Chapter 21

Trillins Academy of The Vaeli
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Chapter 21

When Yoomi came to again, she could feel a warm hand on her forehead, gently feeling for her temperature. For a second, she couldn’t figure out where she was, but then she identified it as one of the many beds in the infirmary once her vision had cleared.

“How are you feeling, Yoomi-ah?” Yixing’s soft voice drifted through the haze she was still trying to shake off. Yoomi blinked a few times to bring the world back into focus and then shifted in search of him. Yixing was seated to her left in a chair placed near the bed she laid in, eyebrows slanted downwards slightly in concern and a soft frown on his face. “You’ve been asleep for about an hour. Junmyeon hyung was here the whole time until I persuaded him to go back to class just a while ago. He was worried sick about you.”

Suddenly the previous events that had led up to that moment hit the confused girl and she was overcome with shame and guilt. Of course, there were still feelings of frustration that lingered if she thought about it too much, but beyond that, there was just the hollow sensation of bitterness over the whole ordeal. She was ashamed that she had lost her temper like that, and maybe upset because some of what Xiumin had said was true- she just didn’t want to believe it. Still, though, he had been far too harsh about it and- at this moment, however, Yoomi forced herself to not think about the argument, ignoring the heavy feelings inside and latching onto the comfort Yixing was offering her. Junmyeon must’ve felt the hurricane of emotions from her and was definitely worried as well, the thought of him warming her heart, though she once again felt bad that she had created such a situation in the first place.

“Oh no, I must’ve worried him,” she muttered, truly upset that she did such a thing and caused her mate more stress, even if it had been unintentional. Then she remembered the calming hands that had caught her before, blinking over at Yixing. “But… were you here the whole time as well?” She instantly felt guilty not only for making Junmyeon worried but also for causing Yixing to skip class.

“Of course; I couldn’t just leave until I was sure that you’re fine,” he replied, then stopped for a beat before adding, “you know, as a healer.” The smile on his face was gentle and genuine, though also a little sheepish. His dimple stood out faintly, the smile not being so big that it was overly prominent, and Yoomi couldn’t help but return his sheepish gesture at the sight of it, though she still felt bad.

“But I know your attendance is really important to you,” she trailed off, genuinely feeling apologetic.

“Don’t worry, I’ve gotten permission to look after you as a healer intern.”

“Thank you.” Yoomi tried to smile back at him, but she was still feeling too emotionally drained, so the action probably came off a little more wry and weak than she had meant for it to. The girl still felt incredibly tired and a little lost about everything.

Yixing hummed, watching her carefully. “Yoomi-ah, are you okay?”

“Huh?”

“You seemed pretty upset earlier- or, well, furious may be a better word for it.” Yixing attempted to approach the topic delicately, his words making him sound hesitant, but his tone was completely confident and reassuring like he was coaxing the girl to speak.

He insisted on making direct eye contact with her, his deep brown eyes searching her own sincerely. “Do you remember what I told you on the very first day that we met, Yoomi? That you can come to me with anything and I will gladly listen. Well, I meant it and that will never change.” He gave Yoomi his trademark angelic smile and something in her seemed to melt and crumble. The heaviness that she felt in her chest broke apart and the tension faded as her shoulders fell and tears began to prick the corners of her eyes once again.

Acting on instinct, as if his words had been a form of permission, the girl leaned over and buried her face in his chest, embracing the warmth his body provided.

“Yoomi?” Cautiously, she could feel his arms raise. His hands hovered over her back for a few seconds, still unsure, before he heaved a faint sigh that ruffled the hair on the top of her head, hands finally coming to rest lightly on her back. Yoomi could feel their heat through the material of her uniform vest, the very same heat that had calmed her down before she could snap at Jihoon, preventing her from doing something that she would regret. She knew that Yixing was a healer, but it felt like more than that as if her body was soaking up all of the warmth and comfort and reassurance it could just from his gentle hold on her. She stayed that way for a minute, calmly breathing in and out, unsure what to say. But he was waiting for an explanation and she wanted to get everything off her chest anyway.

“Do…” she stopped, trailing off. Shaking her head and inhaling deeply to center herself and gather courage, the girl pushed her head further into his embrace in both an effort to hide and seek more of the peaceful feeling he brought her. “Do you know why Xiumin oppa hates me?” That hadn’t been what she meant to say.

