Chou Tzuyu is sixteen years old when she and her mother move into a new neighborhood. It was her late father’s house, in the suburbs, twenty minutes away from the center of the city. 

Unlike their previous house, which was a compact duplex wedged between other properties, the new house seems humongous in the teenager’s eyes. 

Despite having to leave her friends, Tzuyu is excited. She's not really sad, not at all. She's excited.To her, everything is an adventure, a journey to new exciting discovery. 

The red brick walls of their new house remind Tzuyu of the mock castle that she’s seen in the amusement park. The rooms are huge and bright, the windows are stretched out wide and tall, floor to ceiling. 

Curiously, Tzuyu roams the corridors, getting familiar with her new home. There are four bedrooms; one smells like fresh paint, one has an ensuite which Tzuyu immediately assumes as her parents', one overlooks the backyard, and the last one has big white framed windows overlooking the street. Tzuyu likes looking out of the windows, watching the street while daydreaming. 

“Tzuyu, have you picked your room yet? Can you help me now?” Tzuyu’s mother, Chou Yenling shouts from downstairs. “Quit zoning out, we have things to do!”

Tzuyu sighs and jumps on the bed, feeling the bounciness of the mattres, ignoring her mother. I’m definitely taking this room, she decides. 

When she's done with the bedroom exploration, instead of helping Yenling, Tzuyu chooses to avoid Yenling and moves on with her exploration; venturing to the corridors and closets, learning the new house.

Near the kitchen, Tzuyu finds markings by the door sill of the guest’s restroom. Height marks. Yicheng, Tzuyu’s father's name, is etched in clumsy pencil writing. 147 cm, 11 years old. He was shorter than she is now. Another name decorates the door sill, but it’s such a weird name, Kenkun it says. Kenkun was 143 cm at 11 years old. Tzuyu has never heard of anyone named Kenkun. Was she (or he) dad’s sibling? Tzuyu muses. To Tzuyu’s knowledge, he was an only child. 

Intrigued by the history, Tzuyu ventures into the house until she eventually finds a shed near the swimming pool. 

The shed is quite roomy. Tzuyu wonders if it used to be an additional living space since it has a sofa bed. As she walks over to the bare, unremarkable sofa, Tzuyu finds a fancy looking stick, which she assumes as one-half-of-a-pair of cooking chopsticks, lying on top of a small, round table beside the sofa. Tzuyu's grandmother has one of those. Tzuyu remembers that her grandma only used it when she had important guests over, like her other rich single friends, or when her grandpa’s friends came over. 

It’s a strange looking chopstick, it sparkles, as if someone coats the white surface with golden glitter. At first Tzuyu wants to leave it in the shed, where she finds it, but Tzuyu assumes it’s expensive and her mother always nagged her for losing things and thus her first instinct is to take it to the kitchen. 

As she enters the kitchen, Tzuyu suddenly feels a strong urge to turn her head and looks outside the window, to the house across the street with its white brick walls and white tulips garden. There, in the garden, a ginger haired man in a shabby black shirt is walking from corner to corner in hurried steps, behind him, a red haired woman, who appears to be as old as Tzuyu’s mom, is following him around. And there, tailing the two bright haired adults, is a pretty dark haired girl. 

She looks my age , Tzuyu notes in her head. She’s pretty. So pretty, in fact, that Tzuyu finds herself staring for a while before she notices two things, first the girl looks frustrated, and second, she looks like she’s seconds away from crying. 

Now that Tzuyu pays attention to what’s happening, she frowns as she notices how the two adults keep pointing at the ground. The dad in particular won't stop making this weird movement with his arm, it's as if he wants to throw something to the ground but then he stops at the last minute every time. 

What an odd thing to do , and what strange hair color they have. What are they doing? Tzuyu wonders to herself. 

“You’re gonna get used to it,” Tzuyu’s mother, Yenling, says, noticing the frown in Tzuyu’s face and mistaking it as hesitance as she's herding two heavy boxes with her feet inside the kitchen. “Can you help me with this?” The urgency in her mother’s tone manages to rob Tzuyu’s attention away from the strange sight. 

