Yunho woke up with a start. The sound of rain was starting to fade away. He felt the pressure on his legs and looked down.

Soo-yeon was still asleep, her chest gracefully moving up and down as she slept. Her glasses had fallen off her face and were resting on her chest. She looks like…

“Jessica?” He whispered.

She made a small squeak and shifted position. Yunho’s legs groaned in relief as the pressure from her body shifted.

He tried again. “Jessica.”

She humphed. “Five more minutes, Krystal,” she sleepily whined.

Yunho fell silent as Soo-yeon went back into a slumber-like state. Soo-yeon is Jessica. Soo-yeon is Jessica, his mind chanted over and over. Yet now he had another question, leaving doubt still in place.

Krystal. Who is she?

*

Soo-yeon opened her eyes to sun rays filtering through a window. Where am I?

“Soo-yeon?” She turned. “Ah, you are awake.” Yunho was standing against a wall.

The memories of the thunderstorm rushed back into her head. She promptly stood up. “How long have I been asleep?!”

He glanced at his watch. “Two hours?”

“Oh no! I’m going to be late!” She let the towel fall from her shoulders to her hands.

Yunho stood back and put his hands in front of him as she tried to return the towel. “Keep it. You’re still wet.”

“But-“

“Just promise me I’ll see you one more time, Soo-yeon, like this.”

Her eyes widened. “Excuse me?” Does my ert radar sense-

“I want to see you one more time at ease as you were the last few hours. You’ve always seemed tense to me. Please, one more time, will you let yourself be free?”

She pursed her lips. “Very well. But it might be a while.”

He smiled. “I’m aware of that.” He gestured with his head. “Go.”

She ran out of the building, clutching the towel as it threatened to fly away from her grasp as she flew down the hill, away from the cemetery.

Yunho watched her go.

There is something beautiful, about frail things…

*

“Soo-yeon?”

“Hey Stephanie.” Soo-yeon staggered into the kitchen, the towel in her hands.  She opened the door to the washing machine and threw it inside.

“How was the trip to your parents? I hope you didn’t get stuck in that sudden downpour.”

“I did. I’m dry now though.”

Stephanie watched her, her eyes hinting anxiety. “You haven’t changed your mind?”

“I haven’t.” Soo-yeon stood up as she closed the door.

Stephanie took a deep breath in. “Then I should tell you why I came to you two months ago.”

Soo-yeon quickly turned around, but her friend’s eyes already glazed off. Crap. It must have been serious.

“I was walking home with Rob-you remember him? He was my boyfriend at the time-the night before. All of the sudden, some guys leapt out of the shadows. They restrained him when they tried to drag me away. You know what those type of guys want. As I struggled, they started to slap me.”

“Steph!” Soo-yeon’s heart dropped further and further at every single word.

Stephanie gave out a bitter laugh. “That wasn’t the worst part. After a while, I felt my consciousness slip away. I had no choice.”

“You unleashed the beast,” Soo-yeon said. It was more of a statement than the guess.

Stephanie gave a small smile. “I did. When I grabbed for my glasses after that, and looked at Rob, he only looked at me in horror for a moment before running away. When I returned, he had left a note saying he didn’t want to see me anymore. That I had to move out by tomorrow.”

“Stephanie, I’m so sorry.”

“What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger, right?” Stephanie sighed. “This is why I hope you’ll forgive me…”

“Forgive you for what?” Soo-yeon reached out and touched her friend’s arm. “Stephanie, you should have never gone through that.”

“You didn’t have it great either. But Soo-yeon…” Stephanie took another deep breath and looked at Soo-yeon with pleading eyes. “Would you be mad if I hung out with Donghae?”

Soo-yeon sharply drew in a breath. What?!

“I know you’re still not on good terms with him, but honestly, at least he understands what’s different about us,” Stephanie rushed on to say. “And, knowing had your plans never go wrong, I’ll be alone…” Her lip quivered.

“Oh Steph,” Soo-yeon said as she crushed her friend in an embrace. Immediately both women began to cry, their sobs echoing in the apartment that suddenly seemed too spacious for their liking.

Finally they broke apart and wiped their eyes. “Promise me you’ll try your hardest to find your own happiness after you catch your parents’ murderer,” Stephanie whispered.

“I promise.”

*

Yunho sighed as he sat at his desk. The rainstorm had forced him to work late at night, and his head was spinning. God, why did I take that nap?

A pinging sound came from his laptop as a notification came up that he had a new email. Eager for the distraction, Yunho sat up in his chair and clicked on it.

Yunho Jung,

M8 C26 Next Thursday at 7 PM. I hope you’ll be there.

Ice Princess

Yunho raised his eyebrows. Street code to his Whitehall email, which was only accessible by other White Hall employees? He checked the sender address, but it was blocked. Idiot, if you only took more computer science classes you could have figured it out.

He was about to close the email when he saw the post script, way at the bottom of the email. The text, which was in English, suddenly ran chills up his back.

P.S. You know.

“You know.”

U-Know.

How does this person know??

*

I remember how they used to make fun of us. They said Stephanie and I were aliens. That there was no way we were 100% Korean. Korean people didn’t look like that.

That’s when Stephanie and I learned how much damage only our eyes could do. Soon, there was no one left to tease us. Instead, people would whisper behind our backs about how we looked different.

Later on, we found our cure. We wore glasses, contacts. Our eyes became normal. We went to different schools, so our classmates knew nothing about our past and wouldn’t show bias to us. Still, we had to be careful. Countless times I had to walk away from conversations about eye prescriptions, and more than once I had to stop Soo-jung from trying on my glasses.

Still, Stephanie and I both agreed the trouble was worth it.

We are not aliens. We are demons.

We want no trouble.

But we show no mercy.

[A/N] Not edited sorry! Still very busy but at least I have an update in? :) If there any mistakes, let me know ^_^