“What?” He sounded surprised, if not completely baffled by her question. He tried to pull away to look at her, but the girl held firm, refusing to part with him or move from their current position.

“I thought we had become friends, but every time we’re alone together all he does is insult me. Naive. Useless. Stupid. A burden. He’s always angry and annoyed with me, and he won’t even allow me to call him by his real name, and he’s so harsh and dismissive and, and-” Her fingers gripped the back of his cotton vest tightly, bunching up the material as the pain and faded anger returned, though this time both were much more muted in comparison to what they had been during the actual argument. The image of the fourth year’s icy glare flashed through her mind and she nearly flinched on reflex at the memory of the argument. “He’s always so cold. He reminded me so much of my other bullies, but I thought he was different...” The sentence came out nothing but a mere murmur, a whisper more to herself than anyone else, though Yixing heard it without a doubt.

“Minseok hyung doesn’t hate you.” Yixing sighed again, his voice still the same calm and confident tone. As if sensing her protests, one of his hands rubbed a circle on her back, effectively shushing the younger girl. “In fact, I’ve seen him looking through books at the library and asking for material to help you in your training on multiple occasions. I even had to stand outside your guys’ classroom for ten minutes the other day, waiting for him to finish talking to one of our professors about power coaching tips so that we could head to lunch together.” He chuckled lightly, unable to see the way her eyes widened in shock. “He may seem cold, but that’s just his personality. Part of it might come from his powers, but a large part of it is also how he grew up.”

“Do you remember how not long ago, Yifan hyung and I told you about us S-ranks being Guardians?” he asked rhetorically while still gently rubbing his hand on her back. Yoomi nodded her head against his chest, though she wasn’t entirely sure what that conversation had to do with the one they were having now.

“Well,” he began, “there are certain vaeli families that have a long history of producing well-respected Guardians. Minseok hyung comes from one of those prestigious family lines.” At this, Yoomi detached herself from the older boy, now slightly interested in what he had to say.

“In fact, Minseok hyung’s lineage is known for producing at least one S-rank in every generation. Because of this and their proud history, those members are usually assigned to have high positions within the Guardians, some even rising to become council members. There have been multiple leaders and commanders throughout his family tree, and so there are a lot of high hopes for him.”

“Wow,” Yoomi muttered, unable to stop herself from feeling impressed. “I didn’t know that about him, or that his family was so powerful and famous.”

“The thing is, Minseok hyung doesn’t exactly see that as a good thing,” Yixing explained, tone turning a little weary. There was no doubt that such a family history was admirable like Yoomi had said, but at the same time, he knew his friend’s true feelings about his family and the role he had to play because of it.

“Huh?” She couldn’t exactly see how something like that could be bad.

“It’s a lot of responsibility and pressure, for one,” the boy explained with a sigh. “But more than that, hyung has always felt trapped by his family history. Because they’ve produced so many good and well-known Guardians, his career path has been set from the start; from the second he was named an S-rank after his twelfth birthday, his parents and even grandparents have been planning out his future. Most S-ranks get the choice of whether or not they want to be a Guardian -so long as there’s not an immediate threat and they get drafted-, or if they want to pick a major here at Trillins and pursue a more normal career path in the human world. However, he didn’t get that option like the rest of us and he hates how he lacks that same basic freedom.”

“Eventually,” he continued, voice somehow turning even softer as he sounded sad for his hyung’s troubles, “he started resenting the position of Guardian, as well as his family that constantly forced him to train for what they saw as his birthright and pushed him too far. It turned into a bit of a complex, where it became too much and he started seeking for a way to blame others. The reason he resents and looks down on those that are weaker than him -people like B-ranks and even talamhis-, is because he feels that without them, there would be no need for Guardians in the first place. He favors a ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality and desperately wishes that people could just take care of themselves so that he wouldn’t have to and he could be free. Honestly, none of us really like how he looks down on others at times, and we’ve talked to him about it, but don’t you think that his way of thinking is kind of sad at the same time?”

“I don’t know what exactly he has been saying to you, Yoomi-ah, and I’m not trying to defend Minseok hyung, nor am I saying that his actions weren’t wrong. What I’m doing is trying to give you another perspective into why Minseok hyung is the way he is,” Yixing finally finished, ending his monologue in a soft voice that urged her to understand.

