“As your leader, you can call me Sofia and I want to give all of my trust to each one of you.” Sapphire, now known as her real name, Sofia Dolce continues her unexpected statement. The three of them look completely surprised by her boldness of telling her real identity, which none of them get anything ever since the beginning they joined in. Howl and Spec don’t know how to react as if they are freezing up right away, completely off guard, but for Elio it seems like he already knows that this is what is going to happen based on her actions previously. His eyes are still locked on her, observing any of her movements but she is just sitting there, eyes jumping from one to another with that pure warm smile on hers. The silence has two meanings at the moment, as one for the other three, who are completely lost of it, complete shock while for Sofia herself it means awkward and slowly killing her nerve inside. But still, she knows she needs to finish what she just started and obviously fulfills her promise with Adam. Without wasting any moment, she takes this chance to calm herself down and thinks of what she needs to tell them next, remembering how she did it with the previous members. The only keyword for what she needs to arrange is probably just like the usual or basic beginning of everything, introduction. “Born in Catania, lived in an orphanage ever since the beginning because they told me that my parents died from an accident.” Sofia continues and chuckles awkwardly, not wanting to skip the last one part. In Elio’s observation, even though it might be not too accurate or sharp, he notices what kind of voice she is using right now. It sounds like mixed up between nervous and awkwardness but there is a courage and willingness to keep the story telling going on. The last two parts are considered to be the biggest things that need to pay off since those are the hardest parts to maintain. Based on this observation, Elio slowly relaxes his body and tries losing all of the tension on his shoulders as he positions himself to anticipate more in Sofia. “Even though I have lived in an orphanage with a quite strict one, it’s still Catania, of all places which are already known as many people are pretty handy to get things in silence.” She continues and chuckles once again, not wanting to give a long pause between her introduction and at the same time don’t want to make it awkward. Thankfully, the other three can slowly get her intention and how hard Sofia is trying to tell her true identity. “No wonder you got chosen to be the leader of this pack, huh?” Howl replies jokingly with a smirk on her face, in purpose of helping her to loosen the tension. To make it easier, Howl also picks up her plate on her hand and starts digging her food in a slow pace as if she is waiting for the further story. Hearing Howl’s welcoming response, Sofia can feel the pressure lifted up a little bit and the other two expressions also change. “Hahaha, well my skill got improved by someone who picked me up from the orphanage though.” “Same hobby as yours?” Howl asks and takes another bite. “Yep. He took me when I was sixteen and you guys won’t believe how many times and what kind of things we stole back then hehehe.” Sofia answers and giggles proudly. The atmosphere slowly restores and brings the comfort back in around them as Spec is now starting to relax himself as well. “But… unfortunately, that only lasted almost a decade until he got caught in Rome then I finally got in here.” Sofia continues with her saddened voice and expression, probably getting flashbacks of her memory with him. All of them recognise it right away as their expressions turn into concern at the same time hearing her voice. In normal days probably it would be crossing the line of asking furthermore about the others’ privacy, today is different. Three of them can see there is no line anymore between them with Sofia which means Sofia is really trying to get rid of those borders with them. “What happened to him?” Howl asks, based on her voice it can clearly be seen that she is hesitating about it but she pushes herself anyway. “Our usual activity but the greed somehow got into which leads us to targeting a thing that is so tiny yet the price is very tantalizing and hard to reject the urge of stealing it.” Sofia answers and takes her cup of iced lychee tea with her eyes locked at it while she slowly plays with it. Again, Elio catches it right away from her gestures, the flashback of someone important for her kicks in, someone who is glued tightly into her life. If he wants to use an example of someone in his life, probably the one that took her away from the orphanage is the same like Lucas in his life, someone who saved them even from a single moment yet gives impact in their lives. An unfamiliar thing hits Elio’s chest once again and obviously he hates how it’s affecting his mind as well as his heart aching. But the most disturbing thing for him is he can’t do or doesn’t have any idea of how to stop the irritation right away. “We got too confident with our skills that made all of our plans go smoothly but that night was different.” Sofia continues and takes a sip of her coffee, leaving the others to wait patiently for a moment to think what could be the thing that made them fail. “Everything was fine, completely great, just like how natural it was until suddenly someone showed up that changed everything in just a blink of an eye.” She puts down her cup back on the side table as her expression slightly changes into irritation. No matter how long that accident has been, the scar and damage for Sofia is too deep which makes it sound impossible to forget about it. When she tells them her story about him, Elio starts to think something off about their mission in that time yet he still doesn’t want to say or conclude too early with such little information. “Actually that night, the two of us almost got trapped in the vault.” She chuckles bitterly as her eyes become glossy as well “But he sacrificed himself at the last second. He pushed me to get inside our emergency escape pipe and used his body to protect me.” The sadness and grief take over the