8^th November. 0027 hours

 

He pretended he didn’t hear the door creaking open or the muffled sounds of her breathing. When the door closed, Sehun exhaled, though not from relief.

It wasn’t the first time Sulli went to the practice room early. This has been going on for a few days, much to his dismay. She would leave as soon as the guards finished patrolling their section, her face always brighter than the day before.

It was during these times that Sehun found it hard to breathe. In every moment of her absence, his mind would always be filled with the thoughts of Sulli. The way she talked; always polite and careful, the way she smiles; how easily it’d lit the whole room and most of all how those smiles and her twinkling laugh was almost always never directed to him lately. It seemed as though Park Chanyeol has taken over his existence completely as Choi Sulli did to Oh Sehun.

He had lost count the times he felt tempted to follow Sulli to her date, just to see what the two could possibly do in the short time they had to be with each other, but he never did. Sehun didn’t think it’d help anyone, especially him, if he did follow them and snoop around. Of course, that decision didn’t help answering the question that was threatening to eat him inside out. What did Chanyeol do to make Sulli happier than he ever could?

It didn’t help that they barely see each other these few days. Between being worked to the bone by Luhan and the horrendous daily chores he had to do, he was finding it hard to keep one eye open let alone find time to spend with Sulli. Sehun would always use his spare time to get some sleep and Sulli was rarely there. Sometimes, he could feel Sulli caressing his face or heard her wishing him sweet dreams but he knew it must be one of his dreams. He couldn’t deny he slept better whenever that happened.

Chanyeol and Luna continued their routine of eating every meal with Sulli and him, and occasionally Jongin and Soojung would join them too. Chanyeol would always take the seat next to Sulli, and Sehun was forced to watch as they went away to a world they created for both of them. He could see the longing look in Luna’s face no matter how hard she tried to hide it. It seemed that he wasn’t the only one affected by the newfound relationship between Chanyeol and Sulli.

Heaving a sigh, Sehun got up from his bed and prepared himself for another grueling training session with Luhan and the others. Hopefully, he will be too busy to notice the crack his heart makes every time he sees Chanyeol and Sulli together.

 

~*~

 

“Glad to see you finally decided to join us,” said Luhan as Sehun walked in.

Sehun ignored Luhan’s snide comment and went to the corner to warm up. He arrived almost fifteen minutes late because one of the guards suddenly decided to take a stroll through his section.

He won’t admit it to anyone but Luhan was actually a pretty decent guy. He had helped him a lot with his ability despite his initial doubts over a low level like him. They’d seldom share a few laughs together and Sehun was surprised to hear it at first, but Luhan gradually opened up to him, albeit slowly. He soon realized Luhan wasn’t that much of a jerk he thought he was but Sehun wouldn’t call him a friend just yet.

He finished with a few deep breaths before running over to Luhan to start his training.

“I’m ready.”

“Great. Chanyeol!”

Before he could stop himself, his eyes betrayed him by glancing briefly at Chanyeol. He was just about to stand after chatting with Sulli, looking reluctant to do so as he walked over to Luhan and Sehun. Sehun snapped his eyes shut before he could see Sulli gave Chanyeol the smile he loved so much. Now it has the power to damage him in the worst way possible.

“Chanyeol’s your practice partner for today. The principle you need to remember for today is that oxygen…”

Sehun cursed inwardly when Luhan announced Chanyeol as his partner for today. He barely heard when Luhan explained to them the relation of oxygen with fire. Chanyeol was the last person he wanted as his partner today of all days.

“Got all that?”

Chanyeol nodded enthusiastically while Sehun barely moved his head.

“Great. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to make sure the two lovebirds over there would actually get some practice done. I’ll leave the two of you to it.”

Luhan left, not taking a second glance at the two of them. Sehun knew all too well who Luhan meant when he said lovebirds. Ever since Soojung and Jongin were locked together in the closet, nothing was ever the same between them. The slightest contact between them would make Soojung blush and Jongin to make some lame excuse to get away from her. On the bright side, it was nice to see they’re not trying to rip each other’s throats off anymore. 

Sehun watched as he ignited the fire effortlessly with his bare hands, looking smug as he did so. It was clear to him that Chanyeol was trying to show off, obviously to Sulli. Something inside him began to burn as bright as the fire in Chanyeol’s hands.

He was trying to spread the fire around when Sehun dismissed his attempt by allowing cold air to wipe it out entirely. 

“A little too much air, don’t you think?”

“Sorry, I’ll take the air with less water content next time.”

“Yeah, try and do that.”

