>_____<;;

Chorong was just washing up the dishes when her phone rang. Quickly drying her hands she walked over to the table where her phone was sitting picked it up to see that it was an unknown number. Debating about whether she answer or not she stared at the numbers trying to depict whether it was a phone call from a payphone. However something was punching her instincts from the back.

“Hello?”

“Chorong, it’s me, dad.”

Chorong immediately recognized the voice and turned around to look out the kitchen doorway as if she would see her father standing there.

“Dad?” Chorong’s eyes widened.

Ever since he’d left home he’d never contacted Chorong, and she’d grown not to give a damn about it. Now that he was calling Chorong felt a bit suspicious, but was starting to realize she wanted to see him again even if he hadn’t done the best for her or her mom.

“I’m outside the house, Chorong.”

“The house?” Chorong quickly walked through the doorway and made her way to the front door.

Once the door swung open Chorong recognized her now 50 year old father standing with gray hair at the bottom of the doorsteps, phone to his ear. There were fine lines of wrinkles on his face defining all the stress he had endured after leaving.

Her hand dropped from her ear and she listened to the door close shut behind her. As her eyes zoomed in on her dad she quickly dismissed the car parked across the street and man behind the camera watching them.

>_____<;;

After pulling a thin cardigan on Namjoo started down the stairs. The house was quiet as it was when only she was home. She couldn’t hear Chorong yapping away or hear the TV blasting on full volume. Namjoo was confused. She thought Chorong was supposed to be home with her. Where had everyone gone?

“Chorong?” Namjoo called out and walked through the dining room to the kitchen. “Chorong?”

Namjoo first poked her head to see that the kitchen was empty. Had something happened? Why had Chorong left her without a word?

On the other hand, where was Luhan?

Swiveling around on her feet she trotted out of the kitchen and paused when she spotted Luhan in the sitting room. How had she missed him when she’d walked by earlier?

Coming to a halt she turned around to see him staring up at the curtain he’d fixed during their second meeting. What was he thinking about? Namjoo stared at him for what felt like a long minute before he suddenly turned around to look at him. One of those kind smiles he had lit his face when he saw her and Namjoo felt her heart grow warm. That memory of their second meeting suddenly came flying into her mind and Namjoo felt a twinge of pain as she walked toward him.

“What are you looking at?” Namjoo asked.

“Looks pretty normal, huh?” Luhan said glancing at the purple curtain.

“Yea it does.”

He finally turned to look at her and reached out for her arm. Namjoo felt him pull her close before relaxing his face against hers. The warmth vibrating off him made her feel even warmer and she felt as if she could feel his emotions coming into touch with her.

“You’re a capable person, aren’t you?” Luhan asked wrapping his arms around her. “I only like capable people.”

A smirkish smile grew over her lips as she let him lean against her.

“Please be happy, Namjoo.”

She felt him pull back and looked up at him. Namjoo slightly turned her head when she felt his thumb run along the side of her forehead and turned when she felt him give her a soft peck on the cheek. Their eyes met before he grabbed a hold of her jawline and pulled her in for a slow kiss. Namjoo closed her eyes to draw in the essence of his lips moving over hers and grabbed onto his shirt before standing on tip toes to better meet him.

Namjoo felt her head tilt back and his hand crawl to the back of her neck the more they got lost in each other. In the spur of the moment she felt her back hit the soft of her bed before Luhan climbed over her. She felt his lips hit her jawline close to her ear before their foreheads met and they quickly took a glimpse of each other before closing their eyes to kiss again.

Her heart quickly transitioned into a flurry and she felt butterflies in her stomach as their kiss transgressed on. Luhan’s hand climbed down her arm habitually before he grabbed her hand and brought her hand up beside her head entwining his fingers through hers. His grip became slightly strong before he pulled back and they stared at each other again.

Through the silence that was filling the space in her room she could hear him try to catch his breath before his eyes became soft again. His leg became still between hers and Namjoo couldn’t feel anything, but him.

“I’m sorry,” he quickly apologized readjusting the fingers entwined with hers.

