Chapter Sixty-Five

The sun is setting when Tiffany’s tears finally came to a stop. She didn’t pull herself away from Yoona however, and continued to rest her head on Yoona’s shoulder, enjoying Yoona’s warm hand her hair.

It felt different when she lay in her dong-saeng’s embrace. It was comfortable and peaceful that it allowed her to momentary forgot the unwanted memories.

Yuri could do the same too, but only half of it, because she would tend to remember how the curse in her blood stopped them from progressing further.

And as for Taeyeon––

Tiffany bolted up from Yoona’s embrace when she recalled Taeyeon’s existence. Anxiety was evident on her face as she tried to search for the person who she left in the room after she chased after Yoona.

And there was Taeyeon, standing at the entrance of her house, staring at her with sorrows laden in her eyes.

It was so intense that even Tiffany could feel the depression in her.

“Tae…”

She whispered, but before she could voice out her thoughts, the solemn in Taeyeon’s eyes was already gone and an obviously fake smile was placed on her lips.

The sorceress approached them and asked, “It’s getting dark, why don’t you guys stay here for the night?”

Yoona didn’t like the idea of that. This woman was too suspicious to be trusted, but just as she was going to reject Taeyeon’s offer, Tiffany beat her to it.

“I hope we’re not bothering you.” In other words, she agreed to Taeyeon’s suggestion.

“Absolutely not.” She wished Tiffany could stay here forever. “I’ll make us dinner. Feel free to look around while I prepare.” Without waiting for their replies, Taeyeon spun around and walked into the house, leaving the two hunters to have some alone time.

Yoona pulled Tiffany’s arm, forcing the hunter to have her attention back on her instead of the person who had already disappeared into the kitchen.

“Unnie, what are you doing?”

That midget was obviously suspicious! How did they even end up here in the first place when they were supposed to be in the woods? Yoona was even surprised to find herself alive and lying in some room – which she had never seen before – after losing her consciousness to those weird flying icicles back there. She didn’t think Tiffany could win against their opponent since she remembered clearly Tiffany had difficulties in avoiding those icicles. And it sure didn’t seem to her that their assaulter would let them off so easily when he or she was trying so hard to kill them right from the time the ice boulder hit their car.

So how did they end up in this midget’s house?!

“Yoona, let’s just stay here for the night, please?” Tiffany begged her. Her swollen eyes looked as though they were going to tear up again.

Yoona wasn’t sure about this. “But unnie…” She couldn’t trust that mysterious woman!

“She won’t hurt us!” Tiffany declared fiercely suddenly. Her watery orbs stared into Yoona’s eyes sternly, causing the younger hunter to freeze in reflex. “She… will never hurt me…” Her voice became soft. It was filled with uncertainty.

Taeyeon will never hurt her, never…?

Yoona didn’t know what to say. She wanted to rebut Tiffany’s words, but she didn’t bear to do so when she saw the near breaking down expression Tiffany was wearing right now.

Letting out an inaudible sigh, Yoona pulled Tiffany into her embrace again and patted on her head. “Unnie, I trust your judgment. If you say she won’t harm us, I believe she won’t.” She broke the hug gently and smiled at Tiffany tenderly. “We will stay here for the night.”

“Yoona…”

Yoona responded by her hair. Tiffany quickly buried her face onto Yoona’s chest when she felt her tears were threatening to fall again.

“Thank you so much…”

“You’re welcome unnie.”

I will just protect you with my own hands if anything happens.

*

Jessica was lost. She had no idea what should she do in order to comfort the hunters. She woke up from her nap about ten minutes ago and found out Tiffany and Yoona had gone missing during their patrol. Both Yuri and Sooyoung had been trying to contact their partners through their communication devices, but none of them went through.

Frustrated by the numerous failures, Yuri threw her communication device away angrily. It would have smashed into pieces if the cushion did not happen to be at the place of its landing.

Although Sooyoung was anxious as well, she was surprisingly calmer than Yuri. Bending down, she picked up the thrown device and placed it on the tea table.

She sat next to Yuri and said, “Victoria unnie and Amber are the nearest to them. Mr. Headmaster had already asked them to check out Tiffany and Yoona’s patrolling area. I’m sure they will be back anytime soon.” Though that was what Sooyoung said, the frowns on her face betrayed her worries.

What if they came back with their corpses–––Sooyoung shook her head vigorously and slapped herself on her head.

Damn it Sooyoung, anything else but that!

