Little peek outside.

They’re there…

“Hello! How can I help you?”

Another little peek outside.

“Chai latte?”

They’re still there.

“Um… One sugar? Oh! S… Soy latte! Yes no problem.”

It’d been three hours now, and counting. But Hee-Jin could still see their loose blouse-thing billowing in the wind. She couldn’t even see their face, but she knew it was them… The bonfire people. What were they doing there anyway? Stalking her?! Scouting the area to rob the place later that night?!

Hee-Jin was so absorbed by her observation that it took the customer standing in front of her a few hand snaps to bring her consciousness back to earth.

“Yes, yes, soy CHAI latte, two sugar?”

By that point, her customer was annoyed enough by her mistakes to say never mind and leave the store in a loud mumble of how ‘nobody ever served me well, EVER.’

“What is wrong with you today,” Minseok questioned her when she walked back to his side by the espresso machine with her head hung low, trying to hide the growing blush created by her embarrassing encounter just then. It was of no use though, as he could clearly see it from her ears that jut out like little rosebuds. Minseok knew better than to do further enquiries and let her took whatever moment she needed to breathe and calm down.

For a second Hee-Jin thought about telling him. About the encounter, about the possible stalking, about the mind bending. Well, maybe not about the last one, but at least something to lessen the heavy dread she felt in her heart. She wondered why did it has to be that particular day when Minseok didn’t help her out on the cashier till. If only he took a few steps away from the coffee machine, he would’ve seen what was bothering her that day.

Ah, a few seconds have passed since the last time she checked.

Little peek outside…

They’re gone.

She turned around to see him staring softly at her. ‘He would believe me,’ she thought. He always did, right? ‘And if he does, then he’ll protect me.’

“Nothing, I’m just tired.” In the end, she decided not to. ‘WHY NOT YOU SILLY PIGLET.’ Her internal screams blared throughout her seemingly hollow brain. She was sure there were more of them coming, telling her how it was a lost opportunity, or that she would regret it, or…

But they were all muffled when she felt his hand rubbing her back in circular motion, a gesture that managed to calm her down considerable enough for her to stop tensing up all her muscle like she was ready to jump at any strange noises. Although, the calmness didn’t manage stop her blushing. Oh no, it only made it worse.

“I’ll close the store at 12 today so you can go home and rest.”

Hee-Jin really wanted to say ‘oh no! Don’t do that! I can wade through I promise!’. She really wanted to say that. Really. Honest. Like, for real.

But what the hell, that wide grin on her face couldn’t ever mask her ulterior motive of keeping her job, right?

“THANKYOU SO MUCH! Thankyou so much of my god you don’t know how much I need some nap right now.” She ran away from his side and dashed into the toilet, quickly changing out from her working attire so he would never be able to take back his word if a bunch of customer suddenly came into the store. It’s past rush hour anyway, he could manage 30 minutes of alone time before closing?

Although, that relaxing moment enveloped in euphoric glow, where it was only her inside a darkened cubicle was all it took for an idea to form inside Hee-Jin’s brain. Her sleep deprived brain that was running high on sugary, caffeinated drink. Surely the combination wouldn’t lead to anything good, would it?

“Hm? You’re done already?” Sohee was surprised when she turned away from her phone screen to see Hee-Jin sitting down across her at the corner table, ready to go with her emergency bag in tow (it’s just a used plastic bag they got from the donut store next door. But they’re red, she likes red, so what the heck). Sohee was a bit unwilling to go as she was so close from finishing her glass of coke, but it seemed like Hee-Jin had something else in her mind that she wanted to discuss before they started their way back to their apartment.

“I’m going to confront them.”

Not being able to put two to two together, Sohee only stared at her in silence for around 30 seconds before she let out a loud exclamation. There was another stretch of blankness on her face before she finally snapped in disbelieve,

“WHAT?! ARE YOU CRAZY?!”

“Girls, I was being nice by letting Hee-Jin out early. Now don’t make me regret my decision and just go home already!” The annoyed scream of Minseok caused Sohee to yell back a not-so-sorry sorry, followed soon by a still louder-than-whisper whisper.

“Did you tell him?! Did you tell him about it? Maybe he’ll help!”

