Chapter Seventy

A few moments later, Jessica pulled away from Yuri and spun around, leaning her back against Yuri as she enjoyed the scenery before them. Yuri wrapped her arms around Jessica’s waist naturally and allowed her to play with her fingers.

“How are Tiffany and Yoona by the way?” Yuri heard Jessica asking and the smile on her face dropped immediately. “Yuri?” Jessica shook the hunter’s hand when she received no response from her.

Just as Jessica was going to turn around to check on Yuri, she heard Yuri sighing softly against her ear.

“They’re both physically fine, but Tiffany isn’t looking that good. She went berserk and tried to kill one of our guys for no reason. Yoona seems to be avoiding me as well when I asked her what happened to them during their patrolling.” Yuri lowered her head and rested her forehead on Jessica’s shoulder. “I’m feeling so lost now, Sica… Something happened obviously and it caused Tiffany to behave like this. I want to help her, but I have no idea how to do it.” The dejection in her voice was so strong that even Jessica felt bad for her.

Nibbling on her lower lip, Jessica tried to think of a solution to cheer her lover up. She disliked a dejected Yuri. The Yuri she knew should be a cheerful one, and not the one who was constantly feeling down.

“Don’t feel lost, Yuri.” Jessica removed Yuri’s arms from her waist and turned around, cupping Yuri’s face with her hands gently. “You’re only uncertain because you are oblivious to the situation. If Yoona doesn’t want to tell you, why don’t you ask Tiffany instead? I’m sure she will tell you if she needs your help and if she doesn’t, it means she is able to handle the problem by herself?”

Yuri shook her head in disagreement. “No, you don’t understand Tiffany. She always keeps her problems to herself and never shares it with anyone. Tiffany is very protective of herself. She doesn’t like it when people know too much things about her.” Which is why there were many times where Yuri couldn’t understand Tiffany despite being partners for years.

“What do you want to do then?”

“I don’t know…” The more she thought about it, the more helpless she was. There was absolutely nothing she could do now. “The only option I have is to wait for Tiffany to wake up.”

And hoped she would share her problem with her.

*

She had no idea where she was, or what was she searching for. She only knew she was dashing in her full speed towards that open space which was occupied by the tall grasses.

It was unknown when and how did the soil under her feet got soaked in water. The muddy soil was literally splashing all over the place upon the landing of her footing, wetting her shoes and staining the bottom of her pants – though – not that she really cared, because she had finally found the purpose of her existence to be here.

She saw her running around the muddy land frantically, picking up any frogs which were near her and kissed them on the lips.

It would have been a disgusting sight if she didn’t know who she was, or, if she hadn’t witnessed those tears that were rolling down her cheeks furiously.

Catching on her breath, she finally found her voice and called for her.

“Hyun…”

She was in the midst of picking another frog when she heard her.

“Yoona…” She dropped the frog in her hand unbelievably as the shocking expression spread across her face. Her tears stopped flowing for a moment and began again as soon as she realized the knight was indeed standing in front of her.

“Yoona!” She cried out loud and sprinted towards the knight with all her might.

The corner of curled highly instantly when Yoona saw her running towards her. Spreading out her arms, she engulfed the crying girl in her embrace.

“I’m back…” She found herself crying unknowingly as she closed her eyes and hugged the girl tightly. “Sorry to make you worry, Hyun––”

Yoona felt someone had lifted up her body. Snapping her eyes open, she was surprise to see Tiffany hovering over her.

“Unnie?!”

Tiffany was startled by Yoona’s voice. She would have dropped Yoona on the ground if she hadn’t laid her down on the bed. Yoona felt a pair of arms removing themselves from under her body when Tiffany moved away from her. It was then Yoona realized that she was lying on the bed which Tiffany was previously lying on, and Tiffany had taken the chair which she was supposedly sitting on.

“You should return to your room instead of looking after me if you’re tired.”

Looking after her?

Yoona blinked her eyes confusingly. She couldn’t understand what Tiffany was sayin––OH! Yoona finally remembered what was going on. “Unnie, are you alright?” She jumped up from her lying position and grabbed Tiffany’s hands worriedly.

