The curtains were drawn and the room was dark, but it helped Bia concentrate. Her powers grew stable when she was able to see nothing but what was in her mind and that was how she chose to do it. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on one mind; on one person’s sight. Her view was blurred, people walked, cars honked, fires burned, animals howled, and finally her sight landed on one person. The boy wandered out of the school grounds and made his way to the marketplace. His eyes were dark, but as a small boy ran up to him, he sighed, but his gaze became softer.

Taking deep breaths, Bia cleared her mind even further, letting herself fall into step with the boy she was seeing in her mind. Of course, he didn’t’ know she was watching, but none of them did. As she brought her hands to intertwine, she was completely engulfed into the boy’s world.

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The streets buzzed with the crowds of people as Tao cut his way through them. It was just a few days before one of the big town celebrations and everyone was preparing for their homemade feasts and fun dinners with neighbors and relatives. Tao couldn't help but notice the same festive atmosphere that always rolled around a few times a year. It felt nice and soft, but it was still alien even after the few years he had lived there. He walked around a group of children watching a street puppet show and approached the small fruit stand that he always went to.

"You're back." the fragile old wan who ran the stand said. Tao smiled slightly to the woman. She was the first person he had talked to when he arrived here and she was friendly enough to give him directions. Ever since, all the fruit he ate, he always bought from her.

"I would like some strawberries and those pears." he said, picking his fruit carefully. Since pears were the most delicious this time of the year, he decided that a few more Yuan for the pears was worth it. The old woman nodded and placed his food in a black plastic bag.

"Here," she said and placed some walnuts in the bag also, "it's for your celebration table. You can't just eat fruit all the time." her words were a bit hard to understand because her age had affected her speech, but Tao understood. She was just trying to help him out.

"Thank you. Have a good day." he insisted and headed for the small butchers shop next door.

The sun was low in the horizon and there was complete stillness in his practice hall. Tao stood in the middle with his eyes closed, hands together, breath even, and when the timer finally ran out, his hands almost immediately snuck in between his sleeve and the blade holders. As if he were dancing gracefully, his arms and hands moved in sync, flipping and chucking the blades skillfully to hit every moving target right in the bull’s-eye. When all of the targets were stilled, there was complete silence again.

His wushu training had begun the minute he arrived in Qingdao. He arrived at the peak of the schooling year. Parents were sending their children off to learn wushu, or any kind of martial arts. He didn't understand at first, but it was something of a tradition. Of course most children quit after the first semester and their parents had to find another way for their child. Tao had a distinct learning ability, especially when it came to body movements. He could watch someone do something once and he could do the same thing right then and there. Most people would think it was strange, but he was a strange boy.

He didn't have friends or family; the only thing he did was go to school every day. When he arrived in Qingdao, he had just one instruction, go to his dwelling. Once he got there he found papers, he found that his name and picture was on every paper, and he found that he could read, write, and understand this language that the people here spoke. He enrolled himself in a regular school and trained himself and taught himself wushu. For the past three years that was all he did. His only friend was the old woman at the fruit shack and a small boy who liked to follow him around. The boy wasn't really his friend, but he was good at keeping company.

The night was loud with music and cheers from every corner of the streets. The Spring Festival was one of the most widely celebrated events of the year. The welcoming of the warm weather and the first breath of life was important in China. Tao could hear the shouts of the drunken old men even from his dwelling near at the top of a hill. He lived in the outskirts of Qingdao, so the parades and performances never reached there, but this just might be a good thing since all the dwellings there were built with thin walls.

A small cup of tea steamed freely as Tao said his prayers for the night. Once he opened his eyes, he sipped his tea. It was something he did every night. He made a cup of tea, said a prayer, drank the tea, and brushed his teeth just before he went to bed. It was a kind of ritual that he had gotten used to when he got to Qingdao.

As he placed his toothbrush back into its holder and glanced at his reflection in the mirror, he felt a small smile line his lips. He had still been a boy when he first arrived, but now he was looking more like a man. Although, he still had some boyish qualities, they were only slightly noticeable. As he turned away from the mirror to head to bed, he felt his arm knock something and quickly spun around. Everything in the air went still except for Tao himself. Every single dust molecule was floating in midair, as if some force was holding it in place. The soap container and the toothbrush container were also still as a rock in midair. It would have been a pain if the soap had fallen and cracked open.

“Good catch.” He said to himself. As soon has his hands wrapped around both containers, everything moved again. The dust circled around and some water droplets ran down the side of the sink.

He had a gift, something that only twelve people he knew had. He was born with the gift and learned to contain his powers in early childhood. It wasn’t often that he used his powers, but in cases like this, he would much rather stop everything. What was the use of being able to control time if he couldn’t use it for any other purposes than to prevent stuff from happening?

________________________

As Tao climbed into his bed, Bia slowly let herself go from his world. He detached herself from his whereabouts and calmly brought herself back to her own room, which was still completely dark. Opening her eyes, Bia stood up and walked to the spot on her wall that seemed to be emitting light. In a swift movement, she threw back the curtains and strained away from the morning light. It was soft but blinding after being in the dark for so long. Looking at the small digital clock on her desktop, she sighed. A few more minutes, and she would have to go back to her other pair of eyes.

She sat at the window ledge and focused on the set of doors on the other side of the apartment complex. Soon, she saw a lone figure walking out of the complex. His stance was like none other and it bothered her. The fact that he was the one that she was sent to was ridiculous, but she couldn’t help it.

After making sure that he had gone off to school, Bia reached for a bottle of water. Letting the cool substance quench her thirst, she gently drew the thick velvet curtains again. She would have to put some more focus for this one, since she was seeing farther away from her real location, but it wasn’t a problem. After three years of repeating the same thing, it got pretty easy. Her powers were stronger than they had been before, and with a small smile, she settled down again, closing her eyes, and letting her mind drift.

