Chapter 6: You
A Devil That Looks Like an AngelShe peers into the empty marble halls and, as usual, everything looks so perfect; there’s not a single speck of dust of this in sight. Minnie is sure if she looked closer that the temple wouldn’t have had a single scrap or scratch on its structure. She can’t remember why she used to marvel how beautiful this place was before, sure it was stunning and all but everything was just too perfect. Come to think of it, Minnie doesn’t really remember where this place is and what it stood for at all even though she always sees it here—in her dreams that is.
Walking further down the hall, the girl hears her steps clack against the smooth stone with a dulling echo that followed seconds after she took each step. She feels a slight tension in the stillness of the air and feels anticipation for something to go wrong. Yet she feels that her body is unable to turn around and leave the scene. It seemed like what was going to happen was already set in stone; or, perhaps it has already really happened and this was some distant memory that she was currently unaware of. Minnie gets more anxious as she walks, because the perfect symmetry along the hall makes it seem like she isn’t going anywhere. She feels as far from the end of the hall as she was minutes before and she wonders if it might be because she was in a state of illusive thinking in a dream or if there was something unsettling that was going to happen. Of course, it could be because of both of those reasons but she didn’t wasn’t too keen on experiencing the latter.
What did a girl have to do to get one peaceful night of sleep where her dream is filled with sunshine and butterflies?
Minnie continues to go down the hall for what seems like an eternity to her before she is finally able to see the end of it. There stands an arched doorway with a figure standing under it that is too far for her to completely make out at the moment. She takes a few steps and the image starts to become more sharp and clear, but she couldn’t believe her eyes just then. She’s still in disbelief when she gets closer though, standing a mere meter away. Minnie just stands there, petrified as she stares at the ebony black feathered wing on the left of the figure juxtaposed next to the soft ivory white feathered wing on the right.
“An angel,” she whispers under her breath, “that’s also a devil.”
It doesn’t seem like the figure has taken note of her presence yet as they seemed to be rather occupied in something. Holding her breath, Minnie takes a few steps closer to the creature, curious and wanting to observe the wings in more detail. She flinches when the figure flexes their wings out to their full length and yelps. The not-so-sneaky girl is sure that the figure has noticed her now as the angelic devil or devilish angel retracts her wings. The hybrid deity quickly turns around and quickly dashes at her to cover her eyes. Before the figure is able to do so, Minnie catches a glimpse of her face blurred in motion. The only distinguishable trait she really noticed was those eyes that seemed to change from pure glazed over white to a pulsing deep red.
Shocked, Minnie feels herself running as the figure lunges towards her. She wants to go home; she wants to see her brothers again and her beloved parents back in the mortal realm that she was supposed to visit today. As she rushes down the hall, she feels her body starting to lift off of the ground. She feels wings sprout from her back and she begins to take off. Minnie had always thought that things were too perfect here and that there was something she was missing, but she had never expected to see this. It was definitely something that she shouldn’t have seen but could no longer take back. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to come back to this realm so she might as well enjoy her last bits of freedom while it lasted.
A familiar voice calls for her and Minnie is tempted to turn around for a split second. Her perspective then shifts from first person to the view of the figure’s. She can see the shock on her face with her eyes widened but there was a hint of sadness to it, as if she was disappointed by something. She started to hear her thoughts from what seemed like a distant memory replay:
‘It was you. Of all people, it had to be you.’
But who was this ‘you’ and why was she so shocked about it?
Dreams always work in such strange and illusive ways where sensical nonsense always seems to prevail. Knowing that she was shocked by the appearance, this ‘you’ must have been important to her but why has her mind decided to not reveal this person’s identity to her yet?
---
Minnie wakes up in her bed, still tucked under her blue duvet and familiar room, gasping. At first, she doesn’t think much of waking up in her own room but after a few minutes confusion slips into her mind. If she remembered correctly, she had fallen into a slumber in the mysterious traveler’s house so how did she end up here again?
She feels an itch caught inside of and starts coughing lightly.
It’s not as bad as it could be but she definitely feels a bit of her strength drained after the coughing fit is over. Looking to the side of her room Minnie sees the sunlight falling in, illuminating the dust particles suspended in the middle of the air. She hears the birds calling and the light bustling of wagons on the streets. It seems as though it is still rather early in the morning so she tiptoes out of her bed, not wanting to wake either of her roommates up. Creaking the door slowly open, Minnie makes her way to the kitchen, trying to be as quiet as possible. However, her carefulness didn’t seem to matter as she saw her two roommates sitting silently together at the kitchen table, leaning against each other.
She smiles at the sight, she notes on how cute it is and wonders if she should stand there for a few moments to let them enjoy a bit more of each other’s company. Before she can make that decision though, Soyeon notices her and flinches away from their younger roommate. Yuqi then becomes aware of her presence and looks to be rather flustered.
