Arin’s first instinct was to run away, but she couldn’t bring her limbs to react. She froze like a deer in headlights, eyes wide and body stiff.

Hoshi also stopped when he noticed she wasn’t moving. He looked between Arin and the witch, then said, “oh right! I forgot…”

Arin turned to look at him, expecting him to explain what exactly he “forgot,” but he didn’t. He just turned to the witch expectantly, and she suddenly got down on her knees and lowered her neck.

“I’m sorry, Arin,” the witch said. “I made a mistake, and I know nothing I say or do will ever reverse the damage and the trauma that you experienced, but the only thing I can do is apologize. I’m sorry, Arin. You were a victim of rage I couldn’t control, and not a day goes by when I don’t regret what I’ve done to you and to the people you love. I’m sorry.”

Arin didn’t know what she expected, but it was not that.

The witch slowly lifted her head to make eye contact with Arin. She looked like she wanted to cry.

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” the witch said again, lowering her head again.

Arin also wanted to cry. She wanted to scream and yell and tell this person that she hated her, but not a word could come out of , not even a whimper. It was stuck in in the most uncomfortable way.

She wanted to lunge at this woman. She wanted to hit her to step on her, to make her feel just a little bit of the pain that Arin felt. She could have; the witch was there, vulnerable, right in front of her. All she had to do was strike.

But then something strange and miraculous happened. Magical, for sure. A young girl of about 12 or 13 emerged from the crowd watching her and wrapped her arms around Arin in a tight embrace.

All of the pain and frustration disappeared. Arin could feel it physically get out of her body and into the girl’s.

It was a wonderful feeling, and Arin let herself get lost in it. She wrapped her arms around the strange girl and hugged her back.

Arin felt light and empty, and it was a wonderful thing to be empty, because it meant there was no despair weighing her down. There were no thoughts of revenge, no anger, no hatred. Just… nothingness.

“It’s a beautiful moment,” Dasinai spoke up. “But save it for the room!”

The girl released Arin and stepped back, and Arin found herself staring at her.

She didn’t look like a regular girl. There were shadows around her eyes, as if she hadn’t slept in days. And even though she wore pink sneakers and a t-shirt with a unicorn on it, the innocent bliss of childhood was not there in her eyes. Arin could tell that the girl had experienced something supernatural that changed her natural makeup. Arin could tell that the girl was cursed.

“This is Larali,” Jun introduced her. “She’s cursed to absorb other people’s pain.”

“Oh !” Hoshi suddenly said, pointing at Arin’s bracelet.

It was a dark shade of green.

“Looks like Larali made the better first impression than I. How can I ever beat Larali?” Hoshi joked. He turned to Larali and said, “that means Arin loves you, by the way!”

Larali let out a weak smile, but Arin could tell that the girl was holding in so much.

“Oh goodie, the bracelet worked!” Dasinai spoke. “Wonderful news.”

Hoshi began reporting to Dasinai about the findings of their experiments, while Arin focused on Larali. Arin was drawn to the girl, but the girl was drawing away from her back behind the crowd with Jun leading her to the back. Arin wanted to get closer to her, but to do that, she would have to step closer to the witch.

The witch had stood up from her bowing position, but she still peered at Arin, as if waiting for Arin to acknowledge her. But Arin didn’t want to even look in her direction, so she turned her back to the witch and just stood there, feeling stranded and unsure what to do.

Jun appeared from behind her and said, “I know you hate that woman, but I need you to know that she hasn’t done anything like that since then, and she is sincere when she says she regrets it. She’s a very powerful mage, probably the only one left who has enough magic to actually properly cast spells. Even though her past is questionable, we need her. I know what I’m asking from you is hard, but please, please work with her. We need her. She’s the only one who can uncurse Sangbin and Larali.”

Work with her?

How was she supposed to react to that? She should have been angry, but she wasn’t. She didn’t even feel any hatred for that woman anymore; Larali had swiped all of that out of her. She wondered if MRS did it on purpose to make her compliant with these demands. Were they manipulating her right now, and was she falling for it?

“Arin, dear,” Dasinai called out from the other side of the room where she was speaking with Hoshi. “Could you come here for a minute, please?”

Going there meant going closer to the witch, who was still looking in Arin’s direction with a creepy kind of wonder.

Dasinai seemed to notice this, so she turned to the witch and said: “Yoonsa, could you please step out for a bit. I’ll call you back.”

The witch nodded, then retreated out of the room without looking back.

