The black-haired guy scanned the room for a whole minute. I could surely see the list of questions coming up in blocks behind his chocolate eyes. He blinked, several times, an uneven blink which somewhat I found adorable, and popped his lips slightly, like he was deeply thinking about his own doubts.

“Minhyuk-ah” Wonho spoke, like he was quite relieved someone else came to support him. I raised an eyebrow watching him walk to the younger boy.

“h-hey…” he seemed startled but managed an awkward smile, bringing the bags in his hands and himself closer to us. “I’m Minhyuk” He presented himself with a small bow and raising his hands towards me.

“A-alice..” I stuttered, shaking his hand embarrassed and startled, copying his bow.

“I see you’re probably not an alien.” He retorted cheerfully, leaving my own presentation stuck in my own throat. “I’m joking, I’m joking..” Minhyuk explained with a small chuckle and I was amazed to his chill manners.

“Min…” Wonho spoke again, more serious and slightly upset this time. Maybe he was hopeful that this new boy would take his side and be rude to me, but he wasn’t and I was grateful for that.

“What?” The other one seemed surprise by the elder’s tone.

“Wonho doesn’t trust her” Kihyun answered for him and I shifted in my place, were they really gonna talk like I wasn’t there at all?

“Why not?”

“Why would we? She took Daniel!” Wonho pointed out raising his voice slightly and pointing towards me.

“I didn-“ I tried to speak but was immediately blocked out by their argument.

“How do you know that?”

“What? I saw…”

“When people look at you they think you’re a jackass boy, but that isn’t true, is it?” Minhyuk pointed out immediately scanning Wonho’s figure and his embrace which changed to utter rage.

“He has a point” Kihyun whispered crossing his arms.

“What point? He’s being dumb, that’s his point!” Wonho kept pointing towards the younger, but taller, boy.

“Look, all I’m saying is, she came out of the same light Daniel came from right? We don’t know if him disappearing is actually her fault, do we? Daniel turned out to be just fine, why should we assume she’s not?” Somehow my heart felt warm and comfortable instantaneously. These people really did care for my brother and apparently took care of him while he was here. I couldn’t think of anything but to be grateful even if Wonho hated me. All he was carrying about was my brother, and that mattered to me.

“H-How did you trust him?” I asked finally getting some attention from them.

“Well, we didn’t exactly at first” Kihyun explained. “But then he stood around and he actually took effort to help us, so we eventually grew fond of him…” He added scratching the back of his head.

“How… how can I help you guys, then?” I asked darting my gaze between their faces and looking for a small shred of hope, that my words would somehow smooth the mood in that room.

“See? She’s already trying to gain our trust, we should give a shot for her try. Come on” He joyfully took my hand and pulled me towards one of the doors.  

“Minhyuk!” Wonho seemed upset for the younger’s behavior but didn’t stop him either. “Wait until Shownu hyung knows about this!”

“Like he would care, as long as he has food, Shownu is fine with everything.” Minhyuk shrugged it off and kept pulling me towards the room. “So, we have an extra bed, your brother used to use it, so you can use it. I hope you don’t mind sleeping around guys, you see, unless you prefer the living room.” He explained pointing towards the bed I slept on. “You already slept in there for three days, so it should be fine, no?” It seemed like I was the new kid and he was excitedly showing the school to me. I found it hugely adorable and in consequence, I felt connected to him in a certain way.

Minhyuk left his bags near the bed and opened one of the closets.

“Well, we should take out Daniel’s clothes from here, so you can put yours.” He looked around it, deeply thinking. “Well, but you don’t have any clothes for now, so it’s fine.” The boy shut the closet door again with a shrug and smiled. “So, did you know Daniel? Do you know why you exchanged places?” He asked, still like everything seemed pretty normal, like I didn’t come out of a light or anything.

“Why…” I tried to ask but my voice came out a bit husky. I cleared my throat and took a seat in the bed that was supposed to be mine. He did the same, in the opposite bed and started unpacking his stuff. I’ve come to notice a lot of drawing material, pencils and books. “Why are you acting like this?”

“Like what?” He didn’t seem surprised by my question, as proceeded to unpack without even taking a look at me.

“Like… this…” I pointed without a specific word for his behavior. “You don’t know me… where I come from…” Finally, he stopped and sighed. Then waited for a few seconds and raised his eyes to. A mix of deep sadness, like a million thoughts were embroiled in his mind, eradiating from his light gaze on me.

“Do you want to be here?” He asked abruptly, punching me in surprise and out of guard I opened my eyes.

“No?” I kind of asked, not sure what he really meant.

“Do you know anyone else in here?”

“Not really…”

“Did you hurt Daniel?”

“Of course not”

“Can you go back?”

“I think so…”

“Then why are you still here?”

“Wonho won’t give me the watch which takes me back” I explained glancing at the closed door and he nodded.

“It won’t work.”

“What?” The perplex was notorious in my voice. Minhyuk put down the pencil case over the bag again, and leaned his elbows over his knees, intertwining his own fingers. I felt my heart skip several beats, he seemed so serious that for moments I could be sure he was 100% certain of what he was about to say.

“I’ll ask Wonho to give it to you, you’ll see. It didn’t work for Daniel either. He tried several times, he even tried…” His husky voice softly faded, as he looked down and bite his lower lip, remembering what had happened. I sustained my breath, imagining what my brother tried to do. Did he really? “Look, the others don’t know about it alright? I only know because I was the one who… stopped him. And in that moment I saw how really lost and alone he was.” Minhyuk kept explaining. So it was really an accident, my brother never intended to go there, he never wanted to travel. Why would he? How did he get the watch? How did it happen? “The others weren’t accepting him, at all. He had no where to go, he thought that maybe… maybe if he died he could return somehow.”

“Oh my god…” I finally realized I had soft and warm traces rolling down my cheeks, imagining my own older brother in such position. How much desperate he should have been to try such thing. How dark his path must have been.

“So… I don’t want anyone else in that position. We don’t know what’s the truth, and you probably won’t tell us, just like he didn’t. But I prefer to risk that, over the guilt of letting you go because I didn’t help.” He finally explained with a soft smile. “So please don’t break my trust.” Minhyuk’s eyes almost disappeared into his smile, and it was so contagious and warming. My stomach felt warm, and my heart was dancing to the music his aura was leaving in the whole bedroom. I stared at him for a whole minute before replying.

“I won’t…” I murmured, but with confidence. I should never break his trust.

“Thank you.” He giggled, grabbing his case again. “Now, help me with this, I have some pencils to clean.” He handed it over to me and grabbed to other small pouches with bigger pencils. I took a look at the object in my hands, a bit startled, but eventually followed him when he walked out of the room.