Cinq

Where The Lights Are

The projector's light beamed straight ahead, lighting the classroom in an almost magical way. Mina pictured what light might look like, and the soft voices on the video began as she closed her eyes.

The video began, showing a girl with long brown hair that curled up at the ends, staring off into the distance. She sat on the grass below a cheap blue sign that read, 'Home'. The girl turned towards the camera, flashing a grin from ear to ear. She pointed up at the sign, and looked at it's direction.

"This is my home." Mina softly spoke. "When the kids at the orphanage aren't adopted by a certain age, they are abandoned and kicked out at sixteen. I know exactly where my parents are. They live in America... far away from their daughter. But it's ok. They didn't want me, and I don't want them. About ten years ago, a man by the name of Kim Heechul was kicked out of an orphanage, as nobody wanted to adopt a boy who loses his memory every six hours. He opened up a house for all the odd kids that weren't allowed to have a home anymore... and he created a home where they would never be kicked out. I consider him like a father, and the others like the siblings I never had. I know, you're thinking it's a home for insane people, and you know what... it is! Come on, lets go see them!",

Mina grabbed the camera laying in front of her and walked up the pathway to the brightly colored pink house. She slightly dragged her feet, and held her arm out so every overgrown plant could guide her to the house. Trotting up the stairs, and through the doorway, she was met with a bored looking Choaya sitting on the living room couch.

"Unnie!" Mina called out.

"Minaring!" Choaya called out her 'sister's' full name.

"Say hi!" Mina chirped like a bird.

"Hello... I suppose." Choaya giggled, her voice changing tones every few seconds.

"Where are the others?" the blind asked.

Choaya took a moment to read Mina's lips. "Ah, kitchen." she pointed to the old brown door at the end of the room.

Mina skipped into the kitchen, the camera getting the creepy shaking effect, only to find total chaos. Heechul was attempting to cook while he argued with a smaller man who was successfully cooking, two puffy cheeked young men were making faces at each other, three girls were loudly talking while they played hangman, and a girl and a boy played clapping games while they sat on the dinner table.

"Heyyyyy" Mina drew out the 'ay' sound.

"Minaminamina!" one of the puffy cheeked boys ran behind Mina's back. "Sungmin's being mean! He said I'm only kinda cute!" the boy complained in a childish voice.

"Shushy Xiumin!" the other boy teased.

"My name is Minseok!" the hiding boy yelled.

"Too bad! Your name is now Xiumin" he stuck out his tongue and flashed the middle finger.

"You're all adorable! Get it!?" Mina patted the boy away. "Listen every one! You know what's happening! We went over this! Now shush and let me introduce you!".

"This sounds a bit too scripted..." one of the girls rolled her eyes.

"Action!" Mina's signature giggle was heard behind the camera.

The camera's 'eye' followed her to the two boys from earlier. One sported short brown hair while the other had long black hair. "Ok. This is Minseok and Sungmin." the boys waved as Mina narrated. "Sungmin's the older brother by a year, and they both have a disorder that reduces their mental ability and personality to that of an eleven and ten year old. Sungmin is twenty two, while Minseok is twenty one. Hey Heechul, what's it called again? The mental thingy?" the camera flashed up to the irritated man.

"Heh, no idea." he chuckled and the camera turned back to the young men.

"So, hows life with you two?" Mina poked Sungmin's cheek.

"Fantastic baby!" Sungmin started dancing in his chair.

"Woo! Dance battle, now!" Minseok called out while he ran out of the room, followed by Sungmin.

The camera then shifted to the three girls, who all seemed about Mina's age. "Hiya!" two of the girls waved, the other smiled. Two of the girls had something very distinct about their appearance. One was obviously short, but her height was at about four and a half feet. Her hair was dark brown with the color blending into red at the ends. Another was abnormally tall, her limbs stretching out, looking long and bony. She had bright orange hair and large eyes. The last one seemed perfectly normal, with short blonde hair, and was a little chubby in a cute way.

"Ok. So, Jiminel has dwarfism, and her height is exactly four feet eight inches. She's twenty eight... right?" the voice behind the camera chuckled.

"Yes yes, I'm twenty eight. Don't rub it in." Jiminel smiled and pointed her finger.

"Then we have Hyejeong, who has gigantism. She is eight feet tall, I believe, and is sixteen. She just arrived a week ago." Mina explained.

"Yep. I'm the newbie." Hyejeong shrugged.

"And then we have Y. Heres the thing about Y..." the camera turned to the short haired blonde girl. "She has explained through writing that when she was little, her mother cut her tongue off, and then she was sent through multiple hospitals and orphanages. But... one day, when she was sixteen, she personally checked herself out, and came here. Sad thing is, she's mute, and she was so young when her mother hurt her, that she never got the chance to memorize or even say her name. So we've been calling her Y because it's her favorite letter in the alphabet." the girl smiled and started silently laughing.

