chapter four; 

                 HIS PAST...ISN'T THAT PLEASANT...

Jongin POV

"SHE WHAT?!"

"Omo this fast?"

"Even Taeyeonnie took a week!"

"I think Kai hyung is gonna break Baekhyun hyung's record"

"YAH OH SEHUN TAKE THAT BACK"

"AISH JINJA SHUT UP GUYS WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON" Xiumin hyung walked into the room yelling, getting immediate silence and a grateful look from the leader Hyung. "Suho Hyung has been trying to shut them up for a while now. Thank god you came hyung." I whispered to Xiumin hyung who had just sat down beside me on the couch.

“Hyung! Did you know that Jongin’s mate managed to switch already?! ITS SO UNFAIR!! Its not even a week yet since they met!!” Tao whined from across the room.

“Wow jinja? Congrats Kai-ah” Xiumin hyung smiled at me, before continuing. “When and how did it happen?”

“Yea Kai. You didn’t tell us the details. What happened?” Chanyeol hyung was practically bouncing in his seat.

“Ehhhhhh……”

Flashback

The class fell silent, not believing that the nerd had stood up against the Hye Rim.

“Yoon Mi Rae! Out now! I will not accept anymore of this nonsense in my class! Anyone who says even one more word will immediately get a one way ticket to detention!” Mr. Lee yelled, the whole class fell into silence, from both shock and to avoid the wrath of Mr. Lee.

“And since you can’t do your project by yourself Mr. Kim, you can join Miss Yoon outside the class in the hall.” He added, turning to face me.

I gaped at him. What the hell? How did I end up getting involved in this? I was about to open my mouth and talk back when I saw him glaring at me. Meh. Whatever. More time with my mate I guess. I smirked to myself as I dragged myself out of my seat and with my hands stuffed in my pockets, I followed Mi Rae out of the classroom.

“YAH KAI! That’s all?!” Chen hyung punched me in the arm.

“We were asking about how she managed to switch hyung. Not what happened AFTER her switching.” Sehun complained from his position on the ground, poking my feet.

I glared at him as he turned to his right where his beloved Luhan hyung was sitting before muttering to him. “And he claims to be the hyung.”

“Oh Sehun! I am very much your hyung!” I kicked him in the stomach.

“ne ne ne” He rolled his eyes while saying.

"Oi Kai continue with your story." Kris hyung spoke up.

“Erm. Anyways, she got pissed because they were laughing at her. Mocking her and gossiping. I guess it was the final straw after the whole time in that school. So she snapped. It was pretty bad. The bullying I mean. The students were gossiping because she laughed.”

“Wae? What’s wrong with laughing??” Baekhyun hyung asked, totally confused. I can understand his confusion considering he was the cheerful one, the mood maker, in our pack.

“Well, apparently that was the first time the students heard her laugh.”

“...”

“What did she go through for her to be like this?” Luhan hyung whispered in a low tone, breaking the silence.

I felt my heart break a little at that thought. & hadnt thought that much about it, but what hyung said kind of hit the spot. What did Mi Rae go through? I could tell that this wasn’t a simple bullying issue. It was something serious. Thinking back, that sadness in her eyes… It was what I saw when I stared into a mirror 2 years ago, before meeting my brothers, my real family. It was exactly the same. Wait a minute. Exactly the same? No. No. It. It can’t be… I refuse to believe it! My mate… No. She can’t be…

“Kai. Jongin. Kai! KAI! JONGIN! BREATHE! CALM DOWN!” I heard them yelling my name, my surroundings starting to spin. The boys faces were blurring out. Darkness was eating at the corners of my eyes, and two dark spots started appearing before my eyes. I felt myself unable to breathe, hyperventilating, before I lost consciousness.

Suddenly I gasped, as I felt air being forced into my lungs. Slowly I was able to breathe again, my vision becoming clearer. I blinked, and saw 11 boys crowding around me.

“Kai, you alright?” Suho hyung leaned closer, worry painting his face.

I took a few gulps of air, "Yea. I was just…”

“Panicked?” Suho hyung finished. “Kai… You really think that she might be…” Luhan hyung voiced out, concern written all over his face.

‘I...I’m not sure. I hope not… But her eyes, her expression, the day she covers herself up... It was the same. The exact same..." I trailed off, remembering what was the cause of my panic attack.