Sohee was horrified when Hee-Jin said no, even more when she heard the reasoning behind it.

“He’ll blow it out of proportion. Maybe they’re just nice homeless people trying to return me my bag?” Sohee had told her about the fate of her bag earlier, and it caused great delight on Hee-Jin’s part because that meant she didn’t have to shuffle through long lines only to end with a surely less than aesthetically pleasing picture of her on an official government paper.

“Are you serious now, are you really serious. You think they’re REALLY just trying to return you your bag WITHOUT asking for anything in return? They could’ve just easily be a friggin voodoo priests for all we know and the next thing around we’ll wake up in the seventh ring of hell!”

Sohee was so immersed in her rant that only Hee-Jin’s hand plopped firmly against her lips acted as a stopper to her words.

“So we do what, run? Forever? Hide around like cowards and become a paranoid wreck for the rest of our life?” She sounded serious. She sounded pissed. Her teeth gritted together and never before in her life did she ever felt so… Angry.

“I don’t think so.”

Without further ado, Hee-Jin stood up and ran towards the front of the café. A shocked and confused Sohee trailing a few seconds behind her as she had to fix the wooden stool that was toppled over by Hee-Jin’s over-exited burst of energy.

“I DON’T THINK SO!”

- - - - -

With Kai’s persuasive argument, the gang was now certain that the girls would approach them by sun down. They even had started to make a bet on the exact time the duo would show up. 20 minutes, Sehun said. Baekhyun argued with him that in no way would it happen that soon and put in 2 hours. Chanyeol was a bit bored so he randomly picked 10 hours. As for Kai, he liked to side with the losing team and chose 5 minutes.

“I think we have a clear loser here.” Baekhyun’s jittering was followed with laughters from the rest. Well, at least they got a bit of laugh out off his apparent loss.

Sehun was just about to propose potential prize for the winner when the drinking hut’s glass door flung open.

And there they were, the girls. Showing up exactly 14 seconds after they all laughed for Kai’s utterly impossible bet.

They’d moved slightly to the west from their previous spot, the one where they’d spent three hours just sitting and occasionally spying on the girl working as the hut’s tender. It was apparent that the tender was looking a bit lost, eyes darting around the place trying to locate their whereabouts.

At her side was her comrade. Looking panicked and uncomfortable as ever. The wind was blowing quite favourably for their advantage and they could catch a bit of her fast ramblings,

“-why don’t we just call the cops? You know, ask them to help us out? Please, Hee-Jin I don’t want to deal with this. Eonnie pleaseee.”

Her long stretch of pleadings was cut when she realized the hut tender’s silence. Her eyes widened in terror when she traced her friend's gaze to where it was headed.

It was Kai. He was dancing his celebratory dance for winning the bet. The combination of exhaustion and over-intake of fat when his usual diet consists nothing but nutritious grains caused something in his brain to be set off.

The girls, combined with Chanyeol and Sehun, only watched in silence the unfolding of this absurd moment. The scene was absurd for the two jedis due to the usual calm and composed stature of Kai. He never even participated in any of the late night apprentices sing off in the gym. Seeing him dancing around a deciduous tree like this? They decided that tomorrow a massive hail-storm is going to rain down the planet. As for the girls, they were just amazed of the lack of self-image preservation that those males seemed to not-posses.

Baekhyun? He was busy getting Kai to stop.

Chanyeol managed to peel his eyes off the embarrassing display when he heard stomping footsteps springing towards them.

“Good afternoon,” he greeted the panting female in front of him with a small bow.

For a moment they all stood there in partial silence, when Kai finally stopped (and so thus Baekhyun) after he noticed that the girls had lose all distances in between them.

At first Hee-Jin had so many emotion churning inside her brain, like a cocktail of electric neurotransmitters swirling around her cranium. But now when she was truly facing the physically intimidating bunch of guys, it seemed a small hole was drilled at the back of her skull and everything drained down to earth, taking all her adrenaline and the color of her face with it.

“Um…” She only managed to curtly point at her red purse, which was lying forgotten on the stomped up grass, and tried her best to avoid the gaze of her opponent, “that’s mine…”

Hee-Jin truly couldn’t believe her luck. Without having to repeat or clarify her request, the tall guy just walked back to the location of her purse, picked it up, and presented it to her.

