"Where were you after lunch today?" Tiffany's awkwardly highly pitched voice screeched into Sooyeon's poor ears. The girl had been called into the young lady's room once more, it seemed to had became a habit for the latter who wanted to know more about the group of thirteen boys. Sooyeon, of course, told the young lady time after time that she knew nothing of the boys, that the only person she conversed in the group was Jeonghan, one of the two people in the group that Tiffany was not interested in since everyone knew that Jeonghan and Seungcheol were mates.

Despite how many times Sooyeon had emphasised the fact that she did not know the boys to her young lady, the latter seemed to not get it and continued to ask her about any information about the boys that she might or could have heard from Jeonghan during class everyday. A drop of sweat trickled down Sooyeon's forehead, it was not like she could tell the young lady the truth and her head bowed lower, "I was in the sickbay, Miss Tiffany. I wasn't feeling very well during lunch and ended spending the whole afternoon in there as the nurse didn't let me go until school was over."

"Oh really? How are you feeling now then? You know you can't get sick, my doll..." Tiffany's words trailed airily, especially at her last word, her fingers running down Sooyeon's smooth cheek. The young lady's eyes squinted, staring at Sooyeon's eyes to ensure that the latter was not lying. Sooyeon was never so glad that Seungcheol had given her some lessons earlier that afternoon, about tricking people's suspicions about her having telepathy into otherwise, and they were undoubtedly useful at this moment. The young lady had never acted this way, the unusual actions of the girl making Sooyeon feel slightly panicked, hoping that the former would not notice that anything was amiss. Luckily, Tiffany merely raised her eyebrows, turning away from the servant towards her makeup table after a few seconds of staring. Sooyeon heaved a sigh in relief in silence, relaxing herself as the 'servant' mode within her . She continued to give advice to the young lady, who was currently planning a party that was to take place a month later.

The party was going to be one where the young lady would invite pretty much anyone in school, unless they were people like Sooyeon - those that did not socialise around or were just plain nerds that the young lady did not like. It would take place in the Hwang manor, since the size of the house was big enough for even a party crowd of a thousand people, and it would be a good chance for the young lady and her friends to brag about the Hwang clan. Sooyeon could imagine that the party would end up in a mess, the type that the members of the Hwang clan liked with people lying around wasted - yes, they were going to spike the blood bags with alcohol, though there will still be blood bags that will be kept untouched. Sooyeon reminded herself silently to prepare enough for the boys and to inform them of it, she knew they were going to be invited, especially since their young lady had been mumbling around the house lately, thinking about a plan that would make one of the boys her mate. That was the funny thing about mates.

Although everyone had a mate that was destined for them, many ended up with one that was not "theirs", with people like the Hwang clan forcing people to be their mate with and without consent, as long as they themselves had taken a liking for their 'mates'. All it would take to become mates would just be marking each other, which was the exchange of blood, even if it was just one drop. A similar case would have happened to Jeonghan if not for Seungcheol announcing practically to the whole school that the two of them were mates.

But of course, Sooyeon would never let that happen, she had always felt an awfully large sense of protectiveness over them, even more now that she knew that the boys and her were childhood friends. Furthermore, the only one that Tiffany could mark to become mates was Chan - Jisoo and Hansol were a pair, same with Wonwoo and Mingyu, Soonyoung and Jihoon, Junhui and Minghao, Seokmin and Seungkwan. The youngest, both fortunately and unfortunately from Sooyeon's perspective, was not very high up on Tiffany's list, which made Sooyeon hope that her young lady would not find out that the ones she wanted, aka Wonwoo and Junhui who were both on top of the young lady's list, were taken so that the youngest who was still single would not stand a chance.

She knew that her young lady would definitely resort to any means as long as she got what she wanted, it was how the Hwangs worked, so preventing it from even happening while she can would be the best way to protect the boys. Thinking about the Hwang clan reminded the girl that Sooyeon still did not know which clan the boys belonged to, she guessed that she was in the same clan as well, or how else could she have known the boys since young. But despite all the snippets she had gotten from the past few dreams she had, none of them mentioned about her own identity, not to mention the group's clan. The girl was silently adding a mental note to remind herself to ask the boys about the clans matter, only to be disrupted by her young lady, "Sooyeon!"

"Yes, Miss Tiffany?"

"I've been calling for you for the past minute! What on earth were you thinking about so deeply that you can't even hear me?!" Tiffany stared in pure rage at her servant, who was looking so blanked out. It was the first time the young lady was treated like that, especially by her own servants that were eating her food, staying at her place and using her money. They were the people who depended solely on her, and she had never expected such treatment from any of them. The young lady's eyes squinted at her servant, the party mood she had previously from planning her party dropped instantly to something that she could not even explain.

A frown appeared on the young lady's face, her fingers tapping impatiently on her makeup table and Sooyeon could not comprehend the expression that her young lady was having. Sooyeon did not know if she should explain herself to maybe lessen the anger that her young lady had. Thousands of ideas that she could use to solve the issue at hand passed through her head, but Sooyeon ended up deciding that she should just keep quiet in front of the young lady instead as the young lady's thoughts appeared in her head. Sooyeon's control over her telepathy powers seemed to be failing at that point and she heard the twisted thoughts of her young lady for the first time.

