[Hellion Brothers: Book #5] Verglas

Eighteen

Xiumin

If there's anything the Hellions dislike about me, it's my unwillingness to stay up late with them. Of course, if it's an emergency, a late night training or an unexpected test, I sip some coffee and keep my brain functioning throughout the night, but when it comes to sleepovers or spending a night outside the comfort of my room, I don't prefer keeping myself awake. It makes me cranky and moody for the next day, forms eye bags and briefly ruins my sleeping pattern. The New Year's eve wasn't going to be an exception. I helped Chen and Chanyeol with grilling and seasoning the food we brought along and handed it to Haru and Baekhyun that were serving it to everyone else. Once we ate, played, laughed and ended up with droopy eyes, I decided to go sleep, since Sehun, Kai and Maeji were supposed to clean up everything in the end anyway. It was already five hours past my regular sleeping time, so I didn't want to delay it any further. I slipped into my sleeping bag and closed my eyes. It was too comfortable, I hope no one ruins it by asking me to wake up.

Loud footsteps approached my tent, the thump sounds indicating that this person was most likely going to barge in. It reminded me of Sarang when she was angry. I could picture her taking heavy steps, walking towards me with furrowed eyebrows with her face flushed red. Was it her?

"Kai, you bastard!" Sounded like something she would say, but it was definitely not her voice. It probably belonged to one of the guys. Sigh. I was ready to sit up and ask her to calm down and ask what made her this angry, but the fact that it was Sehun robbed me of my patience. I'm sleepy, go away. "So you're hiding in here?" He yelled, harshly zipping the sleeping bag open only to pull me by the back of my neck so he could see my face.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked through gritted teeth. He immediately let go, bowing his head in apology.

"Hyung, I thought you were Kai. Sorry." Sehun frowned. I sat up to address his problem, my cold feet still trapped in the sleeping bag.

"What's wrong?" I exhaled.

"Kai, he took my headphones because he forgot to bring his along and I don't even know why, but he broke it. He just snapped it into two." He complained, his eyes filled with disappointment. The kid must've really liked them to be whining at mid night like this. I had known Sehun for long enough to know that he was a child at heart. He would get obsessed with a new toy for a while and then throw it away when he got bored. "They were limited edition!" He added.

"Is it necessary for you to address this at-" I checked my phone. "-two a m?" It's already that late?

"He murdered the love of my life. How can you take it so lightly?" He looked so devastated as if it was a person's neck that Kai had snapped and I had to close my eyes for a minute to be able to think rationally. Ugh, I just wanted to sleep, why is this happening to me?

Suddenly, we heard an inhumane noise from outside the tent, making Sehun flinch and grab on to my arm. "What the fuck was that?" He asked wide eyed. I stood up with his fingers tightly gripped around my arm as we headed to inspect the unfamiliar sound. "What if it was a wild animal? Let's just zip up our sleeping bags over our head and go to sleep." Sehun suggested.

"This side of the forest is only meant for tourists and campers. There are no chances of a wild animal coming here." I reassured him, but I was worried myself. What if the security loosened up and an animal did sneak out? We sure had the power to keep it away, but there was no doubt it would injure the animal. Even if I'm the one that's instructing Sarang, I have so much to learn personally as an ability wielder. When an ability wielder turns twelve years old, they are required to take an oath and promise our blood leaders that we won't use our ability to harm any living being, unless it is a death threat. It could've been a death threat, but I wouldn't have the heart to harm an innocent being when originally, we are the ones that have intruded in its home. I could already feel Sehun tugging my arm to pull me away from the entrance. "Hyung, don't go."