⚉ characters: soul x reader
⤷(with rest of P1Harmony)
⚉ genre: sci-fi theme, slight mystery, light humor, slight angst, comfort
⚉ theme: alien!soul, labworker!reader
⚉ warnings: mild language, mild medical situation, mentioned experimentation(?), unnecessary use of the words: plant, pot and workspace, kinda mentioned reader's height (reader is shorter than Soul)
⚉ a/n: welcome or welcome back! Phew, this story was a lot and I am still not sure how I feel about it. Like, I like it, I really do, but I don't know... Also thank you so much for reading, leaving a heart or even reblogging - it means a lot to me! If you see any mistakes, please feel free to kindly correct me ♡
"What is that?" You looked up from the papers scattered on your work table to see your two co-workers standing there, holding a big pot filled with soil but no plant. "Why are you bringing me a pot full of soil? That’s pretty wasteful." You stood up from your chair and passed by the table to be closer to the two men.
"There’s a plant in it too," said the younger one of the two. His name is Intak, and he is a technician in the botanic laboratory where you work as a botanist.
You knitted your eyebrows together at his statement because there was clearly no plant in the pot, only the wasted soil you still weren’t happy about. You would need to have a talk with Keeho (you were pretty sure this is his work), your fellow co-worker in the laboratory, about his wasteful tendencies.
"Can we first put the pot somewhere, please?" said the older of the two, immediately grabbing your attention. "It's quite heavy, and it's starting to slip from my hands," he added, clearly struggling to hold the pot any longer.
"Oh, of course! Sorry." You looked around your workspace, and when you found an empty spot in the left corner of the room, you pointed there. "You can put it there." You nodded to yourself and exhaled softly, still confused about the situation. If this was another one of Keeho's stupid jokes...
The two technicians brought the pot to the corner you had pointed to and placed it on the ground. Jiung, the older one, huffed a little while stretching his aching arms from carrying the heavy weight. On the other hand, Intak looked like it had weighed nothing to him.
"Okay, now..." You moved closer to them and the pot. "Can you explain where the plant is? Because I clearly see only soil. There isn't even a hint of a growing plant." You looked at the two, waiting for their explanation.
"It is there," Intak insisted. "It's just... invisible?" He didn’t sound certain himself, which made you believe that this was truly one of Keeho's jokes. He loved playing pranks on you, and these days, they were getting more and more ridiculous.
You let out a heartfelt laugh and shook your head. "You're terrible at acting, Intak." You patted him on the shoulder. "Next time, ask Keeho for a script if he wants the joke to work. This isn't convincing at all." You turned on your heels, ready to return to your seat and finish your work.
"He’s right, Y/N," Jiung said, making you stop in your tracks. You took a deep breath, ready to tell them that they didn’t have to keep up this stupid joke, but Jiung continued. "Just take a look at this."
You turned back to them, folding your arms over your chest and raising an eyebrow in expectation. "Well?" You nodded, signaling that you were ready to see whatever they wanted to show you.
Jiung and Intak exchanged a look. Intak took a few steps back from the pot, and you had to suppress a chuckle at their persistence; you had to give them credit for not giving up so easily. Your gaze shifted from Intak to Jiung, who swallowed hard and slowly moved his hand towards where the plant should be in the pot. You would be lying if you said their ongoing act wasn’t starting to irritate you, but you took a deep breath and let them do whatever they had planned.
Jiung's hand suddenly stopped midair, and you saw his chest rise as he took a deep breath, as if bracing himself for something dangerous. You were about to say something—to urge him to hurry up or just drop this pointless joke already—but your words never left your lips. Your mouth hung open in shock as an iridescent glow appeared above the pot, taking the shape of a plant.
Jiung quickly pulled his hand back to his chest, as if the glow had burned him. Or maybe it had; or he was just scared of it which would be understandable.
You weren’t sure what was happening or what this thing was. Well... it was clearly a plant or, at least, the shape of one, but your mind couldn’t believe what your eyes were seeing, causing you to just stare at the iridescent glow above the pot. The glow soon disappeared, and you started to feel a burn in your eyes from not blinking, afraid you would miss something while the glow was still present. You finally blinked a few times to moisten your eyes again but kept your gaze fixed on the pot.
