“How’s your day been so far?” Suho asked.

“Good. You?”

“Good too.”

Then they quieted. Chorong thought she was growing anxious and even more nervous. Should she say something or should she let him lead the conversation? But then what was the point?

“Is it just you and your sisters? I haven’t seen anyone else in your home.”

“Yea, just us three,” Chorong replied, “my grandma passed away a while ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“No it’s fine.”

“I didn’t see any family portraits in your house, if you don’t mind me saying.”

“Oh…it’s…my sisters and I each have different fathers. We didn’t grow up close to each other,” Chorong nervously replied, “we weren’t really happy so we don’t keep pictures. It’s better now though. My sisters and I get along now.”

“Ah…I see,” Suho nodded, “that sounds nice. At least you’re able to understand each other now. You seem to have a lot of fun with each other, I mean, from what I see. I wish I had siblings.”

Chorong finally turned to him. “You don’t?”

“No, I’m an only child. Then my parents divorced when I was in junior high, so I grew up with my dad,” Suho explained. “That kind of story.”

Chorong slightly turned to look out the window. “At least you had a parent.”

“Hmm?”

“My dad never stayed with us long and my mom died when I was 10,” Chorong was quiet then turned to him with a smile, “but I have my sisters, and I’m happy with that.”

They stopped by the theater first and watched a comedy movie upon her pick. Sometime along the talk about family, Chorong finally relaxed. While watching the movie she laughed loudly and freely. Sometimes she and Suho would turn to look at each other to see if the other was enjoying the movie. And the simple fact that they were sharing the same laughter and joy made the movie even more fun.

Suho didn’t put any pressure on her after the movie about where to go or what to do next and they just walked around after buying some coffee. Chorong honestly thought she enjoyed that the most. She hadn’t gone walking around with her friends after Woohyun died.

“I used to take walks here with my mom,” Suho reminisced, “and she’d let me play with the dogs at the dog café, but my dad never liked those kind of things.”

“Do you miss your mom?” Chorong questioned.

“Yea, I do.”

“Is she still around?”

“She’s out of the country now; married someone from the states.” Suho turned to look at Chorong brightly. He didn’t seem very hurt from his mom’s decision.

“You seem like a happy child.”

“I guess,” he smiled and turned to her. “You said your father’s not with you anymore?”

“He left home when I was in high school,” Chorong told. “My grandma raised us.”

“That’s still nice,” Suho commented. “Children shouldn’t have to grow up on their own.”

Chorong smiled and thought about how each of her sisters had grown up on their own. Their grandma had just been there to watch over them and there was nothing that could have been done to heal all their pain.

After some more talk about work they finally went for dinner. Everything was flying smoothly as Namjoo had predicted and Chorong found that she was enjoying herself. Suho was nice and she liked his company. From the way he talked and just how he was she could tell he was a sincere person soft at heart.

The moon was just starting to wake in the sky and the stars were glittering about prettily. Chorong would have agreed to the suggestion of taking a walk at the park, but she wanted to go home.

“Thanks for coming out with me,” Suho thanked when he stopped the car in front of her house. “I had a lot of fun. If you don’t mind, lets do this again.”

Chorong smiled and nodded, “Sure. Good night.”

“Good night.”

>_____<;;

While in class Victoria found herself zoning out of concentration. Chorong had cried last night and she’d seen it. It wasn’t the fact that she’d seen Chorong crying, but the fact that there was misery behind why she’d cried. Victoria was just coming to understand that Chorong didn’t want to be alone anymore, but she was also intimidated and scared at the same time. If Namjoo lost Luhan, Chorong might be affected the hurl Namjoo would have to go through. In a way, it would be like Chorong watching herself grieve again even if Namjoo would be the one doing the grieving.

Chorong was just troubled and being alone was probably one of her biggest fears. Was there a way to fix that at all? Victoria didn’t know how to make anything better of the situation. Namjoo’s situation was also helpless. Luhan would go no matter what and her sister would never be the same.

The stress and frustration from it made her head swirl and her splitting headache became worse by twofold. What could she do for her family?

Was it even possible to try and find out who her mother’s killer was during the meantime? How was she supposed to incorporate all these huge personal issues into working with Officer Park?

Victoria went from class straight to work and spent the evening at work. There really was nothing interesting about her life other than the fact that she had this power that came from her soul. And it wasn’t like she needed anything else for excitement since she was always occupied with family matters. But perhaps…it’d be nice if she could go out once in a while.

She didn’t want to do any of that until she had her mother’s killer brought to justice. Unless that happened she would never be able to come to terms with herself. When she walked into the house she found Namjoo and Luhan putting a 300 pieces of puzzle together.

