24.

‘Savages.’

Came Lucas’s horrified whisper as he stared wide-eyed at the crime scene.

Johnny and Ten gasped in unison. ‘What was that?’

‘Savages…,’ he repeated, too shaken it seemed to say anything else. ‘Absolute savages.’

Perhaps I shared his shock to some extent; my eyes glued to the pie plate that within five minutes, went from untouched to gone without a trace. To Lucas’s utter dismay, there was none left for him in the older men’s fray.

Breakfast had been terribly lively, as expected; the men all huddling together at the table – Johnny sandwiching me between himself and Jaehyun, and Taeil and Dongyoung doing the same to Ten and Lucas on the other side, much to their chagrin – with plates and glasses filled to the brim.

Unlike last Sunday’s menu, breakfast this time consisted of oven-baked eggs, toasted ciabatta slices, filtered coffee, and a pot of fruit-infested porridge only Johnny seemingly touched. And again, much to my predictions, they had all encouraged me to eat far more than I could.

‘That’s way too little!’ Ten was the first to cry out upon glancing over the single egg and toast in my plate. ‘You’d better eat three more eggs than that, Saerin.’

Not giving me a chance to retaliate, Johnny piped up next from aside, ‘and oatmeal too.’

‘Or do you usually eat something else for breakfast…?’

Lucas’s question was certainly an innocent one. Nonetheless, it made the entire table go silent; every one of the household members present looking to each other worriedly. Jaehyun was one of the first to rise out their seats when I stopped this mad train of thought.

‘No!’ I had thankfully blurted before any of them could make a move for the counters again. ‘This is more than enough. Thank you, really.’

Neither of them seemed appeased – still looking like they were about ready to dive for the kitchen again – yet I wasn’t the only one to notice it. Dongyoung had too, despite also showing concern for my eating habits, when he made to divert their attention; his eyes settling on me.

‘So,’ he started, drinking from a mug coolly. ‘I take it you’ve met Lucas, Saerin?’

‘By the way, his real name is Wong Yukhei,’ Ten offered before I could even respond, though the remark was met with blank stares he only reciprocated with an inconspicuous look in between mouthfuls.

‘What? It’s the truth.’

‘Dude.’

Though amused considering it tickled the memory of the time he had introduced himself and Johnny to me, I answered between the question between another – no doubt – flourishing banter of theirs.

‘That’s right,’ I hummed, chewing a fresh bite from my plate, and turned to look at the younger boy who smiled cordially in return despite having only spared Ten a dry look seconds earlier. ‘If I may, how many of you live here?’

‘Seven,’ Taeil answered. ‘Though I believe there’s only one member you’ve yet to meet.’

‘Ah…’

‘His name’s Minhyung,’ Johnny proffered from my left, abandoning his porridge to offer the group a terribly puzzled look at that. ‘Actually… what’s with him these days? The kid rarely comes out whenever Saerin stops by.’

Ten assumed a similar look at that. ‘Come to think of it, you’re right. He rarely ever misses a meal either. Lucas!’

The youngest jumped in his seat at that; his head snapping from the empty pie dish to Ten’s face in an instant. ‘Yes?’

‘Go get him.’

‘But…,’ he hesitated, still casting longing looks at the invisible pie. ‘The pie…’

I couldn’t help but feel my heart ache at how dejected he still was over not getting the chance to taste the dessert I brought. And noting the apologetic stare I offered the youngest, Jaehyun said to me from aside sheepishly, ‘sorry. It’s kind of always like this here.’

‘I like it.’

‘Hm?’

‘This kind of thing…,’ I gestured to the table as everyone else drifted to another conversation of interest, scarfing down the last of their meals. ‘It’s a bit nostalgic. Maybe because it reminds me of how things were when…’

I trailed off upon realising that unlike last night, there were a lot more people present. Nonetheless, Jaehyun nodded; the understanding in his eyes more than apparent. I was only grateful for his silent acknowledgment. The thought, however, prompted a much more pressing one as the commotion at the table settled with everyone rounding up the last of the food on their plates.

Turning back to face Dongyoung directly, I said as steadily as I could, ‘I hate to say it, but truthfully, I didn’t just come here to visit.’

‘Oh?’

‘There are a lot of things I need you to continue explaining to me since that evening, Dongyoung. I’m certain you know precisely what.’