"What..." you paused, trying to gather your thoughts about what you had just seen. "What was that?" You asked and looked at Jiung, who had also moved a few steps back from the pot. You were surprised they were even willing to bring the pot into your workspace when they seemed so scared of it.
"That was the plant," Jiung said, while Intak immediately nodded his head to confirm Jiung's words. "It reacts like that to physical contact. It just starts to glow with all these colors and then stops after a few seconds." He looked at you, still holding his hand to his chest.
"Did it burn you?" You had to ask because the way he was holding his hand close to him was starting to look a little concerning. "Is it dangerous?" You took a step back—not because you were scared of the unknown plant, but because you were preparing to press the emergency button to put your workspace on lockdown if necessary.
Jiung shook his head and let his hand fall back to his side. "No, it didn’t burn me, and no, it’s not dangerous," he answered all your questions. "At least... that's what Keeho said," he added, and you nodded while biting down on your bottom lip in thought.
"Where even is he?" you asked after a moment of silence, not really knowing what else to do. The poor technicians knew only as much as Keeho had told them about the plant, which was just that it glowed upon being touched— and that wasn’t much information, not for you. "Keeho, I mean."
You were already angry at Keeho, for thinking this was just one of his jokes that he was willing to waste so much soil for, but you became mad, almost furious, at him (even if he is absent). He left all this work on these two technicians and didn’t even explain anything properly to them. If he is still somewhere in the facility, you are ready to have a talk with him.
"He was sent home because that plant triggered his allergies and they were bad." Intak was the one who answered your question this time. "Like... really bad. Eyes bloodshot red and puffy, like his whole face, and a runny nose. Never saw someone produce so much snot." He had to emphasize how bad the allergies were.
Oh, so that’s why they brought the plant to you; it was now your responsibility. Thanks, Keeho. If he had at least left you notes or came to you before he left, but you understood he had to go home if he had such a bad reaction to this plant.
"Gross." You scrunched your nose at Intak's description. Though, you were kind of sad you couldn’t see that with your own eyes and maybe get some pictures for future blackmail. You then let out a little exhale. "Did he tell you anything else other than it reacts to a touch with that glow?" you asked them, hoping you'd get more information, which you doubted you would.
They both shook their heads and you pinched the bridge of your nose between your fingers. Of course, he didn’t say anything else to them, but maybe he actually didn’t find anything else out about this plant because he had to leave. It still left you mad regardless.
"No, wait," said Jiung suddenly, catching your attention. "He also said it shouldn’t get wet." He told you a new piece of information that left you even more confused about this plant than you already were.
"And how am I supposed to take care of the plant?" You furrowed your eyebrows, placing your hands on your hips like you were ready to scold a child for doing something they weren’t supposed to. "And another question, why can't I get it wet?"
The two technicians exchanged a look once more, and you slumped your shoulders in defeat with a sharp exhale. It wasn’t their fault they didn’t know anything about it—this wasn’t even their job to begin with. They were just following Keeho’s instructions, despite the lack of information. But you couldn’t even be mad at Keeho because he had a bad reaction to the plant and had to be urgently sent home. Still, he could have left some notes, but Keeho never did things the way he was supposed to. Like, how did he even know it couldn't get wet? There should have been notes about that.
"Sorry," you said in a softer voice. "I know you two know as much as I do, which is nothing." You shook your head and wet your lips. "You can go, this isn’t your concern anymore." You looked at both of them with a small smile.
"Good luck with... that plant," Jiung said, glancing briefly at the "empty" pot before quickly looking back at you. "Hope you have some luck figuring out what’s going on with it." He gave you a nod. You nodded in return, and he walked to the door to exit your workspace.
"Yeah, good luck," Intak said with a big smile as he followed Jiung. Though, just before stepping into the hallway, he stopped and turned back to you. "I'll send you pictures of puffy Keeho. It’s hilarious," he added with a small chuckle.
Your eyes widened in happiness. "You have pictures?" Your voice dropped to a whisper, as if someone might overhear. Intak nodded in response, and you couldn’t hide your smile anymore. "Great, thank you."