Dasinai looked toward Arin with a sympathetic smile. “Oh Arin, this must be so hard for you to be around so many strangers who happen to be working with the very person who cursed you, but I need you to trust us. We would never bring anyone here who would ever do you harm. Yoonsa has made a lot of grave and unforgivable mistakes, and I don’t ever expect you to forgive her, but I do hope you’ll still trust us.”

Why did Arin still trust them? Were they manipulating her? Charming her? Why was she agreeing to work with the witch? She was so confused, but for the first time in forever, the confusion did not translate to anxiety. She had a feeling that Larali, even sitting in the far corner of the room, was still soaking it all up.

When she expressed her agreement with a nod of her head, Hoshi immediately began explaining what was going to happen: “So Arin, you see this glass box?” He pointed to the room within the room, “this is our extraction room. Yoonsa enchanted it, just like Hyojung did with the building you lived in. I’ve been meaning to ask you, actually… were you there when Hyojung enchanted the building?”

Arin shook her head.

“Because it takes a lot of power to enchant a structure as big as that buidling. How she managed to do that is beyond me. Enchanting only this little glass room nearly drained all the magic we’ve been collecting!” He turned to Dasinai. “Should we be worried?”

“Honestly, yes, we should be,” Dasinai told him. “That woman has more power in her finger than we do in our entire organization. Soon, she’ll have enough to sever the human connection to the spirits.”

Hoshi bit his lower lip, looking genuinely concerned. “Seriously?”

Dasinai only nodded.

“Well ,” he said. “I’m too young to die.”

“We’ll deal with that issue after we save Sangbin,” Dasinai replied. “I’m working on a plan.”

Hoshi let out a deep breath. He looked troubled by what Dasinai had told him, but he went back to addressing Arin. “Where was I? Right… the room. It’s enchanted, so we’ll ask you, Larali, Yoonsa, and…” he trailed off, then turned to Dasinai. “Who? Sangbin?”

“He’s too weak for this,” Dasinai said. “Jun… can you fill in?”

Jun narrowed his eyes, “me?”

“You’re blessed, so you have some magic to offer.”

“But not a lot. I really would rather not. Maybe we can get the muggle she’s connected to?”

“Oh, she has a soulmate?” Hoshi asked.

“Yeah, I saw him. He’s a muggle though. He lives in the building…”

“No,” Dasinai said. “We can’t risk bringing in a muggle here.”

“But…”

“If you’re not comfortable, Jun, I can bring in someone else.”

“I…” Jun trailed off. “Why don’t you let Arin choose?”

“I don’t think she wants to make the decision,” Dasinai said.

“Arin,” Jun faced Arin. “You’re going to be forced to fall in love with someone. Do you want to choose who, or do you want us to choose for you?”

Arin blinked with a blank expression on her face. While she appreciated Jun addressing her and offering to let her decide, she was taken aback by the bluntness.

“Thumbs up if you want to choose; thumbs down if you don’t.”

Arin blinked again.

Hoshi laughed. “Gosh, why are you throwing the question at her like that and expecting her to answer on the spot? Arin, this is what will happen: we’ll be giving you a love potion, so you’ll fall in love with one person temporarily, for only a few hours. Honestly, it doesn’t matter who it is…”

“If it doesn’t matter, then you do it!” Jun said to Hoshi.

“Me? I’ll be monitoring from the outside.”

“Why not monitor from the inside?”

“You know, we can actually just make it Larali,” Hoshi suggested.

“Ew, no. That’s creepy!” Jun protested.

“Homophobic much?”

“What? No! I was referring to the fact Larali is only 12 years old!”

“Oh… right. Forget I said that,” Hoshi said sheepishly.

“Oh be quiet, both of you,” Dasinai said with a chuckle. “You make everything awkward! I’ll just let Boo do it. Boo!” Dasinai yelled.

Arin was a little hurt how eager both Jun and Hoshi were about not being the person she would temporarily fall in love with. She wondered why they had that reaction. She wondered if they thought she was gross? Ugly? Annoying? Stupid?

The boy called Boo came into the room seconds later like an obedient puppy waiting for orders. “Yes, Dasinai.”

“Come, be part of the extraction today. We’ll give Arin a potion, and she’ll fall in love with you.”

“Me?” Boo asked, pointing to himself.

“Yes.”

Boo turned his head to Arin, looking at her. “Do I have to?” he asked.

Arin’s face fell. What was it about her that people hated so much?

Jun seemed to notice how uncomfortable and hurt Arin was with the whole situation, because after one look at her, he stepped forward.

“I’ll do it…”

A/N: I’m a bit late this week, sorry! Busy week~

ALSO STREAM SEMICOLON