Chapter Eleven

After Yoomi snuck away from the fighting pair, she headed towards the kitchen, since Chanyeol had skipped over it because Kyungsoo was busy making their meal in there. She knew that Chanyeol had warned her to stay out of Kyungsoo’s way, but she was curious- both about the kitchen and Kyungsoo. Cooking was one of her hobbies, something that she grew up doing with her mom in order to spend more time with her. And Kyungsoo, well, remembering her meeting with him at the greenhouse, she was still just as interested in him now as she was then; she wanted to talk to him again. So, completely disregarding Chanyeol’s warning, she happily skipped into the kitchen. Once she entered the room, her train of thought derailed and she was instantly impressed, just like she was with every other aspect of this place.

The kitchen was large and spacious with plenty of counter space for cooking, two stainless steel refrigerators standing side by side, and a professional stove two times the size of a normal one. The doubling made a lot of sense, taking into account that twelve boys lived there and they needed a lot of food- and now she would be living there as well, so it was even more necessary to have all of the space and supplies. There was a shiny chrome sink large enough to fit the dishes of all the people staying there in it and an island with six bar seats with different colored cushions, two grey, two white, and two black to fit in with the sleek, modern design of the room.

“What are you doing in here?” a voice asked, startling Yoomi from her admiration. She turned to find Kyungsoo glaring at her and gave him a side, confident smile, completely unperturbed by his attitude.

“I wanted to help you make dinner, sunbae.”

“No.” His reply came without missing a beat, his voice a little harsh.

“No?” she echoed, pouting at him playfully. She approached him despite his quick refusal, ignoring the narrowing of his eyes. He was using some type of grill top on the stove, a large pile of uncooked meat on the tray next to him and other ingredients for side dishes laid out on the countertops. “Are we having barbecue?” she asked curiously. He didn’t answer but turned back around to flip the switch on the stove and begin heating the grill plate. “Hey,” Yoomi huffed, annoyed at his dismissal, “I can cook really well. I promise that I won’t mess anything up. And you owe me anyway- I could have had a concussion from you dropping me so carelessly back at the greenhouse,” she teased, to which she saw the tips of his ears go pink at the reminder.

“Fine,” he gave in snappishly, trying to cover up how flustered he was. “You can start cutting up the vegetables for the side dishes and things then.” He pressed a knife and a wooden cutting board into her hands, not meeting her eyes. Despite his best efforts to control it, there was an almost unnoticeable pink tint to his cheeks and despite his cold attitude, he seemed embarrassed. Of course, that only amused Yoomi, as well as caused her to blink a few times and try to hold in a wide smile or the urge to ‘aw’ at him. He looked really cute when he was blushing like that.

“Are you going to start working, or not?” His voice snapped her out of her daze and Yoomi tried unsuccessfully to brush it off by moving to the empty counter on his other side and putting the cutting board down with a clatter. He mumbled something under his breath about already regretting accepting her help and the girl pouted, determined to prove him wrong. She was actually really good at cooking, just like she had told the doubtful boy. Her mom had begun teaching her at a young age on how to help around the house and prepare meals since she wanted her daughter to be able to take care of herself if anything unfortunate were to happen. Along the way, though, Yoomi learned to appreciate cooking and even enjoyed it, so she had even looked up recipes and tried them on her own once she got older. Back at home, she was often the one in charge of cooking dinner and it was how she and her mom bonded.

It was quiet for a couple of minutes, nothing but the sound of the knife meeting the cutting board and the sizzling of meat on the grill, but it was a comfortable silence. Surprisingly enough, Yoomi didn’t feel awkward at all standing next to him despite the two not knowing each other that well. Then he spoke again and she was so startled she jumped in place.

“I’m surprised you can do something as complicated as cooking, since the first time we met you were tangled up in a tree like an idiot.”

“Yah!” she protested, though her surprised laugh contradicted her indignation. Was he actually teasing her back? With his stoic attitude and apparent inability to detect sarcasm, as well as the warnings Chanyeol had given her, she certainly hadn’t thought he was capable of something like that. She liked it, but she didn’t have time to appreciate his seemingly newfound playfulness -even if the flat tone of his voice hadn’t really changed, she was sure that he was joking- because she had accidentally missed a with the knife and ended up nicking herself when he broke the quiet so suddenly. It was a small cut on the side of her index finger, but she was still bleeding and it still hurt. She hissed, dropping the knife and holding her injured finger up to her face to get a closer look. That closer look, though, freaked her out.