Intak then left, and you were alone with that plant—no knowledge or notes about it. Your gaze was fixated on the pot with the invisible plant, and your mind tried to think about what to do with it and, more importantly, where and how to start your investigation. You then remembered Jiung's action and decided to try it for yourself. But first, you made sure you had a paper and a pen close to you so you could immediately write down any reaction, feeling—simply anything—surrounding the plant.
Once you noted where everything is, you reached into a pocket of your lab coat and took out a pair of gloves. While putting one on, you wondered if it would react differently to the glove than it did to skin, so you decided to leave your other hand bare. Putting the other glove back into the pocket of your lab coat, you moved closer to the pot and stopped right in front of it.
"Okay, here goes nothing," you mumbled to yourself and touched the space where you thought the plant should be with your bare hand first. You immediately, out of pure instinct, moved your hand back when the iridescent glow appeared again, revealing the outline of a plant.
Jiung was right—it didn’t burn. In fact, it didn’t do anything to you, but the fear of the unknown or unexpected can make your body react on its own, and you can’t stop it.
You watched it carefully, counted in your head how long it showed its iridescent beauty, and when the glow disappeared, you quickly grabbed a pen and wrote it down. That's how it's supposed to be done, Keeho! When you finished writing, you turned your attention back to the plant.
"Just one more touch, and I'll leave you alone. I need to test something," you told the plant, as if it could hear whatever you were saying, which made you shake your head at how ridiculous you were being. But after working with plants all the time, it had become a habit to talk to them—even if it made you look a little crazy.
You then touched it with the hand covered in a glove, and the plant had the same reaction. Just to be sure, you counted again how long it would show its outline, and when it disappeared, you wrote it down on a paper with the previous information. You tapped the table with your pen after noting it and bit your bottom lip in a thoughtful manner. After a while, you took a deep breath and went back to your table to continue the work that was still waiting for you.
Of course, you wanted to explore this invisible plant, but you had other things to focus on first—things that were more important than this unknown species that Keeho was actually supposed to take care of but had to leave behind.
And then, a thought crossed your mind. How did Keeho know that it couldn't get wet? Had he perhaps already examined it but, because he didn’t take notes right away (wouldn’t be surprising), it wasn’t documented? Or was watering it the first thing he did, and somehow that triggered his allergies? Though, that seemed very unlikely.
You stood up, leaving your work unattended again, and went to the pot. On your way there, you grabbed a spray bottle filled with water and prepared yourself to do the only thing you were told not to do—spray it with water to get it wet.
You took a deep breath, bracing yourself for what you were about to do, and gave the plant a few good sprays. To your disappointment, nothing happened. There wasn’t even an iridescent glow when the water touched it. Furrowing your eyebrows, you put the spray bottle away and made a note along with the previous ones, that water does nothing to it.
"Don’t get it wet, sure, Keeho," you mumbled to yourself, a little irritated because you expected something to happen—just anything; maybe even your allergies to strike, even though you don’t have any. "You probably forgot to take your allergy pills and got in touch with pollen," you said while rolling your eyes and going back to your table to finish the rest of your work.
Sadly, while doing your work, your mind kept wandering to the plant, and you stole a few glances at it from time to time, which made you work slower. That was also the reason why you left the laboratory late at night.
After finishing, you cleaned up a little, took care of a few necessary things, put your coat on the hanger near the door, and left your workspace. You closed the door behind you, locked it, and finally went home and to your awaiting soft bed.
The next day, you came back to work as usual. On your way to your office—your workspace—you greeted other coworkers you met along the way. When you arrived in front of the door, you took out the key, unlocked it, and went inside. You closed the door behind you and took your lab coat from the hanger so you could put it on, just like you always do.
As you walked towards the desk at the back of the room, you noticed something out of the corner of your eye. You stopped in your tracks and looked to the side where you thought you saw something.
To your surprise, your mind wasn’t playing any tricks on you—you saw a boy there. "Who are you?!" You jumped slightly at his presence and took a step back. "How did you get in here?!" You quickly scanned the room to remind yourself where you exactly stood and to see where the emergency button was before shifting your gaze back to him, staying alert to his movements.