“What’s that?” Victoria asked walking into the room.

“Something I found in grandma’s room,” Namjoo answered without looking up at her. “Do you remember what it is? I don’t remember seeing it.”

“Mom bought it for grandma’s 60^th birthday,” Victoria recalled. “I forgot she even had it.”

Victoria glanced at the castle that still had a long way to go before becoming a whole picture and looked around.

“Chorong’s not back yet?”

“That’s good news. She must be having fun then,” Namjoo commented.

“Or freaked out and ran off,” Victoria said for the fun of it, but Namjoo laughed anyway.

After leaving them alone she walked into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. Actually, she still kind of wanted to strangle Luhan for not coming earlier the other day. If he’d woken up Namjoo before the worst had happened, she probably wouldn’t be having it so hard. It was becoming a regular seeing Luhan around the house as if he lived there with them; as if he were a brother-in-law.

Truthfully, Victoria would have liked it if he just stayed there. That radiant smile on Namjoo’s face was much better to look at than the tears that flowed. If Luhan knew he couldn’t stay forever in the first place, he should have left then. Her younger sister wouldn’t have to deal with so much emotional stress. But now she would have to say goodbye again. And could she strangle Luhan because of that?

And Chorong, Victoria wished Chorong could be happier. If she’d take a leap and follow Suho her world might just change. Victoria knew Chorong was still silently grieving over 17 year old Woohyun who had come and left. If she could find it in her to move on there would be stars in her eyes.

Even after a childhood filled with misery they still seemed to be glued into the same cycle. Namjoo struggling for some happiness, Chorong struggling to move on, and she struggling to keep her sisters in check and keep on with her mother’s investigation. She knew obstacles passed, but they seemed to be facing the same problems again and again.

What was the problem? Were they fighting against fate?

>_____<;;

Namjoo woke up on the ground where she had been sitting beside Luhan last night. When she looked around he was nowhere in sight. It was obvious there would be an alarm triggering through her. Had he left without a word? No…he wouldn’t have…

Walking out of her room she started for the stairs wondering if Luhan could be on the first floor somehow, but when she neared the bottom of the steps she stopped upon seeing a figure adjacent to her. There was a dark colored cloak over his shoulders before he turned around to look at her. Namjoo glanced at him and immediately recognized him by the ugly boots he wore.

“Come with me,” she finally heard what he was saying for the first time instead of having to go near him to know what was being said.

“Who are you?” Namjoo asked. “What do you want from me?”

“Don’t you want your guardian angel to stay?” he tempted. “If you come with me, I’ll help you make it happen.”

And just like the other two times everything else disappeared around her. She could only see him; she could only hear him.

“Come with me and I’ll help you,” his voice droned on in her ears.

Namjoo felt her consciousness make a last fight for it and she questioned, “Who are you? Why do you keep appearing?”

“That isn’t important. What’s important now is your guardian angel,” he continued speaking. “Now come here. You want to come, I know you do.”

Namjoo’s lips move in a last effort to speak before her will wilted away and her legs started bringing her toward him.

>_____<;;

Victoria was first to awake even though her class started late. She was thinking that if she prepared a good breakfast for her sisters she could help cheer them up. As she started toward the stairs she heard Namjoo’s voice floating down the hall. Namjoo wasn’t one to wake up early, so what was she doing up? Who was she talking to?

Quietly nearing the top of the stairs Victoria peeped down to see Namjoo standing near the bottom of the staircase looking at someone she couldn’t see. Namjoo wasn’t one to talk to herself…who was there!?

“Namjoo?” Victoria called out. “Who are you talking to?”

But Namjoo didn’t turn to look at her as if she was held under a spell. Victoria was about to shout her name, but an invisible force suddenly pushed her back against the wall pinning her to it. Victoria’s arms were held back as well as her legs.

“Chorong!” Victoria screamed in desperation before she felt the invisible force strap itself against . “Ch…Ch…rong…”

Who was there!? Who was trying to lure Namjoo? Victoria watched as Namjoo started to near whoever was there and put up an inevitable struggle against whatever was there. She couldn’t move, not even an inch. Her heart pounded deliriously inside her chest when Namjoo left the staircase and turned toward whoever was there.

With another effort Victoria tried to scream, but felt a cough zip through her body. She was going to die if Chorong didn’t wake up soon.

Victoria’s eyes moved to her right when she heard someone yawning. Chorong appeared from around the corner with her arms outstretched before she paused midway and her eyes widened.

