“Rae…” Jonghyun whispered as he rested his back on the door frame. His eyes were glued on his sister. He wasn’t at all shocked with the powers, he was more worried about his sister’s condition. She looked desperate and miserable, as if she wanted to die or rot in hell.

“No, don’t. You’re putting yourself in danger,” I coldly said, putting my hand on Jonghyun’s shoulder. He hissed at me. His eyes full of anger and fury. “Do you expect me to go away once I saw my sister’s condition? Luhan, I know you are all wise and knowledgeable but you have no clue how a human heart works,” he snapped. “I don’t know how it hurts because I don’t have one! But you don’t have a clue how much it hurts seeing your packmates fight each other because of one girl who almost killed us before. Jonghyun, think this through,” I told him.

Amber took a deep breath before sighing. “He’s right, Jonghyun. You’ll only harm yourself. Even you yourself have no clue how much powerful Rae’s abilities can get. Jonghyun, out of us three, Luhan is the wisest when dealing with wolves. He has the most control over his emotions unlike you who suddenly burst into anger,” she said though it was obvious it was against her heart.

Amber eyed me carefully before making up her mind. “I don’t trust you but I better not find a scratch on Rae when I return. You hear me, Luhan?” she hissed, holding on Jonghyun’s arm. “Let’s go, dinosaur. We have to leave the magician to his tricks,” she said before dragging the hunter away.

I turned my head to Rae and sighed. “Luhan…” I heard her call for me. I slowly went in the room, careful enough not to step on any vine. “I’m a monster,” she whimpered into the pillow. I slowly pushed the vines away from me and made myself a way to the chair near her desk. “Hearing you say that, it’s nostalgic,” I said with an amused smile on my face.

“You know, Xiumin—No, I mean Minseok, was exactly like that,” I told her. I reclined my back on the chair and controlled the vines to make a stool that’ll support my feet. “At least when you discovered who or what you really are, you didn’t kill your only sibling,” I told her before chuckling. Rae’s cries slowly stopped and I saw her turn her head to me.

“I never knew you could laugh,” she muttered, slowly sitting up. Her cheeks were tear-stricken and her body looked weak and frail. It was obvious she never went out after knowing what she is. Her eyes were red because of crying but I can see her claw-like nails piercing through the mattress of her bed.

“It was a chuckle,” I corrected her. She shook her head with a knowing smile, a forced knowing smile. “A chuckle, a giggle, a laugh, it’s all the same. They’re all a show of amusement or happiness,” Rae said, not minding the vines and moss in between us.

“Now, tell me about Xiumin. You said he was exactly like this,” her red eyes sparked curiosity as she leaned her upper body to me. “Oh, you want to hear the whole story?” I was amused to see how she suddenly changed. She was such a wreck earlier but with the mention of the dumpling’s name, she suddenly perked up.

“It all started when he froze his sister’s heart…”

Sujin’s POV

I slowly gripped on the cross some man gave to me earlier. The man was familiar, as if I saw him before. His angelic eyes, his light brown hair and the dimple on one of his cheeks wanted to regain all those memories I lost. I breathed in, feeling the sting of the cross.

It was a silver cross turned into a necklace. He didn’t answer why he gave this to me. He just told me it was something that might help me along the way. I was in my room, alone. It was always like this when I didn’t have any class. The others were busy with their own lives, outside of the manor.

Even father wasn’t home.

I turned to my side and stared at the wall. “I feel so confused…” I muttered as I closed my eyes, the cross still in my hand. “Why doesn’t Jungkook-oppa tell me anything? Why doesn’t Namjoon, Suga… even V tell me anything?” I muttered to myself.

I know… I’m pretty sure Mr Han has a significant part in my life. I wasn’t sure. I slowly sat up and held my head. Every time I try to remember, my head aches. “Who… Who is he?” I took a deep breath, releasing the cross. I bit my lower lip.

Jungkook won’t tell me anything, surely. If this was father’s bidding, no one would go against him. I slowly slipped away from the bed, going out of the room but not forgetting to put the cross into my coat’s jacket.

The mansion was pretty big and lonely. Father preferred not getting any maids or butlers since we rarely stay that long in this house. If we do stay, it was because we needed rest or we had free time in our hands. Out of the nine of us staying here, I was the one with the most amount of free time.

BTS usually has a gig in a dance competition (well, it included Jimin, Hoseuk, Suga and Jungkook), Namjoon had underground rap battles during the night (sometimes, the others watch him and sometimes, Hoseuk and Suga tag along), V—I’d rather call him Taehyung now, he joins singing competitions along with Jin.

All of them want to perform so badly while I, I’d rather live in the shadows weirdly. I’d prefer to be in the shadows than in the limelight. When I was about to step out of the house, I was shocked to see Taehyung going in the gates. “Ah, Sujin-ah,” ” he reacted with a smile and skipped towards me, giving me a tight hug.

“Where are the others?” I asked as he let me go. “Ah, the dancing four are in Myeongdeong, you know, yearly dance competition. Namjoon-hyung is in the underground rapping place and Jin-hyung is shopping in this 24 hour mall, I think. How about you? Where are you going?” He asked me. I shrugged.

