Change of Heart
Searching For AvalonKAIRI
I watched as the petite girl hummed to herself, blowing the ramen to cool it down and lifting a bunch towards me.
“Here,” she said softly. “It should be the right temperature.”
I blinked at the girl before meekly taking a bite. It was definitely the right temperature and more than anything, the taste stayed on my tongue long before I was done swallowing. I shifted a bit to adjust my position, only to grimace at my handcuffed wrist.
To calm down Woohyun—and also in a bid to remind me where I was—L had fastened me to the bedpost and smirked when I scowled at his action. “Don’t worry,” he had said while walking away. “None of us are frustrated. Not enough to—”
“MYUNGSOO!”
That’s when the girl who was feeding me at the moment had made her entry. Her name was Hara and learning from her constant attempt to make conversation, she was as old as me. I didn’t have enough courage—or audacity, as Woohyun would have said—to ask any questions and now, all that was heard was noises of me slurping the noodles and Hara mixing the vegetables with the soup.
“This is all we have for dinner,” Hara said in the same soft voice. I almost spat out the food. Dinner?
Hara saw my expression and sheepishly smiled. “You slept well…” She then showed me her watch. More than the time, which said it was past ten, I gawked at the watch. When was the last time they made silver watches? The design was classic and I tried to calculate it’s age but Hara beat me to it.
“Ah…” she gave a low chuckle. “It was my grandmother’s, handed down to my mother and then…” She pointed to herself. I shook my head in disbelief.
“What?” Hara asked, cocking her head to her right. I my lips and turned to look at the tunnel where everyone had been bursting through before my nap. “Don’t worry,” she waved. “They’re probably having dessert or sleeping off.”
“What do you do here?” I asked. The words croaked out of my mouth and I cleared my throat. Before she could respond, Hara poured water into a glass and handed it to me. I thankfully nodded and finished off the contents in one sip. I gave a light burp, making Hara chuckle. She then gave a more serious expression.
“I know what you mean,” she said. “Woohyun doesn’t give the best first impression does he? And it’s not like I’m being fake right now. I know you’re the General’s daughter but I also know that you didn’t ask for this. If everyone out here lands up being like Woohyun, we’re no better than the Paragon officials we hate, right?”
I didn’t know the whole politics behind Paragon and why these people referred to it like they didn’t belong to it. “You’re not from Paragon?”
Hara shook her head. This time, it was her turn to look towards the tunnel. She waved her hand, asking me to lean forward. I hesitantly did so, waiting as Hara cupped her hand next to .
“All of us are from Paragon,” she said in a low murmur. “But we ran away with our families when things got bad.”
“Family?” I didn’t remember seeing anyone older than the girl named Yoona.
Hara’s face darkened. “They’re no more.”
My stomach clenched and my eyes widened. “None… none of them?” I felt sick when Hara nodded, making me sink back. Hara gave me one last look and got up when someone entered. I gave a slight glance and saw a man with rough looks embracing Hara. He kissed her forehead and told her to go.
“Good night Kairi,” Hara waved and skipped away. Just when the man was about to take her place, Hara returned, cupping her hands next to again.
“There’s a reason why Woohyun behaves like this,” Hara whispered. The man raised his eyebrow, making Hara pout. Were they a couple? I thought and remembered the embrace. Before I could understand the workings of this place, Hara continued.
“I wish I could give better advice but for now,” she gave a sheepish smile. “Just ignore him. Don’t talk back to him.”
“Does he talk like that to all of you?”
Hara shrugged. “How do you think all of us are alive?”
With that, she left. I exchanged glances with the man who sat on the mattress next to my bed and sighed.
“I’m Junhyung,” he said. “And I want to sleep.”
Either it was me going insane, or the people here were getting weirder by the hour.
SUNGYEOL
“Hyung.” I nudged Junhyung and looked up at the sleeping body of the girl. I marvelled at the two figures. Sunlight had broken down on their heads, how could they NOT wake up?
“Hyung!”
Junhyung woke up with a start and mumbled something incoherent. He then looked at me and gave a light chuckle.
“Sungyeol-ah,” he greeted me, teasing me by throwing me in a headlock. I struggled to get out, only to be interrupted by the sound of shuffling. The two of us stopped moving and looked towards Kairi, who was now staring at us with wide eyes.
“Good morning,” Junhyung raised his palm and left. I rolled my shoulder and complained about his randomness, only to lock eyes with the girl. Kairi looked down at her hands when I refused to look away. I stood up and unlocked the handcuffs.
I waited for her to get out of bed. She did so without any fuss and walked ahead of me. I guided her, telling her where to go. Finally, we reached the common room.
