In a society where privacy didn’t exist, it was hard to develop certain feelings when they were banned or extinct. Curiosity was one of them. Why would someone be curious when they had access to ‘everything’? If you wanted to know how the universe was created the only thing you had to do was to go to the public library and look for it, they probably even had a hologram of the event. But how would someone explain they had some curiosity about a certain boy? Its purpose definitely wasn’t something academic. So what could be the point if the age for intimacy wasn’t until someone turned twenty five and its sole purpose was reproduction? Balie was definitely not twenty five; she still had five years ahead of her ‘to discover the mysteries of life’. So how would she approach the new kids when it would look suspicious?

Before going in the classroom, Balie stood in front of the door, peeping in, trying to see if there was someone who weren’t the new boys inside. She wanted to take this opportunity to question them about a little, but something stopped her before she completely opened the door, they were having a conversation and it looked serious. It was the first time she saw them talk about something that wasn’t the unsolved mathematics’ theorems. “Shouldn’t we start doing something Sehun? I can’t take another day of these stupid lessons. No wonder why this world is dying” The short boy, apparently named Kyungsoo, said.
“And what could we possibly do? Our brothers are working hard and we are here to cover for them. If we mess up, all the sacrifices we made would be in vain”
“I don’t get it, why saving them when the only thing they can do it destroy what they create?” Jongin whispered as he scanned the classroom, trying to find something that would keep him entertained for the next four hours.
“Because they are like us, we got our second chance too, remember?”
“Right, we did but we weren’t brain washed, we still had some sanity in our heads. We should just leave; they wouldn’t even find that suspicious. I don’t think we would find the exceptions our elders talked about.” At the beginning Balie didn’t like the tanned boy, he seemed a little bit arrogant but as the weeks passed she discovered he was really smart and apparently kind. Maybe it was just an act, but she liked the way he thought, it was exactly what she thought at night before going to bed. Why saving us if we are just robots?
“Shut up, someone is peeping behind the door” Kyungsoo’s voice became harsher and scarier.
“Impossible, normally they would just open the door” Sehun said as he opened the door before Balie had the time to hide. His dark eyes looked at her firmly, grabbing her wrist and dragging her inside.
“Tell me, little one, what did you hear?” He was scary, Balie never felt so much fear in her life before that moment; even though she lived in fear, fearing she and Arabella would be caught by the government and banished, sent to where the outcasts lived; that dark place where no one would dare to visit or even mention.
“I-I… you were talking about… girls” –Heavens, I’m such a bad liar- For her surprise, Sehun smiled wide, pushing her against the door. He was close enough for her to smell that strange scent of him. Did he use some kind of wooden substance with some unknown reasons? It wasn’t that strong so she could barely perceive it, but it made her dizzy, she had never smelt something like that before.
“Now, now, now. We have a liar here; someone would be in so many troubles if I were to mention it” Her heart stopped for a second before she could look back into his eyes and gain something they called ‘courage’.
“I wouldn’t be the only one lying. You three are hiding things too” Their faces were really close, Balie’s pupils were dilated once again, and for some reason Sehun’s were too. She never saw that physical reaction in anyone before and it just opened her curiosity even more
“Oh we are, and you will have to come with us. You can’t refuse, or the detectors will take you. But I’ll let you choose, you go with them who probably will kill you or you go with me and my brothers, I can’t promise it will be pretty, babe. You probably will be more scared than how you are right not”
“And… what makes it so… scary” The word in Balie’s lips felt odd, she wasn’t familiarized with the term, at least not out loud.
“Monsters. Real monsters”.