[Chapter 3]

The Guardian

“Nice to meet you Tiffany Hwang.”

Tiffany blinked in disbelief. “How...How do you know my name?”

Taeyeon looked up in thought as if the words were floating in the air. “Well, I've been watching you for a while. Sort to speak.” Her eyes locked back on the girl sitting on her bed.

“You what?!” The thought of someone watching her for who knows how long was nothing but creepy. “You've been watching me?!” Tiffany cringed as a chill ran down her spine. “So what, are you some sort of stalker?!”

Laughter filled the room by the one dressed in all white. Her laugh was just as graceful as she was, though it sounded a little like an ahjumma. “Aniyo, Ms. Tiffany. I can assure you that I am of no threat to you.” Taeyeon tapped her temple gently with the barrel of the gun. A pout surfaced onto her face as she looked to the ceiling again. “Although, I probably should have picked my words better.” The intruder leaned back, as if ready to plop onto a bed, but there was nothing behind her! She would just fall straight to the ground!

Tiffany reached a hesitant hand out to catch Taeyeon, but they were a great distance apart. Not to mention she was really debating in her head if she should help out this stranger. To the shop owner's surprise, Taeyeon did fall, but she landed in something...invisible? The one color attired girl looked as if she were lounging in a reclining chair. How is this...how is she doing that? Tiffany's mouth hung open slightly. That's physically impossible! Her eyes outlined the girl, but it wasn't until she reached Taeyeon's feet that she realized the girl wasn't even touching the ground!

Before she could say anything, Taeyeon laced her fingers behind her head and lied down...in mid air. Amazed by all this, Tiffany pinched herself, blinked and rubbed her eyes, she even slapped her face just once to see if she was dreaming. Nope, not dreaming. Just a bit of a stinging face. This girl...Did she just break into my room to show off her magic trick? Her eyes outlined the floating figure once more. Even the top hat seemed magnetically glued to the crown of her head as she was laying there. Taeyeon's eyes were locked on the ceiling, outlining the little squiggles made from the paint. She was completely oblivious to the other girl. Finally, Tiffany couldn't hold it in anymore. She just had to know! “What, what are you? A magician?”

Hearing Tiffany's voice finally snapped the floating girl back to reality. “Huh? Magician?” Taeyeon looked over to realize that she was suspended in mid-air. “Oh, heh. Well, it's hard to explain.” She rubbed her nape trying to find more answers, this time in the floor. “To put it simply, I'm a Guardian.”

“A Guardian?” The shop owner's eyebrows furrowed together.

Taeyeon nodded simply with a smirk. “Neh. And you're the one I have to look over.”

Confusion. That's all that was in Tiffany's head every time Taeyeon would answer her questions. “Look over? What do you mean? Am I in trouble? What's going on?”

The Guardian chuckled, silencing the shop owner. “Why, you're full of questions now aren't you?” Her arms folded as a smile tugged at her lips. The gun now mysteriously gone.

It was now Tiffany's turn to fold her arms as she huffed out a sigh. “Well I'm just trying to understand all of this. It's not something you hear every day you know.”

“Hmm...You've got a point.” Taeyeon crossed her legs while she stayed in her laying position. “Then ask me anything.” Her head turned and her attention was fully on the girl that gravity loved. She waved an elegant hand as if giving the latter permission to start bombarding her with questions.

Although Tiffany had many questions zooming in and out of her head, she still took a while to answer. There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but she didn't know what to ask first. “What do you mean you have to look over me?”

The Guardian huffed a sigh as her expression turned stern. She 'sat up' and leaned forward. Only her feet were touching the ground now. Taeyeon stared directly into the latter's eyes, making sure to keep her attention. “You lost someone, someone very important to you. Correct?”

“My umma...” Were the words that escaped Tiffany's lips. Her head drooped down to stare at the floor in front of her.

“Neh. From there we realized that your life has gotten, as you would say, 'Nothing but worse.' Right?” Taeyeon's fingers laced together in front of her as she rested her elbows on her knees.

