Author’s Note:

Hi, this is very long and overdue and I’m so so sorry ><

I’ve been struggling with personal problems and it has been taking toll on my mental and physical health. Idk man. Writing has been… tough because I started to lose interest in things I usually enjoyed. I forced myself to read a lot of books so I can get the inspiration coming and yeah, I managed to write again.

BUT ANYWAYS, I know not a lot has been going on in this chapter but I’ve been squeezing this out so much because I really want this story to be perfect and that required me to do a lot of thinking and retracing my steps to make sure the facts and whatnot are right.

Also! iKON and Red Velvet are having their summer comebacks TOGETHER AGAIN this is the universe’s doing to make them to be the bestest friends ever, I am typing this into existence. Support Power Up and support Killing Me, guys.

That’s all from me, I guess. Don’t forget to subscribe, upvote and comment because they mean a lot to me <3. Have a nice week everyone <3

Don’t forget to subscribe, upvote and comment because they mean a lot to me <3. Have a nice week everyone <3

Three.

Hollow Manor.

The next day, he's woken up with the worst headache of the century and Jisoo raining down pillows on his body.

"Oh Sehun if you don't wake up soon, I swear to God-"

He doesn't hear the rest of her threats because his head hurts so much it feels like he's been hit by a brick. Lazily, he brings his hand to cover his head, confused when his limbs feel so boneless, like a jelly.

"Stop..." he can hear himself mumbling and he thanks the whole universe when Jisoo stops assaulting him.

"What am I going to do with you..." she sighs dropping her pillows to the floor and stares at him, half worried, half condescending. "Seriously it's almost 12 at noon, we should go see your flat soon!"

It takes a few minutes before Jisoo's words sinks in and Sehun immediately sits up. Too soon, his head throbs inside his skulls and Sehun groans.

"What happened?" Jisoo asks, gone were the violent tones and now she’s staring at Sehun in worry.

Sehun waves his hand absentmindedly, somehow his head is blank. He understands what Jisoo is saying but somehow unable to conjure a response. Suddenly, he’s hyperaware of how foreign his hands feel but at the same time, he feels so light and weightless. He gets up easily, too easily and the speed sends his head spiraling into dizziness.

“I feel like I’ve just had the worst hangover that has ever existed in the history of man but my body feels so light.” He slurs on his words, looking around his surroundings like a confused kid just woken up from anesthesia. First, he registers Jisoo’s face, fair skin against the bright light. Too bright. Her dark eyes turn bright brown and he can almost see the wavy textures in her irises, as if her eyes are enhanced in high definition. Frowning, Sehun blinks before turning his head to the right, he finds the window, shedding light into the room and he winces. Brightness stings his eyes.

“Mom, I think Sehun’s sick!” Jisoo’s loud voice enters his hearings and he can hear steps against the wooden floor and Aunt Kim looks at him curiously.

“Sehun? Are you unwell?”

“’m fine.” Sehun mumbles trying to regain… whatever it is he’s not having right now. Carefully, he tests his feet, getting up from the couch with one hand on the armrest, should he fall. He stumbles a bit, causing Jisoo to quickly get ahold of his arm. However, the girl yelps when their skins make contact.

“You’re so cold! Why is your skin so cold?” she asks, staring at him worriedly.

It takes a few seconds before he can compose himself. The world seems like its spinning and he blinks a couple of times before the blurry and spinning vision halts into a stop. “Really?” Sehun murmurs, staring at his own hands. “I don’t feel sick though.”

“Maybe he’s just very tired from the journey yesterday. Seoul to Ijeon is far you know, and the road isn’t the most pleasant one.” Aunt Kim says calmly, brushing Sehun’s dark locks and looking at him. “You do look a pale, though. You should freshen yourself up, I’ve made a soup that surely can make you feel so much better.”

“Yeah. Thanks, Auntie.” Sehun smiles before heading to the bathroom, ignoring the worried look Jisoo gives him.

It was when he sees his reflection in the bathroom mirror that Sehun realized why Jisoo was fussing so much. He is pale, with skin like paper, messy hair and dark circles under his eyes and lips lacking color.

Is he sick? Sehun isn’t quite sure. His limbs still feel like they are detached from his body but the headache isn’t as terrible as he first woke up. Sighing, he peels his clothes off of his body and gets into the shower.

A satisfied hum escapes his lips when the warm water hits his body. It’s so warm, so relaxing and comforting. Sehun finds himself standing underneath the shower, one hand propped on the wall and letting his body soaked under the heat.

When he finished, Sehun feels a whole lot better than before. On the contrary to when he woke, Sehun’s head feels light, so light and it’s like everything around him is in colors and he feels light. Like feathers falling from a dove who took flight, floating mid-air, almost unaffected by gravity.

“You looked… so much better.” Jisoo says when he emerges from the shower.

“Better?”

“I mean, it’s like you get your colors back.” she shrugs. “Maybe you were that tired yesterday, huh? What time did you go to sleep?”

