MAKNAE [twd]

【60】

Bustling down the street back to our house, I catch the faintest glimpse of Jae and Daryl talking on the porch before the three of us are inside.

"Why did you leave? You were doing fine," Taeyang wonders as he takes his jacket off.

"I just didn't want to be there, like you guys," Carl deflects.

"Why did we leave? You were so pushy for me to go until we were finally there?" I ask.

"I wasn't pushy. I just wanted you to be comfortable. We met them, we left. Just like I promised you," Taeyang answers.

"Why did you two leave? Where did Jae and Julie go?" Carl asks.

"Julie bailed out before we went in. You saw Jae- I don't know what set him off."

"What plans do we have?" I question, still confused.

"It was an excuse- I don't know," Taeyang shrugs.

"So, what are you doing now? I thought you were on that run crew-"

"Okay, can we please stick to one language?" Taeyang pleads, distressed, "I'm getting dizzy."

I laugh, my head feeling lighter as he looks to me. When I laugh, his stress drops and a smile overtakes his own face.

"Well, I can't speak both, only one. So.." Carl shrugs.

"It's a defense thing," I say, dropping onto the couch.

"Defense 'thing'?" Carl repeats, sitting beside me.

"I can't say the word. It's too hard to pronounce."

"What word?" Taeyang asks, a look of confusion on his face, though he looked at Carl with the gaze instead of me who was in the language dilemma.

"For defense mechanism," I pout, looking up to Taeyang.

"Mechanism," Taeyang pronounces, so easily that I felt jealous and in awe at the same time.

"You just said to stick to one language," Carl reminds.

"That was a translation. It's different," Taeyang defends, sitting on the arm of the couch.

The room goes quiet, though I find my nerves finally relaxing from the earlier issues.

"This is dumb," Carl huffs after a few minutes.

"Yeah. It is," Taeyang agrees, looking to Carl from the corner of his eye.

"I want this to work.. I just can't be involved because I know it won't," I frown.

The two let out scoffs or laughs of their own.

"Right.. This place," Taeyang nods, "That's what is dumb."

"Hmm?" I question, looking to him.

"Just that this place is.. blind. They don't know about the.. reality right in front of them," Carl explains, picky with his words.

"They've never dealt with stuff like this," I remind, "But, it's here now. They need to deal with it."

"They will in their own time. They need to.. understand.. What they're seeing and feeling first before anything," Taeyang defends Alexandria, also careful with his words.

"They've had chances before," Carl says, a glare in his eyes.

"They were just starting out.. Meeting the world for the first time and getting comfortable," Taeyang says.

"They want to be friends with the world. Nothing else," Carl shrugs, fully looking to Taeyang.

"They don't even know the world exists," Taeyang argues back.