Twelve Majestic [EXO X OC]

Butterscotch

While we were all walking back, I noticed that the boys were mumbling to one another while shooting stares to the back pocket of my jeans, where I had put the card I had received from Zina. It was quite obvious that they didn't want me to know, for some reason, and I huffed while looking away.

Thank god I was wearing converse shoes, because exiting the clubhouse late at night resulted in not having to find cabs, not even in front of the clubhouse which there should be some. That made us all walk back home, where the boys were lagging behind.

"Alright, are you going to tell me what you're mumbling about or what?" I finally snapped, swiveling around to face them with a scowl on my face. They all pretended to cough and look away, except for Kai who blinked lazily at me, as if just realizing I was with them.

"We are not mumbling," Joonmyeon answered very seriously. I squinted my eyes at him, and he cleared his throat.

"Then what were you doing just now?" I gave him a raised eyebrow, and I noticed the single peek he gave the others fast enough for me not to catch. Which I did.

"Nothing," he answered sheepishly, a smile as sheepish as his tone curving up his face. I raised my other eyebrow, the absolute ridiculing in my expression was so clear that he couldn't exactly ignore. With a sigh, he walked closer to me.

"We were wondering why Zina and her brothers said what they said about the card," he started talking, and my expression fell into a confused one. "We know him, we recognized his card almost immediately. He's one of us, and he had never acted in the way they said he acted like."

"Wait, your brother, you mean?"

"Yeah," Xiumin replied this time, a solemn expression on his face. "He had always been weird, acted strange and blurted things out of nowhere. But he has never been.. weak."

"You think they were lying?" I asked with a permanent frown, and Xiumin shook his head immediately.

"No, I think he's restraining himself for some reason. He could heal, but that's not all he could do. I don't understand why he wouldn't do anything he was asked to do when he knows of the consequences."

He was giving up... wasn't he? My mind whispered, and my heartbeats accelerated. I was reminded of my mother, when her grandmother had died. She had went into a severe case of disbelief because she didn't want to admit that the person who had raised her more than her parents had passed away. She had underwent months of sleepless nights filled with tears. I remembered how my dad kept himself steady, trying to make everything right for her, but then he had started coming home late, his eyes dull with eye bags. I remembered how hunched his back was, how short his replies were, and how he slipped on the couch to sleep... he had given up, he hadn't showed such a weakness before.

I wasn't exactly sure this warrior was going through the same, because I hadn't seen the symptoms of the boy before my eyes. But, I still think he was going through that. The looks on the boys's faces told me they were worried, which meant they all had a clue on what was going on without telling me; or that they all have a hunch. I unconsciously reached for the card inside my pocket, taking it out and looking at it with a thin line on my lips.

"Should I.. take him out?"

"Not now," Kai, surprisingly; was the first one to speak, placing a hand over mine, where I was holding the card. My heart raced at the smooth yet calloused texture of his hand. "It's getting late. We will do it tomorrow so you can get to know him."

"You're right," I mumbled, tucking the card back inside where it was, before sending him a small smile. The thought of the boy going through what my dad had gone through pained me immensely. I don't think anyone would want to go through that at all.