The sun doesn’t dare show its face as Junmyeon and Minho walk through the streets of Marseille. It hides behind bruising purple clouds as they blow angry gusts of wind. Junmyeon can’t help but think the sun is hiding in shame and the winds of the angry skies crying: “Look at what has happened!” But that can’t be correct, maybe he’s hallucinating again.

            It’s happened before and at first Junmyeon thought the elements were speaking to him: the scent of wet soil makes him feel strong and protected, the gentle blowing of the wind encourages his days, and the flame of burning wood warms him to the core. However, his most clear connection is with water. Water makes him feel at home, undefeated; water makes him feel like everything is right in the world.

            But Minho had burst his bubble of comfort, calling them hallucinations. Junmyeon is supposed to be heavily medicated, but the idea of swallowing pills of every size to keep himself “sane” was unappealing. Therefore, he put the topic to rest, never again bringing it up to Minho. Dr. Choi had tried to bring up the topic a couple times before, but Junmyeon refused to talk about it ever again, to him anyway.

            “Junmyeon.”

            He whips his head around to meet the eyes of a frowning Minho, there’s an umbrella in his right hand and his body is well covered from the cold. Junmyeon holds his own umbrella and is covered warmly, his hair is windswept and his cheeks are pink from the cold air.

            “Yes?”

            “I’ve called you a couple times you know,” Minho raises an eyebrow, as if to let him know to speak his mind.

            “Oh. I’m sorry. I was looking at the sky. What were you saying?” Junmyeon doesn’t want to enter that topic of conversation, his skin was tingling against the cold wind and he wanted nothing more than to scream his lungs out.

            Minho studies him carefully, the gaze in his eyes is familiar and Junmyeon can’t help but grow tense as he tries not to fidget.

            “I was asking you if you wanted to go inside the café.” He points next to him, his gaze not leaving him.

            Junmyeon’s senses register his surroundings. The buildings become visible to his peripheral and the scent of hot chocolate and warm pastries fill his nostrils as he turns his gaze towards the clear glass next to him. His land on the almost empty café, a few people sat scattered around the café—some were reading, others were talking, and the rest had their eyes closed.

       He can sense a twinge of nostalgia there, but Junmyeon doesn’t stand to ponder on the idea.

       “It’s pretty cold out here,” Minho says, “I thought you would like to warm up with a cup of hot chocolate.”

       “O-Of course.” He doesn’t know why he stuttered, either way, Junmyeon gives the tanned man a smile. “A cup of hot cocoa sounds great.”

       Minho returns his smile, albeit there is something he spots in Junmyeon’s eyes as they both make their way inside the café. Hot air blows against their face, and Junmyeon can feel his skin crawl as his body tries to adjust to the temperature change. Junmyeon follows after Minho, who kindly greets the barista and orders two cups of hot chocolate.

       “Not a coffee duo, eh?” The barista is a young male, Junmyeon estimates he’s around 20 years of age. His hair is painted a bubblegum pink and his skin is white, like every other person inside the café. Although there is a feature which is different than the others—his eyes: although both blue, his left eye was a shade lighter than the right.

       “Not exactly,” Minho chuckles. “We prefer to stay away from strong caffeine. We won’t be able to stand still.”

       The barista laughs, quickly preparing the hot chocolates. “I suppose not. Besides, it’s late in the day. I’m sure you won’t be able to sleep either. Here you go.”

       Minho pays the barista and thanks him as he makes his way towards a table, but Junmyeon doesn’t follow. He’s entranced by the color of the barista’s eyes. Their eyes meet, but Junmyeon doesn’t shy away and neither does the barista.

       He raises an eyebrow. “Yes?”

       “You…” he croaks, “You have heterochromia iridis.”

       The barista looks surprised but it quickly changes to a smile. “So you’ve noticed. Not many people can catch that, they have to be standing very close to be able to see the different shades of my eyes.”

       “Fascinating.” Junmyeon can’t help but step closer, his brown eyes taking in the shades.

