WORDS. |Kim Seungmin

Thirty Four.

"Woah!" Felix gasped in awe.

That was followed by a low thud and red paint splashed on Felix's face. The sound made Aria shove her eyes to Changbin who was sitting across from her in the other armchair. The poor boy had his jaw dropped along with his precious hotdog that splattered ketchup on Felix's face. And let me tell you that, Changbin never drops a hotdog. He can even commit a crime to save those valuable snacks. Instead of being angry with Changbin cause he ruined her carpet, Aria giggled lowly at his reaction.

Felix was unaware of what was happening around him until a hand reached his face and wiped the ketchup off it. Felix was startled and blinked a few times but never moved his eyes from Seungmin's face who was sitting opposing him on the large couch. Felix's eyes were still focused on the word 'sorry' written across Seungmin's cheekbone.

It took Aria all her calmness to gather the boys and tell them about Seungmin's curse. It took all of her nerves to make sure the boys sit and listen to him. It took all of Seungmin's courage to leave his house the next day –when he was back to looking normal- and head to Aria's to confront the boys. He sat there and only uttered the words of being 'sorry' and silence filled the place as the words started decorating his face.

"Yo-u.. That's-..." Felix stuttered. "That's magical!" He said, still not believing his eyes.

Seungmin scrunched his face. He looked from Felix to Aria and then back to Felix. "You two are siblings indeed." He said, not caring about where his words would be.

"Oh! Ohh! Ooooh!" Changbin gasped, pulling their attention. "JESUS! What is that? How? I've never seen anything like that." The boy jumped to his feet and headed to the couch. Without warning, he squeezed himself between the two boys, giving his back to Felix and facing Seungmin. His hand made its way to Seungmin's face, with his index extended to poke his chin where the word 'Siblings' just appeared. "Where are the rest of the words? Is that normal?"

"Umm, no!" Seungmin answered with a confused face. "I'm not Normal."

"Boys!" Aria called, clapping her hands. She stood up and walked to the couch, pulling the two boys away from him. "Give him some space. He's not a scientific experiment."

The two boys were kicked off the couch. They both went to sit in the armchairs, leaving the couch for Seungmin and Aria. It was still awkward but it wasn't alarming. Seungmin was a little bit relieved. The boys didn't look scared or disgusted with him. They weren't judging him for his past deeds too.

Aria was proud. She was proud of her brother and friend for finally growing up a little and accepting the concept of different people. Felix was grateful that Seungmin confronted him. He started to feel connected to him somehow. He started to feel that he wasn't the only one struggling with his uncurable curse.

Changbin was the one to feel a little betrayed, cause he really liked the boy and opened up to him for the past few months. But his heart was aching for him and for what he had to go through all by himself without a family or a friend.

"Now what?" Changbin asked.

"Now nothing." Seungmin sighed resting his back on the couch. "I have to go mute again to be able to carry on."

"What? No! You won't go mute again." Felix protested. "Do you know how frustrating it was to be always talking to you with no response?"

"Lix!" Aria glared at her brother. "Let him do whatever makes him comfortable. Besides, if he keeps talking, he would lock himself up in his house again."

Felix didn't talk back. He just pouted in defeat. He really liked his new friend's voice. He wanted to talk to him more. While they were talking, Changbin was thinking of something. A new idea started to take over his little brain cells.

"What about your Healer?" Changbin questioned, grabbing all the attention. "Did you look for your Healer?"

Seungmin stiffened once he heard the word. His face darkened and they all noticed that. It was one of the topics he was trying to avoid. He didn't want to talk about that. Felix got that he might have been unlucky to find the Healer just like Felix himself. Aria got that the boy had another story behind this. But Changbin was the one to notice how his eyes were avoiding a specific pair.

"Why don't we try to find him or her?" Aria said excitedly. She turned to face Seungmin. "Let's go find your Healer."

"No. Aria, it is not that easy and we don't know where to sta-" Seungmin started protesting to the idea.

"Listen up!" Aria cut him off, getting more excited about her own idea. "The victims. The people you hurt before. We can start with them. It's usually about your past actions. I'm sure we can find a clue around those people. Let's start with that. You already said you were trying to make up for what you did. So, why not?"

"That is not granted, Aria. Besides, they are all far away from here. And it's been years. I don't know where exactly to look for them." He shrugged.

"We can start hitting the road!" Aria chanted. "We have two days to hand in the project and start the study break. I can take some days off the café."

"The study break is for studying." Felix interrupted.

"I don't do that anyways." Aria rolled her eyes.

"I'm in!" Changbin said, snapping his fingers.

"What?" Aria questioned in confusion.

"What? It's a road trip. I'll drive."

"Me too!" Felix chimed in, holding his hand up in the air. Aria and Seungmin both looked at him with surprise. The boy didn't like going far from his home since he got his curse. "What? You are not leaving me here alone! And I'll cook."

"Guys! Calm down. I appreciate that you want to help. But this is stupid. We don't know what or who we are looking for." Seungmin protested again.

"Hey," Aria called softly, forcing the boy to look her in the eyes. Forcing him to soften and let go because of how caring she looked. "Let's go meet them. Together. All of us. Let's apologize to them sincerely. Let's show them how you regret and how you've changed. Even if we don't find the Healer, we would still do the right thing to correct what happened before. We would still be heading home with no regrets. Let's give it a try."

Seungmin couldn't say no. He couldn't object to what she was proposing. He'd always wanted to do that but he was afraid. He didn't know how the victims would react. What if they don't accept his apology? What if his sudden appearance brings them back hurt and fear? He had millions of 'what ifs' that scared him. But right then, he wasn't scared of that anymore since he wouldn't be alone.

One other thing scared him more.

He was scared that the secret he was still keeping would be exposed before he gets the chance to spill it himself. And he knew it would.