p/s: Kim Jong In is Kai’s real name. And Kim Min Seok is Xiu Min’s real name.

wIZ KHALIFA - SEE YOU AGAIN

»  The door was creaking when a couple of silent footsteps made its way into the large villa. Just when the fluffy hair of the young man appeared in the sight of Se Kyung, who sat in tense on a couch of the living room along with Xiu Min and Tao, the lady spoke up in a soft yet firm tone, “You’re back… Luhan oppa?”

Alerted by the abrupt welcome which echoed throughout the empty space of the villa, Luhan spun his head to the side in shock, as if he was caught red-handed. “Hello, Se Kyung…” Really, he had no intention in sounding super awkward nor formal, yet the gloomy cloud which could be seen on the top of their heads, were causing Luhan to lose his composure “… have you been waiting for me to come back?” A squeeze of guilt registered in his heart as he closer towards the mentioned girl. From the corner of his eyes, Luhan could see that Xiu Min was staring intently at his every act with a pair of predator eyes. Seems like the older guy hadn’t get over his mistake, after all.

Nodding, Se Kyung patted the seat beside her, gesturing for Luhan to sit down as she averted her gaze away. Acknowledging a fact about Luhan’s true ual orientation was shocking, but acknowledging about the fact that all this time, Luhan was merely seeing her as someone who he could move on to (as a second choice after Sehun) actually hurt her. No, the emotional pain did not come because Se Kyung had a little something for Luhan, but it came because she felt like she had been used for a second choice of being loved by someone as close as Luhan. Yet, Se Kyung chose to chase the feelings away as she understand how hard it was for the supernatural to try and cope with everything. “Yes, oppa. We—have something to tell you.”

Nothing had been right since a couple of weeks which felt like long ago, yet Luhan was not stupid to not sense the discomfort in Se Kyung’s eyes. “What is it?” Tone was soft as his gaze was searching for hers’, which seemed to travel everywhere except him.

Inhaling a strong courage with a slip of warmth from Xiu Min’s palm in between her fingers, Se Kyung eventually croaked out, “Chen and Li Yin are gone.”

Widened his eyes in shock, Luhan stuttered, “Gone—where?”

Eventually, Se Kyung met her gaze with Luhan, and she could spot the tears that were threatening to fall. “To… oppa—they’ve passed away.”

The feeling was all too familiar for Luhan, as the world seemed to be collapsing over him after hearing another round of deaths. His knees gave in as his figure fell back into the couch, palms crept onto his face, crumpling it in despair. Suddenly, Luhan was no longer relieved that his relationship with Sehun was restored earlier, because he knew that even if Sehun, who had been in a cold war with them, heard about their miserable lives, he would be in a despair too. They all had been through the thick and thin, once in their lifetime before, after all.

Swallowing hard at the sight before her, Se Kyung resumed the news, “One more thing, Luhan oppa.”

“What?”

“Lay is missing.”

Not a second after the lady had delivered him the dreadful statement, Luhan found himself sprinting straight towards the healer’s bedroom, hoping for the impossible. His feet pushed him over the limit as it pushed his weigh upwards to the stairs, and jolting straight to the far end of the corridor, where Lay’s bedroom was located at. His palm harshly pushed the door open, and only emptiness greeted his sight when Luhan travelled his gaze around.

A warm hand s its way on his shoulder, comforting him from the shock after shock. “Luhan oppa… it’s okay—maybe Lay is just too tired of facing all of this. Maybe he just wants to be away for a while. Maybe—maybe—” Se Kyung’s range of hopeless words were cut off by Tao, who appeared in the slip of the wind.

“But what if Lay commits suicide too—like the way Li Yin noona did?” The youngest one’s eyes were dark, eye bags were stretching down on his pale skin.

Instantly, Xiu Min stood in between Se Kyung and Tao, feared that the young man might pull her into another time portal and will never return again. “Unless if you’ve already saw Lay did it, Tao. Then you could continue with your disrespectful behaviour like this which is not helping anything!” Xiu Min swore that he didn’t intend to shout at the first place, yet everything felt like it was too much for him to take in all at once. So he was thankful when Se Kyung pulled down his fist from raising up in an act of punching the time traveller straight in the jaw.

Luhan sighed softly as he scanned the surprisingly neat bedroom. He remembered that Lay’s late girlfriend fell down from the glass wardrobe, but right then, Luhan could witness the glass wardrobe standing in glory, all clean and empty. As if there was no trace of living at all. “I’m going to find him.” Without thinking further, the telekinetic stated out as he spun around to exit the bedroom.

A firm hand, however, halted his act as Luhan threw his gaze over his shoulder only to meet with Xiu Min’s anxious stare. “Luhan. You don’t know where you’re going and what to do. You don’t even have a company to go with you—”

“Sehun is coming with me.” In a confirming tone, Luhan replied even without looking at the oldest one.

