p/s: Yixing is Lay’s real name. Lulu is Luhan’s nickname.

Hyobin & StimMarvel - empty

»  Very often Xiu Min would sat on a wooden chair, facing the view through the wide balcony of Kai’s apartment whenever the doctor was busy. He would occasionally just sat there blank stared until the night has come, when Kai would come back from work and urged the older one to get inside.

Really, Se Kyung’s disappearance had caused Xiu Min to feel empty in every seconds that ticked by.

His heart had always told him to get out of the house and find her, but his one doctor friend would never allow him, saying that both Sehun and Luhan could handle it and that they didn’t want to lose another friend more than they already had. Even with Xiu Min’s chaotic mind, he did stayed at home although he would sometimes fought with Kai for not letting him find Se Kyung. Yet the doctor knew the reason behind Xiu Min’s behaviour was the depression, which leaded his old friend in not acting like his real self ever since their bond had been left broken ages ago and when everything had been scattered apart with deaths and mistakes.

It was all just the past memories, after all. The one that had gone terribly wrong.

After their usual Wednesday’s dinner, Kai had noticed that even in Xiu Min’s current emotional state, his condition did improved based on the doctor’s personal expectation with the help of their regular morning jogs, balanced diet, and soft conversations. Kai had also noticed that Xiu Min could now have the full control over his power. And he wondered why it took so long for them to do the right thing from the beginning of the misery.

“We were too young, Jong In. You knew that. Now stop these doctor talks because I’m getting sick of it.” Xiu Min covered his ears lightly in an attempt of emphasising his words, when Kai punched him in the arm playfully.

With a smirk as he grabbed the remote controller and browse through the channel, Kai commented, “Hey! You’ve got to thank me for taking a great care of you, all right?” The corner of his eyes caught the latter nodded lightly, and then Kai realised that Xiu Min’s smile had suddenly vanished. “Hey… Min Seok hyung. I didn’t mean that Se Kyung didn’t take a good care of you, though.” Still in his playful tone, Kai spoke up as he nudged the older friend.

Nodding lightly, Xiu Min travelled his eyes up to match with Kai’s eye contact, seeking for comfort. “I really love her, Jong In. I’m not going to lose another woman anymore.”

“Don’t worry. She is fine.” With a couple of brotherly pats on his shoulder, Kai confirmed.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Xiu Min stared up at the taller man in confusion. “How can you be so sure?”

“Hyung, to be honest I can still use my—” But just before Kai could finish his sentences, the doorbell rang impatiently, along with a few furious knocking on the door. Kai spun his head around in alert, before he jumped out of the couch, and calmly walked towards the door with Xiu Min trailing from behind.

As long as Xiu Min remembered, they never had any visitors before—especially not in the late hour like now. His curious eyes trailed after Kai’s palm, which pulled the door open and to his surprise, the visitors were them.

“Xiu Min hyung!”

It was Luhan, Sehun… and Lay.

Something stirred somewhere inside of Xiu Min at the moment Lay called him. Perhaps it was because he hadn’t seen the healer’s genuine grin for so long, and perhaps because Xiu Min had last saw Lay when he cried so miserably, precisely a month ago. “Lay! Where had you gone missing?” Yet there Xiu Min was, finding himself stretching his neck upwards, trying to find any possibility that maybe, Se Kyung had been found too.

But no. Not even her shadow could be spotted anywhere.

At some point—when Xiu Min felt a sour squeeze in his heart—he was already sitting on a suede couch of Kai’s personal lounge, along with the other four. “Did you find Se Kyung anywhere, Luhan?”

Contrasting with the way he used to be a month ago (which was always cold and hard), Luhan could clearly notice that Xiu Min’s tone and gesture right then were calmer—like the old Xiu Min he was before everything fell apart. Or should Luhan now call him, Min Seok? “I’m sorry, Xiu Min. Me and Sehun… we haven’t caught a sight of her at all.” His gaze was searching for the oldest one’s eyes as the news left his lips.

“Well tell me then—how did you found Yixing and why the hell did you run off without a single notice, my old friend?” In a longing mixed with a bitter feeling for Lay’s act, Kai eventually asked as he leaned back on the couch.

Both Luhan and Sehun exchanged their gazes, which seemed to be full of hesitance, before the younger one spoke up, “Yixing hyung was in China with his parents.”

“The hell? You flew back there straight, hyung?” With a half-surprised reaction, Kai commented to see that Xiu Min was nowhere near listening. Perhaps Xiu Min was listening, but his mind wondered off to Se Kyung. Honestly, Kai had known Xiu Min for so long that he could tell the guy from inside out.

Smiling sheepishly, Lay nodded as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Yes. I just thought that I needed to get out of everything for a while. I didn’t know that you guys would go that far just to find me. Thanks guys.” Beaming off with sincerity, the healer bowed lightly as he flashed Luhan and Sehun a grateful grin, showing his deep dimples.

