“If you could read my mind, you’d be in tears.”

“It was the devil’s fault! He did it!”

Yixing merely released a sigh. It wasn’t the first time he heard that. Somehow, watching the events unfold before him, made him realise that the people who blamed him had their reasons. For the first time in his life, he felt that he was able to forgive the people who created him to be a scapegoat.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the cave, Team Prince were busily searching for thoughts too. The Prince heaved a sigh when he saw his cousins dashing for the bigger thoughts.

“Stop looking for the bigger thoughts,” Jongdae ordered.

“Why? Don’t you want to go to the next round?” Jongin asked.

“Bigger thoughts means weaker thoughts.” Jongdae shook his head. “Looks like this task will depend a lot on me.” He stuck his tongue out playfully.

“How come?” Questioned Joonmyeon.

“Weak thoughts wants to be noticed, so they grow in size. When they do grow, their energy burns quicker as well, hence they are even weaker than before,” explained the Prince.

“I got it,” said Joonmyeon. “You look worried. Are you okay?”

Jongdae leaned against the walls of the cave with a solemn expression. “This place holds all the thoughts in the region - that includes our thoughts. This place really shouldn’t allow people to enter.”

*

There was only five minutes left before they had to present their thought to Heechul.

Luhan had not found a single thought that he would consider as ‘strong’, and he was getting concerned whether his team would be able to pass this round.

Hastily, Luhan grabbed a white thought and headed back to the entrance of the cave. The moment he touched it, he felt a warm fuzzy feeling and the image of Kyujin appeared in his mind.

“I think...I like her,” echoed Minseok’s voice.

Luhan stood there in a daze, staring at the white thought in his hand.

It was Minseok’s thought. Everyone was beginning to run back to the entrance with the closest thought they could grab. Luhan, on the other hand, released the thought, allowing it to escape back to the depths of the cave.

Luhan clenched his fists and grabbed another thought before running towards the crowd.

*

It was the moment of truth. Heechul brought out a scale and began measuring the thoughts. The students waited patiently as none of them understood the results from the scale.

“A total of ten teams have made it to the next round,” he said. He waved his hand in the air and a scroll appeared. “Here are the list of teams that passed, congratulations.”

On the scroll, the names of the teams appeared one by one.

Prince Team

Silent Ninjas

Nightmares

Yin Yang Earth

The Team Out of this World

etc.

Despite passing the second round, most of them were mentally exhausted from handling the thoughts. The Peace Worriers made sure they rested well before their next mission.

*

On the night of their mission, Yixing and Minseok dressed as girls as planned and entered the K-Orner Bar – the place where all information can be exchanged at a price.

Minseok glanced around the bar to see Kyujin working as the bartender.

“Since when did Kyujin get involved with this mission?” he asked.

“She’s not the only one. Look over there.” Yixing pointed to a slender figure in a black suit and black hat.

“Huiyin?! I thought the purpose of us being girls were so they didn’t have to tag along!”

“I don’t think it was Luhan’s idea for them to be here either.” The devil sighed. “Forget about them, the soldiers are here.”

A group of well-built men entered the bar and headed directly to one if the VIP rooms upstairs. Just as Yixing and Minseok was about to follow them, Kyujin appeared in front of them.

“How can we possibly rely on you two to do anything?” She smirked and handed Minseok a tray with several drinks. “Take these. Once they drink these, we’ll have access to all their memories.”

“I’ll head up. You look after these two,” said Minseok.

Kyujin scoffed as she folded her arms. “Who needs looking after?”

Minseok merely ignored her and headed towards the VIP room. He took a deep breath before knocking on the door. The door opened and the soldiers welcomed him in.

He placed the drinks gently onto the glass table and was about to make his leave when one of the soldiers grabbed him by the waist.

“Where do you think you’re going, beautiful? At least have a drink with us.” The soldier held a glass close to Minseok’s lips. Minseok took it and swallowed it in one shot.

“You’re quite a drinker,” one of the soldier laughed. “You can leave now.”

Minseok nodded and quickly left the room.

*

Kyujin couldn’t stop laughing when Yixing finally sat down by the counter.

