“So you take the… whatchamacallit, and point it at the.. uh… doohickythingy and then the.. whatsizname will eat it up and then we’ll be all set!” Came Sooyoung’s overly enthusiastic voice from our living room. And here I thought she was preparing our movie night while entertaining her guest.

I take a peek through the doorway, and.. yes she is showing her guest how to work the Blu-ray. Great.

At least she hasn’t set things on fire, yet. Thank God the previous tv set we had I had gotten out of a good bargain in a second-hand shop. I would have been so pissed if it wasn’t. I swear, if she sets this new one on fire..

“Sunny!” I jolt at the screech, hopping away just as the spilled hot water splashed onto the tiled floor. That was too close a call.

“I told you not to scream you banshee!” I yell back, setting aside the hot water kettle and pulling out a few sheets of tissues to dab away at the spilled water.

“I am not a banshee and you know it!” She returns, shouting in her banshee-like voice. 

Jesus, this was not what I’d sign up for when I agreed to the contract. When the landlord was asking how I felt about differences in ethnic background, ethereal beings were the last thing on my mind. With the cheap rent and the short distance from my workplace, plus the various food outlets just within walking distance, I was all for it.

Then, I was introduced to this tall, gangly, woman, who was very charming through the whole getting to know you bit. She even offered to help me sort out my things after a cup of tea. She seemed like the perfect, run-of-the-mill roommate.

That was until I walked in on her making tea. A levitating, wooden spoon was continuously stirring a pot of tea while what looked to be a small, hand-sized tealeaf monster struggled to climb out of the boiling pot. The new roommate, Sooyoung, was on her phone, swooning over pictures, stopping only to have the wooden spoon club the monster on its head and have it plop back into the pot. Needless to say, I had refused the tea and locked myself up in the room trying to contact the landlord’s phone.

“Sunny!” I sigh, turning a wry eye to Sooyoung.

“What?”

“Do we still have some of those delicious chips left over?” she asks, her eyes twinkling. Ever since the time we’ve shared a bag of chips over watching late night television Sooyoung has never stopped looking for more. I swear she blew off most of her wages on chips and had completely glossed over the healthy 3 meals a day with bags of scrumptious chips. Not that I can blame her, those chips are just too good.

“Didn’t you stash some at the top cupboard?”

“I ate those this morning.”

“Under the sink?”

She shook her head. “They were afternoon snacks.”

“In your room.” A snort. “Good point.”

“Suuuunnnyyy” I resisted a groan at the childish whine. I knew I could do better, way better, but there was this look in her eyes that always got to me. But, for all I know, it could be some sort of fairy enchantment. I focus my attention on the three mugs on the counter, pointedly ignoring her pleading look.

“Ah, Miss..” I lowered my voice. “What was her name again?”

Sooyoung makes an exaggerated gasp of blasphemy, momentarily forgetting her snack dilemma, and jab her pointer finger at me. I roll my eyes. “She is the Fairy queen, mortal! You must do well to-”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cut to the chase. What’s her name? And stop calling me mortal. If you forgot, you’re in the human realm. I didn’t even believe fairies are real until you came along.”

She blows heavily through her nose; as if it was the most ridiculous sentence she’s ever heard. “It’s Fairy queen Tiffany.”

“Great.” I say, dismissing her. “Miss Tiffany? Would you like some sugar in your tea?”

The queenie’s head popped out from behind the doorway, her bright, curious eyes roaming about the small kitchenette. “Yes, please.”

“Me too!” Sooyoung interrupts, squeezing past me to grab her favourite mug and proceeds to dump a load of sugar into her drink. Magically. Fairies!

“I suppose you’d want the same amount of sugar in yours?” I ask sarcastically.

“Oh, no. One teaspoon is all I’ll have.” I look at her in relief. Sugar was not expensive, but the way Sooyoung goes through a pack every few days was seriously giving me second-hand repulsion for it.

Stirring in a teaspoon of sugar I pass it to the brunette. She smiles pleasantly, her eyes crinkling into familiar crescents as she takes a dainty sip from her mug. Why couldn’t Sooyoung be more normal, like Tiffany? I wonder if she’s going to stay for long, I wouldn’t mind having a change of roommates. Sooyoung for miss Tiffany, yeah, that sounds wonderful. No banshee screaming, just a lot of polite pleasantries.

“It’s perfect, thank you miss Sunny.” Tiffany says. A second later her smile diminishes and she sets the cup on the table. What was wrong? Was the tea not perfect? Did I put too much sugar? Oh God, was I not a good host?

“Oh dear. I’ve done it again.” Tiffany sighed, turning to look at Sooyoung. “I apologise Sooyoung, seems like your roommate has fallen for the charm.”

Sooyoung soon comes into my view, blocking the gorgeous Fairy queen Tiffany. I scowl at her ready to snap at her to get out of my face when I feel a sharp pain to my forehead.

My hands slap onto the spot Sooyoung flicked, surely there was going to be a red spot from how hard she hit me. “What was that for?! Seriously, Sooyoung, you don’t just go around flicking people’s forehead for no reason.”

Despite my berating, a smile pulls at Sooyoung’s lips and she flashes an okay sign to Tiffany.

“She’s back to normal.”

“Thank you, Sooyoung.” She says, repressing a smile.

What was that anyway? Was I just panicking about my ability as a host? She was Sooyoung’s guest, why was I even bothered by my poor hosting? I rub the top of my head, looking between Sooyoung and Tiffany. I had a feeling this had something to do with their fairy magic mumbo jumbo again. Fairies!