The hunter seemed fine now from what she observed. Tiffany looked cheerier than before and obviously, the depressing expression, which she had been wearing on her face since they left Taeyeon’s house, was gone.

Tiffany flashed Yoona an assurance smile, “I’m okay, don’t worry.”

“But unnie––”

“I know what I did before I fainted.” Tiffany interrupted Yoona before she could finish her sentence. “I promise that won’t happen again.”

It sounded convincing since this was from Tiffany, but Yoona didn’t dare to put her guards down. If things were as simple as how Tiffany explained, she wouldn’t have ended up in the infirmary already.

“Are you here all the time?”

Yoona nodded to her question, “Yuri unnie and Sooyoung were here before me. I only came after them.”

“Did anyone come in after you?” Tiffany continued to ask, not giving Yoona a chance to catch her breath.

Yoona shrugged and shook her head firmly. “Not that I remember of.” Her answer immediately caused Tiffany to frown. Yoona raised an eyebrow at Tiffany curiously, “Is there anything wrong, unnie?”

“Nothing.” Tiffany breathed out a soft sigh, decided that she should keep her query to herself. “I’m going to head back to our dormitory.” She left those words and stood up immediately, pacing to the door without waiting for Yoona’s response.

Seeing that Tiffany was going to leave without her, Yoona panicked. She jumped out of the bed hastily and ran after the older hunter. “Unnie! Wait up!”

Tiffany stopped and turned around. “Wear your shoes first.” Smirking, her gaze trailed from Yoona’s eyes to her shoeless feet.

“Eh?!” Yoona lowered her head only find herself in socks. Her shoes were nowhere to be seen.

Tiffany shook her head and chortled to herself. She approached Yoona and patted on her head lightly, “I left them under the bed.” She walked to the bed and pulled out the pair of shoes from underneath it.

“I’ll be quick!” Yoona took the shoes away from Tiffany and started to put them on, while Tiffany sat on the bed as she waited for Yoona to get ready.

Yoona said she was here all the time and no one else had come in after her… Tiffany squinted at Yoona unconsciously as she watched the young hunter put on her shoes.

So who was the one that left that cooling touch on her forehead?

A gentle smile was spread across Tiffany’s face when she saw Yoona flashed an apologetic smile at her after she was done with her shoes.

Yoona?

She allowed her dong-saeng to link their arms together before walking out of the ward.

It can’t be her right?

*

Tiffany thought she was about to suffocate under Yuri’s tight embrace if Yoona and Sooyoung hadn’t pull her partner away in time. She rubbed her neck with a helpless look on her face and shot Yuri a blaming glare.

“Yah… I’m worried for you!” Yuri retorted grumpily. She was apparently not happy with Tiffany’s treatment towards her.

“Yes, yes, I know.” Tiffany would never doubt her for that.

Yuri knew Tiffany was only replying for the sake of entertaining her. Pouting, she dragged Tiffany to the couch and pressed her down on it before settling next to her. “So how are you feeling now? Better?”

“Better than what you thought.” Tiffany flashed her infamous eye-smile at Yuri. It wouldn’t have been this case though, if that person – whoever he or she was – never helped her.

Tiffany went into deep thoughts unknowingly.

She might be unconscious at that point of time, but she was still able to feel the presence of someone laying his or her hand on her forehead. That person had a cooling hand, but it wasn’t a stinging cold, rather, it was relaxing. It smoothened down her unstable mind and allowed her to return to herself.

However, the identity of the person was irking her. If one could easily treat an illness through the sense of touch, what does that means?

That person isn’t normal.

And if she was to analyze this even further – how do one heal a person through the sense of touch – she came up with another conclusion.

It wasn’t exactly the touch that was doing the healing, but a skill, a magical skill to be precise.

Goosebumps were running across her skin now. The more Tiffany pondered about it, the more she could feel that a sorcerer is hiding in Aurales now. To make things worse, the fact that she was clueless whether that person was a friend or a foe irked the hell out of her.

That mysterious person may either save them or… ruin them.

“Fany? Fany-ah!”

Tiffany broke out of her trance and found the three of them staring at her. Yuri was obviously the most worried one since she had this little fear dwelling in her eyes.

