“Wait,” Jonghyun said, stopping in the middle of his front yard.

They had just exited his house, after he had changed and fetched his keys and wallet, and were now on their way out into the city. They all turned around to look at him questioningly.

“What about this?” he asked and held up his right arm, pointing at his wrist where the small mark was.

“What about it?” Kibum asked back, brow furrowed in puzzlement.

Jinki and Minho mirrored his expression.

Jonghyun fidgeted, uncertain. They clearly didn’t see the same problem he did.

“Well… won’t he have to do it too?” he pointed at Minho, who raised his eyebrows as if he found Jonghyun stupid.

“’Do it too’?” he asked sceptically. “My brother’s connection to you is enough for us both. Your bond–”

“Brother,” Jinki interrupted mildly, giving him a look Jonghyun wasn’t quite sure how to interpret. “We need not waste our time on irrelevant things.”

Minho looked at him in exasperation.

“You are the very one dwelling in irrelevance. I simply aim to explain for the benefit of their understanding,” he exclaimed.

Jinki gave him a tight smile and turned to Jonghyun and Kibum, who were watching them curiously. His expression softened and became warmer as his eyes fell upon Jonghyun.

“What my brother wants to say is that our shared energy is enough for both of us, as I can lend some of it to him,” Jinki told him kindly.

They blinked at him, taking the information in. Then Kibum's face broke into a grin.

“That’s new info!” he exclaimed excitedly just as Jonghyun wondered if he would actually feel the loss of energy taken from him. “I haven’t read or heard about that before!”

Jonghyun rolled his eyes, letting his worry be, while Jinki chuckled good-naturedly. Minho just sighed and rubbed his forehead, looking at them inirritated expectancy.

“If you are quite finished, shall we continue on our way?” he grumbled. “We have not gone even three steps outside this place.”

Jinki grinned at him and grabbed both Jonghyun and Kibum's arm, pulling them into motion. Jonghyun wondered if gods were naturally warmer, since it felt like his arm was growing hot, the warmth emanating from where Jinki's hand gripped his upper arm. It stayed for a while even after he had let go and Jonghyun rubbed it absentmindedly.

He didn’t know how, but he somehow ended up beside Minho. Kibum had fallen into step beside Jinki behind them and talked away a mile a minute – most likely since he realised he would get answers to his questions out of him easier than Minho. Jonghyun glanced back at them, watching Kibum's eyes shine with curiosity and Jinki bite his lip in an attempt to not laugh at his expression. He shook his head and looked up into the stoic face of Minho, who was sweeping his eyes over the people they passed.

“So, uh… where are we going exactly?” Jonghyun asked after a short moment of silence between them.

Minho glanced down at him from the corner of his eyes, taking his time to answer while he continued to search around for who knew what.

“I do not yet know.”

Jonghyun frowned. So what was he searching for, then?

“Then how do you know which way to go?”

Minho narrowed his eyes at the road in front of them.

“A feeling,” he answered cryptically and Jonghyun felt it best to leave the conversation at that, falling quiet again. Instead he listened in to the conversation behind them.

“So how come you guys ended up here, in South Korea?” Kibum asked. “I mean, our country is not the most Greek mythology believing country there is. Shouldn’t you be in Greece?”

“There is a portal of sorts. It bears the name The Rift and is a passage between our worlds. It shifts from time to time,” Jinki explained. “At the moment it is strongest in this part of the human world and therefore more gods and mythical creatures alight here for the time being – to work or cause trouble.”

“Wow,” Kibum said, sounding awestruck. “This wasn’t written in any of the books I read!”

“Not many know of it, only a privileged few,” Jinki said.

Jonghyun wondered if he was just humouring Kibum or actually telling the truth. He glanced back at them and caught Jinki looking at him with a small, amused smile. He decided that he was doing both, by the amused expression on his face. He snorted when he saw Kibum’s eyes light up, his body almost vibrating with excitement.

“So then, why d’you look Korean?” Kibum asked, rushing to get his words out.

Jinki blinked, turning his attention to Kibum again.

“Is my appearance abnormal?”

“No!” Kibum quickly corrected himself. “You’re very– extremely good-looking! Your brother too!”