“Whoa…what’s going on!?” Chorong questioned before hurrying toward Victoria, but seemed to run into some kind of invisible barrier which caused her to fly back into the wall.

Chorong let out a painful shout before she landed flatly on the ground with a loud thud.

“Ow…” Chorong mumbled in pain and rubbed her chest as she pulled herself up. “What’s going…”

Victoria shook her head and could feel her face go red from the air that she was being deprived of.

“Oh my god! What am I supposed to do!?” Chorong shrieked.

She couldn’t use her powers in the house and she didn’t know where to direct her electric powers. Victoria heard a loud explosion come from the bottom of the stairs and she turned in time to see something white dissolve in midair and Namjoo fly back against the frame of the wall. Luhan appeared a split second later as Victoria suddenly slid to the ground and felt her body feel squiggly and light. Whatever had been there disappeared.

Her first instinct was the rush down the stairs and when she reached the hall Namjoo was crying out in pain.

“Are you ok?!” Victoria grabbed her and watched as Namjoo held up her hand to showcase a muddle of blood.

“Oh my god!” Chorong shrieked from the stairs before looking around.

Victoria watched Namjoo’s hand tremble before she covered her lips with her hand in horror.

“My powers aren’t working,” Namjoo’s voice shook.

“Here,” Luhan knelt down and pulled Namjoo toward him.

Victoria watched as Namjoo leaned her back against his chest and Luhan hovered his hand over the deep cut on her stomach.

“You won’t be able to use your power after he touched you,” Luhan explained. “That’s why you can’t heal yourself.”

“Touch?” Victoria repeated with a deep frown. “Namjoo, who were you talking to?”

Namjoo only shook her head unable to answer.

“Do you know who it was?” Victoria turned to look at Luhan.

The doorbell rang interrupting them.

“Stay here,” Victoria ordered and walked toward the door unhappy with the intrusion.

When she opened the door a grimace crossed her face upon seeing Officer Park.

“Well aren’t you being polite,” he said.

“What are you doing here?” Victoria questioned stiffly.

“To warn you about Lee Shin Il’s minion,” Officer Park shrugged.

“Thanks for the late warning,” Victoria narrowed her eyes at him.

The last thing she wanted was for the neighbors to see all the visits she was getting from the criminal investigator and now Officer Park. Peeping eyes were never good and the last thing she wanted was complaints about strange happenings or gossip flying around that her family was linked to criminal activity.

“Can’t I come in?” Officer Park asked.

Victoria couldn’t trust him. There was bad air about him, but she had no choice. Opening the door she watched him walk in and glanced around the street before locking the door.

“Well isn’t this a nice home.”

“I don’t think you’re here for a tour,” Victoria said following him.

“Looks like damage has been done,” Officer Park commented slyly when he saw Namjoo half lying between Luhan’s legs.

Grabbing his shoulder Victoria spun him around. “What do you want? What are you doing here?”

“One question at a time,” Officer Park ordered. “Lee Shin Il has begun his move.”

“What moves?” Chorong asked.

“To come after you three, of course,” Officer Park answered as if it were common sense.

“And how do you know?” Victoria asked.

“I’m sure he’s paid one of you three a visit,” Officer Park mentioned before glancing at Victoria. “I can sense him.”

“Because you two are of the same kind,” Victoria cruelly snapped.

Officer Park raised his eyebrows and shrugged, “I guess you can say that.” He glanced at them and said, “Looking at you three, most of you seemed to have tapped into your secondary powers. Except for you.”

Victoria stared back at him.

“But that’s ok.”

“Get to the point,” Victoria said.

“Well I just came to warn you about Lee Shin Il’s little hypnotizing minion,” Officer Park said before he started toward the front door. “He’ll be coming after the most vulnerable sister, so you better watch your backs.”

Victoria watched Officer Park walk through the door before turning to look at Namjoo. The blood had finally disappeared and Luhan helped pull Namjoo up.

“Do you remember what he said to you?” Victoria asked.

Namjoo shook her head.

“It’s probably the same person who tried luring you into the street a few weeks back,” Chorong recalled. “You also couldn’t remember why you were doing what you were doing.”

“So he’s targeting Namjoo,” Luhan concluded.

“Well we’re going to have to track Lee Shin Il down before his minion comes back,” Victoria said.

“How?”

“We’re going to have to follow Officer Park around,” Victoria said determined.

“What? Are you serious?” Chorong seemed baffled by the suggestion.

“Only evil can sense evil,” Victoria stated. 

***About time something happened, right? 

***So heartbroken lately. All these movies playing with my feels ;A; Ok, I think I'm ready to start heading toward HanJoo's goodbye scenes ;A;