“Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the center of the Earth.”

– Trevor, Journey to the Center of The Earth

Sehun turned to Suho, wide-eyed with shock and fear. As far as he could remember, there hadn't been any other human being coming to the island for the past ten years ever since Sohee was found. "Hy — hyung . . . what if there are people inside that boat over there?" he asked his leader.

Suho shook his head, equally shocked and scared. "It must've been out in the sea during the storm earlier. Let's go see if there's anyone inside the boat and if they're okay," he said, being the ever-so-caring person that he was.

But the maknae hesitated. "What about Sohee?" he asked, suddenly remembering the real reason of why they were out there and mentally smacked himself to have forgotten about her. "Won't she wonder where we are?"

Suho gave him a look. "Sohee has better capabilities in surviving than those in that boat, if there are any survivors," he pointed out. "And besides, she knows how to find her way around the island. She's a big girl now, Sehunnie-yah. She can take care of herself."

"Okay, okay," he relented and followed Suho to the boat.

Suho went up to the door and pulled it open. It was locked, but the window was smashed. He ripped off the hem of his shirt and wrapped it around his hand before he reached his hand inside to unlock the door before hearing a faint click indicating that he had unlocked the door.

Sehun held his breath as they opened the door.

Suho gasped when he saw six bodies lying on the ground. He turned to the maknae, and saw he was freaking out too. “Go get the others for help,” he urged the younger boy, pushing him lightly out of the door. “Go. Now.”

Trembling, Sehun rushed back to the house and yelled, waking everyone else up. “Hyungs! Come quickly! We need your help! Ppalli, ppalli!” He kicked Chanyeol, who was the hardest to wake up.

Everyone sat bolt upright, blinking. But when they noticed Sehun’s panicked expression, they quickly got up and followed him back to the boat. They gaped, immediately knowing what Sehun was trying to tell them and all rushed inside to find Suho kneeling besides one of them.

Suho looked up when they entered. “They’re all alive, only unconscious, thank goodness,” he told them. “But it looks like we need to act quickly. Since there are six of them and six of us, each one of you take one.”

They nodded and rushed to the aids of the other five boys. Most of them had a few gnash here and there on their heads and bodies. The worse was the one Baekhyun was tending to, his bun-like cheeks bruised and a deep gnash on the head, dried blood sticking to his hair. It was a good thing the boat was near to the ocean because they could take water to clean up their wounds, especially since it was salt water. Kyungsoo directed them since he was always the nurse whenever one of them had fallen sick. Jongin glanced around. He saw plenty of smashed plates and shook his head. They were probably very expensive and maybe even hard to find.

How pitiful that they broke.

Seuhun was bandaging a baby-faced boy when he gasped and looked up. "I forgot about Sohee!" He was about to drop the baby-faced boy's head and go out to find Sohee when Suho gave him a stern look and he grudgingly went back to bandaging his head. But he looked out of the window, hoping to see her somehow there like she had been summoned.

"Hyung, I need to take this bun-like boy to a separate room," Baekhyun spoke up. "Him, and that one." He nodded his head toward the boy Jongin was looking after. "This two are the ones who got hurt the most."

Kyungsoo pointed to another door in the boat. "I went inside the room. There's like, two beds there. It’ll be comfortable for them. I'll come and help carry them," he offered before the three of them carried the two boys into the rooms for a more comfortable and better place to tend to their wounds.

 Soon it was just Suho and Sehun with the three other unconscious boys. Suho was wiping a damn cloth on one of their faces when he noticed his eyebrows furrowing, his conscience being stirred, and he dropped the cloth.

The honey-brown haired boy fluttered his eyes open and looked up to Suho. His handsome face immediately flittered into confusion when he saw the leader. "A – Am I in heaven?" he asked, looking scared.

Suho's face turned from a look of concern to a look of horror while Sehun snorted and rolled over, laughing. "A - Anniyo! You're alive."

The boy quickly sat up but Suho pushed him back down. "Not so fast, you'll get a headache. My name is Joonmyeon. What's yours?"

Sehun raised an eyebrow. Suho and Sehun knew each other since Sehun was born and as far as he knew, Suho hardly ever uses his real name . . . unless it was to people he doesn't trust. But then again, Suho grew up with the boys and Sohee almost his entire life, so obviously he would not trust anyone else but them.

The boy, still dazed, frowned. "Kris," he finally answered. "I'm Kris. My name is Kris," he kept saying like he was trying to convince himself. He glanced around. "What happened? Where are the others? What did you do to them?"

"Two of them had been taken into the room for better care," Suho told him. “They’re fine.”

Kris spotted his two friends. "Luhan! Tao!"

The boy Kyungsoo had been attending to stirred and opened his eyes. He looked up to Kris. "Gege, I want Gucci," he muttered and Kris sighed. Suho thought it sounded exasperated rather than relieved that his friend was alive.