“Good morning guys,” Minnie greets them, “I’m, uh, sorry to interrupt you two if something was happening and sorry for not getting home late last night.”
“NO!” Yuqi shouts, “I mean no, you weren’t interrupting anything.”
Soyeon’s lips noticeably twitch but she pretends that it doesn’t happen and continues trying to maintain a straight face before picking up her coffee and sipping it.
“So, are you going to tell us what happened yesterday?” Soyeon attempts to pivot the focus of topics to Minnie.
“Yeah yeah!” the youngest of them pips up.
Scratching the back of her, the eldest of the trio actually asks, “Well, I was with Miyeon but I was wondering how I got home since I fell asleep there.”
“Oh yeah, she sent us a telepathic that she was bringing you home late and came in later that night carrying you in her arms,” Soyeon informs her in a matter-of-fact tone, “She told you she was a telepath didn’t she?”
“Yeah,” Minnie recalls, “she did.”
Realizing that she had fallen asleep in her arms and she had carried home made Minnie blush. She didn’t have the courage to talk to her roommates even more and felt the sound of her heart beat loudly, reverberating against her chest. Without another word, the now embarrassed girl pours herself a cup of water and a slice of toast before taking a seat at the table with her friends.
“Speechless now, aren’t we?” Yuqi cheerfully teased the older girl, “I personally think that the two of you look cute together.”
Feeling the heat starting to get to her face, Minnie blurts out, “Well, weren’t you guys awfully cuddly this morning?”
“N-no, I told you it was nothing,” Yuqi quips back but is evidently flustered.
Soyeon merely calmly leans onto the table and looks her dead in the eyes before saying, “We’re dating.”
“Oh,” Minnie is barely able to respond and Yuqi is visibly shocked.
“Now that we have that cleared, can we please keep discussing what you were doing with that girl yesterday, she’s a complete stranger and yet you agreed to go,” Soyeon investigates, “Quite interesting don’t you think, no?”
Minnie nervously bites her lips before answering, “I mean if she’s Soojin friend, I wouldn’t think that there’s anything fishy about her.”
“Fair,” Soyeon replies but doesn’t let her off the hook quite yet, “But don’t you think you should’ve at least let use know and why would you fall asleep at her house?”
Twiddling her fingers the older girl tries to give an excuse, “Well, I didn’t think I’d be gone for that long.”
Sighing Soyeon tells her, “We just want the best for you because you’re practically family to us you know, thank the deities that Miyeon ended up being a kind soul.”
Minnie’s expression brightens up at that moment, she loves when the younger girl gets soft because it shows how much she cares even if she doesn’t express it in the gentlest ways. Her slight strictness and harshness just emphasizes how she cares for them in her own unique way and she’s grateful. With a foolish grin on her face, Minnie pulls Soyeon and Yuqi into a group hug.
“Thank you for worrying,” she murmurs to them, “I love you guys.”
Yuqi perks up at this act of wholesomeness and responds, “We love you too Minnie.”
“Yeah, we really do care and love you,” Soyeon backs up, “We’re really glad to have met you.”
The three of them stay in the hug for a while, basking in the moment until they hear a knock on the door. Breaking apart the hug, Minnie tells them that she’ll go greet whoever their early morning visitor is. However, when she creaks the door open, she doesn’t see anyone there.
“Hello?” she calls out.
After waiting for a few moments without answer, Minnie starts to shut the door. But just as she is, she hears an oddly familiar voice in her head, telling her to meet at the side of the music store after her shift today.
“Strange,” the girl mutters to herself but shrugs it off after shutting the door.
Minnie is back at the kitchen table now with her beloved friends, having a hot cup of water and freshly made toast. She couldn’t feel more mundane and comfortable as she is now with the exception of that strange dream and the recent weird incident that occurred. Little did she know that Miyeon was just a few blocks away from her house, walking along the streets after having imprinted that little message in her head.
Carrying on with her day, Minnie finishes her breakfast and bids farewell to her roommates before she heads out for another day of work. She walks down the familiar road that she does almost everyday and doesn’t think too much about what might happen later in the day. It feels like she’s just going through the motions of another regular day. She enters the shop and greets her coworker who soon passes on work for her, she closes the shop for a lunch break to eat, and the whole day has passed before she knows it.
When Minnie walked out of the shop after she finished meticulously checking that everything was in order, she didn’t expect for someone to tap her shoulder so quickly. She jumped, slightly startled by the unexpected touch, and jumped into a defensive position before turning around to face the person who had surprised her. Immediately after she realizes who it is, her body relaxes and she feels like maybe she should’ve expected this.
