Chapter 30

Soundtrack: U-Kiss - When Love Stops

A sharp pain stabbed me in my right foot, and I jolted awake to find myself in an unfamiliar room. I was no longer in the infirmary, surely, for it was already evening. I couldn't remember much about what happened after D.O.-yah rushed me to the nurse because my body had resorted to making me sleep to get away from the shock of the pain. The only things I could remember were the wounds I got while running, the pain that it brought me, and the possible culprits for this disaster.

I wonder, what had happened to Yuhee-sshi, Naeun-sshi and Krystal-sshi after I was tended to by the nurse?

"Oh, you're awake already, Shirin-ah..."

My gaze turned towards the door of the room, only to be met by a warm smile from the leader of the band of six aliens who came to my life and turned everything around.

"Suho-yah..."

My weak call to him seemed like nothing as he went towards me and sat on one side of my bed, as if he heard me very clearly, and helped me sit up.

"So, how are you feeling now? Does your foot and knee still hurt?" He asked me, and I tried to feel through the pains inside me to answer his question.

"Yeah, it does, but it isn't as intense as earlier. I'm beginning to numb it out." I said in reply, letting myself give Suho-yah a small smile to ease him from any nervous feelings he might have regarding my situation.

"I'm glad that you're somewhat okay now. You're in our house by the way. Sehun-ah discovered that there was actually another room in the first floor which was originally for the maids or helpers. We decided to let you stay here and use this room as if it's your own. So, if ever you need or want to stay with us here, you could do so." He told me, and I nodded.

Not knowing quite why, I felt myself reach out towards Suho-yah and enclose my arms around his frame. Suho-yah wrapped his arms around me not long after, and I sighed in contentment.

"I'm thankful to have alien friends like you, and the rest of EXO-K, here on earth. You even make me feel like I have an older brother or something." I murmured in the embrace we shared, smiling as Suho-yah chuckled softly to my ear.

"Well, I've never experienced having a little sister anyways, so it seems pretty interesting."

My eyes widened at the mention of family by Suho-yah, especially since he's an alien from EXO Koreie and all that. Noticing my surprised expression, he broke out into a laugh.

"It seems crazy that someone who'd act so fatherly or brotherly actually never had a family, right? But that's what I, and the eleven other men of legend, had in our past." He began to say, his laughing expression gradually fading away into a calm... but somewhat lonely look.

"The very first moment I opened my eyes, I was already a walking and breathing child who depended on the Tree of Life to survive. Everyday, the Tree would offer me and the rest of my legend brothers different fruits and plant life to eat. Other times, the Tree will instruct us to call on an edible animal and bring it to the its golden roots. The Tree itself will take away the life from the animal, and it will be free for us to eat. We grew up with that kind of lifestyle, and we only knew of the world around us when we physically reached the age of adolescence and consulted the Tree of Life for it."

This story coming out of Suho-yah's lips is nothing like what I expected. I had thought, quite occassionally in my waking hours, about this group of extraterrestrials who look like they have liv