More People to Meet

Chp. 03

Ahri stayed in the library for hours now, without looking bored or tired. Even when she's sore from training class, her energy is still high up strolling through the book haven. She also had skipped dinner, too focus on the books she was reading and kept exploring through the shelves.

However, even when she was busy doing her own thing, she had been feeling that mysterious presence again and again. That strange feeling she had felt before kept on coming near her but she chose not to dwell on it. She realized that that strange tingles and that mysterious presence are connected. And she's slowly getting very annoyed at the presence because she can't see them.

That person can see her but she can't see him or her

It's unfair, she thought while she was reading the fourth book she found in the library.

And it is true that there is someone watching her. Someone who is silently watching her for hours now.

"You know, you could just say hi to her and stop these creepy stuff" says the guy Ahri met with the trolley earlier, currently rearranging books at the isle across the isle that Ahri is at. The girl is sitting there on the floor, reading a book, which probably the eighth one she had found interested in. "You've been here watching her for hours, man. Don't you think you're being weird"

There is a sigh coming after that. A guy with his arms crossed and leaning on the shelf. "I know" he replies, eyes looking at Ahri. The guy with the trolley chuckles, amused. He takes a glance at Ahri as well and impressed by how long the girl had been spending time in the library. It had been so long since he had seen anyone coming here just to have a very long hours of reading. And he's a librarian, he knows that much.

“I think she’s a new student. I've never seen her around before. I think she really likes books” he comments, two books in his hands.

“No doubt sherlock. Nice observation” the other guy sarcastically says.

The librarian laughs, slapping one of the books to the other guy's head. The boy groans, pushing the book back. "Stop that"

“You know, she’s a bit like you when you first came here. Lounging here hours and hours just to read”

He receives a grunt

“She’s been here for three hours now. Doesn’t she want to go back, it’s late” the librarian continues, glancing at his wrist watch. “And it's almost closing time too” he adds, seriously.

At this time, the girl had put back the book she had been reading and walk towards another isle, away from the two eyes. The librarian looks back at his friend, “And what’s your problem with her though? You'd been gone for a whole week, I didn't see you and now you're here in the library when I finally got to see you again but you decided to dedicate hours of your time spying on a random girl” he starts again, now picking up another book to put onto the shelf.

The other guy sigh again, looking at the librarian which the man had his eyebrows raised. “Do you like her?”

The other boy quickly shakes his head, frowning. “No, I don’t. I don’t even know her”

“Then why you're being a creep?”

“I'm not a creep--" he sighs, "Ok, maybe I'm acting like one but that's just because she made me curious, that all"

"Uh huh"

"Don't uh huh me" the guy uncrossed his arms and put his hands in his pockets instead. "There's just something...I don't know what it is and it's making me crazy"

"Sure~"

"Shut up"

The librarian laughs, wanting to smack him a book again but the other guy is faster, stealing the book away before it could hit his head. "Stop that! I'm serious, Luhan"

"Ok ok sorry" the librarian Luhan, sighs but he has a playful look on him. "Do what you want but hey, take my advice. Just go up to her and say hi then discuss over that problem together" he shrugs, "See, easy"

"It's not that easy"

"It is easy. You're the one who wants to make it complicated" Luhan sighs again, deciding to put his focus back on the remaining books he has in the trolley.

"She's just...there's just...urgh, I don't know. She makes me curious and I want to find out about it"

Luhan hums, not tearing his eyes from the trolley. "Do whatever you like man. But seriously, it wouldn't harm anyone if you just introduce yourself first. Besides, she's pretty"

The guy snorts, using the book he stole to smack Luhan with it.

"Ow! Yah!"

"That's what you get for smacking me with books all the time"

"I smacked you because you're being an idiot" Luhan quickly grabs back the book and place it on the trolley.

