The Invasion (Part 2 of the KaiSoo Fanfic Series)

Chapter 18

In his whole life thus far, Asher's never experienced such a dead silence. Not even at nighttime when the entire population of The Dome is asleep has he heard a silence that's so demoralizing and fearsome. But at least with the nighttime silence, he knows what to expect when it passes; he knows that he'll wake up to a perfectly luminescent sun. With this silence, however, Asher has no way of knowing what will come at the end of it. He doesn't know what he'll wake up to or if he'll even wake up at all. All he can do is just hope that whatever drove his brother to leave will drive him to come back. 

It's only when he hears Hanjae sigh again that Asher is removed from the silence, turning his head to look at the steel wall behind him. Both of them have yet to speak a word in fear that whatever words they do say will be their last. This scares Asher even more than the silence because between the two of them, Hanjae's always been the one who keeps the spirits high with his words and his voice. But without that sound, there's no hope for whatever their outcome may be. 

What feels like a whole hour is actually only ten minutes inside those cells, but time seems to come to an abrupt halt when they hear the doors slide open and the beginning of a pair of footsteps. For a moment after Asher sits up, he's hopeful that it's Jongin and that maybe this will all play out like the stories in the books he used to read to him did; maybe just when he thinks there isn't enough time to be rescued, Jongin will swoop in and save the day. But that's only for the moment after he sat up and before he sees who it really is.

"Well, well, well," the President says, drawing out his voice as he walks to the spot right that separates Hanjae's cell from Asher's. "I'd like to say it's quite the surprise to see you in here, but then I'd be lying and I'm not a good liar. Besides, what else could I have expected from the brother of a criminal and the sixth child?" He looks them both in the eyes, but neither of the boys responds. "I see we aren't the chatty duo today, are we?" he goes on to say critically, still looking back and forth at each of them. "Very well. It's not like it's anything problematic. After all, the criminal always talks big until he gets caught."

"Criminal?" Asher says, speaking up promptly without even stopping to think. "I don't know what your definition of a criminal is, but it certainly shouldn't be me or Hanjae. We didn't do anything wrong."

"Ah, spoken like a true Kim," the President says, pretending to be dramatic by closing his eyes and clenching his fists together as he walks closer to his cell door. He stops in front of it and lets his face lay flat against his skull before he looks Asher dead in the eyes. "I just hope you take your choice of words into careful consideration before you say them. I'd hate to see you end up like your brother or father all because you don't know the difference between proper and improper speaking."

"You really think you can scare me like that?" Asher replies, chuckling airily as the words just slide out. "You are probably the least threatening person I've ever met. And that says a lot coming from someone who doesn't remember the first part of their life." He stands up from the bench he's sitting on and strolls over to the cell door, coming so close to him that they would be literally face-to-face if it weren't for the door between them. "Face it," he continues his voice quieter due to the decreased space, "the only reason you have so much power over people is because you literally had to erase their memories. They only think you're so great because you forced them to think that. If you ask me, why bother trying to be respected when the only reason you have for that respect is invalid and fake? It just seems like a whole lot of trouble to go through for a pretty crappy life."

The President hums, but not even a faint smile ever grows on his face. "You're pretty smart, aren't you?" he replies, seemingly unphased by the boy's previous words. "Maybe you're right. Maybe the respect people have for me is worthless because I created it. But even so, living a lie with fake and invalid respect, as you call it, is better than living a life with no respect at all. But I don't expect you to understand that. You're still young and you definitely have a lot to learn before you can go around talking as if you know everything. I would just keep that in mind if I were you."