Posted: 22 April 2016, 17:00 EDT | Word Count: 9,278

~//~

Kai stared at the glittering object in his hands, his “surprise” for his master. She would never understand what it meant to him and would no doubt abuse it, but by a twist of fate spurred on by his earlier bravado, he now owed it to Ji Won.

With a heavy sigh, the genie swept it away into thin air with a flourish of his hand and lay back onto a blue fleece blanket spread across a portion of Ji Won’s roof. He hadn’t really minded the rough surface of the shingles pressing into his back – a minuscule amount of magic took care of the discomfort – but he had a feeling Ji Won would and had conjured it specifically for her.

He felt drained, which was no surprise considering how much magic it took to heal Ji Won’s grandfather. And while some of it had returned as the day transpired into evening, he’d expended a portion of it in embellishing his “payment” to Ji Won. If she wasn’t so clumsy, he might not have had to take the extra step. But he couldn’t risk something so precious falling into anyone else’s hands, although the choice of gold was a bit extraneous, but girls liked gold, right?

Closing his eyes, Kai listened to the sounds of the night. The hum of cars rushing down the freeway a few blocks away, the faint barking of a neighborhood dog, and loudest of all, the unintelligible noise of a TV just below him. Kai was certain Ji Won was the one watching at such a loud volume.

The TV eventually quieted, and then some minutes later, the genie felt the gentle tug of his master uneasily calling his name.

Kai opened his eyes and smiled impishly. “Show time.”

Using their bond, Kai searched for Ji Won. A radius of heat crept through the space around him until it found the single being it recognized without fail a few feet below in her room. The heat expanded towards her, creating a thin shield around her form, and like reeling a fishing rod in, pulled his unprepared master to him.

Ji Won appeared, standing at an incline at his feet near the edge of the roof. The disoriented girl scanned her new surroundings and immediately dropped to her knees. She dug her nails into the shingles for dear life with a look of wide-eyed panic. “What are you doing?! I’m going to fall! Put me back. Put me back!”

Normally a response like this would have amused Kai. But that wasn’t his intention in bringing her up here. “Calm down,” he said with a roll of his eyes. She had a flare for overreacting. “You’re not going to fall.”

“Was this your surprise?” Ji Won snapped, looking anything but calm. “Put me on a roof so that I’ll make my last wish for you to save me? Well I’m not playing into your plan.”

Kai actually heard her gulp as she dared a glance over the roof’s edge to the ground two stories below. Maybe he hadn’t thought this through all that well, but he’d honestly hoped to surprise her in a positive way. Her rooftop wasn’t his first choice but it was the best he could do in his current magically diminished state. Sitting up, he held his hand out and locked eyes with her. “I promise you,” he said gently and evenly, “you’re not going to fall. So relax and take my hand.”

Ji Won hesitated for a moment. After peering once more over the edge, she slipped her shaking hand into Kai’s. He gripped it firmly and in one quick motion, swung her forward so that she sat beside him on the fleece.

“You’re sure this blanket won’t slide off the roof and make me plunge to my death?” Ji Won nervously asked while burrowing timid fingers into the side of his t-shirt. She reminded Kai of a scared child seeking comfort and assurance from her older brother.

He answered in the fantastical manner he assumed an older brother would. “If that happens, the blanket will fly and save you.”

Ji Won’s eyes grew in childlike wonder. “Really? You mean this is like a magic flying carpet?” She shook her head. “Wait, no, a magic flying blanket?”

Kai nodded towards the edge of the roof, and playing along with the imaginative nature of their conversation, suggested, “Want to find out?”

Ji Won bit her lip in contemplation. Kai eyed her with a speculative raised brow. Surely she didn’t actually believe him? Not when she’d refused to believe many of his previous, more plausible claims, like his warning about her crush, or his promise of a surprise she’d like, or even when he’d just explained how she was safe on the roof.

He was wrong.

Ji Won wriggled her bottom towards the roof’s edge, dragging the blanket with her. Heart rushing to his throat, Kai shot out a hand and clutched tightly onto her forearm before she could move any further. He yanked her back beside him. “Jeez, I didn’t think you would actually do it!”

Ji Won’s eyes bugged. “You mean it doesn’t fly?” As quick as lightning, she brushed his hand away and entwined both her arms around his, holding onto him for dear life. “You liar! You really are trying to kill me!”

“And you’re killing my arm,” Kai griped while trying to loosen the anchor around him which threatened to cut the circulation to his limb. “For the last time, you’re safe. So will you let go of me?”

“How do I know it’s not a trick?” she demanded, not letting up.

“Rule #8, a genie can’t harm his master,” he said through clenched teeth.

Magical restrictions prevented Kai from causing direct physical harm to his master and his own moral values kept him from causing indirect physical harm – like bringing Ji Won to a precarious location and leaving her there – no matter how much he thought a master deserved it. Of course he didn’t believe Ji Won merited such a misfortune.

His master cautiously released her hold on him, allowing Kai to exhale a sigh of relief as he massaged his numb arm. “You really don’t know how to take a joke.”

“A genie tells me the blanket I’m sitting on will fly and I’m supposed to know it’s a joke?” Ji Won deadpanned.

Kai was actually stumped for a retort. His recent attempts to approach Ji Won as a human had made him forget that he wasn’t actually human and there were lines he couldn’t cross as a magical being, which included sarcastic remarks about magic.

Wiggling around and making herself comfortable in a reclined position leaning on her palms, Ji Won listlessly glanced around her. “So why exactly am I out here?”

