>_____<;;

“I don’t get it,” Chorong closed the door to Namjoo’s room and turned to Victoria. “Why is she suddenly like that?”

None of them had slept the whole night. While Chorong and Victoria had their own meeting in the kitchen, Namjoo had been upstairs alone. Now she was just sitting there staring off into space.

“Would it be ok to leave her like that?” Chorong worried.

“There’s no other choice unless she gives us better details of what she saw when she was there,” Victoria crossed her arms. “I’m going to need two hours of sleep before heading to school. You should go to sleep too.”

Chorong nodded and watched Victoria head off before entering her room. The application for the program at SNU was still sitting on her desk where she’d put them before going to bed. After grabbing a pen and staring at the application she wondered if there had been some kind of meaning behind the reason why she’d been locked into the past with Namjoo. Or was there something for her to learn from Namjoo?

Turning her head she glanced at the pictures of Woohyun she’d stuck on the wall just last week and worried if she was being told to move on. But Namjoo seemed to be at the same pace as her. She wasn’t moving on from her feelings either, whether they were for Chanyeol or the missing part of her that the guardian angel supposedly had.

An unexpected sigh dropped from her lips before she got up and walked out of her room. When she opened the door to Namjoo’s room the lights were on and she was lying on her side wide awake. Chorong closed the door behind her and crept onto the bed with her.

“It’s been a long time since we slept together,” Chorong stated turning to put her leg over her sister and slightly put her arm around her.

Silence filled up the gap between them for a few minutes. Chorong still couldn’t sleep, but she was a little thankful for the presence beside her. It did lessen the gap in her heart she’d been trying to stray from the past few days.

“I can’t sleep,” Namjoo said quietly, “I’ve been asleep every time I laid down the past two days.”

“Probably means you won’t be seeing the King or Prince again.” Chorong combed Namjoo’s hair back and let her face sink into the fat pillow. “That’s a good thing.”

“He wouldn’t tell me anything, Chorong,” Namjoo said. “Honestly, it makes me feel a lot lonelier than I should.”

“Because you think he has a part of you with him? You barely know him.”

“He was there in Joseon Dynasty’s Namjoo’s life. He just…wasn’t there when I got there,” Namjoo told, “what if he was the reason why I didn’t want the Prince? Chorong, maybe those feelings were mine and they’ve traveled over time with me, but they’ve never awoken till now. I feel really torn and I can’t figure out why I feel this strong connection to him unless I know who he is. I just want to know who he is. Is that so much?”

“No it’s not, but Namjoo, if you think about it, Luhan wasn’t the only one in Joseon Dynasty’s Namjoo’s life. There are reasons behind everything. Whatever the case, he’s your guardian angel now.”

She heard Namjoo let out a sigh of frustration.

“Do you have feelings for him?”

“Does feeling a connection to him count as romantic feelings?”

“Namjoo, I don’t mind what decisions you make, because you’re my sister and I’ll trust in your footsteps. But Luhan isn’t human. And whether you leave Chanyeol or not, I know he’s going to keep coming back; he always has.” Chorong said. “Just think carefully about it. I don’t want you to have any regrets.”

>_____<;;

“I haven’t felt this tired in a long time,” Victoria complained after dumping her empty cup of coffee into the sink. “Feel like I’m going to be living off coffee for the rest of the day.”

“Poor you,” Chorong unsympathetically commented from the table where she was eating breakfast.

“Are you going to be in all day?”

“Probably. Still have to work on those applications,” Chorong replied.

“Then watch over the house and our troublemaker,” Victoria said. “By the way, how is she? She feeling better?”

“No,” Chorong answered. “I think she’s iffy about Luhan and Chanyeol right now. She’s thinking emotions from her past life are still with her. Gets me curious about what that guardian angel is really hiding.”

“Have any idea why he won’t tell us?”

“Well…it is between them,” Chorong pointed out. “If his death was really tragic or the reason behind it was, then he probably wants to keep his lips shut for the well-being of our sister. He probably doesn’t want to reopen the wounds the past her went through.”

“Hmm….now that makes me even more curious about why he died.”

“I know, me too,” Chorong guiltily agreed. “It’s like watching a drama.”

“Don’t get too caught up in other’s business,” Victoria reminded. “I’ll be back later in the evening. And if you really need me, call. That means if there’s an attack you can’t handle or if some Netherland creatures decide to pop in, you deal with it.”

