Chapter Seventy-One

Tiffany was lying on her bed with an arm resting below her head, staring at the ceiling of her bedroom mindlessly. Many things were running through her mind right now; Mutants, sorcerers, magic, Taeyeon, Wooyoung, Jessica… and even Yoona. Tiffany tried her best to put anything that was related to Taeyeon aside and focused on the mysterious person who visited her when she was unconscious.

Yuri and Sooyoung were definitely out. Tiffany didn’t have any memories of them visiting her, but since Yoona said they were there before she came, she decided to cross them out as suspects.

However, if that was the case, it led her to the conclusion that the mysterious person who had calmed her down was Yoona, since she said no one entered her ward after she came.

But Yoona?

Tiffany flipped her body in frustration and lay on her tummy.

Seeing how she was able to crush those icicles easily with a swing from her blade, there might be a possibility that she had the ability to immune or know how to tackle that magical attack launched by that mysterious sorceress without any trouble. Not only that, Yoona claimed that she was the only one in her ward as well and that was exactly the time when she felt that cooling palm on her forehead.

Could Yoona be the one who healed her? But if she was the one who did it, doesn’t it mean Yoona is a sorceress as well? Which also explained why she was able to counter those icicles back then.

Tiffany buried her face into her pillow.

No… stop! She had to stop thinking this way! She had known Yoona for more than a year or so. The period might not be long, but Tiffany believed it wasn’t a fake Yoona who they were facing every day. Besides, she remembered Yoona was a victim of the mutants too. Everyone in her village was killed by the mutants, except for her. She was the only survivor among them. Because of that, she came to Aurales and volunteered to become one of them, hoping to help any victims like her and save them from the mutants’ devil hands.

That enough was able to proof her innocence.

Tiffany turned around and sat up on the bed. She allowed her eyes to wander aimlessly around the room, hoping to find something else which could distract her thoughts of Yoona’s betrayal.

And coincidence happened.

Her gaze landed on the book that was lying on her dressing table. It reminded her of the person who she wanted to forget the most.

Kim Taeyeon.

It was as if the book contained magnet, Tiffany found herself reaching for it unknowingly despite the screaming in her head told not to do so. When she finally regained her composure and realized what had happened, she was already seated down on the chair in front of her dressing table.

And her trembling hands were flipping the pages of Stephanie’s diary on their owns.

*

Yuri was preparing their dinner in the kitchen below. Jessica, as usual, could be seen standing somewhere near to her. Sooyoung was present as well, but seeing the pout on her face, Yoona concluded that her partner was forced to lend a helping hand for the dinner tonight.

Tearing her gaze away from the trio below, Yoona diverted her attention to the room which lied at the end of their second floor’s corridor.

Tiffany unnie…

Yoona wasn’t sure if she should be worried for her. She seemed fine after waking up in the infirmary, but Yoona doubted that was really the case. Especially after witnessing how she broke down when they were in that Taeyeon’s house, Yoona felt that Tiffany was only hiding her problems behind the usual look she always had, like how she always did in the past.

Letting out a soft sigh, Yoona made her way towards the closed door. As much as she wanted to leave Tiffany alone and allowed her to have plenty of rest, Yoona remembered Tiffany hadn’t had any food for today. It sure didn’t sound nice to have an empty stomach for the whole day.

Stopping in front of Tiffany’s door, Yoona knocked on it twice and waited for Tiffany’s reply. “Unnie?” Yoona called when she heard no response from behind the door. She knocked on the door again, “Unnie, are you awake yet? Dinner’s about to ready!” Still, no reply. Frowning, Yoona called again, “Unnie!” She kept on knocking, but it was as though there was no one inside the room, either that, Tiffany must be dead asleep – which was quite unlikely to happen since from what she remembered, Tiffany had always been a light sleeper.

Except for the time when they were in that Taeyeon’s house.

“Unnie, I’m coming in, okay?” Yoona called out once more with her hand gripping onto the door knob. When silence was the only reply she received, she twisted it and pushed the door open, revealing a pitch dark behind it.

“Unn––” Yoona was going to call for Tiffany when an orangish glowing light on the other side of the room caught her attention and ate up the rest of her words. But before Yoona was able to register and recognize the identity of that orange glow, it was gone immediately, as though it never exist before.

“Yoona?”