Just then they heard a soft whinny and light trots of a horse before Sohee appeared from the door. She blinked when she saw Kris and the other two unconscious boys. "Wh – what happened?"

"Sohee!" Sehun got up and ran to her. He was about to throw his arms around her when he realized what he was going to do before he halted abruptly and took her shoulders instead. "Are you okay? Were you afraid? I wanted to come and find you! I wanted to, but hyung didn't let me!"

Sohee smiled softly, taking his hands off her shoulders and held them tight in hers. "I'm fine," she replied softly.

Kris and Tao glanced at each other before looking back at the girl. Sehun didn't know why but he felt this sense of uneasiness when he saw the way they were looking at her and didn't like it so he purposely stood in front of her, blocking their view of Sohee.

But Sohee saw the still-unconscious boy and rushed to his aid, gently scooping his head up on her lap. She brushed his hair away from the face tenderly, almost lovingly, and Sehun felt this rippled sensation flow through him with anger. She gazed down at him and looked up to Suho. "What happened?"

“We were on our way to Jeju when the storm hit us," he replied flatly. "We must have had blown off-course."

"Way off course," Sehun piped up helpfully.

Suho gave him a stern look, telling him to shush and to allow Kris to continue explaining what had happened. Sehun only shrugged.

Kris, however, had nothing else to say. When he realized everyone was waiting for him, he blinked. “Oh, well, that’s all,” he said lamely. He glanced around and saw pieces of broken glass and broken furniture and winced, knowing he was in big trouble the moment he gets back home. “,” he cursed under his breath.

“Ughh . . .”

Sohee blinked when she realized that the boy whose head was on her lap was stirring. Suho glanced over at her the same time Kris and Sehun turned to look. Tao rubbed his eyes sleepily, trying to focus.

The young man blinked and his eyes fluttered and the first thing he saw was a beautiful girl looking down at him with the warmness pair of eyes he had ever seen. He blinked again. Had he somehow died and went to heaven? “Are you an angel?” he asked Sohee. “And am I in heaven?”

“Isn’t that the same thing he asked you just now, hyung?” Sehun whispered loudly to Suho, nudging over to Kris.

Suho glowered at the maknae while Kris’ face turned red with embarrassment. “Shut up,” he advised the little punk.

Unaware of the other four, and only focusing on the boy on her lap, Sohee blushed a deep shade of crimson. “Anni, I’m not. You’re still alive.”

He blinked again. “Well, this sure feels like heaven,” he muttered in almost inaudible voice which only Sohee could hear, hence making her blush. He tried to sit up, and Sohee helped him up, resting his back against the wall.

“What is your name?” she asked, curious.

 “What is your name?”

Sohee recognized that line from Peter Pan and relaxed into a smile, the movie replaying in her head. She wondered if he was thinking the same. “Wendy Moira Angela Darling,” she kidded.

He grinned, glad that she picked up on his joke. “Peter . . . Pan.”

They looked at each other and burst into comfortable laughter, like they had been friends for almost all of their lives.

Kris frowned, his eyebrows creasing with confusion. “Do you guys know each other?” he spoke up, reminding the two of them know that there were still other people with them, breaking them away from their own world.

They turned to him and shook their heads, but then they glanced back at each other. “No, but we sure know Peter!” They laughed together again.

Sehun clenched his fist tightly, the same time he felt something clenching in his heart. Suho glanced sideways and saw the dark expression on the maknae’s face. He bit his lip, knowing full well that Sehun was fuming with jealousy.

Even Kris and Tao could tell.

For someone who had only just met her was already her friend like her long-lost body didn’t seem fair to someone who knew her for years and yet had only begun to be comfortable around her after a couple of days upon her arrival on the island. That didn’t seem very fair at all.

“No, but, seriously, my name is Luhan,” he told her. “Although I wouldn’t mind being Peter, if your name is Wendy.”

She blushed. “Sorry, but, my name is Sohee,” she replied.

He flashed a winning smile. “That’s a beautiful name for a beautiful girl,” he told her, winking lightly, causing her to look down, flustered. But then she looked up and looked into his eyes. She found herself catching her breath as a spark of electricity was sent down her spine. Luhan blinked, wondering just why he was feeling warm all of a sudden. But he liked it.

Tao shook his head at his gege’s shameless way. But he was surprised, too. Luhan was not one to flirt with girls so casually — it was more like Chen, to be honest. In fact, Luhan was actually the one who shies away from girls. Kris was equally boggled. He caught Tao’s eyes and together the two of them shrugged, shaking their heads lightly. They had no idea what Luhan was doing or if they should be worried if this was the cause of Luhan hitting his head too hard earlier. Suho sighed when he saw Sehun looking away, unable to stand the two of them giving lovey-dovey eye contacts.

Boy, were they in trouble.