“What? Who might be what?” Tao hyung who was beside me piped up.

“That Mi Rae might be abused.”

2 years ago

Jongin stared into the mirror, disgusted at what he saw. Bruises marred his arms, making them purple, there were infinite amount of scars on his chest, both major and minor, he had a cut on his cheek where a shard of glass had grazed it, not to mention the endless horizontal lines that scarred his wrists,making it a huge ugly and disgusting mess. He wished he could stop, he wished his parents were alive, he wished he could do something, anything. He wished for it. But wishes are not reality. In the end, he is once again, all alone, isolated, suffering, and he could do absolutely nothing.

Jongin pulled his beanie further down his forehead, hoping to cover up the gash that was right at his hairline where his foster father had smashed an empty beer bottle at. He lowered his head before braving the crowd of students that were milling about in the school hallways.

The students all stared at him, whispering and parting to make way for him to pass. The tips of his ears became red, embarrassed at the attention he received. Unknown to him, he was not that hated upon by the school population. He didn’t do anything to stand out but neither did he do anything to blend in with the crowd. Not to mention, he was exceptionally good looking for a 16 year old teen boy. His features were sharp and well developed, his muscles could be faintly seen even under all the long sleeved shirts and sweaters he wears to cover up the scars and bruises.

Girls swoon to his left and right, boys glaring at him in jealousy. But he was completely oblivious to it and simply kept to himself, not willing to open up to anyone in fear of them discovering his secret that he so desperately tried to hide from society.

That is, until those 10 boys came into his life.

“Annyeonghaseyo! I am Byun Baekhyun imida.”

“Ah, Mr. Byun, please take the seat next to Mr. Kim. Mr. Kim, please raise your hand.”

Jongin, with no choice, raised his hand.

“Annyeong! I’m Baekhyun! What’s up with the beanie?”

Jongin stared at him in shock, speechless.

Jongin carried his tray of food, walking around the cafeteria trying to find an empty table.

“HEY TABLE-PARTNER! COME SIT WITH US.”

Jongin ignored it, thinking it was aimed at someone else. For no one in the school had really attempted to speak to him before, nevertheless ask him to sit with them for lunch.

“HEY I’M TALKING TO YOU! THE ONE WITH THE BLACK BEANIE.”

Jongin froze for a moment before turning around to face the speaker. Baekhyun was there waving frantically at him. He considered ignoring him but decided against against it. Baekhyun was the first person to ever approach him since he transferred to this school. Not to mention, the entire school was staring at him, in shock that someone actually approached him.

He trudged with mixed feelings to the table where Baekhyun and 9 other boys were seated at and making a ruckus before standing there awkwardly not knowing what to do.

Baekhyun smiled at him before whacking the head of the guy beside him and yelling at the rest to shut up. "Park Chanyeol! Shut up!"

Jongin, shocked at the violence of the seemingly innocent and immature looking teen in front of him, did not notice that the table had quietened and that all of them were staring at him as if waiting for him to say something.

“Yah. Baekhyun-ah who is he?” One of the guys asked him.

“Hey. Introduce yourself. I don’t even know your name to be honest.” Baekhyun said while nudging Jongin, shaking him out of his frozen state. He opened his mouth, all ready to introduce himself to these weird guys when one of them shouted at Baekhyun.

“Wait. You don’t even know who he is and you invited him over?!” Some guy with a face said no, shouted at him.

“Well…He looked lost just now so I just invited him over hyung.”

The dude facepalmed before whispering to Baekhyun, “You know we are here not to make friends but to find the 11th member Baekhyun!”

“Yea I know that hyung! I have a feeling about him. He may be th-”

“What are you talking about? What feeling about me?” Jongin spoke up.

The whole table froze.

“You could hear them?” One of them asked, in a deep voice that truly did not match with his appearance.

“Well. Duh. Who couldn’t?” Jongin, now a bit impatient from having to stand the whole time, answered.

“Huh. Baek was right for once. He really might be one of us.” The guy with a baby face said with a thoughtful look on his face.

“Hyung! What do you mean I was right for once! I found this yoda giant too!” Baekhyun cried out, shoving the guy beside him to make his point. This created a domino effect, the yoda dude got shoved into the faced dude who got shoved into the baby faced dude and so on. Jongin kind of felt bad for the guy who was sitting at the end of the bench Baekhyun was on for he was shoved off the bench and landed on the floor on his .