“You called for me, so here I am,” Kai cheekily replied.

She shot him a sardonic glare. “I only called because you said you were going to give me something.” She brandished an open palm. “So give it.”

If it wasn’t already difficult enough that he was relinquishing the single most valuable thing to him, Ji Won’s jejune gesture of a hand in his face made Kai embrace thoughts of an exit plan from this whole “surprise”. Maybe if he held more control of the situation, giving it up would be easier. “First close your eyes.”

Ji Won’s lips curved into a dubious frown. After a hesitation, she did as told.

Kai brought the talisman forth into his hand and held the gold-encased stone by the golden chain strung through it. He’d turned it into a necklace to make it harder for Ji Won to lose it. Though Kai wasn’t sure how well she kept track of her possessions, he figured it was better safe than sorry that he took the safe route of making it into a wearable accessory. Using real gold was a small reward for how Ji Won had managed to impress him, though he would never admit that to her.

While Ji Won waited with her hand outstretched, Kai leaned forward and looped the metal around her neck. She opened her eyes as he carefully brushed her hair out from underneath the chain. Her hand went to the pendant to examine it. “This…”

“For you to keep,” Kai finished for her, “until you make your last wish.”

Ji Won drew her eyebrows together. “But why?”

Because I’m an idiot who gambled away my free will on some foolish bet I made, thinking…hoping you were as shallow as I thought. Kai assumed nonchalance by loosely drawing his knees to him and staring at his hands to hide his shame on the error of his ways. “I have to keep my end of the deal.”

“Deal? But that’s not why I bowed. And I didn’t beg either,” Ji Won countered.

For someone who was getting exactly what she’d claimed she wanted from the beginning, Ji Won was really making a case against herself pointing out the technicalities of the deal. “I know.” Kai shrugged. “Honestly I just wanted to see you swallow your pride because I thought it would feed good to have someone so selfish and stubborn bow down to me.” He shifted and met her confused gaze with his reflective one. “But it turns out you’re not as selfish as I thought.”

There was a long pause while Ji Won eyed him pensively, giving Kai cause to await a prudent and perceptive response. What she came up with was, “Are you ill?”

“No. Why?”

“It’s just that you’re being nicer than normal. And earlier, you were being weird too.” Her eyes shifted away and the genie could just make out the slightest red tint on her cheeks under the light of the moon. “You even asked me to kiss you.”

Kai softly laughed, finally understanding her previous question. Maybe he couldn’t expect any sort of profound words from Ji Won, but he could count on a good chuckle. “I told you, I was accepting your thanks,” he explained, then shrugged, “And I just wanted to tease you one last time before handing over my freedom. You know you make some interesting faces when you’re caught off guard?”

Right on cue, Ji Won’s nose scrunched, her lips thinned, and her eyes narrowed into a fierce glare that reminded him of a bull readying to charge him.

“Like that!” he chortled.

Ji Won turned away in attempt to school her face. Even that process was amusing to watch as she stretched her tense facial muscles to force them to relax into a neutral expression.

“And…” He cleared his throat and resumed a serious air. This was harder to do than he’d expected. But the first time probably always was. “I’m sorry for all the harsh things I’ve said to you.”

Ji Won sent him the most incredible look he’d ever seen, more disbelieving than when he’d introduced himself as a genie. It was amazing the things that surprised this girl. All he’d done was to give a deserved apology. Did I do it wrong?

Her eyes trailed down to the talisman that rested on her chest. She held it between her palms and eyed it curiously.

Oh no, here come the commands. Though Kai wasn’t surprised given Ji Won’s revengeful nature, he had hoped he would have this one last night of freedom.

So the genie waited for the prickling first command as Ji Won continued to behold the stone with a dynamic of emotions on her face ranging from confused to thoughtful to annoyed. She was an open book, as the saying went, but it was in a language that the genie wasn’t able to understand.

Finally, her eyes lit up like she’d figured out some puzzle and Kai braced himself for the sting he’d never get used to. “If you’re really sorry then take me somewhere.”

It wasn’t an order. “What?”

Ji Won’s shoulders rose as she pressed her palms together in a begging gesture. “Teleport me to the Tokyo Dome.”

That at least was an order, though Kai couldn’t understand what it had to do with the plans of revenge she was surely concocting for him. But unfortunately for her, that command was out of her jurisdiction of power over him. “Okay, but you have to say ‘I wish’,” he reminded her.

“What do you mean?” she asked with a frown. “You teleported me to the roof, why can’t you teleport me to Japan?”

“Ah, that.” Kai may have called her thick-headed, but she was proving to be more astute than he’d ever thought possible of the academically apathetic teen. “It doesn’t quite work like that. Rule #9, I can’t use my magic for something you actually want. It would have to be wished. When you called for me, you expected me to come to you and that’s why I was able to teleport you to the roof, because it wasn’t something you wanted. The only magic I have full control over is my own teleportation. I can come and go as I please.”

The glow in Ji Won’s eyes fell with her clasped hands. She regarded him with a palpable displeasure that made Kai uneasy. It wasn’t the first time he’d disappointed a master because of his limitations, but never had it bothered him the way it did now with Ji Won and his inability to grant her strange request to go to Japan. Why was that?

Unable to answer that question or endure the discomfort building in his chest, Kai broached a topic he’d never intended to reveal to Ji Won. But it seemed the only thing that could free him from the uncomfortable tightening around his heart which was unlike the familiar feeling of the talisman claiming its hold on him. “I see your burn has healed,” he said as casually as he could.

