WORDS. |Kim Seungmin

Eighteen.

"You are late." Felix said once Aria walked in the house.

He was sitting by the kitchen counter, having a bowl of noodles. He lifted his face up to look at his sister who was taking off her autumn cardigan. Her face was gloomy that she didn't smile at her brother as always, not even the weak tired smile. Felix's brows furrowed at how silently his sister walked past him to the living room. He jumped off the stool and followed her.

"What happened?" He asked once she dropped herself to the couch.

"Nothing."

"That face doesn't look like 'Nothing', Ari." He said crossing his arms.

"I had a fight with Changbin." She said sighing loudly.

"On scale of badness, how bad was it?"

"It's 'leaving me alone at the café and storm out' bad."

"Ops. I wouldn't like to see that." Felix chuckled. "I still get scared when he gets angry. It was never a nice scene."

"He's not that scary!" Aria defended.

"Bruh! He is. I still wonder how he didn't commit a crime with that temper up till now. He used to scare even the seniors back at school days." Felix said, making his way to his sister to drop by her side. Aria let out a little breathy chuckle. Her gloomy face was lightened up by her brother's joke. "Seriously, what happened?"

"I said something that I wasn't supposed to say." She said, dropping her head down in guilt.

"You don't mean what I'm thinking of? You didn't bring her name up?"

"I almost did. Without mentioning the name."

Felix scrunched up his face as if he was slapped by the ugly truth. It took him few seconds to talk back. "Why, Aria?"

"I didn't mean it." Aria leaned back in the couch. "We were arguing and he had no point and before I ever notice, my mouth spilt it."

"What were you arguing about?" Felix asked as he shifted in his place to give his sister all of his attention.

"About Seungmin and how he might be a Punished and that I should take care."

"He's right!"

"He's not, Lix! He doesn't know the boy."

"Neither do you, Aria! We didn't even notice his presence in this neighborhood till recently."

"I did." She snapped.

"The point, Aria, is that we don't know where he came from and what he did before coming here."

"And he didn't know me either. But he's not being that cautious around me."

"No one is cautious around you, Aria. You are a Normal and you look normal."

"And he doesn't look normal to you?" Aria asked. Her tone was anything but nice nor friendly. Her face was already red with anger and her eyes were firing at her brother's that were hiding behind his sunglasses.

"Something about him is creepy." Felix shrugged. "Not only being mute, there is something else. I don't know but he looks suspici-"

"So, you too are assuming that he's the bad guy cause he's mute?" Aria yelled, cutting his words.

"I didn't say that!" Felix snapped.

"That is exactly what you said." Aria stood up, yelling at her brother. "I didn't expect you too to be that judgmental."

"I'm not!"

"You are! You are judging him right now. You are not supposed to do that. Not you, Felix." She yelled at the top of her lungs.

Felix stood up too to face his angry sister who was yelling at him. It was the first time for the two siblings to have a fight in years. They always looked like they are the typical trouble makers kids but they were just the opposite. Two quiet obedient good kids.

"What do you mean, Aria?"

"You know how it feels to be judged by people. You know how their looks and whispers hurt." She said, a little quieter than before. Her anger was starting to be replaced by sadness. "Are you happy with how your life is going now, Lix?"

"What stupid question is that?"

"Exactly! It is already stupid! It is already fucked up. But people are making it worse for you so, don't do the same to others. Don't assume that someone is bad or dangerous because he's just different."

"Being different is scary in the world we are living in today." He yelled again.

"Stop being an asshole!" She yelled back. Before he could even talk back, Aria stepped closer to him and snatched the glasses off his face, tossing them across the room.

"No!" He screamed and immediately hid his face with his two hands.

"Look at me, Felix." She talked but the boy was already panicking. He started retreating from his sister with his two hands still secured to his face. "Look at me, Lee Felix."

"Fuck off, Aria." He yelled while hiding his face.

"I'm not before I put some sanity in your useless brain." She yelled even louder. "Look at what you are doing right now. You are hiding yourself from your own sister cause you assume that I will be scared of you. You assume that I might walk away from you or hate you for doing a mistake. You are punishing yourself. It wasn't enough for you that you got a bloody curse. It wasn't enough for you that people were being assholes to you because you are different so, you decided to be an asshole to yourself." Aria paused to take a breath then she resumed a little calmer this time. "People do mistakes. And they get punished for that. They pay for what they do. But Normals make it harder for them. They judge them. They distance them from their lives. They start treating them as if they were contagious. And then the Punished ones start locking themselves just like you did. You used to like school, going to the beach, getting tanned and enjoying the sun. But what did you do to yourself?"

Felix's tensed body was loosening up but never his hands left his face. He was listening to his sister's words which made his brain work. She had a point in that argument.

"Yes, he might be a bad guy. But he's paying for whatever he did. He deserves being forgiven and that's why there are Healers in this world. Only those who deserve forgiveness will find their Healers." She sighed, dropping her head down. "You are living that hell already. Don't make others' lives hell too. Don't judge, Lix. Don't punish them with your actions. Don't let them punish themselves."

Aria said her words while walking away, leaving the living room then the whole house. Aria walked outside and slammed the door close behind her. She was disappointed in her brother. She knew he was trying to protect her just like Changbin, but they both were narrow minded in her eyes.

Aria walked past the front gate to her house and turned right to let her feet take her to wherever they want. It was just few steps before she stops in her place as a loud scream echoed, making her jolt. She placed a hand to her chest then shoved her head to the right to check where the sound came from. Her eyes landed on the dimly lighted house by her right and it was a familiar one.

It was Seungmin's house.