“Hyung! What was that for?!” The guy on the floor whined at Baekhyun.

“Oops mian Tao” Baekhyun said, a spark of glee in his eyes but there was a hint of concern mixed in with his tone.

During this whole time, Jongin was left forgotten standing behind Baekhyun.

“Hey. Ignore them. They are just being their immature selves.” A guy on the other bench said to Jongin, motioning him to sit on the space beside him. “I’m Xiumin by the way.”

“Annyeonghaseyo. I’m Jongin.” Placing his tray on the table and sitting down next to Xiumin seemed to get the other boys attention. Nine pairs of eyes faced him eagerly, once he turned back to the table since he was facing Xiumin when he had introduced himself. Assuming that they hadn’t heard his introduction, Jongin introduced himself again.

“Annyeong Jongin! I am Luhan.” The baby faced dude said.

“Kris” The face grunted.

“Aww. Don’t be so cold hyung. I am Chanyeol!” The yoda said cheerfully.

“Tao” The guy who fell on the floor replied.

“Annyeong! Suho imida” The one sitting opposite of Tao said, bending forward as to see Jongin.

“Lay” One of them introduced, looking like he had just woken up.

“D.O imida!" Some guy with a trolling face announced. “Annyeong Jongin! Nice to meet yo-” He continued before he was punched in the stomach by the guy with wide eyes who was beside him. “Yah Chen. Stop trolling and introduce yourself!” He growled out.

“kekeke. Mian! I’m actually Chen and the guy who just punched me is D.O” He chirped, with mischief twinkling in his eyes.

Done with the introductions, the rest started eating, with Baekhyun chattering away to Jongin about how awful the class was. Jongin, still unused to actually being spoken to, simply nodded, at a loss as to what to do. But he felt welcomed for once. The feeling was foreign to Jongin and it left him puzzled and confused.

After school, Jongin was walking home with the guys. Once they found out he stayed near the apartment they had rented and were staying in, they had insisted on going home together despite Jongin’s constant protests. To be honest, Jongin really liked being around them, but he was scared that they would find out the secret he tried so hard to keep from them.

“Bye guys!” Jongin nervously waved at them, before breaking into a run to rush to his house, hoping that he wasn’t home yet. The chances of that happening was slim though. Jongin had always made an effort to reach home at 4 pm before his foster father came home at 4.30 pm to have ample time to hole up in his room and avoid his foster father at all costs.

However, the guys had suddenly invited him to play a soccer match that day at the nearby park and Jongin couldn’t say no without having to explain why so he just went along with it. But he was careless. He had lost track of the time which resulted in him having to rush home when it was already 4.35 pm.

Jongin was running up the staircase when he heard a yell behind him.

"" he cursed, angry at himself for having gotten into this situation due to his carelessness, before turning around and ducking to avoid the flying beer bottle.

"Hey guys. Did any of you sense that Jongin was nervous and jumpy just now? Like when we were walking back, once Tao had mentioned the time, he was all nervous and stuff. Do you think something happened? Like does he have to be back home at a certain time?" Suho asked the rest of them, unsure if it was him who felt that way only.

"To think of it, he did seem anxious and jumpy. Should we go and pay him a visit to make sure? Like if it's really similar to what you said, we could apologise for keeping him out past the school time. It's pretty early and we are 16 but you can never know with parents." Luhan said, with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Ne! Kaja! To Jongin's house we go!!" Baekhyun yelled, pulling Chanyeol along with him.

Then suddenly, Baekhyun froze. "Wait. Does anyone know where Jongin stays?"

"Come to think of it, he never mentioned it. We only know it's around this area." Chen said with a "we're doomed" face.

"Wait. Didn't he say something about him hating the colour of his house? Like he said it was brown or something. With a white front door I think. He was complaining about how ugly his house was and that he wanted to move out. To think about it, there was something wrong with his expression when he said he wanted to move out. He looks almost wistful, like he was trapped in that house." D.O. mentioned, thinking back to when he and Jongin were talking about their apartment/house.

"Jongin is one weird guy huh. He always wears long sleeves even when it isn't that cold." Chanyeol spoke up, adding to the "Jongin is weird" list.

"He always wears leather bracelets. It's like he's trying to hide something."

"Hide something? What can someone hide on their wrists??" Lay pondered out loud.