Namjoo pressed her lips together firmly and didn’t make any comment before she felt him dig his face into the nape of her neck before turning his head to lie on her chest. In the mere moment Namjoo felt her heart rush and closed her eyes before clutching onto his back.

For a few minutes they lay like that before a loud crash downstairs ruined the shared intimacy. Namjoo’s eyes flew open in alarm and they both turned to look toward the closed door.

>_____<;;

“What are you doing here?” Chorong asked.

“I came to see you,” her dad said calmly. “I didn’t know how you were doing after grandma’s funeral.”

Chorong stared at her dad unsure how to react toward his visit, but seeing that he didn’t have a suitcase with him meant that he wasn’t planning to stay with them.

“Victoria and Namjoo are back home,” Chorong told. “We’re all doing good.”

Chorong caught her dad’s eyes drifting toward the house and immediately felt like she couldn’t welcome him back as she used to.

“What are you doing here, dad?” Chorong asked again.

Her father stared back at her before saying, “Your mother came to me in my dream.”

“Mom?” Chorong questioned. “Why? What happened? Did she say something?”

Her father glanced around and Chorong took a step down the stairs cautious of their surroundings.

“Chorong, are you and your sisters doing something dangerous?” her father asked.

Chorong paused and pressed her lips together. She wasn’t sure if her father knew about her mother’s powers that had been given to them by their grandma. Was he aware of anything at all?

“What did mom say to you?” Chorong questioned.

“She told me you three were in danger,” her father told. “And not to go near dangerous waters. Are you and your sisters doing something illegal, Chorong? What are you three up to?”

Chorong’s eyes stiffly opened widely, but before she could say anything the front door behind her flew open and slammed shut. She spun around immediately in alarm and felt her heart race while silence filled the air.

“What was that?” her father asked alarmed.

Her eyes opened widely again when she heard something crash from inside the house. Something strange was going on and that meant she could no longer waste time outside. Chorong started climbing back up the stairs and stopped when her dad called for her.

“What is going on, Chorong!?” he deepened the tone in his voice.

Chorong stopped and turned around, but gave up in trying to explain anything.

“Just…go back, dad,” Chorong ordered before opening the door to and froze when she saw a chair from the dining room table being aimed at her.

Screaming she ducked just in time as it flew over her and landed outside. When Chorong turned to look at it a leg of the chair had broken and her dad was looking bewildered. That was when her eyes finally swerved to the road and caught the slight crack of the open window of the car across from the house.

Quickly stepping into the house she slammed the door behind her and locked it.

“Chorong!” she heard Namjoo screaming as she ran down the stairs.

“What is going on!?” Chorong shrieked.

The house was a mess. All the tables were on the floor and the couch pillows were strewn all over the ground. The coffee table in the living room was lopsided and there were plates in the kitchen scattered on the dining room table. It was a mess, a complete mess!

“I was going to ask you!” Namjoo shouted back. “Where have you been?”

Chorong let out a shout of surprise and dropped to the floor when a pillow came flying at her.

“Is there a ghost in the house!?” Chorong shouted.

“Ghost?” Namjoo questioned before turning around to look at Luhan. “Poltergeist?” Then she turned back to CHorong and hurried the rest of the way down the stairs, “What would ghosts want with us?”

“Revenge of the Shadows?” Chorong asked getting up to her feet and turned to pick up the pillow that had been aimed at her to only discover that it was now gone. Letting out a shout she exclaimed, “Oh! This is not funny!”

She stomped into the house and stared into the living room before heading toward the dining room.

“Oh my god!” Chorong shrieked when she saw the mess the kitchen was in.

“Wow…” Namjoo exclaimed from behind her.

Everything that had been stored in the cabinets were now on the floor and the counter. All the bread slices in its bag were placed around messily.

“What is messing around with us today!?” Chorong grumbled. “I swear, if it’s a ghost I’ll find a way to slit its throat.”

Namjoo frowned at her before Chorong turned to stomp away.

“But we have a bigger problem.” Chorong explained. “My dad stopped by saying mom sent us a warning. And there’s someone watching the house.”

“What!?” Namjoo exclaimed while Luhan tried to pick up the mess behind them.

