Chapter Forty-One

Yuri opened the door and peeked into her room cautiously. The lights were not yet switched off, but… Jessica was nowhere to be seen too? Yuri frowned and scanned her room in fear as she searched for that particular blonde who she wanted to avoid now.

The conversations with Yoona and Sooyoung made her really panicked. It was worse than when they questioned her about Tiffany. Yuri found that her heart always raced whenever Jessica was mentioned. She had no idea how and why it happened though, because that never happened whenever they asked her about Tiffany.

Sigh!

Yuri scrunched her face.

Just how is she going to explain and deny her feeling towards Jessica when her heart rejects to cooperate with her mind!

Jessica, where are you now?

She can’t go to bed before Jessica does. Firstly, she has to ensure Jessica is safe. She doesn’t want to wake up early in the morning to find Jessica injured somewhere in their dormitory. Secondly, she can’t face Jessica now! It will be too embarrassing! She has to wait till Jessica falls asleep before she dares to stay in the room and on the same bed with her!

Yuri scanned her room once more, just when she was about to give up, her eyes finally noticed the lump under the blanket on her bed.

Forgot to switch off the lights huh?

Yuri let out a sigh of relief and tip-toed into her room. She reached over to the switches and switched off the lights before climbing onto the empty side of the bed as gently as possible.

“Yuri?”

A hoarse but extremely familiar voice rang out of the sudden before Yuri could actually slip her body under the blanket. Her body froze immediately when she realized she had just woken up the person who she wished was dead asleep!

“Y… Yes?” She gulped silently.

Jessica rubbed her drowsy eyes and sat up straight. Much to her surprise, the lights were switched off. She remembered having them switched on when she was sitting on the bed waiting for Yuri’s return. Jessica let out a yawn softly and turned to her left. Her drowsy eyes easily captured the silhouette of Yuri’s body despite the lack of lightings in the room.

“Is everything alright?” Jessica yawned again. “You took quite a long time…” Long enough for her to fall asleep.

“Um… Yeah! Everything’s okay! I’ve got Sooyoung to clear up the mess and wash up the dishes, don’t worry about it. Now, go back to sleep!” Yuri hurriedly ushered Jessica without looking at her.

She is definitely not in the right condition to hold a conversation with Jessica now!

“Okay…” Jessica followed Yuri’s instruction without complaining. The truth is she was tired herself. People sure became more tired if they woke up after sleeping for a short while.

Jessica covered and yawned again before lying on the bed. She pulled the blanket, which had fallen off her when she sat up earlier on, to her shoulder. Then, she turned her body and faced the person who was sitting on her left.

“Yuri, aren’t you going to sleep too?” Jessica asked curiously, Yuri had been sitting there like a stone ever since… Um, she thought she saw Yuri sitting like this since the moment she woke up.

“Huh?” Her brain took a second longer to process Jessica’s words. “Eh, I… Yeah, I’m going to sleep too!” She faked a laugh, but still not budging from her stiffened position.

“Lie down then?”

“Oh! Um… Okay…” Yuri followed Jessica’s instruction obediently and had her back lay above the surface of her comfy bed in a robotic manner.

Yuri inhaled deeply and exhaled.

Why does she feel so stuffy?

Suddenly, she felt a nudge on her arm. Afraid that wild imagination would pop out again, Yuri simply stared into the ceiling and asked, “Yes?”

“You’re weird Yuri.” Jessica commented. She pushed half of her body up with her elbow and stared at the hunter on her left side. “Is everything really okay? Is Sooyoung angry with me? Maybe I should go and apologize to her…” With that, Jessica flipped over the blanket and tried to jump out of the bed.

“No! Wait! Come back!”

Her hand landed upon the arm supporting Jessica before she knew it. Yuri pulled the blonde back, wanting to stop her from approaching Sooyoung. But little did Yuri realize her strength was a little bit too strong for a weak Jessica. Jessica’s arm gave way upon Yuri’s pull and she fell right on top of Yuri with her body facing downwards.

Time seemed to have stopped at this very moment. The only thing to prove it is still moving were the breathings coming from each other, ringing loudly in their ears.

Jessica found herself staring into the pair of beautiful eyes below her. Though there were inefficient lights in the room, but to Jessica, they sparkled even brighter than the stars in the sky.

Kwon Yuri…

Jessica was lowering her body without herself knowing.

The eyes… Yuri’s eyes… she felt as though she was staring into a whirlpool that it was attracting her, drowning her into the midst of its own.

Jessica subconsciously held her breath when she felt Yuri’s warm breath brushing against her skin. They were less than one centimeter apart now. Just a little bit more… Jessica lowered herself even more. She could feel their noses touching one another.

Yuri’s body was malfunctioning. She heard herself asking her hands to push Jessica away, but her hands refused to act accordingly to what her mind said. They climbed up Jessica’s body instead and encircled the little waist tightly, pressing the blonde’s body even closer to hers.

Their distance was closing. Yuri could feel the soft and smooth skin rubbing against her nose. She watched Jessica closing her eyes and she followed after her. Yuri tilted her head upwards in reflex, yearning for the lips that were coming for her……

“Hey Fany! You’re back early!”

Sooyoung’s loud voice from outside the room startled the engrossed couple on bed. Jessica bolted up from Yuri’s body and hurriedly wriggled herself out of Yuri’s hold when she realized they were lying in a very awkward position. She rolled off to her side of the bed and quickly covered herself with the blanket, acting as though nothing had happened. But the fast beating of her heart was telling her otherwise.