“You’re quite charming as a girl.” She teased and pushed a glass of tequila towards him.

“At least I managed to get a security pass off a soldier. It should come in handy in the future.”

“Looks like our worries are pretty useless. You two are really good as girls.”

“Where’s Huiyin?”

Her chin moved towards the right and he turned to see Huiyin sat in the far corner with a drink in her hand. The emerald liquor swirled around her glass, distorting her reflection. She still couldn’t forget the thought she acquainted back in the cave.

'If you could read my mind, you’d be in tears.'

The voice kept echoing in her mind. It was so familiar, but she couldn’t recognise who it was.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Huiyin glanced up to see Chanyeol.

“It’s not like I’m doing anything,” she said as she took a sip of her drink.

“Is something bothering you?” He sat down beside her and took her glass away before she could have anymore.

“If you could read my mind, you’d be in tears.”

He froze.

“Isn’t that really sad? That voice sounds so familiar, but I can’t figure out who it belongs to. Someone I know…feels like that.”

For several moments they stared at the glass of green liquor in silence. It was as though they were waiting for each other to say something.

“Maybe…it’s because they want to protect you. Some things are better off unsaid.” He heaved a sigh. “If that person sees you like this, they would be in tears.”

She looked at him with watery eyes.

“They should be done now. We should go.” He grabbed her wrist and dragged her out.

“What’s their relationship?” Kyujin asked.

“I’m not sure,” Yixing replied as he gulped the tequila down.

*

Luhan was on his computer tidying up all the memories received. He accidently opened up an irrelevant file.

‘I don’t want a revolution anymore. I just want to be with the person I love and live peacefully for the rest of my life. This Kingdom isn’t as bad as Luhan makes it sound. It might not even be better after a revolution.’

The leader of the Peace Worriers felt deflated. “You’re wrong, Minseok. You’re too kind. I won’t stop. Not until I get back what was rightfully yours.”

*

Before the final preliminary round, it’s a tradition for the school to have a masquerade. It’s to celebrate those who survived the tasks and encourage students to participate in the future.

Kyujin and Huiyin entered the grand hall together arm in arm. Kyujin wore a black midi dress with frills at the bottom and a red ribbon highlighting her slender waist. Huiyin wore an ivory dress with a blue dragon sown cross. Both girls decided to wear complementing masks, Kyujin wore the left side of a gold mask while Huiyin wore the other side.

The girls were over the moon about the masquerade, whereas the men – well, weren’t as delighted.

“Do I have to be here?” Yixing sulked. “I look ridiculous.”

Chanyeol glanced at the healer’s white suite. “You look fine. A lot better than the clowns over there, trust me.” He pointed to Team Prince where they wore traditional robes with vibrant colours.

“For once I feel sorry for the Prince,” said Luhan with a sly smirk.

“What’s the point of wearing masks when we know who’s who?”  Yixing groaned.

“Well, not really. I can’t recognise half these people!” Chanyeol exclaimed.

“Gives you a chance to ask the girls to dance.” Baekhyun entered with a mischievous cackle. “Lulu, here’s the bottle you wanted.” He threw a black bottle at Luhan.

Luhan glared at him through his light blue mask. “Don’t. Call. Me. Lulu!”

“It is for our next mission?” Minseok asked.

Luhan shook his head. “Personal use.”

“Can we please not talk about missions here? We’re supposed to have fun! Let’s forget about our great plans for one night,” said Tao.

To avoid suspicion, they scattered around the hall looking for a partner to dance.

*

Luhan noticed Huiyin was looking around aimlessly.

“Hey.” He tapped her shoulder, causing her to jolt before she turned around. “Sorry, did I scare you?”

“Luhan?”

He nodded. “Why aren’t you with Kyujin?”

“She went to see what food there are and I lost her in the crowd.”

“Would you like to dance?”

She bit her bottom lip and politely declined his offer. “Maybe after I find Yixing. I-I’m worried he wouldn’t know what to do in these places. He know…he can be quite awkward.”

“Why bother?” He asked mercilessly. Her eyes dilated in shock by his cold tone.

“You can’t be with him.”

Author's Note: Sorry it feels rushed...hope you guys like it despite not updating frequently ^^'