Seoul, 2016

After taking a shower, Mark leaves the bathroom to find the house settled in a comfortable but unknown silence. He decides to scope the halls and rooms, finding Jinyoung asleep in his bed, the thick duvet up over his head. He looks like a ball of cotton, rising and falling with every breath he takes. Mark wants to slide in and take a peek at his face but he decides to leave him alone to what seemed like a rare blissful sleep.

In the kitchen, Mark finds a note on the counter telling him Insook and Mihyun have gone out to buy some groceries. He can tell Mihyun wrote it because it’s signed off with a wink face. It makes him smile as he ruffles the towel over his head, brushing at wet strands as he places the note back onto the counter.

A look towards the kitchen glass doors leads him to Sadiya crouching in the garden, her golden tunics scrunched up to her thighs and her arms rolled up to her shoulder. Her limbs are long but not particularly thin like he’d expected, there’s a substantial amount of muscle to them, something that maybe comes out of doing a lot of labour.

Mark makes his way towards her as she pokes and prods at the flowers in the soil. “It’s like sand but it’s not.” She says simply, peering down curiously at the flower beds.

“You’ve never seen soil before?” Mark asks, he lets the towel drape around his neck as he squats down beside her.

“I’ve seen it, I’ve just never felt it.” She gives him a look from the side, the sunlight hitting her eyes in a way that makes them come off green. “That’s the difference between watching over you and being with you. Between you remembering us or not.”

“You can feel what I feel? Like I’m a bridge to the physical world for you guys?” Mark guesses, and it earns him a small smile from her.

“Yes.” She nods, her hand skimming the surface of the soil and travelling up the stem of a flower, petals small but bright, orange speckled on white. “It’s been a long time since I felt just how delicate flowers are.”

Mark stares at her hand. “Delicate just means they don’t last…” He murmurs under his breath.

Sadiya snorts, “That is where you are wrong. They are by far the most resilient. Do you know what was the first thing to grow out from the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Mark?”

Mark raises an eyebrow at her, “Grow?”

She gives him a faint nod over the shoulder and a long finger pointing towards the hanging flower pot just beside the garden doors. “The oleander flower was the first thing to grow out of the scorched land.”

Mark blinks fast, staring up at those flowers that looked so small and frail. Petals as thin as layers of skin, and stems long and thin like legs of a cricket. “Those grew out from an atomic bomb?” He asks in disbelief.

“It seems impossible but I guess you all rely on the… weight of things too much, placing so much importance on mass you’re obviously only going to get disappointed in the end.” She tuts. “Flowers may seem weak, but they survive. You cut them of their roots but still they flourish besides your ill, they put smiles on your children, they feed and help animals. Nature. It’s what keeps this planet alive. Despite all this… you render them to simple, frail, pretty things.” She says the last sentence with a click of her tongue, as if she were plucking the words out bit by bit. There’s no smile on her face now as she stares deeply into the bed of flowers as if she could see the world, and it would seem she did not like it at all.

Mark isn’t exactly sure what to say. He could sense that there is an underlying meaning to her words, but it could easily just be her playing mind games too. He may know the Sadiya back when she was a girl travelling the desert but he doesn’t know the Sadiya now.

She sighs then, pushing herself back up to her feet. “I know you have questions, Mark. I’m not here to be some saviour though, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Then why are you here?” Mark asks, following her up as she starts to wonder lightly around the garden.

“Is that really what you want to know?”

“No lies, Sadiya.” Mark demands. “After Barrick, I don’t know what any of you could do.”

She looks over her shoulder at that and gives Mark a thoughtful blink. “I don’t want anything in particular.” Sadiya said. “I just got fed up of watching from the sidelines. If I were to be stuck in this infinite cycle, I’d rather feel it, experience it and then succumb to silent observation. Being cooped up isn’t something I particularly like the taste of.”

Mark watches her skeptically, her hands knotted behind her nonchalantly as she swirls on the balls of her feet. “You don’t even want to meet Hakim?”

“Hakim…” She sighs the name. “I’ve had centuries of loving him, hating him, understanding him and cursing him. There’s nothing left but what he’s placed upon me, an eternity of no peace.”

Mark flinches a little at her words, he didn’t expect this. He didn’t expect her indifference. In some odd, roundabout way it hurt him, as if somehow it made everything…pointless.

