Chapter Fifty-Three

Yuri lied on her bed again after Tiffany left. She could feel cold sweat forming around her forehead, but was too tired to wipe them off. She tilted her body to the side and faced the blonde who was still sleeping soundly in her arms despite the little conversation she had with Tiffany earlier on. A few strands of her hair had fallen from behind her ear and covered her face. Yuri gently pushed them behind Jessica’s ear, revealing the beautiful face which she yearned to see again.

Her fingers trailed down Jessica’s cheek naturally and came to a stop at the corner of her lips.

Yuri stared at the pair of rosy lips intently.

The moment might be short, but it was deeply imprinted in her mind. Yuri couldn't forget the softness and strawberry scent she tasted when sharing kiss with Jessica. She was yearning to taste it again and she had the urge to press her lips against those alluring lips now.

“Yuri…?”

Their distance was less than a millimeter away. Yuri didn't realize what she was doing until her eyes met the pair of sparkling almond-shaped black pearls.

Jessica is awake!

Yuri bolted from her position and stumbled backwards. The thick blanket tangled themselves around her legs along with Yuri’s movement and it tripped her out of her bed, causing the hunter to land on the carpet floor with a loud thud.

“Yuri!”

The loud thud allowed Jessica to regain her full conscious. She crawled to the edge of the bed and peered down. Yuri was lying on her back, rubbing her head with a scrunching face.

“Yuri, are you alright?” Jessica jumped out of the bed and helped Yuri up quickly. She checked the part where Yuri was rubbing and placed her hand over it, taking over Yuri’s hand. “It is very painful?” Jessica asked anxiously. The expression on her face implied nothing but worries.

Yuri flashed an awkward smile at her, “I’m… okay……” Was she seriously oblivious to the fact that she was trying to kiss her?

“You should have been more careful!” Jessica reprimanded with a pout. “Come on, don’t sit on the ground. Get onto the bed.” She went ahead and pulled Yuri by her arm. The hunter could only comply with the blonde’s request and do nothing about it.

“Ouch!” Yuri yelled suddenly and tried to pull herself away from Jessica, but Jessica prevented her from doing so as she was grabbing onto her arm tightly. The most Yuri could do was to avoid the rubbing hand by slanting her upper body towards the opposite side of the blonde. “Sica, it hurts…” She scrunched her face at the smirking blonde with a puppy expression. Jessica had just pressed the bump on her head so hard––

Hold on, what’s with that smile?!

“Serve you right!” Jessica stuck out her tongue at Yuri. Her sudden abnormal (?) movement struck Yuri dumbfounded in her position. “For trying to steal my kiss…” Jessica mumbled the last few words to herself, but it did not escape the hunter’s ears within this quiet room.

Embarrassed, blood gushed up into Yuri’s face immediately and turned it into the shades of a tomato.

So she does know about it!

Yuri turned her reddened face away from Jessica, looking elsewhere but her, trying to find a hole and hide.

“Yuri-ah…” Yuri felt Jessica’s hand trailing down her arm. Shivers raced down her spine as she tried her best to remain still and pretended that nothing had happened. “What are we now?” The movement of her hand was so gentle, but it was also filled with seductiveness (from Yuri’s point of view only). Yuri could now clearly hear the beating of her heart as though it was placed right next to her ear!

OH GOSH…!

“Wha… What are w… we?” Her brain was malfunctioning. Yuri couldn't process Jessica’s words and repeated her question in trembles instead.

Jessica whispered with an extreme soft tone, “We kissed.” She paused, pondering on how to continue with her words. “I heard…” Her hand slid down Yuri’s arm even further. “… only lovers kiss one another.” The hand eventually found the palm of its target and the fingers slid in between the gaps nimbly. “So, does that make us…” Once her fingers were in their positions, Jessica curled them up, intertwining her fingers with the hunter sitting next to her.

“… Lovers?”

… Lovers?

It was only a simple word with six alphabets, but it was more than enough to freeze Yuri from her head to her toes.

“Yuri?”

Jessica squeezed and shook Yuri’s hand gently, but nervously. She had never thought of liking anyone else. The rupture between her parents had made her distrust love, but somehow… she realized that not believing in love and falling in love were two different issues.

True, she didn’t believe in love – after witnessing what happened to her parents – but she couldn’t stop herself from falling for this friendly and gentle hunter.

Especially when every movement of hers contained warmth and sincerity, it touches her heart like no one else did.

“Or is it… I can’t love you?”

The silence from the hunter’s reply was eating up Jessica’s hopes. Her fingers were starting to loosen themselves up. Her head gradually lowered in pools of shame and sadness as she pulled herself away from the irresponsive hunter.

There is no such thing as miracle or exception in this world.

Love never existed.

Love is just an illusory fantasy which one can only yearn for in their dreams.

“No!”

The sudden response had startled Jessica. When Jessica looked up and turned back to Jessica, she realized Yuri was holding her hand. She was also staring straight into her eyes with her strong and intensive gaze.

