Allissa’s POV:

     “Gosh, I hate this!” Allissa heard her youngest sister whine as she passed by her room. A bit curious, she peeked around the doorframe to find Rori with her head laying down on her desk in front of her computer and Jungkook sitting next to her.

“You’ve barely even started!” Jungkook said, exasperated. “It’s only a 500 word essay.”

“Yeah.” Rori sat up. “500 words where I have to analyze a book about Deck Master theories. How in the world can I fit that into just 500 words?!”

“What book?” Allissa asked. Both Rori and Jungkook jumped at the sudden sound of her voice.

“Allissa, seriously?” Rori placed a hand over her heart. “You scared me!”

     “Sorry.” She laughed, stepping into the room. That was when she noticed V laying on the ground, watching something on his new phone, and Jimin on Rori’s bed, tossing up a basketball.

“What book are you writing about?” She asked again once she stood close enough to look at the computer.

“‘The First Draw’ by Elizabeth Rohan.” Rori replied, handing the book to Allissa so she could see it.

“Aahhh…” Allissa smiled nostalgically. “I remember this book. It’s very interesting.”

     “‘Interesting’?” Rori repeated with a grim face. “All it’s about is the chick’s theory on why Warrior’s Cards came to be and why we are the only ones that can wield them. It’s so boring!”

“Well, have you ever thought about how Warrior’s Cards started?”

Allissa placed the book back on the desk while Rori looked thoughtfully at Jungkook who sent her a silly grin. “No… I guess I haven’t.”

     “Then I suggest that you read the book and see what this ‘chick’ thinks. It might help you figure out your own theory.” The oldest sister hinted, smiling when Rori picked the book back up and started reading it out loud. From the corner of her eye, she could see both Jimin and V pause in what they were doing, look over at Rori, and watch her as she read. Allissa knew that this was the perfect chance to take a photo, but once she got her phone out, it started to ring. The sound of the ringtone made everyone stop and go quiet. With ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ theme song blasting from the speaker, Allissa’s heart dropped. She assigned that ringtone to a very specific number. A number that they all dreaded and hated. The number of the Council’s lead Elder; Merissa Lee.

Quickly she lifted a finger to her lips, telling the others to stay quiet, before answering.

“Hello, Elder Lee!” She tried to speak in the most normal and cheerful way she could.

     “Hello, Miss Cleus.” A sharp, female voice replied. “I would like to inform you that we, the Council, will be visiting your house in about an hour. Usually I wouldn’t call, but due to the fact that last time we came for a visit we were welcomed by an empty house, I thought it best to call and make sure you were home.”

     “Oh, yes. I apologize for that; we went out to celebrate Rori’s birthday. But no worries! We are here today. So we’ll be here to welcome you when you come.” She tried not to say the last few words through clenched teeth.

“I expect so.” Was all that was said before the connection cut off, signaling that the Elder had hung up.

“What was that about?” Rori asked hesitantly. But Allissa didn’t answer as she made her way towards the door.

“Text Emory and tell her to hang out somewhere until further notice.”

“Why?”

The eldest paused, putting her hand on the doorframe as if for support.

“Because the Council will be at our door in exactly one hour and they can’t see her with Heejun and Jihun.”

    Taking note of the scared tone in the eldest’s voice, Rori nodded and took her phone out of her pocket. Without waiting another second, Allissa sprinted down the stairs and into the living room.

“N!”

     At the sound of his name, the oldest Warrior turned his head away from the show he was watching and jumped up from the couch after seeing the look on Allissa’s face.

 “What’s wrong?” He rushed to her.

“The council is coming.” She watched as his worried face turned into a frown.

“Is Emory here?”

“No. Rori is texting her not to come back until we tell them to.”

“Good.” His eyes left hers to look behind her. “You guys better get back into your Cards. NOW.”

She turned and saw that he was talking to Jungkook and his Deck Mates as they climbed down the stairs with Rori in tow.