Chanyeol focused and a small fire began to reappear. This time, Sehun didn’t wait for it to spread before blowing it out easily. He furrowed his eyebrows and tried again and each time, Sehun extinguished his fires before it could burn. When all he could ignite was a spark –Sehun put that out too- and his control slipped away from him, Chanyeol became as livid as the fire within him.

“What the hell is your problem?! You’re supposed to make it stronger not smother it!” Chanyeol snapped.

“It’s not my fault your fires are too weak to handle my wind,” Sehun retorted, smugly.

“My fires are not weak! If you actually cared enough to use oxygen only then maybe it would have lasted longer.” Sehun could see the fire in Chanyeol’s eyes and the threat contained in them but he refused to back down, even when his fist began to glow.

“Well then maybe, if you had spend less time with Sulli and more time with training, your fires can handle air with more water content!”

Chanyeol raised an eyebrow and smirked, his fist no longer glowing.

“A little jealous, are we?”

Sehun flustered. “No, I’m not.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Chanyeol began to approach him but he stood his ground.

“Sulli’s just a friend,” Sehun stated firmly.

Chanyeol glared intensely into his eyes and Sehun returned it with the same amount of vehemence.

“Then you won’t mind when she becomes my girlfriend.”

Chanyeol got his answer when a strong gust blew him to the corner of the room. He quickly stood up and countered with fireballs flying straight towards Sehun.

Sehun quickly removed the oxygen around the fireballs before it could grow in size. He then gathered all the carbon dioxide before the fireballs could reach him, creating some sort of fireproof shield. When the fireballs were put out upon contact with his shield, Sehun exhaled in relief, feeling glad that Chemistry was actually useful in saving his life.

Chanyeol stomped towards him with both hands burning brightly, the fire becoming more vivid and intimidating as he approached him. Sehun didn’t budge. He increased the amount of carbon dioxide to strengthen his shield and collected the air with water content as a counter attack.

But before the two could seriously hurt themselves, Luhan was already standing between them, pushing them apart with the sheer force of his mind. Chanyeol’s fire was extinguished and Sehun lost his shield. All that was left was a trail of ash, a cloud of heavy smoke that was slowly dissipating and a very angry Luhan.

“Do I have to lock the two of you in the closet too?” roared Luhan.

Chanyeol and Sehun hung their heads sheepishly though their anger towards each other was still evident. Luhan pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking of ways to solve this problem. He was tired and there was still a lot more to practice on to let anyone else spend time in the closet. Of course, there’s also the fact that Chanyeol could easily burn the wood.

Sighing, Luhan finally looked at the two in front of him. “Sehun, you’ll practice with Jongin for the rest of the night and Chanyeol, you’ll practice with Soojung.”

Sehun stomped towards Jongin but not before sending one last glare at Chanyeol. In his anger, he had forgotten the unresolved conflict he had going on with Jongin. Sehun slowed his steps as he approached Jongin who remained indifferent when he saw him coming.

Sehun and Jongin had never had a proper conversation even before they were thrown into this wretched facility. He never stopped wondering if Jongin had forgiven him for getting the both of them into this mess. Sehun still felt guilty being around him though Jongin didn’t show any sign of resentment. If he wanted to beat the life out of Sehun, he would gladly let him. He sighed and hoped Jongin wouldn’t punch him too hard.

“What do you think would be our theory to test for tonight?” Jongin asked nonchalantly. Sehun failed at hiding his surprise at Jongin’s casualness with him. It was as if he didn’t hold a grudge against him for getting them here in the first place.

“I don’t know. Maybe air exists wherever your destination is?” Sehun tried, cringing inwardly at how stupid his theory sounds. He saw the corners of Jongin’s lips tugged upwards, almost smiling though not quite and. Sehun wondered how asinine his theory must be for Jongin to almost smile.

“Maybe we should just focus on how to control our powers for now. Luhan would surely come up with some genius theory soon,” Jongin offered. 

Sehun grinned. “Yeah, he definitely knows his science better than I do.”

Luhan was certainly a genius. It never failed to amaze Sehun how he never fall short at finding the relations between their abilities. Jongin agreed and they got into position.

They fell into odd silence as practice went on. Sehun was still haunted by the guilt even though Jongin didn’t seem to make a big deal of his contempt towards him. He couldn’t rest easy until what’s in the past truly stays in the past. He just wished he wasn’t too much of a coward to address the issue.

“No!” Jongin suddenly groaned and cringed in annoyance. Sehun thought it was finally time for him to be his punching bag.

“No Soojung, I will not do it for you. Ask him yourself!”

There was a pause as Jongin’s scowl deepened. Sehun contemplated asking him why he was talking to himself but decided against it as Jongin’s annoyance grew with every second that he is silent.

“You do that woman, and you’ll see how furious I can be,” he half-yelled. Sehun’s confusion only grew.

