>_____<;;

Chorong had just printed out the application forms for the program at SNU when her phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Ah…it’s me, Suho, Teacher Kim, remember?”

“Oh yes,” Chorong nodded as she walked out of the library.

“It’s a little early for lunch, but I don’t have class for the next hour,” he told, “do you want to have lunch with me?”

Chorong glanced at a blind date advertisement on one of the buses passing by before she felt a frown overcome her face. As she made her way toward the street to get to her car she saw a couple discreetly holding hands by the bus stop and another young couple flirting as they passed by. If these weren’t signs for the wrong person, she didn’t know what to call them.

“Hello? Chorong?”

“Still here,” Chorong laughed awkwardly before getting into her car, “I have time, where are you?”

Along the way to meeting Suho Chorong stopped by a small shop when she saw dream catchers in the window display.

Suho slightly waved toward her when he saw her walk into the café. Chorong bowed toward him before taking the seat across from him.

“Just a sandwich?” she questioned peering at the plate in front of him.

“It’ll have to do for now,” he said then asked, “where did you come from?”

“Ah…the library and some store,” Chorong explained. “How’s school?”

“It’s always the same,” Suho replied. “So what are you doing now?”

“Home,” Chorong told, “since I’m unemployed, but on one hand it’s like a full time job.”

“Big family?”

“Not really,” Chorong replied suddenly regretting her little comment. “It’s just me and two of my sisters. We didn’t really get along at first, but we’re actually pretty ok these days.”

“Ah…family stuff.” Suho nodded.

“Yea, that,” Chorong smiled. “Has the principal returned to the school yet?”

“From what I hear, she’s not returning.”

Chorong wondered if that was good or bad. Perhaps it was partially her fault, she thought with a straight face.

“You said you were planning to learn more about teaching,” Suho reminded, “where are you going?”

“I read about a program at SNU,” Chorong piped up, “I might try that.”

“It’s a good program. I have a friend who signed up for it.”

Before Chorong could say anything her phone rang. Excusing herself she answered it to hear Victoria’s voice, “Hey, guess what? I found out where Lee Shin Il is.”

“That fast?” Chorong asked.

“No, Changmin, the crime investigator did some digging,” Victoria responded, “but here’s the catch, Lee Shin Il is going to be moving out of the country at the end of the week. We won’t have enough time to get to him if we don’t move fast.”

“So, what are you suggesting?”

“It’s a good thing both you and Namjoo are unemployed,” Victoria spoke, “we have to make our move by Friday and hope we can get something out of him before he leaves Sunday, so keep your schedules clear.”

“Have you talked with Namjoo?”

“Well I was thinking since you’re heading back home, you can talk to her then.”

“I’m not sure if she’ll be home by then,” Chorong said, “call and check up on her. I’ll head straight back when I’m done.”

“Wait, what are you doing? You’ve been at the library this long?”   

Chorong shot Suho a really quick glance, “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Your sister?” Suho asked when she hung up.

“Oh yea,” Chorong awkwardly smiled, “we have a lot of family emergencies these days.”

Suho smiled at her in reply and she wondered if she was embarrassing herself.

>_____<;;

Chanyeol leaned over to glance at Namjoo who was already fast asleep. Namjoo wasn’t speaking it, but he could feel that something was strange. She hadn’t really been herself that morning and he had expected her to pull away when they kissed, but instead she kept at it. And the way she continued kissing him turned different. It was too passionate, foreign from what he was accustomed to.

He slightly jumped at the noise of her phone ringing before he pulled it out of her pocket.

“Hey, where are you? Are you ok?” he recognized Victoria’s voice.

Chanyeol glanced at Namjoo before walking away to talk somewhere else. “Namjoo’s with me.”

“Oh…”

“I just have a question to ask,” Chanyeol said, “I think Namjoo hallucinated a little this morning and she’s been a little off, is she ok? Is there something I should know?”

