Chapter 10

            It was nearly midnight when Youngbin decided to check in on the twins.  Ever since his “breakup” with Soomin, the nights seemed so bothersome and restless.  He could never bring himself to quiet his thoughts.  Both Soomin and the twins were constantly on his mind, and with his lack of communication with Soomin, he dreaded the day that General Ko would ship the girls off to be soldiers.  Minjin and Minseon had no clue about the plan that he and Soomin quietly played out.  He didn’t dare try to communicate anything through them.

            He walked to the end of the hall and reached the door to their dorm.  When he entered the code to open the door, he was surprised to find the room’s light still on.

            “Oppa!” Minjin called, rushing to the door.  “Quickly!  Get inside!”

            Youngbin stepped inside the closed the door behind him.  He curiously observed Minjin, who stood excitedly in front of him.  Minseon sat on her bed, holding a small, white cake.  They both smiled up at him and began to sing “Happy Birthday”.

            “What is this?” he asked with a nervous smile after they finished their pretty harmonization.

            “Why didn’t you tell us it was your birthday, oppa?” Minseon frowned.  “If we’d known earlier, we could have made this day more special.”

            “Soomin unnie let us know only about an hour ago when she dropped off this cake for you,” Minjin explained.  “She said we had to stay up until you visited us so we could sing to you.”

            Youngbin hadn’t found time to remember his own birthday in the midst of everything that was going on.  He looked down at the simple, message-less cake and grinned bashfully.  Though Soomin couldn’t wish him a happy birthday in person, he appreciated this plain sentiment as the most she could do.

            “Wow…well, you two sounded beautiful,” he finally said.  “This is really sweet.”

            “We didn’t make it though,” Minseon sighed, handing the cake to Minjin and lying down on her bed.  “I don’t know why Ms. Ko couldn’t just stay.  But I’m sure you saw her earlier today, right?”

            “I…I may have seen her in the halls,” he lied, forcing a smile.  “Anyway, shall we eat this cake?”

            “Yes!” Minseon cried.  “Ms. Ko couldn’t leave us a knife, but she left some spoons.  Let’s just dig in!”

            Minjin placed the cake on her bedside table and handed Youngbin a spoon.  He reluctantly joined the twins in their gluttony by sticking his spoon into the cake.  Its perfection was quickly demolished, mostly by the twins.  But everyone stopped their eating when Minjin’s spoon suddenly ran into a soggy piece of paper.

            “Oppa…what is this?”  She reached into the cake and pulled out a small piece of paper. 

            Without a moment to waste, he snatched it from her and looked at it closely.  “Ah, Minjin-ah, I’m glad you found this.  You could have eaten it.  That wouldn’t have been good.  I’ll be sure to throw this away.”

            “Is it a note, oppa?” Minseon asked.

            “I’m sure it’s nothing.  Soomin probably accidentally dropped it into the cake mix when she was baking.”

            Once the twins were back to eating the cake, Youngbin wiped the cake and frosting from the paper and spotted Soomin’s recognizable handwriting.

                You know who this is.  I hope you’re the first one to read this.  I felt a little nervous leaving that cake alone with them.  I don’t blame them for having such a big appetite, though.

                There are reports saying that the Hades Virus has been mutated.  If this is right, the twins are no longer immune, and there’s no reason for them to be trained.  General Ko is investigating whether the reports are legitimate, and if they are, he plans to immediately send the twins into Daghan in order to do as much damage as possible to their terrorist organization while the mutated virus is still at its most contained level.  This mission has no escape route for them.  He’ll send them in there to fight until they die.  I’ve shared this information with my contact outside, and he seemed to understand the urgency of the situation.  Whether or not they respond, we have to get the twins out as soon as possible.  At 3AM, I will take them to the place where we used to meet to eat ramen together.  Meet us there, and we can all escape together.  If you aren’t there, we’ll have to leave without you.  But maybe it’s for the best.  If we’re caught, at least you won’t be punished.

                I have so much more to say, I think you know that.  But if I continue, I’ll be giving away both our identities, won’t I?  Burn this message as soon as possible.  I hope you can make it.

Төрсөн өдрийн баяр хүргъе

Би чамд хайртай

            Youngbin looked down at the messy note with wide, anxious eyes.  So suddenly, everything that he had been expecting was happening.  He thought he was prepared for it, but his heart was beating ferociously in his chest.

            “What did the thing say, oppa?” Minjin inquired casually, still chewing on a bite of cake.

            “Ah…I think it was a foreign document,” he chuckled.  Folding the note in half, he showed only the foreign writing to Minjin.  “Do you happen to know what language this is?”

            “I think that’s Mongolian,” Minjin told, eyeing the words carefully.  “Minseon-ah, you know more Mongolian than me.”

            “Let me see.”  Minseon put her spoon down, rubbed her hands together, and looked at the note.  “It says…‘Happy birthday’!  And also…‘I love you’!  Oppa, who is this from?”

            “I think it was just a worksheet from one of your lessons,” he suggested.  “I’ll have to let Soomin know that she almost killed us with it.”

            “It wouldn’t have killed us, oppa,” Minjin insisted with a tiny laugh.  “But it would have been unpleasant to eat.  Come on, oppa, you’ve hardly had any cake.  You can have some more.”

            “Actually, I think I’m full.”  He crumpled up the note and pushed it into his jacket pocket.  “You two can finish my cake.  I really can’t take another bite.”

            “What?”  Minseon looked at him in awe.  “You’re really going to give up this cake?  Are you insane?”

            Youngbin scanned his badge on a scanner near the door, causing it to open.  “I’m afraid so.  Please eat all of it.  I would hate to have it go to waste.”

            “You’re making a mistake, oppa!” Minseon warned.  “A big mistake!”

            After he left them, he rushed outside and took a lighter from his pocket.  He made his way to the back of the administration building where no one could see him.  Taking the note from his pocket, he gave it one last look before lighting it on fire.

            “I love you too, Soomin-ah,” he whispered sternly.  “It’s about time this happened…but it doesn’t make me any less nervous.”

            Stomping the ashes of the note on the pavement, he looked up into the sky.  Tonight would be the last night he, Soomin, and the twins would see the stars from this academy.  He only hoped that the twins wouldn’t be seeing them from Daghan any time soon.  The plan had to work.  They had to keep the twins safe.

Author's Note: Guys, I am so sorry. It's been so long, and the story has been sort of random. First of all, I was going to end the story when Captain Hwang recruits them for Crayon Pop. But I've decided to take it all the way to Crayon Pop's debute. Second of all, I am still recovering from meeting Crayon Pop at their first US Fanmeet. It's hard to write about the twins after seeing their precious faces in person and having conversations with them. Third of all, I'm going to try to write more often, but school is starting next week. It may either inspire me to write more or exhaust me too much. We'll have to see. Thank you for being patient. I hope you enjoyed this incredibly short chapter. I think the next one will be super long and awesome!!