“Isn’t it about time you ask the real questions, Mark?”

“Why don’t you just give me the answers?” He retorts.

She smirks as she hops onto the bricks that border the flower beds, “Where’s the fun in that?”

“Is this a game to you?” Mark exasperates.

“To me?” She perks at the question. “You’re the one that’s made life a game, made life… pointless. You experienced death, you experienced life before you lived it and yet you decided it wasn’t worth it. Hollow… and pointless. That’s who you are Mark.”

“This isn’t about me-”

“Isn’t it?” She laughs lightly, bitterly. It crawls under Mark’s skin. “Who are you? Who do you love? Do you love Jinyoung because you think you’re meant to? Have you ever lived for yourself? Have you ever thought about yourself?”

Mark bites his lip, his jaw tight and lodged in place. She’s playing him, pulling at chords and strings like an instrument she knew too well. “What are you getting out of this?”

“You irritate me, Mark.” She says flatly, tip toeing her way around the flowers and hopping over brushes that spilled over onto the ground like a waterfall of leaves, pooling onto the pebble path. “You were the first among my reincarnations to remember and I was disappointed to find that instead of flourishing, instead of living in worlds you could never touch again, you hid them away and you pushed them away-”

Mark scoffs, “Are you kidding me?”

Sadiya raises an eyebrow, “Am I wrong? You’re like… a puppet.”

“A puppet?” Mark echoes, breathing air finely through his nose.

“I’ve seen you with Jinyoung. When you kiss him or hold him, you always have this… empty look like you’re forcing yourself. It makes me itch.” She contorts her face and makes a yuck sound.

“What would you know about me and Jinyou-”

“I think the better question here is what wouldn’t I know, don’t you think?” She throws back, the tone in her voice makes Mark involuntary clench his fists. “What is it, Mark? You feel obligated because of Barrick? Feel pity for Jinyoung? Both?”

“Stop.”

“Or are you just kidding yourself? You want to feel something? Fool yourself in thinking you can have a normal life after all? What is it you want in the end? Because-”

“What would you know!?” Mark shouts, Sadiya’s mouth clamping shut. “What would any of you know about how I feel? You think you can understand because you’re connected to me, because I’m your reincarnation? You just see what you want, you’re just like everyone else- you fill in the spaces I won’t fill in myself for you and you assume, assume, and assume.” Mark breathes heavily, his lungs expanding painfully in his chest, his breath irregular like he’d just done a sprint.

Sadiya is fully facing him now, her expression monotone while Mark could barely contain the twitches in his. “You’re afraid of feeling so you push it down.”

Mark lets out a broken breath, tears accumulating in his eyes. “When feeling only hurts you, why would you want to feel anything at all?”

“It’s what makes us human.”

“And I hate it.” Mark admits. He lets the weakness grow, eat at his insides and sink into his bones. It brings him to the ground, his palms to the pebble rocks, rubble embedded into his skin. “You, Barrick, and even Jinyoung, you all think my feelings for him aren’t… mine. I suppose I thought so too at some point, or maybe it was just easier to brush it away but you don’t see it.”

Sadiya gives her head a tilt, looking down at Mark from where she is, tall and long, the sun haloing her head. Mark squints as he looks up at her. “See what?”

“See him when you close your eyes.” Mark whispers and lets his eyelids flutter shut. “But I see him. I see him in everything. Since the moment he walked into that lecture hall, all I could see was him.”

He still remembers Jinyoung so vividly. His eyes immediately drawn to him like a ghost had just wandered into the hall, he stood to the back, darkness spilling from him. He was haunting and beautiful.

“I see.” She says. “Well I guess that’s that.”

Mark coughs, “What?”

“Now, listen. Quick.” She says hurriedly, squatting down in front of Mark. She leans in close, her brown eyes large, eyes that glimmered like sun on water and light against scales. “There’s just two things you need to know when it comes down to it.”

Mark’s eyebrows knit together in the middle. The tears stayed stuck in his eyes as confusion quickly overtook him. “T-two things?”

Sadiya nods eagerly, bouncing a little on her heels. “One is that by your theory we definitely have a wish or two, none of the reincarnations before you were ever aware to do anything.”

“W-we have a wish?” Mark brushes a hand through his hair and in a deep breath. “But I’ve been wishing and it hasn’t been working.”