“Wha-”

“Idiot.” Kyungsoo scowled, snatching her hand away from herself and speed walking her to the sink. He the faucet and shoved her bleeding finger underneath it to wash away the blood and soothe the pain. “I guess I spoke too soon, huh?”

But Yoomi yanked her hand back to herself before all the blood could be washed away. “Why do I… why do I have silver blood?!” she yelled, eyes wide and glued to the dots of molten silver that stood out and shone against her skin. She watched, dumbfounded and still trying to understand what she was seeing, as he once again ignored her and rifled through a nearby drawer, unconcerned. The fact that her blood wasn’t red like it was supposed to be didn’t even seem to faze him. He pulled out a pack of bandages that must have been kept there just in case of any emergencies or accidents like this and carefully slid one out of the box. Yoomi couldn’t help but stare at him with slightly parted in shock as he carefully dried off her hand and wrapped a colorful bandaid with tiny cartoon lion heads on it around her hurt finger. His touch was unbelievably gentle and he handled her as if she were something delicate. Despite her still mentally freaking out, she couldn’t help but feel a shiver go down her spine at the light contact between them. It didn’t last long though, his words as he let go of her hand contrasting his caring actions.

“Be more careful next time. I don’t want to have your blood staining my pristine kitchen or be accused of purposefully giving the others food poisoning because you messed something up.”

“Okay, but why was it silver?” Yoomi emphasized the word again, his words flying over her head as she was still stuck on that one detail. He turned away from her questioning gaze, scoffing.

“All vaeli blood is silver. It’s because of the Aetha that flows through our veins, everyone knows that,” he explained while simultaneously insulting her a little for her ignorance. Again, in spite of his harsh words, his actions were kind and gentle as he bumped her side gently to usher her away from the counter and he began cutting the vegetables for her where she left off.

“But my blood’s never been silver before,” she protested weakly, frowning. Her head was spinning from the revelation. Just when she thought she was getting the hang of things, she would learn something new about vaeli that surprised her and threw her totally for a loop, and then she felt like she was back at square one, just as confused and panicked as she was on her eighteenth birthday.

“If it bothers you that much, just go find Yixing hyung or something. I can finish making dinner on my own.”

“But-”

“You should take better care of yourself,” he told her softly, nothing more than a mumble so quiet she wasn’t sure if she even heard it or imagined it at first. However, the pretty pink that was once again dusting his cheeks and the fact that he refused to make eye contact with her, gaze stubbornly and intensely fixed on his work, told her that she had actually heard him worrying about her.

Yoomi tried to protest again but eventually gave up, since Kyungsoo wouldn’t let her keep cooking no matter how much she begged. Once she got tired of bugging him to let her help, she decided to follow his orders and go seek out Lay, even though it was just a small cut and it had already been taken care of. Maybe he would be able to answer her questions, though, since she was still a little uneasy about the sudden change in the color of her blood. She found him helping Suho to set the long table outside on the balcony where they would be eating soon. Suho abruptly turned around to look at her even before she appeared in their field of vision like he had known she was coming somehow. It was weird, but she had other weird things to deal with currently, and so she didn’t really pay his odd intuitiveness any mind.

“Lay sunbae,” she called out to get his attention after giving Suho a brief, distracted smile as a greeting.

“Call me Yixing,” he corrected with a kind smile.

“Oh, right, Yixing sunbae.” She blinked, taking a moment to note the way his real name felt and sounded like coming from her. “I got a little cut while I was cooking, and Kyungsoo sunbae told me to come to find you.”

“Oh,” he blinked back at her, setting down the cup he was holding and coming over to her side. “I’ll take a look at it then.” He grabbed her hand gently and the same pleasant, tingly feeling of being energized and healed that Yoomi had experienced when she passed out after teleporting with Kai washed over her. “There you go,” he gave her his angelic, dimpled smile, “it’s all better now. Be more careful, Yoomi. You know, I’m surprised that Kyungsoo even let you into his precious kitchen in the first place,” he joked lightly as he released her hand.

