Name: Adriel Bae (Sinclair)
Korean Name: Bae Soohyun (배수현)
Age: 24 (Looks) 37 (Actual)
Species: Initia 
Element: Fire, Earth, Air
Rank: Diverse
Face Claim: Sangheon Lee

Compassionate | Impulsive | Dutiful | Opinionated | Selfless | Wishful | 

Biography:

Adriel Sinclair.

It was the only thing the intercom kept repeating for the past minute. He was being called again. To the principal’s office. When he arrived there, Mrs Harris looked at him and sighed heavily, as if she already knew what she was going to say would not change a thing. “When did you change, my dear?”

When did he?

What couldn’t he ask for? He was the golden child. When Adriel was born, everyone had been expecting him. Though to be fair, unlike what most families wanted, they had fully expected him to be a female so his delivery to the world wasn’t really as welcomed as people kept telling him it was. It was the reason why his given name was unisex. 

Soohyun, they decided. His mother, Minhee was just as equally happy to see him, but he couldn’t say the same about his father. It was too obvious that he had wished for a daughter, which was particularly unusual seeing as most people wanted sons first. That matter would become a thorn on his side later on. Because no matter what he does, he would never be good enough. His mother had migrated to Florence a few years ago and met his father, Anthony. They had hitched off and got married within the next two years and then came him. He was the first child. He had the most attention on him. 

Adriel grew up equipped with everything a child could wish for. He had a great education due to his upbringing. He lives in the expensive part of Florence, and had eventually moved to England for his boarding school. His mother loves him and his father did too. But the fact that he wasn’t a daughter would never leave his thoughts. He was never going to be enough. Not until his father has the daughter he had wished so desperately for. 

When he turned 7, he received his first Initia marking. Everyone knew he would be an Initia seeing as both parents were. His mother’s element was Fire and his father’s was Water. They were supposed to clash but they had the best love story ever. Everyone was supportive, he had a great sense of community within his tribe. 

After giving birth to Adriel, Minhee suffered from a series of miscarriages. So when she was able to carry this one to full term, naturally everyone was happy, including little Adriel who had wished for a company. A sister, or a brother. Preferably a sister, because he knew it would heal his father’s inner desire. 

Yuna was always a sickly child. She would fall sick easily and Adriel grew protective over her. He was determined to be the big brother she needed. They were attached to the hip, despite their considerable age gap. Due to her condition, Yuna was homeschooled whereas Adriel was sent to an expensive boarding school as early as 8 years old. They would exchange letters with one another and Adriel would often bring something back for her. It could be a teddy bear, or even a keychain.

When he turned 12, he had his initiation where he would learn his first element; Fire. It wasn’t surprising, he was his mother’s child despite resembling his father in every way. If Yuna was a duplicate of Minhee, then Adriel was the carbon copy of Anthony. As a child, he was over performing. He was prodigal in every way possible, because it had been the only way to make his father proud. It was why he had nosebleeds as early as 11 due to cramming his studies. His sleeping schedule was messed up. 

While other children were happy to go back home during summer break, he was getting ready to show what he had accomplished to his father. It wasn’t pressure, he just wanted to be the best in his eyes. His father never asked him to do any of it, but Adriel simply thought it was a way for him to finally look at him the way he looked at his sister. But it wasn’t what he could do or what he couldn’t do, it was merely the fact that he wasn’t his sister. He wasn’t a girl. 

Yuna wanted to join him. She loved her brother and despite her weak constitution, how could Anthony deny his daughter’s wishes? He had enrolled her in the same boarding school as Adriel. The boy finally felt less alone. He had his sister with him.

 He was 16 when he got in trouble for the first time. It wasn’t on purpose. But they were messing with his sister, either picking on her or flirting with her. Yuna was a gentle person, she couldn’t even hurt a bug and if she had stepped on them accidentally, she would be busy apologizing for the loss of life. Adriel on the other hand, wasn’t a troublemaker but he sees red whenever it involves his baby sister. 

A group of bullies had been bullying Yuna for the past two weeks and it wasn’t until he saw the bruises on her wrists that she was forced to tell him the truth. So when he found out, he rightfully marched over to them and punished them in his own way. He didn’t even have to raise a hand to do it, he was smart enough to turn it against them himself. But he didn’t cover his footsteps, so being caught was inevitable. 

So when he did get caught, he was sent to the principal’s office, who knew a decision had to be made. He was to be sent home and for the first time in his life, Adriel was afraid. What would his father think of him now? He would justify it by saying he did it for Yuna. But would that change anything? Would it change that he’s a failure who couldn’t even graduate? 

When he arrived back to Florence, he remembered receiving a look of disappointment from his father which hurt more than being slapped or beaten, none of which his parents ever did. But it was to be expected, Anthony never seemed to sit well with Adriel. When the divorce came around, leaving Minhee a single mother, Adriel knew he had to step up. Yuna was alone. She didn’t have her knight in shining armor anymore. He tried telling them to withdraw her because she was getting bullied but nobody believed him. Not until she got sent back home for good. In an ambulance. That was when everything truly fell apart for Adriel. 

She had been depressed due to being bullied and had begun to self harm. Eventually, she had to go to a therapist as well, which didn’t make her feel any better because now everyone was just going to sympathise with her and she won’t get to do anything anymore. But Adriel put her needs first. He knew what she needed was to feel less suffocated. In that period, he connected with her by training, which was convenient because their mother was a Fire master who could teach them more about their affinity element.

