#i lost my train of thought because my brother apparently required i participate in his brief high school musical 2 singalong

[lohstandfound]

there are some stories in mythologies that start with two deities. everything else exists because of them. Gaia and Ouranos, Terra and Caelus, Ranginui and Papatūānuku, for example.

we start with Jake and Chloe.

instead of being the sky father and the earth mother, we have creation and destruction. light and dark. forgiveness and vengeance.

total opposite, but a dynamic pair

it was just them for a while, having fun building their world. things got messy, of course

it suddenly gets boring when you have only one person to spend eternity with

somehow, they learn to create life

jenna was the first to join them. she sees all. overwhelming. glimpses of the future, connections between people. it was like she could reach out and physically touch the string connecting jake and chloe. she discovered that whenever she messed with those lines, it affected the relationships. however, jenna was not the cause of the strained relationship between jake and chloe. she longed to discover what would happen if one were to cut that string. maybe she could have tested it when she saw new strings connecting to jake and chloe, but even then she didn't dare to interfere.

jeremy, michael, and christine. thick as theives and artists at heart. they danced around their feelings for an agonisingly long time (and they have eterninty)

rich was made from jake's mourning. he walked out of the fire from chloe's destruction and stopped in front of jake as he watched their temples fall

brooke was once a mere mortal who fell in love with chloe. she eventually gave up her friends, her family, her life, her mortality to spend eternity with chloe. and she would watch those from her old life mourn and grow and move on from afar, always making sure that her birthplace was well fed, well protected, well taken care of.

jake and chloe discover it's much better to spend eternity with their little family than by themselves

(jake and chloe never knew where they came from. never knew that someone else created them. but they know more than anyone else that anything that has been created can also be destroyed)

[dailyaudiobible]

01/25/2021 DAB Transcript

Genesis 50:1-Exodus 2:10, Matthew 16:13-17:9, Psalms 21:1-13, Pr 5:1-6

Today is the 25th day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I'm Brian it is a joy and an honor to be here with you today as we move into our workweek. And there's a surprise for us today. I have a surprise for you. We’re gonna finish the first book of the Bible today. We’ll finish the book of Genesis. So, just like that we’ve move through a whole book of the Bible, a big one too. And look at all we have covered. From the origin story of creation Adam and Eve, the Tower of Babel, Noah and the flood, Abraham going into a land he didn't know following a God he had never met and entering into a covenantal relationship. And covenants and covenantal language permeates the Bible. The son of promise, Isaac and then his son Jacob, and then his son Joseph, a lot of ground has been covered and lot to plot…to apply to our lives has been placed before us and planted in our hearts. And then so today we will finish the story of Joseph by reading the 50th chapter of Genesis, and then we’ll move in Exodus and when we get there, we’ll kind of do a little flyby and get a little kind of context of where we’re going, and then we’ll read the first couple chapters of Exodus. So, we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. Genesis chapter 50.

Introduction to the book of Exodus:

Okay. And that concludes the book of Genesis. So, well done to us all for making it through the first full book of the Bible, which brings us now to the second book of the Bible, known as Exodus. And if we remember Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the first five books of the Bible are known as the Torah or the Pentateuch. So, we’re entering the second book of the Torah. And if we remember when we were talking about Genesis, we’re like really really trying to establish the fact that there's a family line here - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, whose Israel, and then he has children, and they are the children of Israel. That’s important because it affects the whole Bible. It’s important to know where they came from and their origin story and how everything became what it became because their story so parallels our own life journey. So, when we left the book of Genesis just now Joseph died, had made his brothers promise to bring his bones out of Egypt when they left. Now as we turn our attention to the book of Exodus, we’re moving forward several centuries. And, so, with one turn of the page hundreds of years have gone by. And, so, with the flip of a page then everybody that we’ve been traveling with has died and their progeny has flourished. And, so, we’re hundreds of years in the future now with the future generations of promise and they are still in Egypt. And as we will see their…their prosperity, their flourishing begins to make the Egyptians uneasy because they can one day outgrow them and take over. And, so, they enslave them. And what we will learn is that this slavery goes on for 400 years. So, that's a long time to be holding onto a promise about land, right? And the oppression of the Hebrews by the Egyptians doesn't go unnoticed. And, so, we will meet another major figure in the Bible. We’ll watch him grow up. And he has a very interesting childhood. We’ll watch them flee Egypt. We’ll watch him return from Egypt to set God's people free and his name is Moses. So, basically in Exodus we’ll meet Moses's, we’ll see the plight of the Hebrew people, we’ll watch Moses become the leader of these people and we’ll watch a very drama filled confrontation between God and Egypt and in particular the king of Egypt the Pharaoh. Eventually, God's people will be freed from their slavery and sort of the center part of Exodus will deal with their trials in the desert. And then as we move into the last part of Exodus God will begin to weave His story into the fabric of this new culture. These recently freed slaves are in the desert and God is establishing a completely new culture in the desert among them and He will be weaving Himself into everything that they do. And we’ll see things like the tabernacle and the way that sacrifices are to be given to God. And, so, what we’re watching is God culture making. And we get to sit on the front row and watch it happen. And, so, let's begin. Exodus chapter 1