Jinki looked up to meet Jonghyun's gaze again, thoughtful.

“You consider me… good-looking, was it?”

Somehow, Jonghyun felt as if the words were directed at him and he blushed against his will. He had absolutely no idea why because it wasn’t like he couldn’t admit Jinki and Minho both were good-looking.

Jinki's eyes lit up at his reaction and Jonghyun managed to catch a glimpse of a giant grin spreading on his lips before he hastily turned forward again, smoothing his hair over his ears to hide the blush spreading onto them. His heart was doing a weird staccato beat and he willed it to calm down. Minho gave him a contemplative look, something steely underlying the expression on his face, but said nothing. Jonghyun frowned in confusion.

“Yes! Very handsome!” Kibum reassured Jinki behind them. “I was just wondering why you looked like us and could speak Korean, since you’re supposed to be Greek gods and all.”

Jonghyun could almost hear Jinki shrug.

“I assume we adapt ourselves to our surroundings,” he said. “I admittedly do not have a lot of knowledge regarding this, as no one has ever asked us nor been bothered by it before, thus not prompting me to research about it.”

“Hm,” Kibum hummed. Then he snickered. “Well, at least you’re easy on the eyes!”

Jonghyun threw him a disbelieving look. Jinki regarded Kibum questioningly, clearly not understanding what he meant. Jonghyun was about to open his mouth and explain when he saw from the corner of his eye how Minho carelessly stepped out into the middle of the street while the light at the crosswalk was still red.

“Wait!” he called in panic and rushed forward to grab Minho’s arm. He pulled him back just before a honking car passed them at high speed. His heart hammered hard against his chest and he let out a breath he unconsciously had held. “What are you doing?!”

Minho gave him an annoyed look.

“I was following my instinct.”

“You were going to be run over!” Jonghyun almost yelled, making the few people standing beside them look up in alarm.

Minho only raised his eyebrows nonchalantly, obviously not aware of the issue.

“You need to wait for the light to turn green!” Jonghyun explained exasperatedly, pointing at the red man hanging above their heads.

Minho frowned at it, looking even more irate.

“I am the king of our kind. I do not take orders from a light.”

Jonghyun groaned in frustration while Kibum and Jinki laughed.

“Brother,” Jinki said, voice amused. “I think it would be wise of us to follow the rules of the human world while we are here as to create as little complications as possible. It is why we have Jonghyun and Kibum with us, is it not?”

Minho scowled at him, but thankfully did not attempt to go out into the street again and stayed where he was, glaring at the light. Jonghyun gave Kibum an exasperated look, but his friend only snickered behind his hand, pulling him closer and out of earshot of Minho.

“He wouldn’t have died, Jjong,” he said quietly.

The light turned green and they crossed the street.

“He’s ‘the king of their kind’,” he added amusedly and Jonghyun sighed.

Suddenly, there was a gentle squeeze at his shoulder and he looked up into warm amber eyes.

“Thank you for saving my brother,” Jinki said softly. “Even if he did not need saving.”

Jonghyun could only nod, sheepishly staring after him as he quickened his pace to catch up with Minho. His shoulder felt as strangely warm as his arm had felt before and his cheeks tinted yet again. There was a muffled laugh at his side and he turned his attention to his best friend, who smirked at him knowingly.

“What?” he mumbled, feeling caught doing something he shouldn’t.

“I saw that,” Kibum said smugly.

“Saw what?” Jonghyun asked, confused.

“You liiiike him,” he cooed and Jonghyun's blush deepened. “You have a wittle cwush.”

“I do not!” he defended himself. “Like hell I would!”

“I never dreamed this day would come,” Kibum continued dramatically, drying an invisible tear with his finger. “My little boy’s growing up!”

“Kibum,” Jonghyun growled in warning.

“Really, Jonghyun,” he shook his head. “I saw the way your eyes got all starry when they caught with Jinki's. And don’t even mention all the blushing you keep doing around him.” He waved his hand nonchalantly. “I never knew red could have so many different nuances.”

“But… But I’m straight!” Jonghyun protested desperately.