Tiffany turned to the servant, eyeing the door to her playroom without a word. The young lady's two orbs moved along with Sooyeon, who had no choice but to head towards the room. She could not disobey any orders from the masters of the household no matter how much she disliked the order, she did not want to get any of the other servants worried. She was used to it anyway. Her thoughts returned to the period before school had started that year, reassuring herself as she laid down on the daybed in the 'playroom' that belong to her young lady, that everything was going to be the same, that everything was going to be alright. Except that she now had friends that care for her, that she now had powers that allowed her to hear others' thoughts, that she now wanted change, to find out who she really was. Dizziness overcame her like every other time she was in the room, and the last thing she saw was the crooked smile of Tiffany, leaning over her as always. The only difference this time, was the distorted thoughts of the Hwang clan's young princess that entered her mind endlessly.

~~

"Sooyeon." Ahnmi called for the soulless looking girl that was heading into her own room with both her ears covered by a huge pair of headphones. The called girl merely turned to look at her for a second, turning back in the next as her fingers moved to twist the knob of her room's door. The sound of the door opening was heard. Before any of them could see or say anything, there was a loud slamming of the door and any trace of Sooyeon disappeared. The other servants that had been waiting for Sooyeon to start dinner had their eyes wide, it was one of the few times that they had seen Sooyeon in this way. The girl was usually cheerful and full of energy, to them at least, and she had always been one of the energy sources the servants had to last them through all the hard times ever since she had arrived in the manor. That was too, one reason why they all doted on her throughout the years. One by one, they turned to their food, and then to Ahnmi, to which the latter gave them each a nod, telling them to start eating without the girl and her.

Ahnmi knocked the door to Sooyeon's door, whispering softly to lull the girl to open the door for her. The door unlocked, and the older lady entered. Sooyeon was lying on the floor as always, her eyes blank as they were directed towards the ceiling. The humongous pair of headphones were still found on the girl's head, loud music blasting through them. The music was so loud that Ahnmi thought that the younger girl was going to go deaf. Ahnmi took a step closer towards the girl, only to be stopped by the sudden movement of Sooyeon holding up a sketchbook. Reading the message written on the sketchbook, Ahnmi burst into small chuckles as she took a sit on the floor next to the younger girl.

"Don't talk to me. It's a long story." The older women whispered to herself, the words reminding her of an old friend that she had. In fact, every movement that Sooyeon had, every behaviour that the girl acted, everything of the girl had always reminded Ahnmi of the old friend that she had missed so dearly ever since the older lady had set her eyes on the younger girl. She was an old friend that Ahnmi desired so much to meet again, though the older lady knew that she never had the chance to. Maybe that was why Ahnmi was so glad to see Sooyeon blossom into the beautiful young lady she was, and maybe that was one reason why she had treated the girl like dearly like her own daughter, but Ahnmi knew that deep in her heart, there were other reasons too. Other reasons that the younger girl was not yet ready to know, but Ahnmi, unlike the other servants, could sense the slight difference present in the girl for the past few weeks, and maybe, maybe the girl was starting to be ready for the long path ahead of her. The older servant took a pen that was lying on the side of the two, her hand moving across a new page of the same sketchbook that Sooyeon was holding up seconds before. When she was done, the older servant nudged the younger girl, putting the sketchbook before her so that she could see the new message from the latter.

"What's going on? You know you can tell me right?" Sooyeon pouted at the mother-like figure beside her. She was unwilling to take off her headphones, not only because she was moody from hearing the Hwang's young princess' thoughts during her 'playtime' with her, but also because she did not want to listen to anyone else's thoughts around her. Although she had succeeded several times during her practice with Seungcheol, her failure to block out people's thoughts earlier with her young lady made her even more afraid of trying, which was why she relied on the headphones to block out any noises instead. It was quite effective though, at least she could not hear anything else around her and that was exactly what she wanted.

Despite how Sooyeon felt, a small part in her was glad that Ahnmi showed concern even when she had just thrown a temper at her. The older lady had always been there for her, ever since her memory was with her and she was the only one that Sooyeon had trusted, of course until the boys entered her life once more but that was a different case by itself. Sooyeon pouted, maybe she should consult the older lady for advice about all that that had been going through her mind, ranging from her real family to the powers that she had been getting, since the latter did live a longer life than her. And she finally lifted the headphones away from her ears, sitting up to face the older lady. But before Sooyeon could start the conversation, she gasped at the thoughts of the latter that had now trailed to her mind, her eyes snapping straight to the older lady, looking bewildered at the latter. 

Author's Note: Hello~~ I'm so so sorry for not updating last week, I had a school carnival that Saturday and I was completely knocked out on Sunday.. :p Forgive me and enjoy this chapter and the next!! <3 Until next week~~