If Tao hasn’t taken the three of them to the future earlier, where they could see the interaction between Luhan and Sehun, then Xiu Min would have be surprised and would probably start a fight with Luhan for not keeping his promise in not seeing their old friends again. But he did travelled to Luhan’s time frame just before the telekinetic came home, and for the first time after everything had been collapsing upon him, Xiu Min understands why Luhan did that. So he withdrew his grasp from Luhan, and nodded in agreement. “Okay then.”

Surprised by the simple reaction, Luhan spun around to properly meet the other’s gaze as he remained stiff. “You’re not angry?”

With a shook of his head, Xiu Min answered, “no.” His palm then rested on the top of Luhan’s shoulder, and for some reason, it felt warm for the younger man. “I trust Sehun to take care of you—both of you, really.”

And with that, Luhan could felt his heart warmed up again. “Why are you not angry at me? We’ve promised—”

“That promise was made when we were young and reckless. Luhan, we are 25 years old now.” His eyes crinkled up a smile as Xiu Min patted the man’s shoulder. “I’m sure that even Kai and Sehun want to mend back the broken bond.”

Tao and Se Kyung exchanged gazes when Luhan nodded his head gently, still recovering from Xiu Min’s acceptance. At the back of Se Kyung’s mind, she knew that all of them had long forgotten about the mistakes of the past, and had always wanted to get on together again—yet none of them was brave enough to take the first step.

“Don’t start searching for Lay now. It’s already late. Go tomorrow, after the sunrise.” Even though Xiu Min realised that he had gone slightly soft when the longed bond of their past friends had been brought up again, he still kept his tone strong and leader-like, as the oldest one he had always be in the group.

Sensing the change of vibe in the air, Se Kyung interlaced her fingers with Xiu Min’s as she grinned up at him proudly. “What if you invited both of the doctors here tomorrow, Luhan oppa? Before you leave?” And she could vividly remembered the promise that she’d kept to herself to get all of the lost pieces back together between the friends.

“Okay, Kyungie…”

»  Excitement caused Se Kyung to have no sleep as she imagined the delighted reaction of both Kai and Sehun as soon as they bonded back with their old friends. Despite the lack of sleep that she gets, Se Kyung appeared to be fresh with a smile on her lips and a sun on her side. Even Xiu Min, who sat beside her couldn’t resist to pull up a light grin as he stared at her from the side.

The sound of the doorbell halted their action, and Luhan immediately got up to his feet as he exclaimed, “I’ll get it!” However, just when he was heading for the door, Tao had already opened it, causing Luhan to whine under his breath in annoyance.

As expected, both of the males were outside with umbrellas in hand. It was raining outside. Sometimes, Se Kyung wondered why the weather always had to be gloomy in a happy moment like this. “Hello, Kai-ssi! We meet again.” Walking towards the guests with a warm smile and Xiu Min at her side, Se Kyung greeted them formally especially toward Sehun, who she hardly known.

A soft grin graced up Sehun’s lips as Luhan introduced Se Kyung and reminded the younger one about her presence in the hospital ages ago when she suffocated. A few talks were exchanged between them, before Kai eventually spoke up, “Hello, Min Seok hyung. It has been long since we last saw each other.”

And that was when everything became awfully awkward.

Xiu Min nodded his head after a few pauses when Tao exchanged gazes with him. “It had been long. So how are you and Krystal?” He could felt a squeeze that Se Kyung sent him as she held his hand, but Xiu Min paid no attention at it as he observed the falling expression of Kai.

“Hyung, I’ve lost her just a couple of nights before.”

“What do you mean? Did you guys broke up—”

“No, Min Seok hyung. Lost her—I meant—she had gone to the heaven, hyung.” Kai found it too hard to breathe and he could registered all of the shocked reactions, except for Tao who only crossed his arms over his chest.

When the tense air poked into their once merry atmosphere with the murmurs of pities and condolences, Sehun turned back the table with his question. “How are you and Min Yun, Min Seok hyung?” His words were cherry as he tried hard to shove away the dark vibes before he could leave in peace with Luhan, yet little did he notice that the air had become thicker at the moment those words left his lips.

With cascaded gaze, Xiu Min replied, “She’s gone, too.” His eyes met with Se Kyung’s, who sent him a smile of courage. Yet he could still spot a tinge of jealousy in her eyes, perhaps because she knew that Min Yun was his first when Se Kyung had no other lovers than him before.

“And Xiu Min hyung is currently in a relationship with Min Yun’s own sister.” As if Tao was knocking for the death, he began his depressed assumptions with a gesture towards Se Kyung, who was beyond surprise.

Slowly filling up with rage, Se Kyung carefully asked, “Is that true? I thought that the similar name of my lost sister and Xiu Min oppa’s dead girlfriend was just—a coincidence?” Her eyes began to be brimmed with tears, and she could hear Xiu Min’s cautioning growls which tried to deny Tao’s revelation, yet Se Kyung had no longer paid attention to her boyfriend. Deep inside, she actually had been curious about Xiu Min’s ex-girlfriend as she had a tiny suspicion ever since the day she discovered about Ji Ae’s true identity, who was the sister figure that her parents had paid for.