The boy stared back at you with a frightened look, mirroring the one on your own face. You also noticed that he was covering his ears because of your raised voice. This made you feel slightly less cautious about him being dangerous, but you still remained on guard. Let's be real—seeing a person in your workspace, which had been locked from the outside, was pretty scary and suspicious.
"I'm sorry, I won't raise my voice anymore," you said, a little more composed. "Can you tell me how you got into my office? It was locked..." You looked at the windows behind the boy, but they weren’t broken either. But... how would he even have gotten in here through a window if your office was on the fifth floor?
You watched the boy carefully and waited for his answer, but he never gave you one. He just looked so scared and lost, watching you with this hurt puppy look while still covering his ears— probably afraid you might scream again.
You exhaled softly and realized this boy would definitely not hurt you, but you still kept your distance from him. "Can you understand me?" you asked because maybe he didn’t know what you were saying, which might be one of the reasons why he was scared. The boy nodded his head slightly in a positive answer and there was suddenly a glimmer of hope for communicating with him.
"Can you put your hands down from your ears? I promise I won't hurt you. I just want to talk," you said to him and motioned with your hands for him to lower his.
The boy took a while, but he finally put his hands down by his sides. You gave him a small, friendly smile, which he returned, and that made you happy for some reason. Now, after calming down from the shock of seeing an intruder in your workspace, you finally noticed his appearance: blond hair that was a little longer at the back but still not touching his shoulders, slightly gray skin with a hint of green, an average height (but definitely taller than you), and the only thing covering him was a big oversized shirt.
But what caught your attention the most were his eyes. They were green, which was not an unusual color, but they had an iridescent hint in them and were glowing almost like... almost like the plant that was brought to you yesterday. You gazed at the corner where the pot with the plant was supposed to be and frowned slightly when you saw the pot was still there and intact. You couldn’t tell if the plant was still in the pot because of its invisibility, but you assumed it was. What you thought had happened—that the plant grew into the boy standing right in front of you—would have required a broken pot, at least in your mind it did.
You shook your head at the absurd thought and looked back at the boy. "Let’s sit down, okay?" You gave him another smile to keep him at ease and indicated with your hand to a chair that was behind your table. "I'll find you a blanket, you must be cold," you said more to yourself than to him, and that's also why you didn’t wait for his answer and went straight to the wall covered in one large bookshelf that held more than just books.
When you stood in front of the bookshelf, you got on your knees and looked through the bottom shelves, where there should be at least one blanket. Luckily, you found one, took it out, and rose back to your feet so you could give it to the boy; you'll have to find him some clothes eventually.
The said boy was seated on the chair you told him to sit on, which made you relax even more because he truly understood what you were saying. You came closer to him and put the blanket over his legs, then you took a few steps back to give him space. You, for sure, didn’t want to scare him again when he was now relaxed too and looked like he was ready to answer your questions.
"So..." you started to let him know that you'd now ask some things to make some peace in your mind. "I think we should start with something easy. What is your name?" You asked your question, which wasn’t that important to you, but you wanted to start slowly so he would open up more with each question you asked.
The boy pointed at himself, and you nodded, waiting for his answer. The boy, instead of answering, looked around to search for something. You knitted your eyebrows together in confusion but didn’t say anything. You first wanted to see what he was trying to do before you interfered.
He searched the table and reached for a pen and an open notebook that was lying there. You still didn’t stop him or say anything, just watched him. The boy clicked the pen open and started to write in the notebook, then he showed you what he wrote.
Soul. That must be his name. "Is that your name?" you asked just to confirm your thought. He nodded positively as an answer and pointed at you. "You want to know my name?" It was obvious that that’s exactly what he wanted to know, but you had to ask just to be sure. He nodded again. "My name is Y/N," you answered him.
He, for some reason, didn’t look very pleased. But before you could ask what was wrong, he handed you your notebook with the pen and an almost demanding look. It took you a second, but you eventually understood what he wanted, you took the things from him, and wrote down your name in the notebook. You then gave everything back to him so he could see how to read your name, perhaps? The boy looked at what you wrote, then looked back at you and, with a smile, waved his hand in greeting.