Ji Won, who looked lost in some intense thoughts from the angry set of her brow, muttered a noncommittal, “Yeah.”

“I had to wait until your mind was off the pain to do that.”

This snapped Ji Won out of her trance. “What are you talking about?”

“The reason it healed so quickly and without a scar was because I used magic. I couldn’t do it as soon as it happened because you wanted the pain to go away. But once your thoughts were completely occupied by something else, I was able to heal you.” He tipped his head questioningly. “You didn’t think you recovered unusually quickly?” 

Ji Won stared at her unblemished thigh. “I did, but I just thought it was because the antibiotic cream I used was really good.”

“Your burn required medical attention. You were an idiot not to get it professionally treated,” Kai sternly scolded. As if a simple ointment could fix in one day what had definitely been at least a second-degree burn.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” she softly asked.

“It never came up,” he said, avoiding her gaze.

Ji Won frowned and turned quiet, pinning him with eyes that spoke emotions Kai couldn’t discern. Guilt? Admiration? Frustration? Maybe it was a combination of the three and possibly even more. Whatever the case, Kai was getting more than he’d bargained for when he’d decided to give Ji Won the talisman. He was supposed to uphold his end of the deal and prove his integrity. She was supposed to use the talisman for vindictive reasons and prove herself undeserving. And the balance of order between them was supposed to return to its unfair normality of obedient genie serving his greedy master.

There weren’t supposed to be confusing feelings involved. She wasn’t supposed to make him want to please her when he was merely a tool for her to wield as she wished. His masters had never treated him as a human being, so why had he tried to be a decent one for her?

Kai would ponder more on these questions once he was alone. Right now though, he didn’t like the idea of Ji Won thinking too much into his selfless act and switched the attention back on her with the first thing he could think of. “So your grandfather calls you Cheon Won. Why is that?”

“Well, it comes from how the dollar bill is the basis on which the currency of every country is built upon. It’s the smallest unit denomination and without it, you couldn’t have fractions of a dollar or cents, and you couldn’t have the larger bills like the ten or fifty. Basically, the dollar bill is essential for the currency market to function, and to my grandpa, I’m essential for his life to function. He always says that a dose of me is all the medicine he needs.” A small, doting smile took residence upon Ji Won’s lips as memories seized her. “As long as he sees my smiling face, everything is right in the world. That’s why he calls me Cheon Won.” She took a deep breath after the long explanation she’d given without pause.

“I see,” Kai said with an understanding nod. He thought it endearing that such a synergistic relationship existed between a grandfather and his granddaughter. “It sounds like you really are worth a dollar then.” This earned him an expected scowl. “A very important dollar that keeps a whole nation from crumbling,” he added with a genuine smile.

With one clarifying sentence, he’d turned her indisputable irritation to a touched speechlessness. That he could possess such power over someone and which didn’t stem from the range of his magic was exhilarating. When he moved on to his next master, would he be able to experience these feelings again?

“So,” Ji Won interrupted after a silence, “now that I’ve told you something that not even Joo Hyun knows, it’s your turn to tell me something about you.”

“What do you want to know?” Kai asked, shifting nervously now that he was in the hot seat of attention again.

“What do I not want to know?” she emphasized. “You haven’t told me anything about you. Like for starters, how old are you? How many masters have you served?”

“Let’s just say I’ve been around longer than your grandfather and I’ve served more masters than you can count on your fingers and toes combined.” He didn’t want to divulge on the exact number of years or masters. It was a painful reminder of the perpetually bleak nature of his life, or rather lack of.

She scrunched her nose disgustedly. “So you’re old enough to be at least my great-grandfather?”

Count on Ji Won to make such a tactless analogy. “Do I look like I could be your great-grandfather?”

For a quiet minute, she studied his face. She’s not seriously considering it, is she? With Ji Won, Kai could never be sure.

He put his curiosity to rest when she asked, “Does being a genie mean you’re immortal and can’t age?”

“Something like that. My body is basically frozen in time.”

Kai didn’t want to explain any further that by “frozen”, he meant that he neither needed to eat nor sleep. His sentience and visibility to his master was fueled solely by the magic of the talisman. It didn’t matter how great of feats he could perform with his magic when the simplest of actions, like understanding the taste of food, or being able to dream, remained forbidden to him.

“Lucky,” Ji Won sighed. “Our country is obsessed with maintaining youth and achieving perfect looks that people spend thousands of dollars on attaining it, but you have magic to do that for you.”

“Lucky,” he repeated darkly. “Sure, if that’s how you want to see it.” He didn’t bother arguing. Ji Won was too naïve to understand that eternal youth was pointless when you were infinitely unchanging and alone.

“So how did you get into the genie business anyways? Is it like a whole other species or race of people? Were your parents genies? Did you go to a school that trained you on how to use your magic? Do you have to be a genie forever, or is there a quota of years you have to fulfill before you can retire? And what do these symbols on the talisman mean? Why do I only have one side tattooed on me and not the other?”

Question after question, Kai felt a prick in his heart, both physically and metaphorically. “Slow down,” he urgently pleaded. “That’s a lot of questions.” Questions he’d wanted to know the answers to himself but didn’t. Questions the talisman in Ji Won’s possession was pressing him to answer anyways.

“Yeah,” she said with obvious frustration. “Now answer them.”

