. Though I know no harm will be done, I can’t but feel I could risk her getting hurt. And that is something I never want to happen.

•••••

“So how did y’all meet?” Jihae pops the sudden question during lunch. At that moment all the six of us stop chewing on our sandwiches and look up at her. The silence itself is deafening. Exchanging looks, it is as if the quietness would prevail forever.

It is D.O that breaks the silence. “Well…it’s a long story.”

“I’ve got all day!” Jihae answers, clearly unaware that this story encompasses many nasty memories that all of us are desperately trying to forget.

“Let’s begin with we were all held captive by—” Suho begins but I interrupt him.

“Don’t!” I shout at once. Everyone turns to look at me with puzzled looks. “Let’s just not talk about this okay.”

“Why not?” Jihae raises a brow and I can tell she is really keen on finding out.

“It’s better for you not to know.” I tell her, knowing fairly well that answer will sure to piss her off. And I’m right.

“But I want to know.” She rebuts.

“No!” I raise my voice unintentionally, banging my table in the process.

Jihae’s eyes widen, “Remember what you’d promised? No more lies Baekhyun!” She shouts back and suddenly the whole living room is filled with our verbal war.

“I just want to protect you Jihae why can’t you understand that?” I try to say it as calmly as possible but anger has overtaken my vocal cords, making the words coming out harsher than I wanted. Why couldn’t she just listen to me?

“Protect me from what? The truth?” Her voice sounds on the brink of breaking. “Never mind if you don’t spit it out Baekhyun, these guys will tell me. Suho please continue!” She looks over at Suho, who just lowers his head without a word.

“D.O?” She asks. “Chanyeol? Anyone?”

Conflicted emotions emerge on their faces. Their thoughts surprises me. I can’t disobey Baekhyun. There must be a reason why he doesn’t want her to know. I didn’t know they respected me so much.

“Fine!” Jihae cries and shoots everyone a glare before storming up the stairs. I sigh as the sound of the slamming door resonates through the walls. Five pairs of eyes are now focusing on me, I can hear questions swarming through their mind and I block everything out.

“We’ll just carry on training without her later.” I say and walk away from the table and into the kitchen, inwardly praying that none of them notices the tears b in my eyes.