The stack of papers flopped down on the counter beside her while she watched Baekhyun’s blood sparkle under the light of the microscope, making her jump. Dr. Wang laughed at the reaction.

“Don’t worry. It’s just me.”

Yerin swiveled around in her chair to face the doctor. “It’s fine. I’m easily spooked.”

“I’ve noticed.” Dr. Wang leaned against the edge of the lab table, folding her arms while a smirk pulled at . “You know, for a quiet, unassuming girl, you’re very surprising.” With her index finger, she indicated to the papers. “Dr. Kwon was especially impressed. After going over everything, we’ve decided to – for the time being – have you continue your sessions with the subjects.”

Yerin perked up. This was the last thing to be expected “Really?”

“Yes. As long as your reports remain relevant. We’ll reassign your daily work for now, maybe bring a temp from upstairs.” Dr. Wang patted Yerin's shoulder as she started to walk away. “Good work, Dr. Lee. I knew there was a reason I wanted you down here.”

It was incredible. Yerin could hardly believe her luck. Nada was just as astonished as she sat back in her chair staring at her companion.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” she huffed. “I swear, those two must have a hard on for you.”

“Shut up,” Yerin murmured, not really meaning it. She did seem to get her way too easily with them. Did they truly think Yerin was that unassuming? Really, she always thought she was simply average, but if that was true, how could you explain that they'd taken to her so easily?

It didn’t matter in the end. Yerin had been given the position of in-house therapist for all intents and purposes and she wasn’t going to take it lightly. With a newfound source of urgency, Yerin hurried through her little piece of unimportant work. If time was on her side, than she could visit at least three of them today. Yerin wanted to check on Sehun first. He sent off red flags more than any of them. She desparately needed to create a bridge with him, one that he’d be willing cross sooner or later.

It was as if he hadn’t moved since she'd last seen him. This time, though, he did make eye contact as Yerin sat down, and she tested the waters by sitting closer to the bed.

“Good morning, Sehun,” Yerin greeted, careful not to be too overzealous.

The stone-look face was still there, but at least he didn’t look away.

“How are you?” Yerin asked. He shrugged. Closing the notebook, she folded her hands in her lap. “Baekhyun asked me to tell you that he misses you.” In reality, he had just said that he missed them all in general, but Yerin thought she might as well pass on the message. “Chanyeol, too.”

Sehun straightened up. “You’ve talked to the hyungs?”

Yerin nodded, trying not to smile too broadly. “I’ve talked to all of them.”

“Are they okay?”

“They’re handling this in their own little ways.”

Sehun lowered his gaze again. His shoulders relaxed but more into a position of defeat rather than comfort. “It’s my fault that we were separated.”

Yerin furrowed your eyebrows in confusion. “Why do you say that?”

“Because Luhan told me about Kris’ plan and I could have stopped them.”

Shaking her head, Yerin scooted closer to him, sitting on the edge of the seat. To her astonishment, Sehun didn’t shrink away. “That’s not your fault at all. They decided to go through with their plans. Besides,” Yerin liked her dry lips, hoping the truth would help him, “eventually, with all of your… abilities growing, you would have been separated anyway. It was inevitable.”

“Do you think…,” he frowned, sighing. He suddenly didn’t seem like a little kid anymore. He finally seemed more his age. “Do you think that you could tell the others that I miss them too and that I’m doing okay?”

“Absolutely." If she was to be their only form of communication, she would gladly be the messenger pigeon.

The rest of the hour with Sehun went much smoother. He didn’t like to talk about what tests they put him under, but he would, if pushed enough. Yerin just hoped that she wasn’t pushing him too hard.

After a quick coffee break, Yerin headed back to Chanyeol’s cell. This time when Yerin entered the room, he was lying down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. He sat up at the sound of the door sliding. The biggest grin Yerin had seen from any of them grew on his face when his eyes met her own. Yerin's heart had a strange reaction to his happiness but she tried not to think about it. Perhaps it was because she simply wasn’t used to someone being so excited to see her. It was like coming home after a long day at work to have your dog coming running to you.

Okay, bad analogy.

“You came back!” he exclaimed, jumping up and moving the chair over the bed before Yerin could reach it.

“Of course. I said so, didn’t I?” That made him bashful, with the tips of his ears turning red. It made Yerin laugh. “How are things going today?”

His smile faltered. “Fine.”

Panic burst forth. Quickly, Yerin composed her face, worried at what Chanyeol’s answer might be. “What happened?”

Chanyeol shrugged. “I don’t know. Somehow, I lost yesterday. I wouldn’t have even realized that I was unconscious for a whole day or lost the memories if I hadn’t heard the nurse talk about what day it was.”

Yerin bowed her head. Shame. Shame was the current emotion overtaking her. “You were probably sedated; heavily it seems.” Now that she thought about it, Dr. Wang had mentioned some stressful tests that were coming up. Had they started them already?