Yuri wasn’t paying attention to Sooyoung. She leaned her back against the couch and closed her eyes. Her mind was running madly now. She couldn’t think of anything else unless Tiffany and Yoona appeared in front of her again.

The atmosphere in the foyer was turning cold. Jessica could only sit still in her seat, which was the couch next to the one Yuri and Sooyoung were sitting on, and looked at them helplessly.

She hated to see a dejected Yuri. It hurt her so much to see Yuri acting like this, especially during the afternoon, the latter was still full of smiles. If she could, she would do anything to solve her problems.

But… she couldn’t.

The silence did not last for a long time as the ringing of the phone came about five minutes later, taking everyone’s attention away immediately.

Yuri and Sooyoung didn’t dare to move. They were unsure if they should take this call.

“I’ll answer it.”

Seeing no movement from the hunters, Jessica jumped off the couch and rushed to the phone.

Meanwhile, Yuri and Sooyoung could only look at one another and silently wished it was good news.

Jessica came back after a while.

“Mr. Headmaster says Victoria and Amber are back.”

*

When the two hunters finally reached the garage, with Jessica tagging along behind them, all of them immediately had their attention drawn to that severely damaged car.

It was Tiffany’s car.

“Where are they?”

Yuri asked no one in particular. Her eyes never left the wrecked car.

A lady with long ponytail walked towards her with her arms folded against her chest. She stopped right beside Yuri and turned to the wrecked car as well.

“This car is the only thing left at the scene.” Victoria inhaled a deep breath and averted her gaze to Yuri. “I believe they were engaged in an intense battle during their patrol. There are many markings on the ground and the trees nearby aren’t in good shapes either.”

“What about the two of them, unnie?”

It was Sooyoung who asked the question. Yuri was too immersed with the thought of Tiffany and Yoona in danger to even react.

Victoria shook her head regrettably.

“There is no sight of them.”

Now, even Sooyoung had no idea how to react. She refused to believe her friends were gone.

Victoria sighed and patted on Sooyoung’s shoulder.

“Look on the bright side. They may be seeking a refuge somewhere else and will be back tomorrow––”

Sooyoung shot Victoria a glare and questioned her before she was able to finish her sentence.

“What do you know? We couldn’t contact them at all! What does that mean?”

Amber, a young female hunter with extremely short hair that made her look like a guy, slipped in between Sooyoung and Victoria hastily, hiding her partner behind her back.

“Sooyoung unnie, I know it is hard for both of you. But do not vent your anger on Victoria.” Amber glared sternly into Sooyoung’s eyes.

Amber was like a second Tiffany, her possessive towards Victoria was far worse than how Tiffany treated Yuri. Tiffany might not be happy when anyone got too close with Yuri, but she never restricted her interaction with anyone. As for Amber… before Amber appeared, Victoria was originally very close to the girls. And since she is a few years older than the most of them, everyone saw her as an elder sister to rely on.

However, ever since Amber came into Aurales and was assigned to be Victoria’s partner, everything changed. Amber was very possessive when it was about Victoria. Unlike Tiffany, who usually only interrupted when anyone gotten too close with Yuri, Amber always glared at them as though they had stolen her toy whenever Victoria chatted with them.

In order to lessen the troubles for Victoria, the girls gradually distanced themselves from Victoria until now, where they only conversed whenever it was work-related.

“Amber.” Victoria pulled Amber back by her shoulder. Her tone hinted her displeasure towards Amber’s unfriendly attitude. “Don’t use that tone on Sooyoung.”

“Vic––” Amber didn’t like how Victoria sided Sooyoung.

Victoria patted on her face lightly. She let out a soft sigh, “You’ve been out for the whole day. Go back and take a rest now.”

One thing about Victoria, she was too nice and friendly. And as much as Sooyoung could remember, she had never seen an angry Victoria before. That was probably one of the reasons she never blamed Amber for the loss of her friends and the latter’s possessiveness towards her.

Amber shot one last glare at Sooyoung before she spun around and exited the garage.

“Sorry.”

Sooyoung heard Victoria apologizing.

Sooyoung shook her head immediately and returned Victoria an apologetic look. “I should be the one who is saying sorry unnie. I’m sorry for shouting at you.” It wasn’t Victoria’s fault in the first place, she shouldn’t have done that to her.

Victoria shook her head and drew a gentle smile on her face. She patted on her shoulder, “Don’t worry about it. I know it’s hard for you and Yuri.” She stole a quick glance at Yuri, who was still staring at the car without a word.