Commentary:

Okay. So, we've already transitioned from Genesis to Exodus and talked about that.

Let's look at one thing and Jesus says in the book of Matthew today because it's really famous. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” So, this is obviously the call to the path of a disciple of Jesus Christ. Like this is Jesus saying what it's gonna take. “If you want to come after me deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” Let's stop there and talk about deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Jesus. That seems to be the precursor of one of the greatest most pervasive themes of the Bible – endurance. And we don't like to hear about it and we don't like to do it that well. And, so, we don't hear about it a lot. And if we can avoid it, we do. And yet, Jesus is saying yeah, the life following me is a life where you’re denying the false identity that you are trying to craft and build. You’re denying yourself and you’re taking up your cross and following me. You’re taking on my identity. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. And that's famous. And, so, we…we think of it in terms of like being willing to die for the cause of Christ, to become a martyr. And, indeed, that has been required of many brothers and sisters over the millennia, but it's deeper than this. It's not just a willingness to humanly die, it's the act of dying to yourself, taking up your cross and following Him. In other words, dying to yourself so that you can actually live for Christ. Later in the New Testament when we get to the letters of Paul, we will hear Paul describe it as a living sacrifice. Okay. So, that's kind of the lay of the land. If you want to be a disciple of Jesus then your identity isn't a worldly crafted thing, it's the identity of the child of the most-high God, a disciple of Christ, and you will have to participate in the act of endurance often. We’re still kind of at the beginning of the year. I…mean it’s not my favorite thing to talk about, endurance. The Bible just brings it up over and over and over and over. And I have over the years, I’ve thought, “why? Like, why can’t your yoke be easy and your burden light? Like, we like those kinds of scriptures better.” But I have come to realize that endurance isn't the absence of God's blessing. Endurance is actually evidence of God's blessing. Think about it. Think about your life. What have the greatest lessons that you have ever learned come through? Challenge, endurance, something that you had to see through, something that you had to stick with. This is how we grow. And Jesus, God made flesh is telling us that this is a part of following Him. In other words, this is a part of how it's supposed to go. So, we've got a reframe some things and rewire some things because none of us likes to go through difficulty and challenge and most of the time we wallow in it, we get stuck in it, we dig a hole there, we camp out there when we’re supposed to move through it and gain strength and wisdom and keep going. But just normally, we get mad at God, and walk away and get rebellious and act like a toddler and only to find that we missed…we…like it took so much longer than it had to take. And we missed so much that we just misunderstood that “I am apparently going into a season of endurance here, of challenge and obstacle. And, yeah, I'm gonna still hate it. It's not fun.” But it is also not a waste of time. It's not without purpose. And Jesus is telling us this right out of the gate. And then He something interesting. “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” In other words if we could have a life of ease and get everything that we wanted but we’d lost our identity, we got sucked into creating a false identity because of all the stuff that we have achieved and all of the stuff that we have and we thought that this is who we are and we lost the plot of the story that we are a child of the most-high, then in the end, what does that profit a person? It’s a pile of stuff. It may be cool stuff, but it's a pile of stuff. Hundred years from now nobody's gonna care about any of that stuff except for maybe antique dealers. And, so, let's pour that into our coffee and stir it around today and keep it with us. Endurance is unfortunately my friends, a part of the journey. Endurance, fortunately my friends is a part of the journey. This is how we grow. Let's just bring it really close. Let's pretend we decided that today is the last day we’re going to go through the Bible in community and we step off this train, we don't go any further, we don't endure until the end, we don't maintain the rhythm until the end, we are going to lose so much that God will gift us through His word. But those of us who stick it out show up every day and continue to show up every day, week by week, month by month, we’re going to see transformation in our lives. And this is about the time where were starting to think about, maybe not doing the New Year's resolutions anymore. Like, yeah, salad’s getting’ old and all the stuff that goes with it. And then there's all the temptations all around us to just jump off the wagon of health. And, so, we do. We’re like just this once. And then it becomes the trajectory that we head in. And, so, we can get to the year…end of the year having had wonderful goals for the year that we didn't endure and so we didn't achieve. If we want to achieve being a disciple of Jesus, then we’re gonna have to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him.