“Lets fix this mess before Victoria comes home from class,” Chorong ordered.

>_____<;;

Officer Park chuckled at Victoria from across her. He was seated behind a desk in a private office. She resented having to look at him from over the papers stacked messily. If possible she would shove it all into his face, but the fact that this office was used by many other officials held her back.

“You want to go to Lee Shin Il?” Officer Park asked. “You think it’s that easy to track him down? Don’t you think I would have gone after him if I could have?”

Victoria narrowed her eyes at him and tapped her finger impatiently against her leg.

“So you’re saying you’re incapable of doing that much,” Victoria stated blatantly. “And you want us to wait until the next attack from his next minion.”

“Don’t twist words out of my mouth,” the laughter died from Officer Park’s eyes. “I never said that.”

“Oh yea? Seems it’s what you pretty much said,” Victoria nodded her head unhappily. “I want Lee Shin Il and I want to get his minion. Can you or can you not do that much for me?”

“Why are you so intent on the chase now? You were so calm about it beforehand.”

“Sometimes defending isn’t all I do,” Victoria claimed. “If I have to attack first, I’ll do it.”

“You should know this very well may be a trap,” Officer Park said. “Nothing comes off as easy as it sounds in this world of magic. Even if you and your sisters are powerful, there’s only so much you three can do. Lee Shin Il may just be toying with your emotions. Are you completely sure about this?”

“About what?” Victoria asked. “Going after him? I won’t hesitate. If he wants to play a game, I’ll play it with him.”

Officer Park snorted before commenting, “Aren’t you a tough one?”

“Don’t expect me to be kneeling in front of you,” Victoria hissed. “I don’t ask for favors. Either you do this for me, or not. Stop beating around the bush, I hate those types of people.”

Officer Park chuckled again and Victoria had the absolute urge to just hurle herself over the desk to throw her fist into his fat nose.

“All right,” he nodded. “How did he come to you last time? Did he use an illusion to appear to you?”

Victoria narrowed her eyes at Officer Park wondering how he knew that Lee Shin Il had come to her once before.

“Oh I know everything,” Officer Park nodded his head. “So he did use an illusion to appear to you. If you want to find him, I can only tell you that he uses water. So if you intend to hunt for him, look by a river, the lake, or something. He’ll be lurking around somewhere. I don’t know where though.”

Changmin was waiting for her in the hallway just by their offices with his arms crossed. Victoria rolled her eyes and didn’t hold back from doing so in front of him. She wanted to let him see that she didn’t want to talk to him, but it didn’t seem like he had registered the message into his head.

“You met with Officer Park?” Changmin asked.

“What’s it to you?” Victoria asked looking at him with a partial glare.

“Why?”

“Personal business, don’t think you can dig into it.”

“About your mom?”

Victoria had to refrain from glaring in reply. Doing so would only tell Changmin that his suggestion was right and if he knew he was right he wouldn’t just leave it as it was. She had a feeling he would dig further into her mother’s case to come up with something just to so called ‘help’ them. And she didn’t want his help nonetheless have him involve himself lest see them perform their powers. Who knew what he would think of her and her sisters then.

“What do you want?” Victoria grumbled.

“Officer Park is strange,” Changmin lowered his voice after looking around, “don’t go trusting his ways. I heard he’s never had a record of training before coming here. His background is suspicious too. I’m just looking out for you, ok?”

Victoria felt her annoyance with him die away almost immediately. Why did he seem concerned all of a sudden? What kind of tactic was he using?

No matter what, she still felt suspicious with him. It was hard to trust a criminal investigator like him. What if he was already investigating her and her sisters and wanted to use this method of becoming her friend to look further into their lives?

After all, hadn’t he come after them because Daesung had told on Chorong? Was he still even looking into Chorong?

“I appreciate your concern,” Victoria said, “but I think I can handle this very well by myself. I won’t say it again, but I’d like it if you could mind your own business.”

Victoria shot him one last glance before she walked out of the police department. There were more important matters than worrying over Changmin’s ways, at least that was what she believed at the moment.

Upon entering her car Victoria already had a location decided in her head. And when she was there she’d call out Lee Shin Il and deal with him.