“Well, I’m glad to know that you’re fine. We all thought that you were dead before.” Trying hard not to sound too empty and shallow, Xiu Min stated out as he tried to hold an eye contact with Lay. “I suppose that you did heard the news about Se Kyung?”

Nodding apologetically, Lay then pressed his lips together in a firm line. “But Xiu Min hyung, I’ve discovered something.” Perhaps Lay was not yet used to the fresh change in Xiu Min, that he had to ask to continue with his words. It had been quite a while since he last saw him, after all. In addition, Lay had suddenly met with their old friends, who used to be in a cold war with the other half before, and all of them seemed to be hitting off quite well—which again, surprise Lay when he first received the updates from Luhan back there in China.

“Go on, then.” Xiu Min straightened up his position on the couch and was all ears for Lay, who may had brought a couple of useful information during his massive escapade. To think about it again, Lay had never come back from somewhere without obtaining anything. He may be quiet, but he was an excellent observant.

A second ticked by as Lay gave all of his friends a quick stare, before he heaved out a soft sigh. “It’s not that everything that we—EXO M—had done was wrong, but Xiu Min hyung… I think we’d forgotten that we are just a human too.” He paused, expecting Xiu Min to drop a comment, but the older one only gestured for Lay to continue. “When I was in China, mum and dad always tell me to go out for a walk or to go cycling—to get some fresh air and to clear my mind. And hyung, it is peace that we need all this time, instead of finding someone new.” To be brutally honest, Lay didn’t know where to start and how to arrange his sentences in order not to sound too offensive for Kris. So when his brown orbs observed the look in Xiu Min’s eyes, which seemed calmer than he’d expected, Lay was slightly taken aback by it.

“I know.” Nodding along with the brief answer, Xiu Min then averted his gaze towards Kai, who sat in silence beside him. “Doctor Kim Jongin had pointed that out to me recently.” In voice filled with pretend annoyance, Xiu Min stated out.

In return, Kai nudged Xiu Min in the elbow with a boyish chuckle. “Hey! At least I got all the degrees and master for this knowledge!” His eyes travelled around the reactions of his friends who gave him a disgusted look. “And thank me for helping Min Seok hyung—who is also your dear Xiu Min, Yixing hyung—in having a full control of his power!” The doctor’s last sentence, however, caused Lay to snap up his head in alert.

The healer’s face was written with disbelief as he stared deeply into Xiu Min. “You can control your own power… fully, hyung?”

Xiu Min was just about to reply in hesitance when Kai interrupted in a delighted tone. “Of course, he can! He can even unfreeze something now, am I right Min Seok hyung?” The corner of Kai’s eyes hinted Xiu Min to agree with him, as the doctor noticed that Xiu Min was still insecure about his powers.

However, the latter did nodded his head after heaving out a soft sigh. His brown orbs travelled up to witness Lay’s shocked expression. “I think I can. Jongin had been helping me with practising it lately.”

Out of nowhere, a flow of water rushed towards Xiu Min, causing the man to freeze it in instant. His off-guarded reaction trailed up after a smirking Kai, along with an empty glass in his grip. “See how fast his reflex is now?” Settling down the glass onto the coffee table in front of them, Kai stated out with an amused smile.

Annoyed by the doctor’s unprepared demonstration, Xiu Min chucked the ice towards the younger one, before he unfreeze it in the mid-air just in time the water splashed down onto Kai from the top. “Hyung, what are you doing!” A groan left his lips as he stood up, trying to shake the liquid away.

“That is impressive, hyung!” Laughing along with the others, Lay commented when the mentioned man turned to him with knitted eyebrows.

“Lay, do you still have your power? Because last time, you said that you’ve lost it?” In full hesitance, Xiu Min asked after Kai had off to his bedroom to get change.

Nodding, the healer replied, “Yes, it is still in me. Last time, I thought that I’ve lost it because I couldn’t preserve my—dead girlfriend because I no longer was grieving for her. Instead I was depressed about everything that happened in my friendship with all the deaths. But then after all of you went back to your room that night, I thought that I should really let go—because that was how I should repay for everything that Kris had given to us when he was still alive. He wanted us to be happy, after all. And just before I’ve made a decision leave the house, I let everything go without a regret—because I came to realise that regretting things that had happened, isn’t worth it. And that was when my—girlfriend disappeared into white dusts.” His voice shaken lightly, perhaps upon recalling the ugly memories.

Lay’s confession had caused the atmosphere to went off with reminiscences in the back of each other’s mind, and they thought that the healer’s wise words were more than true; after all, everything that happened gave them all a lesson and were all part of maturing. Even though everything had went very rough for them, it was still a part of life.

