Chances

3 Ways [Hiatus]

>_____<;;

Namjoo returned to work a week later. Her mind couldn’t rest, but time wasn’t stopping for her. That lazy Monday afternoon she looked away from the computer when the door opened and saw Changmin walk in with a tiny basket of fruits and a small vase of flowers.

“Heard you returned today,” he smiled, “thought some healthy things would cheer you up.”

“Thank you.”

“Glad you’re back, advice giver,” Changmin teased, “your sister was a real mess without you in the picture.”

“I heard you’re going on a date.”

“Oh it’s not a date,” Changmin shook his head, “it’s a friend thing.”

“It’s a date,” Namjoo insisted until Changmin shot her a snort.

“I just stopped by to drop these off,” Changmin said, “good luck, I hope you feel better.”

“I have a question,” Namjoo stopped him, “you must have been around quite a lot in the area of your work, right?”

“Well…I do go around here and there,” Changmin shrugged. “Why?”

“Have you…ever seen a field of golden wheat?”

Changmin raised an eyebrow, “A field of golden wheat?”

“A vast area, there’s nothing there but gold wheat with an auspicious glow,” Namjoo slightly shut her eyes for the picture of the field the soldier had brought her to.

“Hmm…” Changmin thought for a while, “I might have seen something like it before.”

“Could you…look it up for me?” Namjoo asked. “Please, it’s important.”

“Ok,” Changmin gave in after a second.

>_____<;;

“Oooh…who gave you those?” Chorong questioned when Namjoo walked in through the door.

“Victoria’s boyfriend.”

“She could kill you for that, you know.” Chorong warned while continuing to chew on her piece of cracker and followed Namjoo into the kitchen.

“They’re going on a date anyway.” Namjoo set the basket down onto the kitchen table and sat down to open it. Grabbing an apple she bit into it and turned to look at Chorong who was staring at her, “What?”

“Nothing,” Chorong shrugged and sat down on an empty chair.

“You lie,” Namjoo accused.

Chorong let out a baffled laugh before her lips, “I was just wondering, you know, I mean, I don’t mean to make you guilty or anything of that sort. I’m just thinking…have you thought of Chanyeol lately? I’m just asking…he did come to see you quite a few times in the hospital.”

Namjoo’s eyes still remained blank of any emotion even as she chewed away on the piece of apple in . For a long minute she chose not to say anything.

“I’m sorry,” Chorong apologized, “ugh…I knew I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Don’t exaggerate,” Namjoo said almost sarcastically, “it’s fine. I’ll go see him, but I want to do something for myself first.”

“Don’t pressure yourself,” Chorong comforted, “it takes time.”

>_____<;;

“Make sure to call if anything happens,” Victoria reminded slipping into her shoes by the door. “You two will be ok, right?”

“Get lost already,” Chorong rolled her eyes and hugged the couch pillow closer to her chest.

“Be careful anyway.”

“What can possibly happen when you’re gone?” Namjoo asked.

“Oh I don’t know, you tell me,” Victoria mumbled. “A ghost? Someone from the future?”

“Don’t jinx. That’s a very dangerous thing to do,” Chorong warned.

Victoria let out a sigh of annoyance before she reached for the doorknob, “Remember to call me!”

Her sisters raised their arms up to salute her with a wave without turning to look at her. She rolled her eyes and pulled the door open before walking out. She and Changmin had agreed to meet up for dinner instead of carpooling, since going together in one car might signify that they were dating, and Victoria did not want them to be seen that way.

Victoria was led to their circular table by a waitress dressed in black and white and handed the menu when seated.

“What would you like to drink?” she asked. “Our chef recommends the house specialty, red wine tonight.”

Victoria let out a laugh and tried not to look at Changmin who was busy looking through the menu.

Holding her hand up she said, “No. Just water would be fine.”

“Then take your time, I will be right back,” the waitress said before walking away.

Victoria puffed out a breath of air and watched her hair slightly float up into the air before falling back down lazily against her face.

“No alcohol, I see,” Changmin commented without looking up at her. “I was told you have quite the thing for wine.”

Victoria looked up at him through her half closed lids, “Who told you that?”

“Ah…well…just saying,” Changmin excused.

“I like wine,” Victoria returned her eyes back to the fairly costly menu. “I’d rather drink it than beer or liquor.”

“Interesting.”

Victoria flipped through the pages of the menu and closed it, “I’m ready. What about you?”

“I’m an indecisive person when it comes down to food,” Changmin explained himself, “I came from a picky family.”

Victoria raised a brow.

“I don’t eat fish or pork,” Changmin told. “Ok, I guess I’m ready to make my order.”

He closed the menu and when the waitress came back, gave their orders before she walked away chirpily.