And with that, Tzuyu leaves the newly found chopstick on the kitchen counter and helps her mother to unpack the boxes. 

-

"Honey, can you please do something with your hair? I know it's the wind but we have to make a good impression to our new neighbors."

Tzuyu fights the need to roll her eyes before she balances the bowl of dumplings that she has in her arms so she can comb her hair with her fingers. It's not her fault that she has a lot of hair. If anything it's her parents' fault, or in this case, the wind. She can’t understand why her mother is so nervous. Everyone likes Tzuyu's mother. Tzuyu should know. Their previous house was never empty. Guests wouldn’t leave them alone because of how friendly her mom is. 

The door opens and a red haired woman greets them uncertainly. Tzuyu registers the petite lady as the weird neighbor that she's seen earlier. Where’s the other two? What about the dad? She wonders if the girl will eventually pop out to greet Tzuyu and her mother too. 

She certainly hopes so. Tzuyu wants to make new friends. Particularly one as pretty as her neighbor. 

"Hi, we just moved into the neighborhood. Our house is right across from yours,” Yenling says, using her friendliest voice. “I just figured that I need to introduce myself. My name is Chou Yenling and this is my daughter, Tzuyu.”

"Uh, oh yes, hello," the lady stutters. “It’s always nice to meet new people here. We’re the Minatozaki. I’m Aiko. My daughter Sana is upstairs, but she’s busy packing, she’s leaving home for school, her plane is in three hours, we should have already left by now.” 

Oh that’s a shame, Tzuyu thinks. She’s looking forward to meeting Sana. Guess there’s no chance of that anytime soon. 

“I don’t want to take too much of your time, you're obviously busy, but here’s a little something from us,” Yenling gestures to the bowl in Tzuyu’s hands. 

Taking it as a cue, Tzuyu immediately hands it over to Aiko.

“Oh you really don’t have to, thank you so much," Aiko says distractedly. 

Just then, someone yells from upstairs. "Mom, I can't find it!! I really can't. I swear I put it here!!!" 

The frustration in the girl's voice is so alarming that Aiko immediately steps back inside the house. When she returns a second later, Tzuyu can see the anxiety in her small face. "Excuse me for that, you know how teenagers are when they can't find their things," Aiko says while she's eyeing Tzuyu up and down, as if Tzuyu is a difficult teen with anger problems — like her daughter.

Tzuyu raises an eyebrow. 

"Well, then, I guess I'll let you get back to it!" Yenling pulls Tzuyu away and waves to Aiko. 

As they walk back to their house, Tzuyu glances back at the Minatozaki’s house and catches an interesting sight; there on the second floor, which Tzuyu assumes to be Sana's bedroom, is Sana herself. And for an unknown reason, Sana is crying. 

Is it so upsetting? She wonders what happened. And to be honest, whatever it is, Tzuyu thinks she can relate. She got extra upset once because her mother dumped all her 2NE1 posters, thinking that they were just some useless rolls of papers.

Then there's a loud bang and Aiko comes into view. The older woman points at Sana angrily. Tzuyu can see Aiko mouthing something. She looks scary. Then Aiko shifts her gaze, meeting Tzuyu’s eyes. Not knowing what to do, Tzuyu does what she thinks she should do, she offers the woman a smile. 

Aiko doesn't bother to return it before she grabs the curtains and closes it down.

--

In the following months, courtesy of Yenling and her amazing dumplings, Tzuyu manages to make new friends in the neighborhood. No, not Sana, because Sana left the day Tzuyu moved in. All she can remember from meeting the Minatozaki’s family is Aiko and the way she grimaces at Tzuyu. Instead, Tzuyu finds new friends in Son Chaeyoung, Kim Dahyun, and Yoo Jeongyeon. All three girls of which are about the same age as her. 

Tzuyu doesn’t know how she can be friends with the three of them since they are all very different. Chaeyoung is all zen and emo at the same time, Dahyun is a quiet homebody with some questionable hobbies; like dancing to church gospels and (somehow) also composing y songs, and Yoo Jeongyeon is that cool, older girl who seems to have everything that Tzuyu ever wanted; like the shiny skateboard and the aesthetic mint green fridge in her room.