“Actually, up close, Se Kyung does looks like Min Yun. What are you playing at, Min Seok hyung?” Bewildered, Kai threw Xiu Min a question when the man turned his attention to him, eyes were filled with anger.

Through his gritted teeth, Xiu Min exclaimed, “I am not playing with anything! It just happens to be the same person—”

“Oppa—it is true, after all? And you have been hiding it from me?”

“No! I didn’t say that it’s true but—”

“Hyung, I’ve seen it.” Then calmly, Tao interrupted. “The future may have changed, but the little facts remain. What was Min Yun’s last name?”

Hesitantly, Xiu Min answered, “B-Baek… Min Yun.”

A gasp escaped Se Kyung’s lips as she covered in shock. Slowly, the tears began to slip out from her eyes when Sehun added up, “We all know that the family name of ‘Baek’ is not as common as ‘Kim’ in South Korea.”

And then, without a second look, Se Kyung stormed out of the villa and entered the rain. Leaving the others behind along with a boyfriend who she had put all of her trusts into.

»  Over the week, polices had been searching for Se Kyung everywhere, yet she was still not found. Both Luhan and Sehun had went in pairs to their ways in searching for Lay along with Se Kyung, who they might find on their way to Lay’s old house and usual places. Their bonds may had been built up bit by bit, but their fear of losing someone who was a girlfriend of their old friend was gradually building up too. Tao had been taken away by Kai to be checked up to a psychiatrist, after he had been mentioning about the other deaths (Kris’s, Jessica’s, Chen’s, and Li Yin’s). The young man appeared to be having depressive disorders, which caused him to be in a ward in a hospital as his psychiatrist stated out that no one at home could help Tao out with the treatment. Which then leave Xiu Min all by himself. However, being a good old friend Kai was, he offered Xiu Min to stay in his luxurious apartment as Kai himself had no one around ever since Krystal’s death. The parents of Se Kyung had fired Ji Ae from her job, as they eventually realised that the girl did nothing but using up her ‘wealthy’ status to flirt and to have .

Even though everything seemed to be a mess on the day they were supposed to bond back together, Xiu Min and Kai were actually cooling off since the older one knew that it was pointless to fight over something true, after all. Their first day of living together was awkward, but being a scheduled man Kai was, he had planned some professional sessions with Xiu Min whenever Kai was free, as he knew how difficult it was to bear all of the deaths. Kai might not be there to even attend their funerals, but he did felt a pang in the heart when he received that news, and figured out that treating Xiu Min was the best option since the mentioned man refused to get a proper treatment from the psychiatrist.

“You know, Jong In. You are actually making me live like a real human being.” With a frown, Xiu Min stated out in one Sunday morning after they have been out for a morning jog. It helped to clear out the mind and keep being healthy – according to doctor Kai.

The younger man slumped down onto a couch facing the large balcony before he gulped the mineral water from the bottle. “You are a human being, hyung. Nothing had change that even after you’ve got your powers.” The seat beside him sunken with Xiu Min’s weigh as he heave out a sigh.

“No, I mean, like—I don’t know. But all this time, I never really feel alive. I always felt like I was in a cage, like an animal and this power that I obtained need to be kept down forever.” His fingers reached out for the bottle that Kai was tossing him, and without wasting any seconds, Xiu Min chugged the water down to his throat.

A grin lifted up the corner of Kai’s lips as he glimpsed towards the older man. “So this counselling and healthy lifestyle stuffs did work out for you after all, huh?” He threw his stare to the awaking day ahead, where the sky began to be coloured in light blue and the morning mists began to fade away. “To be honest, I don’t think that the curse exist in the first place, Min Seok hyung. It is you guys who have to step out of the agony and try not to kill yourselves with the powers—by getting real help. I know that getting to know a new girl and be in another relationship help, but it is not the cure. There is no actual cure or any curse at all, Min Seok hyung. It is that human thing deep down inside of you that need to be released. It is the treatment and the healthy lifestyle that you guys really need. You are still a human, after all.”

If it was not because Xiu Min had long known Kai for having a habit in being brutally honest in some moments, Xiu Min would have murder him for proving Kris’s advice wrong. But somehow, the doctor’s statements actually made sense—according to his new feeling to be free. So when Kai asked for another favour, Xiu Min found himself obeyed without any objections, “I’ll prove it to you, hyung. Try to freeze this water and then unfreeze it. You said before that you never actually have control in your powers, right? Well then, in the weeks you’ve been living here, I have seen no ice in sight. So maybe—you could then unfreeze that lake if you could prove my theory?”

 byunghannie's note My fault for not updating for so long, sorry... I actually am surprised to see that none of you have unsubscribed. Thanks for being understanding, guys ;_;  this story almost comes to an end. What do you think about Min Yun btw? Do you think that it is true that they are the same person?