“Why should we?” Jimin asked, crossing his arms in defiance. “You guys promised that you’d never order us to do anything.”

     “Yeah, well that’s what the girls promised as Masters.” N’s voice was stern. “But they’re not the one giving you the order - I am. So either you can go back to your Cards or you can shut up and help serve the Elders of the Council like the slaves that they think you are.”

That made Jimin shut up and think.

After a few moments of silence, he turned to Rori. “You better let me out.” He pointed at her like he was accusing her of something.

She nodded furiously. “I promise. I will.”

“Good.” Was all he said before dematerializing, leaving nothing but air in his wake.

     “Be careful.” V said, placing a hand on her shoulder. Grabbing it, she smiled and watched as he dematerialized as well following Jimin, leaving only Jungkook standing next to her.

“Jungkook?” Allissa asked. The youngest Warrior shook his head.

“I’ll help you serve them.” He addressed N. “I think it’d be better if there was at least one Warrior from her Deck out and about.”

N thought for a second. “Yeah. That does sound better. But remember, you can’t say a word to them unless they allow you to speak.”

Jungkook nodded in understanding and went back upstairs after N told him to change into something….not as casual as what he was wearing.

“Hyuk! Ravi!” N yelled, making his way towards the Kitchen. “The council is coming soon! Cards! NOW!” 

     Ravi, who was reading a book at the table, without hesitation dematerialized on the spot, making the book fall to the floor. Hyuk looked a little confused as to what was going on, but followed Ravi without question.

     Leo rushed in having just changed, and started getting out pans and ingredients for a supper that would impress the Elders. That was when Allissa got a text from Emory, saying that they were hanging out at a 24 hour coffee shop and to let them know when the coast was clear for them to come home. As a precaution, Allissa quickly texted back an ‘ok’ before deleting the conversation.

     “Hey. Everything’s going to be alright.” N gently took her hand, tugging her into a hug. She didn’t realize that she was shaking until he started her hair. “It’ll all be ok, Alli. We’ll give them dinner, talk about whatever they want to talk about, and then they’ll leave. Like always. Don’t worry.”

Taking a deep breath, she nodded and wrapped her arms around his waist. “But then you have to act like slaves. I hate it when you have to do that.”

“I know.” He kissed the top of her head. “But I’ll always be willing to do it if it means protecting you and the girls.”

He loosened his grip a bit so he could lean his forehead against hers. “I’ll always protect you. No matter what.”

     With one last encouraging smile, he kissed her nose and let go to rush up the stairs to his room. Watching him go, she slightly jumped when a hand landed on her shoulder. Turning her head, her eyes met with Leo’s calm ones. He didn’t say anything, but she still understood him. 

     “Thank you, Leo.” She squeezed his hand. Giving her a small smile, he let go and returned to his cooking. Allissa took a deep breath and walked to the living room to wait for their ‘guests’.

Emory’s POV:

       “Why are we here?” Heejun asked once we entered the coffee shop. It wasn’t like the café that we had been to last time. The interior was more similar to a place that you see on TV where people do live poetry readings. Instead of tables and chairs, there were couches and bean bags around coffee and game tables. The lights were dimmed, and soft music played throughout the place.

     “Because we have to waste time. Might as well do homework while sitting in a comfortable place that’s open all night.” I replied, walking to the counter. I ordered Jihun an iced coffee, Heejun a hot chocolate, and myself a hot Americano. Because we were one of the few customers there, the cashier told us to wait and that someone would bring us our drinks. We thanked her and sat down on the largest couch there.

“Why do we have to waste time?” Jihun asked while taking out his homework. I paused for a second, thinking of the best way to tell them the news.

“What’s going on?” Heejun’s tone turned serious after noticing my hesitation.

I bit my lip. “The Council is at the house.”

“What?” Heejun raised a brow. “Why?”

“No idea. They do this a lot. Random visits at the most random times. It’s really annoying.” I frowned, opening my laptop.