       The barista laughs. “I know. I’m not the only one with it. For some reason my siblings have the same condition I do. It runs in our family.”

       “Your eyes remind me of water. It’s like when the sun penetrates through the water molecules scattering throughout the vast sea. One eye gaining more sunlight than the other. Like water.” Junmyeon doesn’t know what he’s saying, but his eyes do remind him a lot of water and he can’t help but compare them.

       “Wow. I don’t know where that came from, but I’ll take it as a compliment.” The barista smiles, he doesn’t show any signs of feeling uncomfortable. “My eyes have never been compared to the surface of the ocean, more or less to the clear blue skies. It’s different. Thank you.”

       Junmyeon blinks before realizing that he indirectly complimented a complete stranger. Blushing, he nods his head quickly before making his way towards Minho, who watched the exchanged silently. He still doesn’t understand why Junmyeon is fascinated with the idea of water, his colleagues had joked that he was here to report back to his own planet after finding water.

       “The sci-fi movies predicted the truth!” they hollered in mockery. But Minho said nothing, his mind opened to any possibility even to an extraterrestrial invasion. Junmyeon isn’t the only one standing on planet Earth, there are more like him out there—or at least that’s the hypothesis.

       “It wouldn’t make sense if he came on his own, Minho.” Kibum, his best friend and colleague, once said. “There were 12 sightings, Minho. We found one of the 12. It just wouldn’t make sense if he arrived here on his own.”

       “It is a possibility though.” Minho had been attending to Junmyeon’s IV drip. Making sure his vitals were stable before he reported back to HQ.

       “Don’t you remember what he said before he passed out, though?” Kibum was a passionate man, always full of fire and he carried himself in a manner which would make anyone want to lower their head—except for Minho. “He’s looking for someone called Kris. He’s not here alone. I refuse to believe so.”

       “Actually, Kibum, there’s been an update. I don’t know if you heard,” Minho watches a sleeping Junmyeon, “but only ten of those sightings survived.”

       “W-what?” Kibum wore a dumbstruck expression on his face. He was a smart man but he never did bother with reading the reports sent in by HQ.

       “It’s not twelve sightings but ten. The last two sightings which somehow managed to stay together…perished.”

       Kibum didn’t bother him for the rest of the week, and 4 weeks later, Junmyeon awoke with no recollection of who he was or where he came from.

       And now, years later here they sat. Junmyeon holding a cup of hot chocolate in his hands and Minho studying his every move and becoming bitter every day. He blames Junmyeon for it, and he knows if he hadn’t shown any sort of kindness towards the specimen that day he first opened his eyes, he would have been inside his laboratory making a different discovery.

       Junmyeon doesn’t know everything, however. He believes he’s human. Minho isn’t allowed to tell him yet that he is alien. An unnamed species because of his lack of different abilities. The only possible contrast to the human race was his blood and the strange birthmark on his chest.

       “There’s something strange,” Junmyeon says. Minho is snapped out of his train of thought, his attention quickly going towards Junmyeon.

       “What is?” Minho carefully drinks out of his cup. His eyes not leaving Junmyeon’s form.

       “Why are we out here? I know I’ve seen these sort of places in magazines and movies, but why are we here in person? You never break the rules, Dr. Choi.”

       Minho shrugs. “Maybe I was tired of following the rules. Maybe I wanted to get out of the house. I don’t know, different possibilities.”

       Junmyeon is unsure of what to think. There a noise ringing in the back of his head, and he can’t help but feel his body tremble in fear. Something had definitely changed between the two after Junmyeon asked about the truth. Whatever happened on the day of his accident, Minho was reluctant to tell him; for two reasons:

1. Minho isn’t allowed to tell him the truth.
2. Minho doesn’t know the cause of his accident.

       Either way, Junmyeon is left completely in the dark.

       “Maybe…” Minho says again, his brown eyes meeting his. Junmyeon his feel his heart stop and the hairs on the back of his neck rise. “Maybe I brought you out here for something else.”