“Say,” Changmin began, “does Namjoo have a boyfriend?”

“What?” Victoria’s face contorted up into that of confusion and shock at the question.

“I have a friend who might be interested,” Changmin started.

Victoria let out a not-really-sarcastic laugh, “No. I don’t think so.”

“Why?”

“Lets just say she’s reserved for the time being.”

“What about Chorong?”

“On a hold too.”

“Oh…”

“Next topic.” Victoria tapped the table and looked over at him.

“Right,” Changmin shifted in his seat.

“Changmin, do you separate your profession from your personal life?”

“Is that important to this?” he asked.

“Yes,” Victoria nodded.

“I turn a blind eye every now and then,” he said. “Unless, of course, the other party decides to be honest with me then circumstances may change. Lets do a topic switch now. What are you going to do after graduation, Victoria? Sell handmade accessories with your boss?”

“No, I was actually thinking about finding a job,” Victoria replied. “I don’t want to keep using my grandma’s money forever. I also want to be able to support Chorong when she goes back to school and support Namjoo until she gets married. Those are the few things I want to do the latter half of this year.”  

“You’re very family oriented,” Changmin commented, “not that it’s a bad thing. Don’t you want to do anything for yourself?”

Victoria’s eyes turned slightly solemn. Pressing her lips together she darted her eyes toward the floor.

“Not very,” she told, “I was never family oriented.”

This look of having unexpected her reply crossed Changmin’s face, but he didn’t say anything. He just slightly raised his brows and continued looking at her as if there was still a story to be finished.

When Victoria said no more he commented, “Well you are family oriented now.”

Slightly tilting her head down she pulled a tiny smile onto her face, “I’m hoping to make up for what I threw away earlier. Sometimes, people with families don’t realize how lucky they are. Starting over from scratch isn’t too bad either. I’m just glad I’m not alone during this time.”

“I’m sure your sisters feel the same way,” Changmin agreed.

“I know they do.”

“Ok,” Changmin said when he spotted the waitress heading toward them with their food, “now that we’ve talked about that, should we change the subject before you might cry?”

Victoria rolled her eyes and turned away to snort before grabbing her cup of water.                      

To be honest, she enjoyed dinner. Before she and Changmin split they promised to meet for a movie the next time around. It was about time, she thought, that everything start falling into place.

She could hear a movie playing in the living room upon walking in through the door. When she peeked into the living room she saw Chorong and Namjoo asleep in their own messy ways on the couch. Quietly making her way in she picked the remote up from the coffee table and turned the screen off before turning to look at her sleeping sisters.

If Chorong was able to find a resolution and move away from Woohyun she might be happier. She’d been in the same spot for so long, Victoria didn’t know how she was dealing with the same emotions that came and went in circles. Maybe Chorong had accustomed herself to the grief over losing Woohyun that she didn’t know how to let go. And Victoria hoped that if Suho liked her as she’d heard, that he could help her let go of it.

Pressing her lips into a satisfied smile she squeezed into the small space between the two and sunk back into the couch. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and opened them again before turning to look at Namjoo.

Victoria hadn’t spoken to Namjoo about Chanyeol since her hospital stay for hope that she would start talking about him herself, but Namjoo hadn’t mentioned him the past week. Victoria did want Namjoo to find peace with herself, but she also hoped Namjoo wouldn’t only grieve over Luhan. Namjoo had been through the worst since receiving their powers and Victoria wished Namjoo’s path would become easier now that she’d already lost the same person twice.

If all that could be done and solved, everything really would be perfect. All that needed to be done now was to look for their mother’s killer. Before falling into a slumber Victoria prayed that luck was on their side.

>_____<;;

“So are you going to speak to Officer Park about this first?” Chorong wondered the next evening.

“There’s a chance Officer Park might know of this minion,” Namjoo suggested.

“Would that be risking too much? What if endangers us instead?”

“Well he didn’t say anything about ‘come alone,’” Chorong reminded.

“On the other hand, is it necessary to tell Officer Park about this?” Namjoo asked.

“He knows more than we do,” Victoria told, “I mean, about all this power stuff.”

“I hope you’re not forgetting that he’s the devil in disguise,” Chorong blatantly said.

“Of course,” Victoria glanced at her. “But on the other hand, we need to worry about how to defeat Lee Shin Il. There has to be a reason why he wants to lure us out, and I’m pretty damn sure he doesn’t just want to give us directions to the mastermind behind mom’s death.” 

“Why would he want us out?” Namjoo questioned.

“What did you two talk about when you confronted him?” Chorong asked.

“Nothing much, really,” Victoria shrugged, “but I know for certain, we will need a plan. He won’t let us go without a fight. We need to defeat him to get to who’s next in line.”