Once they were settled down, and Sehun, Suho and Sohee were sure that Tao, Luhan and Kris were okay, the three of them began to clean up around, picking up the broken glasses and trying to make the place decent again. The three of them worked while the other three were seated on the couch, their backs leaning against the wall, as they watched them, in silence, busy themselves around.

Sohee was picking up a piece of broken glass as Luhan warily watched her. He didn’t know why but he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her. He frowned worriedly. “Be careful not to hurt yourself,” he told her, speaking up from the silence.

Sohee jumped, startled by the sudden noise, and the glass slipped, hence sliding against her finger. “Ow!” she yelped and blood gushed out from her finger.

Luhan got up but Sehun had already reached her side. He took her palm, looked at the cut, and brought it to his mouth. Luhan blinked, surprised by his action. Kris' eyes widened while Tao groaned.

Sohee softened. "Mian, Oppa. I wasn't being careful."

Sehun her blood before he tore a bit of his shirt to wrap around her hand. "Be careful next time, Sohee-yah," he whispered. He bent down and gingerly picked the broken pieces up into a cloth.

Sohee nodded. Tao scoffed and folded his arm. "Shouldn't you tend to the wound or something? I mean, it was cut!"

"It wasn't very deep," Sehun replied nonchalantly. He looked at Sohee. "Go help Suho hyung. I'll take care of this."

Sohee nodded and Suho passed her a wet cloth to wipe the windows.

Tao was not amused. "What if she gets an infection?"

"Sohee will later tend to it, when she is done with this."

"What if she happened to be bleeding to death?"

"Obviously, that case would be different."

Luhan flashed him an annoyed, irritated look. He didn't know why Sehun wasn't doing anything to heal Sohee's hand.

"Sohee, you should do something about your hand before it gets worse."

Sehun's lips twitched and Sohee glanced worriedly at him before she turned to Luhan and smiled. "I'll be fine, don't worry about me. This always happen. I'll do it after I'm done.”

"No. Now."

Sehun glowered at them, not caring if they happen to be older than him or not. He wasn't going to let some big boys come and tell them how to live the life they've been living for more than ten years now. No one barges into their lives and starts telling them what they have to do when they’ve managed to survive after all these years. "Are you saying we don't know how to take care of ourselves for the past years and yet how somehow miraculously survived?" he snapped at them.

Suho knew Sehun tend to get overwork about things easily so he said, "Sehun-ah, maybe you should go check up on the others."

Sohee bit her lip, stopped wiping the windows mid-air, and looked down, letting her hair fall down to her face. Luhan wondered why she was doing that and was about to go up to her when Sehun walked up to her and ruffled her hair lightly before he went inside the room.

"Are you guys hungry?" Sohee asked suddenly. "I saw some fruits outside earlier. I'll go get them." She walked out to get fruits for them to eat.

"What just happened?" Kris asked, baffled.

Suho shrugged. "That's usually how their relationship works. Sehun isn't very good at expressing his feelings so that hair-ruffle moment was him reassuring her that the reason why I sent him away from here wasn't her fault," he explained, trying to get a speck of dirt off.

"Oh. . . ."

Just then the door opened and Kyungsoo and one boy came out. "He's fine," Kyungsoo said to Suho.

"Yixing!" Kris exclaimed. "How are you?"

Yixing groaned, clutching his head. "I'm fine, I have a bit of a headache but I think that I'll be fine. Chen and XiuMin are waking up. Everyone else is so friendly here." He smiled at Kyungsoo. He glanced around. "Oh, who are they?" he asked, looking at Suho and Sohee.

"I'm Suho, their leader," Suho spoke up.

Sehun popped his head out from the door. "Baekhyun hyung, Jongin hyung, and Chanyeol hyung are getting their wounds wrapped properly and they're coming out now.”

The door opened and the others all came out, with XiuMin and Chen bandaged up, the others behind them. They introduced themselves to the others and they all sat around the place. "Where are all of you from?" Kyungsoo asked.

"China," they replied. "You?"

"Do you live here?" Chen asked, looking at EXO-K.

"This has been our home for a very long time," Suho replied evenly. "You see, we were all swimming out one day when suddenly we found ourselves caught in a storm like the one you were in and the next thing we all knew, we were on this island."

"Including Sohee?" Luhan asked curiously.

"Sohee was a different case," Sehun spoke up rather rudely.

Luhan was about to say something about the tone of his voice when Chen frowned. Even XiuMin had a perplexed expression on his face. "Who's Sohee?"

"Hey, guys. I'm back." Sohee entered the boat as she came back but then her eyes widened a bit and she staggered back, dropping the fruits. “Oppa . . .”

One boy stood up with the exact expression on his face. "I . . . saengie . . .”

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orz I would've updated earlier but I never had time to gather this chapter together as I wrote parts on my computer, parts in my phone, parts on a piece of paper, whenever I had time. It was only now I managed to put all parts together TAT I'll get started on the next chapter now ^^

hehe so Sohee and her brother do recognize each other ^^