( thirteen )

She cannot tell whether it was a good thing for her to know, but just by looking at Chanyeol’s eyes, it made Ara feel a slight pinch from her heart. That was the only time she had heard of him speak about his past. She never expected how horrible was his life because he looked so happy whenever they see each other and the fact that he stood as her wall when they are in their kindergarten days, Ara just can’t imagine how he managed to be the kind of person he really was.

She also felt guilty at the same time. With her knowing all while Chanyeol was left with less, she didn’t want to move on into a further discussion. Instead, she opened a new topic. “Really? How about your school?”

“School .”, Chanyeol hastily threw a line without even digesting fully Ara’s question.

“Kidd. I love learning new things.”, he picked the piece of a thin wood that must’ve fell into the sandy ground for days and made drawings on the land where their feet were settled. “If only learning loves me too, I would like to be a teacher.”

“A teacher?”, she kept on repetitively throwing him back what his answers were.

“Yeah.”, Chanyeol stopped in the middle of his doodling and took time to look at her. Then again, a silhouette of a little girl brushed into the wind. Chanyeol cannot tell if she was only imagining. Just like the first time they conversed, Ara snapped him back to reality. “Chanyeol?”

“Huh?”

“Are you hypnotized or something?”

He was baffled and shook his head and falsely agreed to her.

“I.. I just felt a little tired.”

“Oh.”, Ara stiffened her back. She looked into her wrist clock and checked the time. Her eyes grew bigger as it dictated her that it was already past her curfew time. Next, she checked her phone. There were several calls and messages from Luhan. “Oh no. I’m dead.”

“You’re what?”

“I have to head home too.”, she stood up without waiting for him to reply. “Bye.”, he waved at her, while she waved at him back and gave him a goodbye smile.  

---

Upon entering the bus, Ara’s worrying face became on sight. She panicked. It was getting darker and soon, there will be many people from their offices and schools who would commute to their way home so Ara rushed. As the bus continued to move, she needed to balance herself in order to get into her desired seat – the vacant seat that was located at the back, but alas, it was taken before she can go near to it.

She puffed air inside her cheeks which made her look like a five-year-old. The bus made a fast stop. Screeches were heard. Different people’s voices arose. Shocked and curious, Ara tip-toed to peek at what was the commotion all about. She can’t tell. There were many intrusions surrounding her. She looked again at her wrist clock and worried even more. ‘Is it Friday the thirteenth? How can I get home now?’ ,  Ara thought while lining her brows, making a horizontal line from the top of her doe-shaped eyes. People kept moving, but she stood still. She was a post inside the vehicle she thought would send her fast home.  

After a few minutes, the bus set its gears and went on. But its route changed, making Ara flee to the corner of the road. She was unfamiliar to the place when suddenly she felt a gush of the wind (or was it someone’s breathe) pass into her right ear.

“Heading home?”, a familiar voice came out from nowhere. Ara tightened her grip onto the strap of her bag and tilted her head to see Kai who was standing before him. “Hi.”, he grinned. “Heading home?”

Ara leveled her shoulders and adjusted her bag’s strap. She blinked before she gave him a short response. “Yeah.”

“Me, too.”, Kai told her without her asking him. Ara bobbed her head and put on a cold shoulder. “I see.” She remembered Miyoung. In the library, she told her that she was friends with the guy he’s talking to right now. 

He constantly gave her a warm smile. “By the way, I’m -”

“Kai.”, she continued.

“You know me?”

“I heard from Miyoung.”

His interesting look turned into a gloomy glare. “Ah.”

“She told me that, the both of you have a good connection.”

Kai smirked, nearly letting his half mouth open. His teeth glistened and shook his head. Not believing, his eyes grew smaller and smaller as the time went for him to make a response. “She told you that?”

“Yeah. Why not?”, Ara was curious. ‘There must’ve been something about these two.’, she thought.

Kai looked at her once more. “Yes, we are. In fact, I know her before even she came into the planet.”

‘Planet?’,  Ara told herself.

“I mean, world.”, Kai continued his tied up answer.

Then the rain suddenly poured down when they were to cross a street. Believing it was to pour harder by time, they decided to head towards a shed. She felt her spines go up as she heard the roaring thunder and saw the blazing blue-yellowish lightning streaks from outside. ‘No. It can’t be raining. Luhan will be so worried about me.’

She momentarily kept agape, and then shook her head in dismay. “Rain.”, Kai reinstated. “Do you want me to send you home?”

Ara gulped. She didn’t expect an offer coming out from Kai. She can be soaked in wetness, but she always makes sure that she has an umbrella on top of her head so it’s not an excuse. Besides, it would be a new teasing subject for between the three aliens – especially to Luhan – and her, if Kai will accompany her into their humble abode.  

“No, I have-”, she checked inside her bag. Her umbrella was missing. “Oh no.”