Then, the corner of her eyes noticed the blonde who was standing not too far away from Yuri.

“That’s…”

Sooyoung followed her gaze and found Victoria looking at Jessica.

“That’s Jessica. She’s the victim Yuri and Tiffany saved last time.”

Victoria asked curiously, “The one from Dehan I heard?”

“Yeah.” Sooyoung nodded. “Since Dehan was already destroyed, she doesn’t have a place to stay right now, so Mr. Headmaster left her with us.”

Victoria took a quick glance at Sooyoung before turning back to Jessica again. “It looks like she is interested in Yuri.” She commented.

“Uh…” Sooyoung scratched her head awkwardly. “If I’m not mistaken, they are together now.” Yuri didn’t really announce her relationship with Jessica to her, but they wouldn’t have kissed if they weren’t couple… right?

Victoria was surprised. “What about Tiffany?”

“I… don’t think she has gotten the chance to know about it yet.” Her gaze became dull. If Tiffany and Yoona never made it back, they would never know about this forever.

Victoria sighed and patted on Sooyoung’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

Sooyoung shook her head and replied, “Don’t be. And I’m sure Tiffany and Yoona will come back, won’t they unnie?” Tiffany was one of their best hunters, wasn’t it? She trusted Tiffany would protect Yoona and bring the both of them back to Aurales safely.

Well, hopefully.

“Don’t think too much Sooyoung. Have faith in Tiffany and Yoona. They are not that easy to deal with.”

Sooyoung replied with a restless tone, “I hope so…”

Withdrawing her hand, Victoria turned around and approached Jessica, offering her a handshake. “Hi, I’m Victoria.”

Jessica was surprised to see another hunter greeting her. She diverted her attention away from Yuri hurriedly and turned to the stranger lady.

“Hello…”

Jessica’s brows knitted slightly together after she took Victoria’s hand in hers and shook it. She lifted up her head and stared directly into Victoria’s eyes.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Hmm?” It was Victoria’s turn to be surprised. The blonde’s gaze looked too serious that it startled her a little. “Um… Sure?”

“Does the headmaster assign the hunters for assignment when they’re pregnant?”

Victoria pondered for a second, “Well, that depends on what kind of assignment they are assigned to.”

“What if it is like the patrolling you went earlier?”

“They won’t.” Victoria frowned and answered sternly. “It will be too dangerous for the pregnant hunters if they involve in fights. Mr. Headmaster usually assigns paperwork to them.”

“I see…”

Victoria became curious. “Why did you ask?” It couldn’t be that she was asking on behalf of Yuri right… Victoria stole a quick glance at Yuri unconsciously.

Wait, what is she thinking? There is no way this Jessica girl can make Yuri pregnant!

Embarrassed by her own thoughts, Victoria forced herself to put on an indifferent expression to hide those reddish cheeks.

Jessica seemed to be oblivious about it and smiled at her innocently.

“Nothing, I’m just curious.”

Just then, a voice interrupted them. “What are you guys talking about?” It appeared to be Yuri who had finally moved her attention away from the wrecked car.

If there was anyone who could stop Yuri from thinking about Tiffany, it would be Jessica – that was what Sooyoung thought when she saw Yuri going to Jessica and talked to Victoria.

“We are just chatting around.” Jessica hooked her arm around Yuri’s elbow and replied.

Victoria had the urge to ask her about Tiffany, but seeing how inappropriate it was to discuss any topic which concerned Tiffany with Jessica around, she decided to hold back her question first.

Placing her palm on Yuri’s shoulder, Victoria gave her a gentle squeeze before saying, “Yuri, I believe the chances of them alive are high since they are missing from the scene. We should have faith in them. I don’t believe anyone is able to take down Tiffany and Yoona that easily.”

Yuri nodded and muttered, “Thanks unnie.”

“I’m going go back to my room now. You should take a rest too, alright? We’ll see how it goes tomorrow morning.”

Yuri nodded again while Victoria spun around and headed for the exit.

“Victoria!”

Just as Victoria was about to step out of the door, she heard someone calling for her. Surprised by the call, she turned around only to be greeted by a hug.

“Thank you!”

She recognized the voice. It belongs to that Jessica girl.

“Please take care.”

Victoria heard Jessica whispered in her ears just before she released her and ran back to Yuri. Frowning, Victoria stood at the door for a while more and observed the innocent-looking blonde who was trying to cheer Yuri up.

What a weird girl.

Victoria thought to herself as she finally exited the garage.