Prayer:

Jesus, we enter into that. We invite Your Holy Spirit into that to apply it to our lives in places that need attention in this area right now. But we also acknowledge, You're not asking for something You didn't model. Like You’re not demanding something that You didn't show how it's done and explain it. And we have all these kinds of ideas about what it is to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow You when at the end of the day this really does boil down to what is driving us. How is it that we are trying to achieve an identity? What is making us continue forward on any given path? What we have to do is lay down anything that's not a path that pursues You. The things that distract us or the things that pull us away, what does that profit us? Help us to see that clearly Holy Spirit, we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible that can be done at dailyaudiobible.com as well or in the app as well. And I thank you. If…if the mission that we share in common here to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and given freely to the world to anyone who will listen to it anywhere upon this beautiful planet that God has given us to be home any time of day or night, and to build community around that rhythm so that we know we’re not alone – we’re not alone in our quest to move through the Bible and understand it, but we’re not alone, period. We’re not alone, we’re in community together as we take this journey. If that has meant something in your life, then thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app, the link, there’s a button in the upper right-hand corner or if you prefer the mail, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the little red button up at the top or there are number of numbers that you can use. In the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to call. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number or if you are in Australia or that part of the world. 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to call.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi this is Amy calling from the center of Canada. I…I’m lying awake in bed again, another sleepless night. I suffer from insomnia and it's exasperated my…by my depression. I also have type one diabetes and have been unemployed for almost a year now. I feel like I have a lot on my plate. And the thing that I can't stop thinking about and I feel almost obsessive about at this point is finding a partner, a husband. I feel really feel really lonely and I’m…I feel angry that God has let me have this strong desire for my whole life that I have not been able to get rid of or fulfill. And I know it's not up to me but it's really hard for me to let go of trying to do all the right things and go on the dating apps and it all feels so empty.

Hello, Daily Audio Bible this is Duane from Wisconsin. All praise and glory to our wonderful Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Today is January 21st. Yes, I've been away for a bit. My wife and I took a vacation. We went out to see our youngest daughter, our 9th granddaughter was born on Christmas Day and they live out in Seattle. So, we took the train from Milwaukee out to Seattle. So, that was fun to see the beautiful country they God has created. So, everyone's doing well. And I want to thank all of you for your prayers. I am calling in for God's Smile and then there was a gentleman who called in and he said he only has apparently a few months to live. He has cancer and I apologize I can't remember your name, but you wanted us to pray for you. So, Lord we lift up God's Smile and this gentleman who was told that he doesn't have long on this earth. He's battling cancer. Be with God’s Smile Lord. We ask for Your comfort and peace. She is such a joy for us Lord and the peace she gives us, we are asking that You would give her that piece, the piece that she…that flows through her from You to us Lord, we're now asking You would allow it to flow from us to her and that she would get the rest she needs and the strength she needs to carry on and be a light for You as she is. We ask that You be with this gentleman who's battling cancer who has a wife and children Lord. We're asking that You will give him extended time on this earth to be a light for him for his wife to be there with his children and grandchildren. We want to lift this up to You are great and precious Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. And God bless.