Chorong raised her hand up to bid her farewell. Victoria only made it to the door before she saw froze upon seeing Chanyeol sitting on their doorstep. He immediately stood up when the door opened and Victoria almost had the urge to close the door in his face. For one thing, he’d seen Namjoo use her powers whether he understood what really happened or not.

“Oh…you…what are you doing here?” Victoria asked stepping outside and made sure to close the door after her.

“Actually I…is Namjoo ok?”

Victoria glanced at his arms and wondered how he had treated the burns Namjoo had given him.

“Well…she’s good,” Victoria lied.

She watched his eyes dart toward the door. He wanted to go in, she realized.

“Um…Namjoo’s caught up with a little something right now. If you give her some space, I’m sure you two can meet up later,” Victoria tried.

He stared at her before saying, “Can’t I just see her for five minutes, please.”

Victoria felt almost sorry for him. She could see he was trying really hard even after Namjoo just left him there.   

“Chanyeol, look, Namjoo’s not in her best condition right now. I don’t want you to put any strain on her. I know you only mean well, but she’s really not feeling all that great.”

“Is there something going on?” suspicion grew on his face.

“No,” Victoria immediately replied. “Why don’t you go on home, I have to leave right now.”

“What do you mean by she’s not in her best condition?” Chanyeol stalled her. “Is she really sick?”

Before Victoria could answer the door opened and Chorong stepped out before completely freezing when she noticed their presence.

“Oh…” Chorong shot Victoria a confused stare before pointing her finger toward the newspaper lying on the lawn, “I was coming for the paper. Just…excuse me…” She gave them a nervous laugh before squeezing her way through and grabbed the paper before she began dashing toward the house.

“Chorong, is Namjoo in?” Chanyeol stopped her before she could step into the house.

Victoria watched her sister stupidly spin around and had no choice, but to close the door behind them again.

“Oh…well…she’s um…” Chorong glanced at Victoria wondering what kind of excuse Victoria had used so she could use the same one in order not to look strange.

“You know what?” Victoria turned to Chorong. “You have to deal with this. I need to go.”

Victoria shot Chorong a look that told her to decide things carefully before getting into her car and drove off.

>_____<;;

Chorong repressed a sigh of helplessness when Victoria purposely ditched her. She was also forced to let out another fake laugh before scratching the back of her head.

“But really, what are you doing here?” Chorong asked. “I didn’t think you would stop by so quickly after what happened yesterday.”

“I don’t care what happened yesterday,” he slightly raised his voice frustrated with why they were holding him back from seeing Namjoo. “Namjoo wasn’t ok and I don’t want it to be the last time she wants to see me. Just…can I talk to her?”

“Of course it won’t be the last,” Chorong assured. “Listen, I know my sister won’t leave you just like that. It’s just…she’s having some difficulties right now that she needs some space to find the answers. I know she’ll come back to you after she has everything figured out. Namjoo won’t forget you that easily.”

She watched him press his lips together. “You’ll tell her I came by, won’t you?”

Chorong quietly nodded and watched him begin to turn away, but the door opened and Namjoo said, “Chorong, your phone is ringing…”

Chorong spun around to look at Namjoo before biting her lower lip and turned back to see Chanyeol slowly turning toward them. She wanted to hit herself in the face so hard.

“Great timing,” Chorong whispered.

Namjoo glanced at her, “Yea, if it weren’t for that guy who wants to talk to you and if you’ve done a better job out here.”

“Someone called?” Chorong’s eyes went wide.

Namjoo frowned at her unexpected behavior.

“Namjoo…” Chanyeol took a step toward them.

Namjoo almost took a step back in hesitation, but Chorong grabbed her arm. “It’s ok. Yesterday doesn’t matter. He just wants to talk.” Chorong turned to Chanyeol, “Why don’t you come in?” Then she turned back to Namjoo, “I’ll be in the kitchen, so stay in the sitting room.”

After watching the two settle into the sitting room Chorong made her way into the kitchen and picked up the phone Namjoo had left on the table.

“Hello?”

“It’s me, Suho, I hope I’m not bothering you.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Ah…ok…good. Just…I got some information about the program at SNU. I thought you might like to have a look at them.”

“That’s great! Thank you.”

“Do you want to meet up to get them or…”

“I can drop by the school if you’re busy.”

“Then…lets meet up at the same place we met last time.”

“The café?” Chorong asked before she felt like slapping herself. Where else had they met outside of school? “Sure. I’ll be there around noon.” 

