Chapter Twenty-One:

The Week, the Crash, the Blood

            A week went by with Julie taking care of the four young boys with their waste delivering process. Kyungsoo and Sehun were easy to deal with, but Tao and Kai worried Julie. She left them home on the Monday with Mark and Jackson to take care of them. She thought it would go well as they really liked Mark and Jackson, but she was wrong. The other ten boys noticed the two missing boys and threw a fit until Julie promised they would be at the school during the lunch time. When they weren’t there, the ten boys threw big tantrums, scaring most of the other kids. Julie and Jill had a tough time calming them down, sighing in relief when they dropped to the floor asleep. Julie apologized over and over to Jill, but Jill didn’t mind it – “it happens.” When Julie arrived to take them home, they were still asleep. She was a bit worried, but decided not to dwell on it. She carried them two-at-a-time to the car with Jill bringing the last two on her fourth trip. Julie thanked her and left.

            The two boys at the house woke up around eight, instantly realizing they were left behind. They cried for hours until Mark managed to calm them down, taking care of them until Jackson woke up at ten with the other three boys. Mark and Jackson followed Julie’s list of chores to do with the two sick boys, but it didn’t turn out as well as they were hoping. First, they wouldn’t eat their breakfast; second: they wouldn’t drink their prune juice and water mix; third: Tao wouldn’t sit in the bathtub like he was supposed to; and fourth: both of them wouldn’t lay down for their nap. When Julie opened the door, bringing the now-rowdy boys in the house, they couldn’t help but sigh in relief.

            After playing for a while, the boys forgot about the incident and played together like they usually did. When dinner and bath time came around, they instantly followed Julie’s directions like they usually did. Julie decided, then, that she could just do the treatments at the school like Jill’s mother, Doctor Kim Hwang, suggested. Besides, she mused, Jill would be able to help me and the boys would be happy. The rest of the week continued like it should have when, on Friday, the five boys cornered her in the kitchen to talk to her while the boys played in the living room, just feet away from the swinging kitchen door.

            Julie put the dishes in the dishwasher when she heard feet walking towards her from behind. She ignored it, knowing who it was, and continued to clean the kitchen, wiping the counters with bleach and soap with a white rag. A hand was placed on her shoulder.

            “Julianne,” Jr. said from behind her. She straightened up at the serious tone, turning around to look at the boys standing in front of her. She looked at their faces, seeing the serious faces. “We need to speak with you.” She nodded, throwing the towel into the sink and leaning against the dried counter with crossed arms.

            “Go ahead. I am all ears,” she answered with a small smile. They glanced at each other before Jackson nudged Jr. with his elbow. He glared at Jackson before clearing his throat.

            “We were sent here to protect you and the boys,” he began, looking her in the eyes. “But since we lost Bambam, we haven’t been doing our duties, completely. The necklace given to you by our Boss, Mr. Lee Soo Man, will protect you from all supernatural dangers (such as monsters, powers used upon you, etc.) and also give you powers your sons will, eventually, obtain; however, it does not protect you against physical or emotional attacks caused by supernaturals and humans. As your school is not safe for you and the boys, the guys and I have decided that we are going to enroll into your school, starting next week.” Before Julie could protest, he began again being a little louder. “We will do our best to protect you from physical attacks, there, but, unfortunately, we will not be able to protect you against emotional attacks as we cannot stop whatever words they may say.” It was silent.

            “I do not want you boys at my school,” Julie muttered, feeling the anger well up in her. She wanted to be independent. How could she be independent if people continuously underestimated her? “I can protect myself well enough without your guys’ help.” She began to leave, but they pulled her back into them to talk more. She growled, silently.

            “We are going to your school, Julie,” Youngjae began, with a stern voice. “We like you enough to want to go to your school. You should be happy we are attending.” Julie felt tears well up in her eyes from the anger and pain she felt at the harshness of his words.

            “No,” she said, defiantly. She sniffled, walking away from them, dodging their outreached hands. “If you do go, I will act as if I do not know you. I do not want to listen to the hateful comments from all of the school’s students. If you do come, I really will look like a .” She went out of the kitchen and into the living room, playing with her sons.

            She didn’t see or talk to the five boys the rest of the night.

~+~+~+~

             The next morning, Julie was going through the kitchen to find food to feed her sons, but noticed she only had enough for one meal for her sons and one meal for the boys and herself. She fed her sons and watched silently as the other five scarfed their food down, sharing glances with each other but never looking at her. When everyone finished, the boys rushed upstairs to come down minutes later with sunglasses, hats, and jackets. Julie and her sons watched the five boys run down the stairs.

            “We’re leaving,” Jackson said in a rushed voice, “we’ll be back before one. See ya.” And they were gone. She and the boys sat there, listening to Julie’s old car rev to life and leave the garage. Julie sighed and took the boys to the playroom, watching them play while she decided what she should do for lunch. I don’t have enough food for them and myself, let alone the other five. I should go shopping, but should I bring them with me? She just shrugged and decided to bring them.

            She bathed them and, then herself, and dressed them in their nicest clothes. She wore a simple dress see-through around the shoulders and white with blue patterns on the rest of the dress. She looked at the necklace that was supposed to protect her and give her powers and decided to wear it. She wrote a note for the boys, just in case she didn’t get back home before they did. Looking outside, she decided to put on a jacket as it looked like it was about to rain. She put the children in the car and, after making sure they were buckled in safely, she got in, herself, and began to drive away.

            The music her children liked played in the background of her mind as she focused on driving in the now-pouring rain.

            “Omoni!” Sehun called from the back. She snapped out of her trance and glanced at the rearview mirror to see them smiling happily.

