Part Six: Advice

 

____ sat in her desk her left hand clutching her pencil a bit too hard. It had been a week and a few days since her power had slowly begun to awaken. Her father was helping her learn to control it and she had gotten pretty good. Her power, she had learned, is her words.

 

She asked him how something like this is possible but he himself didn't know. Her memories as Fleur hadn't returned either. She spent hours wondering what kind of person she had been. Did she use her power for good? Evil? Something in between? She was terrified of the answer but at the same time she still wanted to know.

 

As much as she had thought about it that wasn't part of her current worries. More than anything she was scared Seung-hyun would find out. She didn't want a repeat of their first or second encounters.

 

SNAP!

 

____ jumped looking at her hand. She had been gripping her mechanical pencil too tightly and it broke in half. She sighed mumbling . “That was my favorite one.” She leaned over the side of her desk to pick up the pieces of plastic. The second they were placed in her pencil case the bell rang. She zipped the small tube shut and slid it into her bag.

 

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

 

Lunch time came pretty quickly ____ had told a little white lie to Jin-hee so she could accomplish her mission. Jin-hee of course protested but eventually let her go.

 

____ currently stood outside Seung-hyun's door. She had been trying to work up the courage to knock. A few minutes passed and her knuckles hit the door softly. Seung-hyun gave her a clear 'Come in' and she entered sliding the door open and shut behind her.

 

Seung-hyun glanced up from the papers he was grading. “Oh...hey what do you want?”

 

She took a seat in the desk directly across from his.. It took a moment to ask about what had been bothering her for a while now. “I um... know its not any of my business.” a small pause. “...but could you tell me about Fleur?”

 

He gave her a suspicious look. “Why?”

 

She shrugged. “You said she and I look alike right? We might be related or something. I'd like to hear about my possible ancestor. If that's alright I mean.”

 

Seung-hyun leaned back in his chair. “I guess that's okay...” a sigh. “But this'll take a while.” He rested his chin on his palm as she nodded. “Hold on.” He held his hand up palm facing the windows then the doors he then snapped his fingers. ___ shrieked back eyeing him nervously “What are you doing?”

 

Seung-hyun glanced in her direction as all of the exits begin to glow “You know how on TV people talk about things that are supposed to be secret in public places but nobody hears them?” she nodded and he continued. “Well this is real life and I don't want someone to overhear us. To anyone passing by it'll sound like you're asking me questions about class.”

 

She looked impressed. “You can do stuff like that?” His expression was smug. “There's lots of things I can do that you're not aware of. But we'll save that for another day. Moving onto our main topic. Fleur, to put it bluntly is a crazed wild woman who enjoys beating me up.”

 

____ didn't even try to hide her giggle. Seung-hyun scowled but that didn't stop him from enjoying the bell like sound. “Yeah yeah yuck it up.” Once her laughter stopped she apologized and he continued. “I don't know what she was like before we met. I do know that she came from a family of hunters though.”

___ listened intently, time passed and she asked her first and only question. “Ah so that's why you reacted that way the first time we met...but what made you guys hate each other so much?” He was silent for a while. When he finally opened his mouth to speak the bell signaling lunches end rang. His hands folded and he rested his chin on his hands smirking slightly. “I guess you'll have to come back some other time to get my answer.” formed an expression that was a combination of a pout and a scowl. “Alright I'll be back tomorrow then....thank you for the information.” with that said she stuffed her empty lunchbox into her bag, bowed, and departed.

 

Seung-hyun was no fool he'd sensed her power. Why he had told her so much he himself had no idea why. Maybe it was how impressed she looked with his abilities or her clever responses and comments. The way she laughed and listened intently to what he said. She almost looked cute to him.…...almost.

 

These thoughts bothered him for the rest of the school day. And they continued to do so as he sat in his regular seat at the sly fox cafe. “Just go out with her already.” “Hyung, no, why?” the words 'no' and 'why' were ridiculously elongated and sounded like mumblings of a man in despair. Ji-yong snickered. “What so you're crushing on a girl who might be your number one frenemy, its no big deal man.”

 

Seung-hyun looked annoyed and little embarrassed. “She is my number one frenemy!” he quickly corrected himself “ENEMY!!” The older man shrugged a sly smile on his face. “Well its obvious that you're staring to like her that's why I suggested it.” Seung-hyun sighed heavily looking more exasperated then ever. “We need to stop talking about this talk about yourself instead.”