She looked up, a tiny doubting smile perching on her lips, and just as she was about to stretch her arm and accept his offer with a ‘Thankyou’, the purse was snatched away.

“I need you listen to what my friend is going to say,” the genuine looking smile made it look like he really was genuine, although of course he was not. Of course he was not.

The sharp slap she felt on her arm was a clear reminder for Hee-Jin that Sohee was still there. And without her needing to say anything, she could clearly hear Sohee’s voice in her mind just as if she was shouting it right by her ears. ‘I told you so.’

“M… make it quick or I’ll… I’ll call the police.” Hee-Jin stuttered out her threat, her unconvincing delivery caused another pain on her skin from Sohee’s fingers sharply flicking against it.

The tall guy called forth the weird dancing guy, whose face still contained a slight hue of pink due to his physical extortion and embarrassment. The tall one gave the shorter one a firm pat on his back and gestured him to do his thing.


What WAS his thing?


He was wearing a coat… Is he a flasher? Gaining pleasure from showing off his privates to two ‘although less than innocent but still maintained enough of it to be considered as so’ young girls? There was a… bulge-y like ‘thing’ that was slightly protruding from the fabric of his robe… Was it what they thing it was or was it… A gun? Was he going to flip off a gun and shoot them both to death?

The girls should’ve run. Hell, Sohee really wanted to do so. But before she could drag Hee-Jin out from that extremely suspicious band of males, he opened his mouth and out came his voice. How could they ever forget about that voice?

“We’re going to stay in your homestead and you will be okay with that. Now, show us the way.”

The same voice that just last night managed to lasso their mind like the sturdiest rope ever made by men. Melodious, smooth, and grating at the same time, a voice that could effortlessly acquire the interest of anyone who cared to listen to it. They were instantly petrified. For Hee-Jin, his hypnotizing words hit her harder than their previous encounter, when earlier she could still take mindless steps back in an effort to reach safety, right then she was completely glued to the ground. As for Sohee, she thought he was talking too slowly it sounded weird.

“Hah! You think those hypnotist hocus pocus is going to work on us?! You think we’re that gullible? THINK AG-“

“You’re going to stay in our home and we’re okay with that.”

“What.”

Sohee was dumbfounded when she looked into Hee-Jin’s dazed expression.

“What.”

Hee-Jin returned her flat question with an even flatter one.

But in one heartbeat, her explosiveness returned in full force, “you’re not seriously letting them stay… Hee-Jin! Are you serious?! Who are they?! Do we know them?! Do we have the PLACE for them?? We don’t even have enough place for our shoes!”

Her rant only grew higher and higher in pitch when she saw that Hee-Jin was not responding as she hoped her to. She was not waking up from her daze, instead, she slowly turned her body around and began to slowly walk to the direction of their apartment. To stop her from further wandering to a place whose exact location she’d rather not share to a bunch of unknown weirdos, Sohee snatched Hee-Jin’s wrist and forcefully held her in place.

Even before she managed to keep her completely still, a snapping finger in front of her face brought Sohee’s attention back to the weird hypnotist-kindda guy. What he did next only served to heighten her confusion, and thus her anger.

“Calm down and stop your screams.” He said while waving his hand so near to her face.

With ease she swat it away. So pissed was she that Sohee didn’t realize the puzzled expression on the man’s face, only focusing on churning out venom coated words through her chattering teeth, “How… How can I do that when you just turned my friend into a mindless zombie! Turn her back now!”

“How could she do that?” The one with raven black hair whispered his confusion to the tall dude as he side-eyed her, completely ignoring her polite request. No worries then, she’ll just scream it louder.

“I SAID TURN HER BACK! – o... oh! HEE-JIN!!!”

Hee-Jin slipped from her holds weakened holds just as easily as a slime-coated snail and calmly sashayed her way back to their apartment building. This time, no amount of Sohee trying to hold her still was enough to stop her from her determined walk. It was as if her mind was a GPS and it only had one destination programmed into it and her body was a monster truck that would run over anything to get to its destination.