The three of them are already friends before Tzuyu comes. Now they are four. Four introverted best friends with different hobbies and interests.  

It’s two nights before Christmas’s eve and they’re all huddled up under the same blanket in Jeongyeon’s room, watching a movie from a projector, something about Christmas and dating app gone wrong. Throughout the movie, Jeongyeon keeps complaining about the male lead. “No way, he’s so ugly,” she whines. “Such a loser. And catfishing??? Nooo!” Jeongyeon fumingly says. Her hand shakes as she passionately points to the screen, dropping crumbs of chips all over the blanket. Tzuyu stares at it anxiously. If it were Tzuyu’s room, Tzuyu would definitely get her whooped the next day from how much of a mess they’re making. 

“I don’t know,” Chaeyoung cuts in as she’s nibbling the same single chip that she’s been holding on for quite some time. “I think he’s pretty sweet. Look at him making candles.” 

“That’s some loser behavior, Chaengi,” Jeongyeon interjects. “Did you forget that he’s catfishing the girl into a relationship !?”

“We get it, Unnie,” coaxes Dahyun softly. “I still wanna see who she’s going to end up with though.” 

Defeated, Jeongyeon responds with an ugly, exaggerated pout. Chaeyoung — who seems more amused than disgusted — chuckles at the older girl’s antiques, until unexpectedly, the electricity and the lights shut off, leaving the room pitch black except for the little source of light coming from the windows. Startled, Chaeyoung and Dahyun unanimously grabbed each other as they let out a harmonious shriek.

“It’s the whole neighborhood,” Jeongyeon remarks as she walks to the window to peer at the street. 

Curious, Tzuyu follows her. 

“It’s really dark,” Tzuyu mumbles as she scans the surrounding area. There's no light within sight, not within a few kilometers radius. Except for the unnerving darkness, Tzuyu sees nothing out of the ordinary. It's a little creepy.

Just as she’s about to return to her spot, Tzuyu sees it ; a black, suspicious van rolling silently into the street. It’s her first time ever seeing one, she’s never seen one before, not in the city and certainly not in the neighborhood. Whoever drives it doesn’t bother to turn on the headlights. Tzuyu didn't see it at first but she notices it when the red, bright brake lights flash on as it slows into a stop. 

“Do you see the van?” Tzuyu asks. 

“What van?” Jeongyeon asks back. 

“That black van.” Tzuyu points. 

“Huh,” Jeongyeon hums. “Probably one of the Minatozakis.”

“Minatozaki Sana?” Sana’s face pops up in her mind. The pretty, but sad neighbor who lives across Tzuyu's house. 

“One of them.” Jeongyeon confirms. “If it’s a black van, it’s probably them. Besides, it’s the winter break, that’s when Sana comes home.”

Tzuyu turns her head toward Jeongyeon, mildly interested. Are they friends? It makes sense. They're neighbors before Tzuyu moved in. “Are you two close? Why don’t you ask her to come over?” 

“My mom won’t let me talk to them,” Dahyun cuts in. “Says that they’re weird and stuff.” 

Chaeyoung lets out a noise of agreement. “She’s strange. Do you remember that one time when she sniffed me?”

Jeongyeon backs away from the window to plop down on the carpet. She snorts out loud. “Ew, for real?”

“I’m dead serious,” Chaeyoung presses. “We were at the lake. I was eating tangerine, Dahyun was catching bugs, and Sana came, asked what we were doing, and then she sniffed me!”

Dahyun nods. “ That , and, do you remember that one time we were around ten or something, we caught her near the lake, petting a snake” 

“A snake ?” Tzuyu is incredulous but she hasn't taken her eyes off of the van. As Jeongyeon says, the van stops in front of Minatozaki's house. The brake light returns again. Tzuyu stares at it curiously.

“I swear!" Dahyun says, half laughing, half whining. Maybe Dahyun was joking, but then Chaeyoung hums, agreeing. "It could be a toy, but I don't know if it's a toy or not. It looked real."

