The Outskirts (ITZY Shin Ryujin)

12

The other four girls left early in the morning, right before Lia even had the chance to lead Luke out of the cellar. He had remained there an extra half an hour before the cellar door opened and was called up.

"Don't trust Ryujin?" She asked when he finally exited the cellar.

He glared at her slightly.

"Don't judge me. I went through a lot last night. Now I don't even know who to trust anymore," he spat out bitterly.

"Calm down," she raised her hands in surrender. "I was just kidding. I didn't mean for you to get all defensive. I just..." she shrugged. "wanted to lighten up the mood."

"Well, you failed."

"Geez, what's up with you? Why are you so bitter all of a sudden?"

Luke sighed, rubbing his face with his hand before giving her an apologetic smile.

"I'm just so stressed out. I didn't mean to be rude."

Lia returned a soft smile before pulling him into her embrace.

"I bet you are. If I had to go through that barely a week since I arrived here, I'd be stressed out too. How about we talk about it over some tea, yeah?"

He just nodded and let her lead him towards the living room where he waited for her to finish brewing the tea.

"So what did Ryujin tell you when she went down there? Do you think it contributed to your stress?"

"She told me about sirens and that Tinsel was the first one to be made."

"All correct, by the way. Now answer my second question."

"I don't know if it did, to be honest. It could have."

"Then is there anything you keep on thinking about?"

Luke remained silent for a moment, questioning if he should really say a thing or not. Running a hand through his hair, he finally decided he could trust Lia.

"I saw Tinsel's siren form and... well... it looked awfully like Ryujin when she pulled me into the Outskirts and during my dream."

"Dream? What dream?"

"Oh right, I forgot to mention that I had a dream about the Outskirts. I'm pretty sure Tinsel was in control of it though."

"What did you see?" Lia asked, leaning closer to him and once again he saw her expression change into one of concern and urgency.

He gulped, once again not sure whether to trust her with it.

"Nothing really," he lied. Lia narrowed her eyes at him.

"Luke, I can't help you if you are not honest with me. Now tell me what you saw."

"I can't," he uttered. "In case it's true."

"Anything Tinsel tells you is fake. Now tell me."

"If it's fake anyway why do you need to know so badly?"

"I just do," she raised her voice as her face flashed with something Luke had never seen before and, quite frankly, believed he would never see: anger. She immediately calmed herself down by taking a few deep breaths before batting her eyelashes at him, what Luke assumed was her way of trying to seem innocent despite knowing it was too late for that.

"Tell me, Luke, so I can help you," she uttered softly, giving him one of her iconic smiles, however, he brushed it off at the thought of Lia not being as perfect as he had once imagined. How many more things had she been hiding from him? And not just her, all five of the girls.

Luke stood up and placed his cup of tea on the coffee table.

"I think you've helped enough, thanks," he said before attempting to leave, only for Lia to wrap her hand around his wrist.

"Don't do this, Luke. Please. Don't hide things from me."

He scoffed.

"That's quite hypocritical if you ask me. If you want me to be honest with you, you are going to have to be honest with me."

"I can't. Please just understand."

"Don't worry, I do understand, Lia. And I hope you understand that I can't be honest with you either."