Kibum just raised his eyebrows at him sceptically, smirk returning.

“Really?” he let out a short, very amused, laugh. “So’s spaghetti until it gets hot.”

Jonghyun blushed for what seemed like the hundredth time, unable to meet Kibum's eyes. He had to admit he was acting rather… weird. He didn’t know what it was or if it was just Jinki and his authorative influences and whatnot. He knew he did not have a crush on him, because he knew how crushes felt. They gave him butterflies in his stomach, made him smile goofily and hum songs absentmindedly. None of that happened with Jinki.

But something was definitely happening. He just hadn’t yet figured out what.

He grumbled quietly as he followed a chortling Kibum, both of them jogging to catch up with Jinki and Minho. Jinki looked at them curiously but was distracted from asking when Minho suddenly picked up his pace. Then the four of them broke into a full out run, weaving between startled people.

Both Jinki and Minho quickly gained a lead on Kibum and Jonghyun, but Jinki was kind enough to stop at every corner they turned until he was sure they had seen which direction to go. They finally caught up to them outside a tall, iron gate, behind which a private garden was visible, surrounded by a tall brick wall for privacy.

“Wh-what… are we… doing h-here?” Kibum panted, bending over and clutching his side.

Jonghyun bent forward too, putting his hands on his knees, his breath harsh and quick.

“Brother,” Jinki said solemnly, ignoring Kibum's questions for the first time. Both of them were staring between the bars of the gate, looking as unruffled as if they had taken a leisurely stroll down the street.

“I know,” Minho answered before grabbing two bars and bending them apart as if they were made out of rubber to make an opening.

Jonghyun and Kibum stared open-mouthed as both Jinki and Minho easily made their way through the destroyed gate, then quickly followed them after glancing around to make sure no one had seen what had happened.

As they stepped through, they found themselves in a garden belonging to a one-storey house, full with hydrangeas, geraniums, tulips, fuchsias and roses, filling the air with an incredibly sweet smell. Bees were buzzing around the bushes, acting as natures own background music. The garden was artfully constructed; the tulips arranged in geometrical patterns while the hydrangeas and fuchsias constructed small pathways along with the small pebble path leading from the gate to the door of the house and other parts of the garden. There were small leaves falling like snow from a cherry blossom tree surrounded by rosebushes directly to their right.

“You really don’t care much for people’s privacy,” Jonghyun muttered.

Jinki and Minho glanced at him briefly with blank faces. Then Minho tensed and the power he must have held under control was discernible in the air again – as it had been earlier that day – his authority pressing down on Jonghyun and Kibum's conscious.

“There,” he said darkly, his gaze on the tree as he stepped off the small pebble path and approached it.

They all watched as he stopped in front of it for a moment, seemingly considering something. Then he squatted down and pulled apart the branches of the bushes. He muttered to himself in irritation, as they wouldn’t stay to the side, and broke a few of the branches off, throwing them to the side.

“Hey!” Jonghyun called. “Someone put their effort into that! You should be care–”

Jinki held up a hand to silence him, keeping his eyes trained on Minho as he started towards the tree as well. He stopped beside him, looking down at something, his expression sombre but hard. Kibum and Jonghyun exchanged a quick glance and followed him quietly.

“What are you…?” Kibum started asking, but his voice died out as they came to a stop by the bushes. “Oh my god,” he breathed, putting his arms around his torso.

Jonghyun swallowed harshly, a shiver running down his spine. Beneath the bushes laid a young woman, her skirt and stockings torn while her shirt was completely ripped apart. On her torso a mark looking strangely like a very complicated clock was carved out. But instead of blood, what seemed to be ink was dried into the wounds.

A/N: What is this O_O An update? Haha, I'm sorry I took so long but school and stuff... yeah ;__;

If anyone's interested in how the mark on the woman's torso looks like here. If you know what it is, well... I'll think you're kinda awesome >_< 

I don't have much to say honestly... I know other people who are really good at these author's note stuff, but I just tend to ramble if I don't have anything remotely important or relevant to say (kinda like what I'm doing now). Anyway... last part not proofread OTL

But I hope you liked it!

Love<3

Bye~!