When he turned 18, he was given a choice to focus and master one element like his parents or go under a more diversified route. He was great with fire, it felt as if he was a natural at it, which was ironic seeing as people often associate fire with chaos. He had fire at his fingertips effortlessly every single time. Adriel decided to go with diverse and chose to study the second element, Earth. He had promised Yuna he would make a whole garden just for her, one she would be able to explore.

 “I’ll make you a garden, the biggest garden you’ll ever see, the biggest you’ll ever dream of.” 

If it wasn’t possible, Adriel made it one of his lifetime goals to make it possible. For her. When everyone found their love and partners, his love for his sister only deepened. Now unlike most tragic stories, Adriel didn’t lose either of his parents, no. Both are still alive and well, and so was his sister. The only bad apple in his story was that he got expelled from his school. But with enough influence from his mother, that could easily go away and it did. He went to another prestigious school in England and would proceed to embark on his tertiary education there as well. He was interested in earth science and despite being away from his sister, he made time to always come back to visit her. They would video call all the time. 

The initia didn’t let his family influence his decisions. His mother was pretty adamant about him choosing his own path in life as long as it meant he would make something out of it. Despite having a natural affinity towards the fire element, the moment he started learning about the earth element before going to college, he felt like he had unlocked a part of himself that he never knew was there. As a child, Adriel loved the flora and fauna. He would document different types of plants, knowing that Yuna loves to keep flowers. And every week, he would make sure a new flower is added to her vase on her table. 

Getting a girl pregnant wasn’t a way to end his doctorate. It wasn’t in the plans at all, and for someone who had mapped out his entire life 10 years prior, the initia felt like this was a huge setback. Not because he got a girl pregnant, but because he didn’t know what he would do. Abortion was strictly off the records unless she wanted it, but he wanted to be responsible. Mikaela was his classmate when he was taking Econs, and unlike him, the girl had the opposite life. She was an orphan and the sole breadwinner for her older and younger siblings. She had to feed 5 people not including her own. He was fascinated by her strength and though they sometimes bicker around harmlessly, the roots were attached and the stem grew. Love was blooming. She was headstrong and knew what she wanted, she was ambitious, in ways Adriel wasn’t. 

They had been dating for four years, it was nothing big, they were casual about it but he had made her feel loved and cared for, in ways others would never be able to give to her. She didn’t care for his money. In fact, she never knew anything about his family since he came with nothing that links himself to them. She only knew that he had a sister he would give the world to. When he broke the news to his parents, his father couldn’t care less, the divorce had put a stop to plenty of things in the family, but his mother, on the other hand, was thinking about him. Would he be ready for it? He wasn’t a child. He was already 26. But Adriel had never had to think about anything else before. This was different. Minhee wanted her son to be a responsible person, but she also didn’t want him to jeopardize his future.

But he loved Mikaela. And he promised to be by her side no matter what, so that was what he was going to do. His work required him to work long distances due to the sites he had to cover so he made the decision to quit. For her. He married her as soon as Kiera was born, to show his devotion that he wasn’t just taking care of her because of a baby.

One would hedge a bet of how much it would break his heart to know the child wasn’t his to start with. His entire world crumbled the day he was given that information. Mikaela couldn’t keep it a secret no more, not when he gave everything up for her. He had a life, a bright future, and yet he tossed it all away, to be with her. To give his name to a child who doesn’t share his blood. It wasn’t hard to figure out he had been deceived. Yuna had been the one to bring the bad news when she saw Kiera grow without having a sliver of his features. There had only been doubts in the beginning but Yuna has never liked Mikaela so a DNA test wasn’t unthought of. 

Kiera Sinclair may have been the product of his wife’s affair but she was his daughter through and through. He had shut down every single allegation from all sides, telling them that she will bear his name now and forever. He would be recognized as the father in her birth certificate, not a stranger. Mikaela felt guilty for trapping him so she fled, leaving just a note that told him he deserves a better life than the one she had subjected him to. But she also couldn’t bring Kiera with her to where she’s going. So she left her with him. Poor boy was heartbroken because he had forgiven her despite being cheated on. He was ready to give her a second chance, as long as she remained in love with him. 

But it’s okay. He had Kiera. That was all he needed. At least that was what he kept telling himself but the thing is, it was far from the truth. He loves Kiera but he also loved Mikaela, she was his wife, they dated for 4 years and married for 3. He couldn’t close his eyes at the 7 years they have spent together. It was around the time when he decided to take on his third element; after being influenced by how a three-year-old Kiera loved her windy days. Every element he learned was for someone he loved. Fire because of his mother that he respected and looked up to. Earth because Yuna loved plants. And now air because Kiera loved the wind. His whole life, Adriel has always wanted to make the people around him happy. 

He dated, of course. But it wasn’t special. They were nice people but they weren’t Mikaela. When he moved to Evermore, it was for a job. He was recruited by one of his former colleagues, as a geochemist. It was a needed change for both him and Kiera. With his mother busy building their empire, he asked for permission to take Yuna with him so he could also look after her. Much to his delight, they allowed him. He opened a flower shop where Yuna works at, as his birthday gift to her, and would often supply her with different types of flowers, even ones he curated himself.

 It was him, his 9-year-old daughter and his sister. A new life awaits him and perhaps this time, life would be kinder.