“Right. Let’s go.” Clueless of the abrupt vibe around his apartment, Kai stepped down the stairs nonchalantly as his brows raised up in amusement upon gazing at the other’s faces. “What did I miss?”

With a shook of head, Sehun dismissed Kai’s curiosity before he threw the latter another question. “Where are we going, Jongin? Yixing hyung had just got here—well to be exact, Luhan hyung and I had just got here too! At least give us some time to rest!” Whining slightly in his tone, as the youngest one Sehun will always be, he exclaimed with a small pout.

“Well you guys can stay here then. I ain’t got no time to wait when everything here has been solved except for one thing.” In a pretend swag, Kai snapped playfully towards Sehun who scowled down at him.

Cocking up his eyebrows innocently, Luhan questioned, “Where are you going, Jongin? And what are you talking about?” His brown orbs caught the exchanged gazes between Kai and Xiu Min, whose eyes were saying ‘is it okay’ and ‘what is okay’—and maybe Luhan knew their eye language because he was a telekinetic—but then the doctor faced Luhan again, sensing the fact that the telekinetic did heard their thoughts, secretly.

“Lulu hyung, it is very rude to read people’s thoughts.” Teasingly, in an angry tone, Kai exclaimed with a sharp stare towards Luhan.

Letting out a chuckle with both palms in the air, Luhan spoke up in his chirpy tone, “Your fault for taking so long to answer me, Jongin! But if that is what you’re thinking—then count me in!”

Clueless, both Lay and Sehun sent a look towards Xiu Min, asking what they were on about, yet the oldest one was also clueless, which left for them to urge the two in spilling out their thoughts.

Inhaling a good take of oxygen, Kai eventually stated out, “Okay. Min Seok hyung, remember when I said that your girlfriend is safe and sound?”

“Yes?”

“Well, I only said that because I’ve seen her.” The corner of his eyes caught the rage spilling out of Xiu Min, perhaps for not informing him earlier about the great news, yet Kai acted faster even before the older one could grip on him.

By teleporting.

“See hyung? I may have moved on and regretted my mistakes—but I still got my power.”

“Why the hell did you not tell me about this—”

“Hyung, really. If you are going to act like you’re still depressed, then I’ll have to cancel our trip to where Se Kyung noona currently is right now.” Kai’s tone, which instantly changed into something more professional at the moment he needed to make a decision, caused Xiu Min to calm down and think wisely for his words.

Xiu Min pried off Sehun’s and Lay’s tight grip from his arms, as he forward at Kai. “Fine. You won.” His mind registered the playful smirk lifting up the corner of Kai’s lips, before Xiu Min punched the doctor straight in the jaw. “That is for holding me back like a patient and for making me owing you for a lifetime.”

Chuckling breathlessly, Kai smirked up at Xiu Min as he wiped off his lips. “Well I guess I deserve that payment.”

»  Forest.

Kai had teleported them deep into a dark forest. Yet it was a forest that Xiu Min was all too familiar with. EXO M’s old territory. The exact place where they trained their cursed powers. Which was also the very first place where he had met Se Kyung.

A rush of bitter nostalgia squeezed Xiu Min’s heart as he held back Kai’s arm, staring anxiously at him. “Jongin… what are we doing here?” His ears picked up the halted pace of the other’s steps, who were trailing silently behind them.

An assured smile lifted up Kai’s lips, as he patted Xiu Min’s shoulder brotherly. “Just follow me. Don’t worry, everything is going to be fine.” He squeezed Xiu Min’s shoulder lightly as a gesture to keep walking, leaving the latter with no choice other than to trust him.

The atmosphere of the forest will never be complete without eeriness. Even for Lay, Xiu Min, and Luhan, who had once lived there, also did not feel secure. When they had eventually reached the middle of the forest, a cloud of thin mist greeted their view, before it then shifted to the side, revealing an old wooden house in sight.

Xiu Min squinted to get a better view, before he spun his head around towards Kai in shock. Gaze was yet again communicating with the younger one as he nodded. Then, without waiting for the others to predict their little communication, Xiu Min sprinted straight into the old house, hands were trying to shove the mists out of his sight. The first thing that Xiu Min had noticed was the sweet scent that lingered around the house. The second thing was how warm the place was, despite the fog outside. The third thing was the fresh arrangement of EXO M’s old furniture, and how dusts seemed to be forbidden from touching it.

The forth thing that he had taken a note of was a rather feminine shadow, slowly appearing from the entrance of the kitchen with a pan in hand. Xiu Min squinted his eyes again, to get a clearer look, and his brown orbs trailed after the act of the shadow, which lowered down her ‘weapon’ and stepped closer. By the time his brain registered the fifth thing that he saw, Xiu Min thought that his heart has stopped beating.

“Xiu Min… oppa?” There came the voice who he longed for the most.

Se Kyung’s voice.

“Go away.”

And there came a crumbling noise from his heart.