Nothing but silence greets her. This place that she calls home is so hollow, at best it is merely the shell of what people commonly know as "family". 

"Oh." 

Oh. That's the only reply she receives from Jungwoon oppa. The curt response however, is so much more than she usually expects to receive so she thinks that she should be thankful of that at least. 

"Food is on the table, heat it up if you are hungry." she pauses in front of the room door, shocked that she gets an actual sentence out of him. "Thanks oppa," for a second she thinks that she sees a trace of a smile cross his face but when she looks again, any sign of it being there in the first place is gone, she must have imagined it. 

How many years has it been since she last saw that smile? 6? 7? It was far too long ago, not ever since.. since Sooyeon unnie...

She quickly shakes that thought away. That was a story not hers to tell, or maybe it was but she is too tired for this today. acting as though the conversation between them had not just occurred, Jungwoon heads back into his cage, also known as his room. All he ever does, as far as Soojung knows is that he comes home straight to his cage and leaves from his cage. That's all she ever sees of him, in fact these days she does not even get to witness the grand ceremony of him leaving his cage. Pity what relationship they once shared is gone in a flash like this, in the beginning she had tried her hardest to make it up but with the constant lukewarm of cold responses she gets from him, any shred of hope within her that things will get better was removed.

She can only cross their fingers and wish for the best but what people fail to mention is that the crossing of fingers is actually a redundant process since it has no valid contribution to the attaining of that goal.

" 5... 4.... 3... 2... 1! Ready or not here I come!" 

"Shush Soojung, oppa can hear us," Sooyeon gently covers Soojung's mouth as both girls are squashed under the bed. Soojung conspiratorially nods her head, she understands that much, oppa was always good at this game.

Meanwhile the oppa in question enters the girls' room. It doesn't take long for him to notice the hem of Soojung's dress peeping out from underneath the wooden bed. "Wow, did my soojungie get better at hiding? I still can't find her!" He pretends to search high and low while Soojung tries her hardest to stifle that giggle threatening to be released. 

Silly Jungwoon oppa! 

He pauses by the bedpost tapping his foot thoughtfully. "Now, now I spy with my little eye someone's dress peeping out from here. I wonder who this is?"

Before Soojung and Sooyeon even have time to react, Jungwoon shouts a loud "FOUND YA!", popping his face right in front of theirs. Soojung screams delightfully, cuddling against Sooyeon's chest while the latter taps her head calmly. Hide and seek had always been Soojung's cup of tea, in fact she loves it so much she believes that whoever came up with this game was the most brilliant person ever. Actually on second thought, she was more in love with the suspense and anticipation that came with awaiting to be discovered than the hiding itself.

Finally, she concludes that as long as unnie and oppa play with her, any game will do, just unnie and oppa will suffice since they were always the best. They were there when she peed in her pants, they were there when she came home crying since all the big kids did not want to play with her. No matter what, they were, would and always will be there for her to fall back on. They pinky promised her and no one ever, ever backs out on a pinky promise. 

And big kids= adults so they should be trustworthy.

"Krystal, my dear precious crystal, is the baby girl off into Wonderland again?" he tickles her chin, before grabbing her, conveniently plonking her into the makeshift couch a.k.a his legs, "little princess, do you know how much your unnie and I love you?"

He sighs into her hair before placing a peck on the top of her head. 

Hide and seek had always been Soojung's cup of tea, in fact she loves it so much she believes that whoever came up with this game was the most brilliant person ever. Actually as an afterthought, she was more in love with not the suspense but the hugs that she knew would come after she had been discovered under the bed, inside the cupboard or wherever she squeezed herself into.

Sadly there was no such thing as playing without rest in the world of games and Soojung was frankly tired. She wants to back out of these games, throw in the towel and just declare that she is done for the day (frankly she thinks that she is) and move on from this sick maze that she can't seem to get out of. It's almost as though she is trying to conquer the centaur within but there is no way out simply because she does not know which turn is the right one, which one prevents disappointment, which one causes heartaches. Too many, far too many times she had taken the wrong turn in this maze that she was forcefully into and many times she just wants to scream how unfair it is.

She's just a child but people expect her to behave as maturely as an adult. Have coherent thoughts they say, think before you act they caution. Warnings they give but they never actually taught her how to avoid them, just that vague instruction to "steer clear away". She used to have at least two people to guide her through but nowadays, it's only Jongin that is the same age as her, with the advantage of seeing the world only a few months before her, which frankly speaking is not much. Its almost as though it is just two blinded teens, following their instincts and acting based on it without further knowledge. 

She fears that say in the case one of them accidentally lets go in the dark, she would be the one left behind in it all, screaming for help. Too many have already released her hand. Jongin would be fine, that she was sure of. Darkness never daunted him, he would manage well marching on alone, perhaps even with Sehun here and there along the way. She, well, she had everything to lose.

Here's what is worse: the dark scares her. 

Hi readers, I'm back with a crap chapter and sorry please bear with all these filler stuff and I'm really busy with school so updates won't be frequent please bear with me.

-Captured