Good morning my name is Soniato here from Ontario CA. Please key from my family in Boston they have Covid 19. Her name is Jeannie – Jeanine, Evelyn, Gobanni. Please pray for them for healing. Thank you. God bless you.

Good evening everybody this is God’s Smile here. You know, this community’s a beautiful thing and sometimes a caller just touches you very deep inside and I've just listened to a lady who's recently got out of hospital with Covid an she said that her husband had left her after 46 years. She's no help at the moment and she said that the home health hasn't kicked in. And she's alone. So, I don't know your name dear lady, but I'd like to pray for you. Father God, we as a community, we wrap our owns around this lady and we ask that You would breathe and surround her with Your love not that Your love is never there but Father would You whip it up, would You whip that love up so that it is felt and seen. May she hear You as she reads Your word. And Father when this home health kicks in, I ask dear Lord, I ask because I can come to You and ask these things that this home help would be more than just a help, she would become a friend. And could I go as far to ask dear Lord that You would give her a Christian lady? Wouldn't that be just wonderful? Father I don't know if she has a church, but I pray the church around her would support her. Time's ticking away. I send you my love and a kiss. Kiss kiss. Love you all.

Hi family this is Biola from Maryland I hope you're all doing well. Brian and Jill God bless you. God bless your ministry. We're looking forward to China's little baby. Well, I pray that God will continue to touch her and protect her. Family today is January 22nd. Today would have been my father's birthday. He went home to be with the Lord in 2016 September 20. So, I just want to ask for prayer especially for my mom who is still grieving his death that God would just uphold her and be with her Jesus’ name. A listener from Montana, oh my gosh sister. I listened to your message like two or three times. I was so intrigued and convicted by what you said. Sister, you have such a sweet spirit. I am so happy that you found Daily Audio Bible. You know it is because of new listeners like you that I am proud to give to Daily Audio Bible. It is ministry worth sewing into. Sister I pray that God will continue to let you experience His joy. I can…I can tell from your voice that joy in spite of the blindness I am thanking God for your life and for your sweet 2-year-old and for your husband and for your marriage and I pray that God will continue to just wrap His arms around you and just show you His love intangible ways in the name of Jesus. And then I'm also praying for the brother who called in and said he was blind, and he just found Daily Audio Bible app. Oh wonderful brother. I pray that as…__ word is you walk by faith not by sight that God will show you different things in your life and He will answer your prayers. Before you call He will answer in the name of Jesus. Now Sarah from London I am praying for you sister that God will touch you He will continue to wrap His arms around you He will make your heart for Him. You will have a heart that follows hard after Him in Jesus…

This is Chili from Florida and I'm calling in for an urgent prayer request. I've had some heart issues for quite a while and now I'm in the…the hospital. You know chest pains and just really scared right now. Trying to have faith and trust in the Lord that His hands of healing will heal and touch my body and get me through this. It's just…it's just a scary time, you know, 'cause I did have to also confess to my wife of a sin. I sinned against her recently. So, my hearts also broken. So, I just really need prayer with you guys 'cause I'm just scared right now. Thank you guys I love you very much and I've been with this group for years…

Hi Daily Audio Bible this is Abba’s Joy. It's been a while since I've called in but first, I just want to say I'm so excited because I read through the entire Bible with you all last year and it's been something that I've wanted to do for so long, so many years as a believer. And I finally did it and it was life changing. It was a huge blessing and to be able to do it with you guys was just amazing. But I wanted to call in because I wanted to share something. After listening to the wonderful message from yesterday I went back and read the entry in the God of Your Atory and if you don't have it I encourage you to go get it. So, one thing Brian wrote that was profound to me in my current situation. After all that Joseph had to endure which was not by choice or because of anything he did when he saw his brothers he observed. He could have easily spoken what his flesh may have been feeling or even acted on it but like Brian says in his distress he didn't even reveal himself. He goes on to say to slow down and be observant. My biggest challenge right now DAB community is navigating adolescence with my teenage son. He loves the Lord with all of his heart and has been raised in the word but there's a lot happening that overwhelms an exhaust’s my heart. And anyway, Brian helped me to see that I don't have to reveal myself in my distress I just need to just slow down and sometimes just observe the situation because I don't even know where my son's heart may be at the time. And responding in my distress will only provoke him and escalate both of our emotions. So, for those parents in the same boat as I am trying to raise godly teenagers in the midst of a…of everything that's going on with all these distractions I encourage...