Dahyun clicks her tongue. "My point exactly," she says in triumph. 

"And she sometimes just appears out of nowhere," Jeongyeon adds, further pushing the narrative. "One summer, we were all biking to Chaeyoung's house," Jeongyeon gestures toward herself then to Chaeyoung and Dahyun, "and out of nowhere we saw Sana in the corner of the street wearing a full winter gear, like the thick windbreaker and stuff. And she just stared at us." Jeongyeon shrugs. "She didn't do anything else. She just stared. It's weird ," Jeongyeon says in amusement. 

Someone pops out of the van with their luggage; a purple carrier. It's the only thing that Tzuyu can make out under the starry night lights before it disappears into the shadows. Then the van just goes on its way once the passenger exits. As the van rolls into a corner, the mysterious person stays motionless in the darkness. As if they know that they're being watched.

A little unnerved by what her friends told her, Tzuyu slithers down to the carpet and tries to think nothing of it. 

-

Since then, Tzuyu tries not to look in the general direction of Minatozaki's house. Yes, the stories psyche her out. Yes , she's officially scared of Sana now. 

It doesn't matter that the Minatozaki household went all out with their christmas' decoration; raindeers, chariot, snowmen and a pile of wrapped-up, fake, rainbow colored gifts are spreaded out throughout their snow-covered lawn. To her, despite the cheerful, merry facade, the Minatozaki family is creepy. 

Don't look, Tzuyu reminds herself whenever she caught herself staring outside the window, right across the street, directly to Sana's house. It's not like she wants to stare, Tzuyu just zones out a lot. She's lucky though. So far she's seen nothing out of the ordinary. The curtains are always drawn shut, seemingly hiding a secret, which is good because Tzuyu thinks she doesn't have the mental capacity to deal with whatever the family is hiding. 

-

One night, after drinking five cans of illegally purchased pilsners on the lake side with Chaeyoung and Jeongyeon, Tzuyu foolishly assumes that it'll be okay to bike tipsy even though she has double visions and that the ground feels like it's shaking. 

Earlier, Chaeyoung insisted that Tzuyu has to stay over, but Tzuyu can't, because she promises her mom that they'll make brunch together in the morning. So, there she is, alone in the dead of the night, pedaling sluggishly in the darkness. 

Then something weird happened. 

It's exceptionally dark that night. So dark, in fact, that Tzuyu can barely see in front of her. Luckily for her, she brings her phone and uses the torch mode to light up her way home. Dazed and tired, Tzuyu doesn't realize that the electricity in the whole neighborhood is shut off. Just like it was several weeks ago, when she first heard rumors about Sana. 

As Tzuyu turns to her street, she hears a loud rumbling sound roaring near her. Her intoxicated brain tells her that it's a car, but there's no one else in the street with her. If it's not a car it's probably thunder , muses Tzuyu, and she looks up to the sky to confirm only to see a flying motorbike hovering right above her. 

A flying motorbike. A huge one. The one that you'd usually see in movies with big engines, or monstrous tires. In movies, the motorbike would usually be ridden by a bearded, muscly dude, but instead of a bearded man, two petite pretty girls are on it. 

Tzuyu is certain she's seeing things, or maybe, just maybe, the alcohol somehow makes her hallucinate. But then the motorbike swoops down, and Tzuyu realizes she's not dreaming when it nearly crashes into her. The headlight, bright and blinding, shines on Tzuyu's face, stunning her. 

"Oh God!" Tzuyu shrieks, immediately shutting her eyes, obviously in shock (and still very much drunk), before her own bike crashes into a trashcan, sending her flying and rolling across her neighbor's lawn. 

With the wind knocked out of her lungs, Tzuyu can barely register the panicky voice behind her. "Nayeon, I told you we should've used the van!!" 

"I'm sorry! Oh no, I'm sorry! We're so dead. Sana, we're so dead! No, wait, we should bounce!"