"I don't know. Some scar or something?" Xiumin said.

Slowly the whole group became involved in the conversation with Jongin being the main issue.

"Backtrack. Backtrack. Jongin could be hiding a scar? The only scar I can think of that is on the wrists is cutting scars isn't it? But Jongin can't possibly be cutting himself right?" Baekhyun panicked a little, worried about Jongin's actual wellbeing. "I mean in school he doesn't seem depressed or anything. When he's with us he's happy and stuff. Isn't it?" Baekhyun added, trying to calm himself down.

"But as you said, when he's with us he's happy. What about when we are not around?" Kris said, frowning.

"We don't know what's going on so let's just pay him a visit and see how he is then we'll discuss about this again alright?" Suho announced to the whole group.

Then they set out to find Jongin's house.

Jongin snapped. He has had enough of it. He's tired of being helpless, powerless and being a pushover. He wants to fight back. Being around the 10 boys has greatly boosted his self confidence for in their eyes, he mattered. They valued his opinion and he wasn't nothing anymore. He felt real for once, he felt like what he did finally affected others. He has the power of being an individual. The power that was so crudely ripped away from him at the tender age of 7. Before the boys came, he could barely remember the last time he felt loved, valued and treated as a human being. He didn't feel like a tool anymore. He felt real. He is real. And he is going to make a difference now. Not as Kim Jongin, but as a new person, Kai.

The group had finally found Jongin’s house when they heard a crash coming from inside. Anxious for the tanned boy, they knocked on the door, trying to get inside without breaking any property. But once they heard Jongin shouting in pain, no longer able to control his wolf anymore, Baekhyun crashed through the front door, the door cracking under his weight before splintering into pieces, falling to join with the glass shards that were scattered all along the front hall. They rushed to the kitchen where they saw Jongin with a bleeding cheek, cluching his chest where his shirt was slowly blooming red, wielding a knife. On the other side of the kitchen stood Jongin’s father, also wielding a similar knife, with a black eye.

Time stood still, with them not knowing how to react.


Sirens then wailed down the street, blue and red flashing everywhere.

Jongin opened his eyes to see the blue sky, clouds. It was as if he was standing among the clouds. Everywhere around him was clouds, and the endless sky. He was once again alone, in this unknown dimension. He finally looked down at himself, to only realise he was no longer covered in blood, his wounds had all healed. He looked at his wrists and too his shock, he found it clean. It no longer had the mess of scars which had previously covered the majority of his wrists. Stunned and confused, he lifted up his shirt and froze when his eyes were met with unblemished skin. It was like he had a whole new body. Jongin stared at his chest with wide eyes, not knowing how to react. All of a sudden, he heard voices around him.

“Is it normal for him to be out for so long?”

“He should be waking up around now.”

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe it takes longer because of his wounds and scars?”

Eyes widened, and turning around trying to find out where the voices were, Jongin felt the surroundings spinning before his eyes, the voices becoming louder and louder before he was engulfed in a flash of light.

His eyes shot open, light flooding his senses. Blinking rapidly, he squinted and tried to make out the barely seen outlines of the 10 boys who crowded around him.

“Hi. I think we need to reintroduce ourselves.”

“We are a pack of werewolves from exoplanet.”

“And you are the 11th member of our pack, Exo”

“Welcome Kim Jongin, or should I say Kai. Welcome to the pack."

 AUTHOR'S NOTES 

Hey guys. Hehe. ERM IM SO SORRY.

honestly, my life has been so hectic recently, with my end of years being in like 4 weeks time or sth. and i was never able to find time to write or post anything. It took me so long to finally get this done and posted :(

I'll try to post again soon, but really, no promises. Im very sorry and i hope that you guys wil continue to stay with me. BUT i promise that once my end of years is over, I WILL POST MORE FREUENTLY.

oh and if you want me to post faster, just comment stuff cos i do read them and it motivates (?) me to write faster. I tend to forget that i actually have a story i need to update, with my schoolwork taking up so much of my time. :/

I'll do the sebscriber list stuff on the next update because its 2.22 am for me right now, and i still have an eng prac paper that im not eve halfway into yet :////

See you guys soon!!

tbh, i really missed reading all the comments and posting etc.

P.S. as an apology for not posting for a very long time, this chap is like 3500+ words. :))

ENJOY!

AND I REALLY REALLY

LOVE YOU GUYS~