Yoomi was speechless, all the words she was going to voice stuck in . She had never expected something like that; in fact, she was beginning to realize that she actually didn’t know much about the boys’ pasts, aside from Junmyeon and Sehun, who had both shared some of it with her, her slowly arriving flashbacks providing a little insight into the former’s history as well.

Of course, Xiumin had still been overly harsh with her and being pressured by his family was no real reason to develop a prejudice, but she did agree with Yixing that the older boy’s way of thinking was extremely sad. To be given so much responsibility and constantly be pushing people away like that must be lonely. He must also feel so trapped since his future had been planned out for him since day one. It made her think about her conversation just earlier that morning with Baekhyun, the one about how all vaeli craved freedom and the old saying about how a bird will die if caged too long. Even though in this case they were talking about freedom in a far less literal sense than the wide open spaces of the academy that had been the topic of discussion then, she still felt like those words applied to Xiumin’s situation.

While she was thinking all this and trying to sort everything out in her head, Yixing took her quietness as a sign to continue. He was intent on trying to make Yoomi understand and see the truth so that she and Xiumin could move past this and work things out- he was going to have a talk with his hyung later as well to make sure that he also understood and was on the same page as Yoomi.

“I know it might not seem like it to you right now, but you have to trust me on this: he does care. Minseok hyung is, ironically, very hot-headed. He flusters easily and gets frustrated the second things don’t go his way. He’s got less patience than even Baekhyun and hates sitting around doing nothing. That’s probably why he’s so short tempered with you and scolds you so much. Even with his feelings of resentment towards his role, he takes being a Guardian very seriously and, although he may be a jerk about it that looks down on others at times, he still has good intentions deep down. At the end of the day, he still did all that because he wants you to do well and quickly figure out your powers. He’s a perfectionist,” he quickly added, sensing that Yoomi may not entirely be able to forgive Xiumin so easily after all of the harsh comments she probably had to endure from him, “so I’m certain that everything he’s said to you is just stuff that he’s said to himself over the years. His words may be overly harsh and dismissive, but I don’t want you to see them as insolent insults. He’s just worried about you; he wants you to become stronger, I promise. Even if its so that he wouldn’t have to protect you anymore because you were weaker .”

This time when he said it, Yoomi couldn’t help but involuntarily let out a few chuckles with him, though they were partially in disbelief. She was still a little unsure, and definitely still hurt by all of the things he had said, but at some point during his speech, the girl had slowly felt herself relax completely and her heart warm a little bit. Making Yoomi laugh to cheer her up was more of Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Jongdae’s thing, but Yixing, in his honest, heart-to-heart kind of way, helped her to see reason in things.

Suddenly, another small detail of the argument came back to her, a new thought just now occurring to the girl. “Even if that is how Xiumin oppa truly feels, what about everyone else? What about you?” she asked, avoiding meeting his eyes.

“Huh?” Yixing tilted his head, a clear sign of his confusion.

“Do you dislike it as well? That you guys have to keep looking out for me because I’m so weak and clueless? I mean,” she twiddled her thumbs together, desperate for a distraction, and bit her bottom lip a little in nervousness, “Xiumin oppa pointed out the fact that I was just kind of into your lives, and he’s not wrong. He said that the rest of you would eventually get tired of it, just like he was.”

“Yoomi…” Yixing let her name hang in the air for a minute before he looked away. It was silent for a moment, and then he broke the stillness that had settled around the pair with a light chuckle and one of his angelic smiles. “Of course we don’t mind having your back; we’re your friends, after all. And eventually, I’m sure you won’t even need us- we’ll always be there for you, but one day you’ll figure out your power. It may take a while to become stronger, but I’m sure you can do it. Come on now, where did the usual confident and playful Lee Yoomi go?”

“You really think so?”

“I do. I haven’t known you for long, Yoomi, but I do know that you can do anything once you put your mind to it.” At this, a small smile grew on her face, the optimism and confidence slowly returning to her.

“Thank you, Yixing oppa,” as she said this, she lowered her eyes from his, feeling unusually shy. “You always manage to make me feel better.”

