“There’s no hurry to meet my parents, you know.”

The arms wrapped around my body loosen their hold. A pair of shocking pink flares flicker in the darkness of our room. I stare into those pink flares, prepared for a long talk, or perhaps, even a bit of a fight.

“I want to meet them before the lunar new year.”

“Why?”

The pink flares intensify. “You are asking a redundant question.”

“But don’t you scoff at human traditions?”

“Did you think the lunar calendar was created by humans?”

I blink in surprise. “It wasn’t?”

“Do humans live by the moon or the sun?”

“The sun?” I answer uncertainly.

“Correct. Humans are diurnal creatures.”

“Do you mean to say the lunar calendar was created by supers?”

“Do you mean to say humans are smart enough to create one?”

I tsk-tsk over Ms Pink’s sarcasm and condescension and roll away from her.

“Where are you going?”

“Away from you.”

“This is away?”

“This is away.”

“Roll back.”

“No. You can lay there with your superior intelligence.”

“What are you unhappy about? You are not human anymore.”

“Well, I may not be human anymore but I’m not truly a super either.”

The bed barely shifts and Ms Pink appears before me, her flashing pink eyes staring deep into mine. “You are a super,” she says with conviction. “You are the most powerful super. Nobody dares to challenge you after you killed—”

Ms Pink halts because I’m wincing from the phantom stab of pain that hits me whenever I relive the trauma of that incident.

“Taeyeon.”

The urgency and concern and worry in Ms Pink’s voice makes me smile. “I’m okay.”

“You always say that.” Ms Pink my cheek, her eyes spelling sadness. “But you are lying.”

“I’m not. I’m okay because you care about me. It makes me feel better immediately.”

“We should go back to Asahl and stay there for another season. You improved tremendously at Asahl.”

“You’ve wasted too much time in Asahl for me.”

“I do not consider it a waste of time.”

“It is.”

“Staying in the mountains is good.”

“No matter how good it is, we can’t hide in the mountains forever.”

“We are not hiding.”

“We have a life here. Your empire. My job.”

“My empire will run itself.”

My unbeating heart thumps at Ms Pink’s words. Run itself? Ms Pink’s empire running itself? She would let it? For me?

“If we go to Asahl, you won’t get to meet my parents.”

“You are willing to let me meet your parents so we do not have to go to Asahl?”

I narrow my eyes at her. “Did you just trick me into this spot?”

“As a superior super, you should be able to figure it out.”

“Then I’m clearly not, since I can’t.”

“What are you, if you are not?”

“I don’t know what I am now, but I was a human for a long time and it’s still a big part of me.”

“It is ridiculous to hold on to your human past when you are finally free of that limitation.”

“There are qualities in humans that are worth remembering.”

“Poor qualities.”

“Not every quality is poor. Some human qualities are superior to super qualities.”

Ms Pink rises to her feet, her fiery aura tangible in the air. “Do you hate being a super?”

My eyes follow hers and I end up standing too. “I don’t hate being a super. I love being able to keep up with you and playing with you as your equal. I love that I can protect you just like you protect me. There are many things I like about being a super. But I also cherish the person I was as a human. It’s an important part of who I am and I don’t want to lose that.”

“There is nothing good about being a human.”

I take a deep breath and open my mouth to say the thought floating at the forefront of my mind. But a second thought makes me hesitate.

“What were you going to say?”

With Ms Pink’s piercing eyes on me, I know there’s nowhere to run or hide. “You don’t think there’s anything good about being a human because being a human for you.”

Ms Pink’s brow rise an inch and I wince inside at my poor choice of words.

“I-I mean it wasn’t—”

“I know what you meant.”

Taking her hands into mine, I bring her arms around my waist and pull her closer to me. “Tiffany,” I say softly. The unexpected utterance of her first name has Ms Pink blinking in mild surprise. “It’s not your fault you couldn’t save your family,” I continue saying, cupping her cheeks with my hands. “You weren’t a lousy, useless human. You were a child. A defenseless child.”

Ms Pink shakes her head. “Stop.”

I can only sigh and hug her tight. “I love you, Tiffany Pink,” I