[baeklooming-day]

Fleeting 3 | Baekhyun

Summary: You lead a double life. For everyone else, you are the pretty girl with a great sense of fashion who works at Sephora. But it isn't your only job. For the other one you require only two things: the collection of weapons you keep in your closet - and zero emotions.

ft. Luhan

Genre: assassin!au, mafia!au, street racer!au, fluff, angst

Word count: 2.4k

A/N: little disclaimer: just to clarify the ages of the characters in the story, y/n is supposed to be around 19, Baekhyun is one year older than her, following with Luhan who is two years older. I know, I made a playlist for Fleeting when I was bored, however I would recommend to play Tian Di by Kris while reading this chapter. <3 I hope you enjoy!

The three of you exchanged looks before Baekhyun spoke up again.

”It started three years ago.” He looked at you briefly. Three years ago. That was the time where you first moved to this town and met him for the first time. ”I was seventeen when I got my driving license, so were my friends. In the evenings, or even at night if we were feeling like it, we liked to drive all the way over to the old football field and see who was the fastest from us all. The whole place seemed a little spooky, so there really was nobody, ever. We never had to worry about anybody discovering what we were doing. It was nothing back then, just fooling around with our cars. Until one time, when we saw someone watching. Or, more like were just talking by our cars after we finished and suddenly heard clapping from behind. We thought we were done there, but like we later learned, it was one of the people with quite a position in the illegal leagues.” Baekhyun brushed his black bangs off before continuing. ”He said he had been watching us for a couple of days now. Which only proves how careless we were, because we never noticed him before. Anyway, he said he was impressed with what he witnessed, casually asking us if we wanted to make some money. And we, careless students, without considering anything agreed just like that. And this is how I ended up going to my first actual race.” He straightened, letting out a deep breath. ”Without getting into details, because I don’t think this is the most important thing, I started racing regularly from that day. In these three years, I also managed to build quite a reputation. And in these three years, I lost only once.” He glanced at Luhan. ”Because of that, I was asked to join in the big race in Shanghai. And this is where Tao and Kris appear on the scene. I had frankly no clue that they were associated with mafia, because I was always told that they are not very likely to participate in events like this. Anyway, the first prize for winning that race was the Rolls Royce. I won. I thought everything was great and perfect, that I can just take the car and drive off into the sunset... Nuh-uh. Nothing more delusional. Like I later discovered, Tao and Kris had their eyes set on that car and couldn’t accept it that their men lost to a practical kid. I was lucky enough to disappear from there without them eventually sending a few bullets after me, but like we saw it today, in the end they came after me. And actually there is nothing more to it. That’s the whole story.” He finished.

There was a little pause before Luhan’s amused voice filled the air. ”I told you. Kris went crazy.” He shook his head, causing his brown hair to bounce. ”And it’s obvious that he somehow brainwashed Tao too. He wasn’t always that thirsty for blood like he apparently is now.”

You just sat there, trying to process all that information that’s been just spilled on you. Recalling the events which took place just a few hours ago in Cloud 9, you felt a little dizzy all over again. You would never think that there will be a day, where Tao points his gun at you. You would never think that it was Kris who sent him to eliminate you. And, you would surely never think that he wanted to do the same to Luhan as well.

Because once, you were all like a family.

”I-” You tried to say something, anything, but you could’t help feeling overwhelmed. Maybe you weren’t that good as you liked to give yourself a credit for. You didn’t care about people from outside, but if the matter had something to do with the ’family’, you weren’t able to neglect it.