“Ok,” Chorong nodded her head slowly, “but how do we get water to solidify. More or less, even defeat it.”

The three girls silenced over the dilemma before Namjoo suddenly slapped the dining room table.

“What an easy question,” Namjoo commented.

“Ah…” Victoria’s neck sprang back upon finally realizing the situation. “That works too. Wow, we have a magnificent plan.”

“What?” Chorong asked confused. “Wait, am I not on the same wavelength or something here? How come I’m not reading minds here?”

“That, you’ll find out,” Victoria told Chorong. “I’ll go play a little with Officer Park tomorrow while you’re at work,” she glanced at Namjoo then to Chorong, “and you deal with whatever you need to.”

Chorong’s lips dropped open helplessly as her sisters left the table. What kind of plan had they just come up with?

That night before she slept she paced around in her bedroom and paused to look at the wall with Woohyun’s pictures. High school memories flashed through her mind and she felt a smile crawl onto her lips as she crossed her arms.

“You’re probably laughing at me,” Chorong softly said. “You probably know what’s going to happen. I still look like a fool anyway, don’t I?”

She waited in silence as if Woohyun would reply, but only his smiling 17 year old self stared back at her as if amused.

“You’re telling me to go on, aren’t you?” Chorong asked feeling somewhat down.

The door opened a second later and she turned to see Namjoo at the doorway in her pajamas. Namjoo gave her a small smile before closing the door and climbed into her bed as if it was hers.

“Talking to yourself?” Namjoo asked crawling under the blanket.

“No,” Chorong lied dropping her arms to her sides before turning off the light and pulled over the blanket before getting under it.

They lie there silently on their backs staring up at the empty ceiling. Each having their own thoughts about what was to come, what had went by, and what they wanted.

“I would have gotten married by now,” Chorong closed her eyes to imagine herself and Woohyun together. “Beaten you and Victoria to having children and a husband.” Then she quietly laughed. “But when I talk to him, he doesn’t answer me back. Not even in any kind of supernatural spiritual way.”

Namjoo turned to look at her sister.

“It’s like he’s telling me to forget him already,” Chorong continued. “Isn’t that a little too mean?”

Chorong felt her heart break into little pieces.

“I’m sure he knows,” Namjoo turned to wrap her arms around her sister. “Woohyun only wants you to live and be happy.”

Clamping her eyes shut she put a hand up to grasp onto Namjoo’s.

It would be her second week home alone while Namjoo was at work and Victoria at school. Chorong still had to adjust to this, but she thought it wasn’t so bad. This was the kind of silence that calmed her and she usually spent it cleaning around the house or catching up with her dramas.

Today, though, was a new period of time for her. That morning when her sisters left, she spent almost an hour pacing back and forth in front of the phone sitting on the dining room table.

To call or not?

The last time she saw Suho she’d promised to call him.

Chorong nervously bit onto her lower lip and tapped a finger against her chin. Almost 15 minutes ticked by before she finally picked up the phone, but while she listened to the phone ring she almost wanted to hang up. She didn’t think she was ready for this, but it was too late.

“Hello?” Suho picked up. 

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Comments

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princesseli9
#1
Chapter 77: Read this in 2014 and I'm still waiting for the next chapter
moonlightangel77 #2
Chapter 4: Ooooo the woorong feels! XD
eternalspring
#3
Chapter 76: After being mini and now chorong have another her ?? that so suprise~
let see how she can handle it... is that man mean about something going on in their world is 'her' ??
suho seems know if that girl not his chorong~
I'll wait for another update unnie hihi XD
kyuraa #4
Chapter 76: finally..finally an update
yay :D
while waiting for the update i've been away on reading blaze
it was worth, both of them :)
TashwampaRedone #5
Chapter 76: Wah-wah??? You were writing and you didn't tell me?! Oh you are so sneaky >.>
You cannot begin to understand how happy I was to see this and read it. Oh, you're back in the game girl!! <3
surong-exopink
#6
Chapter 76: So glad you updated, I really love your story :D I wonder how chorong will handle her other self oh and i loved that surong kiss *.* even if it was not the real chorong keke hopefully namjoo and victoria can find the answers they need and go back soon...
yoo_nni #7
Chapter 76: Whoaaa....finally you update
Thank you ....
DaniKato #8
Chapter 75: Please updae soon I just finished reading and loved!
Of course you can take your time :)
SuRong!
predilection
#9
Chapter 1: Just starting off the adventure you created authornim! The plot is interesting, the fact that you used Victoria and APink really suprise me. And I noticed that you have so many exopink featuring exoxnamjoo in your story collection. Nice...different^^