A direct order. The pricks from her questions were faint tingling sensations compared to the searing agony that engulfed his chest and made Kai jerk, clutching his heart through his tee. The only way to make it go away was to comply. “I don’t know,” he rasped before the pain could become unbearable.

“Are you okay?” Ji Won worriedly asked.

The hot white pain had instantly receded the second he’d answered her, but the aftereffects were always numbing. Face grim and pale, Kai simply nodded and let his shirt go.

“Then what do you mean you don’t know? How can you not know?”

Two pricks. Afraid that Ji Won would order the answer out of him, making him experience that burning pain again if he resisted even for a moment, he snapped an angry, “I just don’t!”

Ji Won jumped at his outburst and leaned away. In a heartbeat, she’d turned from obnoxiously curious to fearfully wary.

Kai raked a frustrated hand through his hair. “Sorry, I just…I was getting so used to doing as I pleased and now that I can’t, I just blew up.” He took a few calming breaths, readying his mind and body for subservience. “It won’t happen again,” he claimed once he’d returned to that dark and lonely place he’d never grow accustomed to, no matter how many masters he’d served and would serve.

Ji Won’s hand appeared in Kai’s direct vision, holding the necklace in its palm. “Here, take it back.”

Kai stared at it for a long while. With the talisman back in his possession, he could experience pseudo free will again and avoid the crippling agony of the stone’s compulsion. The thought was tempting enough that he almost snatched it from her hands.

He ultimately pushed her hand away. “No, a deal is a deal. Besides, I gave it you knowing the consequences. Keep it.” As short-lived as his freedom was, he felt a twisted sort of comfort in reverting to his usual servile self. He knew how to act. He knew what to expect. And he didn’t have to overthink and analyze any unfamiliar and alien emotions. “I promise to be better…Master.”

“I’m sorry, too. I didn’t know it had that much power over you. I promise I won’t force you to do anything again.”

That was the first time a master had made a promise to the genie. But his years of observing people had taught him that promises were as fickle as societal trends and were to be received with at most an optimistic caution until the promise had been fulfilled.

Jung Woo had once promised a younger Min Ah that no matter how much he and her mother fought, they would never separate. He divorced his wife a year later. Before him, Kai had served a woman in her mid-thirties who was set to be engaged to an average, but humble man she’d been dating for half a decade. She called off the wedding after her first wish to look younger and prettier had landed her a “better” mate. Even smaller promises, like a husband promising to pick up the kids from school on the few days the wife wasn’t able to were often times forgotten.

In short, a simple word of “promise” didn’t hold the binding force for humans like “wish” did for him. Promises were verbal reassurances for humans. Wishes were absolute contracts for the genie.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to change the way you act around me. I’m very familiar with taking orders.” Maybe it wouldn’t be on purpose, but one day, Ji Won would trip up and spit out an order that he’d be powerless not to follow. But Kai had to appreciate her efforts to treat him like an equal, no matter how ineffectual they were. He turned to her with a forced, detached smile. “What would you like to do now, Master?”

Ji Won didn’t answer, just stared at the talisman cupped within her palms. Reverently, like she was afraid the stone would break, she placed it on the fleece between them. Kai sent her a questioning brow raise. “I’ll keep it,” she explained. “But at least for now, can you not change the way you act around me, too?”

Kai dared to set a foot outside that numbing dark corner he’d confined himself to. “You mean you like my blunt candidness?”

“Apparently,” a defeated Ji Won muttered under her breath. “You know,” she said more loudly, “you’re a completely different person when you’re under the influence of the talisman and when you’re not. It’s like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

Piqued with interest by her analogy, Kai smirked and asked, “And which one am I now?”

“Mr. Hyde,” she sourly answered.

This surprised Kai. “Really? Then why did you want Mr. Hyde to return when Dr. Jekyll is obviously the nicer, more obedient one?”

“Because in your case the nicer, more obedient one is scarier.”

Kai’s eyes darted to the talisman that lay beside him, the maze pattern mockingly reminding him that he was forever trapped in the confines of the stone’s magic. He smiled sadly, disheartened once again by the reality of his ephemeral freedom. “It scares me too,” he quietly agreed. Before he knew it, he’d have to return to “Dr. Jekyll” again.

“I know you don’t think highly of my friendship,” Ji Won began, drawing Kai’s attention back to her, “but I meant it when I said I can be a good listener when need be. So if you just want to be heard, I’ll lend you my ears.”

“Yours are the only ears that can hear me,” Kai emphasized, thinking her offer ridiculous. If it were possible for others to see and hear him, wouldn’t he have forgone following Ji Won around from the beginning and interacted with more tolerable people? But since that wasn’t the case, the genie had done the obvious thing and voiced his opinions to the one person he knew would hear them, regardless of whether she wanted to or not.

Ji Won glowered. “Well excuse me for trying to offer you some comfort. Unlike some people, I have enough tact to know when to give others their space and not push them to talk about things they don’t want to.”

Kai grinned, sensing her grudge. “You mean like how you wanted me to give you space when you were listening to songs inappropriate for the mood because you didn’t understand the lyrics and let you cry your eyes out until they were puffy and your face was all blotched up?”

Ji Won responded with a tongue-in-cheek glare that made him laugh. But once he’d thought more on her words, he began to realize that maybe he’d been a little too aggressive in his methods to heal her burn, and all to make himself feel like the better person. He hadn’t been the most considerate or sympathetic towards Ji Won’s feelings, even if he had thought them misguided.