Sana , Tzuyu thinks. Minatozaki Sana. Tzuyu shivers. Scared. Of course. She spent days trying to avoid bumping into Sana, but now it comes to this — a freaking, flying motorbike. 

"Bounce where ?! My house is right there!!" Sana, Tzuyu assumes, protests. 

Tzuyu looks up and sees the motorbike still hovering menacingly a few meters right above her. They're gonna kill me , she thinks. Before she knows what she's doing, she quickly scrambles to pick up her phone, for what , she doesn't know. In a short amount of time, she just thinks that's what she needs to do.

"She's recording us!" The other girl, Nayeon, accuses. "Look, her flash is on!"

"Please stop!!" Sana shrieks.

Tzuyu chooses to ignore them and dash away.

"Wait!" Nayeon yells, pulling the throttle. 

Tzuyu shouldn't have ran. She's only human. A drunk one at that. She won't outrun a god damn, flying motorbike no matter how fast she runs, especially when it chases her at full speed, like now . Oh, Tzuyu knows it's chasing her. She can hear the roaring engine getting closer and closer, until..

"Stop, stop!!!" 

Noo, Tzuyu screams inside her head.

Then someone tackles her. Full on body tackle. 

Once again that night, Tzuyu's breath leaves her lungs as something firm hits her right on the center of her chest. Tzuyu finds herself lying flat on her back. The girl, Sana , is on top of her, pinning her down. 

Did Sana just jump from the motorbike?? 

"Stop, I don't wanna hurt you!!" Sana warns. 

In a desperate attempt to escape, Tzuyu flashes her phone to Sana's face, which is a mistake, because it makes Sana go livid. She looks pained and angry. She looks red — literally , her hair rapidly turns brighter , it becomes lighter, the color bleeds from her roots to her ends .Terrified, Tzuyu wants to scream but her voice won't come out. She's struggling to escape while Sana is on top of her, pinning her arms, her nails digging into her wrists. It hurts . Tzuyu's vision is getting blurry. She's getting light headed. 

Next thing she knows, everything turns black. 

Tzuyu faints.

--

"Good morning," Yenling chirps cheerfully as she yanks the curtain open. The sunlight hits Tzuyu right in the face. Where am I? She frowns and turns away from the harsh light. Her eyelids feel like they're glued shut, but though struggling, she opens them anyway. 

She's in her room, neck deep in her white fluffy blankets. Everything looks normal and well. Tzuyu sighs in relief. 

It's just a dream. No wonder. Flying motorbike. I shouldn't drink ever again.

"No, mom, let me sleep," she moans. 

"You promise we're gonna make brunch together! Come on, we're going to make panini."

"I had a nightmare," Tzuyu reasons. "It was horrible."

"You watched too many serial killer documentaries. Jeongyeon's mom told me you kids watched weird murder stuff almost everyday."

Tzuyu peeks beneath her eyelashes. She feels strangely sore all over. The dream felt unbelievably real.   "Can you give me like 10 minutes? I swear I'll be down in 10 minutes."

Yenling sighs in defeat. "10 minutes. Remember, you promise me." And with that Yen ling exits Tzuyu's bedroom and retreats downstairs. 

Just as she closes her eyes, Tzuyu hears the doorbell ringing. "Just a second!" Yenling calls. 

A guest? Tzuyu is in no mood to entertain. Guess she's not going downstairs in ten minutes. She decides that she'll stay put until they leave. 

But Yen ling sounds just as surprised as she is. When she greets the guest, though muted, Tzuyu registers the confusion in her voice. "Aiko? What a surprise . Is this your husband? Nice to meet you. Oh you must be Sana!" 

Instantly, Tzuyu's eyes pop open. The dream comes rushing back to her like a trainwreck. 

Sana is here? Why???? Alerted, she sits up and clutches her blanket. 

Will her mother call her downstairs? Can she pretend to sleep? Does Tzuyu even have a choice ? 

"Tzuyuu, come down! We have guests!" Yenling calls excitedly.

No. Tzuyu doesn't want to. She'll do anything she can to avoid it. And yes, maybe she's being rude but she can't help it. The dream is too fresh in her memories and she'd hate to see Sana when she can barely process the nightmare.

