Guardians

Chapter 17 - Technopathy

As we entered the store, Sehun started to jump up and down. He randomly stopped and looked at me.

"How old are you? You look younger than me." Sehun furrowed his eyebrows together in thought. He scanned me from top to button. "I could be wrong."

"I'm, uh, s-s-seventeen?" I stuttered which is something I kept doing recently. But then I was never a good liar.

"Are you sure that's how old you are?" Asked D.O., a bit dumbfounded that I didn't know how old I was.

"What's the date today?" I asked. All three boys looked at each other in awe.

"October 11th." Responded Sehun.

"What year?" I kept going, as I ignored the look on their faces.

"2010." Kai said.

"Then, yes, I'm definitely 17 years old!" I avoided Kai's stare. "Turned 17 last month on the fourth. Yes." I said, convincing myself more than the guys.

"Didn't you tell me you were twen-" I instinctively covered Kai's mouth. He was surprised by my fast reaction. I let go of him and chuckled nervously and wiped the saliva on Kai's sweater. 

"I was delirious with my wound so, whatever I said when we met, just ignore it." By the look on Kai's face he didn't buy it.

On our way back from the store, I kept debating with myself. I wasn't sure if I should tell all of them about my situation. I was worried for my friends. I needed to find them so that we could get back home and stop Jiyeon. What good was I going to do by keeping this to myself? I needed to tell Kai at least. I knew I could trust him.

"What are you thinking about?" Kai seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to reading my face.

"Can I trust you to not tell anyone my secret?" I said in a serious tone. "Not Suho or the other guys, not a single soul?" Kai thought for a quick second and nodded.

D.O. and Sehun were joking around and gossiping. They were further ahead, I was sure they couldn't hear me.

"I'm actually not from this time." I looked at Kai's face. He didn't show any sign of surprise. I continued. "I'm from almost 6 years in the future. I was at a KCon in the US and then I got shot by this girl named Jiyeon because I jumped in front of Minho and Taemin from SHINee to protect them. I woke up in a hospital and found out that superpowers exist. Minho basically said I had the force in me! The director, Mr. Sung, told everyone that I was the "chosen one". Then, I was supposed to travel back in time to 5 weeks earlier with my friends, but ended up here because I couldn't hold on to Lisa!" I rambled desperately.

I took a deep breath and let out a sigh of relief. I felt better now. I looked up at Kai, he was silent. A few seconds passed and then Kai started to laugh uncontrollably.

"You have to be kidding!" He fell silent and stopped in his tracks. I stopped next to him patiently. He grabbed me from my shoulders and then studied my face. "Are you telling me the truth?"

I nodded quickly.

"Oh, Fu-"

"Jongin, look!" Sehun jumped between us with his palm up. "A ladybug!" He screamed excitedly while pointing at his palm.