"Hi, it’s nice to meet you." You waved back at him with a gentle smile. "How..." You stopped mid-sentence and instead asked a different question. "You can’t speak?" Yes, you wanted to start with easy questions, but all of his behavior—writing to communicate, hand gestures, and the way he looked so focused when you were talking—caught your attention, and you had to know.
The boy nodded his head, confirming that he, in fact, couldn’t speak. He placed the notebook with the pen back on the table and, after that, pointed at his mouth and ears. Then he made an X with his pointer fingers to let you know he couldn’t speak or hear. You nodded your head slowly, understanding what he meant, but then you furrowed your eyebrows.
"You can’t hear?" Upon finding out he couldn’t hear either, you pointed with one hand to your ear and then made an X sign with your whole arms. Once again, he confirmed it with a nod. "But..." you paused, your brows still tightly furrowed.
Your mind went back to the moment you saw him for the first time and the way you both reacted; you asked valid questions in a raised, panicked voice, and he covered his ears because of it—or was that not the case?
"Why did you cover your ears earlier when you can’t hear?" You were talking a little slower and trying to articulate better because it looked like he could read lips, and you wanted to make it easier for him. "I thought you were scared of the loud noise I made." You needed to know the reason why he did that—your curiosity was tingling like crazy.
He shook his head, grabbed the pen and notebook again, and started to write his answer. It took him a while this time because he needed to explain himself, which can sometimes be hard to even say out loud, so writing it must be worse. Eventually, he showed you his written answer.
It wasn’t because of the noise you made; I couldn’t hear that. I was told that when someone sees you and is scared of you, you’re supposed to show your hands so they don’t think you are holding something to harm them. So I showed you my hands, but you still looked scared of me, and I didn’t know what else to do. And... you didn’t show your hands, and I was scared too.
"You were told that?" You looked at him, confused and still very curious. "By whom? Who told you this?" If he was told something like that, it means he already met someone from your world, assuming he is from a different one.
He turned the notebook back to him and started writing. This time, it was a short answer—very short, actually—and he soon revealed it to you.
"Keeho?" You widened your eyes after reading his answer. "You know Keeho? How?"
He started to write his answer again, and you had time to think about all of this. If he knows who Keeho is, that means Keeho really found out something more about the plant that he never told anyone. He even lied to Jiung and Intak about his knowledge. Yes, these two are only technicians but still... You need to see if Keeho is back at work today and have a serious talk with him because this is not okay. The boy, Soul, soon turned the notebook back to you for you to read his answer.
I was at home, on my planet, when there was suddenly a strong wind. When I turned around, I saw a portal—that’s how Keeho called it—and he was on the other side of it, staring at me. I was doing the same thing, but my curiosity got the best of me, and I went through, ending up right in front of Keeho and a room that looked a lot like yours, but his had more stuff.
This confirmed it. Keeho found something about the plant he never told anyone about and probably never intended to speak about either. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have lied and given instructions about not watering the plant so you wouldn’t find out about this boy from another planet. Well, shame on Keeho that he didn’t took into account that you take your work seriously and wanted to know the reason why the plant shouldn’t get wet. That’s how you assumed the portal was created in the first place, and it may have disappeared with the plant absorbing all the water.
"How long have you known Keeho?" You had a lot of other questions to ask, but you decided it would be wiser to ask Keeho himself rather than this poor boy, who needed to write long answers every time you asked him something. "Fourteen days." You read out loud when he showed you the notebook again.
Keeho had been working on the plant and researching it for two weeks—investigating this boy from a whole other planet—and he never said a word to anyone. You understood why he never did, but also... this was so dangerous, and anything could have gone wrong. He should have said at least something to you; you thought Keeho trusted you.
One part of you felt a little betrayed, but the other truly understood his actions, even if they weren’t exactly correct and broke many rules of the laboratory you both worked in. In the end, you would probably have done the same thing (but you would for sure let Keeho know—that’s the only difference you would make).
You closed your eyes for a second and took a deep breath to calm yourself down. Once you opened your eyes again, you wanted to continue asking questions, but you noticed a change in Soul's expression and specifically his eyes. Instead of that glow they had, they started to look dull; like a star that is losing its shine.
"Are you okay?" you asked. "You don’t seem really... good." It was a weird thing to say because his appearance already made him look sick, but now something in your brain was telling you something was wrong.
