You’re standing in front of a vending machine, putting coins inside it and humming under your breath when someone suddenly speaks out your name. You just, ever so slightly, in surprise; you turn to your right to see Jieun standing right next to you.

You could’ve sworn you were alone this whole time. How come you didn’t see her approaching? You’re usually super aware of your surroundings.

You give her a thorough once-over, frowning. “Hey,” you say at last, still a bit distrustful.

“Did I scare you?” she asks quietly. You nod and continue to put coins inside the vending machine. “I’m sorry. It must be the water.”

“Water?” you ask, confused. You glance at her as you push the right button. The machine whirrs to life. Jieun’s eyes snap up at yours, and a blush creeps up her neck. She takes a step back, as if suddenly overwhelmed by your presence.

“Well, um. If you purify rainwater and rub it into your skin, it makes you invisible. Kind of. It—prevents unwanted attention. I usually just rub it into my ears and wrists, and it’s actually...”

She looks up again, nods once when she sees you listening, and closes . She starts to play with one of her tiny braids. One of the strands is a baby blue ribbon. Her braids are all partially made of colorful, thin ribbons.

You open your mouth a little, surprised at the new information. And at the fact that…you didn’t know that.

“I didn’t know that!” you say, excited. “How do you purify it?”

“With a simple spell,” Jieun replies. “You don’t really need to have powers to do that.”

That’s why nobody seems to remember her, you think to yourself, realization washing over you. She makes herself less visible.

“Listen, um…” Jieun starts. She has a habit of turning her eyes away when she sees someone staring into hers. Heejin does that sometimes, when she feels particularly shy; you smile at the thought. “I—I was wondering.”

“Go on,” you prompt. You crouch down to get your soda out of the vending machine.

“I know that you already got rid of the shapeshifters that were after me, but—I was wondering if you’d be willing to, um. Put some. Wards. In my—on my door, for example. Or…anywhere, really.”

Grabbing your soda, you straighten your feet, and you nod at Jieun, showing her a warm smile.

“No problem. I have no classes today; I’m just waiting for Sehun to finish up. We can go after he’s done?”

Jieun’s eyes go wide. She looks surprised.

“Yeah!” she says, her voice a little high. She takes a step back, looking away, everywhere but your face. “I’ll—I’ll wait outside the building. Don’t rush,” she adds, waving at you once. You can see a tiny smile appearing on her face before she turns on her heels and trots down the corridor, towards the exit. You snort.

That must’ve been quite hard for her to do.

You open your soda and make a mental note to yourself: once you’re home, you should catch up on some white witchcraft spells.

*

“I need to warn you,” Jieun says quietly as she’s unlocking the door to her apartment. Sehun is behind you, sniffling around like a dog. “It’s…messy.”

She opens the door and a whiff of air hits your face. Her apartment smells like wood smoke and wax; the smell of dust lingers in the air, too. The first thing you see are Jieun’s shoes, which she moves to the side with her foot to open the front door easier. She lets the two of you in, her cheeks red.

“Sorry,” she says. You hear a meow, and then see some movement; a pair of black cats runs out of the living room, welcoming the three of you with loud, cute meows. A third cat shows up out of nowhere, then a fourth one, and the fifth one; Sehun yelps when one of them shows up at his feet.

“Jesus,” he says, chuckling, “how many cats do you have?”

“Five, usually, sometimes more,” Jieun says, picking one of them up. They’re all black, varying in sizes and fur length. “They’re all strays. They come here through the window. Sometimes there’s more of them.”

You crouch down to pet one of the cats. Another one tries to get your attention, and you smile, petting both of them. You smell herbs then, and when you look up, following the scent, you spot them hanging from the ceiling, drying. You see rosemary, thyme, lavender, acacia, baby’s breath…even more, and some of them you can’t recognize at first.

You pick up one of the cats and it purrs when you hug it close to your chest. You stare at the herbs, moving gently with the breeze of wind that seems to be coming from somewhere.

“What do you use these for?” you ask.

“I make lucky charms and protection charms sometimes,” Jieun explains. “I mostly just like their smell, though. Do you want some coffee? Or tea?”

“Sure,” Sehun says, putting away his cat. Jieun heads for the kitchen, and all the cats follow her in a hurry; the one that’s in your arms wiggles around to get out of your grip, too, and jumps down onto the floor and after the rest. You send Sehun a curious, bemused look.

You look around Jieun’s apartment. You peek into the living room – there’s no TV, just a couch, a desk with a chair, a few bookshelves, some small coffee tables. There’s mismatched floral teacups sitting on almost all possible surfaces in the room, some of them half-filled with tea and coffee; candles placed around haphazardly; books with well-thumbed pages and cracked leather covers scattered around the floor, on the desk, and on the tables; little glass bottles with sand and salt and fruit and flowers inside; crystal stones everywhere. Pink, blue, purple, white, black—

“This is amazing,” Sehun says, gasping out a little. The room seems messy, but not dirty. There’s so many objects scattered around, but it looks like each of them is in its rightful spot. There’s plants sitting on the windowsill and on the desk, among the books and stones, among little charms and amulets and candles and teacups.

You walk over to the bookshelf that’s overflowing with books. Some are old, some are new, and there’s magic guidebooks pushed together with some sci-fi and modern fantasy books. There’s figures of cats and tiny skulls of birds lying around, and their feathers, too, and the whole place looks charming and magical, and different from anything you’ve seen.

“What’s up with the teacups?” Sehun asks. Jieun walks into the room right at this moment, with a tray in her hands. She’s brewed some tea and even brought cookies. She glances around the room, her cheeks still red.

“The spirits like it,” she says. “I brew tea for them. They enjoy it. I sometimes let it sit for days. They really like it.”

You touch every possible surface. You can feel subtle magic lingering in the air and in the objects around the room. Sehun is giving you a look as you approach them, so you figure that you have your thinking, awed face on.

Jieun hands you your tea.

*

Jieun closes the door to her apartment, waving at you and Sehun for the last time. She’s smiling as she’s locking the door – now with a protective ward engraved in the wood on the side of it – and she exhales happily. She turns to see two cats staring at her curiously.

“Hungry?” she asks, smiling. 

I've decided to give you a closer look at Jieun. She's really sweet, shy and insecure, but sweet. And she loooves plants.
Also, while the events in this chapter take place, Kai and the rest are on their way home :) I KNOW YOU ALL WANTED . Y'all need some chill. I'm gonna drop a chapter one day but ohhh you won't see that coming.