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Chanyeol leaped off his bike and strode up the steps to the library. As the old librarian gave him a small smile and nodded in his direction, he took long steps to his usual table in the back. He visited this library almost every day, studying up on his classes at the university. The language was easy enough and the classes weren’t so rigorous, but he still needed to work hard. As he pulled out his books and plugged his ears with his headphones, he noticed the darkening sky outside. He hadn’t heard anything about a storm on the news, but maybe it was just a sudden change in weather.

Whatever it was, after about fifteen minutes, Chanyeol looked up and saw the large drops of rain splattering the window. He immediately remembered his first day in Moscow.

Everything was soaked and he had appeared right in the middle of this library. The librarian hadn’t noticed him come in, but she gave him a small smile anyway.

“Могу ли я вам помочь?” she asked. Chanyeol just stood there, dumbfounded. How he had understood what she had said, he didn’t know, but it had processed in his mind after a moment. She had asked if she could help him. Tentatively, he nodded.

“Can I get directions to the Moscow Star?” he asked. This new tongue was difficult, but he spoke it with ease.

As Chanyeol crossed the road and came to the front of the apartment, he sighed. His clothes were wet and his hair was damp, but when he finally got to his apartment, he felt a bit relieved. What was he supposed to do now?

There was a stack of papers on the table in front of the kitchen and he picked them up. A driver’s license, whatever that was, and some other national and foreign papers were there. Russia. That was where he was and Moscow was the city he was in. He was classified as a South Korean, whatever that was and he had graduated secondary school just a month ago at The British International School of Moscow.

Chanyeol flinched at the memory and then smiled. It was hard back then, but now he had lots of friends and he had a happy life, although he knew it wouldn’t last long. When he looked back out the window, the rain had stopped and the sun had come back out. He grinned widely and checked the time: 6:30.

The streets were still crowded after the sudden rain, and as Chanyeol stopped at the crosswalk, he felt someone tap his shoulder. He turned and smiled down to an innocent looking Asian girl. She looked a bit distressed and she fidgeted with a dictionary. It looked to him like a Korean-English one, and he smiled.

“Are you Korean?” He asked in the most perfect Korean pronunciation. He had helped a newly-married Korean couple once before and had gotten used to speaking it after a couple of tries. The ability to comprehend all languages came in handy sometimes. The girl looked up to him, astonished and then when she finally came back to reality, her face lit up with a smile.

“Ah, yea! Thank god I found a Korean person. I was looking for the Moscow Star apartments…?” she asked hesitantly. Chanyeol pointed directly across the street to the apartments that he lived in.

“It’s those apartments right there. Just cross the street. Come with me and I’ll help you to the place. I live there.” He replied. The girl’s face broke out in a larger grin.

“Thank you so much!” she said.

Chanyeol glanced at the girl beside him as they walked side by side across the street. Her eyes smiled as she looked around at the buildings and her lips were curved up into a small, cute smile. Something about her was different and he could feel it, but he didn’t know exactly what.

“Here it is, apartment 34.” Chanyeol said, patting the door in front of him. The girl in front of him smiled and gave him her hand.

“Thank you, and I’m Dayoung.” She said. Chanyeol could feel his hands warming up. They hadn’t done that in a while, but he suppressed them and shook her hand.

“Chanyeol.” He said. She nodded and opened the door.

“I’m three down from you, so if you need anything, just give me a call.” He said. He usually didn’t offer strangers help, but she was different. As she nodded and gave him another smile, he could feel himself grinning.

Chanyeol flipped over in his bed again, and pulled the covers up over his bare upper body. His smile hadn’t faded since he had gotten home. Dayoung. Her smile was adorable and her voice was like a sweet melody. As he closed his eyes, he could feel his palms warming up again. Pulling them out of the covers, he closed his hand slightly and then opened them again. Small flames danced at his fingers and he felt a contentment building up. He hadn’t lost control of his powers just yet. As he played with the flames, making them into small shapes, he smiled gently. It had been so long since he had summoned his powers at all. Soon, he could feel the drowsiness overcoming him. As his eyelids dropped, he could still feel the warm, tingling sensation in his hands.

“Dayoung.” He whispered again, before closing his eyes completely.

________________________

When she opened her eyes once again, Bia found herself drained of energy. Chanyeol had summoned his powers, and for some reason, it had taken more of her energy to focus on him. Turning the light on this time, she veered out of the room and headed for the kitchen. Food.

Her body was screaming for her to stop all her actions, curl up, and go to bed, but she refused. If she went to sleep now, she wouldn’t be able to get up in time to see Sehun. Reaching for an apple, she sat down at the kitchen table and bit into the crunchy layer of sweetness. If she could replenish some of her energy before she knocked out, then she would be able to get up on time.

Rinsing of the minty toothpaste, Bia stepped into a different room, which held just her bed and her clothes. Practically falling into her soft, cushiony bed, she felt her eyelids dropping already. She had used more energy today than usual and she wasn’t comfortable with it. Pulling the covers over her head, she let her mind pull away from the world. She let herself drift from the reality of this day; there were only five days left.

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Okay there's another update, sorry for the lateness.
I tried to finish writing chapter seven before updating, but I've been on a roll reading new fanfics and oneshots and stuff...sooooo...yea....
BUT OMG I HAVE SO MANY SUBSCRIBERS I FEEL LIKE I'M ON A CLOUD, DRIFTING INTO BLISS~!
Okay, yea, but thank you guys soooo freaking much, I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH~!

And here's something just funny for you guys...I find it hilarious, at least.

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