Kai’s laugh subsided into a faint smile. “Alright, I’ll take you up on your offer.” Unable to look Ji Won in the eye as he revealed his big secret, he lifted his head to the black sky above, and inhaled deeply. “You want to know more about me? I’ll sum it up in one sentence. My memories begin and end with me being a genie.”

Ji Won gaped in astonishment. “You mean you can’t remember a time when you were a kid?”

He shook his head. “Though I’m sure I must have been one once, with a mother and father, and possibly brothers and sisters too.” His head swiveled to her with a bemused smile. “Actually, I’ve always imagined that I would have two older sisters and I’d be the baby of the family that everyone doted on.”

Kai had thought through the construct of his fictional past family thoroughly after watching the dynamics of so many different ones. Being the eldest meant too many responsibilities and often times unrealistically high expectations from parents, but a middle child was often times overlooked and forgotten. He’d hoped to be the youngest, the one constantly spoiled with love and affection for being the perpetual baby of the family. As for older siblings, he’d decided two sisters would be perfect. If he didn’t get along with one, he might get along with the other. Any more siblings and things would get chaotic, and older brothers would have meant a greater likelihood of hand-me-downs. Not that family size and composition or material items mattered in the grand scheme. He would have been more than content with a single parent if it meant that someone had once cared for him.

“Even in your dreams you think of yourself as a prince that everyone falls at their hands and feet for,” Ji Won noted with a disapproving shake of her head.

Kai extricated himself from his daydreams and gave her a nonchalant shrug. “You did,” he said, referring to her full body bow from earlier.

“That was different!” she vehemently argued. “It was an act of gratitude, not adoration!”

Kai chuckled and with a sigh, turned wistful once again. “You’re right though. My past is all like a dream, one that I desperately wish I could remember.”

“Well, if your past is really like a dream, then I’m sure you had a great, loving family,” Ji Won optimistically suggested.

Kai cocked his head. He’d never heard such a saying before. “How do you figure that?”

“Well, at least for me, nightmares will haunt me for days. I still remember bad dreams from when I was a kid. But good dreams, I can never remember those. I forget them the moment I wake up and all I’m left with is a vague feeling that I was happy in them without knowing why.”

“Are you sure the reason you can’t remember isn’t because you’re a little messed up here?” Kai tapped on his temple. She slammed a fist into his upper arm. “Ow!” the genie yelped, massaging the appendage. “I don’t know about brains, but you definitely have some brawn.”

“Why do you keep doing that?” she barked. “When I try to be thoughtful and serious, you ruin it by making a belittling comment.”

“Sorry.” For all his years studying various people, Kai could still be unusually careless with social cues. “It’s just that you’re the first master in a while that I’ve been allowed to speak my mind to. Maybe I’m taking advantage of that, but you’re not helping by reacting to it every time. It just makes me want to tease you more.” Though Kai had been in possession of the talisman before, he’d never interacted with a master in quite the way that he did with Ji Won. They’d never given him as much satisfaction arguing and making caustic remarks about them as she did.

Ji Won raised a hand and curled her fingers inwards into a solid fist. “You’re saying I should take your teasing lying down?” she threateningly growled.

Knowing how much of a punch she could pack, Kai nervously laughed and rested his own hand against her clenched one in a gesture of surrender. “Alright, I’ll stop.”

With one last glower, Ji Won relaxed her fingers and dropped her hand.

Returning to the topic they were on, Kai thoughtfully said, “But if what you said about dreams is true, then that makes my situation more pitiful.”

Ji Won listed her head and peered at Kai with doe-eyed curiosity. “How so?”

“Because it means I’ve left behind a good life to lead this wretched one: invisible to everyone except to the master who only sees me as the means to achieve their greatest desires.”

The possibility that life before becoming a genie could have been nightmarish had crossed Kai’s mind several times. Despite his fantasies of a happy origin story, it was the idea that becoming a genie was for the better, that he’d left behind greater misery than the solitude he felt now, which was the greater comfort, not the prospect of having been taken away from a normal life with a loving family to be pushed into this suffocating one.

An eerie quiet fell. Ji Won looked anxious and lost for conciliatory words. However, Kai didn’t want to dwell on the discouraging topic any longer. “But it doesn’t matter,” he said with forced insouciance. “Whatever my past is, that’s all it will ever be, my past. No use trying to make up theories about it.”

Ji Won came to a surprised attention. “But don’t you want to know?”

Kai let himself slip lazily back onto the roof and folded his hands behind his head. “What’s the point of knowing?” Theorizing was simply a way to pass the protracted time alone in his thoughts. “Between my past and future, I choose future.” He’d learned through watching history unfold that constantly looking backwards meant never moving forward.

Ji Won too lowered herself onto her stomach and pressed her cheek onto her stacked arms, facing him. “You mean the future where you’re a genie.”

“No.” Kai turned to her, finding odd solace from her changed position that now copied him. The psychology books were true. A simple mirroring gesture really could instill trust in a person. “The one where I’m no longer suspended in time and a slave to human whims.”

“You mean you know how to escape?”

There was the anchor that kept his ship tied to the dock. “No,” he admitted with difficulty, “not yet.”