This was why mornings were my favourite time of the day. We had Hara and Nicole making breakfast, Leeteuk and the boys exercising and joking, Amber perfecting her Korean with Donghae hyung and Yoona and the other girls sitting in a circle talking and singing (Seohyun noona had improved on the guitar quite a lot).
However, as soon as Kairi stepped into the room, the atmosphere changed. The chit-chat died, the sound of laughter bounced away into silence, leaving the crackling of the eggs on the pan, reminding me that time hadn’t frozen.
Kairi shuffled her feet. The girl knew she had interrupted something, intruded on something. None of us could even assure her that it wasn’t her fault though. Woohyun lifted himself off the ground and walked towards her. Everyone held their breath, waiting for him to say something.
“Hope she wasn’t troublesome,” he muttered. I felt irritation seep through me and muttered back. “Don’t know, Junhyung hyung was with her last night.”
“She was fine,” Junhyung warbled, yawning and giving Hara a backhug. He looked up at Woohyun and said, “Don’t you need to do some work?”
Woohyun clenched his jaw, throwing another cold glare at Kairi before leaving. Apart from Junhyung and Hara whispering to each other, no one said a word.
Suddenly L got up and took the guitar from Seohyun. He strolled towards the kitchen and to everyone’s shock, broke into a song.
KAIRI
“Americano!"
I watched in amazement as L changed the mood, making everyone giggle and clap along. Slowly everyone joined in and I was lost among a sea of laughter and smiles. Though L wasn’t smiling and I wondered when I would see that ever, he gave a playful look towards Yoona while singing ‘When you’re cheating on your girlfriend after a fight’, making the latter's grin twist into a scowl. I jumped in alarm when Sungyeol made a funny noise and danced towards the kitchen counter, pretending to swig the contents of a coffee pot down his throat, only to sputter when hot liquid hit his lips. My eyes met with Nicole’s who was making funny faces at SungGyu while doing some sort of a jig. ‘Good morning’ she mouthed with a grin and I looked away, slowly tapping my foot to the music.
Maybe these people aren’t so bad, I thought and after what seemed like an eternity, breathed.
KAIRI
The day went slow. I was first curtly explained the rules of the household by Yoona, who was considered the female alpha of the family. But this status seemed to hold no solidity as was proven by L’s continuous jabs at her way of words.
“Don’t repeat sentences. She’s not fatally stupid and you’re not a spoilt tape-recorder.”
“Okay, can I ask one important question? Whose soda is that?”
“Yeah that’s right. Even the great Yoona gets to take a bath only thrice a month.”
Everyone else seemed to be used to this relationship and as I glanced at Nicole, who was shaking her head and smiling, I realized I was the second person in the house to realize the obvious. L and Yoona had chemistry that neither of them was willing to accept. I sidelined my opinions and carefully listened to Yoona who was now trembling with impatience.
“So, you’ll be given Seohyun’s slot. Uptil now she has been visiting hot springs alone, now you’ll be going with her. She’ll see you in the morning of that day so don’t worry, you’ll know when to go and where.
“This,” she then waved at the huge room, “is our common room. That is our television which sorry to say, you will NOT be watching without any supervision. I hope you understand.”
“No I don’t. I’m not a kid.”
Yoona pursed her lips. “You have to remember you’re Woohyun’s hostage. If he said not to give you too much information, something which seems reasonable to us, we’ll listen to him.”
“Is he the boss here?” I spat out, trying to remind them that I wasn’t staying here with my permission.
“No.” Woohyun walked out of a tunnel, biting into an apple and settling down on the armrest. “But I’m holding you back here. I’m trying to be nice by setting up rules…”
“… you mean shackles…”
Woohyun stopped talking. He started flipping his apple in the air when suddenly, something whizzed past my face and hit the wall. I turned around and shivered as I saw the solid apple pathetically sprawled into bits and pieces.
“Listen Kairi,” he said, making each syllable as sharp as possible.
“No, YOU listen.” I heaved a sigh then looked up at him. “Is this some sort of game? Is this a dollhouse? You kidnap me, hit me, then set up these stupid rules which I don’t want to follow… Why not just lock me up in the room? I don’t want to join this family of yours!”
Woohyun stared at me then started laughing. Unlike Dongwoo’s laugh, this sound was dark and ominous, almost like it was bringing some sort of bad luck upon it’s listener. From my peripheral glance I saw everyone cringing and even the monotonous L was trying hard not to flinch. Woohyun stopped laughing then pointed a finger at me. “You? Join our family? You’re forever a Paragon puppet. You don’t belong with us.”