Nodding her head, Tiffany made sure not to look up at the other. She didn't want her 'Guardian' to see the tears welling in her eyes. Oh how pathetic would she seem to this girl if the latter spotted any tears rolling down her face. Well, that's what Tiffany was concluding in her head.

“As a sense of...hope and motivation to keep living, us Guardians are sent to, what we call, the 'Troubled Ones'. They are people who are on the verge of taking their own lives...Like you.”

Tiffany's head shot up. Her gaze locked onto Taeyeon. H-How did she-

“We see it all.” The Guardian stated as she stood up, taking a few steps toward the Troubled One. “We see every attempt at suicide, every word written in private diaries, and we hear every confession whispered into the air.” Taeyeon folded her arms across her chest. “We've been watching you Troubled Ones for generations.” She smirked before she began to ramble. “Occasionally a few of us will get the mother, then the child, and then the child of that child, and so on. It's quite rare yet not impossible. Our longest line is...” A hand placed itself under her chin as a thinking expression crawled upon the Guardian's face.

It was suddenly quiet. Tiffany couldn't stand the silence as her Guardian was searching for the fact, nor did she care about it. She wanted her questions answered. “If there are a lot of Guardians and you've been here for generations, why is this the first time I'm hearing about this?”

Taeyeon lowered her hands and stared at the interrogator, her lips pulling into a smirk. “My dear Troubled One, our existence is meant to be a secret, and so it shall. You see, whoever has a Guardian has to follow one rule. That is: you may only have one wish.”

“Wish?” The latter's eyebrows came together. “What does that have to do with-”

“Let me finish.” The Guardian spoke calmly, her hand up like a stop sign. “Every Troubled One gets one wish.” Her expression turned serious. “Just. One.” She held a finger up. “Any wish can be made, and it will be granted, but you only get one. So be careful. Now because Guardians only go to those in need, we know the Troubled One will not ask us for things such as eternal fame or fortune. We aren't Genies.” She smirked, lightening the mood a little. “But once that one wish is granted, everything will change, and the memories about us Guardians are erased. No one will ever remember.”

Tiffany's eyebrows furrowed slightly. “I still don't...get it.”

“Heh. Well then, lets use you as an example.” The Troubled One nodded without a second thought. “Let's say you wished for your mother's return.” Tiffany gasped silently. I can wish for that? “It will come true the next time you fall asleep. Then you will wake up, energized just like you were years ago and when you go into the kitchen for breakfast your mother would be right there, as if she was never gone in the first place. The memory of her passing would be nothing but a nightmare and your memory of me will be completely gone. You'll have no recollection of me at all...ever.”

Silence.

“That's...that's how it will happen?” She locked hopeful eyes with Taeyeon.

The Guardian nodded. “Neh. If you make that wish that is.”

The Troubled One stayed quiet. There has to be a catch...this is...it's just too good to be true. “What's the down side of it?”

“Down side? As in consequences? Well, you will revert back to your old self if you count that.” She was given a look of confusion. “Hmm, how do I put this?” Taeyeon paused to think it through. “Okay, after your mother's passing you opened the cafe. Correct?” Tiffany nodded to her. “After the wish, your cafe wouldn't be there. It's as if time rewound itself and the past couple of years never happened. You would be back in your final year of high school. Living your usual life. Every skill and lesson you learned after the set time and date would be forgotten. People that you've met would be complete strangers. Vacations with friends never happened. Do you understand?”

Tiffany nodded before finally mumbling, “Neh. I understand.” She sighed and stared at the floor in front of her. “One wish. That's all I get, and it could possibly change the outcome of my life.” She began to mutter to herself quietly. “I'd get what I wished for, but at the same time I could lose everything I accomplished. Everything I worked so hard for...even memories.”

The Guardian nodded. “Yup. Now you've got it.”

She raised her head, amazed that Taeyeon heard her from that far away. However, Tiffany shoved the thought out of her head. She didn't want any precious Q&A time to be wasted on Taeyeon's super sonic hearing. Quickly, Tiffany thought of something to ask. Having silence would probably urge the latter to leave if she thought Tiffany wasn't interested with this new discovery. “What if I want more wishes?”