“I apologise for that miss Sunny. See I.. you could say, am cursed with an enchantment that no one has successfully reversed. It’s quite the hassle, really. I assure you, it’s not dangerous but it might.. accidentally happen again.”

“It’s quite easy to reverse, your grace, you shouldn’t worry too much about it.” Sooyoung dismisses, retaking her seat on the kitchen counter.

“Um…” I am completely in the dark here. But it doesn’t seem like either fairies were willing to go much into it. I guess the less I know the better. “Okay. I have no idea what just happened. Frankly, I don’t think I want to know.”

“Perfect!” Sooyoung chimed in. “You don’t need to bother yourself with our affairs.”

“Sooyoung.” Tiffany berates, frowning slightly at the taller fairy.

Sooyoung passes her an innocent look. “Sunny dislikes mentions of the supernatural anyway. She locked herself up the first time she saw me whip myself up one of our old teas.”

“There was like a little monster trying to climb out of the pot! How was I supposed to react?!” I jumped on the defence. Really, I don’t understand how Sooyoung’s mind works. Miss Tiffany was pretty normal compared to her, hell I wouldn’t have known she was magical if Sooyoung hadn’t made a big deal of her visit.

“You know what?” I raise my hands in surrender. “I am going to set up the movie. The last thing I want is the blue-ray bursting into flames.” I give Sooyoung a piercing stare. She has the conscience to look away guiltily. Good.

“You know, I really feel like we aren’t seeing eye to eye.” Sooyoung starts.

Movie night proceeded without a hitch. With Sooyoung keeping her hands, and magic, to herself the rest of the evening went pleasantly destruction-free. Unlike Sooyoung’s first time reaction to seeing figures moving around the box, Miss Tiffany sat through the movie in silence, as if she had known the figures were recordings from the past, constructed to entertain the viewers. All she did was clap as the end credits began rolling. She was very normal. Very, un-Sooyoung-like. I pass Tiffany a curious look before answering.

“It’s because you’re taller than me.” I say, rolling my eyes.

She snorts, taking another slice of pizza, her third. Tiffany was still on her first, carefully chewing the portion in . Whatever remained of her slice was dribbling with copious amounts of hot sauce. Her face was already turning a shade of pink, but she seems to enjoy it immensely.

I down the rest of my first slice, already scrutinizing the remaining slices for one with the most topping. I paid for the pizza, no way was I going to feel guilty for choosing the meatiest slice. I find the one I like, slather it with ketchup and bits of hot sauce here and there. Just the way I like it.

Come to mama.

“I mean, I feel like we’re not really close.”

I shut my mouth, pulling my slice away as I look up at Sooyoung’s messy face. “Well, I sure don’t want to be close to you right now pizza-face.”

Sooyoung wears a dumbfounded look, her chubby cheeks stop their chewing motion while a piece of olive falls off the edge of her slice. I hear Tiffany chuckling softly at the side. She gets what I’m saying.

“My face doesn’t look like a pizza.” She finally says sternly after a long, silent deliberation.

I swallow the chunk in my mouth. “Have you seen your reflection?”

Reaching for the tissues I throw the whole bunch at her. She’ll need it more than we do. Her face remains as blank as before. Really, how slow is this gigantic fairy?

“She means you have sauce around your chin.” Tiffany helpfully offers. She was being nice, Sooyoung had sauce all over her face. She eats like a child, I’m not even sure she chews properly before swallowing.

“Oh.” She grabs the whole wad of tissue, wiping at her face in various directions. Seriously.

“You missed a spot.” I deadpan, putting aside my slice and shuffle closer to the useless fairy. Choosing a fairly clean tissue I reach to her face, carefully wiping along her jaw and upper lip.

“Seriously, can’t you try eating a little more, I don’t know” Normal, I wanted to say. I settle for “lady-like.”

Sooyoung gives me an unreadable look, sitting still as I finish wiping away the remnants from her haphazard wiping. When I return to my seat I picked up my slice and chow down. I chose to ignore the stares directed at me, hoping neither of the fairies had picked up on the nervousness I was beginning to feel.

Had I crossed a line being that close to the fairy? I just realised that aside from the forehead flick from this afternoon I have never really been in direct physical contact with Sooyoung. Was there a rule against it with the magic world? They weren’t going to turn me into some sort of defenceless animal, would they? If they are, I hope they’d at least turn me into a cat. Cats are cool, but a ferret would be pretty sweet too.

I snuck a glance at Tiffany, the fairy queen. She wasn’t looking at me anymore but was instead staring at Sooyoung. I sigh, putting my slice down and shuffle around to face Sooyoung. The fairy jumps in her seat the moment we make eye contact and quickly dropped her gaze to her slice.

“Okay, what now? Did I do or say something I shouldn’t have? Did I break a sacred rule or what?” I asked them exasperatedly.

Sooyoung vigorously shook her head while Tiffany kept her silence. Okay, that was it.

I grab my slice and push up to stand. “I’m going to my room. You do whatever fairy things you need to do. But I swear if I wake up with paws instead of hands I know who to bite.” I send what was supposed to be a warning glare at Sooyoung, but the shocked look on her face was too priceless. I end up with, what I think, was a challenging kind of grin.

I say my goodbyes, making my way to my room.

Before I close my door I manage to catch Tiffany’s chirpy voice. “I like her.”

I guess it’s safe to say no kitty paws in the morning then.

~~~

A/N: Yes, Fairy Queen Tiffany, and yes she is very un-Sooyoung like. Sunny and Sooyoung make their entrance as roomies. I realise I should have posted this on Halloween, but honestly, I forgot. Happy All Saint's or All Soul's Day everybody (it still kinda counts!)