Soul only shook his head slightly and placed the notebook with the pen on the table. He suddenly looked really weak and almost sleepy, which you couldn’t let happen. If he fell asleep, he might not wake up, and that was definitely not what you wanted because there was no way you could take him to a hospital.
"Soul..." You gently took his head between your hands so he would look at you while you were talking, ensuring he knew what you were saying. "Don’t close your eyes, okay? You can’t do that." You told him with a thick voice, even though he couldn’t hear the change in your tone. Soul gave you a small nod, and you took another deep breath. "I will call my friend here, and he will check up on you. Don’t worry, everything will be alright."
You let go of his face and took out your phone from your pocket. You quickly found the contact you were looking for and dialed the number. It felt like an eternity before your call was picked up, but in reality, it was only three rings.
"Theo?" you asked like you weren’t the one calling him. "Can you please come to my office? Like... right now?" You asked immediately because there was no time to waste—not in this situation that could go horribly wrong at any second.
You called your friend and coworker from the laboratory, Theo. He is a doctor here in case something happens and medical assistance is needed. Luckily, he isn’t needed much (everyone always tries to be as careful as possible with their projects), but it's good to have him here because you never know what could possibly happen.
"Yes, I can." He said exactly what you wanted to hear. "Did something happen? Are you alright?" You could hear him grabbing some stuff—probably his bag with all his equipment that he might need.
"Just come here as fast as you can," you told him. "It's hard to explain over the phone," you added before ending the call. It wasn’t the nicest thing to do, but you didn’t want to waste time talking and answering his questions. You would answer everything later, after he checked on Soul and made sure he is alright.
You put your phone back into your pocket and turned your attention back to Soul, who was just sitting on the chair, his gray skin (the hint of green now barely noticeable) looking even grayer, which you thought couldn’t be possible. But at this point… if there was a boy from a whole different planet sitting on your chair in your office, who came out of a portal created by a plant... anything could actually be possible.
Luckily, Theo arrived within ten minutes, thanks to a fast elevator. "I’m here. What's going on?" he asked as he came closer to you, checking for any injuries, assuming you were the one who was hurt. "Where... Who is that?" Theo’s eyes widened when he saw Soul sitting on your chair.
"I promise I will explain everything, though I don’t know much myself, but can you check on him first, please?" You gave him a pleading look because you were truly worried about Soul's well-being. "He just… he doesn’t look good. I can't tell you more, I just… oh god." You stopped rambling and instead took a deep breath. You had no idea how to explain to Theo that Soul looked sick—you could just see it on him.
"Yeah, he’s gray. That’s usually not a good sign for anyone," Theo said, pointing out the obvious, which made you roll your eyes. You didn’t have time for his snarky remarks, definitely not now.
"Check on him. Now." You spoke in a stern voice, and Theo immediately realized this was not the time to be playful or joke around.
"Okay, I will." He nodded. "But I think it would be better if we take him to my office. We can lay him down on a bed, and I can examine him better there." He adjusted the bag with his equipment on his shoulder so he could help you with Soul.
"Yeah, that sounds good." You wet your bottom lip out of nervousness and turned back to Soul to explain what was going to happen so he wouldn’t be frightened by you two suddenly moving him. "Soul?" You gently took his face between your palms so he would look at you. "My friend and I will take you to his office, okay? I promise nothing will happen to you, he just has a bed there that you can lay on." You gave him a small smile, hoping he wouldn’t notice how scared you were for his well-being.
Soul, once again, only gave you a small nod, and you exhaled softly. After that, you let go of his face, took the blanket from his lap, and placed it around his shoulders. You'll have to go through the hallways and elevator to get to Theo’s office, which means you’ll meet other workers on the way, and you don't want them to have any unnecessary questions. But they will for sure look at you two weirdly when they see you and Theo dragging a boy with a gray skin with you.
"Me on one side, you on the other?" asked Theo, to which you only nodded and already took one of Soul's hands, placing it over your shoulders. Theo mimicked your actions, and on the count of three, you helped Soul stand up.