In a short amount of time, Tzuyu considers her options. She can certainly hide in the wardrobe, or she can definitely try climbing out of the windows. She'd probably get injured but getting injured seems more preferable than meeting Sana and her parents.

"Tzuyu." Yenling opens the door before Tzuyu can do anything. "The Minatozaki is here. And guess what, their daughter, Sana, is here too."

"Can you tell them I’m sick?" Tzuyu complains timidly. "I just woke up. I look horrible . You said I need to make a good impression,” she tries to reason.

Apparently, Yenling won't take no for an answer. "Yes! You'll do it by greeting the guests." 

"Mom, please!" 

"Tzuyu, please ," Yenling half begs, half nags. "Don't embarrass me. You will greet them, if not I'm going to confiscate your phone for drinking."

Tzuyu snaps her head up toward her mother, shocked that Yenling found out about the drinking. " What , how do I know? Do you think you'd smell like candies or flowers or something? You reek of alcohol! Now brush your teeth, wash your face and change your clothes, and come greet the guests." Yenling stomps to the dresser."And do something with your hair." 

"What's wrong with my hair?" 

Yenling clicks her tongue and grabs a brush. "Turn over, I'm gonna brush it." 

"Fine," Tzuyu mutters, defeated.

"Are you giving me attitude?" Yenlings approaches her and starts brushing Tzuyu's hair.

"No." 

Both of them know that's a lie but Yenling doesn't want to argue. With guests waiting downstairs they simply have no time for it. So instead of screaming, Yenling does Tzuyu's hair as quickly and as neatly as she can.

Once she's done with Tzuyu's hair, the next few minutes Yen ling spends by rummaging through the wardrobe, trying to find appropriate clothes for her daughter. Despite being frantic, she manages to find a clean pair of jeans and a white shirt for Tzuyu to wear. 

Wordlessly, Tzuyu changes out of her clothes, which she recognizes as something she's worn the night before. And it's dirty. 

An unsettling feeling starts to nag at her.

 Is that grass stain on the back of her shirt? How did she manage to fall asleep still wearing jeans? Why can't she remember anything about going home last night except for the bike ride? 

She must have been so drunk last night. 

Tzuyu pushes the weird thoughts out of her head and goes ahead to the restroom to brush her teeth and change.

Once she's properly dressed, Yenling —obviously impatient— immediately ushers her out of the room and leads her down the stairs. Each step gives Tzuyu a little bit of dread. It builds up slowly, from the pit of her tummy to the base of . She feels like something big is gonna happen. She just knows it. She can feel it in the air. 

 The second they enter the living room, Tzuyu goes hiding behind her mother, half hoping and half wishing that she’d be invisible. 

 "Sorry about the wait," Yenling chirps. "Do you want something to drink? Coffee? Tea?"

"Sure. Tea sounds perfect," Sana’s dad says gratefully. It’s the first time she sees him. He looks like Sana, kind of, only older, and he has stubbles. 

Tzuyu can barely pay attention to what her mother says next because her gaze immediately falls on Sana who is currently sitting on the sofa — in the middle of the living room — as if it's the most natural thing to do. Sana is wearing a distractingly bright pink sweater, making her seem like she's the centerpiece of the white colored dominated room. But what distracts Tzuyu the most is the fact that Sana happens to have red hair , which is just like in her dream. 

Tzuyu's stomach churns uncomfortably. 

The nightmare comes rushing back at Tzuyu. First, she remembers the flying motorbike, and then she remembers Sana. Sana , who jumped at her from the flying motorbike, tackling her to the ground. Her stomach drops when she finally remembers her whole dream. 

Was the nightmare real? Or is it just a ridiculous coincidence? 

"Hi," Sana greets shyly from across the room. She waves awkwardly as her parents turn toward her, like they're expecting something from Sana. "I'm Minatozaki Sana," she finishes with a soft, simple smile. Tzuyu, in response, can only manage to squeak out a timid 'hi' back at the girl. 