     “But why doesn’t Allissa want us there?” Jihun leaned forward a bit. I shrugged. “Probably because she doesn’t want them seeing you guys and wondering why you’re with me.”

     “Makes sense.” Heejun muttered, though he didn’t look happy. Knowing that there was nothing more we could do with the situation, we quickly changed the subject to our homework, which was surprisingly not much compared to usual. Our drinks finally showed up right when I was in the middle of going over a math problem with Jihun.

     “Yay! Thank you!” I smiled, leaning forward to watch the server place one of our drinks down in front of us. But then I looked up, and gasped. The person serving us was the boy that I’d accidentally run into about a week ago. Instead of the denim jacket, he was wearing a grey button-down shirt, black pants, and a black apron tied around his waist. Hearing my gasp, he looked at us curiously. His eyes grew wide when he saw me.

“Oh! Clumsy girl!” He pointed at me with a big grin. I fought the urge to pout at the nickname. “What are you three doing here so late?”

“We got kicked out of our house for a few hours and needed a place to hang.” I replied. “You work here?”

“Yeah.” He placed the rest of the drinks down on the coffee table. “Graveyard shift just about every night.”

“That’s gotta .” Heejun commented, making a grab for his hot chocolate.

I couldn’t help but agree. But the boy just shrugged. “Work’s work.” Then he sat down on the chair next to our couch and held out his hand.

“I’m Hwanhee by the way. Kim Hwanhee.”

“Emory Cleus.” I replied back, shaking his hand. “And these are my friends, Oh Heejun and Kim Jihun.”

“S’up!” Heejun saluted while popping the ‘p’. Jihun just bowed, quietly sipping on his ice coffee. 

“Nice to meet you.” Hwanhee nodded. “Since there aren’t many customers to serve at the moment… Mind if I hang out with you guys for a while?”

Rori’s POV:

     All was quiet in the house. Too quiet for Rori as she was more used to late evening chattering and the TV playing crime dramas at a very high volume. She wasn’t used to this new silence that plagued the household. And she didn’t like it one bit. For it was a silence full of tension while they waited for the dreaded doorbell to ring, letting them know that their ‘guests’ had finally arrived. She was sitting on the living room couch, nervously fiddling with the hem of her shirt. Kookie stood behind her, his hands positioned behind his back which was as straight as he could make it in his white button-down dress shirt, tucked into long black slacks.

     A servant. That’s what Rori thought he looked like. And she hated it. But she knew that it was necessary. Because the guests that they were to host would treat him like a servant and expect him to look like one too. Her eyes shot up towards the TV, at Kookie’s face reflecting off the black screen. She noticed that he was looking back at her the same way. They stayed that way for a while, just watching each other’s reflection. Rori’s heart skipped a beat when she saw him smile for a brief moment before going back to his previous face - void of emotion. But she didn’t care, it was what she needed, and he knew it would be enough.

“Alright. They should be here any minute.” Allissa rushed in with N trailing behind her, wearing an outfit very similar to Kookie’s. “You guys ready?”

The two youngest both nodded. Taking a deep breath, Allissa glanced around, making sure that the living room was presentable enough, then turned to N. 

“You’re going to have to answer the door.” Rori thought she could hear her oldest sister’s voice shake a bit.

N nodded, then turned to Kookie. “You know what you have to do, right?”

“Tend to their every need and don’t talk.” Kookie replied automatically. “Won’t be hard, really. I’m used to doing this while following Rori around the Academy.”

     “That’s a good habit to have.” N complimented with a grim face. He was about to say something else when the sound of a bell rang throughout the house. Echoing through the dreaded silence. The doorbell. A sign that their dreaded guests were here.

     N gave everyone one last glance before quickly strutting to the front door. Rori looked away, not wanting to watch N open the door. She didn’t want to see him bow to them. She didn’t want to see him be ignored as they walked past him. And most importantly, she didn’t want to watch as they called him things like ‘slave’ and ‘trash’. She absolutely hated the thought of those horrible people treating N - her friend, her oldest brother, her father - like he was nothing but a thing for them to use. And she hated the fact that she couldn’t do anything to stop them. So instead she looked to the TV again, trying to meet Kookie’s gaze. But Kookie was looking at anything but her. Which she understood. If their ‘guests’ saw him looking at her like he usually did, she didn’t even want to think about what they would do to him.

