Redamancy | BTS

3 - First Impressions

Your chest heaves up and down laboriously as questions fly left and right in your mind. The group of seven in front of you stare at you with alertness - especially the four large predatory felines in the front of the group. Their stances are protective with most of their weight resting on their hind legs so that they're ready to pounce at any given moment.

You know you should be turning around and running for your life, but you're frozen in your spot. You can't rip your gaze away because you can see a thousand emotions running through each and every one of their eyes. The longer you analyze them, the more you begin to realize they don't have any intention of hurting you. They're scared - probably just as scared, if not even more than you are. They're only defending themselves. But that also goes with the implication that if you make the wrong move, they will hurt you out of self-defense.

Finally, movement from one of the felines, the one that looks like a white panther, makes you flinch. You instinctively close your eyes shut tightly, just waiting for the impact of being bitten or run over - or both. But nothing ever hits you. Slightly confused, you open your eyes again to find that in the place of the white panther is a tall man with a muscular build. You don't deny that he's handsome but the look he's giving you right now makes you tremble in fear. His eyebrows are pinched together in concentration and his jaw is locked tightly as he watches you from afar. 

"Why are you here?" the man finally asks you, his voice low and close to a grumble. That's when you notice the white ears flicking softly on the top of his head in your direction. You let out a small gasp when you finally realize why you were able to read the seven of their emotions so well. They're not animals - they're hybrids.

You blink slowly before realizing you had been staring at the hybrid in his human form longer than you should have. So you hurriedly clear your throat and straighten your posture a bit before responding, trying your best to hide the tremor in your voice.

"I'm here to check out this land," you say in your best attempt at a formal, stern tone.

"This land?" the hybrid quirks an eyebrow at you. "It's not for sale. It's already been sold, in case you couldn't tell from the sign you passed getting here."

"I am well aware," you nod briefly. "But I never said I'm looking to buy this land. I was given this land as an inheritance."

"Inheritance?" the white panther frowns, testing the word on his tongue as if it's a foreign language. You quirk an eyebrow, when the other hybrids glance around at each other with confused expressions. "Where is Mr. Han?"

Your heart suddenly wrenches at the mention of your late grandfather. You had been doing pretty well coping with his death. Granted, you have cried on several occasions this past week at little things that reminded you of him, but altogether, you've been getting through your days and trying your best to continue with your life.

"How do you know him?" you ask, voice barely above a whisper. A small lump is forming in the back of your throat and your clench your hands into fists, squeezing tightly on your thumbs, to keep yourself from tearing up. 

"He's the man who bought this plot of land after finding us here. He wasn't like the other humans that reported us to Hybrid Services whenever they spotted us here. He bought this land and gave us some supplies to survive. He had told us he was going to come back soon to give us a better life," the hybrid explains carefully.

That's why your grandfather had insisted on you keeping this plot of land. He was protecting this group of hybrids.

Your vision begins to blur as tears begin to pool in your eyes. This sudden revelation brings a new wave of emotions that hits you so hard.