“Hallucinate? Like how?”

Chanyeol tried to dig out the details from his memory, “We went to eat breakfast and she was staring at this picture of a King and his guards, and she thought the King was staring at her.”

“Oh…” Victoria didn’t sound happy.

“Is she ok? I’m just worried,” Chanyeol started.

“Ah…well,” Victoria reached up to massage her temple, “it’s been hectic for us all moving back home. I think Namjoo’s just a little stressed these days.”

“Is it…is it because of me?” he worried.

Victoria felt slightly guilty but said, “It’s not that bad. Look, I have to go. Look after her, I’ll have Chorong come get her.”

It felt like a total excuse before Victoria hung up and Chanyeol wondered for the first time if Namjoo’s wandering away was really getting worse this time. What if she really had no plans of coming back to him?

>_____<;;

And again before Chorong could talk, her phone started ringing again.

“I thought we just talked,” Chorong answered.

“Oh yea? Well we’ve got an issue on our hand,” Victoria told.

“Ok, what happened this time?”

“Namjoo’s at Chanyeol’s and she’s asleep, she hallucinated this morning and maybe her dreams are a real problem,” Victoria stated, “we need to get in touch with her guardian angel. I’m sure he knows something about this that we don’t.”

“Hallucinate?”

“Something about a King and his bodyguards,” Victoria answered. “The King seems like the big problem here. So I need you to go to Chanyeol’s and get Namjoo home before he starts noticing anything, and you two stay home.”

“Alright, I’m on it,” Chorong replied before hanging up. She turned to glance at Suho a little apologetic. As she got up she said, “Family emergency. Sorry.”

“Ah…it’s fine,” he told, “I hope everything’s alright.”

“Me too,” Chorong told, “thanks for calling me out.”

She smiled at him before walking out of the shop with the coffee he’d bought for her.

>_____<;;

Namjoo was back in the Joseon Dynasty in the little home she shared with a few others like her, who had powers they kept secret. The sun was high in the sky when one of the lower level servants walked up to her.

“The young Majesty has come to see you, my lady.”

And why was he there?

“What does he want?”

“He wants to speak with you privately.” The servant whose hair was tightly braided back added before she moved closer, “He says if you don’t see him, he’ll send an order out to capture the Master.”

Namjoo felt her face turn scornful with the threat before she immediately started out the doors toward the main building of their small fort. They were no powerful people nor were they of famous name; they were just civilians living normally under the kingdom with people who fared through the same as them. But Namjoo felt strong and confident, almost fearless which was so different from her present self.

Closing the paper doors behind her she turned to see the Prince standing inside the little sitting room. A victorious smile marked his face. It seemed as if the two knew each other well by how they reacted to the other’s appearance.

The Prince circled her before saying, “You refuse the concubine order? Do you know what you’re doing to your people?”

“I refuse to be your concubine when I am already married.”

He chuckled almost playfully, “Not under law. Under my kingdom you are a woman who is already too old to be wedded. Be thankful I want you.”

Namjoo swatted his hand away when he traced it under her chin. “Don’t touch me.”

“Ouch,” he shook his finger. “You should treat this matter with importance when someone like me who rarely comes out just to see a woman has come to see you. You cannot not marry me now. It’s already too late for that.”

He grabbed her hand and wrenched it against her back when he stepped closer, “When I see someone I like, she’s mine. It’s too sad a thing that your Master has been caught up in the village. No one will come save you now.”

The Prince pushed her against the table and swiped it clear of the little tea cups and the boiler. Namjoo listened as they broke against the ground when he towered over her and crushed her underneath his weight. A cry fell from her lips when he tore at the hanbok and d her s. Dark with anger she shoved him off and slapped him. He acted with her struggle before attacking her again. This time they missed the table and landed with a loud thud against the hard floor.

“Stay still, god dammit!” he cursed sitting above her and drew out a small knife he had hidden in his sleeve.