“Ah,” she exclaims, “so it was your voice in my head this morning.”
“Yes, it’s nice to see you again,” Miyeon laughs, “Did you think you were hallucinating this morning when I told you to meet me out here after your shift.”
“I mean, it’s not totally out of the realm of possibilities since I’ve been sorta sick for a while,” Minnie elaborates.
With concern in her voice Miyeon asks, “Well, did you feel sick today?”
“No, no, I just kind of ignore things like voices and visions,” Minnie tries to explain, “My body is just weak for whatever reason over the years so I’m used to shrugging off things like that.”
“Oh, well how about we forget about that for the rest of the day,” Miyeon suggests, holding out a hand to her, “I owe you for yesterday.”
With a glint of excitement in her eyes, Minnie claspes their hands together and accepts the invitation. Miyeon grins back at her and starts to pull her along another path, the younger girl didn’t know where she was going to bring her but she had this feeling that anything with her would be fun. Perhaps she was too trusting, perhaps she was also naive; but when you like someone, you do stupid things that you normally wouldn’t do. Besides, with Miyeon, Minnie finally felt like she was fully herself so what more could she ask for? They hadn’t known each other for long, at least to her knowledge, but it felt like they had known each other for years.
“How do you feel about picking flowers today?” Miyeon asks as they’re rushing along the streets like giddy little children without a care in the world.
“It’s like something I’ve done in a dream I never had,” Minnie tells her with a wide smile on her face, “Almost like it’s something I enjoyed in another life.”
“Perfect, we’re almost there,” Miyeon replies without saying much more.
In a few minutes, the two of them find themselves standing in front of a small patch of flowers just outside the village. The sun is going down again but it feels like a whole new day has already begun for Minnie, she hasn’t felt this fear in a while.
Meanwhile, Miyeon just looks at her solemnly as they start to enter the fields. She watches her beloved pick red and purple anemones, she thinks about how ironic it is that these are the flowers that are there. Recalling a memory in the past, Miyeon remembers that this was one of the things that Minnie used to do with her when she was upset; to look at beautiful things which she claimed would bring her joy. Although those memories were precious and she certainly looked back upon them fondly, it was never the pretty flowers that brought her joy. But Minnie was still right, when Miyeon looked at her, it made her happy.
What on earth could be more precious than her smile and joy?
“You’re like my little angel,” Miyeon softly mutters herself before she goes to join her in the fields.
This evening was going to be as picturesque as the last, Minnie can already feel it in her bones. And as that thought crosses her mind, the sun falls from its glory and the golden glow fades into a hazy grayish blue, the field pixies start to awaken. Fluttering their wings they fly out of their little nestled homes, sprinkling off some glowing pixie dust as fireflies start to emerge from the long stalks of grass. Once again, the field is illuminated with golden glows, but instead of it shining all across, they’re more concentrated in little bits and pieces.
The best way that Minnie could describe the glowing lights in the field would be like small pockets of joy that you don’t know when they’ll appear, but they do. And when those small pockets of joy do appear, although you know it’ll happen, they’re still filled with some type of wonderful and unpredictable surprise. Somehow she feels that Miyeon is somewhat like that, that she’ll bring her small pockets of joy that she won’t expect or know about but will deeply appreciate.
“Thank you,” she says to the other girl.
“For what?” the accursed archangel looks at her with slight confusion.
“For this,” Minnie opens her arms wide motions to the field, “and for you.”
“Anytime,” Miyeon responds and plucks a pink anemone.
She then snaps the stem of it away and she tells Minnie to come closer to her. Gently, she brushes the ‘mortal’'s hair behind and props the flower near her hair. Staring at her deeply, Miyeon wants to give her a sweet peck on the forehead but refrains herself out of doing anything unordinary because this Minnie didn’t know her that way after all.
“Shall we part ways soon?” the disguised deity asks as she takes a few steps away.
Minnie’s heart is still jumping because of the soft touch of the other girl, she can still feel the presence of her warm fingertips brushing against her ear. She doesn’t know if she’s blushing, but she’s certainly stunned into silence. When Miyeon pokes her back into reality Minnie apologizes and asks her to repeat what she said. Having heard the question this time Minnie almost says that she doesn’t want her to leave.
But luckily she catches herself before she lets it slip and decides that it is time to go today, “Yeah, it is late, see you soon again?”
“Sure, same time and place tomorrow,” Miyeon assures her, “And let me walk you home today, I know your health is unstable at times and I want to make sure that you get home safe.”
“That’s sweet,” Minnie tells her, “you’re sweet.”
“I try my best,” Miyeon smiles.
“I love that about you.”
A/N: I'm almost finished with the story in drafts, so except quicker updates than before
Comments