Sadiya rolls her eyes and jumps back onto her feet. “Yeah, well, the answer to that was in front of you and Youngjae this whole time but you were all swept up in yourselves to even realise it.”

“Realise what?”

“Jinn’s don’t grant wishes, genius.” She says frustratingly with a wave of her hands. “What got us all here in this stupid circle in the first place? Hakim. Youngjae. They all gave up something…”

“...they all made deals.” Mark finishes, realisation dawning upon him.

Sadiya grins wide, “Now it’s our turn.”

Mark scrambles up to his feet. “We make a deal, we make a deal with them. Just like Hakim.”

“Just like Hakim.” Sadiya sounds a little sad as she says it but it isn’t dwelt upon for long before she’s clapping and speaking again. “Okay, so this second thing is a little urgent.”

“What is it?”

“It’s Jinyoung.”

Dread hits Mark’s chest like a bat to a ball. “What about him?”

“He’s sort of dying.” She says quickly, both palms out as if it’d lessen the blow of the words.

Mark looks up urgently to the top of the house, “What do you mean? He’s fine- he’s been sleeping.”

“Well, you see... it’s been going on for a bit.” She says vaguely.

“What are you talking about?”

Sadiya her lips, her eyes swirling around the place as if the words were hidden in the budding flowers. “Mark…” She starts, giving her nose a little scratch. “He’s been dying since the moment he met you.”

The Arabian Peninsula, 1558

Hakim had told Sadiya several times not to wonder in the night. But when you’ve been cooped up behind walls and tucked in the corner of a wagon for most of your life, adventure is a song impossible to ignore. She wouldn’t wander the deserts though, not just just because there’s hardly anything to find, but because tracking your steps is nearly impossible. There’s a stronger wind in the night and the print you left in the ground is never guaranteed.

That’s why markets and festivals are Sadiya’s favourite thing, because it means a new town, new people, new corners to unearth. The sound of the bustling streets, men shouting deals at the top of their lungs, the clattering of stalls and the stories being whispered were possibly the most exciting, but torturous sounds. Being kept in her confinements, her pillow her only companion, while Hakim toured the streets would always start an itch she had to scratch.

She’d usually choose the time just after the day market had closed, when the sun had barely set and Hakim had left to do more personal deals with the traders he’d met. Those kind of talks usually took him into the night. He’d always come back reeking of smoke from the argileh and stumbling over from the liquor, complaining about how much he hated the social customs. This benefited Sadiya however, because it meant she had a few hours in the night to roam.

There were hardly people out after dusk but Sadiya still took precautions. She’d sewn up dark coloured clothes, puffy legs and a loose tunic to hide her body frame, easy to move about in and blended into the night well. She’d rarely get questioned or caught, but on the one or two few occasions she did, she found it easy to pass off as a teenage boy. With her face covered up, and her eyes lowered, she’d expose her scar to the light and suspicions dwindled.

That day Sadiya was particularly excited. She’d heard through the wood of her wagon, Hakim talking to a fellow tradesmen before entering the city. She’d found they were close to the border, and that if you head to one of the highest points of the city, what’d be a watchman's tower, you could see the border. It meant she could see the sea.

She could barely keep herself contained. The moment Hakim had told her he’d be leaving with the other men, Sadiya quickly slipped on her clothes and exited the wagon. It wasn’t particularly dark out, the sand hills in the distance still cradling the sunset. There were torches protruding out from the side of buildings lit and lighting up the footpaths.

Making her way discretely through the city wasn’t hard, the off-white buildings had been moulded closely together, alleyways at every turn. There were shadows everywhere, welcoming her to hide if need be. She’d already seen the watchtower when she left the wagon, a tall long building, shaped like a tube with a helmet stood obnoxiously from inbetween houses.

Her steps are light and secretive, her smile hidden behind her veil and her eyes, bright and mischievous, glowing and flickering with the flames of torches. It was when she was running silently down footpaths, slithering her way through shadows, and dancing around guards did she feel most herself. She felt free.

Even though Sadiya came to realise that most of the cities in the peninsula looked the same, it hadn’t stopped her from collecting flickers of magic from the small things. Whether it’d be the little boy she had met three full moons ago, his eyes a bright green, a colour she’d never seen before. Or the strange animals she’d seen, one with a shell for a body. There was always something she’d find, something that’d make her smile as she curled back onto the chest that made her bed.