     But she was happy that she could still feel them. His feelings. How he was nervous, on edge, and a bit scared. But over all that, she could feel his determination. He was so determined not to mess up for her sake. He was determined to keep his promise to her. To never let anything hurt her or their family.

     Silently, she focused on her own feelings, hoping that he’d feel them as well and understand that she’d always be with him. And that she’d always trust him. No matter what.

“Rori!” She heard Allissa call from the other side of the house, a nervous edge in her voice. “The Elders are here! Come say hello!”

     The youngest of the Cleus sisters took a deep breath as she heard footsteps making their way closer to the living room. Finally, she stood up, turned around and bowed to their ‘Honored Guests’ for the evening.

Jihun’s POV:

Sipping his drink, Jihun watched as their new friend, Hwanhee, talked animatedly about the funny experiences he’d had with late night customers.

     “I swear! The creep was totally a flasher!” The male stated, waving his arms around. “Just about scared the living daylights out of me when he reached into his jacket for his wallet!”

“Did you call the cops?” Emory laughed, wiping a tear from her eye.

“My manager told me to while he tried to keep the creep away from the female customers.”

“Emory.” Jihun whispered. While still trying to recover from a fit of laughter, she leaned closer to him.

     “What’s a ‘flasher’?” He asked with the upmost curiosity. For some reason this made Emory start laughing even harder. So hard in fact, that she yelled about her stomach hurting. Even Heejun who had overheard them, started cracking up. More confused than before, Jihun took another sip of his coffee, only to realize that the cup was empty. He held it up and pouted.

Though still giggling, Emory sat back up and saw Jihun’s predicament. “Should we go order another one?”

     Jihun frowned. He was torn between saying ‘yes’ and shaking his head since he didn’t need another. He always felt bad that Emory had to buy them stuff all the time. But he also really wanted to drink more coffee.

“Is that alright?” He finally asked, giving in to his coffee temptation.

“Of course! I’ve been wanting another cup myself. Heejun?” She turned to the younger Warrior who was wiping tears of laughter from his cheek. “Want some more hot chocolate?”

Heejun shook his head. “Can I get some water instead?”

“I’ll get them for you.” Hwanhee stood up.

“But don’t we have to go order them again?” Emory asked while digging through her bag for her wallet.

“Nope! They’re on the house! My treat!” He grinned, leaving before Emory could protest.

“Man! That kid’s funnier than he looks!” Heejun let out another laugh. 

“And he’s really nice.” Emory pointed out while checking her phone.

“They send anything?” Jihun asked, taking in her worried look. But she just shook her head.

“I’m sure they’re fine.” Heejun picked up Emory’s laptop and opened it. “N-hyung and Allissa-noona know what they’re doing.”

“I know…” Emory sighed. “I’m just scared to think of what will happen if things don’t go as planned.”

     “What does’t go as planned?” Hwanhee asked before setting down the drinks. He had announced his presence so suddenly that Jihun’s heart felt like it almost jumped out of his chest.

     “Oh…!” Emory stuttered nervously. “Just a surprise party that we’re planning for our friend. She’s usually pretty observant of her surroundings, so I don’t know if we’ll be able to fool her.”

“Cool! Want some help?” Hwanhee handed Jihun his iced coffee. “I’m pretty good at planning surprises!”

     “S-sure! Why not? Thanks!” Jihun could see Emory’s smile shake a bit. By now he knew that she wasn’t the best at coming up with scenarios on the spot. Now they’d have to find out how to plan a non-existent party without the kid knowing that it was all fake. Jihun smirked. Sounded like fun.