“I don’t have a clue. Just, maybe, a walk around the nocturnal city. Want to come?” I asked. Taehyung’s eyes slightly widened as if shocked of what I said but then he shook his head and his smile went back. I wonder what’s up with him. He held my hand and lifted it up. “Don’t tell Kookie about our little date, okay?” He chimed before locking the door for me and dragging me outside of the mansion.

Taehyung had this bright smile on his face as he pointed at random shops. “This isn’t called a date, V-oppa,” I told him. He only snickered. “Basically, it is. But don’t worry, I won’t tell him. Maknae gets really violent when someone else touches his girl,” Taehyung laughed for a moment.

“I noticed,” I said with a small smile. “He is overprotective,” I added. “You are his diamond after all, really precious. But you are more precious to father,” Taehyung told me. My cheeks turned a bit red. “Of course, I’m his only girl,” I reasoned. Taehyung shook his head. “Not only that, you’re his queen in this game,” he said. I almost wanted to ask him why but he suddenly became childish and dragged me to different stands.

When we got home, I didn’t have the chance to ask him either. Jungkook suddenly wrapped his arms around me and smothered me with kisses, earning disgusted looks from Jimin and Hoseuk. “Get a room,” Namjoon groaned. Jungkook only stuck out his tongue and held me closer.

After a long argument, father went in the room and told me to go to mine. “You need sleep, my precious daughter. I don’t want your beauty to go to waste and I’m sure Jungkook agrees,” father gestured to my boyfriend and his arms slowly let go of me. He kissed my hair and whispered a “Good night”. “We can’t disobey father after all,” he whispered after kissing my lips.

I only nodded and kissed him on the cheek. I bowed at father before hurrying to my room which was weirdly, the farthest one from the living room. I could never sneak into their conversation. I can’t bring myself to do that. There’s some kind of fear preventing me to do that.

I locked my room to make sure no one disturbs me and pulled the cross out from my pocket. I put it on my desk before settling on the chair. I stared at it for a couple of seconds before deciding to search about it. The cross had a weird symbol in the middle of it. I vaguely read it as “EXO”.

There were only a few things about it, more about exoplanets. I know it’s not connected to anything about the cross. I touched it and felt the cold silver on my skin. I was absorbed on staring at it until my phone rang. I looked at who was calling and was shocked to see an unknown number.

“Yeoboseyo?”

“EXO isn’t easily researched about, young lady.”

I shivered when I recognized the voice. It was familiar but I couldn’t pinpoint who owned it. “How did you know?” I asked. “I have my ways like you have yours. EXO, you really want to know? If you do, that cross holds the key to it. And with the right moves and outwitting those people living in your home, you can figure out everything,” and then he suddenly hang up.

Even with the beeping of the phone and the knowledge that the person I was talking to was gone, I couldn’t bring the phone down. I was shocked with what I listened. My heart almost stopped. Who was that? How did he know what I was doing?

Never mind that, it must’ve been an illusion. I figured I should just sleep and look forward to the day ahead of me. But the thought of the cross on the table and what that mysterious man told me… it bothered me even when I fell into a deep slumber.

Luhan’s POV

I held Rae’s wrists and looked into her eyes. She looked afraid. It was obvious she wasn’t used to this. “Take a deep breath in,” I told her. She did so. “Out.” She did it again. “Forget all the fear you’re feeling. Don’t let it control you,” I told her. She hesitated, vines slowly growing from the floor.

“Don’t,” I repeated. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to push the vines away but they slowly looped themselves around my legs. “Control, Rae. I am telling you to control yourself,” I said in more authority. She flinched at my tone. “M-Mian,” she muttered before attempting to control her powers again.

“Stop scaring her,” someone said and when I turned my head, it was Sulli. “Try calming her down. It’ll help more than what you’re doing,” she told me. I rolled my eyes. She was practically right, but still, I won’t tell her that. “Rae, remember. You want to control your powers like I was able to control mine,” I reminded her.

She weakly nodded. “You know Minseok’s story now, right? You know the consequences of these powers. Minseok lost everything but gained it at the same time. He lost his family but he gained his pack. He lost his humanity but he gained his powers,” I continued. “You don’t want that to happen, right? You want to keep Jonghyun and your humanity. You want to lose your powers but you can’t. You can only control them,” I held her hands more tightly.

“Control…” She whispered to herself. “Yes, control,” I repeated. She took a deep breath and slowly, the vines loosened, breaking my legs free of its clutches. When the vines vanished, along with the other plants in the room, she collapsed on her bed. “Better progress than expected,” I said with a smirk on my face.

“She’s just asleep and she needs the rest. I sense she exerted too much energy in what she attempted,” I told Sulli when I stopped by the door frame. “I don’t know if I should trust you,” Sulli said. “I also don’t know if you should be trusted,” I nodded. “But we’re working together aren’t we?” I added and I saw her lips twisting into a smile.

“The world’s that weird, I guess.”