“I don’t have to,” I hissed back. “I have family, I have friends, I have people who care for me and sooner or later will be here to take me bac—”
Suddenly an arm held me. I spun around as Hoya dragged me away and placed me at a spot, lifting the remote and increasing the volume.
“Just something you should see before you speak,” he muttered then walked away.
I blinked at him and shifted my gaze to the television, only to be shocked.
Standing in front of me, talking to the reporters, was none other than my boyfriend Joon.
WOOHYUN
I crossed my arms and lifted a brow at Hoya. What are you planning now?
Hoya read my mind and raised a palm, asking me to wait and watch. I breathed out through my nostrils and gritted my teeth, watching whatever show he had switched on.
I snickered as I recognized the sissy fellow. What was his name? Joe? Jin?
“Joon….” Kairi mumbled. Ah, yes, Joon… I adjusted my position the couch and waited for entertainment. Let the waterworks flow.
”When was the last time you saw her?” a dull voice asked from the microphone. The guy named Joon shifted his sunglasses and sniffed.
“Three months ago, before our break-up.”
Wait.
What?
SUNGYEOL
“Three months ago, before our break-up.”
I stopped washing the dishes and looked up, dishevelled by the words. Whatever little I had spoken to Kairi, one thing I had learnt of was her fondness towards her boyfriend. Her current boyfriend.
My glances shifted between the equally shocked girl and the television and I removed my gloves, quietly standing behind her fragile figure.
Everyone’s eyes were now on Kairi’s back, her shoulders slowly slumping and shaking as she watched the man she cared about talking about something incomprehensible.
“But reports say you were outside her house when she was kidnapped?”
“I’m not sure,” Joon muttered, his sunglasses still on, his lips tightly pressed together. “I mean, I had gone there to receive a few things from her house, she had a few possessions of mine, when I saw a man in a black van come upto me and tell me that…”
I turned around and watched as Woohyun lifted himself off the seat, his curious eyes narrowing as he stood on Kairi’s other side. Kairi didn’t notice, her glassy eyes fixed on the familiar face.
“Sungyeol….” I turned around and saw Amber alert me to his presence. I nodded but realized that right now, Woohyun’s temper was the least of our worries.
“… tell me that he was taking her away. He said he wouldn’t hurt her and that he’d keep her alive and that he didn’t care what the General thought about it. He said he’d see us again.”
“Sounds like a case of elopement?”
Joon sighed and removed his sunglasses. His eyes were puffy and irritation seethed through me as he faked tears. “I really cared about her and honestly, I just wanted her back in my life. I don’t know who this man is but… it seems that our Kairi has gone down the wrong path.”
The news channel switched to their studio and the television blanked out as Hoya returned the remote to its original place.
There was pindrop silence. My head slowly turned to look at Kairi and I jumped when she collapsed on the floor. Slowly a crescendo was heard, her whimpers noteably rising to a loud wail. Tears ran down her cheeks and I stuttered, “K-k-kairi, you…. wait…. look…”
WOOHYUN
“Give me the remote.”
I sternly pointed towards the shelf and switched on the television the moment Jiyoon handed the device to me. I muted the volume and held Kairi’s chin in my hands.
I hated pathetic scenes, pathetic people….
“Look at him.”
Kairi continued crying, the echoes of that jerk’s words in her ears. “Why would he….”
“I said LOOK AT HIM.”
Kairi looked up at me with confused eyes.
“Woohyun,” Hoya moved forward. I raised my palm then dropped it.
“Family? Paragon doesn’t have families.” I lifted Kairi’s chin, forcing her to look at the headlines that lied about her being a careless rebel. “They only have tiers, hierarchies, systems… There’s a pattern which consists of nothing but a straight line drawn by your father, The General. Anyone who falters, whether by accident or on purpose….”
“You think I’ll hate my father for this?” Kairi swallowed her cries and in difficult breaths, said, “Joon didn’t mean it, I know someone forced him to—”
“YOU’RE MAD!” I shook her by the shoulders. “You’re absolutely--! He didn’t even fight me! He didn’t even touch me! You think someone who can’t even fight for his girlfriend would give a damn anymore? You’re gone for him. You’re gone for them!”
“My father….”
“HE HASN’T DONE ANYTHING. It’s been a full twenty four hours since we brought you here and only now are they revealing this news.”
“They were waiting for me to return…”
I grabbed a fistful of my hair and stood up, letting out a frustrated noise as I kicked the table, toppling it over. I pointed at Nicole, who had been staring at me the whole time.
“You’re the psychologist here,” I said, shaking a finger at her. “Tell her where she is, tell her she has no family, tell her she needs to remember that she’s my prisoner now.”
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