Kai had done numerous experiments with his magic in attempts to free himself, but all he’d discovered was yet another disheartening limitation. For most instances in which he’d tried to use his magic of his own volition, the only inhibitor had been his masters’ desires. He could never use his magic for anything his master desired but had not been wished for. It was why he hadn’t been able to heal Ji Won of her burn immediately. He could still feel the heat of his magic flaring up within him in these cases, though. It just never left his body to do what he wanted. But in the case of trying to escape his genie-ship, there was nothing. No fire, no heat, not even the slightest tingling sensation in his chest to signify that magic of this nature was possible if only in the right conditions.

It was how he’d discovered he couldn’t kill. Masters had wished for death before, but these commands did absolutely nothing to Kai. They were obsolete. Similarly, he’d once tried to save a man who’d been hit by an oncoming truck without it being wished and without his master desiring it so, but try as he might, he could not conjure the magic in him and the man had died before the paramedics could even arrive. There were things he simply was not allowed to do on his own. Even possession of the talisman had not been able to give him the power that he had hoped it would to create the slightest spark of acknowledgement from his magic. For all he knew, there was absolutely no way out and he was forever trapped.

Next to him, Kai saw Ji Won in his periphery reach for the talisman. His heart skipped a beat. Was their chat on equal footing over? Was she tired of talking about him and was now going to return him to that relationship of forced compliance with his master?

“You would really choose the future over your past?” she seriously asked. “If you had the choice between finding out who you were, or having the chance to become someone new, you would choose the latter?”

She had the scary glint of someone with a plan in her eye and Kai was hesitant as he answered, “Yes.”

“Because you can’t regret your choice once you’ve made it. Rule # 7, no take backs,” Ji Won reminded him, clambering to a sitting position while her eyes blazed with excitement.

Kai felt obliged by her buzzing energy to prop himself up onto his elbows. “What are you doing?” He was going to explain that she had the rule backwards, that she was the one who couldn’t regret her choice because it was her wish he’d be granting.

Before he could though, Ji Won smiled brilliantly and answered, “I’m giving you your future.” Sitting tall, she shut her eyes and ceremoniously held the talisman between her clutched palms, like she was praying. “I wish you were free from being a genie.”

As the words left Ji Won’s lips, two things happened. The first was a swelling heat of the fractional magic in Kai’s chest which tried to push through his body but failed short just outside his heart. The second was a different kind of swelling in his chest, one that had nothing to do with magic.

Here was a girl who had only one wish left, the talisman in her hands to do with him as she pleased, and a reason for a vendetta. And what had she done? Tried, and almost succeeded, in granting his single wish for freedom.

Ji Won finally opened her eyes, one at a time, and blinked at him. “Did it work?” Her gaze dropped to the talisman in her hands. “It worked in Aladdin, so I thought I’d give it a try,” she said matter-of-factly, like she hadn’t performed the greatest act of kindness Kai had ever received.

It just didn’t make sense. “Why…” Kai’s voice was hoarse and his thoughts in a muddle.

Placing the talisman gingerly back on the blanket, a tense Ji Won asked, “Did I do something wrong?”

“You…” he croaked, his voice nearly failing him. “I can’t believe you would do that.”

“I’m sorry,” Ji Won hurriedly apologized, taking on a panicked demeanor. “I was just trying to help because I thought it was what you wanted.”

Kai shook his head and half-smiled, letting the intrigue of his master’s newly discovered kindness and the revelation of possible escape finally settle in. “No, you did nothing wrong.”

With a sigh of relief, Ji Won breathed, “Oh thank god.” Her eyes narrowed suddenly and fixed on Kai. “Hold on, were you teasing me again?” A balled up hand was already rising. “Were you being dramatic again to see me react like an idiot?”

Encasing his hand over her fist, Kai stated, “No, I’m just shocked that you would use your final wish on me.”

“Oh.”

Kai felt her arm relax but he kept his hold on her hand – his first time holding hands with someone…sort of.

“Wait, what do you mean ‘would use’? I didn’t use my third wish?”

Shaking his head again, Kai gently flipped Ji Won’s hand over and raised the sleeve of her shirt to expose the inside of her wrist where her wheel inside a triangle tattoo now showed gaps in the wheel with six of the spokes gone. Only two remained.

“What does this mean?” Ji Won gasped.

“Rule #10, every wish uses a certain amount of magic and I have to have that amount to grant it. If not, I need time to replenish it and the bigger the previous wish, the longer it takes for me to do that. Your mark shows how much magic I have right now,” Kai calmly explained.

“So this means that the wish I made for my grandfather was a big one.”

Kai nodded and, a little reluctantly, released her hand. There was a warmth from touching her that went beyond physical body heat, a warmth of the same family as the one that had tickled his heart when she’d tried to make the wish to free him. It felt nice.

“And the wish I want to make is probably a really huge one that’s going to require a lot of magic,” Ji Won whined. She rolled her eyes and groaned loudly. “Why are there so many rules? And how could you withhold such an important one like that until now?”

“I guess I didn’t think you’d be making one so soon again, at least not something that would require my full power.”

She let out a loud sigh. “Well, there’s nothing to do but wait. So how long do you think it’ll take for you to charge up?”

“Probably a couple days,” Kai estimated from past experience.

But the logistics weren’t what troubled Kai now. Ji Won had just proven that his freedom was possible, if only that it required his master relinquishing one wish to him. He was beginning to think the story of Aladdin might actually have been based on real-life events, even though some of the details were off – whoever thought genies lived in lamps? Or that they were blue, legless balls of gas? Or that they’d be so lively and happy when their only purpose was to serve humans without any thanks in return?

