Chapter Eighty-One

It was already noon when Sooyoung and Yoona returned to the dormitory from their breakfast at the cafeteria. They found Jessica sitting in the foyer alone, reading a book.

“Sica unnie.”

Yoona approached the blonde and sat next to her. Sooyoung walked to the other side and sat on the individual couch.

“Hey Yoona, Sooyoung.”

Jessica clamped the pages between her fingers and greeted the two hunters.

Yoona grabbed a cushion and hugged it in front of her chest. “You’re alone? Where is Yuri unnie?” She ignored the displeasure look which was immediately reflected on Sooyoung’s face after she mentioned the person whom she wished to avoid now.

“Mr. Headmaster had learnt about Tiffany’s departure, so he called Yuri over to talk about it.” Jessica looked at Yoona guilty. “I’m sorry, Yoona. And I’m sorry to you too, Sooyoung. If it wasn’t for me, Tiffany wouldn’t have left and all of you––”

“It’s not your fault.” Sooyoung cut in and stopped Jessica from apologizing to them. She looked at the patch of white on Jessica’s neck and breathed heavily, “Tiffany is indeed in wrong for trying to hurt you. You could have lost your life back there.”

“But––”

“But that doesn’t mean Yuri has the right to slap her and said those hurtful words to her.” Sooyoung didn’t give Jessica the opportunity to voice her thought and continued on. “Jessica, this is between Yuri and me. You don’t have to speak up for her. I will forgive her eventually when she realized her own mistake.”

“Yah Sooyoung––”

“Not you too, Yoona!” Sooyoung interrupted her partner before she was able to say anything. “You guys can save your breath if you want to apologize for her. I don’t need an apology, all I want is to see her realizing her mistake and admit it!” She stood up from the couch abruptly. “I’m going to take a rest now. You can continue your chat without me.” And she left the foyer without waiting for anyone’s reply.

Jessica heard a sigh coming from Yoona. She averted her gaze from Sooyoung’s disappearing figure to Yoona.

“Sooyoung is really mad this time.” Yoona said with a heavy sigh. “I don’t think she is going to forgive Yuri unnie that easily, unless Yuri unnie apologizes to her sincerely.”

“But…” Jessica stopped before the second word. She had no idea what to say.

Yoona placed her hand above Jessica’s and patted it. “Unnie, I know you’re trying to help Yuri unnie. But she… really went a little overboard this time.” She let out a sigh again. “Sooyoung didn’t want to quarrel with her actually. She merely wanted Yuri unnie to apologize to Fany unnie, so they won’t be awkward later, but Yuri unnie refused to acknowledge her mistake and screamed at Sooyoung. She insisted she wasn’t wrong and all that. Sooyoung was really pissed off by her response, but that isn’t really the reason why she is so mad.”

“Is it because of Tiffany’s departure?” Jessica questioned guiltily with a soft voice.

Yoona closed her eyes and nodded her head.

“Sooyoung thought Fany unnie left because of Yuri unnie. If only she had listened to her in the first place, maybe Fany unnie will still be here.” A drop of tear rolled from her eye when Yoona reached the end of her sentence.

She really missed Tiffany.

The sight of her tear only made Jessica guiltier. “I’m sorry, Yoona.” She apologized. If it wasn’t for her, all of these would not have happened.

Yoona wiped at her tear away and looked at Jessica. She forced a smile at the blonde lady, “Unnie, this isn’t your fault. You’re a victim too like what Sooyoung had just said.” She took a glance at the dressing on the side of Jessica’s neck and let out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad we managed to stop Fany unnie before she was able to go further. You might have lost your life back then.”

“Yeah…” Jessica looked away and answered weakly.

“But you’re safe now, unnie.” Yoona shrugged indifferently. “Well, if you looked at this situation from a positive side, it may be a good thing that Fany unnie left because that means she won’t hurt you from time to time.”

But then again, there must be a reason for why Tiffany did that. Yoona regretted deeply for not being able to seek out an answer from that cold hunter before she left.

Yoona observed Jessica who was looking away from her with a not-so-positive expression.

It didn’t seemed like there was anything wrong with Jessica either.

The hunter sighed for the umpteenth times today.

She said to Jessica, “Unnie, I’m going back to my room to rest first. Don’t think too much about this anymore and don’t put all the blames on yourself.” She put her palm on Jessica’s shoulder and squeezed it lightly. “Yuri unnie will be worried if she sees you acting like this. So put on a smile, alright?”

Yoona left after a short while. Jessica watched her disappeared into her room like how Sooyoung did and turned back to the book in her hands after Yoona was completely gone from her vision.

Smile huh?

She turned the pages to where she previously stopped.

What is the point of smiling if it’s not from the bottom of your heart?