Everyone present at the table fell silent at the prompt; their eyes searching each other’s in a way I was all too familiar with but refused to think was what it all truly implied. But I watched them carefully, gauging every furrow of their eyebrows, every twitch of their lips, regarding every miniscule detail I could, when Taeil was the first to relent, it seemed.

Pulling his eyes away from the others and looking directly at me – his hands coming together in front of him as if in preparation to speak – he said, ‘I take it you remember Dongyoung’s story about our ancestors and the land?’

I nodded.

‘Considering their otherwise inconceivable interaction with what they called ‘spirits’ of the forest, the natives then were able to… perceive things normal people couldn’t. Be it through sight, sound, hearing, and – most remarkably – what most call a developed sixth sense.’

Johnny spoke next, nodding cautiously, ‘one can only imagine it was vital at the time for communicating with an animal, so to speak. And considering we’re all descendants of them, it’s only natural that we inherited traits.’

My eyes widened at the prospect, but I didn’t dare to speak. My own thoughts were once again muddled; the preconceptions I’d come with dissolving with the story they retold. Sixth sense? As ridiculous as it seemed – as straight up preposterous as it sounded – it did a lot better at explaining what happened last night with Jaehyun than my own unspeakable assumptions. The thought prompted me to look at him on my right; Jaehyun’s eyes finding mine almost instantly the moment I did, and holding his level gaze, a word surfaced as clear as day in my mind, startling me enough to gasp.

‘Sensitive…?’

‘Wow,’ Ten’s eyes widened at me. ‘That’s actually a great way of putting it. Yeah, we’re practically sensitives.’

Lucas piped up next excitably, ‘Jaehyun’s the most skilled at it, though. We can all more or less gauge demeanours and perceive intentions based on a heightened emotional value, if you will. But with Jaehyun… it’s almost like he’s reading our minds. He’s that good.’

The last of Lucas’s words struck me deeply. Too deeply. I hadn’t dared even utter it myself despite it only being an assumption of theatrical scale. But the fact that it was now acknowledged—no, confirmed—I couldn’t help but feel shaken. Mind reading. As absurd as it sounded, however, the most frightening part was that I could not dismiss it. What happened last night allowed for no other explanation but. The same could be said for seconds ago when Jaehyun seemingly planted a word in my mind; as if he were speaking to me in a conversation of secrecy; and considering how often it seemed the household members engaged in such, discrediting it was nothing short of foolish.

Fighting my disbelief, I hadn’t realised the table had fallen deathly silent; all eyes trained on me for signs of a response to it all. I would have been lying if I said I wasn’t unnerved. Considering how I struggled to muster a single word thereafter, there was no doubt in my mind they could tell that much.

‘You don’t believe it.’

Jaehyun’s voice pulled me out of my anxious lingering in an instant. Snapping my head in his direction again – lips still quivering, mind grasping for appropriate words – I found myself incapable of anything but staring at how despondently he reacted to the notion. Hands balled tight, body language closed and stiff, eyes downcast and his expression nothing short of upset, I felt my heart drop.

All the time I knew him, this was certainly a first for Jaehyun. Of all the ways I expected he and the household to react, the last of my predictions were realised. He looked so pained by even the thought of me rejecting their claims that I suddenly found my voice again, rising swiftly and unexpectedly.

‘No,’ I said; the word effectively garnering his attention, settling my nerves only a fraction. ‘I do. What reason would any of you have to lie about something like this, anyway? After last night, after just now, even… I don’t think I have much else to believe.’

‘Then believe us. Believe me.’

It was striking how affected I was by him. Just a moment ago it felt as if my shock and disbelief gave head to such apparent dejection in him; the thought of having hurt him served an equally stabbing infliction on me. But with those simple words, the aching look he assumed was gone, now replaced with a smile so warm and tender, it created a series of sparks up the arm closest to him that travelled along every plane of my body.

Trust. It was the only word to have described the comfort and security I felt in his presence. Sixth sense or not, I could only hope he peered into a small fraction of my appreciation.

However, I had realised a little too late that the two of us had been holding such silent interaction in front of an audience. Ten and Lucas were the first to pull us out of our collective reverie; their voices reaching levels unthinkable in unison.

‘AW…!’

They cried, and turning back to the table in surprise, noted the pair grinning from ear to ear and clutching each other as they watched us. Taeil, Johnny, and Dongyoung only looked incredibly amused; their own features a combination of endearing smiles and twinkling eyes. I immediately