This time, however, was completely different. Usually the magic would find her as she’d roam the quiet streets, but now she was searching for it. She’d heard the conversations, that this city was famous for attracting artists, painters of the desert. People from all across the land would travel to see the view this city could offer. Sadiya knew then, that no matter what, she would climb that tower and see it for herself.

By the time she’s reached the tower, the sun had almost completely disappeared and her heart had sunk with it. There was a flame lit to the top, and a shadow moving as if in a march. Of course there’d be a guard. She cursed inwardly. She’d been too excited she hadn’t even thought about it. Why wouldn’t a watchman’s tower have a watchman in it?

She’s contemplating any and every way she could still climb up and see it without getting caught. However, there’s just one entrance and a spiral of stairs, and there’s no guarantee any one of the windows on the way up would offer her the same view the top would. She’d thought about a distraction, something to bring him down, but it was too risky. For all she knew she could alert the guards of the whole city and they’d come raining down on her.

“Sadiya?” A voice called out.

Sadiya almost fell face first onto the ground, she was in a crouching position beside a tree that she thought had given her enough coverage. She looked up and over her shoulder, squinting at the shadow of a man in the entrance of the watch tower.

“Hakim!?” She shot up to her feet. “What are you doing here?” She whispered hurriedly, skittering her way towards him.

Hakim had a small torch in his hand, in close proximity it gave Sadiya enough vision to make out his face. His face with the biggest smirk plastered on.

“Do you take me for an idiot?” He asked her, raising an eyebrow. “You really think I hadn’t noticed you leaving the wagon and touring the cities in the night?”

Sadiya pressed her lips into a fine line, her sheepish expression just about covered by the veil. “When did you find out?” She muttered, her head slightly lowered.

Hakim gave out a light bubble of a laugh. “You’ve been sewing clothes for a man too small for me and your feet are constantly covered in dirt and sand despite the fact that you’re not supposed to have left the wagon. I am not the most intellectual of people, but this was rather simple.” He grinned wide, evidently satisfied with finally having caught Sadiya red handed.

“S-so what? You’re going to drag me off to the wagon and lecture me about the dangers of me wandering around like this?” She said with her chin obnoxiously raised, her eyes daring but it didn’t seem to make the smile on Hakim’s face falter.

“No, we’re going to climb up the tower,” He said with a point. “And you can see what you’ve been wanting to see all day.”

Her eyes instantly lit up, and Hakim’s does too in return. “Are you serious?” She whispered excitedly, jumping slightly to the tip of her toes. “Isn’t there a guard up there?”

Hakim gave her a shake of his head, “I already spoke with him. It’s incredibly easy to bribe city dwellers, they’re amazed by anything vaguely foreign.” He chuckled in amusement as he nudged Sadiya to follow him up.

The stairs were endless but virtually nothing to Sadiya as the excitement bubbled up in her chest and made it way through her body, sparking off the little hairs on her arms and legs, and the back of her neck. She could barely contain herself as she skittered up the stairs behind Hakim, nothing but the light of the torch illuminating the way.

“Is there really a view out there? Can you see the water?” Sadiya eagerly asked, tugging on the back of Hakim’s tunic.

Hakim looked over his shoulder and gave her another mischievous smile before he nodded his way to the front of him. “See for yourself.” He said finally before making his way up the last step and out through the exit.

At first all Sadiya saw was the sky, scattered with the tiny lights of stars, the moon hanging in the sky, full and plump. Across the landscape was the desert and from this height she could see the flickers of fires from cities in the distance. Disappointment slowly crept up on her as she stumbled around the tower block looking for the sea.

Then, two firm hands pressed on her shoulders, “Over here, Sadiya.” Hakim whispered, directing her to stand in front of him, where in the distance she saw the desert being swallowed up by an enormous mass of water. It took her breath away as she looked on to what seemed as if the sky had fallen to the ground. It was as if the stars and moon had spilled into the sand, the water moving rhythmically like the desert land when the wind visited. It was like two worlds meeting, the line between the sand and the water broken and irregular. The water was dark and endless, in the distance it met the sky and they folded together seamlessly.

“It’s like a big oasis.” She whispered quietly, it almost came out as a whimper.

It earned her a snort from Hakim. “It is, isn’t it?”