You felt Luhan’s hand touching your shoulder, a gesture of comfort. ”I know what you’re thinking right now.” He put his lips in a tight line. ”Neither of us can go back to Shanghai. Not now. Not in the future. And very honestly saying, I don’t know when we will be able to.”

Baekhyun was still shifting on the floor where he was sitting. ”Wait, what do you mean by ’going back to Shanghai?’”

You looked at him with a blank expression on your face.

”This is just another story from the past.” You still couldn’t say what might be going on in his head right now. You already knew that he was beyond disappointed in you, but was he really willing to hear about your mess of a childhood?

Before Baekhyun could answer, Luhan was faster. ”Look, this is something very far from a healthy childhood story, so I would consider it if you really wanna hear it.” He huffed. ”I can imagine, you already think that we’re beyond sick, but I don’t guarantee that you won’t think even worse of us after hearing how we both ended up in... Yeah, you know.”

Baekhyun was looking once to Luhan, once to you. When he spoke again, there was something audible in his voice. Something you couldn’t name. ”Tell me.”

You gave Luhan a look, encouraging him to start talking. You weren’t really feeling like saying anything at all at that moment.

”Very well then.” He began. ”From the looks you gave me, yeah I saw it, I could tell that you’re dying to know what exactly is our relationship.” He pointed at you before going on. ”Looking way back, about 12 years ago. I think I told you that me and Y/N have known each other since we were eight. Precisely, she was eight, I was ten at that time. You need to know that we both originally come from families who were a little more than well off. It was early spring, we ended up being on the same ship, attending a fancy event with our families. It was the first time we met, being small children we instantly became friends. So far, everything was very normal. Until.” Luhan paused for a brief moment. You felt that. Recalling those events still made both your damaged hearts to ache. But life goes on. ”I don’t want it to become boring, all you need to know is that we ended up being caught in a feud between two different mafias. We still don’t really know why they were there, I doubt we will ever know. They were ruthless, they didn’t care at all about the innocent people on the ship. All I remember is that at some point they started shooting and eventually put the whole ship on fire. In the conclusion, me and Y/N saw lots, lots of people dying around us.” Luhan paused again. ”We saw how they pointed their guns at our parents. We sa-”

”Luhan.” You squeezed his hand. ”Don’t.”

He let out a breath. ”Yeah, basically. I already mentioned Xianmiao before. Well, his full name was Wen Xian Miao. He was the boss of one of the mafias who were there, a very powerful and influential one. I don’t know why he did that to be honest, but he picked us up from that ship and took us with him to Shanghai. Just to clarify a few things, his men weren’t the ones who killed-”

You nudged him.

”His men weren’t the ones. Eventually, he became like a father to us. He raised us. Cared for us. Gave us a home. During that time, me and Y/N became practical siblings, and it didn’t change until this day.” It was Luhan’s turn to nudge you lightly.

Yeah. The bond you built throughout the years was too strong to get broken, and even though you and Luhan didn’t share the same blood, you were always calling each other ’brother’ and ’sister’. Even though you weren’t biological, you were sure you had a much firmer bond than many of the regular biological siblings out there.

Baekhyun was listening carefully to everything what Luhan’s been telling. You observed his reactions, trying to read him. You wanted to ask him if he hated you. But you couldn’t just casually throw this question at him right now.

Luhan kept going. ”Don’t get the wrong idea, neither of us was forced into this dark business. I mean, ’tasks’-” He shook his hair off his eyes. ”It was our own choice. When Y/N was twelve and I was fourteen, I started training. At the beginning Xian wasn’t too impressed by my wish, but eventually he let me and he got me the best training I could receive. At that time Y/N wasn’t allowed anywhere near that stuff, seeing that she was still too young. Well, I mean, I was obviously too young as well but fourteen was the more acceptable age in Xian’s opinion. Two years later Y/N started training too.” Luhan looked at you, a visible question in his eyes.

That was the part you should tell by yourself.

”That’s right.” You began. ”After I was allowed to, me and Luhan were trained side by side. It wasn’t anything very particular at the beginning, we learned how to deal with all kinds of weapons and how to fight, just in case. We were prepared really well. When the time came, Lu was the first one of us two to actually take somebody down.” You paused. You remembered it very well. ”It was harder than anyone can imagine for two kids to be growing up around gunshots and cruelty.” You paused again, searching for the right words. If only the right words for such actions existed.

