“Are you afraid of dogs?” Jongin asked, disbelief scribbled all over his face. “Oh my God. I don’t know you.”

“Yes, but I was chased up one of those playground poles by a huge dog once when I was five and I’m just… kind of scared of them now.”

“Mira, that’s--”

“Please shut up.”

Chapter 23

The next day was awkward.

I went to school unprepared, without my backpack (and without the shirt of my uniform -- but the jacket covered that) and without my homework. It was awkward sitting next to Kai on the bus, and he didn’t speak to me at all. I wasn’t looking forward to school. I wasn’t looking forward to Jimin. In fact, the want to erase the day prior was overwhelming.

Why did such tragic things come out of when I wanted to help?

Kai sat next to me, holding his backpack in his arms and gaze fixed in front of him. His wounds last night were healed -- Yixing had stopped him in the morning and forced him to sit down until he’d healed everything -- but he didn’t seem to be in a better mood. Every one of his answers were curt, clipped and short, and talking to him made me feel even more terrible.

His words from last night continued to echo through my head. That’s not true.

What wasn’t true?

I glanced out the window, the blur of grey buildings speeding by. It was nearing seven thirty, and the traffic was beginning to get worse. The sky matched the buildings -- grey, drab and desolate. If the day hadn’t been terrible enough, then it was now. I wouldn’t put it past it if it started to rain too.

My thoughts flitted back to the Darkling again. Who was he, exactly? I tried to picture him with the vague description given in the book, though there was nothing that my mind could even make up. I couldn’t even imagine his power.

“Who was Life?” I asked aloud, suddenly.

Kai glanced at me, lips pressed together. “Life?”
 

“The previous one.”

For a moment, he looked like he was actually going to say something important, but then he pressed he ripped his gaze away again. “Didn’t Luhan give you books?” he asked, “You can read about her in there too. There’s not nearly as much books on her compared to the Darkling, but you’ll find enough on her. She wasn’t really that important, and not much was recorded about her either.”

“It said the Darkling killed her. I don’t get why--”

Kai stiffened at the mention of the Darkling, though he was quick to hide it. “Ask Luhan for more books.”

The rejection to talk was really, really hurtful and being brushed off by Kai was getting extremely frustrating (and perhaps a little bit sad). “Are you still mad at me?” I asked instead, because it was the only thing I could think of. “I already said I was sorry for yesterday.”

“I’m not mad at you,” he said, still not looking at me. “It’s just frustrating that you didn’t call us.”

I thought about protesting and pointing out that I did try to call them but there was no reception, but the last time I’d tried to protest hadn’t ended well and I didn’t need him to get even more mad at me. Finally, I glanced at my hands. “I’m sorry. I won’t do that ever again.”

He looked at me. “How do I know you’re actually going to keep that promise?”

“I’ll call you next time if I do something dumb?”

“Mira--”

“Okay, I’ll drag you with me next time I do something dumb.”

Ever so slightly, the corners of his lips quirked upwards. “That’s--”

Finally, he gave a long sigh, cutting off his previous sentence. “It’s just… even if Baekhyun did what you did himself, he might’ve not even made it. We rarely go out fighting like that alone, and even though you’ve improved, you can’t do that. Do you know how bad it could’ve been if they actually caught you? The only reason the Darkling hasn’t shown up in Seoul is because of how heavily monitored Seoul is. He can’t create a portal here and not get caught. But if the fire elementals actually did kidnap you…”

His gaze turned dark. “Just don’t do that again.”

“Are you not mad at me anymore, then?”
 

Kai gave another sigh. “Do you want me to be?”

“...No?”

He turned his head away from the front, so he was looking at me. All of a sudden, I was aware of how close we were -- not that it hadn’t happened before, but… “If you do that again,” he warned, though there was a slight smile lingering on his lips. “You’re not going to get let off easily.”

***
 

When we got to school, I was feeling slightly better. Kai wasn’t exactly ignoring me anymore, which was a good thing, but there was still Park Jimin to deal with and that wasn’t exactly ideal. Kai and I parted ways for class (it was one of the few classes we didn’t share) and I headed to my own.

There were no encounters with Jimin, and class passed smoothly without any interruptions. I caught sight of Jaeyeon on the other side of the room, and she gave me a slightly wavering smile before turning away. The hour droned on slowly, and I found myself zoning off from the teacher’s talk to what had happened yesterday.

I wondered if Jimin was actually going to try being somewhat decent to me after I lost my temper with him yesterday. There was also the chance that he’d used what happened yesterday as another reason to taunt me, but I hoped that he at least had the decency to… stop.

It was before lunch when I actually did crash into him in the hallway.

“Your phone,” a familiar voice said, before his orange head appeared in my vision. “Is it okay now?”

I jumped backwards, shocked and slightly taken back. He wasn’t a