atmosphere around them as the other two completely get the feeling of her lost. Meanwhile for Elio, it starts to connect from one dot to another as it looks almost quite similar but not exactly the same. Why was it already planned and prepared a long way before they actually came in? Why does it sound like that ‘someone’ she mentioned knew that they are going to come? Sofia interrupts the silence with her bitter chuckles again and looks up into the night sky, trying not to let any single teardrop come out. “When I think about it, how lucky am I that I always survived or got saved all the time by the others.” Sofia says, her voice almost cracked, face getting darkened as well. The guilt, the pressure of someone that got saved plenty of times hit her so hard that sometimes she barely can handle it, just like yesterday when she lost Adam. Howl, who is a leader from Onyx Wolf, can’t relate more to what Sofia felt from time to time of that happening, especially when it’s someone who is already taking a part in your life. Sometimes the burden and pressure of someone that lives after getting saved is a lot bigger than the one that sacrificed themself, eventually if that person has already tried to save the others as well. Sofia’s feelings are spreading out from her heart and affecting the whole atmosphere around them as Howl glances to her side, Spec, who has been saving her for many times, getting hit by the flashback of other members from the Onyx Wolf too. Not wanting the silence of grief taking over the place, Elio somehow notices it and quickly takes action. Killing birds with one stone as it also helps him to help his impatience curiosity inside his head to answer those previous questions that popped up inside. “Then you end up here?” Elio speaks up and gets everyone’s attention. Maybe at the moment he sounds like someone who is heartless of the sudden action and question but they somehow can get the part of where Elio doesn’t want the negativity to take control of it. Probably and hopefully their bond is getting stronger with each other. “Mhm. The next day, after I take care of myself alone in our hideout, suddenly there is an envelope in front of the door.” Sofia answers and slightly swipes her nose, refusing to cry. The invitation. Elio thinks once he gets the confirmation of what he wants and responds to it only with his humming which brings another silence to the place. But that doesn’t last long because Sofia gets back into her senses as she is also not wanting to darken the previous mood that Howl has tried to build when she was telling her story. “Well, that’s the sum up of my story before getting here!” Sofia says with her usual cheerful voice and takes a sip from her drink once again while waiting for a sign if the others want to share as well or not. At first she thought that no one dares to share it yet so Sofia already planned to close today’s section until someone suddenly picks up the flow. “Actually it will be great if we can get more details about it later.” Howl says with a proud smile on her face. “I actually have been thinking about the same thing.” It catches everyone by surprise because her reaction and words only mean one thing, she is ready to share it with others. Sofia, who at first not expecting any of this and thinking it might be too soon for them, feels so much relieved, happy, and proud to herself that her fear of sharing actually doesn’t bring any negativity to any of them. “Well.. if you guys don’t mind, is it alright if I take over the stage?” Howl continues and asks hesitantly until Sofia suddenly jumps over to her and holds Howl’s hands together in her hands. “No! And yes! Please tell me the details of it!” Sofia says excitedly, her eyes are no longer gloomy but full of sparkling stars of anticipation. “Revise. The parts you are comfortable to share with.” she adds in before letting Howl reply. Getting this reaction from her leader, the members can’t help but chuckle and once again, the mood turns warmer as usual from her simple action. “Alright.” Howl says and lets her hands go from Sofia “Shin Chaemin. Born and raised in a small village in Gangwon, one of the provinces in South Korea, Samcheok.” One sentence's brief and simple introduction of her true identity of course is another breathtaking for speaker and listeners as it gives more chills to three of them who are listening. Shin Chaemin stops for a moment, letting the silence get in for a few seconds, and looks to each one of their eyes full of anticipation. “Call me anything other than Shin, my family name, and I was born from a really poor family but got the opportunity to actually get into a real college in Seoul, fully under the government recharge like scholarship.” She continues, the confidence of keeping eye contact still there. “Wow… you must be the school’s favorite with a lot of achievements back then..” Sofia compliments with her eyes full of amazement. Chaemin chuckles but now is the time her face slowly losing the light and her eyebrows furrowing “Yea… but sadly not my parents favorite I suppose…” Chaemin says with a very low volume of voice, trying to hide it but it's still audible for all of them. Same goes to the others now, their faces change when she mentions words that are supposed to be people who supported us the most, even the sparkle in Sofia’s eyes is fading away. “Did they abuse you? Forcing you to keep working.” Sofia says, trying comforting and gently putting her hand behind Chaemin’s back. “They never forced me, that was all on me from the beginning.” Chaemin replies and grips her hand together tightly. Right now is not only sadness that spreads out into the atmosphere but anger because of her expression and how tight she is holding herself together. “Honestly, I still don’t know.. no clue if this is right or just a rumor..” She continues and her voice starts to get deeper as well as her breath “They sold me.” “They- WHAT?!” Sofia is almost shouting but fortunately she manages to hold herself in case not make a scene or get heard by unwanted people. Elio also surprises from the story that she just told but there is something he needs to focus on each of their