“I get sick Jongin, but I’m not going to suddenly faint in front of you, god! You don’t need to be that careful. I’m tougher than I look, okay?”

Jongin shot me a disbelieving look. “Are you sure? Your face is really white right now, you know?”

“I’m not going to faint!”

Chapter 9

The first thing I registered when I woke up was the sound of water dripping.

I shot up so quickly that I almost got whiplash. The sound was so loud that it was bothering me -- I could hear the exact moment as the splash hit the sink, and it was annoying me so very much. The slight wind, blowing through the window, causing the curtains to ruffle loudly.

I didn’t find anything wrong with any of that at all, until I realized the fact that the curtains were cloth, and practically on the other side of the room, and the sound of them brushing together wasn’t supposed to be audible from where I was sitting.

Memories of the last time I was conscious came flooding back. The last place I was in was not here -- the dark, seemingly endless prison inside of my mind, the wall of black glass I had been trying to break. What had happened after that? I remembered hearing Kai calling my name, but that was the last thing I could recall without fault. Everything else was a blur of confusion, and reality and illusions had begun to blur together.

Heightened senses. Speed. Flexibility. Control over my aura.

A wave of surprise, followed by slight fear swept over me. Was that why I was able to hear, perfectly, the sound of water dripping, however far away that was? The curtains rustling? Why everything around me seemed so sharply and perfectly in focus, despite the fact that I had just woken up?

“Oh my god,” I repeated aloud, clutching in vain at the blankets bunched around me. “Oh my god.”

It would explain why my head felt so clear, even though I was normally half zombie and completely sluggish normally.

From some distance away -- I had no idea how far -- the sound of footsteps sounded. I whipped around to look at the door, half expecting someone to walk through that moment, but I counted at least fifteen seconds before the door actually opened to reveal a wide eyed Baekhyun. He had a toothbrush in his mouth.

“You’re awake!” he exclaimed (or at least, that was my best guess at what he said, because he was pretty incoherent with the toothbrush hanging out of his mouth). “Thath greath! Kai can finally stoph bothering uth abouth you.”

His voice wasn’t loud, but at the same time, it felt horribly so, echoing back and forth in my head. Involuntarily, I flinched back and covered my ears, but it only dulled the sound out by a small fraction. I didn’t even pay attention to his words itself like I normally would’ve -- the clarity of everything was too distracting, and painfully magnified. Baekhyun raised an eyebrow at my actions, before turning his back to me and yelling down the hallway, “Kai! She’th awake! And I thinkth whatever you and Eunhae noona’s mom dith workthed, because she thinksh I’m loud.”

“You are loud,” Kai’s familiar voice grumbled, and a small while later, he poked his head through the door of the room. “Even with my senses turned off, I can hear you from one side of the house when you’re on the other side.”

“Jongin,” I said before I could stop myself, which successfully stopped Baekhyun from saying his next sentence. That’s what I remembered calling him last, so it happened to be the first thing I blurted out.

Kai frowned slightly, meeting my gaze unwaveringly. There was an uncomfortable moment of silence.

“Kai,” he corrected finally, though there seemed to be a note of uncertainty in his voice. “My name is Kai.”

Baekhyun cleared his throat loudly, before turning heel and back pedalling quite a couple of steps. “I’ll leaveth you thwo, then,” he announced. “I’m going tho bruth my theeth.”

Without a second word, Baekhyun retreated again, and his footsteps sounded for a very long time before they finally faded. None of us spoke up until complete silence settled.

“You’re awake,” Kai noted awkwardly, ruffling his hair a bit. “I had no idea that the Awakening process would be that tragic. Neither Mrs. Lee nor I guessed that the barriers in your mind built up were so strong, and that you would resist so much against it. She said you could’ve killed me with that blast of energy if I had been standing just a bit closer.”

Killed him? Kai, whom seemed to be undefeatable? Him? Shock, surprise, then horror dawned on me, and I stared at him with wide eyes, unsure of what to say to that. All I could remember was the golden light, warm and enveloping the black glass wall shattering into oblivion. Blast of energy? I couldn’t recall anything that had to do with that.

“I’m sorry,” I managed in a small voice. “I… didn’t mean to almost kill you.”

“It’s not your fault. But you’ve been unconscious for more than a day, so we have less than a day to go around Ignis before we return to Seoul.”

I blinked. Seoul seemed to be another lifetime, and though I had been in Ignis for less than a week (three or so days, and I was unconscious for half of the time), I had grown oddly accustomed to Ignis, from the people to the customs. It seemed so normal now -- like it was in my blood, which I supposed it was. Going back to Seoul also meant school, and training with Kai, which didn’t sound very fun. Then there was the problem about my hearing -- how was I going to get used to that when I got back to Seoul?

“What happened last night… last time I was awake,” I began slowly. “I can hear everything clearly, and I feel… stronger. Does that have anything to do with…?”

Kai pressed his lips into a grim line. “Athanatoi senses,” he explained, and for some reason, he didn’t look too pleased. I couldn’t pinpoint anything else on his expression. “It’s possible to shut them off, but it takes practice. These rooms are quite soundproof, so if you wear earmuffs, you’ll have no trouble sleeping at night. But yes, it’ll be quite overwhelming for a while, until you get used to it. Maybe you can pay more attention in class now.”

It took me a second or so to realize that he was joking, and all I could do was give a meek nod.

“So if you’re feeling better, we’ll go to the Archives today,” Kai continued. “It’s really quiet there, so I thought you’d like it. Walking around Ignis could prove too much noise if you’re still not used to it.”  

“Sure,” I replied, in a semi-choked voice. I had my share of overwhelming the past couple days, but this was on a different level now -- a quite literal level. With every small noise magnified by god-knew-how-many times, I was pretty much ready to go crazy.

“We’ll eat breakfast and go.” His voice seemed oddly gentle. “And you may want to wash up first. Try to be quick, because the earlier we are, the less people there are. It’ll get too loud if we wait for too long, and in the beginning, listening to people talk in normal voices can seem too loud.”

Kai disappeared out the door before I could make another comment.

It took me a second to realize that his voice hadn’t been too harsh or loud on my ears, like everything else had seemed to be, and that he had claimed. It took me a bit more time to realize that it was because he had been talking softly.

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