Sehun opens his mouth to answer but he realizes something is off. He can’t remember when he go to sleep at all. He can see himself sitting in the dining room with Jisoo and Aunt Kim but everything is black after that.  Racking his brain is fruitless because he can’t seem to remember anything.

“Sehun? You’re zoning out…”

“Huh? Oh.” Sehun blinks rapidly. “I don’t know… didn’t check the watch.” He lies.

“Okay,” Jisoo says, doesn’t look very convinced. “Let’s eat.”

“Yeah.”

*

By the time they finished eating and on their way to Sehun’s new flat, any traces left from Sehun’s discomfort earlier have diminished. In fact, Sehun feels so light. He keeps on choosing the word light because he doesn’t think there is any other words that suit it better. What happened last night still remained a blurry mess and only made his head hurt but other than that, Sehun doesn’t feel a tinge of negativity at all.

Light, weightless like the first drop of snow.

In fact, he finds himself constantly teasing and cracking jokes with Jisoo, much to the younger’s dismay. Sure, healthy and happy Sehun is great but that means she’ll be the object of his teasing.

“Stop pulling at my hair!” Jisoo whines, pulling away her dark locks from Sehun’s persistent hands.

“But they’d make a fine moustache.” Sehun replies, chortling.

“Guys, come on, you’re making a commotion.” Aunt Kim shakes her head despite the smile on her face.

The three of them opts for walking. The road stretching from Jisoo’s flat to Sehun’s is not exactly short but they have already accustomed in walking. Besides, despite the heavy storm raining down like apocalypse last night, the afternoon sky in Ijeon is bright and blue, something that doesn’t happen often.

“It’s mostly gray or pale blue, covered with clouds.” Jisoo murmurs, looking up at the clear, warm sky.

He can still spot traces of the storms last night. Puddle of water on a grassy field not too far from where they stand, the humid air tinged with the fresh scent of rain and grass, the chilly breeze.

They walk together, passing a barren intersection only to find a commotion on the other side of the road. A tall tree has fallen off and Sehun can see the top of the tree has been cut down by lightning, if that’s even possible, leaving a sharp deadly trunk sprawled across half of the street.

“My, my, thank goodness it didn’t fall on top of someone’s house!” Aunt Kim exclaims, shaking her head as she watches the worker scurrying around the tree, trying to clean up the mess it left behind.

Dark green leaves stained the damp asphalt road, some of them have been stepped on too many times, turning the green into an ugly black goo.

“Well, considering how heavy the storm was, I’m not surprised if we found more trees destroyed.” Jisoo muses, “I got woken up so many times last night because of the loud thunder. I’m amazed you didn’t seem to be bothered at all, Sehun, you slept like a log.”

Sehun opens his mouth to retort but finding himself in confusion. Jisoo is not a light sleeper and he had seen her being woken up by noises before, when they were children, so if such noise could woke her up, why didn’t he remember anything about last night? Did he really sleep that well?

“You know what,” he mutters. “I can’t even remember or hear the storm last night.”

Jisoo frowns, half in surprise, half in amazement. “Wow, guess the travel did knock you out last night.” She mumbles.

Did he? Sehun thinks but later give in. Not that it’s important, right?

Passing the collapsed trees, they walk further and Sehun allows himself to be distracted by the neighborhood. Some places have buildings and houses lined next to each other, framing the road like silent sentinels with worn down paint and outdated architecture. Shops and restaurants and houses. He passes a small, local supermarket with “SALE” poster plastered on one of the windows, followed by list of commodities in discounted prices. An elderly woman exits the area with a plastic bag filled with vegetables, eggs and milk secured in one of her hand, the other holding a cane. From the window, he can see a kid standing before an ice cream box, Sehun averts his gaze when the kid turns to look at him.

Beside the supermarket is an old bookstore with a big sign that reads “Byun Bookstore” on top of the first floor. From the window, he can see rows of bookshelves filled with all sorts of books. The cashier counter is just a few feet from the entrance and an old man is handing it. Beside the counter is a small, iron shelf for magazines and newspapers and above the old man is an old, shaky fan. Despite the visible sign of aging, the owners seem to be taking very good care of it—spotless windows, clean grounds with a small, wooden bench just outside the store, standing between two pots of shrubs. A young girl with short, light brown hair is sitting on the bench, reading a newly purchased book while popsicle. He can see the plastic wrapper of the book on her lap and Sehun has to wonder what kind of person would eat popsicle in this sort of weather?

Streetlights and telephone lines towering above everything else, the cables stretching like veins across the sky. Amongst those cables are small birds perched comfortably, singing tunes of afternoon, as if yesterday’s night wasn’t vicious and terrible.

 Then, after that are rows of empty fields, overgrown with grasses, weeds and dandelions. He can see a brown butterfly flapping its wind in rhythm, hovering above a blooming wild chrysanthemum. Droplets of water still hanging on the tips of leaves and Sehun thinks he sees a brown toad hidden underneath the wild green grasses.

Behind the fields is the forest, a stark contrast to the simple civilizations