Park Shinhye listened to the wheezing sound of her lungs as she let out a heavy breath through the oxygen mask,

strapped around her head. She had never felt so weak, so helpless. Both of her arms were broken in courtesy of a very

powerful Helminthia named Taeyeon. Her body was heavy and she couldn’t control it. All she could do was moved her

head around, watching a few people talking outside her room. There were two males and three females out on the

corridor. One she recognized: Hyoyeon, the one that confronted her yesterday on top of the TV Station building. The

other females were unfamiliar. One was older than the rest two, wiser looking and had an aura of someone who had been

through anything. Another girl was so small Shinhye could barely see her among the crowd.

The two males were both tall; one was younger than the other with black hair combed all the way to the back and manly

jaw. The other one, although older, looked stronger with a lot of trained muscles under his brown blazer.  All of them were

discussing something Shinhye couldn’t make out. The smaller girl turned her head to the ICU and her eyes met Shinhye’s.

She gave Shinhye a polite nod before entering the room, leaving the heated argument.

“Hello,” she said.

Shinhye didn’t say anything back. She didn’t know what she was feeling then; embarrassment after going on rampage

around the city, almost drowning it, or because she was the loser in the battle between Helminthia, or the fact that she

looked so pathetic lying helplessly in the ICU, taped to various medical equipments.

“How are you doing?” asked Sunny.

Shinhye looked at the small girl as she took a seat.

“I’m Sunny, by the way. I’m that girl – Hyoyeon’s – Host.”

“I see.”

“Sorry about yesterday. But we had to bring you down.”

Shinhye was quite surprise when Sunny said that. Why was she sorry? I was the one to blame.

“How’s your a-?”

“I-,” Shinhye interrupted Sunny. “I was angry…. Very angry.”

“I know,” Sunny smiled a little and she looked so cute when she did, so friendly. “I know what you’ve been through.”

“You…,” Shinhye was confused. “You know?”

Sunny nodded. “When we brought you down, I kind of touched you and I got a glimpse of your past. Just a little.”

Shinhye realized that this Host she was seeing had an ability to read mind and tracked someone’s past. “You saw what

happened to me?”

“Not all. Just blur images. I don’t think I can handle being you in that time… in that memory. So I just took a little peek.”

Shinhye’s breathe rushed in an instant, her body trembled and tears rushed down her eyes. She looked at Sunny in

sadness. “Then you must know how I’ve felt…,” she sobbed. “They kept telling me they understand, sympathize. All

clichés words to make me better but they don’t know. They don’t feel what I felt when I saw….”

The girl couldn’t go on talking. Sadness had overcome her.

Sunny said nothing. When she took a peek to Shinhye’s memory, she saw her soon-to-be-husband got burned alive at

the altar by a Helminthia and the shock was too overwhelming Sunny had to pull out before she breaks down.

“It’s a Helminthia…,” Shinhye continued after she calmed down a little. “She creates fire and she has been killing Hosts all

over the country.”

“Enough. Don’t worry,” said Sunny. “Everything about Helminthias and Hosts are a bit of a mess right now but we’re

working on it.”

“Find her,” Shinhye hissed with tense jaws. There was hatred in the tone. “Avenge me.”

The heart monitor next to the bed beeped. Shinhye’s heart rate was spiking and then climbing down so quickly. As tears

ran down her cheeks from her beautiful big eyes, Shinhye knew that her time was ending. Sunny saw it too so she moved

closer to the girl, placing her hand on her forehead.

“Avenge me…,” Shihnye whispered.

Sunny leaned closer. “Ssshh. Rest. We’ll handle it from here.”

Shinhye closed her eyes as her breath was getting shorter and shorter. Finally, she heaved her last one. Sunny pressed

her forehead against Shinhye, feeling the life of the girl leaving. Some nurses ran inside and Sunny had to move away

from the bed, retreating to the corner of the room.

Hyoyeon walked in, watched as the nurses trying to revive Shinhye. One of them ran out to call on the doctor but Hyoyeon

knew – like Sunny did – that nothing could bring Shinhye back to life. She had been separated too long from her Host and

had no energy left to support her body. She had gone into an eternal slumber.

“Hyo…,” Sunny said softly, turning Hyoyeon’s head to her direction. “I’ll do it.”

Hyoyeon bit her lower lip. “You don’t have to if you’re not really ready. We all know, Byunghyun-oppa knows better than

anyone, that the emotional weight would be too heavy.”

“I need to know. I need to figure out what is going on.”

**

Tiffany made a whistling sound when she saw the collapsed staircase leading up to the roof inside one of Seoul’s

University buildings. Yuri was next to her, crossing arms. “Yeah….”

“The lightning storm caused this?” Tiffany pointed to the wreckage with her pointy fingers.

“Yep,” Yuri nodded, lying. She couldn’t just tell what really happened to that stairs to a stranger. She didn’t want Tiffany to

label her as crazy on the first day they met.

