𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐈 𝐒𝐄𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 ᵈⁱˢᶜᵒⁿᵗⁱⁿᵘᵉᵈ

Chapter 6

"Oh yeah, ma! Uh, Beijing is, um...great! And the dorms..." Jin paused for a moment and looked down at his now dirty shoes, frowning as he kicked up some nonexistent dirt. "The dorms are clean..."

Shaking his head to regain focus, Jin perked up when his cousin was mentioned. "Peng? Uh..."

Looking over to the others, Jin gaped like a fish when he saw his younger cousin open the yeti's mouth and stick his head inside of it; commenting: "Look at all those teeth!"

"...Peng's fine!"

Finally realizing Jin was talking to his mother, Yí grinned excitedly and ran over to him and begin to gesture to herself with her hands before pointing to Jin as if to tell him to mention her as well.

"Oh." Huffing, Jin frowned and looked away from your sister, crossing his arms as he added, "And Yí came, too."

Frowning at his reaction and the overall way he was mentioning her, Yí gave the boy a small pout as you giggled in the background, earning a playful glare from your sister.

"Oh, uh, (Y/n)?" Jin suddenly spoke, blinking a few times as his mother asked if you had come as well.

"Um..." Glancing over to you, Jin watched you laugh at Peng and Everest, who were currently stuffing their faces with soda. Jin seemed to enter a trance of the sorts while he watched you smile and interact with the others, but he was quickly brought back to reality when his mother started speaking again.

"Oh! U-uh...Yeah. (Y/n) came, too. She just...decided to tag along to hang out with Yí, I guess," he said, looking away from you and rubbing the nape of his neck.

"Have I talked to her? Uh...n-not exactly, but—" Cutting himself off, Jin cleared his throat and set his free hand on his hip. "Why do you ask, anyway?"

With Jin and his mother's conversation now becoming mere background noise, you and your sister both gathered together on a clear space on the ship. In your hands, you held a couple of pebbles, and you proceeded to place them down in front of your twin, who smiled at you in thanks before calling Everest over.

"Hey, Everest, come over here."

At the sound of Yí's voice, the mentioned yeti smiled widely and poked his head out from behind all of the crates of soda before walking out to head towards your duo.

(However, he didn't do that without belching loudly in Jin's face, much to the boy's dismay and yours and Yí's amusement. "Oh, uh, excuse me," Jin had said, laughing nervously and sending you a playful glare from the corner of his eye. "Cafeteria food is a little rich.")

After that little scenario had finished playing out, though, Everest finally sat himself behind you and Yí. And once he did so, Jin had also finally walked back around to where your trio was located.

"Well, I got to go, ma. Bye." Pressing his finger down on his phone's screen, Jin quickly ended the call before his mother could say anything and then put his phone up in his back pocket.

"I cannot believe," he began dramatically as he folded his arms over his chest, "that you made me lie to my mother."

You grimaced and looked away; hearing the clear frustration in his voice. Although, you still couldn't help the small, mischievous smile that had spread across your face the moment yours and Yí's eyes met.

Yeah. He'll be fine, you both seemed to think in sync.

"Whoa!" Looking up, you had to blink a few times to process the sight of Peng carrying around an entire stack of soda cans in his arms. "I love this stuff!" he exclaimed, only to fall down on his back soon after, making you and Jin wince out of sympathy for the poor boy while Yí simply chuckled out of amusement before looking back down at the small structure she had made with the pebbles you had brought over not too long ago.

"Hey, okay. Everest, look." Of course, Yí's voice had managed to catch your attention, too, and you found yourself averting your gaze to the ground to see that Yí had taken your pile of pebbles and seemingly made a mountain with them, while also leaving plenty of space in front of it for some convenient doodling.

"First," your sister began, drawing what looked to be a couple of mountains, "you go over the Yellow Mountain," she instructed, before beginning to draw a river. "Then to the Yangze River. And that river will take you most of the way to the Himalayas, and—"

"And finally to Mount Everest," you finished for her as you stood up; giggling at the annoyed yet playful look your sister was sending you for cutting her off.

"Well," Yí stood up as well and lightly nudged your arm with her elbow before placing her hands on her hips and looking towards Everest. "Before I was so rudely interrupted, Everest—" Yí sent you another look, which you only returned with an innocent one "—that's how you're gonna get home!"

"Whoa, wait."

Humming curiously, you (along with Yí) turned to face Jin, who was staring at the both of you as if you were crazy.

"Mount Everest?" he questioned, his brows furrowing as he shook his head. "No, no, no, no. That has to be hundreds of miles away."

"Actually," Peng revealed himself yet again, holding loads of soda cans in his arms like last time as he giggly added, "it's thousands!"

As the young boy twirled around and laughed; playing around, you sighed worriedly and began to nervously run your fingers through your braided hair.

"I just hope that he'll be able to make it..." you muttered, unaware of the sympathetic look Jin was giving you. He wanted to comfort you; to hold you in his arms again and wrangle his own hands through your hair as he whispered sweet nothings into your ear — like he did when you were both younger. When you still trusted him.

But all actions have their consequences, and Jin still has to face his.

* * * * *

"Look at all of those people," Peng said, standing atop of a pile of gravel.

"Hello!" Soon enough, the young boy began to bounce up and down; waving his arms around in an attempt to get someone's attention. Just as he did this, though, both you and Jin had suddenly appeared out of nowhere from behind him and pulled him down so that he wouldn't be seen.

"Peng, get down!"

"Peng, you need to be more careful!"

The boy only rolled his eyes at you both; muttering a small, "Sorry, mom and dad," before peeking his head out from behind the gravel with Yí; completely oblivious to just how flushed he had made you and Jin become by those words of his alone.

Peeking your own head out, you and Yí shared a look before looking up at Everest, who stuck out among you all like a sore thumb. At seeing this, Yí deadpanned and looked forward as she blankly stated in a matter-of-fact tone:

"Yeah, we should hide."

* * * * *

"Wait." Jin looked up from his phone; his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why are we still moving?"

"Uh..." Chuckling nervously from where you sat, you watched as the the crate you and your group was hiding in was taken away from the docks by (assumingly) a truck.

"We...may or may not be at the dock anymore?"

Just as soon as those words had left your lips, Jin was suddenly sitting beside you and looking out of the crate from where you were just now, obviously upset.

"What?" he asked sharply; almost disbelieving. "NO!"

Yet despite Jin's despair, the sound of a soda can being popped open was still heard behind him, followed by the sound of his younger cousin's laughter.