No, what worried Kai was how the hope now ignited within him could easily be extinguished if Ji Won, fickle as she was, thought of something else to use her final wish on, something that granted more benefit to her than freeing the genie who’d hardly shown much cordiality towards her. He opened his mouth, about to ask if she knew what she was doing. But Kai was afraid to find out the answer and hesitated. What if she’d only been acting in the moment and now, after allowing her thoughts and actions to catch up to her, she realized she wanted to take her offer back? He’d thought the same when she’d asked about fixing her grandfather, but she’d proved otherwise then. Why not this time too?

With that conclusion, he gathered enough courage to ask, “You’re really going to give your last wish to me?”

“Are you saying I shouldn’t?” she shot back.

“No…” As much as Kai hated the idea of dissuading her, he would rather she rescind now than go back on her word later when he’d let himself believe that his one wish was finally going to come true. “But don’t you want to save it for yourself? I mean you can still change your mind.” His words sounded like acid in his mouth. Please don’t change your mind.

Folding her arms across her chest, Ji Won sent him a wary look. “Why are you trying to convince me otherwise? Is there another relevant rule you’re not telling me? Will something happen to me if I do?”

“It’s nothing like that. I’m just still surprised is all.” Ji Won actually seemed resolute. Feelings of guilt washed over Kai for the way he’d treated her since meeting her. “I’ve really misjudged you.”

“You’re just realizing that?” Ji Won scoffed. “I told you I’m a better friend than you think.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to see that,” he softly agreed. “I feel even worse for the way I’ve treated you now. The truth is I was releasing some of my pent up frustration and resentment over my previous masters on you, and I kept trying to make you out to be a terrible person so I could justify it.”

“So you don’t think I’m clumsy, thick-headed, narrow-minded, a terrible friend, and a terrible judge of character?”

Meeting her gaze head on, Kai smiled. “No. At least not all of them and not all the time.”

Ji Won’s mouth puckered into an unsatisfied pout. “Then which ones?”

Kai’s lips parted into a big grin. “Well, let’s face it, you are clumsy.”

“Only when I’m in a rush!” she protested.

“And when you’re distraught,” he added. She hadn’t been in a hurry when she’d spilled coffee on herself, or when she’d tripped over herself on their first meeting, but she had been stressed.

Ji Won didn’t admit it outright, but her expression of revelation showed she agreed.

“And I don’t know how many other people you’ve incorrectly judged, but need I remind you about Jung Gi Cheol?” Kai continued. “If there was ever a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it’s him.”

“That Sa Gi Cheol,” Ji Won growled under her breath. Funny how just yesterday she’d been drooling over the guy and spending money she didn’t have on him.

“But thick-headed, narrow-minded, and a terrible friend, those I don’t believe you to be, particularly the friend one,” he ended on a lighthearted note. “Actually…” Kai’s cheeks became hot and his throat felt like it was closing up. “You’re my first.”

“First…?”

“Friend.” Kai didn’t dare look to see her reaction. He wasn’t even sure why he’d admitted it to her.

“You mean you’ve never befriended your other masters?” she asked incredulously.

“Every other master I’ve ever had has only talked to me about what they wanted. They didn’t care about prying into my life and asking me very personal questions.”

A muscle beneath Ji Won’s eye twitched and her lips turned white and thin as she pressed them together trying to contain herself. Kai laughed. She seemed to be taking offense to his use of the word “prying”, just as he’d expected her to. Embarrassment had not been a pleasant feeling at all so Kai was ready to be rid of it by way of a friendly jab at Ji Won.

Because he now held more concern for Ji Won’s feelings, Kai quickly controlled his laughter so that only an earnest smile remained. “You’re the first to pry,” he repeated seriously.

Ji Won seemed to understand the true sentiment behind his playful dig because she responded with a wide grin of her own. “Who would have thought the big bad genie was only acting cool because he didn’t have any friends.” She landed a gentle punch on his arm, a gesture that held none of the anger her previous hits had. “I’m honored to be your first friend. Here,” she said, again proffering the talisman to him, “as my promise to you that I’ll set you free. Keep being your annoying self and I’ll make the wish the second all your magic is back.”

Kai lifted the necklace by its chain and let the hexagonal stone spin while he held it up. The moonlight hit the golden edges with a magnificent sparkle. Even more magnificent was that he’d soon be liberated from its grasp. No longer would the talisman dictate his life.

With a slight of hand, the necklace disappeared. “Close your eyes,” he said to Ji Won.

She immediately went on her guard and arched away. “Why?”

“I have something to give you,” he cryptically answered.

Ji Won slit her eyes at him. “Fine, but do something you’ll regret and I will cause pain.” After a few more seconds of glaring to get her message across, she shut them.

The corner of Kai’s mouth tilted upwards. He’d thought her belligerent attitude absurd yet entertaining, but now, in the new light of friendship, it was actually kind of…adorable, and of course, still comically entertaining. So to commemorate their camaraderie, Kai procured the necklace again in his hands and in one smooth motion, slipped it over his waiting master’s head.

But unlike the first time when he’d given it, there was no hesitation. Unlike the first time, Kai felt he could trust Ji Won with his free will. And unlike the first time, as Ji Won’s eyes began to flutter open, Kai leaned in closer and touched his lips to her cheek. It flushed with heat from her pulsing blood which he could actually hear.

Or rather, he soon realized, it was the sound of his own heart pumping loud and fast from the first kiss he’d ever given.

As he pulled away, Kai looked into Ji Won’s wide, amber eyes and said, “Keep the talisman. I trust you, buddy.”

