WORDS. |Kim Seungmin

Forty Two.

Although both of them had red swollen eyes, Aria and Seungmin were smiling sweetly at each other while walking back to the studio. Once they were in, they found Changbin sitting at the table in the middle, huffing, and whining. Felix and Sky were talking in whispers while looking at each other in the eyes as if they couldn't shove them away.

"Huh!" Changbin cheered faking a smile. "And here comes the other 'approved by heavens' couple." He mocked pointing at Aria and Seungmin.

The two of them were already by the table so they pulled the chairs and sat down. Felix and Sky had to cut their conversation to join the others.

"What was that?" Sky asked, sitting down next to Felix.

"For God's sake!" Changbin groaned. "Finally? You two dumbs?"

Aria rolled her eyes. That was typical Changbin. Just throwing nonsense whenever he could. "What is it, Changbin?" She asked him.

"Nothing! You tell me." He said smirking, leaning closer to Aria from across the table. "How does it feel to be a Healer, Ari?"

A gasp escaped Felix's lips in timing with Aria's eyes widening.

How could he find out that soon? Aria thought to herself.

That was Changbin's hidden talent. Changbin was an observer. A smart one who could collect the pieces quickly. No one would ever pay attention to his actions since he was always playful and acting dumb. No one cared where his eyes were looking. No one noticed the smirks he would put. No one realized that he was the only one seeing the bigger picture.

And obviously, no one suspected that he had already figured out the bond between Seungmin and Aria.

Long ago, Aria wasn't the first to recognize Seungmin as a regular customer, her neighbor, and her literature classmate. It was Changbin who didn't miss how the boy was looking at her. It wasn't Aria who first suspected Seungmin could actually talk. It was Changbin who noticed how sometimes Seungmin's lips would part as if he was going to reply before he stops himself. It wasn't Aria who first noticed how Seungmin was avoiding touching her. It was Changbin who caught that many times and also caught how Aria had a hard time trying to stop herself from touching him.

And it was also Changbin who saw how restless Seungmin would always get whenever they talked about his Healer, and how he would avoid looking at Aria whenever the word was mentioned.

Feeling amused at how his friends' faces were shocked, Changbin smirked in cockiness and rested his back on his seat while crossing his arms. "Poor you, Ari. You were distracted by the bond you two have, that you didn't see the signs. That's why you would always need me. You are not multitasking."

"Cut the shit, Changbin!" Aria snapped at him.

"What?" He shrugged, entertained by his friend's frustration. "It was pretty damn obvious! First, the way he looked at you would leave you with only two options. One: He's lovestruck. Two: He felt the Healer's pull. And since he's not a Normal, I excluded the first option. Second, the way you would always pout when he pulls away, would also leave you with two options. One: You are a pervert who just wanted to touch him. Two: you too felt the Healer's pull. And then the confirmation came this morning when he woke up with an all-clean face, even when I was damn sure you two were talking in whispers overnight." Changbin smirk switched from the cocky to the devilish one as he leaned forward again. "What did you do to him in his sleep, Ari?" Changbin asked in a pretended whisper.

It was just a few seconds after the poor boy uttered those words. Just a few seconds and he found his head being shoved backward from the water bottle that flew directly to his face. The same water bottle that Aria was still holding from earlier. She never uncapped it or drank from it, but eventually, she used it.

"What the hell?" Changbin yelled.

"I'm the one asking here." Aria yelled back.

"Calm down, kids!" Sky whined.

Changbin turned to face Sky while rubbing his bruised nose. "Have a fucking bottle smashing your nose before you tell me to calm down." He yelled at her.

"Don't you yell at her!" Felix warned his friend.

"Really?" Changbin whined. "You met her two hours ago and now you are getting protective over her?"

"I can't help it." Felix said, scooting closer to Sky which made the girl giggle cutely and made Changbin fake a gag.

Aria shook her head in denial before she shoves her eyes to Seungmin, who was sitting by her side quietly all along. She looked at his smiling face with suspicion. He showed no reaction to what Changbin said earlier. "Wait a second!" She said, lifting her hand to the other three to shush them while keeping her eyes on Seungmin who was now looking back at her. "You knew? That he knew about me being your Healer?" She asked. He nodded keeping his content smile. "What? How?"

"He's smart." Seungmin replied. "I suspected he knew. He's an observer as well. You just never noticed what laid behind his playful acts." Seungmin lifted his hand to her head and ruffled her short hair.

Aria got startled but she quickly pushed it away, not wanting to be distracted from the subject. "How comes that I don't know that my best friend is that smart?"

"Cause you are just dumb." Changbin snapped, earning a glare from Aria.

"She is." Seungmin giggled.

"Hey!" Aria whined looking at him with a pretended angry face. "You are supposed to be on my side. Look how Felix is defending Sky."

Seungmin's smile went wider, displaying his full set of teeth. That really distracted Aria. She cursed under her breath at how easily she gets distracted. Seungmin leaned closer to her, making their faces barely separated, and by then, Aria was already out of this world, floating above the clouds, intoxicated by his enchanting smile, that she didn't hear Felix curse and she didn't notice how Changbin and Sky held him down in order not to jump on Seungmin and punch him.

Pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear, Seungmin's hand rested on that ear, letting his fingers play with the girl's earlobe as his smile turned flirty. "He's new to this, Ari. He just met her and can't control the rush of feelings he's going through now. He would be defending no matter what. He can't be rational now." He paused, tilted his a little, and pulled his lips in a smirk before he resumes talking in a low voice, almost a whisper. "But me? I've been around you for long. I've learned to get a grip on myself and tame my feelings. I'm in control mode, beautiful." He said, ending his whispers with a wink.

Aria was paralyzed. She couldn't move or talk. She couldn't even react when Seungmin pulled away and stood up. She couldn't reply to Changbin's whining about how this flirting-filled air was suffocating him. She couldn't interact to her brother yelling and going after Seungmin who was leaving the studio, followed by Changbin who didn't want to miss the fight.

Aria was startled by a hand placed on her shoulder. She lifted her head up to find Sky looking at her with a knowing smile. "First time to see that side of him?" Sky asked. Aria nodded. "Poor you. That was The Great Kim Seungmin from high school. The boy who got the whole school wrapped around his little finger with his sweet words and innocent-devilish face." She paused to pat Aria's shoulder. "Girl, you are under his spell."

"FUCK!"