Yuri moved along the corridor and Tiffany followed her closely. As they walked and talked at the same time heading to the

dean’s office, Yuri realized that the girl was really beautiful. Her dark wavy hair and her bright skin tone almost blinded

her. This girl was the definition of perfect.

So perfect Yuri was not listening to what the girl was saying until it went halfway. “I’m doing a research about human’s

brain. Do you know that our brain is the most perfect, most brilliant piece of equipment in this entire universe?”

“Uh, what? Sorry,” Yuri had to shake her head a little to stay focus on the topic the girl was saying instead of her flawless

face.

“The brain. It could perceive and process information so quick to make us take the appropriate action in the appropriate

time. Get this: when we are driving, our brain controls every muscle, every cell, in our body to step on the throttle, hit the

brake and shifting gears. All that is done in a matter of second, less than that, and repeated all over and over again. If the

brain is a person and he is teaching us how to drive, he has to take one action at a time, like telling the driver to jab the

clutch before shifting into gear and then hit the throttle then control the car with the steering wheel. It takes a whole

minute for a normal person to tell someone the orders. But the brain skips all of that and done everything in a-,” she

clicked her fingers. “Like that! Simultaneously!”

Yuri smiled, impressed by how enthusiastic the girl was talking about human’s brain.

“Imagine if our brain is as slow as a normal speaking person, telling us to break or take a maneuver when we’re about to

crash into a tree?”

“I can’t. I don’t want to,” said Yuri.

“Oh, sorry,” Tiffany said. “I must be boring you with my ranting.”

“No, absolutely not. I enjoy talking with you,” Yuri smiled and then Tiffany gave a smile back. It was a nice surprise for Yuri

when she saw Tiffany’s eyes disappeared into a pair of beautiful crescents.

“Oh, good,” said Tiffany.

“And you’re coming to an Art University’s dean for….”

“There’s a research by a French scientist on brain damage rehabilitation with art, such as: drawing, singing or playing

music. I want to inquire the dean to let me do some scan on some of the students’ brain to prove the theory.”

Yuri nodded and then responded in French, tilting her head to the side in a playful manner. Then, Tiffany let out a shy

giggle.

“Wow,” Tiffany was looking at Yuri with such amazed eyes. “That was... y.”

“It means ‘Where’s the toilet’,” Yuri couldn’t help but to let out a cackle. “The only French I know.”

Tiffany did too and they had a nice laugh after. “Even so….”

“Well, thank you,” Yuri said and then she saw the dean was walking at the edge of the corridor toward his office. “Oh.

There. There he is.”

Tiffany saw him too and chirped, running a little to the man but then she stopped and turned around. “Ah, wait,” she ran

back to Yuri. She rummaged her bag and pulled out a note book. She wrote something on a page and tore it before

giving it to Yuri. “That’s my number. I’ll be coming here a lot. Maybe. So I think I might need your help again if you don’t

mind.”

“Okay,” Yuri took the piece of paper. “Here’s mine,” she took the pen from Tiffany and wrote her number on the empty

page of the note book.

“Great,” Tiffany raised her thumb and then turned toward the dean again. But a second later, she spun on her heel to

look at Yuri. “Oh, and um….”

“Yes?”

“If it’s okay…,” Tiffany looked a bit shy, “if it’s okay. With you. I would… maybe… you know…. Call you even though I don’t

need any help?”

Yuri didn’t expect that so she was rendered mute for a second. But then she smiled and nodded. “Of course.”

Tiffany jumped up and clenched her fists in happiness. “Great. See you, Yuri.”

“Bye,” Yuri waved at the cheerful girl.

**

Jessica didn’t ask too many questions when Taeyeon asked her out on a real date, she’d follow her anywhere, she

thought. Maybe because of their matching energies, Jessica felt like she knew Taeyeon for a very long time, so familiar

and comfortable.

Taeyeon was a bit different from the way she looked the first time they met. There were shades of pink on her cheeks

although most of her skin was still pale. It was probably her natural skin color to be so white to the point it almost

translucent in the sun light. She was a lot more cheerful, smiled more and Jessica couldn’t feel the depressing aura she

felt before whenever she looked at the girl. Taeyeon was refreshed, reborn.

The two took a long bus ride away from the city from the university to the direction Jessica had never gone before. When

they alighted, Jessica found herself standing on a dirty neighborhood, a slum. The road sides were dirty and when

Taeyeon led her into an alley, she could smell the odor of urine coming from the nook of every corner.

Is this really a date?

As they walked deeper into the alley, Jessica found cheap apartments around her, tall and dying from lack of

maintenance. Some looked so desolate it didn’t deserve to have people living in them but Jessica saw laundries were

hang on the railing, proof that there were indeed families inside.

“Here,” Taeyeon said, beckoned Jessica into a building much similar like the rundown apartment they just walked by.

Jessica followed Taeyeon in silence, subtly walking closer behind her back.

“I often come here on my own before I met you,” said Taeyeon. “When we met on the bus crash, I was on my way here.”

