The Monster Under The Bed

10. Talk

Autumn sits Indian style on her bed. Zitao grabs his stuffed panda and sits next to her. They stay in silence for a while.

"Are Yixing and Chanyeol going to be okay?" Zitao asks softly, snuggling the panda.

"I don't know Z," she replies, rolling her head.

"I hope they will be," Zitao murmurs, holding the plushie closer, "Luk does too."

She smiles at him and ruffles his hair.

"You're cute."

The smile is replaced by a frown. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to be happy that Yixing and Chanyeol were gone, because that meant she had to deal with two less people when she figured out how to escape. But, she couldn't make herself feel that way. She kept thinking of how Chanyeol was almost always smiling and of Yixing's adorable dimples.

She rubs her temples.

"I'm gonna take a bath Z, okay?" she informs, "Go to sleep."

"Can I watch TV?" he asks, "I'm not tired yet."

"Yeah," she replies, "Just don't leave the room. If someone comes to the door, it's okay if they come in. Unless it's Kyuhyun and Leeteuk. They're not allowed in, okay?"

"You're date really didn't go well, did it?" Zitao asks her.

"Date? What date?" she asks, confused.

"You went on a date with Kyuhyun," he answers. She laughs.

"In what world," she gasps, "Would I go on a date with that creeper?"

"This one, you went last night while I was drinking with Xiumin."

"You weren't drinking with Xiumin last night Z," she tells him, sobering, "And I didn't go on a date with Kyuhyun. You must've gotten some sort of delusion from drinking to much."

"But--"

"No buts Z," she cuts him off, "I'm not the only one who doesnt remember what the hell you're talking about."

Zitao looks hurt. She feels guilt, but she shakes it off and goes into the bathroom. She starts filling the tub and climbs in when it's full. She folds her arms over her chest and closes her eyes. The water and bubbles smelled good.

"Well you look relaxed," someone says.

Her eyes fly open and she screams. Kyuhyun was standing by the tub, staring down on her. Fortunately, the bubbles are blocking her body from view.

"GET OUT!" she shrieks, throwing the candle that was on the side of the tub at him. He dodges it and smirks.

"I just wanted to talk," he tells her calmly, raising his hands.

"MAKE AN APPOINTMENT OR SOMETHING, GET OUT!" she shouts, throwing something else at him.

"I'm not going to hurt you Autumn," Kyuhyun proceeds, ignoring her order.

Suho, Baekhyun, and Xiumin burst through the door and she screams again. Suho shoves Kyuhyun away, Xiumin blocks the unwanted visitor's view of her body, and Baekhyun grabs a towel. He holds it out open while averting his gaze. She takes it and wraps it around her bare body quickly.

"What the hell Kyu?" Suho shouts at the older man.

"I don't know what the big fuss is about," Kyuhyun responds.

"You freaking came into the bathroom uninvited while I was, and still am, naked!" Autumn growls, adjusting the towel to it was more secure on her body.

"You shouldn't be so concerned about me seeing you," Kyuhyun replies casually, "Privacy and innocence have never been something respected in this house."

"They are now," Suho hisses.

Kyuhyun pursues his lips.

"If your father was alive, he'd beat you back down where you belong Suho."

"Get out of my sight Kyuhyun," Suho warns, "Before I do something I'll regret."

Kyuhyun smirks, crossing his arms.

"And what if I don't want to Junmyeon?" he taunts, Suho visibly tenses.

"Don't call me that."

"Or what? You going to use your pathetic powers to make me?" he laughs.

The water around Autumn's legs ripples and starts to heat up. She gets out of the tub, capturing the attention of Baekhyun and Xiumin. They look at each other, then Baekhyun grabs her wrist.

"Let's go," he mouths.

She nods and starts to follow them out. After they're out, Autumn immediately grabs her under clothes. She glances at Zitao, who had fallen asleep on her bed. His gentle snores are the only thing that keep her from freaking out.

"You can finish rinsing yourself off in our room Autumn," Baekhyun offers.

She takes a deep breath and nods.

"What is Kyuhyun's problem?" she asks quietly as she follows them out.

"We don't have a clue. But this isn't nearly as bad as last time," Xiumin answers.

They arrive and Autumn immediately goes into their bathroom and rinses all the soap off her body swiftly. She dries herself just as fast and puts on her clothes.

The two of them are sitting on their beds.

"What did Kyuhyun mean?" she asks after watching them for a little while. Both of them jump at the sound of her voice.

"By what?" Baekhyun asks after calming down a bit.

"By everything. Start with the innocence and privacy thing."

"When Suho's father was alive, the individual groups didn't live separated like we do now. We lived in a huge mansion, even bigger than this. It had more than four hundred rooms in it. It sounds unrealistic, but it's true," Xiumin explains, "More than one hundred people lived in the mansion. But they didn't want to, they lived there because they had to. They were prisoners.

In the mansion, there were no doors for any of the rooms. Not for a bedroom, not for a washroom. The only room that I remember had a door was Suho's father's office and room. That's why he said privacy wasn't something respected. Innocence kind of goes with that, if you know what I mean."

Xiumin pauses and glances at her. She nods.

"What about the thing about Suho's father beating him down?"

Xiumin bites his lip and continues.

"You know how we keep the girls as punching bags?" She nods. "Well, Suho's father used everyone, especially Suho and Yixing, as his own. Suho and Yixing.... I honestly can't remember a day when neither of them had bruises on their faces before Yixing's powers came in. From the moment Suho could walk it had been that way. It didn't matter what he did, there was a fault in his behavior. That's what Kyuhyun meant."

Xiumin rubs his face as Suho marches through the door. He glances at Autumn, then continues into the washroom.

"I'm going to teleport back to my room and go to sleep," she says, looking after him.

"Wise decision," Baekhyun comments.

She does what she said she would and sighs when she sees Zitao on her bed. She was scared to sleep in Zitao's bed. She sighs and pushes him over a bit so she can lay down and closes her eyes.

She wakes up when a cold hand presses to her mouth.

"Relax Autumn, I just want to talk."

🐢🐢🐢
Authors note
Okay, three updates in three days. Who's proud of me?! I'm so tired tho, guys. I need one of the people in my library to update, I want something new to read.
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