Jongin grunted and defeat seemed to scream at his face. “Fine, but you owe me big time.” He rolled his eyes before setting them on Sehun, bored and annoyed. Even the question that followed matched his current mood.

“Soojung wants to know what was the fight all about since Chanyeol wouldn’t tell her.”

“Soojung?” Sehun’s eyes widened in surprise, “But how-“

“Telepathy. She’s been messing with my head a lot these days,” Jongin answered, playing it off as annoyance but Sehun could see beneath his exterior that he didn’t really mind as much as he thought it did.

“What else can she do?” Sehun asked, feigning interest.

“Manipulate dreams. Again, mostly mine since she doesn’t seem to have any other guinea pig other than me.”

“That’s interesting! So can she read-“

“She also said she’d give me nightmares for the rest of my life if I don’t get the answer out of you,” Jongin cut his words before Sehun could pursue his efforts on avoiding the subject. Sehun hung his head and sighed heavily.

“It’s Sulli.”

Jongin was silent again and Sehun looked up to see he was intensely staring at something behind his shoulder. He turned his head briefly to see Soojung sharing the same gaze and it wasn’t hard to put two and two together.

It was amusing, to say the least, to watch someone having a telepathic conversation. Jongin would change his expressions often, always a mix between annoyance and anger, while Soojung would either give him the sweetest smile or the murderous look. Sehun knew it was over when Jongin groaned and Soojung wore a triumphant smile.

“She wants to know if you like Sulli.”

“Of course I do. She’s my friend.”

“I mean, if you like her more than a friend,” Soojung suddenly appeared beside him, eyes sparkling with curiosity. Sehun visibly flinched. “God, Jongin you can’t even ask a question right!”

Jongin scoffed and said a string of curses underneath his breath, obviously meant for her, as he moved to the corner of the room. Soojung ignored him and focused her sole attention at Sehun’s answer.

“Well?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Sehun replied truthfully. He really was confused with what Sulli made him feel.

Soojung made a show of considering his answer. “Does your heart beat faster when she’s around? Or do you feel any butterflies?”

Sehun mulled over her questions, coming out more confused than he already was. “Maybe… I don’t really notice.”

“Typical men,” she rolled her eyes, “then tell me what do you like most about Sulli?”

This was a no-brainer.

“I like her smiles,” he unconsciously smiled when the words came out, “It always bright up the whole room when she smiles. And her laugh! If I could hear that during one of my treatments, I will never need any pain killers…” Sehun trailed off as she imagined Sulli’s laughter inside his head, one that happened because of him. His smile quickly turned into a frown when the laughter faded, realizing it had been so long since they actually sit down and talked.

“Dude, you’re in love!” exclaimed Soojung.

“What do you-“

“Soojung!” called Luhan.

“Coming!” Soojung rolled her eyes. “I have to go before Mr. Grumpy over there drag me with his mind. Talk to Jongin about it and I’ll force him to tell me, alright? Goodbye!” Soojung trotted off cheerfully to Chanyeol and Luhan.

Jongin was in front of him again when Soojung left. “What does she want now?”

“She said to talk to you about me being in love with Sulli and then she’ll force you to tell her about it.”

Jongin clicked his tongue. “The things I do for that girl,” he sighed, “alright tell me about this whole being in love thing. But do me a favor and spare the cheesy stuff, I’m begging you.”

“There’s really nothing to say. I haven’t fully registered it as love yet but your girlfriend seemed confident that that’s what it is.”

“She’s not my girlfriend!” Sehun had fully expected him to be angry, maybe even throw a punch or two when he said it, fully knowing it was practically a suicide attempt to call Soojung Jongin’s girlfriend but he had to confirm his prediction. When Jongin blushed and simply looked annoyed, Sehun knew he was right.

“I mean, I’ve never been in a relationship my whole life. I don’t even know how to kiss!” Sehun flushed, regretting his failure to control his mouth before that embarrassing information went out.

“You haven’t had your first kiss?” Jongin raised an eyebrow; an amused smile began to form on his face.

“Well have you?”

“I have.” Jongin’s face went red again and Sehun began to wonder if this is an effect only Soojung could have on him.

“Before we came here?”

“That’s none of your business!” Jongin snapped.

“Then after?” Sehun asked, his tone rose a little due to his curiosity. If Sehun thought it was physically impossible for his face to become redder than it already was, he was wrong. His mind travelled back to a few days ago when Sulli was going to tell him what she saw Soojung and Jongin did before he rudely cut her off with a pretend snore.

"I wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for you,” Jongin mumbled.

Sehun knew this will come up sooner or later. He was just glad Jongin wasn’t feeling too murderous today.