stories. Weirdly Spec doesn’t react much, he just sits there with her hands gripping one another and stares at her. “They told me that I got another scholarship from my college to study in Italy. But once I arrived here, nothing. The university thought I was bluffing or lying to them as I showed the invitation letter.” Chaemin continues, her eyes still looking down on her feet. Chaemin’s story is enough to push Sofia to get upset once again as she is wanting to get information about who and what her parents look like. “Those bastards will learn their lesson later. Keep my words.” Sofia says with her upset voice and gently pets Chaemin’s head. While comforting her, Sofia glances at the other two members and is surprised that Spec didn’t react the way she was thinking how it is. Even though she still can clearly see how tight he is holding his hands, his face doesn’t react that much like Sofia thought. “Thanks, Sapphire. But it’s still just a rumor though…” Chaemin says and looks up to meet Sofia’s eyes who immediately turns her head to meet hers. Sofia smiles softly at her and gives her one final pat on her head. “Don’t worry about them. You have us now, okay?” She says with her comforting voice and slightly boops her nose “And call me Sofia, please. Not Sapphire.” “Yeah.” Chaemin replies with the widest and warmthest smile at her and nods her head cutely. “Then you end up here?” Elio says and makes everyone face him right away, he just did the same thing when Sofia was telling her story before. They all notice the pattern that Elio is using right now that he wants to gather information of how and why they can be a part of this company. Elio on the other hand doesn’t care much of trying to hide his intention as he really just wants to focus on solving his own problem. Selfish? It is considered selfish but if it’s for their own good as well why not? They know that if they really want to get out of this company, defeat or pay back those lions, they need to put their mind and work together rather than focusing on individual matters. “Yes. When I got rejected and couldn't contact my family or friends, suddenly, out of nowhere, I got an envelope from a stranger.” Chaemin answers firmly with her steady voice. Stranger? Elio thinks and realizes that neither of them got an online message just like him. Instead they got a hard copy message which means someone, one of them actually gave the envelope to them as it makes it more obvious that they were already targeting and watching them from a far long time ago. Elio turns silence again as he is thinking of the reason why there is a difference between them and him Even though it is just a slight difference, a part that could be not necessary to think about, Elio refuses to ignore it. All of those losses, failures, mistakes, every single one of it keeps hunting Elio’s mind of not letting his guard any second or letting an inch of space to get through his radar. Not only because he wants to win against them but the anger, the urge of revenge, grief and all other feelings that are overwhelming from it are just unbearable anymore. “I will take this turn as mine then.” Spec speaks up, breaking the silence around them “But actually I’m sorry that I’m still not ready to share anything about my personal life yet.” Spec pauses for a bit and looks at Elio’s eyes to read and make sure of Elio’s desire. Without Elio’s consciousness, he doesn’t realize that his eyes look like a tiger who is watching its prey full of thirst. His anger is still overflowing, without him knowing it as well, making all of them realize that those lions took something much more from Elio than their losses. “But if you want to know how I ended up here, I got an envelope too.” Spec continues and all of the dots that Elio wanted connect with one and another. He is the only exception for them, for Heliodor, that is why it’s a bit connected to why and how they treat them differently from them. Starting from he is the one that left behind after the first meeting plan, got facing Heliodor one by one directly, invited and hung out today with them, and got played as their pion for many times. Based on this information, Elio already can conclude one thing, they already know about Funkids and that is why they targeted him a long time ago. Using all possible aspects, chances, and dirty ways of sacrificing everything or anyone to only get the bot that is perfectly built by Elio in order for fulfilling their desire and selfishness. Imagining it is enough to make Elio disgusted with how they thought and planned about it which it clearly shows on his face right now. Another awkward and intense silence circles around them as Spec and Chaemin look at each other's eyes, not wanting to say anything from their mouths, but that doesn’t occur to their leader. “Alright everyone.” This time, it’s his leader who dares to break the silence, knowing that this part can only be handled by her as she stands up from her seat “Let’s call it for a day, shall we?” gives a sign to the other two and they get it right away. “Yeah. Today is a tough day anyway.” Chaemin answers and looks at Spec, letting him follow her. “It is.” He simply says and stands up from his seat as well “Thank you for today guys.” while waves his hand to bid goodbye toward Elio and Sofia. “Thanks for the food. Good night, everyone.” Chaemin follows right behind him to get inside the apartment. Now it is just the two of them still on the balcony as Elio is still in the middle of his train though running around inside of his head. Sofia on the other hand watches and observes him closely, from his gestures, eyes, the way he is staring into one spot without blinking, and mostly is his emotions. Noticing all of those details, she can’t just let it pass through easily like that, probably because they shared the same emotion but Sofia is just a bit much better to keep it closed in a well. With all that being said, Sofia walks and kneels down in front of him. “Tell me.” Sofia asks softly and looks sharply into his eyes “What’s on your mind, my tiger. Because we are all on the same boat right now.”
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