"I'm not an idiot!" he retorts back, pauses for a second before he waves his hand dismissively. "Alright maybe I'm being an idiot--" Luhan raises one eyebrow, smirking. The other guy raises his index finger up. "—but only this one time" he emphasized that one raised finger. "I just came back, still tired and the first thing I felt was that I was feeling hot when I saw her--"

"Geez, and you smacked me because I said she's pretty--"

"Not that kind of hot, you idiot" he corrects before sighing in exasperate. "You know what, think whatever you want. Maybe I am being a creep and an idiot. I didn't get enough sleep so my brain is not working well"

Luhan snorts, shaking his head before he pats the other guy's shoulder. "Just go back to your room, Baekhyun-ah. It's late. Sleep and rest" Luhan says, "You can see that girl again tomorrow"

"And say hi?" the guy, Baekhyun say, trying to joke what Luhan had said earlier.

Luhan chuckles, shrugging. "Yeah, go see her tomorrow and man up. Say hi and if you like her then swoop her in your arms and confess"

Baekhyun looks incredulously at his friend, "I don't like her Luhan—"

"Alright bye! And geez, when was the last time you showered?" Luhan cuts him out,

"Yah!"

And it was the last words of their conversation before Baekhyun walks out the library, a minute before Ahri went out of the library as well. Both of them heading to their dorm rooms in different directions.

🌻🌻🌻

Ahri went back to her dorm, feeling quite exhausted yet her mind is still energized from all the readings she had. When she got to her room, Jiae was there at her desk and doing some work. She turned to the door immediately when Ahri came in. "Where did you go? It's late already"

"I went to the library" Ahri answers her, having a smile on her. Jiae looks taken aback at her roommate's.

"What did you do at the library?"

"I read a lot of books. Gosh, the library is so big! It's so beautiful, Jiae! I've never been to a library like that" Ahri exclaims happily, "It's so pretty"

Jiae, from looking worried that her roommate hasn’t come back to looking amused at how happy Ahri look like just by talking about the library. She chuckles and shakes her head, "Alright, you nerd. Go wash up and sleep or do your homework or something"

Ahri pouts but nods her head, heading straight to her desk. She wants to sleep but she doesn't want to delay on her homework too so she decides to do it a bit before retiring to her bed.

The room is quiet as both girls are doing their own work and it is almost 11 in the evening when they both go laying on their beds with the lights switch off.

It is a quiet moment when they lay there silently, finding their comfortable position to sleep. There is a moment when Ahri suddenly reminded back to her mom. Thinking how her mom is on Earth all alone. Sure, Ahri feels like this world gives her something new but she misses Earth too.

She misses her mom.

Ahri purses her lips and turns sideways, looking at the dark room.

"Ahri?"

Ahri hums, quiet surprise to hear Jiae in the silence. She thought her roommate was asleep. "Yeah..?"

"You're alright?"

Ahri takes a second to hum again, "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just...I'm just thinking about my mom"

Jiae hums lightly, turning to her side as well, facing Ahri's bed. "What is your mom like?" the girl starts some small talks.

"Mom is very pretty" Ahri answers quickly, like she had the answer all along. She smiles, pulling her blanket up to her chin. "She's beautiful and she loves to bake"

"Really?"

"Yeah, she has a bakery. I usually help her around there"

"Is that where your sweet tooth came from?"

Ahri lets out a chuckle at that, "Probably, yeah maybe. I usually ate the chocolate ones"

Jiae laughs at that and they continue to talk bits and bits about their mothers until they both grow drowsy and ended up falling asleep together.

Little did Ahri know, on Earth, while Ahri was talking about her mom to Jiae, her mom Sunhwa, sits on the edge of her bed at home and holding a picture frame in her hands. She has a gentle smile on, staring down at the picture of her, Ahri and her late husband.

The picture was when Ahri is a small girl, around seven years old, with a big toothy grin on her face. Seeing her face makes Sunhwa's mind drift to the memory of her past, to when she first found Ahri.

“Hello there”

Young Sunhwa called out softly to the scared looking child that was sitting on the ground, leaning her hunched back on the wall of an abandoned house. The little girl was hugging her knees closely to her chest and was crying her hearts out. It was raining and the child was soaking wet from her head to her toes. It was fate that Sunhwa had just walked home back from her work, decided to use a different and longer route than her usual one.

