chapter.21  »  before the meeting.

Work dragged on and on the very next day.

Whatever thought was lingering in my head, I didn't know, but the previous night I decided it would be smart to stay up late at night watching a Harry Potter movie marathon.  Heavy bags under my eyes were visible the next morning, and I nearly flipped myself out when I looked into the mirror and saw my face.

“What were you even doing last night, Soojin?  You look like a zombie.”  Mara said, arranging the spoons on the counter.

I slapped my cheeks.  “I told you, I had a movie marathon.  And I only got to watch three of them since they're two-hours-or-so long each.”

Mara sighed.  “Well... You got to get yourself together, we've got customers coming in.”

I looked at the door, and indeed customers started walking in and sitting on the empty chairs at each vacant table.  Sighing, I continued wiping the table I was cleaning.  The day will end, the day will end, I kept muttering under my breath.

All of a sudden, Seungpyo whistled.  “Here goes Santa Claus.”

Sure enough, Jonghyun walked in.  His hair looked damp as if he just got out of the shower (or got watered down by cars driving on puddles).  He ruffled it and found a seat just by the door, rubbing his hands together to keep warm.

Seungpyo chuckled as he passed behind me.  “You don't look so tired now, do you?”

I rolled my eyes, placing the rag inside one of my apron's pockets and walked off to Jonghyun's table to take his order.

Soojin walked out of the house like a mummy, dragging herself out the door.

I immediately felt bad since I got to have more sleep than she did.  Right after the Sorcerer's Stone, she decided to watch another movie in the series.  I, on the other hand, slept after she ejected the first disk from the ‘DVD player’.

Several minutes after she had left, I ran around the house as usual.  I kicked the ball around and followed it, just to kick it again to another direction.

Then there were grey and black smoke entering the house through the gap under the door and in between the windows.  The smoke swirled upwards until the tip reached the ceiling, finally settling down and un-swirling back to the ground, creating a ground full of light silver smoke.  The witchess stood in the middle.

Her cheeks were streaked with dried white tears.

“Jonghyun's really loving it here, huh?”  Seungpyo leaned his chin on the mop handle as he inspected Jonghyun.

Mara snickered.  “He's only loving it here because of a certain someone.”  They both laughed and hi-fived each other behind me.

I shook my head.  “Let's get back to work, guys.”

“Oh, I see.  Trying to change the subject now, are we—”

“No, Seungpyo,” Mara cut him off.  “Get back to work.”

Seungpyo sighed and resumed his mopping.  “Fine.”

With the spray bottle and rag in hand, I cleaned the windows and the corners of the window sills at the backmost part of the café.  Scrubbing was fun, only because I was trying to avoid everyone else.  And by everyone else, I meant Mara, Seungpyo, and Jonghyun.

Not only Mara and Seungpyo's teasing was starting to get on my nerves, but also because Jonghyun's stares were getting creepier and creepier each second.  It was also starting to get annoying.  Like he was trying to tell me something, but wouldn't, so he just resorted to looking at me.

I was scrubbing too much on the window that I didn't notice someone tapping my shoulder.

The witchess was frantic.  She instructed me to make her hot tea without using words after she had turned me human.  I gave the tea to her, and she took it, shaking in the process.

She sipped from it silently, sitting on the couch with her right leg crossed over her left leg.  Her hands shook again as she tried to place the saucer and the cup on the coffee table.  Then she looked at me, and there I noticed that the white of her eyes were a light shade of pink.

My eyes widened.  “A- Are you alright?”

“Yes.”  She answered quickly, wiping her cheeks.  “Yes, I'm fine.”

“Are you sure?  I mean, you don't look so—”

“I'm fine!”  Her tone slightly was raised.  “I'm fine.  I apologize for my tone.”

I dropped my head low.  “I'm sorry as well.  I shouldn't have asked.”

Long silence followed.  I had a feeling we were both trying to find the right words, even when they were just at the tip of our tongues.  Until—

“I have got to tell you something.  Something you should have known... days ago.”

My ears were perked up, listening intently.  I could feel my cheeks burning:  I should have been told this days ago.  “What is it?  Please tell me.”

The witchess gulped.  It was followed by quietness again.

“Please!”  I begged.  “I should have known this before, you said so.”

“Alright.  I will tell you.”  She blinked, then gazed into my eyes, boring holes through my heart.  “But promise me, you will not plead to bring you back.  It will be too dangerous... and it is for your own good.”

“Just... please.  Please tell me.”  A growing lump was stuck in my throat.

“Kemwen...”  She trailed off.  And I had the idea.

“No.  No, it can't be.  No—”

“Kemwen has declared war against Preriloth.”

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

so... i realized it'd be too long if i added more to this, so i decided to divide it into two parts.  this is the first part, and Jinki now knows... and we shall wonder what's to happen next ~ heheh.  thank you guys for reading, and welcome, new subbies!  have an awesome day, and God bless!  *p.s. should i start chapter headers?*

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