“Well~” The Guardian rubbed her nape. “A couple of people have tried that in the past and it didn't work out well.” She paused. “We'd grant their wish, but we'd also wipe out their memory of us.” Taeyeon spotted Tiffany's curious eyes and continued on. “What ended up happening was they would continuously wish for everything while demanding to see a Genie, in our replacement. A majority were sent to asylums to be treated for.”

Tiffany blinked. “How much was the majority?” It can't be that many people right?

“Uhm. Eh heh.” The Guardian hesitated. “85%”

“Oh...” Guess I was wrong. “and the other 15%?” An eyebrow rose in anticipation.

“Well...they committed suicide.” The Troubled One's mouth formed into an O. “Yeah. So I highly suggest that you don't do that.”

“I'll be sure not to.” Tiffany pursed her lips, making sure to remember the words of the one before her. She looked at her Guardian with a tilted head. “You said that Guardian's have been around for generations, right?” Taeyeon nodded. “Every now and then talk like you've come from a different era...so how long have you been a Guardian?”

A smirk pulled at Taeyeon's lips. “About 910 years.”

The eyebrows of the Troubled One arched up in shock. “You've been a Guardian for that long?”

“Neh.” Taeyeon nodded. She grinned at the amazed face that the latter had. It was always funny to her, watching the expressions that her Troubled Ones would make whenever she answered their questions. Shock, curiosity, awe, everything was there.

Silence.

“Well, I suppose I should go for now.” The Guardian's elegant hands smoothened out her blazer as she prepared to leave.

“Wait.” Reaching out to the one colored girl, Tiffany fumbled with what to say before she finally spat out, “How will I see you again?”

The other smiled. “I'm a Guardian. I come in at the right moments. Have I not?”

“Well, yeah...” Tiffany looked away again, her eyes trailing to the empty dresser.

Taeyeon let out a gentle chuckle. “I think it's best that I keep this for a while.” She reached into her blazer and pulled out Tiffany's gun. “Just to be sure you won't do anything drastic.”

Seeing her gun in another person's possession would have terrified her, but Tiffany was completely calm. Maybe it was because Taeyeon wasn't a threat. Or maybe it was because Taeyeon wasn't even living...right? “Okay.” Tiffany mumbled in agreement. Her Guardian's logic made sense. Enough sense to save her life.

“But if you call, and I feel like it, I will show up.” Taeyeon chuckled as she tucked the gun away in her blazer's interior pocket.

Tiffany's eyebrows furrowed together. “If you feel like it?”

“Neh. I'm a Guardian, not a Genie. You do not own me.” Taeyeon smirked. “But I'll explain the differences another time.” Slowly, her body began to fade, making her see through.

Noticing the Guardian starting to vanish, Tiffany stood up and reached a hand out. “Wait!” She paused, a little startled at her own outburst. Tiffany still wanted to ask Taeyeon questions. There were so many things she wanted to ask about reality and fairy tales. What was real? What was just a story? What were things that even Guardian's don't believe in? Everything was surging around inside her head, contemplating on what to ask first. She wanted answers...

She wanted to know...

She wanted someone to talk to...

Taeyeon's body stopped itself from completely disappearing. “Neh?” The Guardian was still there, barely visible, but still there.

It took a while for Tiffany to answer. All the questions she wanted to ask were building a lump in . What was something she could ask that would make Taeyeon stay just a little longer? She gulped to clear from all the questions. Eyes now locking on the see through figure, Tiffany finally asked, “What's your wish?”

The Guardian smiled. It was a genuine smile at that. With a soft chuckle Taeyeon answered just before she completely vanished, “What's the point of telling a Troubled One my wish when I'll just be erased from their memory?”

N/A: Hey everyone! I just thought that I'd leave this here for now before I go die trying to study for my midterm tomorrow. [Wish me luck!] I also have to finish this study guide for that class [I'm probably 1/4 of the way done with it] so yeah. Just to finish up the split chapter, here you go! Let me know what you think alright? Good? Okay! See ya!

-Jeo