“Don’t have an umbrella? I have one.”, he offered. “It’s raining very hard. You might catch a cold if you continue.”

“I.. I just..”

“Believe me. It will rain harder soon.”

Ara thought of agreeing to his offer. He has an umbrella. She has none. They exchanged glances and for a moment, Ara sought his good intention. When she was to give him a response, her phone beeped. Luhan’s name became visible onto the screen. “Uh, excuse me.”

“Bambi! Why weren’t you home yet? I’m so worried. Where are you now?”

“I’m on a waiting shed.”, she stood firm, glanced at Kai, and then continued. “The rain is pouring hard.”

“At where? Stay right there.”

“Near a gas station. Are you using Sehun’s car?”

“I’m borrowing it.”, Luhan argumented. He moved his grip onto the steering wheel while transferring his held to his phone from his left to his right ear. “I’m on my way. Just stay right there and wait for me, okay?”

When Kai heard (partly) Luhan’s voice coming from Ara’s gadget, he didn’t thought twice. He felt alive and cheered. It was a new information. “Luhan.”, he muttered. Although Master Lulu was Luhan’s name on EXO Planet, there was relevance.

“Why?”, Ara pressed the down button that made the screen go blank. “Is he.. your boyfriend or something?”

She tried to hide her laugh, giggled, and covered with her palm. But it was already evident to him so she didn’t have to hide it. “He’s not my boyfriend or anything. He’s my brother.”

“Ahh.”, the moment of truth. ‘A brother?’ “I’m just wondering because he sounded one.”

“Oh. No. Really no. As many would say, we are quite the same. In fact, we look alike. Not that exactly but we have same shape of eyes.”, Kai examined her eyes which seemed angelic, different, futuristic and cool. He tried to visualize the image of the boy she was talking about, and comparing his visualization to the alien on the other planet which existed a long era before he could fall on Earth.

“Is this Luhan has friends?”, he meticulously looked at Ara, but he’s actually trying to break the ice.

Meanwhile, Luhan already saw Ara from afar. As he drove in the corner where Ara had described, he chose to stop the vehicle first with seeing some stranger talking to her. Their backs faced Luhan and it was only Ara’s face whom he can recognize because the other’s is being covered by the shed. Moreover, he cannot tell if he’s a total stranger or an acquaintance of Ara’s. But he seemed to be polite to Ara so he waited for a few more seconds before he called her number.

“Hm. Friends?”, Ara thought of Luhan’s friends, she slightly pouted her lips and looked vaguely in the air, but her phone suddenly beeped. “Wait a sec.”, she raised a hand to him and paused.
 

Luhan: I can see you now but I can’t go near. Do you see a shop at your left? My car is parked nearly there.

She thought of reasons why would Luhan just message him when in fact, he has the capability to reach and call her. But maybe there are reasons that she can’t know, so she decided it to let it go and typed in her keys.

Ara: Sure.

After it, she tilted her head to the shop Luhan was pertaining to and she saw Sehun’s car parked there. It was tinted so he can’t see what was Luhan up to.

“Uh, I think I have to go Kai. Someone’s waiting for me. Nice seeing you!”, she waved goodbye.

“Oh, so quick! Bye. Nice to see you too, Ara.”, there was something different in his pronunciation of her name. Ara. “Be safe.”

“You too! Thanks.”, he eyed her paces until she met a vehicle parked. He noted her actions, their glances and their unexpected small talk about Ara’s brother Luhan. Although it’s quite vague for now, he knew he was winning. Miyoung was losing her chances.

He glanced to Ara’s direction, confirming the parts of the jigsaw puzzle he was working on. She pushed the car door open. Even the glasses are covered with black screen protector from the sun’s rays, Kai can already detect what is unnatural is inside – an alien. A human’s eyes are indeed softer and more concise. But an alien’s features were indeed not. It is different, strange that it glows in a different kind, even when there is light or none and only aliens can make it sure and can distinguish humans from not.

 They exchanged glances. Luhan drove his way out smoothly as he can, fast as possible, and away from harm. “Wait. I didn’t even have my seatbelts on.”

“Sorry.”, turning to his side mirror, Luhan glanced at his back, reminding him that there was already someone hunting them.

“Crazy driver Luhan.”, Ara teased.

On the shed, Kai tucked out his pouty lips and curved it to form a smile, then later into a chuckle. He pulled his phone closely to his ear. His phone was different because it wasn’t a gadget but was encrypted on his wrist. There was a kinetic charge that blooms light in it, that for an unexplainable reason, he can communicate to creatures from outside Earth. “Mission accomplished. One down, two more to go.”

For an abominable reason, Kai wished them good luck.

He hissed after making a report. Then after it, he cracked his neck and folded out his wrists, cracking them also. It was a show, but it’s only the beginning.