            “Neh, Sehunnie?” She asked, smiling wide. They didn’t answer her, immediately, just watched her.

            Julie got lost in their innocent faces and thoughts that she didn’t notice the car barreling towards them. She had stopped at the stop light, but the driver must have lost control because he T-boned her and her sons, sending the big van flying and flipping. The screams of her sons could be heard a mile away. The car landed upright, but the boys were silent, along with Julie. All of their breaths and heartbeats were faint. The driver didn’t even stop.

~+~+~+~

            He spent the night killing the enemy’s children and their parent. It may have seemed a terrible thing to do, but it was either them or his own children, and, being the protective father he is, he decided to kill the enemy’s and not his own. It was too easy, though, as the parent didn’t know anything about the children they adopted or have any sort of enchanted jewelry to protect them like the mother of his children did. When he arrived back at her home, he saw the old car she had used leave the estate. He closed his eyes, feeling for his children, and decided not to leave his post as they were still inside.

            He lied back against the tree he practically lived in, only closing his eyes for a second. I will only rest for a minute. Then, I will wake up and watch over my children, again.

            The sound of thunder and the feeling of fear rushing through him woke him up. He sat up in a panic, drenched to the bone, and felt for his sons. They were gone. He felt panic and left his tree, running at top speed to find his sons and their mother. He followed the road when he saw a rather deserted four-way street and a rather beat-up car sitting in the middle of one of the roads. He only glanced at it once, deciding it was not worth his time when he heard crying. Crying that sounded an awful like his son Zitao’s crying. He swooped down, dreading for the worse. He looked into the car, seeing all of his sons wide awake with blood running down their faces, crying, and the mother of them sitting in the front seat with faint breathing and barely a heartbeat.

            For once in his lifetime, the Tree of Life felt his heart drop to his stomach and fear clog everything as what he saw registered into his brain. He took her out of the car and set her on the ground, gently. His hands flitted over her, not knowing what to do, but know what to do at the same time. Forgetting all about his healing abilities, he put his hands on the middle of her chest and pushed down as each second went by.

            “Julie…come on, Julie…,” he would mutter. “Wake up. Don’t die on our sons.” On me. He pushed again when he decided to lean down, plug her nose, and breathe into , twice. He pushed down a couple more times, breathing into her once, when she woke up, coughing as if she was choking on air. He sighed in relief, picking her up to hold her bridal style and touching the car. After a small smile at the girl who passed out in his arms, he teleported all of them to an abandoned hospital on the outskirts of town.

            He looked down at the girl in his arms with a look of wonder on his face. He teleported to a big room with many hospital beds and set her down on it before going back to get the other twelve. Putting them all under a sleeping spell and healing their wounds, he went back out to teleport the car where he found it. Teleporting back, he began to watch the girl as she slept. Her long black hair around her, her chest rising up and down slightly, her soft skin, and her beauty made him feel weird inside. He like the warm feeling watching her gave him, but he began to wonder this was supposed to happen to him.

            His eyes lit up sadistically when a thought crossed his mind.

            Wouldn’t this be a…perfect time to “switch” their blood out with hers? Maybe some of their DNA, as well? Hmm… And so, he did. He hooked his sons one-by-one to I.V. bags, putting the plastic tube into their skin, and did the same to Julie and himself. He drained all of Xiumin’s blood, first, and replaced it with the same amount of blood half belonging to him and the other half belonging to Julie. He, then, decided to switch the DNA Xiumin’s heart pumped through to Julie and his DNA, making Xiumin’s hair grow a tad light and grow a little heavier from baby fat. Deciding it went well with Xiumin, he did the rest to the others, healing Julie whenever she lost too much blood. He watched as his sons’ features and proportions changed according to Julie’s DNA and, after a while, felt better about his sons’ new DNA. He began to look at Julie, wondering about her, again. I AM A GENIUS!! He gave himself a pat on the back and smiled wide. I want more children. This is how I can give her my children! ASA! I am SO smart!

            He pulled down the blanket on her and lifted up her shirt so it was under her s. Putting his hands on her stomach, he closed his eyes, looking to see if she was able to get pregnant right away. After a while, he removed his hands and opened his eyes, smiling wide with satisfaction. She was ready and her body would be able to handle it better than the girl he used before. He wanted the pregnancies short (longest to be four and a half months, shortest to be two months), but the children grow like regular children after they are born. The last girl that went through the procedure died giving birth as her body was too weak and small with terrible DNA, as he now knew. Julie, however, was much stronger and he could feel a pull to her – weirdly enough. One day, he decided, I will make her mine and give her children the correct way, but for now, I must do it this way.

            As he was, technically, a tree, he held his hands over his stomach and took seven seeds out (each one with his DNA but with different traits). He put one hand on her stomach, with the other hand holding the seeds, and pulled back her skin, bones, muscle, everything to get to her womb where her eggs were. She shifted slightly, but it would not hurt her as he just couldn’t allow that to happen to any of the females he used like this. He put the seeds into her womb and put her skin and muscles back where they were and waited. He was sure one of the seeds latched onto an egg, but he wasn’t sure. He didn't worry about having multiple babies as the girl he had used before never had twins, only one at a time, and so he figured it would be the same. If Julie had more…just the thought of it made him feel proud and happy. He waited and waited a couple of hours when he decided he was bored of this waiting game. As the sun went down, he moved Julie onto her side, away from him, and got under the covers behind her. Wrapping an arm around her, he pulled him closer to him, feeling himself unconsciously sigh in content at the thought of being closer to her.

            Never did it occur to him, as he drifted off to sleep, that someone – especially that boy that hung around her at the hospital – would come looking for her with revenge in their heart.