Tied Book 2

Chapter 220

Hyewon watched as the two older men sat on the grass conversing with one another.

"What do you think they're talking about?"

Minju looked up from the cutting board, smiling at the sight before her.

"I'm not sure, but they seem really invested."

Hyewon nodded. A slight smile grew on her face.

"It's nice to see those two getting along."

"Yeah, sometimes I forget that Ji Hoon oppa is older though."

"Me too. He's too much of a goofball to be the older one in me eyes."

Minju smiled widely as she witnessed Ji Hoon crack his usual eye smile.

"He's one of those people who would take care of anyone around them."

"Just like the original Ji Hoon."

"Come to think of it, JiU ah is changed drastically compared to how she was."

"Yeah, that came with the body change."

"But it was huge. She went from being really patient and only cracking witty jokes to just being a sarcastic person it seems."

"That's true... She seems to have changed as a person."

"Do you think we played a role in that?"

"Probably not. Wonyoung ah acted the same before both versions, so I think it was just a her thing."

"I see."

Hyewon chuckled, "I'm glad we're living with you two instead of say, Yujin and the younger Ji Hoon, or Chaewon and Ji Seok."

"Why?"

"Because things would have been so dull. The younger Ji Hoon is basically a kid, and Ji Seok feels like a robot, so Y/n probably wouldn't have someone to talk to like Oppa."

"That's true. Although, the younger Ji Hoon can act more mature at times."

"Can you expect him to be mature when Oppa messes around like this? It'd be way worse for us if Yujin and the younger one were here. Especially since those two like to play pranks."

"Oh- Yeah. I heard a lot of stories from dorm two."

"The glitter bomb..."

"Yeah..."

"I'm so glad they didn't do it in our dorm. JiU ah would probably exploded."

Minju burst into laughter, nodding her head.

"Oppa too."

"I wonder how things would have changed if you and Yujin picked the other clone."

"It would have been weird seeing the adult Ji Hoon dating the, at the time, underage Yujin."

"Yeah. That's one thing I'm glad didn't happen."

"I don't think anything would have changed since we were told that they would mold to our personalities."

"You're right."

Minju looked back at her cutting board, guiding the knife as her boyfriend had taught her to.

"I'm glad we got the clones."

"Why?"

"Saves us the hassle of having to find someone since Oppa is really handsome and perfect."

"Ya. You always go on about how he's perfect."

"He is!!! He has his faults which keeps things interesting, but he doesn't constantly mess up. He is someone I'd gladly grow old with."

Hyewon glanced at Y/n, resting her chin on her palm.

"Yeah, me too with Y/n."

"ʸᵒᵘ ᶜᵃⁿ ˢᵘᶜᵏ ᵐʸ ᶠᵘᶜᵏᶦⁿ' ⁿᵘᵗˢᵎᵎ"

Hyewon rolled her eyes, looking away.

"Men."

Minju nodded in agreement.

Later that day Y/n found himself in the backyard once more. The moon stared at the two men as Y/n held his right hand towards Ji Hoon.

"Remember. Just like a pee stream, let it build up, and then burst it out. Or think of it like a fart."

"You have weird ways of explaining things, Hyung."

"It's effective, no?"

"I can't deny that."

"Take deep breaths. If you accidentally let out one larger than you intended then you could pass out. I'd rather that not happen. Also- Please don't make a big one. Not only will you probably die, you'll also alert the entire neighborhood as you are making explosions."

"I just have to make it big enough to launch a small object, right?"

"Well, you should start off with just holding the fire. If you can hold it back and send out a stronger flame, then you should be able to make an explosion. It'd just be a lot harder."

"Would it even be okay to set off explosions?"

"Sure. We can figure out the kinks later on. Since we live on the edge of the city, I can probably just take you further away from the dense areas so we won't get in trouble."

"That's a good idea."

"Alright, let's focus."

Y/n nodded, extending his arm.

Focus. Stronger blast, not explosion.

Y/n closed his eyes. To get a grasp for what he was handling, Y/n ignited a stream in front of him to acclimate to the feeling. Slowly, Y/n toned down the flames. As he did so, Y/n felt a build-up of pressure in his arm.

"I can feel it, Hyung."

"Ok, good. You can stop now."

"I don't think I can."

"Ok. Shoot it at me."

Y/n did as told, illuminating the entirety of his backyard.

"Oh shit- I hope no one saw that."

"Eh. Anyone from the outside probably won't care. As for the other two, all of the rooms that have windows facing this way are unoccupied, so we're fine."

"You're right."

"You remember that feeling, right?"

"Eung."

"Okay, good. Now try it again. We're going to keep this up until you can do this subconsciously."

"Okay."

Y/n took a deep breath, stabilizing himself before extending his arm once more.

"Ready, Hyung?"

"Of course."

Ji Seok pressed on his earpiece, glancing towards Hitomi through her window.

"Are you sure it's ok to regularly interact with them? We're only supposed to watch over them after all."

"You don't have to if you don't want to," JiU replied, "The younger Hoon is doing the same thing as you. It's only the older one that's frequently interacting."

"Isn't that a cause for concern? He has two flow dense targets to protect after all."

"He'll be fine. He has contingency plans in case something happens."

"That's not very calming to hear."

"Eh. Just make sure to focus on protecting."

"Okay."