The camera then turned to the boy and girl, who were patiently waiting for their introduction. The boy had a serious, stern look to his face. His hair was messy and covering his eyes. The girl, on the other hand, was smiling a sweet smile, and had clean, long straight hair.

"These are the fraternal twins!" Mina introduced. "These two have nothing 'different' about them actually, they were just kicked out of the orphanage they were previously housed in. Heechul just found them on the street one day. The girl is our dear Yunaria, and the boy is Sehun, and they are my age, seventeen.".

Yunaria nudged the boy's arm. "At least smile." she coaxed.

"No way." he crossed his arms.

"What's up with him?" Mina asked, her voice seeming to appear out of nowhere.

"I beat him at his own game. He made up some weird clapping game, and I was better at it than he was." Yunaria bit her lip and smiled.

"It's totally bullcrap." Sehun pouted.

"Ok, I gotta finish this video. It's starting to drag on." the camera then moved to a smaller man who was cooking a complicated looking meal. He muttered curses to himself under his breath. "Hey Wookie!" Mina exclaimed, startling the man.

"Holy crap. Don't do that to me, Mina." the man held his chest and shook his head.

"How about you introduce yourself. I've got a feeling I might pronounce something wrong." she poked his cheek, telling him to start talking.

"My name is Kim Ryeowook, I am twenty two, and I have paranoid schizophrenia." the man shrugged. "That's about it." he smirked.

"Aish! I can see you're busy, so... HEECHUL-OPPA!" Mina comically yelled in a cartoonish voice.

"Mina, Mina, oh my god, don't ever do that again." Heechul sipped coffee from a red mug as he stood by Ryeowook.

"Say something cool." Mina suggested.

"Kim Heechul." at first, Mina didn't get the joke.

"Wait..." the camera showed Heechul laughing his head off at Mina's stupidity. "Heechul-oppa! It's not fun- oooooooh! I get it!" the blind lightly shoved Heechul. "You're a jerk.".

"Aren't you gonna say why I'm insane?" the diva-like man slurped some coffee.

"Nope. I already explained everything outside. Here, hold the camera for a second!" the images went blury with the fast, unsteady movement of the camera. After a minute of adjusting the focus, Mina's face appeared on the screen. "I hope you enjoyed!" and the image went black.

Every student was speechless. They had always known Mina was strange, and they had always pictured her coming from a weird family. And, truthfully, she did. But they were amazed at how normal every one seemed. Jokes were tossed back, people teased one another, and they all seemed to connect.


Mina and Luhan had recently started sitting together at lunch, and the group was now of Luhan, Mina, Choaya, Donghae, and Kibum.

"So... Mina..." Luhan began, staring at his food.

"Hey dummy! You're not the blind one here! You have no excuses to stare off into oblivion like I do!" she tugged at his sleeve.

Luhan looked up at her grinning face. He questioned how they had gotten so close in only three days. "Your video was really good." was all Luhan could think of. No, he wasn't in love with her, but being around this strange girl always made him speechless.

"Really!? Thanks Luhan!" she 'glomped' him and patted his head. "Yours was super funny as well." she commented.

"Ah, thanks." he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh my god, FLURF." Donghae yelled as he punched Luhan's shoulder, every one at the table laughing.

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Comments

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Bonana
#1
Chapter 5: omfg im loving this story already
<3
its so
heartwarming <3
instant subscribe~
b2utyandmyb2st
#2
I really hope you would consider a sequel about Seolhyun and more about her ^^ I really enjoyed this, and how they managed to get a happy ending even if she had left him and he had initially moved on ><
DefyingDecency #3
Chapter 24: Haha, "the author just now thought of it".
It happens so often in stories, and you notice, but at least you were honest about it!
I felt so bad for poor Donghae when he got friendzoned... But at least he's found someone new now. That was fast, by the way... Are you sure he was really in love with Mina? It took him no time at all to get over her.
b2utyandmyb2st
#4
Chapter 37: THIS STORY WAS SO PERFECT. Seolhyun and her mother and everyone else oh gosh >~< my feels!!
hotseven
#5
Chapter 16: It's funny how they're in a lovey dovey (?) conversation and suddenly Hee forgets Han. Hahahaha
hannahbananas #6
Chapter 36: AWWWWWWWW SO CUDDLY <333333
lollitecookie #7
Chapter 36: Omigosh...how could Tao and Mina have a child?!?! Haha...i realy wonder what the epilouge will be...i wish i could upvote this story many many many times..
hannahbananas #8
Chapter 35: Seolhyun >< this so sad it's ending :(
lollitecookie #9
Chapter 33: I'm gonna cry...this is such a touching chapter...poor Mina and Luhan...
softsology
#10
Chapter 33: I knew Mina was lying about the friend part!
Poor Luhan T^T