“We can love! We can be lov… lovers…” Yuri had no idea what she was spouting until she finished the first sentence. But it was too late. She had accidentally revealed the secret desire of hers, which she was also unknown of, to the lady in front of her.

OH MY GOSH…!

Yuri felt like strangling herself.

Did she just say something inappropriate?!!

“You…” Jessica’s eyes widened in shocked when she heard Yuri’s confession. She was equally surprised at Yuri’s reaction too. This might be what she wanted, but she never expected Yuri to react like this. “You’re so adorable Yuri!” Jessica giggled out loud as soon as she realized what was going on. She pinched Yuri’s cheek with her free hand, while intertwining her other hand with Yuri’s tightly.

“Yah…” Now, she shouldn’t even think of finding a hole to hide. She should just dig one from her carpet floor straight away!

“So I guess…” Jessica shyly rested her head on Yuri’s shoulder. “… That means we are together now?” The smile on her face clearly reflected the overwhelming happiness from within her.

“I guess so.” Yuri scratched her head nervously. The foolish looking smile, which was evident on her face, revealed a similar mood to Jessica’s even though they didn’t look exactly the same.

However, reality is always cruel. It happened less than a minute after their confession. The door swung open without any warning and in came an oblivious hunter who was unaware that she had just spoilt the perfect romantic mood in the room.

“Unnie––”

The rest of her words naturally got stuck in when she realized what she had just walked into.

It was just another familiar scene. She had witnessed a similar one when she went to the city with Tiffany and Sooyoung more than a month ago. The only difference in them was that this couple looked ‘purer’ than the previous one – since Tiffany and that stranger were kissing when she spotted them – other than that, they all led to the same meaning.

These two people are more than just a friend.

However, Yoona decided to ignore and pretended that she saw nothing. Tiffany’s incident had already taught her a lesson on the meaning of misunderstanding. She didn't want the history to repeat itself certainly. Moreover, the problem between her and Tiffany were not yet solved. She was not ready to go through another cold war with one of her unnies.

“Unnie, Sooyoung is awake.” Yoona stood by the door and announced the good news to her fellow hunter mate. She wondered if it was appropriate for her to enter Yuri’s room now while watching the two people on bed, who were anxiously prying themselves off one another.

Yuri got up from her bed and flipped her hair casually, as though nothing had happened. But her heart was still in the midst of racing due to Yoona’s sudden appearance. “Yeah, Tiffany came over earlier and told me about it.” Yuri tried to force a smile at her.

It was not exactly pleasant to be caught while she was enjoying romantic moments with someone she liked.

“Aren’t you going to see her?” Yoona questioned curiously. She had been waiting for Yuri’s arrival since Tiffany said she was going to inform her. But when she saw no one came, she thought Tiffany went elsewhere instead and forgot to inform Yuri about Sooyoung’s condition.

“I am going to…” Yuri stopped before finishing her sentence. Yoona had just reminded her why she was still in her room and not Sooyoung’s ward. “Yoona, I need to have a word with you first.” She held onto her dong-saeng’s arm suddenly and pulled her out of her room before she could react.

And the clueless Jessica could only hug the pillow and stared blankly at the empty room while waiting for them to return.

“Yes unnie?”

Yoona looked at Yuri with questioning gaze.

“What happened?”

Yoona could only raised an eyebrow at Yuri as she repeated Yuri’s question in lost. “What what happened?” Yuri was practically throwing a question at her without telling her what the topic was.

“Sica and Tiffany.” Yuri replied, this time giving Yoona a clear direction of her topic.

There was a slight change in Yoona’s expression when she heard the two names, but nevertheless, she remained calm and feigned ignorance at Yuri’s question. “What do you mean unnie?”

“Tiffany wants to kill Jessica.” Yoona’s face darkened upon those words.

So now even with Yuri around, Tiffany wouldn’t stop trying too?

Yuri continued, “Something must have happened when I was patrolling. Yoona, don’t hide the truth from me. What happened to them exactly?”

What happened……

“I don’t know anything unnie.” Yoona was telling the truth. She had absolutely no idea what caused Tiffany to behave this way. At first she thought Tiffany was only jealous of Jessica, but after she calmed down and thought about it again, she found her initial reasoning was simply too ridiculous.

Tiffany wasn’t a petty person who would go round killing people just because she was jealous. If she was a person like that, many people would have died during her period of stay in Aurales since Yuri was friendly to everyone.

“Yoona…” Yuri’s tone sounded unpleasant. She was not happy with that answer.

Yoona held both of her palms next to her face and exclaimed, “I swear I wasn’t lying! You have to ask Jessica unnie or Fany unnie if you want to know what happened.” Yeah, she should probably talk to Tiffany too and find out the reason behind her rage.

Yuri huffed in frustration, “Fine.” Yoona didn’t seem like she was lying too. “I will go take a look at Sooyoung now, but can you stay here and look after Sica? I’m afraid Tiffany might return and do anything to her.”

“I will do it.” Yoona accepted Yuri’s request without hesitation. She was worried that Tiffany would harm Jessica again.

But then again, that might not necessary be the case.

Who knew if Tiffany really saw something in Jessica which none of them had noticed?