“It’s so… beautiful.” Her voice cracked.

“Are you crying?” He asked, craning his neck over her shoulder.

“No.” She coughed, burying her face deeper into her veil.

Hakim didn’t say anything, instead he wrapped his arms around Sadiya and settled his chin on her shoulder. “It doesn’t feel of this world, does it?” He whispered, his voice soothing.

Sadiya sniffled. “Is it odd?”

“Is what odd?”

“That I feel like I’ve been missing this all my life and I’ve finally found it.” She said it quietly, as if it were a secret she shouldn’t tell anyone.

Hakim’s grip around her grew tighter, “It’s not odd at all. I felt the same with you.” He admitted to her, his voice just as small.

Sadiya gripped the arms around her, slipping off her veil so she could press her lips to his skin. She felt comfort, love and dare she say, complete in his arms. Her eyes looked out to the sea, that washed itself upon the desert shore, the wind carrying its words to tell her you’re home.

Seoul, 2016

Jinyoung wouldn’t wake up. No matter how much Mark begged or screamed, Jinyoung didn’t move an inch. He simply laid there, his breathing steady and his eyes fluttering ever so slightly, dreaming dreams blind to Mark. He stayed like that as Mark called an ambulance, as they carried him off all the way to the hospital and placed him in a room.

Mark stands rigid in the corner of the hospital room now. The off-cream walls, the stench of disinfectant and the constant beeping made him nauseous. It doesn’t matter though, nothing would make him unhinge his feet from where he is, staring down at Jinyoung. Watching, waiting for the tiniest flicker of change.

According to readings and scans, the doctors don’t know what is wrong with him… he’s just sleeping. Mark knew in hindsight there’d be nothing they could do, he called them just so he felt like he was doing something.

“I didn’t notice it immediately, but I sensed it over time, his energy depleting,” Sadiya says as she walks around Jinyoung’s bed, her gold tunics dragging behind her on the white, cold floor. “I suppose no human could handle that extent of memories rushing in, in such a short amount of time.”

“But he’d managed it before, he’s lived for so long with those memories, why now?” Barrick asks, sitting rigidly in the cushioned seat at the other corner of the room. His blonde hair is brushed in the opposite direction and his jaw rigid as his eyes settle harshly on Jinyoung.

Sadiya gives Barrick and Mark a sad look and then goes back to Jinyoung, crouching beside his bed and the back of his hand. “It’s like… a large tank of water rushing in through a tiny crack, it’s pushing its way in with so much force and speed. His body can’t take it, the tank is breaking.” She explains solemnly.

“He knew.” Mark mutters, his eyes blinking furiously, rejecting the tears that willed their way out. “Maybe not straight away but at some point he knew.”

Sadiya looks over her shoulder and gives him a nod.

“He didn’t say anything… Henrikka should have warned-” Barrick bites his lip, dropping his head into his hands.

“They knew, they all knew that there’d be nothing anyone could do.” Mark shakingly says, his breathing weak and haggard. “That’s why he kept begging me to just focus on the two of us, to forget everything and enjoy what we had. That’s why he was so… scared.” The last word comes out in a choke and Mark can’t hold onto himself anymore, he gives into the wall behind him and slips down to the ground.

The room door slams open then, banishing Sadiya and Barrick to the back of Mark’s mind as Mihyun rushes into the room. “Professor!?” She shouts as her eyes land upon Mark, sitting on the floor in a ball. “W-what is going on?” She mumbles, looking around and finding Jinyoung tucked neatly into his bed, wires tying him to machines.

She takes a deep breath and places her hands on her hips, “See… this… this scene right here… I’ve had enough of it. Like up to my neck enough.” She says aggressively, breathing in deeply through her nose. “Why are you on the floor, Professor? Get up. He’ll wake up any second.” She says strongly, so convinced and confident as she makes her way to Jinyoung’s side.

Mark watches her silently as she gives Jinyoung a once over, picking up the covers and looking underneath, checking at his legs and arms and all the machines even if she couldn’t understand a thing. “See? He’s not hurt.” She says to Mark. “He’s just sleeping. This has happened to you, to him, several times now. He’ll wake up with some sort of new information; you both work like freaking computers, need a goddamn system reboot to register everything.”

