CHAPTER 5: THE UNICORN AND THE FREE DRINK

Lay spoke not a single word. His far-away, probing eyes were currently focused on Kris’s face. Moments later, a miracle happened. A lilac beam flowed from Lay’s hand to Kris’s lips. Presently, both of them were rendered speechless. Kris stopped squirming when the skin of his lips broke and sizzled while Lay felt just a little tired.

“All done!” Lay removed his hand from Kris’s mouth.

Kris in a large amount of air. “Are you kidding me? My lips are bleeding, and you made them worse!”

“Worse,” Lay gave him a quizzical look, “or better?”

Kris wiped his mouth with his sleeve and once in a while stole a glance. There was no blood at all! “Oh? Thank you, Lay. How—?”

“My pleasure.” Lay smiled and backhanded his lank forelock.

Kris returned his smile. Something was strange here. Kris’s face sure was stunningly serious, but when he smiled the threatening look evaporated all at once thanks to his gummy smile (What is a gummy smile, anyway?  thought Eun-soo).  With his face restored to its original state, Kris was the same masterpiece they had all seen a while ago.

“I’m sorry.” Tao stood in front of Kris and bowed humbly. “I’m terribly sorry for ambushing you without warning.”

“It’s okay.” Kris patted Tao on the shoulder in a paternal way. “It was me who had attacked you guys without warning.”

“Kris, it’s not ‘it’s okay’. For you, it’s ‘it’s so ‘em’, are you three not?” Baekhyun drawled with a cackle. Silence. When everybody stared blankly at him, he realised that he was talking gibberish. “No, people, take no heed of me! I’m only slightly lonely!”

“Lovely!” Kai crossed his arms. “Now it’s a family reunion!”

“No, not yet!” Baekhyun hushed Kai. “Now that you’re all here, we will go somewhere nice.”

“Somewhere nice?” Tao was hopeful. Way too hopeful.

“Yes, somewhere nice. But will you all follow me? I will lead you there.”

“Can’t we just poof there?” Kai peppered his question with sarcasm.

“No. That place is not poof-able.” Baekhyun flew through Tao and Kris to face Kai directly. “I wish I could just poof there, too! But I can’t!”

Tao’s face trembled. His shoulders tightened and he rubbed his forearms to ease them. “Kris…” he asked in a shaky voice, “Did that Baekhyun just fly through me?”

“He’s just an illusion.” Kris smirked. “He can’t even pat my back!”

“Thank goodness!” Tao drew out a breath of relief. “Let me get this straight. Baekhyun is just a…”

“Yah! What do you take me for?” Baekhyun hovered a breath away from Tao’s face and beamed a flaming vermillion. His face contorted into a frightening grimace. As if that wasn’t too much.

“Waaaa~ Kris hyung, save me!” Tao yelped and hid behind Kris at lightning speed.

Kris narrowed his eyes at Baekhyun. “For the love of God, Baekhyun, what are you trying to do?”

“Wasting your precious time.” Baekhyun readjusted his spectacles. “Now, follow me!”

Baekhyun hovered first while the others trailed behind him on their two legs. Eun-soo wondered, Who is Baekhyun and why are the others willing to follow him without questioning? He’s not even a real human, just a walking—questionable—and talking… holograph? An image that could be projected at its own will anywhere, even in someone’s dream? What does that make Baekhyun? He’s too alive, though not too real. How can you be alive if you’re not real? It must be a riddle, a paradox—ANIYA! Eun-soo tapped her cheeks in fury. Too much of Wonderland’s wonders, and now she’s all bonkers.  Aniya, aniya, aniya!

She skipped around and spotted star-like buttercups lining the path on her left. Out of curiosity, she plucked one of them, fancying their golden grace. Uh—oh. Sticky crimson liquid sprayed out of its severed stalk. A grossed-out Eun-soo came running back to the group.

Very soon, they were no longer in the Wonderland forest and arrived in front of an abandoned little house. It looked old, rickety and deserted. At the entrance was a dusty, grimy brass plate bearing the inscription of ‘W. RABBIT’. The twisted trees coiled around its chimney and grew inside its windows and doors. For how long had it been abandoned?

“A century had passed and here we are!” Baekhyun threw his arms up in the air. “Enjoy your stay!”

The rest climbed up the stairs when Baekhyun floated through the ceiling to reach the second floor. There they found a neat little room with a rotting table covered with mushrooms and millipedes opposing a cracked mirror. Glass splinters welcomed them as the six of them entered. They examined the room like detectives at work.

Lay saw a green glass bottle and picked it up. “Guys, look what I’ve found!”

Baekhyun peered intently at the bottle. “A grape juice. Expired date unknown.”

Kris shook the bottle, listening to the sound of water swooshing against glass in a mock viscosity test. “I think you’re right,” he said.

Kai looked for more clues. Crack! Something tiny was crunched under his shoes. “What is that?” He lifted his shoe. Shards of the broken mirror formed a path leading to a square-shaped hole near the window. However, the hole was smaller than any of them. “Give it to me!” Kai snatched the bottle from Kris. Juicy! There was a fine print on the cork: THIS TOO SHALL PASS. He read the words aloud for the others to hear.

“Don’t say that we have to drink this filthy stuff to pass through that hole.” Lay said, wriggling his index finger. “No, no, no.”

Baekhyun pushed his head through the hole. “It’s fun on the other side! You should try!”

“Maybe we should.” Eun-soo said grimly.

Tao agreed with Eun-soo. “No guts, no glory!”

“Let’s go somewhere else.” Lay pleaded. “The logic is wrong! All wrong!”

“Till next time,” Kris snatched the bottle back from Kai, extracted the cork and took a sip.