“I’m sorry,” Sehun said, trying his best to make Jongin believe how sincere his apology was. It wasn’t until the word came out and Jongin snapped his head to look at him, utterly confused, that Sehun realized he never said the word to him before.

“I’m sorry I got us into this mess. I’m sorry I was being such a kid and got us caught. If you hadn’t saved me, you would still be at home and away from all this.”

Jongin was speechless. Sehun let the silence engulf them as Jongin let his words seeped into his mind. Sehun wasn’t at all settled until he at least say something. Finally, he sighed.

“We were kids, weren’t we?” Jongin smiled bitterly, a wave of nostalgia flooded his mind.

“I’m really sorry.” He really meant it.

“I really hated you, you know," said Jongin, staring off into the distance, "I thought it was a stupid thing I did, trying to save you. I thought if I didn’t, then I would live on and hide this thing until I die without getting caught and stuff..." he paused. Sehun felt guiltier than he already did.

"Then I realized staying mad at you won’t solve anything. It won’t give me back my ty life or the false hope of it getting better anytime soon. It certainly wouldn’t help me find a way out of here.”

“I’m sorry,” Sehun said for the nth time.

“If you say you’re sorry one more time, I’m going to punch you so hard until you can’t even recognize your face anymore.”

Sehun didn’t know if his threat was false or not but he wasn’t taking any chances.

“So we’re good?”

“Yeah, we’re alright,” he smiled, “but we better keep on practicing. Luhan kept giving us the eye every few minutes.”

Sehun decided the feeling of being forgiven certainly wasn’t overrated.

 

~*~

 

It wasn’t until practice was over that Chanyeol came to Sehun. Luna had approached him first, praising him for doing so to Chanyeol because someone ought to teach him a thing or two on how words can affect people, or so she said. She immediately left when Chanyeol came to him. He remained a straight face and Sehun decided to do the same.

“I like Sulli,” Chanyeol stated, matter-of-factly.

“I know.”

“And it’s obvious that you harbor some kind of feelings for her too, whether you realize it or not,” he continued nonchalantly.

Soojung’s claim that he was in love with Sulli, reappeared in his mind. He obviously liked her but is it really love?

“So I won’t stop trying to get her no matter what it takes. You can hate me all you want but we should put this aside while we’re still here. Agreed?” Chanyeol extended his hand.

“Agreed.” Sehun took his offer and the deal was sealed.

Chanyeol grinned. “May the best man win.”

“May the best man win.”

Chanyeol left the room and Sehun was about to follow suit when Luhan pulled him from the door. They were the only two left in the room.

“How did you make the fireproof shield against his attacks?” Luhan asked. He was never the type to beat around the bushes anyway.

“I just gathered all the carbon dioxide in the room and made sure they’re all around me.”

Luhan scrutinized him as he mulled over his answer.

 “There might be hope for you just yet. Good job Sehun!” He smiled and Sehun quietly added that into his list of surprises tonight.

 

~*~

 

Sehun entered his room to see Sulli sitting at the edge of her bed, obviously trying to fight her heavy eyelids from closing.

“Why were you fighting with Chanyeol?”

This was the first real sentence she had said to him over the past few days and Sehun didn’t know what to feel. He was happy that she actually talked to him yet a bit angered by the fact it was about Chanyeol.

He sighed, dismissing her. “It’s nothing, Sulli. Go to bed. You have a session in less than 2 hours.”

“But Soojung said and Luna confirmed that you-“

Sehun pushed her shoulders gently until she was lying on her bed. “It’s nothing, Ssul. Just boys being boys. Now go to sleep,” he said as he tucked her in.

Sulli was really trying to win this but her eyes and body betrayed her as they felt heavy by the second. She wasn’t going to end this with Sehun thinking he had won by getting her to sleep so she growled, trying her best to sound fierce and ended with a scowl to remind him that she wasn’t pleased.

Sehun chuckled, thinking her growl was less intimidating than a cat’s mewl and her best attempt to look cross ended with her pouting cutely. He couldn’t resist the urge to pinch her cheeks and so he did. Sulli whined.

“You better sleep now tiger, or I’ll pinch your cheeks until it comes off your face.”

Sulli frowned, wanting to come up with a clever retort but she was so sleepy. In the end, sleep won over as her eyelids closed and she drifted off to sleep.

Sehun lingered beside her bed longer than he intended. He couldn’t remember the last time he could enjoy watching her as she sleeps. Sulli seemed so peaceful and she would occasionally smile in her sleep. Sehun couldn’t deny this guilty pleasure and landed a kiss on her forehead before finally returning to his bed. He closed his eyes as one final thought entered his mind.

Sehun was, without a doubt, irrevocably in love with Sulli.