On her way back, the rain suddenly poured down and luckily, she brought her umbrella with her. Holding up her umbrella, she stumbled across the old looking house, which had been abandoned for years. That was when she spotted a small figure near the back of the house. Curious, she stepped closer towards the figure and there, she saw a child – a little girl, alone, crying and soaked by the rain. Her heart wrecked seeing the poor girl and decided to tend to the girl. Slowly and carefully because she was afraid of scaring the little girl out, the girl looked terrified.

With a warm and soft smile, she greeted the girl. The little girl was shocked to see a stranger and had tried to step further from the stranger, curling herself more into a ball, trying to be invisible but she then hissed in pain. Tears fell more from her eyes. Sunhwa heard her wincing and guessed that she was hurt.

“Are you hurt, child?” she tried again slowly and looked at the girl.

Sunhwa was crouching down as low as she can to try to be on level with the girl, trying to have an eye contact with the scared girl. She saw the fear in the little girl’s eyes and felt heartbroken once more. She looked around, trying to find any figure that could be her parents in the falling rain but there was no one.

Sunhwa turned back to the girl, wanting to ask the girl about why she was here all alone and crying but she just then noticed the sight of something red surrounding the little girl. It made her eyes wide. The little girl was surrounded by pool of red water, presuming blood and it came from the girl. Her cream coloured dress was tattered and stained from either dirt or blood (Sunhwa can’t differentiate it at that moment)

“You’re bleeding! God, let me bring you to the hospital” she talked to the girl and went closer to her.

The little girl became alarm and scared out of her wits when the stranger was trying to touch her and so she screamed and failing her arms around. Sunhwa was surprised by the scream but stayed composed, trying to calm the little girl. She was hurt and bleeding for God knows how long it was and Sunhwa will not ignore it. Sunhwa hugged the girl, abandoned her umbrella, allowing the rain to soak her as well. She did not care about getting wet, she was just so worried for the girl.

“Shh shh it’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not going to hurt you. Shh shh” she softly chanted few times to the little girl’s ear while hugging her tightly, softly rocking her body side to side – reassuring her that she was safe, that nobody was going to hurt her.

After a few moments, the girl finally stopped screaming and gave in to the stranger’s warmth. She silently cried. After a while, Sunhwa finally able to calm and persuade the little girl to follow her – the little girl just obediently following her, crying and sobbing silently. She was too tired and hurt to protest and just gave in.

Sunhwa brought her first to her house and told her husband what had happen (her husband had asked why the hell she was drenched and why she was carrying a young child). Both of them brought the little girl to the hospital, where the doctor treated her. The doctor told the couple that the little girl had fractured few ribs, huge gashes on her thighs, other wounds and bruises all over her body. The girl was also malnourished, like she had been starving for days. The couple was shocked and felt angry to whoever did that to a little child.

Sunhwa also told the doctor that she did not know her parents, how and why she got hurt – the doctor acknowledged it and told them to take care of the girl and they did. Sunhwa and her husband did wait and asked around the neighbourhood, searching for her parents but after a long month of nothing, they decided to take in the little girl as their daughter.

The little girl was also quite and silent for the first month. She had not talked even a little – not even crying, she just silently eats, walking around and sleep. The couple had tried to make the girl talked even one word but never happened until on the third month.

After two months, the girl finally started to speak to them – though with very little words but it’s still good news. Sunhwa and her husband was had asked her questions but the girl did not remember anything. They went to the doctor again and he told them that the girl may be diagnosed with post-traumatic disorder which is a mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event. Her mind blocked out all the events and memories that had occurred to her since then. All she remembers was her name and her age.

“Ahri” the little girl spoke for the first time, on a fair sunny day when the couple brought her to a flower field outside of town and tried to indulge the little girl with nature. It was a great accomplishment because that was the time when they realized how responsive and happier the girl is, seemed more connected to the nature.

All of them sat on the ground, flowers surrounded them, and the couple tried again to asked her name. Usually whenever they asked, silent will accompanied them but this time, shockingly to them that the little girl answered them. Her voice was low and soft, looking at the two figures that took care of her. Little Ahri was almost 3 years old at that time.

Sunhwa put back the frame on her nightstand and lay down on the bed, her head hitting the pillow. She sighs contentedly, reminiscing her memories. Laying down on the bed, her head onto the soft pillow. She let that image lingers in her mind as she let herself to sleep. The mental picture of when little Ahri playing in the flower field made Sunhwa smile in her sleep.