You were expecting him to be heavy—he is a male, after all—but to your surprise, it didn’t even feel like you were holding him. You quickly made a mental note about this piece of information so you could later write it in your notes from yesterday. Even Theo looked surprised by this, but he kept his questions for later, guessing this revelation shocked you too.
Together with Theo, you managed to get Soul into his office without any obstacles, which you prayed for to happen because explaining anything to anyone wouldn’t be best at the moment. Of course, you met a few of your colleagues on your way, but they only gave you three a quick glance or didn’t even pay you any attention—the best scenario you could ask for.
"Theo, here you are!" said a person who was clearly waiting for the doctor—a person you wanted to punch in the face right here, right now. "I wanted to ask you if you coul—" Keeho stopped talking when he finally turned to face you all. "Soul?!" His eyes widened with fear, and he was quickly in front of the poor alien boy.
"You know him?" Theo furrowed his eyebrows and looked at you, then at Keeho, who was holding Soul's face between his hands just like you did a few times in your workspace.
Instead of answering him, Keeho looked at you, and you could see both fear and anger in his eyes. "You watered the plant?!" His voice was louder than it usually was because of the anger rising in him. And that made you angry too. "That was the only instruction I gave those two. Tsk, of course they would forget to tell you." He rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Hey, Jiung and Intak did and said everything you told them to do and say." You didn’t like that he was blaming the two poor technicians who hadn’t done anything wrong.
"Wait..." He looked a little puzzled at your words. "You mean to tell me that you watered the plant even when I strictly said you can’t do that?!" He raised his voice even more. "I didn't know you were that stupid, Y/N." He scoffed.
"I am not stupid, Keeho. You just didn’t give enough information for me to go off of because your lazy ass is not responsible enough to make proper notes!" You snapped back at him. How could you have known that watering an invisible plant would cause so much drama? If he had proper notes, your curiosity wouldn’t have gotten the best of you, and this wouldn’t have happened.
Before Keeho could say something back, Theo intervened between you two. "Can you two leave it for later? We have a bigger problem to deal with." He nodded his head towards Soul, who looked even paler and weaker than he had just a few minutes ago. "I hope you know what's going on with him, Keeho?" He looked at the man mentioned.
Keeho looked back at Theo and nodded. "Yeah," he said, a little calmer, but the fear mixed with anger could still be heard in his voice. "He needs to go back to his planet immediately." He gave you a look that clearly said this was all your fault. You wanted to say something back but held it in you this time.
"Great, so we need to go back," Theo said with such clear sarcastic happiness. "Fantastic." He let out a deep exhale. "I will at least put away my bag because it's clear I won't need it. Can you take his side for me?" he asked Keeho, who agreed.
They exchanged places, so now Keeho was holding Soul up alongside you, while Theo put his bag away. He then took some sheets from the bed he had there, wrapped them around Soul's legs, and tied them around his waist so his legs were also covered. It might cause fewer looks from others you would pass on your way back. Though, seeing three people basically dragging a body would get looks no matter what. With that done, you went back to your office.
"How are we gonna get him back to his planet?" Theo asked, unable to hold back the questions any longer. "How did he even get in here? Does it have something to do with water and a... plant?" He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
This was all too much for him to comprehend because he was just a doctor in the lab for light injuries and other medical needs. He had no idea about plants, but he was sure that plants couldn’t take you to a different planet. That was just... crazy. But on the other hand, he is working in a laboratory where all kinds of creations are coming to life (which sometimes isn’t good, but that's not what we're here for today).
"Can we not discuss this in the hallways?" You said as you passed a group of your colleagues who seemed way too interested in what was going on, but luckily, they didn’t stop to ask.
"Whoa, I didn't expect you to come up with something smart, Y/N." Keeho just couldn’t hold back and had to make his remark, still pissed at you for watering the plant.
"Keeho, just save it, will you? You two can fight later after we're done." Theo said angrily. "We need to help this boy, or alien, or a plant... whatever he is." He exhaled, frustration written all over his face.
Keeho, oddly enough, shut his mouth, and all of you continued on your journey to your workspace. Luckily, you made it there without any unnecessary comments from your colleagues or Keeho himself.