“O-okay,” she stuttered while a hand went to her cheek. “But why the kiss?”

Kai wasn’t sure what had compelled him to give it to her. He’d acted on impulse and feeling, something he rarely was allowed to do and it was something he was still trying to get used to. So being the proud genie that he was, rather than tell Ji Won honestly that he didn’t know, that it simply felt like the right thing to do in the moment, he smirked and answered using a phrase that Ji Won had used earlier during a similar situation, “To say thank you, in the best way I know how when it comes to you.”

“The best way when it comes to me?” she huffed. “Listen here, buddy. I don’t know where you got the idea that I wanted a kiss from you –”

Kai insolently cut in with, “When you said ‘I would kiss you right now’ just after nearly knocking me off my feet with a big bear hug.” Before Ji Won could attempt to explain, he continued, “If you meant the lips…” his eyes trailed to her open mouth which she pressed shut in a knee-jerk reaction. Her face turned red and Kai wondered if that meant she wouldn’t push him away if he tried – his first real kiss. He let the choice fall on her, while still trying to maintain a cool apathy with a hint of challenge that he thought might egg her on. “Well, I’m new to this friend thing and I’m pretty sure friends don’t kiss on the lips in any country, but I guess I could do that if my new buddy so desires.”

Like a fish out of water, Ji Won’s mouth opened with the start of a word, and then closed like she’d suddenly forgotten how to speak. This happened a couple of times before she finally got out, “I don’t desire. I so don’t desire.” To make her point clear, she crossed her arms and glared.

Kai would have laughed at the puerile display if not for her pouted lips that had him feeling strangely regretful. But surely it had nothing to do with possible feelings for or attraction to Ji Won as it did with the idea of kissing a girl on the lips for the first time. There were just so many firsts happening in the span of a few days that he was simply getting a high on it. That was it.

Out of nowhere, Ji Won’s mouth split into a big, loud yawn. In a manner that again reminded Kai of how much like a small child she could be and how very much like a big brother he felt (or rather imagined that an older brother would feel like since he didn’t know), Ji Won turned to him and with eyes that could barely stay open, asked. “I’m ready to hit the hay. Can you teleport me back to my room?”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why?” she sleepily replied.

Kai rapped a knuckle softly on her temple. “Did you already forget Rule #9? I can’t use non-wish related magic when you want it.”

“What?!” All of a sudden, Ji Won didn’t look so tired. “Then how am I supposed to get off the roof?” she demanded.

“You have two options.” Kai held up one finger. “The first is to find a way to climb down by yourself.” He craned his head over the edge to get a glimpse. “Hm, not many places to put your feet, and if you fall…”

He peered over at Ji Won and tried not to smile at the terrified look on her face as she, too, looked over the edge. If she’d opted to climb on her own, Kai would have helped in the old-fashioned way, without magic, by climbing down first to catch her if she fell. But not wanting to take the risk, he didn’t voice it lest she try.

Resuming his instructional tone, Kai held up a second finger and said, “Option two, you sleep here,” Ji Won’s jaw fell with disbelief, “and as soon as you’re in dreamland, not thinking about getting off the roof, I can teleport you to your bed.” Listing his head, Kai teased, “So which one will it be, Master?”

Glancing over the roof’s edge once more, a crease appeared between Ji Won’s eyebrows while she deliberated. Kai had thought she’d choose the second option without hesitation, but here was another of those moments which were becoming quite frequent for the predictable girl where she was…unpredictable.

With a resigned sigh, Ji Won curled herself up into a fetal position on the blanket and hugged her knees close. “Can you at least make sure I don’t fall?” she pitifully asked.

Kai exhaled into a single laugh of relief. For a moment, he’d really thought she was going to climb. “I’ll do you one better.” He slid the fleece out from underneath his side and rolled it onto Ji Won to create a cocoon around her. It wasn’t a particularly cold or even chilly night, but he’d read that people slept better with a warm cover since their body temperatures tended to lower as they slept. And to add to her comfort, he dragged himself up and over towards Ji Won’s head which he lifted onto his lap for her to use as a pillow.

Ji Won shifted to look up at him. “What’s all this for?”

“You can think of this as the way I would have thanked you if I didn’t already know what you wanted.”

Kai wasn’t sure with her eyes drooping, but he thought Ji Won was glowering at him. “I told you I didn’t…” Her words fell as she nodded off to sleep.

Kai brushed aside a loose strand of hair that had fallen across her nose and mouth and tucked it behind her ear. Some minutes later, he could feel the block on his magic lift with her entrance into dreamland. With an ease of decades-long practice, Kai transported her inside and under the covers of her bed. She hadn’t stirred during the move but continued to sleep peacefully despite the change of scenery.

The talisman hanging around her neck fell onto the bed. Kai reached for it and swiped his thumb across the inscribed stone. It was the last time he’d be able to touch it, and not for the reason he would have thought before meeting Ji Won.

With a faint smile, Kai laid the talisman atop her chest and pulled up the covers. Ji Won shifted to her side, the talisman falling with her onto the bed again. Smacking her lips, she continued to sleep.

Soon he would be able to experience sleep and dreams as well. From the serene look on her face, he expected the escape from reality to be a satisfying recess from the perpetuity he’d grown accustomed to, and all this because of one obnoxious girl.

“For the first time, someone is granting my wish,” Kai quietly remarked before leaving the girl to sleep in peaceful privacy.

~//~

Author's Note