They went up the stairs until they reached the third floor before getting on an elevator to the rooftop. The elevator

opened up to a small room with a rusty door and when Taeyeon opened it for Jessica, she was shocked by what was out

there. Out there in the open rooftop, a vast flower garden was waiting for them. It was almost blinding to find so many

flowers with so many variations and colors. Jessica had never seen one and she bet to herself that even though she had

seen a flower garden before, this one would take the trophy.

The rooftop was small but it was packed with so many colors and plants that Jessica felt like she was standing in the

middle of a forest. The floor she was stepping on was actually made from soil, covering the entire rooftop’s cement.

Taeyeon smiled and gently took Jessica’s hand – which made the latter girl’s heart skipped a beat – leading her to the

edge of the rooftop. Jessica gasped for the second time when she found that every rooftop of the buildings in the

neighborhood was all covered in flower.

“Wow,” Jessica was amazed.

“Beautiful, isn’t it? Just don’t look down to the slum below,” said Taeyeon.

“Did the people make all this?”

“Nope,” Taeyeon shook her head. “My friend made this. All on her own.”

Like it was on cue, a rustling sound came from the back. When Jessica turned around, a woman with black long hair that

tied in a ponytail manner, probably in her mid-thirties, emerged from the flower bushes with a hand shovel. She was

sweaty with dirt on her forehead and clothes. “Ah,” she said. “Taeyeon.”

Taeyeon smiled and said to Jessica, “Meet Mi Mura-ssi.”

 **

Mi Mura was a gentle person, always kept her smile in any situation. With her gorgeous black hair and porcelain skin, she

looked like an angel in Jessica’s eyes and it brought smile to her face as she watched the older girl moved her slender

body among the flowers, going toward their direction.

“It’s been a while,” she said with a very gentle smile, “I thought you forgot about me already.”

“How could I? I have just been busy,” said Taeyeon apologetically.

“Well, great timing. I need help with the flowers. The never ending rain had almost killed half of them. Grab a shovel,” said

Mura.

Taeyeon’s smiling face disappeared and she frowned. “Eh? But I’m here to introduce-.”

“Jung Jessica, right?” Mura smiled at Jessica. “I’m Mi Mura, nice to meet you. We’ve been expecting you.”

“We?” Jessica was confused.

“Yes. We have prepared some cold drinks,” Mura thumbed behind her, to a table neatly placed near the elevator

decorated with a huge jug of cold tea and some glasses. “Please wait there while I steal Taeyeon from you for a few

moments to help me tend to the garden. Daeni will be home shortly.”

Taeyeon put her hands together as an apology and let herself be taken by the beautiful woman into the flowers bush.

Jessica, still had a lot of questions, had to retreat to the table and sat there, looking at Taeyeon and Mura crouching

down between the flowers.

She’s expecting me? Did Taeyeon tell her that we will come here?

While waiting for Taeyeon to return, Jessica poured herself a cold tea and then she found a thick book stuck inside a tool

box with Taeyeon’s name on the cover. Curious, she grabbed the book and opened the first page. There was a photo

glued to the paper with Taeyeon and Mura photo on it. Between them was a young boy, posing a peace sign to the

camera and next to him, right on Taeyeon’s side, was a girl.

Jessica tilted her eyes when she felt like she knew the girl, a familiar feeling. The girl had a long wavy hair and a pair of

crescent shape eyes when she smiled. She had seen the girl before but she wasn’t sure so she moved on to the next

page and found a few dried flowers stuck on the paper. When she reached the middle of the book, there was another

picture. There was Taeyeon in it, smiling happily and she was hugging a girl, the girl with the crescent eyes. Under the

picture was Taeyeon’s handwriting that said ‘Mo Chuisle’.

“Mo Chuisle?”

“Taeyeon’s previous Host,” a voice came from the elevator. The young boy Jessica saw from the picture was standing with

a backpack in front of her.

“Excuse me?”

“The girl in the photo,” he said with a smile as he took a seat in front of Jessica. “She’s Taeyeon’s previous Host. Before

you.”

Jessica looked down to see the smiling girl in the picture, hugging Taeyeon.

“Her name is Hwang Tiffany.”

**

Yuri’s phone vibrated in her pocket, jolting her from her daydream when she was attending her class. She took the phone

out and put it under the desk so the professor in front of the class won’t see it. There was an incoming call from an

unknown number.

“Hello?” Yuri ducked down and answered the phone.

“Oh, it works!” the voice from the other end of the phone chirped.

“Who is this?”

“Oh, sorry. It’s me, Tiffany,” said the voice, “I saw you sitting by the window and decided to try out the number you gave

me.”

Yuri straightened her body and looked out the window. Looking down from behind the second floor window where she sat,

Yuri saw Tiffany near the gate, waving her hand. “Oh, hey.”

“I’m hanging up now. Sorry. Oh, and save my number! It’s Hwang Tiffany,” said Tiffany and she ended the phone call.

Yuri cackled and watched Tiffany left the university gate before looking down to her phone. She smiled at the number and

saved it, typing the girl’s name. “Hwang… Tiffany.”

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