The trip back to Seoul was almost alright. Almost.  If you don’t mention the driver who tried to strangle Kyungsoo to his death halfway through the ride.

                 It happened like this. Two hours before we hopped in the van, I was mostly curious about Kai. I just can’t get away with thoughts of him talking to someone that’s not a co-protector. So, as soon as I had the chance, I singled him out.

                “Were you with someone earlier?” I asked him as Luhan left my side for a moment to check on the baggage. Kai only looked at me, no surprise nor suspicion can be seen in his eyes. “Chanyeol?”

                “No,” I hastily said. “I mean, someone…I don’t know?”

                “Hospital staff?” he said. I watched him warily. He was acting totally guiltless. Am I misunderstanding things?

                “No…” I said softly. The thing about Kai is he rarely shows a different expression. I can’t tell if he’s lying or not. “Forget it. I thought it was you that I saw.” I finished awkwardly and smiled at him. I quickly went inside the van and sat on the back seat. Soon, Luhan was beside me. The others scrambled their way inside. Kyungsoo took the front seat as usual and we finally set off back to Seoul.

                For most of the ride, I was asleep. I don’t know what it is about cars, but whenever I ride them, I just automatically feel tired even if I just had my share of rest. Luhan coaxed me to do it too, saying that there’s no real reason for me to stay up. This is a fact that was of course, proven wrong. I didn’t see how the whole thing started but they later on talked to me about it. What I saw when I woke up was the sight of Kris who was sitting in the middle knocking the life out of the driver, causing the van we’re riding to almost fell on the sea side. All that swerving gave me quite a shock. I have never been in a car accident before. Kyungsoo was in no state to drive and all of us were a little fuzzed. It turned out Xiumin and Tao just woke up too. I’d say it was pure luck that Kai had those reflexes in him that allowed him to take the wheel as soon as Kris was able to pull the unconscious driver aside. I couldn’t help but sigh. After all, it would be such a waste to die in an accident when we could have been killed by shadows and die with considerable honor.

               The incident frustrated me because I didn’t sense a thing. I hated the fact that Ji Hye was using mortals to get to us. Their souls were being tainted without permission. Kyungsoo also said that he didn’t notice anything until he saw the driver’s eyes glint maliciously. That’s when he found himself being strangled. Finger marks were still on Kyungsoo’s neck. I guess he was shaken up as well seeing that he didn’t fight back. I’m sure he knows that the driver was mortal and that made him incapable of reacting. After all, we don’t seek to hurt mortals and drag them to the Duirean world. Moreover, Kyungsoo has a great sense of righteousness, that’s why I think he was for a while, mentally struggling to think what to do until Kris did it for him.

               Kai drove for the rest of the trip. I didn’t even know he could drive. Plus, he’s barely of age. Still, he drove like a maniac. I swear I couldn’t have slept again even if I wanted to. The way he sped up the tires was so reckless, it's as if he's escaping someone on our trail.

                We stopped for a minute in one of those emergency parking areas. Though I’m not so keen on it, I let them drop the driver off to the side, enough for him to be seen by policemen or anyone who roams the area. We couldn’t risk to get attacked. Though we also agreed to just park the van somewhere in Seoul after use so it could be returned to the driver, I can’t help but think that we’re going to be marked criminals after this. I know they are thinking that too. All of us know that what it would mean is it’ll be harder for us to travel if the mortal world would interfere with us.

                Still, what we should be worrying about now is the present. Kyungsoo and Xiumin exchanged seats after dropping off the driver so Kyungsoo could seat more comfortably. The rest of the trip was then characterized by alertness running high in our veins. Relief only rush back through me when we reached the outskirts of Seoul after 2 hours. We didn’t have time to settle down after leaving the van somewhere with no CCTVs. This time, we tried to blend in with the crowd in Cheongdamdong. Also, as have always been practiced, we split up into several groups. I was basically put with Kai. Luhan couldn’t come with me and the reason behind that is they said the enemy would expect me to be with Luhan. Luhan didn’t even argue about it, but he seemed hesitant. Still he said, it would be better that way because he’s planning on checking up on secret spots laid down by the school so we could get some resources. I thought then that Kyungsoo would come with me as he always does, but I ended up with Kai because again, they all agreed, that Kai is the best one to conceal me for the reason that he smells different from us. The enemy wouldn’t go looking for someone who almost smells like them. I’d say it would have offended Kai, but he seemed unfazed. I do acknowledge that Kai is the best one for defending me, but I feel like it’ll get awkward between us soon enough. 