When you stepped inside, Theo closed the door behind you while you and Keeho helped Soul onto the chair he had been sitting on before. You stayed by Soul's side, still keeping a steady hand on him because he looked like he wouldn’t be able to hold himself upright any longer, and you didn’t want him to fall on the floor.
"So, will you now tell me how we’re gonna get him back?" Theo asked his question again, watching Keeho, who was pouring water into a bucket.
"We need to water the plant." Keeho gave him a simple answer, which seemed to confuse Theo even more, but he decided not to ask any more questions; he hadn’t signed up for any of this, after all.
"Water the plant... sure." He nodded and shook his head a little. Poor doctor—this must be a lot, and he had already seen some crazy stuff here in the lab, but this one... This one was extra, even for you. "That’s easy."
"Yeah, it is easy but it takes a lot of time for the portal to show up." You said, stroking Soul's hair in a calming manner without you even realizing it.
"A portal?" Theo raised his eyebrows but then shook his head again. "Of course there is a portal." He sighed. "I don't think I want to know more about this anymore."
"It doesn’t take a lot of time." Said Keeho and went to the plant with a bucket full of water. You gave Keeho a questioning look so he would explain himself further. "You just sprayed the plant with water, right?" He asked you and you nodded in agreement. "It needs a lot of water for it to show the portal immediately. You, just spraying it, activated the process, but it took longer for the portal to show up." he explained.
Yeah, that made sense because when you sprayed the plant with water yesterday, nothing happened and you were in your office for some time after that too and you didn’t see any change. The portal must have shown up when you were already gone from the lab and poor Soul thought it's Keeho so he went through the portal and got stuck here until you found him today. You looked down at Soul and let out a deep exhale; he must have been so scared...
Without any other word from either of you, Keeho poured the whole bucket into the pot that was still standing in the corner. After he was done, he put the bucket down and went to you and Soul so you two could get ready to carry him again and help him through the portal back to his home.
As Keeho said, the portal showed up immediately. "Y/N, c'mon." Keeho nudged you a little because you kept staring at the open portal to another planet. But let's be honest, who wouldn’t stare? It all felt so unreal even when experiencing it all right now at this moment.
"Yeah, sorry." You said quickly and with Keeho's help, you moved Soul back on his feet and went to the opening of the portal with him to help Soul inside. "Oh, who is that?" Your eyes widened when you saw another boy with the same grey skin and glowing eyes as Soul has but instead of blond hair, he had orange hair and he had a worried expression on his face.
"That's Jongseob, Soul's brother." Keeho gave you an answer you did not expect but you didn’t ask further; there will be time for that later and also a lot of explaining to Theo still needs to be done too.
So you simply nodded your head and got Soul close to the portal. His brother, Jongseob, took it from there and helped Soul back to his planet. When Soul stepped in, he immediately had a better look and looked healthier again which made your heart at ease. Even his eyes were glowing again, how they are supposed to.
Now, you also fully understood Keeho's decision in not telling anyone anything about the plant that creates a portal into a different planet; he was just protecting Soul and his brother from the harms that humans can do to the unknown.
Jongseob's concerned face now turned into one full of anger and annoyance (probably at his brother's disappearance), but Soul paid him no mind. He looked back at all three of you through the portal and waved at you with a big smile. You couldn’t help it and did the same thing, just like Keeho and Theo, surprisingly.
It didn’t take long, and the portal disappeared, which answered another question you had in your head: why didn’t Soul return back when he noticed he wasn’t in Keeho's office and that Keeho was not even around? The portal must have been gone before he even realized all of that.
"Holy shit..." you could hear Theo mumble. "I thought I'm gonna treat some cuts when you called me and not help an alien boy back to his planet." He still couldn't believe anything that had just happened. "I need to take a vacation after this."
You couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at his words. But you wouldn’t describe it better if you were in his place, that’s for sure. You then turned to Keeho, who was now looking at you with a softer face, knowing Soul is safe and sound back on his planet, and gave you a knowing nod, which you returned. It was a silent communication that meant you'd have to talk about this and possibly work on this plant together.
But for now, you both turned your attention to Theo, who started to bombard you with questions he had been holding back for a very long time; and here goes his words that he doesn’t want to know more. Curiosity is an interesting thing.