Jungkook’s POV:

       Jungkook quietly followed behind Rori as she made her way towards the Elders. He took a quick look at them before casting his gaze down, submissive. There was a total of six elders. All old women who only obtained their position by being the only ones not dead in their generation. Well, that was how N explained them anyway. They were led by Elder Merissa Lee, a cruel lady who tried to adopt Rori once she found out that the girl had obtained Jungkook, her Destined Card. The lady stated that a Deck Master must be raised in an appropriate environment for her to learn and grow up “right”. Thankfully, Allissa wouldn’t have it and threatened to sue the woman through the Human system if she didn’t leave them alone. Jungkook still didn’t know how the eldest sister pulled that one off without causing the council to erupt.

     “Rori Cleus.” One of them, most likely Elder Lee, observed. “I’ve heard of your recent achievement at the Academy from Headmaster Stalling. First among your peers in the academic’s section. What a feat.”

“Thank you, Elder Lee.” Rori replied, voice so neutral that Jungkook almost didn’t believe that the person next to him was his Rori.

      “Despite this, you seem to be lacking in the battle strategies and combat sections.” Jungkook could hear the old woman’s voice rumble. Almost like she wanted Rori to feel ashamed. To feel horrible for not being the top in a Deck Master subject. “Though I’m not surprised. With how your sister has raised you to treat Slaves like they are your equals…”

Jungkook’s muscles tensed.

     “She didn’t teach me anything of the sort.” He could imagine Rori tipping her head up while she spoke. “I just simply agree with her. So if you’re implying that she has failed me as a parental figure, then please allow me to tell you that you are wrong.”

  That almost made Jungkook snort.

“Rori!” Allissa scolded before bowing to the Elders. “I apologize. Um… how about we head to the dining room for supper?”

     Although he couldn’t look at their faces, Jungkook could imagine all six of the council members scowling at Rori for talking back to them. And he enjoyed the thought. That was his girl. He waited for them to file into the dining room before heading towards the kitchen himself so he could help N and Leo serve them food.

“Where is the middle child?” One of the Elders asked as N placed a plate full of food in front of her.

“If you mean Emory, then she’s at a friend’s house.” Allissa replied. Jungkook could hear the annoyance in her voice.

“Now why would she be there of all places?” Another Elder spoke up while watching Leo pour wine into her glass. “Doesn’t she know that we are here?”

     “She’s been there for hours now working on a school project.” Allissa’s brow twitched. “It’s an important project worth half of their grade. I prefer she work on it since her grades aren’t doing so well at the moment.”

     Elder Lee clicked her tongue. “Typical humans. If you are so sure that she’s of Deck Master blood, why not send her to the academy so she can study among her people and learn how to deal with Cards. She could be made to be a Deck Master history teacher or something of the like. Why you choose to have her waste her time getting a Human education, I will never understand.”

     “Because I want her to have a normal life.” Allissa responded as calmly as she could. “Because that’s what she deserves. If she doesn’t have to live this life, then why make her?”

“Because I believe it’s her birthright!” Elder Lee took a sip of her wine and harshly set it down. “In fact, this is why we are here.”

“What do you mean?”

     “We wish to send Emory Cleus to live with one of the Academy professors as a special apprentice. Even if she has no powers as a true Deck Master, she can still gain knowledge by being around those that are… traditionally more appropriate.”

From the corner of his eye, Jungkook could see Rori slightly choke on her food from the sudden information.

“You want to WHAT?!” She shot up in her seat. “NO! We won’t let you do that!”

“Rori, sit down.” Allissa said calmly.

“But they want to take Emory away!” Rori protested.

     “Sit down.” The eldest ordered a bit more sternly. Pouting, Rori complied. Oh how Jungkook wished that he could just run over and pull her into a hug. To hold her, her hair, whisper words of comfort in her ear. But he knew that he had to hold back. For her sake as well as the others’. He could not act out or everyone’s hard work would be for nothing.