                  After several minutes of discussion, we all set out. The place to meet has not been touched at all. The others all think it’ll be better for us to discuss it in our heads after an hour. Luhan was the first to go, and then Kris and Tao headed for the shops. Kyungsoo and Chanyeol said they’re going to try to look for another treasure so I gave them my bracelet which looked  a bit yellowish. Then again, I don’t want to assume it's because it sensed something because the bracelet had suffered from being buried in the dirt. Sehun and Xiumin said they’re probably going to look for a nice café and so Kai and I were left watching them turn their backs on us.

                “Do you have a place in mind?” Kai asked first. 

                “Nope, I only have been here twice and both times I just headed immediately to a specific place with my friend,” I said, scrunching my eyebrows. “I’m not familiar with the place. How about you?”

                “It’s been a long time since I’ve been here…”  Kai admitted, looking around. “Why don’t we just walk first and stop wherever you want to.”

                “That works fine,” I agreed. “But If I wanted to stop at some place, it’ll be because of food.”

                “Then, let’s go to Apgujeong,” Kai suggested. “It’s just next to Cheongdamdong anyway.”

                “Okay…” I agreed. “But we shouldn’t go too far.”

                I let Kai take the lead because I’m hopeless in directions especially at nights even if the place is bathed in pretty lights. It’s only 6 in the evening because we left earlier than expected, but due tot he events that just happened, I couldn't risk to go out of my way and explore. Dang Ji Hye, I just know she’ll never let us off for taking the medallion.  We need to be more cautious because we don’t know what Ji Hye is planning.

                Kai, however, seems perfectly okay with the set-up. It’s just like him to not do a lot of speaking. I was too busy myself looking around the area to strike a conversation.

                As expected, there were a lot of restaurants in Apgujeong. I don’t even know where to start looking. My mouth is basically watering but I don’t want to go for something too heavy. I’d get a stomachache from the sudden change of eating from just bananas to gobbling down a plate of rice. So instead…

                “There!” I pointed at a cutesy place.

                “Amelie?” Kai read aloud the words on the building's facade. “But that’s…”

                “Cakessss!” I said happily, immediately being the kid I missed for several months now. “Does it bother you?”

                “You haven’t eaten anything yet and you want cakes?” Kai asked dubiously. 

                “My mom and I used to eat cakes a lot at night…” I explained, bringing up a happy memory. “Let’s go inside!”

                So we did. Immediately, I ordered a banoffee and a vanilla milkshake as Kai just ordered a pudding and a cup of coffee. The stark contrast in the sugar level of our orders is very evident.

                As soon as we sat down on our table, I started eating. Cakes still make me happy.

                “Talk to me about something, anything,” I said rather crazily.

                “What?” Kai replied, as he sip on his drink.

                “What songs do you listen to?” I asked, because I wanted to be casual. I realized if we were normal teenagers, we would be talking about stuff like food, music and movies. Everyone in the place seemed to be doing the same thing, anyway. 

                “Am I required to answer that?” he said rather sternly.

                “Tsss…” I made a sound and ate a spoonful of my precious cake.

                “Well, what do you listen to?” he returned the question.

                “I like Junggigo and Soyou’s Some,” I answered.

                “Ah,” he answered and ate his pudding. Is he seriously going to end the conversation like this?

                “Are you going to answer my question?” I asked him.

                “I…” Kai started, slowly placing his spoon down on the plate and then pierced me with his gaze…

“I like A Pink’s No No No.”

                That’s when I choke so bad and Kai gently patted me on my back.

                “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude or an—“

                “I was obviously joking,” Kai said and then he smiled. I would be lying if I wasn’t dazed. I still find it weird when he does. It’s like he’s become a totally different person. "I'm more into hiphop." 

                “Oh okay,” I said, still feeling a bit weird that he actually made a joke.

                “And your next question is?” He asked.

                “Then I’ll go on…” I said as I sipped on my milkshake. I averted my gaze and asked, “Do you hate being a protector?” This is what I really want to ask him. Well, this is the question I really want to ask all of them, except Luhan because he already clearly stated to me that he wanted to do it. I wanted assurance that they won’t just suddenly leave me if everything turns chaotic. 

                “What?” Kai reacted, furrowing his eyebrows a little. “You’re still asking that?”

                “It’s the first time I asked you about this,” I answered him and quickly racked my brain for a repetition of this instant. There was none.

                “Then can I speak truthfully?” He asked.

                “Sure,” I said, though I swallowed a block down my throat.

                Kai put down his cup of coffee and then crossed his arms over the table so he can look at me better. “You ask such a question but you don’t want to hear an answer that will pain you.”

                It wasn’t a question but a statement and I felt my insides turning into pulp. It wasn’t a declaration I wanted to hear and I would have denied it but his black orbs kept telling me to do otherwise becaus