🌻🌻🌻

Ahri

I wake up the next morning with my head repeating that melody again. I dreamed of that white space again and that piano melody came back. I don't know why I dreamed of such stuff but I did. It's not a nightmare, it's not something scary either so I think it's fine.

It's a new day and another new class to attend.

Aura manipulation, they say. I'm not sure what we going to learn but most probably about how we let ourselves out. Like what I've felt from people -- from Junmyeon, those seniors, my teachers, my classmates – that energy like pulse that radiates around them. And energy and aura are close related.

That is what I understood when I learned on my own

Our teacher for that subject is a woman, named Song Jihye. And just like every other older people I've met, she's also strong and Hayeon said that she has the power to detect and manipulating aura of herself and also to others.

It's a bit worrying and I don't know what to feel about it

Mrs. Song walks in with her glasses perched up her nose. Looking intimidating, unlike how Ms. Kim exuded herself with a gentle aura, Mrs. Song has that look where it seems like she's reading you, trying to see passed through your barriers.

It's daunting to say the least.

And it seems like I'm the only one who feels this way cause the rest of the class seems normal and casual with Mrs. Song.

The teacher starts off with introducing herself to me and Jungwoo – the new students – and she does look friendly when she's smiling at us. Her brown hair is let loose, falls down just right below her shoulders. She smiles at me, staring at me and its slightly nerve wrecking.

I smile, bow and politely introduce myself after Jungwoo before she proceeds with the class. Mrs. Song said that she had gave this lesson in the previous classes but she wants to re-explained it for the sake of the new students and also to refresh back.

What is our aura?

What colour is our aura?

How to find our aura?

How can we control it?

All of those questions I had come to learn on my own during my beginning years of knowing about my ability years ago. It was not a pleasant memory to go back, it had been painful too and lonely. Even though I know aura and energy are different from one another but they related to each other for me to guess of what is what.

“Aura is transparent, an invisible field around your body. It cannot be seen by the eye but can be feel and sometimes smell" Mrs. Song says, standing in front of the class with a projector switch on -- showing an illustration of a body with faint red lines around it. "It stays close to one’s body because it came from the body. Everyone has an aura, everyone exudes their own aura" she continues,

"Aura is like one's presence. You can say that they are like one but the slight difference between them is that presence cannot be hide but aura can and on will" she continues and slowly walk between the column's. "We are different from normal humans in terms of our aura. Humans have their own aura, all the same between them. But for us, we differ from one another"

"Some auras are weak while some are not. It depends on that individual on how strong he or she is” Teacher Song tells us. The clucking sound of her heels can be heard when she walks. “If you're strong your aura is bigger, more intense if you can detect and feel it. Weaker individuals have weaker aura and almost very subtle to notice"

"However, having a weak aura doesn't necessarily mean that that person is weak" she walks back to the front of the class, "He or she might just be hiding them from everyone's else. And this act is common within our people" she continues more. I remain calm on my seat after hearing what she said.

It felt like it was meant for me in that statement.

“But most people like the attention so they don't even hide it and just release them. This case scenario often happened for the higher ups or with any powerful people. The main goal is to gain respect. The stronger you are, the more respect you will have. I'll be good for your image and reputation”

I shudder when hearing that and remember back to the topic when Jiae and Hayeon explained about the competition -- about winning and losing.

“It is also your choice on whether you want to control and manipulate your aura. You can let it all out or you can hide them in from people noticing. Though, the stronger you are, the more control you have on it" she goes to her desk, changing the slide to another illustration of two bodies. One has fainter red lines that is very near to the skin and the other one has bolder lines, spread out of the skin.

"But if, let's say if you want to hide your aura. It'll not be 100% of your aura get hidden, no. Your aura will still be release out of you but in such a small amount. If someone is strong enough or have an aura ability, they can still detect it" she says, "What I'm telling here is you can control your aura, and it depends on you, on how much you want to let it out. But for starters like you first years, before you can even control it, the most important part is for you to find that output source of your aura first. Do you understand?"

A boy around the middle part raises his hand, "You mean our core, right?"

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