"She's a little shy ," Yenling says sweetly as she pushes Tzuyu to sit beside Sana. "But I'm sure she'll warm up to you later. She just needs time."

"Mom," Tzuyu warns. Her face feels hot. The last thing she needs is her mother spilling embarrassing facts about her to strangers. 

" My , she's much prettier than how I remember her to be!" Aiko interjects. She cranes her neck as she inspects Tzuyu, seemingly astonished. "I didn't realize that you're so tall ." 

The sudden onslaught of attention makes Tzuyu feel so awkward, she flinches backward, but then she plays it off with a polite chuckle. 

"Mama, please don't be weird," Sana whispers under her breath. 

Indeed, Aiko is being weird. As far as she knows, Aiko doesn't really like her. So why did she suddenly decide she'd be nice to Tzuyu? What changed overnight? The barrage of thoughts is overwhelming her. She needs to escape or she'd pass out . 

"I'll make tea." Tzuyu shoots up to her feet. "Excuse me."

She dashes toward the kitchen, hoping to buy some time to regain her bearings, but then she hears Sana utters a small, "I'll help," and follows her into the kitchen. 

Give me a break. Tzuyu glances at Sana, finding the other girl bouncing toward her carelessly. 

It annoys her. 

Once they're out of everyone else's earshot, Tzuyu pivots toward Sana. "You really don't have to," she stammers nervously. Sana stops in her tracks and looks up at Tzuyu apprehensively. Her big, light brown eyes widen slowly as she registers Tzuyu's frustration.

"Do you hate me or something?" 

"No, why would I hate you?" Tzuyu opens the cupboard and pulls out five cups clumsily. 

"I don't know," mumbles Sana cautiously. "Then are you scared of me?" 

Tzuyu balks. The answer would be yes. "Do I look scared? I'm sorry I'm just-" She looks away at once, hiding her face. "I'm just awkward," she finishes with a grimace. 

"Oh, okay, that's a relief." Sana exaggerated a loud exhale, pretending to wipe an invisible sweat out of her brow. "I thought you'd be scared of me because of what happened last night."

Suddenly Tzuyu's world stopped. " Last night? What happened last night?"

"Last- last night , you know," she stutters. Sana seems uncertain. And when Tzuyu doesn't react she leans forward and tilts her head, whispering apprehensively. "Don't you remember last night? " 

It wasn't a dream? Tzuyu feels her stomach drop. It makes sense now; the grass stain on her clothes; or the fact that she can't remember going home and climbing to bed, it wasn't a dream. The nightmare was real . She's starting to get nauseous."You mean when you attackedme?"

"It wasn't an attack ," Sana whispered in panic, her face turning pale, realizing that Tzuyu is, indeed , scared of her. "I was defending myself." 

"From what?? " Tzuyu flails her arms and knocks a cup off of the kitchen counter. Out of reflex, she reaches out and tries to catch it but it slips from her hand and just before it touches the floor, Sana yells a word, and next thing she knows the cup stops mid air. 

It's floating . 

"What the hell??" Tzuyu backs off. Scared. A quick turn at Sana and she sees the girl holding an oddly looking stick in her hand, motioning it up and down, as if she's a music conductor. Horrified, Tzuyu belatedly realizes that Sana is controlling the cup when she sees it following Sana's motions. 

The cup rises above the kitchen counter and wobbles in the air for a few seconds before it lands safely to its original place, beside the other cup, as if it didn’t just fall off the counter just seconds ago. 

"Woops, you almost broke it," Sana says sheepishly while she tucks the stick into her pocket. 

It takes Tzuyu a few seconds before her brain can catch up. "What just happened? "

Sana fidgets with her shirt. Anxious. "Magic," she whispers hesitantly. "I'm a.. witch." 

" Magic ?? Tzuyu feels her brain halting. Sana is a witch?? The very notion that magic is real is making her head hurt, but if it’s not real then what the hell happened then? “Is this a jo—??" Tzuyu can't finish the rest of her sentence because Sana has pressed her palm against Tzuyu's lips, effectively shutting her up. 

"Look, I know you have questions but can you just chill out? Please? I promise I'll explain everything." 