Jessica sighed and shook her head lightly at the thought of that before averting her attention back to the book. She grimaced in reflex when her eyes spotted a particular name in the middle of the paragraph.

Without a second thought, she tore off the page from the book.

*

The atmosphere was beyond worst. It was worse than worst that no one could ever imagine. The siblings in Aurales, Hyuk-Jun and Yuri, well known for their friendliness trait, were wearing the coldest expression they ever had, staring into one another’s eyes as though they were enemies.

Ice remains as it is if left untouched. But it breaks apart when tension was enforced into it, just like the cold war which was building up between the siblings, Hyuk-Jun and Yuri.

Hyuk-Jun was the one who broke the silence between them. He stood up from where he was and walked to the other side of the room with his arms folded themselves across his chest. Facing the scenery outside the windows, he finally said, “Find Tiffany, apologize to her and bring her back to the headquarters now.”

Yuri was staring at the table top initially. Hyuk-Jun’s instruction had surprised her and she looked up immediately, giving her brother an unbelievable look.

“Why should I?” When Tiffany was the one who made the mistake!

Hyuk-Jun turned away from the window and walked to where Yuri was seated. His face looked unusually stern, and it was scaring Yuri because she seldom witnessed this particular side of her brother. Nevertheless, Yuri forced herself to remain calm and indifferent. She didn’t want to reveal her weak side to Hyuk-Jun, because that only meant she was losing to this argument.

So no.

“Why?” She heard him snorting. “You slapped her, Yuri. You slapped your partner for someone you’ve only known for two months!”

Yuri slammed her palms on the table, “Jessica is not just anyone!”

“I do not want to hear your excuses anymore. Find Tiffany and bring her back to the headquarters now. This is an instruction from the headmaster of Aurales!”

“You––”

Yuri wanted to continue with the argument, but unfortunately, Hyuk-Jun shared a different thought.

“Kwon Yuri, we are in a critical situation now if you have not notice! The people out there are turning into mutants! We need our hunters to protect them from getting harm! You do not just forsake the people out there because of these senseless conflicts you are having!”

Yuri was lost for words. As much as she hated to admit this, her brother was right about it. The people out there were waiting for their rescue. They should not have forgotten about that and neglected the safety of the people because of their little argument.

But still… it was too late already.

“I will not go.” Her voice was filled with determination.

Hyuk-Jun was going to reprimand her again, but stopped himself when he noticed the desolate in her eyes.

Yuri clutched her fists tightly together unconsciously, “She doesn’t want to be here at all. She wants to go home. Why should we force her to return?”

It was then Hyuk-Jun finally came to realization that Yuri might be hurt by Tiffany’s sudden departure too.

Perhaps even more than them.

*

It was pitch dark when she opened her eyes. She was unable to identify her surrounding but she was very sure that she was in a room now, lying on a very comfortable bed.

There was a dimmed brightness to her left. She tilted her head slightly and found it to be the balcony. The dimmed light was actually reflected from the reflection of moon on the surface of the lake.

Tiffany pushed the blanket off her body and climbed out of the bed. She paced towards the balcony and slid open its door. Cool air seeped into the room immediately, causing her to shudder.

“I see that you’re awake.”

There was a faint ‘click’ sound and dark room was conquered by light. Tiffany squinted uncontrollably at the sudden brightness before turning around to find a petite girl standing at the doorway.

“Good timing.” She heard the petite girl said again. “I’ve just finished preparing the dinner. Get a quick wash-up and come down quickly, okay?”

Tiffany did not move, nor did she answer her. She stayed still in her position and stared at her with emotion void from her face.

Sunny somewhat got the idea what this hunter was thinking. She rolled her eyes and huffed. “Taeyeon told me to come here and take care of you, if that is what you’re wondering.” But to be precise, she was here because Taeyeon wanted her to SAVE her.

So much for insisting she was going to kill her and blah blah blah, Sunny knew from the beginning, Taeyeon would never succeed in it.

Tiffany finally tore her gaze away from Sunny. She turned back to the balcony and looked at the peaceful lake in front of her.

“Where is she?”

Sunny huffed again, sounding louder and annoyed than before. “I don’t know. She doesn’t report to me.” She regretted for staying back. She should have left once she was done with the healing and not stand here, dealing with her reincarnation (according to Taeyeon’s claim).

Tiffany turned around and averted her gaze back to Sunny again. “I see.” She said softly, a gentle smile was reflected on her face and her eyes were drawn into thin curves. “I’ll come down in a minute after I wash my face.”

Sunny felt that her heart had skipped a beat.

“Okay.” Pressing her lips into a straight line, Sunny nodded and went out of the room.

I must be crazy!

Sunny thought to herself as she ran down the stairs and went into the kitchen.

For a moment, I thought I was talking to Stephanie!