 

 

---

 

 

       He doesn’t know where they are. They’ve been driving back for quite some time and he doesn’t know where they are.

       Ten minutes after Minho had spoken, he stood up and told him to follow. They had waved towards the barista and exited the café like any other normal person would. But there was something off and Junmyeon couldn’t help but feel his gut wretch as he sits silently on the passenger seat.

       Minho hasn’t spoken. There’s a crease between his eyebrows and he’s tapping his finger against the steering wheel. His eyes shift back and forth and he’s going above the speed limit.

       Junmyeon is afraid.

       “I didn’t want to make a scene.”

       Junmyeon jumps, Minho’s voice finally slices through the tense atmosphere.

       “I thought it would be best to go as far away from the house as we could.”

       “What are you talking about?”

       “I’ve been thinking about this for a while. I don’t want to keep taking care of you, Junmyeon. It’s a lot of work and my life has been put to a stop because of it.” Minho takes a sharp turn. Junmyeon yelps, his hands gripping on the door handle as Minho drives on the muddy road. “There’s also another reason.”

       “What other reason?” Junmyeon can’t help but shout. His heart is pounding—Junmyeon is really, really afraid.

       “I want you to run, do you hear? Run.”

       “What. Why?”

       “Because, you’re not human!” Minho steps down on the gas pedal. His eyes are on the rearview mirror and Junmyeon looks behind them to see a large black SUV following them.

       “What are you talking about, of course I am!”

       “No. You’re not.” Minho takes another turn, the green Jeep slightly bumping into a tree. “Look, I can’t tell you everything right now, okay? I won’t be able to. That vehicle behind us is part of the organization I work for. If they catch us, you’ll be back in the lab and I’ll be killed. But you already knew that.”

       “But I’m human!” Junmyeon insisted. His eyes are wide with hysteria and his mind his swimming with confusion.

       He’s human. He’s human. He’s human.

       “I told you I don’t have time to explain!” The trees clear away and the ocean is at full view. Dark rain clouds make the ocean look terrifying. “I need you to jump. I can’t stop, they’re closing in on me.”

       “No. I can’t do that!”

       “You can and you will. Trust me, Junmyeon, you don’t want those guys to land their hands on you. This is the only way for you to live long enough to remember who you are.”

       Minho takes another turn, and now they’re driving on the cliffs by the sea. “There’s a backpack on the backseat, reach back and grab it.”

       Junmyeon hesitates.

       “Do it!”

       Startles, Junmyeon does as told. It’s a simple khaki bag, but it’s quite heavy.

       “There’s money and clothes for you in there. It’ll be enough for you to survive for quite some time. There’s also papers there to tell you what I know so far. It’s what you wanted to know. Everything is there…at least everything I know.”

       Junmyeon is dumbstruck, he doesn’t know what to think and he finds himself gripping onto the bag tightly.

       “Get ready to jump.” Minho has his eyes on the SUV following them.

       “Please don’t make me do this,” the older begs. “I don’t want to. Please.”

       Minho doesn’t listen, instead he uses his left hand to unbuckle Junmyeon’s seatbelt. The amnesic pleads repeatedly, trying to stop the doctor. He doesn’t listen and when the ocean becomes nearer, Minho leans forward and places the khaki bag over Junmyeon’s shoulder before opening the passenger door.

       “Minho, please!” Junmyeon tries one last time.

       “You like water, Junmyeon. Don’t worry you’ll be safe.” Without another word, he pushes Junmyeon out the car.

       Pain shoots through Junmyeon’s body as he hits the edge of the cliff, his shoulder popping out of place. A wail of pain escapes his lips as his body continues to roll, soon enough he’s falling through the air and then he’s swallowed by the cold waters of Marseilles.

       His head is fuzzy. His body is going numb and watches silently as the dark waters consume him slowly as his body sinks and the liquid makes its way into his lungs.

       Minho is right. Junmyeon loves water.