That little bit of information Yerin kept to herself. She didn’t want to worry Chanyeol, but she knew they were starting the next round of DNA merging. It was unfathomable. What else could they possibly stick to their cells? All nine were already stronger, faster, and more dense then the average human. Perfect for a soldier, what else could EXO possibly want from them?

After the session with Chanyeol - and remembering to pass on Sehun’s message - Yerin hid in the bathroom for half an hour. The side effects of long term anesthesia were harmful to the average, unalterted human. To someone like Chanyeol, Yerin could only guess what that could be doing to his body. Because of his high temperature, it was burnt off quickly in his system, leading to a constant injection into his bloodstream. The doctor inside her who followed all procedures to the "T" was screaming. While the two of them talked, Yerin could see how much slower his movements were, sluggish, like he’d just woken up from a too-long nap.

Letting out a frustrated moan, Yerin stood up from the tile floor and shuffled out of the stall. Nada happened to walk into the bathroom just then.

“There you are,” she huffed, putting her fists on her hips. “Where the hell have you been? Dr. Wang has been looking for you. She wants an analysis on Subject Ninety-Nine’s mental state before they take him for a test.”

Since she couldn’t exactly say that she was having an existential crisis, Yerin simply placed her hand on her lower abdomen and tried to look as though she were in a bit of pain. “Ladies’ days.”

Nada’s face scrunched up. “Oh, that . Unfortunately, we still live in a time where you’re not able to take off for it.”

Yerin sneered teasingly, “Thanks for the sympathy.” Taking a ridiculously large amount of paper towels from the dispenser, she wiped the sweat from her forehead. “Where is she?”

“She said she’d be waiting for you outside of Ninety-Nine’s cell. “

Nodding, Yerin threw the now sopping paper towel away, washed her hands and headed out to meet Dr. Wang.

The boss was tapping her foot on the concrete, creating echoes that just bombarded your ears, making you cringe.

“There you are,” she snipped.

“Sorry,” Yerin mumbled. “Girl problems.”

Dr. Wang understood right away, but that didn’t ease her up any. “All right, then. Well, now that you're here, I need you to evaluate Ninety-Nine before we run the next phase of the experiment.”

“What is the next phase?” 

“That doesn’t matter.” Dr. Wang held the door open for Yerin to go in. “Just ten minutes, okay?”

Following orders and not bothering to explain that an actual psychic evaluation can’t be done in ten minutes, Yerin stepped up to the metal door and waited for the orderly to open it.

He was sitting on the floor when she entered. Yerin didn’t have any materials with her, not even the notes from the last session, but at least she could remember his real name: Minseok. Lying down and facing the ceiling, he – once again – ignored her as if he were the only one that existed. In her professional but untrained opinion, this really might be a waste of time. .

Minseok had the opposite problem of Chanyeol. His core was too cold, the temperature of the dead. But he never shivered or showed any sign of discomfort. In fact, most of the time he went without a shirt as if he were too warm. Though the room felt passable to Yerin - perhaps even a bit on the chilly side - Minseok never seemed to be completely comfortable with the temperature. Granted, this was all guess work since - again - he never actually said any of this. 

“I’m actually here to help, you know,” Yerin said gruffly after a minute or two of silence.

What she wanted was for him to do something or say something that made him unstable, unfit to be tested on, at least for now until Yerin could figure out how to postpone the tests indefinitley. The only other problem was – beyond his silence – was the fact that Yerin wasn't even sure what would disqualify him. Dr. Wang gave no perimeters and asking would have done no good. 

“Has anything happened that you want to talk about?” she tried again. Silence. “Do you have nightmares or are you worried about the others, maybe?” Silence. Yerin sighed. “I really am just trying to help.” Still nothing. Giving in, she sat down near his head, trying to catch his eye. Minseok’s gaze on the gray ceiling above him never wavered. “The others are fine, by the way,” Yerin whispered so queitly that she prayed the others outside couldn't hear her. “But they’re scared, just like you. Is there anything, as the eldest, that you want me to pass on to them? To help them get through it?”

That seemed to do something. At first, all he did was turn his head so his cat-like eyes met hers, still expressionless, unreadable. Then he sat up, twisting so his whole body faced her. He was searching for something. With only her eyes, Yerin tried to tell him that she was on his side; that she really did want to help him.

Silence remained as time ran out and the door slid open once again. Dr. Wang walked in with security guards and nurses – two of each to help control Minseok. Yerin stood up and approached Dr. Wang.

“Anything we need to be worried about?”

Yerin looked to Minseok one last time, who continued staring in his cut-off manner. Lowering her head, Yerin sighed, “No. Not that I was able to gather.”

“Good.” Dr. Wang turned to the others. “Let’s take him out.”

The guards secured Minseok in his place, who didn’t even bother to fight while one of the nurses administrated a sedative to his arm, knocking him out cold. Yerin collapsed against the wall and watched helplessly as they dragged him out of the cell, leaving you alone.