Healing Castle | TXT Fantasy Novel ft. BTS

3 - Huening Kai

Huening Kai's left hand feels empty—he's accustomed to stroking Sesame's head at this hour. Midnight is his favorite time to curl up on his lap. With his other, he holds his Samsung smartphone to speak to his mentor—one of the members of the most famous band in the world.

"The cat sitter at our place says Sesame has been acting strange." Huening Kai keeps his voice at a whisper. Their team has rented TXT a small town home in Mililani Mauka, and everyone besides him is already asleep. They had a full day. After getting brunch—garlic shrimp—at the North Shore, they explored multiple beaches and hiked the Makapu'u Lighthouse Trail.

"What do you mean?" Jimin's voice is calm as ever. He always has that quality to his voice, like he could lullaby you to sleep just by reading from the newspaper. And like Kai, he's a cat lover as well. He always has good advice about taking care of Sesame.

Kai swallows before continuing. "He keeps looking at his palms for some reason. It's like he's trying to see if he has powers."

On the other line, Jimin shifts into silence. "Oh."

Kai interlocks his fingers and attempts to keep his knees from shaking. Panic is rising in his chest for some reason, thick like molten glue.

He leans back on the team's couch and looks toward the walls. Despite the house being a rental, TXT has decorated it with Christmas lights. He and Soobin picked them out when they first arrived on Oahu, when they visited Target and barely escaped being mobbed by a group of high schoolers on winter vacation. A mixture of green and purple flashes on the cream background.

Speaking of... he's still worried for his best friend. Soobin has been staring into space at times. He isn't eating that well, and today at the beach he even refused a bowl of shave ice. Sometimes when he's sleeping, he sleep talks in a garbled way. Maybe he's stressed after a full year of leading their team. Huening Kai voices all of these worries to Jimin, who puts balm on his fears with calm reassurances. He feels better now. If Jimin says that everything will be okay, then surely that'll be the case.

"He'll be okay," Jimin promises. His voice is always smooth and peaceful. "I care for you guys a lot. It's been forever since I last saw you all. I think by the time you get back to Seoul, we'll be back from a show in Singapore. I'll definitely make a day to hang out. We can play with Sesame and maybe even record a cover together."

Kai smiles at the thought of BTS in a stadium, playing for seventy thousand people. A few months ago, they even got to do an opening number for their sunbaenim in Canada. The excitement of it all captured him, pushing him to make the best performance with his team members. He recalls the audience's fan chants, the barks in his ears, the glow sticks shifting to colors of the rainbow when they finished off their set to "Our Summer."

"I can't wait to see you," Kai says, and he means it with more than all of his heart.

Jimin speaks a bit more about her busy schedule, the pranks on his members, and even a plan to get a cat of his own. With each syllable, Kai can feel himself feeling more and more calm. It's like each nerve in his body is being lifted by tiny clouds. TXT truly is the luckiest band alive to have seven phenomenal mentors. He could probably face a dragon in the flesh, and as long as he has BTS' support he'll be able to slay it.

"Hey," Huening Kai mentions. "I was thinking of playing MapleStory again. For some reason I keep thinking of the game."

There is a weighted pause on the other end, which feels quite unnatural from a guy who always carries the conversation. "I don't think that's a good idea, Huening."

"Oh." Kai

Jimin coughs into the line. "Just don't, it's not worth it right now. I... I'll explain everything to you later."

Kai shakes his head, quickly changing topics onto his favorite sights on Oahu so far. He was ecstatic to finally visit his birthplace, and the connection he has to this island is something he'll value forever. Someone even mistook him for a local today!

When Jimin finally hangs up, Huening Kai feels an empty space beside his chest. He feels like he wasn't done talking. He imagines Sesame back in their apartment, stretching out and exposing his fat belly. He can almost hear his meow and the rumble of his pur.

Jimin is right about Soobin. Everything will turn out okay. He heads into his bedroom, the one he shares with Soobin and Taehyun, wondering why he was so worried in the first place.

A/N: Anyone else wishing Huening Kai had a pet cat? Thank you for reading!