The question is; does she even want to hear the explanation? Tzuyu doubts she’d like the answer anyway. Indignantly, Tzuyu sputters against Sana’s palm, spewing muffled protests and struggling to get the girl off of her. 

One thing for sure, Tzuyu is taller than Sana by a few inches, and so she can easily overpower the other girl. One hard shove makes Sana fall on her . The girl lands on the floor with a loud shriek, inevitably earning their parents’ attention. 

“What’s happening?” Yenling rushes to the kitchen, followed by Sana's fretful parents.

Tzuyu's stomach drops as Sana’s dad swoops down to pull his daughter from the floor. "Ow," Sana groans as she rubs her . She looks like she's in so much pain. Guilt forms in Tzuyu's chest now that she realizes how bad she could hurt Sana. 

“Err, nothing happened,” Sana says as she fixes her wrinkled shirt. She’s chuckling but everyone can see the tears pooling in her light brown eyes. “I slipped and fell. Silly me.”

“Right,” Aiko says, looking at Tzuyu suspiciously as she approaches her daughter. “Are you okay Sana?”

Sana nods as a fat tear rolls down her cheek. “Just surprised, is all.” Red fills her face, apparently  ashamed. 

As much as Tzuyu is cautious and scared, she also can’t help but feel guilty, but there’s no way she’s going to show it, so she resorts to silence as Yenling fusses over their guests. 

Why won’t Sana tell them the truth? Sana can easily tell on her and have Tzuyu face the consequences but it seems like she doesn’t want to. It doesn’t make sense . 

The rest of the morning goes normally except for Tzuyu’s apprehension for their strange neighbor. The conversation flows a little too smoothly, much to Tzuyu’s dismay. At one point Aiko announces that her husband is a vet, and Sana is his assistant. Tzuyu loves animals, and so she can't help but be interested. She catches herself listening to the conversation— willingly at that. It doesn’t help that her guests are being so awfully nice to Yenling that her mother now treats them just as equally nice. Tzuyu can’t wait to see them gone. She plans to tell her mother everything . 

But they won’t leave and now they’re agreeing on having brunch together. Yenling orders a delivery since they haven’t prepared anything for breakfast. Once the food arrives, to Tzuyu's distaste, Sana jumps to her feet and helps Yen ling and Tzuyu prepare everything on the dining table. 

After repeatedly (and halfheartedly) telling Sana that she shouldn't help because she's the guest, Yenling eventually gives up and lets Sana do as she's pleased. "What a sweet daughter you have," Yenling praises in delight, obviously impressed. "I wish my daughter would be just as sweet," she jokes. In haste to answer the compliments, Sana’s parents blurt out a few 'no at alls' and 'we hit a jackpots' and Tzuyu can't help but think that a few months ago, when they first met, Aiko implied that Sana was a bratty teenager to her.

Now it's a complete 180. 

 Tzuyu glances at Sana only to find her already staring at her warily. 

Caught, Sana averts her gaze at once. A blush creeping up her neck as she pretends to busy herself with the cutlery.

Tzuyu frowns, wondering what Sana wants from her. Does the girl have an ulterior motive? Is the politeness and friendliness are just a facade? Does Sana come over to threaten Tzuyu to silence because she saw her on the flying motorbike last night? Maybe Sana and her parents are evil witches and wizard, and they're on a mission to harm Tzuyu and her mother since Tzuyu found out about them. 

She shivers. She hopes they'll go home soon so she can warn her mother. 

Once everything is set up nicely, Tzuyu sits down on one end beside her mother, yet to her utmost dread, Sana proceeds to sit beside her.

Come on! Tzuyu almost roll her eyes. Out of all the seats, why should she sit beside Tzuyu? What does she want from her ? 

"Hope you don't mind," mutters Sana hopefully as she settles into her chair.

"I don't," Tzuyu replies with gritted teeth. 

Obviously doubtful due to the insincere response, Sana lets out a shaky exhale as she proceeds to eat quietly. Not gonna lie, it makes Tzuyu feel bad, but she quic