Feeling utterly defeated, Sohee could only stop in the middle of the road and stare at her as she went. One by one the weird guys walked by her, one was looking at her weirdly, one did not even acknowledge her, and one was good enough to do a little bow and mouth the word ‘sorry’ (the tall one, she took notice. Maybe she would give him a clean and fast death in return. As for the rest? PAIN).

Deciding that the situation was dire enough that a professional help (i.e., police) might be needed, Sohee hastily punched in the emergency number onto her phone. Although, a firm grab of fingers circling around her wrist stopped her from putting in the very last digit.

“Don’t you even dare!” She was just about to slap the last guy who risked his safety and trailed behind with her, maybe also gave him a kick on the nuts for safe measures. But when she looked up to intimidate him with her ‘imma pop them boys’ gaze, Sohee surely didn’t expect to see him staring at her back with a soft pleading look.

“Please. My friends really need your help. I promise, we mean no harm ” Genuine. Genuine. Genuine. The word blinked sharply inside her mind, eventhough she tried to do her best to shoo them away and stayed alert, Sohee couldn’t help but get swayed by his “””seemingly””” honest plea.

“Is mind control considered as ‘no harm’ for you?” She tried to push her quickly growing sympathy away with much needed common sense, but it was drained away with just a snap of his pitiful smile.

“I know, what we did was wrong and I will have a talk with them about it as soon as possible. Although, you don’t need to worry about your friend, she’ll be okay once the programmed task is completed.”

“Okay.” Sohee quipped, quickly shrugging his hold around her wrist with a simple flick of her shoulder. “But I want a clear discussion on what you… ARE and what you want as soon as she’s out of it.” Hey, in the moment of ‘being nice to strangers’ you still have to look slightly cold to maintain those needed personal space. As if mental distance was not enough, she emphasized it by physically running towards Hee-Jin who was just about to ascend the stairs towards their second floor apartment.

Sohee really couldn’t believe it but she just let completely unknown stranger to stay at her place. And realization came quickly when you yourself saw your friend open up your apartment with your own key and let three peculiar men walk inside (they didn’t even BOTHER to take off their shoes, such manners they possess) while one more was waiting behind you for you to show the way.

“This is really happening, isn’t it.”

Oh Sohee, you don’t even WANT know.

Just as she finished her sighing lament, the doorknob of the neighboring apartment began to turn.

Like a horse with blinders, her tunneling attention was rapidly shifted into the more pressing matter, which caused her instincts to flare up in an instant.

Without informing the last poor guy, Sohee grabbed him by his collars and hauled him to their apartment. The trails of his shocked yelp was hastily cut by her banging the door shut, just in a nick of time for when another one was opening.

“Good day Yerin-ssi.” She beamed her thousand watts smile (which looked more like fifty at the moment due to the pressing situation she was in) with her arms tightly folded against her back, looking prim and so-not-hiding-something in front of her friggin land lady. “What are you up to in this donderful way, I mean WONDERFUL DAY.”

Alas, that eagle-eyed woman instantly caught her nervousness and her always-suspicious nature only became even more severe.

“Hiding something… Miss Choi?” She sneered while nudging her red-rimmed glasses up her slender nose.

She was about to say no, but an ear splitting scream coming from inside the apartment followed suit by the sound of something made of porcelain exploding against the thinly made walls echoed across the halls.

You know what… Nothing could stop her from lying through her teeth. That’s her life in a nutshell anyway.

“No Yerin-ssi, I’m not hiding anything.”

Even with another scream coming in from their closed apartment and her ultra suspicious landlady standing in front of her, Sohee still flashed her fifty watts smile.

Life is good like that. 

 

A/N: So I just watched Star Wars Episode 7... AND I LOVE IT AAA REY AND BB-8 AND FINNPOE OMG SO CUTE CUTIE PATTOTIE AGH. 
Ok so in regards of this story, it took place after episode 3 (if it wasn't clear from the opening 'scroll') so no, there's not gonna be any original trilogy human characters in this one sorry...

And a special gift for Hee-Jin because this is my last day in Europe (cries) and I just wanna see her reaction live as it unfolds huehehe. IS THIS ENOUGH XIUHEE FOR YOU