     “Now…” Allissa turned her gaze back to the Elders. “I appreciate your concern for my sister. But I’m afraid that I will have to oppose this… idea of yours. Emory is my sister. When our parents died I swore an oath to protect her and to give her a life where she would be happiest.”

“And how do you know that a life with other Deck Masters won’t make her happy?” An Elder interrupted.

     “How do you know that suddenly placing her in a new environment won’t make her stressed and unhappy?” Allissa countered. “Emory is just like you say. She doesn’t have any Deck Master powers. So she grew up not expecting to have any. She grew up in a world that is more similar to that of humans than Deck Masters. She isn’t used to the Deck Master world even though she’s experienced it. You can’t just throw her in and expect her to do amazing. Not when she wouldn’t know what to do.”

“But you cannot just seclude her from-“

“Oh hush up, Merrissa! She has a point!” One of the Elders, the only one that hadn’t said a word all evening, spoke up loudly.

     “Elder O’Malley.” Elder Lee’s face turned grim. “I suppose that you have something to add here? Something that we haven’t discussed?” She put extra emphasis on the last word.

     “We’re discussing it right now.” O’Malley ate a piece of steak. “Miss Allissa here doesn’t want us to take her sister away from her. Which she has every right to oppose. Not only that, but she also provides a good point that the poor girl would feel even less welcome in our world if we just forced her into it. So what more do we have to discuss about this topic? Let the poor girl stay.” She turned to Jungkook, meeting his eyes before he could look down and giving him such a polite smile that he almost thought he was seeing things.

“Excuse me, dear.” She beckoned to him. “Can you possibly give me some salt and pepper. I just adore my potatoes when they’re slightly salty.”

     A bit perplexed, Jungkook bowed in reply and walked to the kitchen to fetch her what she wanted. When he came back, the rest of the Elders, especially Elder Lee, were scowling at their food. But Elder O’Malley was just happily cutting into her steak. Her smile grew wider when he placed the spices in front of her.

“Thank you, young man.”

     The rest of the dinner went on in silence, save for a few grumbles about suspicions of recent Card muggings. When dessert came out, the kind Elder O’Malley asked the Warriors what their names were. Not knowing what to do, Jungkook waited for N and Leo to say them first. Thankfully, N seemed to sense the youngest Warrior’s hesitation and ended up saying his name for him.

“You three don’t have last names?” She asked. Curiosity evident in her voice.

“No, Ma’am. We don’t.” N replied politely. The old woman nodded to herself.

     “I see. How sad. I always feel bad for Warriors who don’t have last names. It means that you’re even further away from your real identity.” The last part she said so softly that Jungkook almost didn’t hear it. It seemed that the other Elders did though, for they sent her intimidating glares. But she just kept eating her dessert with a happy hum.

     It wasn’t too long after that all the Elders stood up from the dining room table and started getting ready to leave. One by one they made their way through the front door in a strict silence that let Jungkook know that they weren’t happy with the evening’s outcome.

“Elder O’Malley!” Elder Lee yelled, waiting by the front door.

     Jungkook looked back and saw that the kind Elder had pulled Allissa aside and was speaking to her in hushed whispers. Upon Elder Lee’s call, Elder O’Malley patted Allissa’s arm in a reassuring way then made her way towards the door. As she passed Jungkook, though, she winked at him, whispering a quick “good job”. Then she and Elder Lee walked out into the night. The front door slammed shut from Elder Lee’s force of displeasure, making the house shake. For a moment, no one moved. No one made a sound. Not until the sound of car doors slamming shut, an engine turning on and roaring out of the parking lot. Once the rumble was further down the road Rori jumped up, screaming a loud “Finally!” and running over to Jungkook who scooped her up into his arms.

“Okay. Okay.” N laughed at Rori’s reaction. “Now someone text Emory and tell her to come back. Leo, do we have any steak left? Or should we order a pizza?”

“Pizza and a movie night?” Allissa suggested. “The kids don’t have school tomorrow.”

“That sounds perfect!” N grinned. “What do you think, Leo?”