“Thank you,” she told him as he let go. Even though her finger was healed and probably left no scar, she didn’t really want to take off the bandage. It was adorable, and Kyungsoo had given it to her. She involuntarily flushed a little at that thought, but quickly shook her head and brought up the other thing that was on her mind. “La- Yixing sunbae,” she corrected herself without having to be told this time, “is it true that all vaeli blood is silver?” she asked hesitantly. It wasn’t that she thought Kyungsoo was lying to her, she was just extremely confused.

“Yes,” he answered, sounding a little confused himself on why she was asking. “It’s because of the Aetha.”

"But when I entered the academy gates for the first time, the security made Mr. Choi do a DNA check, and the blood I saw in the vial was red." Yoomi being Yoomi, couldn't let go of what she saw and had to voice it out. "Or is he not a vaeli?!?"

To this, both Yixing and Suho let out little chuckles at. "No, Yoomi. He is most certainly a vaeli-- as is everyone else on this island. Vaeli blood is red while in our bodies and only turns silver when it is exposed to the air and oxidizes. So the reason his blood was red when you saw it in the vial is probably that it hasn't been exposed to air.

“Oh," Yoomi nodded, finding that his explanation made sense. "But I got hurt all the time growing up and my blood was always red,” she confessed.

“That was when you were with your human parents, right?” Suho asked politely, joining the conversation. She nodded even though she was pretty sure the question was rhetorical. “The headmaster mentioned all of your powers being repressed until recently, perhaps that has something to do with it. If your magical energy, your Aetha, was dormant, then that might explain why your blood was red during that time, since it’s only that energy that causes the pigmentation of our blood.”

“That makes sense,” Yixing agreed with his hyung.

“Oh right, my ring.” Yoomi held up her right hand to show them the ring situated there, its uniquely colored gem glittering in the light. “Grandpa said he put a charm onto this ring to protect me, one that would suppress my memories and all of my vaeli abilities until my eighteenth birthday, which was just a few weeks before I came to the academy,” she explained. Both of them looked fascinated by her story and her ring, Suho, in particular, staring at her with interest. His gaze kept traveling from her eyes to her hand, and back, expression becoming unreadable. She shifted from one foot to the other, feeling a little self-conscious, and quickly tried to prevent herself from blushing by donning a confident grin and retracting her raised hand to run her fingers through her hair nervously. The small charms on her bracelet clanged together and that seemed to snap both her and Suho out of it.

“Anyways, can I help you set the table, sunbaes?” Yoomi asked, not wanting to stand around until dinner time now that she had been kicked out of the kitchen and her earlier tour interrupted. Plus, she was enjoying talking to them both.

“Of course,” Suho agreed, smiling softly at her. “Dinner will probably be ready soon anyway and I should go round up the boys. Why don’t you and Yixing finish here?”

“Okay, sunbae,” she smiled back at him. She took the dish he was holding from his hands and he beamed at her as he passed.

“You’re so helpful and obedient, Yoomi-ah. You make a great maknae. Sehun could learn a few things from you,” he joked and patted her on the head before leaving the room to find the others. Yoomi grinned to herself a little at the praise and the sensation his hand left on her head-- she figured she quite liked that feeling. She froze a moment later though, paling when she heard a familiar scoff followed by the sight of Sehun.

“How old are you? When’s your birthday?” he demanded with a glare, storming up to her.

“Um, I just turned eighteen a few weeks ago, why?” she asked absently, repeating what she had just finished telling Yixing and Suho. She blinked a few times in confusion at his growing scowl, wondering why it mattered and what was bothering him now.

“Even if you’re younger than me, I’m still the maknae around here, got it? Don’t think you can ever replace me,” he snapped.

“Sehun!” Yixing scolded, sounding positively aghast at his attitude. Sehun sneered at her and then took a seat at the end of the table. His chair scraped against the ground loudly on purpose and he sat there with crossed arms, pouting as Yixing lectured him. He didn’t apologize though and Yoomi found herself watching him with a slight frown on her face. She just couldn’t figure him out. One minute he was threatening her, and the next he was saving her life. Just earlier that week on Monday,