“All right, I’ll see you then.”

>_____<;;

There was 15 minutes before class started and Victoria had decided on a bathroom break. The girl who was finishing up with washing her hands by the sink turned off the faucet and walked out after drying her hands. Victoria knew no one else was around and she felt relaxed, maybe a little sleepy but she wasn’t about to take a nap just yet.

Victoria was focused and scrubbing her hands clean and after rinsing them clean she let out a shocked gasp when she heard a male voice.

“Did you have fun last night?”

Shooting her head up she saw a man with a pudgy face with a slightly bald head looking back at her. She only saw his fat shoulders, but not his whole body. Where had he appeared from?

“Who are you?”

He laughed and pointed to himself, “Me? Who do you think I am? Didn’t you go looking for me last night?” He mocked her with his laughter. “I’m surprised, I didn’t think you’d know how to use your powers. But now that I know that, I’ll know how to better attack you.”

Victoria’s brow deepened on her face. “What do you want?”

“Oh? Maybe…you and your sister’s powers?” he pointed at her to and laughed. Lee Shin Il was certainly enjoying himself, but Victoria wasn’t amused.

“You stay away from them.” Victoria warned.

“Really? Or what? You’re going to try to attack me? This is just an illusion, you can’t hurt me, but your sisters are unaware of me. I can easily touch them, reach in for that sparkly gem, and pull it out while they suffocate…”

“What do you want!?” Victoria shrieked unable to bear any more.

Lee Shin Il chuckled so hard that his laugh turned high pitch. “Oh nothing. I’m just here to tease you. But do be careful. My minions will be on their way.”

Annoyed, Victoria flung her hands out and watched droplets of water land on the long mirror. The bathroom door opened and a girl walked in staring at her strangely before entering one of the bathroom stalls.

Victoria bit her bottom lip and walked out of the bathroom. Suddenly class didn’t seem so important anymore. Grabbing her phone she walked out of class and immediately called Chorong, who picked up immediately.

“Wow, this is amazing. You usually don’t call,” Chorong commented upon answering the phone.

“Look, be careful. Wherever you go, be cautious and always be on the lookout.”

“What’s with that?”

“Lee Shin Il just appeared to me. I don’t know if he’s just teasing, but he’s probably targeting you and Namjoo’s gems. Just…be on the defensive.”

“What? Lee Shin Il? He came to you?” Chorong questioned stupefied. “How?”

Victoria groaned frustrated, “I don’t know. Some illusion or something. But just listen, be careful. If you go somewhere, bring Namjoo with you. And if anything bad happens and you two can’t handle it, Luhan will probably come to the rescue.”

“Well that’s if Chanyeol doesn’t take her with him first.”

“What!?” Victoria raised her voice. “You didn’t get rid of him? I thought we were giving Namjoo space!”

“Oh…well…you know, he almost walked away, but our little sister here decided to appear just then,” Chorong muttered. “But I’ll make sure he leaves in a few. Calm down, everything will be ok. Over here, we have two heads, but over there you don’t. Don’t worry about us.”

After hanging up Victoria heaved a sigh and held her phone up when it began ringing again. This time it was the crime investigator calling.

“What?” Victoria monotonously asked.

“Lets see,” Changmin spun around in his chair with a paper in hand, “Lee Shin Il has disappeared off the face of earth. He’s not in Tokyo or in Korea.”

“I know.”

“What?”

Victoria shook her head and pressed a hand to her forehead, “I mean…why is that?”

“Not like I have any answers for you,” Changmin said. “What do you want to do next? Continue with the search?”

Victoria hardened her eyes on the garbage can in front of her and turned away when it tipped over. “I don’t know.”

“I have one suggestion in mind,” Changmin offered, “the biker who discovered your mom’s body is still around. I can try to contact him for you.”

“Why are you doing this?” Victoria stared at the advertisement for a roommate hanging on the bulletin board and scrolled her eyes over other campus news. “Why are you so willing to help me and my sisters?”

“I’m not too sure either,” Changmin honestly answered leaning his arms against his desk. “I just have this feeling I can’t leave you guys hanging. On the other hand, if you feel guilty for my free will, feed me dinner later.”

“Wait,” Victoria interjected, but he’d already hung up on her. 

***Lee Shin Il is coming for them!

***lolololol @ Changmin's ways

***Next chapter will be more on Namjoo & Chorong and the one after that will be mostly Vic's, just giving you a heads up.