     The silent Warrior gave a small smile and nodded. “As long as I don’t have to cook for the rest of the night. Those horrible Elders didn’t even eat everything I made.” The small smile quickly turned sour. “What a waste of food.”

Jihun’s POV:

The four of them were in the middle of planning the fake surprise party when Emory finally got a text notification.

“That them?” Heejun asked, leaning over her shoulder to look at her phone.

“Yep!” She grinned. “We can go home now.”

“Yes!” Jihun chuckled as Heejun shot up and started putting everything back into his backpack.

“What, am I that boring?” Hwanhee joked.

     “Oh no! Actually, I don’t think we’d have been able to survive the evening if it weren’t for you. Thank you for hanging out with us despite being in the middle of work.” Emory stated, closing her laptop.

     Hwanhee grinned. “Not a problem. Honestly though? Graveyard shift here can get pretty boring, so it was nice talking to someone for a change. Promise that you’ll come back to visit?”

“Totally!” Emory agreed with Jihun nodding beside her.

      Helping her pack up their homework, Jihun finally took notice of his abandoned coffee still sitting on the coffee table. He had been so tuned into the conversation that he had accidentally forgotten that it was there. He picked it up, took a sip and grimaced. Instead of feeling cold liquid with coffee flavor, the drink was lukewarm and a bit watered down due to the melted ice. Just how long had they been talking?

“You okay?” Hwanhee asked him after he noticed the Warrior pouting at his drink.

     “It’s not cold anymore.” He explained, placing it back down on the coffee table. Hwanhee reached over and touched the plastic. “Yep! You didn’t drink it in time. Hehe. Want me to get you a fresh one?”

“It’s okay.” Jihun shook his head. “I’ll just take it with me and maybe put it in the fridge when I get home. But thanks anyway.”

“Not a problem.” Hwanhee looked at his watch. “I should probably get back to work before my boss sees me loitering around. I’ll see you guys around, right?”

“Yep!” Emory nodded. “We’ll come back soon and visit.”

“You’ll give us more freebies, right?” Heejun quickly added, making everyone laugh.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

     They all then said their goodbyes and watched as Hwanhee walked back to the counter. Once they all had their stuff packed and ready to go, Jihun bent down to pick up his un-iced coffee. But when his fingertips touched the plastic of the cup, he froze.

“Something wrong, Kimchi?” Emory asked, noticing how he wasn’t moving. He picked up the cup and frowned.

“Nothing.” He finally replied. “Just my imagination playing with me.”

“Oh. Okay. Ready to go?”

     He nodded and followed her and Heejun as they made their way towards the exit. But he couldn’t get what had happened out of his head. When he’d gone to pick up his coffee, he’d been expecting it to be room temperature with some condensation still lingering on the outside of the cup. Instead it felt cold.

     He held it up to his face, so he could see it. The outside looked frosty, like it had been kept in a freezer for a while, but the liquid inside wasn’t frozen and he could easily sip it. He was sure that it was lukewarm before. So why was it freezing cold? HOW did it get cold? And so fast?

     Jihun was quiet as he followed Heejun and Emory out of the coffee shop and stayed quiet the whole journey home. His two friends didn’t think this was strange, since the Warrior usually was one of few words. But if only they could have read his mind. Seen what he was thinking. Seen how he couldn’t stop going back to the moment where Hwanhee had touched his cup to confirm its lack of cold temperature. Even when they got home and Leo walked up to them holding a pizza box, Jihun was still distracted by that one single moment. So distracted in fact, that he didn’t even realize that his pizza had jalapeños on it until it was too late.

Hey ya'll! So sorry this is late! I've been having a hard time trying to figure out stuff for school. I'm gonna study abroad in South Korea!!! YAY!!! I'm super excited, don't get me wrong, but it's really frusterating trying to figure out classes and what not when you don't have wifi at home and have to go to Starbucks every day. *Sigh* Oh well. I hope ya'll like this chapter!