 

Ji-yong laughed. “Alright let's see...” a small pause. “Oh yes, my brothers are making plans to get Jin-hee and I together.” The younger man rested his face on his right palm. “Your part timer?” The older man nodded once and the younger continued. “Why don't you go along with it? She's a cute girl, and way smarter than most of the people on this planet.”

Ji-yong who had been cleaning a glass far longer then needed stared at him his lashes curling around his eyelids “You very well why I cant.” Seung-hyun sighed. “...What happened with Anna, hyung that was a long time ago.” Ji-yong stared at the glass in his hands. “I just don't want someone to be unhappy because of me...again.” Seung-hyun sat a bill on the counter standing. “No offense, but you should really start taking your own advice.” Ji-yong sat the glass down smiling as Seung-hyun departed. “I know.”

 

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

 

The second ______ got home she began jotting down everything Seung-hyun had told her in her diary. After she finished she read it over once, then a second time, then a third hoping that she would remember it, any of it. She sighed heavily slamming her diary shut. “Nothing...” she hissed. “I don't remember any of this.”

 

After a while of opening, reading, and once again slamming her diary shut she gave up and started her homework. Our leading lady said nothing while she eat dinner with her father, who was still in drag. After she finished she gave him a half hearted hug and headed off to bed.

 

“You don't want dessert?” He called after her. She shook her head. “No, good night Père.” He sighed pouting a bit. “Alright goodnight Mon Cher.”

 

Sleep never found her that night.

 

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

 

Jin-hee met up with _____ at the front gate of the school.

“Whoa what happened to you? Ya look like a zombie!” The

leading lady rubbed her temples closing her eyes. “No

sleep” Jin-hee smiled. “We'll get some coffee in you and

you'll be good as new.” _____ nodded smiling sleepily. “You're the best Jin-hee”

 

The school day continued normally and once again ____

lied to Jin-hee about why she couldn't have lunch with her. She of course felt bad about this but if Jin-hee knew the truth she'd be really mad.

 

“So you're telling me you've been fighting her all this time because of a misunderstanding?” Seung-hyun nodded once and she scowled. “There's gotta be more to it then that though! If you cleared up the problem why are you guys still fighting?”

Seung-hyun's eyes looked far away. Once again this girl was proving to be way smarter than he had originally thought she was. At first he thought her memories had indeed returned and she was just messing with him, but after talking to her for a while he realized the puzzle that is Fleur had been dumped out of its box in front of _____ and she was desperately trying to solve it.

 

“Yeah there's more to it....but its something I don't wanna share with you.” opened to protest but she decided not to pry and shut it nodding once. “Not yet anyway.” he finished. Her eyes, full of hope met his. They both waited for the other to look away but neither did. They stayed that way for a while it was then that she really noticed his features. They were almost too perfect, like whoever created him spent days maybe even months trying to get everything right. Hell, even the bags under his eyes looked perfect.

 

____ finally lowered her eyes t the floor, unbeknownst to her her teachers dark orbs were still on her. He knew he needed to say something but he could stop staring he had somehow become attracted to the enemy. He hadn't known how interesting and clever Fleur was. The only exchanges they had ever had were full of sarcastic remarks and insults.

He himself hadn't understood why he was helping ____ until now, something just clicked and he realized he wanted her to get her memory back. He wanted the girl before him now to vanish completely, taking these annoying feelings of his with her.

"That's seems like the logical thing to feel but is that really what you want?” Seung-hyun glanced at Ji-yong. After the school day he had made his way to The Sly Fox Cafe to confide in his friend. Seung-hyun honestly couldn't answer Ji-yong's question so he just sat there in silence which earned him a sigh from his hyung. “Listen they're your feelings so I cant tell you what to do with them, but try not to have any regrets when this is over.” Seung-hyun nodded once looking a little less troubled then when he had stumbled in. He felt bad for always coming back to Ji-yong to talk about the same problem. Even though he knew his hyung didn't mind he wanted to be able to handle his problems on his own.

 

 

                                                               ☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

 

 

 

Hey guys how have you been?? I never announced it but I was on hiatus for a bit. Did you enjoy the chapter?? I hope you did, I'm back now so I'll be trying to post a chapter a week. Thanks for your patience

~Ducky