When her eyes raised to meet Yixing’s again, his normally soft brown eyes flashed a beautiful, deep shade of rose. They seemed to glow from within, his gentle gaze pulling her in further and further. Unbeknownst to either of them, they held warm eye contact like that for a whole minute, slowly leaning towards each other as if they wanted to press their foreheads together and rest like that- though they never got that far before being snapped out of it.

Yoomi blinked, suddenly feeling the familiar burning sensation on her left shoulder blade. The skin on her back, over the place her heart would be, erupted in a sensation of pins and needles and the heat made her gasp. Glancing up at Yixing again, she noticed the pale grimace on his face and recognized that he was feeling the same pain as her. Remembering both her research and her own personal experience when bonding with Junmyeon, she shifted in her spot on the bed and pulled the older boy in for a hug in hopes of easing the burning sensation with her touch.

“It’s okay, oppa.” Yoomi wrapped her arms around him this time, sliding her hands down his back once and nervously toying with the hem of his shirt. She hesitated for a moment before she allowed her small hands to slip under his shirt, smoothing over his spine until she reached his aching shoulder where she knew his mark would be as well. Instantly, his muscles seemed to relax and his furrowed brows smoothed out, the boy seeming to melt against her with relief.

Catching on to what she was doing, Yixing threw his arms around the girl as well and followed her lead, although much more sure of his actions than she was. The hug, although completely innocent, also felt intimate at the moment, considering everything. Yoomi let out a sigh of relief herself once she felt his warm and gentle hand make contact with her skin and brushed over the back of her stinging left shoulder. Like a cat -which was ironic since they all seemed to have nicknamed her kitten-, Yixing slowly leaned his head down to rest his chin on her opposite shoulder and then turned his face to nuzzle her hair and hide in her neck, taking in her scent with a deep breath.

“Y-Yixing o-oppa?” she stuttered, embarrassed and more than flustered since they had just bonded and he had made the already warm hug somehow become even more intimate with that one action. He hummed lightly in response, urging her to continue. She swallowed nervously.

“Um, this means we’re m-mates too, r-right?” Yoomi felt herself flush an even deeper shade of red once the words were spoken out loud. The two of them being mates could only mean that one day they would fall in love with each other just like she and Junmyeon did, and the realization of this made the girl incredibly flustered. She could feel the heat coming off of his cheek that was pressed against her shoulder, letting her know that he was blushing as well and just as flustered as she was with their current situation and position.

“Your eyes are really pretty, Yoomi-ah,” he whispered, breath tickling her neck and making her shiver. “I don’t even know how to describe the color; it’s like looking at an entire galaxy of stars. Junmyeon hyung and I are lucky.”

He let out a soft chuckle, though she could tell from his tone of voice that he was embarrassed. “The others will be so jealous when they hear.”

“Oppa,” she whined softly, both flattered and still beyond flustered. They sat there for a couple of minutes in silence, just taking in each other’s presence and enjoying the peace of the moment. Yoomi was curious as to what the new bonding mark on her shoulder looked like, but now wasn’t the time to check it out. She would just have to look later, in the privacy of her room and with the help of a mirror most likely. It was only after the faint burning sensation finally disappeared and the red in their faces had died down a little that Yixing spoke again. However, neither of them moved from their spots. He did move so that his chin was resting on

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Pandaisy
Chap 30 of Trillins Academy is up! Make sure to reread the previous chapter if you don't remember what was going on xD

Comments

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dysphoricavery #1
Chapter 38: this fic is so fun! I hope you are alright and doing well, I am eagerly waiting for anything you put out
Grace1356 #2
Chapter 38: I love this story so much and I will continue re reading it while waiting and hoping for a new update ^^
SuhoLoverDebo
#3
Hi are you guys alright? It's over a year you last updated.. Is this story discontinued?
MadhuDeepti #4
Re read the story, can't wait for another update! 🥰
MadhuDeepti #5
Chapter 38: This is a beautiful story . Can't wait for next update. Pls 🙏 update soon
Readersin
#6
Chapter 38: Re-reading this again
bbibaekie
#7
Chapter 38: Reread this story and ahh I can’t wait for another update!
Devon12345
#8
Chapter 38: I will wait for the next update! :)
Daliance #9
Chapter 38: Thank you for the update!! I love it!!
Whoa, Yoomi is amazing!!
And their interactions are soo cuteeee
lisbeth110499
#10
Chapter 38: Update soon
Yomi and kris momentos please