There was a soft click sound from the bed’s direction and the dark room brightened up immediately. Yoona looked towards the bed and saw Tiffany standing by her bed. Her hand was holding on to the switch to her bed lamp.

“What’s the matter?” Tiffany let go of the switch and approached Yoona with folded arms. “Looking for me?”

“Um…” Yoona decided to throw whatever query she had aside. She replied, “Dinner’s almost done! Yuri unnie said to gather quickly before Sooyoung finishes the food.”

Tiffany snickered, “Okay.” She unfolded her arms and wrapped one of them around Yoona’s shoulder before taking her out of the door together. “Let’s go then.”

“Unnie?” Yoona was surprised by Tiffany’s sudden friendliness. She never liked body interaction with anyone.

“Hmm?” Tiffany looked at her with her crescent-shaped eyes.

Yoona shook her head and returned a smile, “Nothing.” It might seem creepy, but who wouldn’t like to see a friendlier Tiffany?

*

Dinner was awkward.

Just as Yoona thought Tiffany had changed and became friendlier, her smile was gone almost immediately when she saw Jessica. However, one thing to be fortunate about, Tiffany doesn’t look as demanding like the last time when she was facing Jessica.
“Ew! Why is this vegetable so sweet?!” Sooyoung exclaimed out of the sudden, breaking the awkward silence in their dining room.

Yuri peered over and frowned. She picked up the same vegetable and placed it in .

She spat it out instantly.

“Oh gosh!” Yuri smacked her forehead and turned to Jessica, “Sica-ah, I think you passed me sugar rather than salt earlier on.”

Jessica’s eyes widened with surprise, “Did I?”

“Yeah,” Yuri replied, a smirk was forming on her face. She picked up another vegetable and turned to Jessica. “Try it!”

Jessica scrunched her face and moved away, “No…” Why would she want to try when she already knew there was something wrong with it?

“Come on Jessica, it doesn’t taste that bad, you should try it!” Joining in the fun, Sooyoung picked up the vegetable as well and shoved it in front of Jessica’s face.

“Kyaaaaa! Get away from me!”

While the three of them were having fun, Yoona had all her attention on Tiffany. She noticed Tiffany hadn’t spoken a word nor did she touch her rice ever since she sat down.

From the look on her face, Tiffany looked like she was zoning off… or whatever. Yoona was very certain that Tiffany’s mind wasn’t with them.

Heaving out a soft sigh, Yoona picked up a piece of meat and placed it in Tiffany’s bowl.

Tiffany snapped out of her thoughts when she saw that meat. She looked up and noticed Yoona was staring at her with a worried look.

“Thank you.” She flashed gentle smile at her.

Truthfully speaking, although Yoona kind of like the change in Tiffany (as in she became friendlier, gentler and warmer), she didn’t like how Tiffany always had a depressing aura surrounding her.

“Unnie…” Yoona moved her seat a little closer towards Tiffany. “Are you alright?”

“Hmm? Of course I am.” Tiffany pulled a strand of her hair behind her ear casually as she replied. She randomly picked up a piece of vegetable and placed it in Yoona’s bowl. “Have your dinner silly girl.”

Yoona knew the answer wasn’t as simple as it sounded, but she knew Tiffany too well. If her unnie refused to share anything with them, it was impossible to get the answer out of no matter how many times they asked or tried to push her.

“You too, unnie!” Yoona answered cheerily. If she couldn’t help Tiffany in solving her problem, the least she could do is to at least make her day a bright one.

Yoona stuffed the piece of vegetable into , only to have it flying out of it almost immediately. “Yuck! This veggie––!”

Almost everyone at the table was laughing out loud before Yoona could finish her comment. Jessica was half-lying on Yuri as she tried to hide her laughter behind her palm. Yuri had her face buried into her arms – which were resting on the table – her body was shaking vigorously, suggesting to Yoona that the hunter was laughing as well. And her partner Choi Sooyoung, she was the worst one out of all since she was banging the table with one hand while clutching her stomach with the other one as she laughed loudly without any restriction.

Yoona turned to her side, hoping to seek assistance from the only person who wasn’t laughing at her, but found an unusual mischievous smirk plastered on her face instead.

“How does a sweet vegetable taste like?” Tiffany grinned at her. “Is it nice?”

Okay, she was trolled by the most unexpected person who she thought would never ever play a trick on anyone.