I sat stiffly in my chair as my parents passed around the food. I'd loaded my plate though I wasn't sure how I'd be able to stomach it, especially after what Mom had said.

My parents seemed both at ease and happy, oblivious to the tension building in me.

"So Jiyeon. How's things with that alien?" Dad glanced over at me as he served some mashed potatoes on his plate.

I took a deep breath. I was going to get through this. The sooner dinner was over the sooner I could get back on the bus and be back with Jimin.

"Things are going just fine, Dad." I forced a smile.

I loved my parents. They'd raised me and cared for me. But it was times like these where our values and beliefs clashed so hard together sometimes it was hard to remember all the good times and memories with them.

"He hasn't done anything to you has he?" Mom leaned forward earnestly. "He hasn't hurt you or..."

"He's not dangerous Mom," I said quietly.

Instantly my mother's expression darkened. "He can morph into anything Jiyeon. Anything. Do you know how many options that opens for someone with that kind of power? Limitless. It's a miracle that these creatures waited as long as they did before they began blowing up things."

I clenched my jaw and silently poked at the meat on my plate. My stomach had been growling with hunger when I'd first entered the house. Now felt like it had shrunk to the size of a peanut.

"Well, the good thing is they'll be put into place soon." My dad reached out and patted Mom's shoulder, as if reassuring her. "The Pure Reformists will retrain them now that they've finally found the aliens' weakness."

My attention immediately zeroed in. So it was true. Humans had finally found a weapon to hinder Outworlders. The bloody body of Hoseok flashed through my mind and my mouth dried.

Outworlders were vulnerable to weapons like guns, just like humans. But because of their morphing abilities it was difficult to shoot at a being who was constantly shape-shifting. But with this new weapon that was preventing them from morphing they were just as vulnerable as humans. Maybe even more vulnerable.

"What..." I cleared my throat, forcing to keep it light and steady, "What is the aliens' weakness exactly?"

Mom's eyes glimmered with dark glee. "It's a mix of different chemicals that are absolutely lethal," she said happily. "You know those freak tattoos all over their bodies?"

They're called Marks. I bit back the words.

"Well the skin of those tats are these thin membrane-like skin that is hyper-sensitive. So, the Reformists came up with this brilliant mixture of chemical compounds, liquified hydrogen sulfide as the main ingredient. It's a corrosive mixture and quickly eats at the membrane. It turns out they can't morph if their tats are damaged. And if they can't morph, then we can easily kill them."

My mouth felt dry but I didn't dare take a sip of water because of my hands were shaking. In fact, they were trembling so badly I had to set down my fork and hide them in my lap so my parents didn't see.

Both of them were busy gazing each other with happy smiles to notice though.

"It's perfectly formulated that if it gets on human skin, we just need to wash it off," said Dad. "The corrosive liquids in the substance irritates our skin only a little bit. But with the alien tattoos, it just eats the membrane right up like fire to tissue."

My eyes widened. The superglue incident on the first night with Jimin. Cyanoacrylate. It was a main chemical that made up superglue and was a mild skin irritant.

If cyanoacrylate could slightly irritate human skin... holy crap. It must've been ten times worse for Jimin and his Marks. No wonder the Marks had become inflamed even bled a little. I couldn't even imagine what Hoseok might've gone through.

"Jiyeon." Mom was gazing at me, looking puzzled. "You look funny. Is everything alright?"

I cleared my throat. "Er, yes. Everything's... just fine."

Nothing's fine.

"You haven't touched your dinner at all." Mom's eyes darted down to my plate. "Are you not hungry?"

Not really.

"Sorry. I just... have a lot on my mind," I mumbled and quickly shoved a piece of broccoli in my mouth.

The vegetable was tasteless on my tongue and I struggled to chew it. I wanted nothing more than to just run out of the dining room, run out of the house, just run. Get away from this growing mess of Outworlders and humans around me.

"Jiyeon dearie." Mom set down her own fork, watching me. "There's something your dad and I want to ask you."

I couldn't help but dart a gaze at the clock on the wall. I'd only been at the house for twenty minutes. Twenty long minutes.

"Your dad and I are thinking of joining the Reformists."

I stared. "What?"

Dad now reached over to me and patted my shoulder. "We're going to join the Pure Reformists. And we want you to come with us. We want to stick together as a family."

"Mom. Dad. No," I shook my head. "You... you can't. The Reformists are terrible."

The Reformists wanted to exterminate the Outworlders. Kill them all. There was no other solution in their eyes. I'd maybe sympathize a tiny bit if they wanted to try and find some peaceful solution that separated the Outworlders from humans. But no, these people wanted to massacre Outworlders— children, families, elders, every last one of them.

"They're protecting the planet," Mom snapped back instantly. "The Outworlders should never have come to this world. Humans were here first and it belongs to us. And now that the Outworlders are finally showing their true colors of the monsters, they need to pack up and go back to their own planet; and I won't hesitate to kill some of them myself until they get the message!"

A small stab of pain flared in my hand. I'd dug my nails so deep into my palms that I'd drawn blood. I quietly set down the fork and stood up. "Please excuse me," I said quietly. "I'm going home."

Wait... what?" Confusion filled my parents' faces as I grabbed my jacket from the back of my chair. "Jiyeon you haven't even eaten anything."

"I haven't eaten because I'm so filled with the disgusting trash both of you are saying," I retorted, voice as cold as I felt. "I'm not going to keep trying to convince you two that Outworlders are not the monsters you're making them out to be. All I ask is you don't force your ideals on me. I make my own decisions now."

"Jiyeon—"

"Good night."

I quickly left the dining room and quickly slipped on my shoes at the door. Thankfully neither of my parents ran after me and I made it out and to the end of the street before I burst into tears.

Was I being too naive? Was I giving too much credit to the Outworlders? I knew they weren't perfect. They made mistakes like us. They broke rules and laws, but no more than any human did. And of course there was the big factor that the Outworlders came to Earth to save their own species from extinction. You couldn't blame them for that.

Yet that didn't matter. Some humans just couldn't look past their own selfish desires.

It was dark by the time my bus re-entered the city. I texted Jimin as we neared the residential district the Sharehouse was located.

When I boarded off, I felt both relief as well as demurred when I saw the silver Outworlder leaning against the bus stop, waiting for me.

I hugged myself tightly as I approached him.

His eyes scanned my face quickly. "That bad, huh?" He asked quietly.

The tears had dried up when I first got on the bus. But now they were threatening to spill again. I shook my head a little. I didn't want to talk about it. Not tonight.

Jimin seemed to understand and he wrapped his arm securely over my shoulder and we walked home in silence.

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