He slashed at her hanbok clumsily and Namjoo yelped when the sharp edge cut against her skin. She could hear commotion outside, but his guards were keeping the others from rescuing her and if they didn’t come in time she might just do the worst possible.

>_____<;;

Chorong honked at the slow cars in front of her that were too cautiously turning at the green light up ahead. How was she supposed to get to Namjoo like this?

“Hurry up!” she shouted.

>_____<;;

When Chanyeol walked out of the kitchen and back toward the bed he noticed Namjoo in her sleep, her face transitioning from an expression of fear to anger. Her eyebrows were carved deep into her face, but what really caught his attention was what happened next. Namjoo suddenly twisted in her sleep, her hand tightly clutching onto the sheets before something dark started showing on the white shirt he’d given her.

He was utterly confused for a slight moment before he recognized blood.

“Oh my god…” he muttered before climbing onto the bed and shook her. “Namjoo, wake up! Wake up!”

>_____<;;

Why was she holding back from using her powers? Namjoo didn’t get it, but obviously something about the person whose body she was in did.

She was half ; her hair that had been neatly held back was now loose and messy. There were cuts on her body, but what hurt most was the deep gash on her stomach.

No, he couldn’t go further, she didn’t have any feelings for this Prince. She couldn’t allow him to go any further when her heart already belonged to someone else. Namjoo screamed in utter fear and dug her nails into his face before she started kicking at him and before she realized it, her hands were on fire when she hadn’t meant for them to.

>_____<;;

“Namjoo!” Chanyeol continued shaking her before her eyes finally opened.

Unlike what he’d expected, Namjoo screamed at him as if he were the one attacking her. She gripped onto his shoulders and tried to fight him off before he felt her fingers literally burn into his skin. He let out a shout and jolted from the pain before Namjoo suddenly stopped fighting him and immediately let go. Chanyeol watched quiet tears fall from her eyes before she looked around and crawled off the bed.

“Namjoo, you’re bleedi…” Chanyeol began, but stopped when he realized that the bleeding on her stomach had disappeared.

Then he turned to look around shocked before both their eyes landed on the blood that had visibly dripped onto his bed sheets. He shifted to face her, but Namjoo’s eyes were dead set on his shirt. His shirt had burn marks where she’d grabbed him earlier and she assumed she’d hurt him in the process.

“Namjoo,” he called when he tried to approach her, but Namjoo took a step back and he felt his heart sink.

“Don’t,” Namjoo shook her head; her eyes looked poor and tired from the redness that had overtaken them. She looked scared and he couldn’t tell of what. “Just…stay away from me.”

“No…wait…” he began, but she wasn’t staying any longer. He watched her grab her phone before walking out with the door slamming after her.  

No, this wasn’t happening. Chanyeol didn’t care about what just happened, he only wanted her. Unable to leave it as is, he chased after her.

“Namjoo, wait!” he shouted when he raced out of the front door, but he was too late. Namjoo was already inside a taxi before it took off.

He turned around confused and upset before he heard footsteps nearing him.

“What are you doing out here?” it was Chorong. “Where’s Namjoo?”

“She left,” the words dropped from his lips painfully.

Chorong glanced at him unsure whether to give him a pat on the back or not to give him comfort. Her eyes quickly landed on the burn marks on his shirt before she looked more worried and quickly turned around to get back in her car.

What was he going to do now? Namjoo wasn’t going to come back…his instincts were right this time. 

***Things get rocky this time. Chanyeol experiences the worst and witnesses Namjoo's powers, but he doesn't know what they are yet. And problems are starting to get in the way of Chorong's life and the little things she wants to do for herself.

***Victoria's getting a move on with their mother's investigation!

***But who is this 'Master' that Namjoo was so-called married to? 

***Updating, cause honestily I feel like sh*t tonight. I'm just going to write out my feelings and hope I go into emotionless mode by the time I wake up