“Unnie,” Yoona called out, nudging Yuri at the same time. “Fany unnie just came back from the infirmary, I think she is still tired. Why don’t we talk about this after Fany unnie had a good rest?” Tiffany didn’t get what Yoona was referring to. But she supposed they were either talking about the patrolling or the incident which happened in the training ground when she was too engulfed in her own assumption.

“Yeah, I’m a little tired.” Tiffany lied, holding her forehead and rubbed her temple with her thumb. “I think I need a rest now.” She wasn’t prepared to let Yuri know anything just yet, especially anything that is related to Taeyeon––

Taeyeon…

Suddenly, she found herself in Taeyeon’s embrace again. She was crying to stay, but Taeyeon didn’t allow her to do so. She forced her to leave and promise that they would meet again in the future.

But truthfully, Tiffany didn’t believe her at all. She didn’t believe the promise because Taeyeon had broken their promise before. She said they would be together forever, but she left her when she thought she had betrayed her… which is not the truth––No! Stop! She had to stop thinking about Taeyeon!

“I’m going back to my room first.” Tiffany announced to her friends nervously. She could feel that she was getting unstable again. The thought of Taeyeon was messing up her mind once again and also… digging out those unexplainable memories in her head.

Tiffany gritted her teeth tightly and rose from her seat. She dashed towards the stairs and ran up to the second floor as fast as she could.

“Unnie, I’ll go with her!” The moment there was a change in Tiffany’s expression, Yoona sensed something was amiss. She got up from her seat as well and went after Tiffany quickly.

Yuri wasn’t going to stay still and watch them leave just like that obviously. She followed right behind Yoona, leaving the only living soul, also known as Choi Sooyoung, in the foyer.

“Yah! Wait up!” Realizing she was the only one left, Sooyoung chased after her friends hurriedly.

As soon as she stepped into the second floor of their dormitory, Sooyoung found herself surrounded by a heavy and eerie atmosphere. Yoona was standing right in front of her, taking up most of her vision. Through the space over her partner’s shoulder, Sooyoung managed to spot Tiffany standing even further away from her. Yuri was standing next to her and for some reason, she looked rather tensed?

Sooyoung narrowed her eyes at the scene and took a few steps forward cautiously. She somewhat managed to capture a glimpse of the golden locks that was blocked by Tiffany––Scratch that! Jessica wasn’t blocked by Tiffany! She was actually in Tiffany’s embrace?!

“Ah!” Sooyoung let out a loud gasp unconsciously and broke the tension between the trio who were staring, or glaring whatever, at one another unintentionally.

Tiffany was the first to react. When she realized she was actually hugging Jessica, she pushed her away harshly and continued her way to her room which was located at the far end.

Yuri rushed to Jessica immediately and held her in her arms protectively.

“You alright?” Yuri asked. Her tone was filled with worries.

Jessica shook her head and forced out a smile, “I’m okay.”

Sooyoung was still clueless at the situation. She nudged her partner and whispered, “Hey, what’s going on here?”

Yoona took a quick glance at Sooyoung, She whispered back, “Jessica unnie happened to come out of the room when Fany unnie walked by. They bumped into one another and Jessica unnie somehow falls into Fany unnie’s arms.”

Sooyoung brought her hand right next to instantly, in case she released any loud gasp like earlier on, she could block it off in time. “What about Yuri?” She asked. Yuri was only a step faster than her, but she saw her standing next to Tiffany and Jessica when she reached the second floor.

Yoona explained, “Yuri unnie was worried that Fany unnie will hurt Jessica unnie, so she rushed forward to stop them.”

“Ahhh…”

“I think I need a rest too. Wake me up when dinner’s ready.”

Sooyoung watched Yoona entered her room until she disappeared from her sight completely. She was about to tell Yuri the exact phrase Yoona had told her when she realized she was the only one left again.

“Kwon Yuri, you lovesick freak!”
 

A/N: We have finally reached the chapter which I stopped in SSF (ノ￣ω￣)ノ Meaning to say, the updates from this chapter onward will be very slow... ヽ(ー_ー )ノ