”If you think that it messed up our heads a little, then you’re right.” Luhan looked over to Baekhyun. ”It did. But living in a world like this, you become accustomed to it after a while. You could say we were... really unfortunate.” He intertwined his both hands, looking down. He always acted tough, but you knew him way too well to not see that it was breaking him inside just like it was breaking you.

When he didn’t say anything more, you continued talking. ”Later, when I was sixteen I got my first task. I was supposed to eliminate a traitor. A traitor, who had been selling our informations to the mafia from the other side of Shanghai. It was like a war between two concurrent families. I was chosen to complete it because I was already skilled more than good enough and being a fragile sixteen-year-old girl I wouldn’t be suspected of a crime like this. Plus, nobody knew who I was over there.” You let out a breath, looking anywhere but at Baekhyun’s face. ”I completed the task successfully. But after I did, I had to disappear for a while. And this is the point which leads us to where we are now.” You looked up. ”Xian’s cousin had an undercover corporation here. A corporation which connected... Uhm. Which connected the mafia, the assassins, the dealers, you name it. It was the connection between everyone in the family. His cousin had a son, Yixing. After he unfortunately passed away, it was Yixing who took the leadership from there. To assure I was safe, I was sent here. And that resulted in meeting you, Baekhyun. As well as meeting Sujin.” You finally looked at him. ”I was supposed to stay here as long as the things back in Shanghai were sorted out. I wasn’t allowed to contact anyone back home, including Luhan. We couldn’t risk anyone to track me down. In these three years I had no idea what was going on in China. All I still remember was that the hell broke loose after I took down that delinquent. I even thought that they could be all dead there. I thought that Luhan could have ended up like this.” You felt your eyes welling up just at the single thought of it.

Luhan squeezed your hand firmly. ”Before you flew away, I promised you. Siblings find each other again. No matter what and no matter how long. And look at us now. We are both here.”

You quickly wiped off the tear that was about to fall down.

Baekhyun, sitting still, looked at both you and Luhan seeming to not find any words to say. You could easily imagine that he expected many things, but not this.

Finally he spoke up. ”I’m... I’m very sorry for all you had to go through, nonetheless. I can’t compare it to my own situation.” He stood up, putting his hands in the pockets of his black jeans. His expression was unreadable.

You blankly stared into space. At that point you could forget the things with Baekhyun to go back to ’normal’ ever again.

”Well, I-” Baekhyun spoke again. ”I think I need to be alone for a while, so excuse me.” He turned around on his heel and walked out of the room.

”Baek-” You wanted to stop him, but you got interrupted by Luhan.

”Y/N, don’t. Let him.”

You let out a deep, shaky breath.

Everything was even a bigger mess now. Was it even possible?

Your eyes dashed back to Luhan.

”Lulu.” You said. ”Do you think he hates me now?”

”I don’t know if he hates you, but he clearly doesn’t like me.”

You lightly hit him in the shoulder. ”What are we going to do now?”

Luhan looked at you. ”I think I have a plan. First, I would say we find Yixing. Then we will see.” He paused, examining your face. ”You changed a lot, little sister.”

You smiled softly. ”So did you. You grew up so much.”

You just sat there, next to Luhan. You didn’t see him for about three years. You had so much to tell him.

He seemed to be thinking the same, because he turned to have a proper look at you in the exact same time as you did. ”So, ignoring the fact that our lives are very literally in danger right now, how have you been this entire time?”

That, that sibling talk was what you majorly missed in your life despite everything.

After all, Luhan was the one who would never judge you for anything you did.

”Where do I begin...”

A/N: I purposely concentrated this chapter on Luhan, because I wanted to make clear his sibling relation to y/n. I promise you more and more Baekhyun in the future chapters! thank you for reading and tell me what you thought of this one! and as always feel free to reblog if you want to! <3

[sorayahigashikata]

Chapter 80: "Premature assassination."