Mark his lips, so dry and chapped that it makes him wince a little as he tries to speak. “Mihyun-”

“What is it this time? Something to do with the demons, did you unlock pandora's box or something? Ahjumma’s outside filling out some forms by the way, she’s kind of a pro at this now.” Mihyun is rambling, her foot tapping aggressively to the floor and Mark could tell she knew something was off.

“He’s dying, Mihyun.” Mark says roughly, the words scratching at his throat.

Mihyun’s foot stops tapping and she stares down at Jinyoung with knitted eyebrows. She takes in a deep breath and looks up at a Mark with a rigid face, “What did you say?”

Mark rubs at his face and tries to clear his throat but it’s like something's lodged in there. “You’ve noticed it too. You told me yourself he’s been complaining about headaches, sleeping more… now he’s just not waking up… he’s dying-”

“That doesn’t mean-” Mihyun in a breath between her teeth. “That doesn’t mean he’s dying, Professor. Maybe… maybe something’s changing again. What makes you so convinced he’s dying?”

“He’s known himself for a while now. I should have sensed it earlier but… he’s known. He just didn’t want to worry us.” Mark murmurs. He couldn’t bare the thought of Jinyoung alone, knowing he was dwindling away, begging for more time, begging to spend the rest of it with a smile on his face.

“Why do you know? How do you know if you just found him asleep?” Mihyun argues back, her hands that were now clenched into fists were shaking and her eyes shone a little under the fluorescent light.

“I remember Sadiya, my beginning. My first life.” Mark explains weakly.

Mihyun’s face scrunches up, like she’s trying to understand all the information being thrown at her but it’s coming back with an error. “I don’t understand. It’s just a ghost, how would they know anything?”

Rude.

“I’m more inclined to believe her… she’s been around for five hundred years now, she knows more than any of us conscious in this room.” Mark retorts and Mihyun winces.

She starts pacing then, walking in a half circle back and forth around Jinyoung’s bed. “So what are we supposed to do? There has to be something we can do right? He can’t die just- wait, wait… if he dies… doesn’t that meant…?” She looks at Mark as the realisation and dread dawns upon her. His silence is enough of an answer for her.

She quickly rushes to where Mark is, crouching before him and placing two shaky hands on his shoulders. “Is this what this is? Is this what you’re doing? Giving up?” Mihyun asks, the tears in her eyes now so very clear to Mark. “You guys can’t just… die. This isn’t how it’s supposed to end.”

Mark’s lip twitches. “How is it supposed to end?”

Mihyun settles back onto the floor, her legs crossed and her eyes drooping. “I don’t know… we were supposed to have more time… to… figure this out.” She mumbles.

“Maybe this is just how things are…” Mark says. “How long does a happy ending last anyway?”

Mihyun looks up at him harshly. “I hate it when you talk like that.” Mihyun mutters and pushes herself back up to her feet. “It may seem nothing to you guys…death, but for people like me, for everyone else out there in the world, we just have this one.” She turns around stiffly and looks down at Mark, fear and sadness swirling in those large, round eyes of hers. “We just have this one life, Professor. You and Jinyoung and Professor Choi may continue on for a god damn eternity, but we stop here. Ahjumma and me, we just have this one. So if you give up on this one, you’re giving up on us too.” She says the words with a broken heart. Mihyun, a girl made of smiles and strength, cracking.

Mark gives his face an aggressive rub, his palms sweaty against his tear stained cheeks. With one deep breath he pushes himself up to his feet and takes a step closer to Mihyun. She stares up at him, balls of water accumulating in the corners of her eyes. “I’m sorry, I never thought about it like that,” He admits, placing his hands to either side of Mihyun’s face. “I guess Sadiya was right. I’ve never really learnt to stop and see the things that were around me… the people that love me, and without realising, the people that I love.”

“Oh, if Jinyoung could see us now.” Mihyun chuckles from underneath him. Mark pulls back to find a wide grin on her face and a trail of swept away tears.

Mark returns the grin with his own, it’s slightly forced but it’s honest. “I have a plan. It might not work, and we might all still die but… it’s doing something-”

“It’s not giving up.” Mihyun finishes eagerly. She sniffs deeply and takes a step back from Mark to pat at her head and pinch at her cheeks until they glowed a light red. She looks up at Mark with those strong eyes he knew so well, and gives her hair a flick. “So what do you need me to do?”