On the other hand, Yuri, too, was pretending nothing had happened. She straightened her body like a corpse and stared into the ceiling just like how she did before Jessica landed on her. Her heart was beating rapidly fast as well and her heavy panting was echoing loudly within the room.

Yuri inhaled a deep breath.

She had no idea if she wanted to strangle Sooyoung or thank Sooyoung for stopping them in time.

*

“Hey Fany! You’re back early!”

Sooyoung was on her way back to her room when she saw the cold hunter entering their dormitory with an expressionless face. She shouted at the hunter and stood by the railing as she waited for Tiffany to climb up the stairs. It didn’t take too long before Tiffany finally reached her.

Sooyoung asked casually, “Didn’t you said you are going to the training ground? I thought you will only be back after midnight.”

“I did.” Tiffany smirked at her. “But on second thought, the training isn’t as effective when I’m on my own. I thought it will be better if you are there too Sooyoung.” Her hand landed on Sooyoung’s shoulder, giving a ‘gentle’ squeeze to it. “We should have a sparring together.”

Sooyoung flinched at the squeeze. God damn it. She shouldn’t have been a big mouth and asked senseless question!

“Sure… why not?” She forced out a wide grin despite the pain enforcing on her shoulder. “And we can call up Yuri too…” Why! Why does she have to suffer all these pains!

Yuri… Tiffany released Sooyoung upon hearing her partner’s name. Her eyebrows drew themselves into a deep frown as she observed their surroundings. The dormitory was quiet and there was no sight of anyone other than the two of them standing out here.

“Where’s Yuri?” She asked.

“Eh…” Sooyoung hesitated for a second. “I think she slept already? We’re going for a patrol tomorrow.” Yeah, she should be sleeping already, although just ten minutes ago, Yuri barged into her room and reprimanded her for leaving Jessica alone in the kitchen.

Tiffany turned around and looked at the door which was just next to them. They happened to be standing in front of Yuri’s room now and that door obviously led to Yuri’s room. She took a glance at the gap underneath. The lights were off and the gap was in a total pitch dark.

The hunter sighed inwardly. Perhaps she’s really in bed already––

“Jessica’s with her?”

Her cold voice sent shivers down Sooyoung’s spine.

“Ye…Yeah… Jessica is um… sharing a room with Yuri…” Sooyoung tried her best to keep the wide grin on her face.

WHY! Why do I always have to be here whenever there is a problem!? And all these problems related to you! Kwon Yuri!!

“I see.” She should have known it. There was no way Yuri would leave Jessica to the others when she was the one who brought her back. “They are pretty good huh?” Tiffany shifted her gaze away from the door’s gap and stared at Sooyoung.

Sooyoung felt a twitch at the corner of despite her grin never fade out.

“Well, Yuri is good with everyone…”

“But don’t you think they are a little too close?”

Tiffany’s question caused Sooyoung’s grin to freeze.

So now she has to handle relationship (jealousy) problem for Yuri too?!

Just as Sooyoung was about to curse Yuri for all the sufferings she was going through, she heard a soft chuckle coming from Tiffany’s direction. Sooyoung snapped out of her thoughts, only to find the cold hunter laughing at her. She then realized it was a trick all along. Tiffany wasn’t as angry as what she thought.

Though she was quite surprised to see Tiffany chuckled like this – knowing her for so long, those laughter she saw was more like a sneer or a halfheartedly laugh – but Sooyoung was more concerned in getting tricked by Tiffany. She slapped Tiffany lightly on her shoulder, “Yah! Tiffany! This isn’t funny at all!”

“You look pretty amusing when you’re scared.” Tiffany chuckled once more. “You’re a pretty good entertainment.”

“YAH!” That sounded pretty rude in Sooyoung’s ears. “I’m angry now, Tiffany Hwang. And I’m serious!” Sooyoung folded her arms and stomped away.

A smirk naturally crept onto Tiffany’s face, but Tiffany quickly hid it before Sooyoung noticed it. She followed behind Sooyoung, “I’m sorry Sooyoung. I don’t mean it. How about I give you a treat as apology?”

Sooyoung paused on her track and glared at Tiffany suspiciously.

“Hamburger, fried chicken, grilled fish––”

“Deal!” Sooyoung interrupted Tiffany before Tiffany could finish her words. “You’re going to treat me after I come back from the patrol tomorrow!”

“Sure, why not?”

And… everything had settled.

Tiffany waited for Sooyoung to retreat back to her own room, only then she returned to her room too. Tiffany closed the door behind her and walked to the couch. She threw her body onto the soft object hard, trying to use the impact to ease the uncomforted feeling growing within her.

“They were talking about residing the casualty in your dormitory when the headmaster mentioned something about her falling in love with that casualty. They mentioned your name too. Yuri denied everything about you, but she had a rather big reaction when they talked about that casualty.”

Tiffany shut her eyes tightly as Wooyoung’s voice played in her mind.

“Fany, why torture yourself? Having a curse in you doesn’t mean that you are not allowed into a relationship. Can’t you give up on Yuri and give me a chance? I want you to live like anybody else. You deserved to be love, to enjoy a relationship and I don’t mind to be the one sacrificing my life for you, you know that.”

“Wooyoung,” Tiffany opened her eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling. “I would have accepted Yuri if I want to be in a relationship. But still, you’re right. I should have given up on Yuri long time ago when I forced her not to love me…”

A lonely tear escaped the corner of her eye and dripped onto the couch.

It is time to let her go now, Tiffany.