Chapter 7 

❝I wish to travel to Italy.❞

[Dinner; Culina Modern Italian Restaurant]

Krystal

I flattened out the new dress I had gotten earlier as I let out a noticeable sigh, “I should have faked cramps or something." I whined as I picked up my phone, checking my make up in the selfie camera. "I mean, weren't we supposed to have this dinner next week?"

"Yes, but apparently Appa wanted us to meet her earlier since she's heading to Paris soon to do this charity fashion show she--"

"Charity-shmarity, it’s just a whole stunt to make herself look good," I blabbered, looking away from my camera. "I would be better off knowing that she only wants to meet us early because she either A) wants to show Appa how awesome she is around us, so she gets a ring on her pretty little finger or B) she's pregnant."

"Oh come on Noona, why don't you just give her a chance huh?" Jay straightened out the tie around his neck.

"Why should I?" I pouted, crossing my arms over my chest. "They're all after the same thing anyways: money."

"Whatever...just please don't try anything with her, alright?" Jay sighed as he looked me straight in the eyes. He looked serious but the innocence of the little boy I knew in him was still there. I gave him a small smile as I leaned in, pinching his cheeks. "Jay-Minnie-Ahhhh."

"Yah! Whae! Noona not that name please!!" He whined as he tried to push my fingers off his cheeks. I laughed and smiled as I threatened to place a pink lipstick stain on his cheek. My little brother tried to squirm away from my grip, but miserably failed as I placed a kiss on his forehead.

"You wouldn't be so squirmy if that girl from your 5th period class was doing this to you..." I laughed even louder as Jay turned a deep shade of red.

"NOONA!" Jay pushed me away, trying to wipe off any trace of lipstick that I had placed on him. "How do you know about..."

"I'm your sister, Jay. I know things that you don't even know about yourself." I gave him a cute aegyo smile. He chuckled.

"Can't say since birth, can you?" He gave me a smug smile back. I frowned. He frowned.

We gave each other the signal that we wouldn't go back that far in the past.

"Hello hellohellooo," An unfamiliar voice announced. Jay and I looked at the woman who entered the room. I looked at Jay, a successful smile gracing my lips. Judging by her young appearance and happy-go-lucky attitude…

I would have her running out of here before dessert would be served.

“Lydia, these are my children Krystal and Jay.” Appa introduced, coming behind her as he watched us carefully, greeting her with handshakes.  “Children, this is Lydia… the wonderful woman I had been talking about.”

“Oh Richard, please…” She gave him a little push, her cheeks turning a tint of pink. I placed a huge, fake smile on my face, trying to hide my distaste. Okay, I have to admit something that I like about her and that was her sense of fashion.

Other than that, everything I read off of her was fake, fake, and oh, did I not already mention, fake?

“Lydia…Lydia…Lydia…” I murmured, playing a curious look on my face as if I was in deep thought. “Appa, weren’t you talking about a girl named Lauren not too long ago…?” I smiled. Appa’s eyes immediately darted towards me with his authoritative look, I could see from the corner of my eye the disappointment on Jay’s face as he shook his head.

“Lauren?” Lydia asked as she looked at my father. He stood there, trying to keep his cool, but even through his designer suit I could see his pit stains forming.

“Oh! Ha! Silly me… silly me…” I played, deciding to end the tension I had created in the room. “I’m sorry, I was thinking about the conversation that Appa and I had about this character in this story I was reading in English and must have mixed it up with your name since they both have 'L' in them!” I faked a laugh as the rest of them forcibly laughed along. As soon as the 'laughing' fest was over, I took the initiative to sit down first. Looking over the menu, I held it high enough to my face to hide my bogus smile. From time to time, my eyes would wander between the 'loving couple.' They already gave each other pet names. Although PDA was kept at a minimum, I just could not stand even watching Lydia feed Appa a piece of bread or likewise with Appa feeding Lydia.

“Okaaaayyy… Noona, watch yourself with that…” Jay grabbed the butter knife I had been holding. I looked down, realizing that instead of spreading any jam over my bread, I had been stabbing crater-sized holes on it.

“Oh dear, let me get you a new piece of bread!” Lydia spoke, replacing my bread with a new slice.

“Actually, I’ll just save the carbs for my pasta later.” I gave her a smile. Suddenly, an idea popped up in my head, pushing the plate towards her. “But, you can have it if you want. It seems like you love… the carbs—I mean—the bread here!” I eyed the 3 slices of bread already on her plate. I felt a kick on my left foot and I looked over at Jay giving me a 'what the hell' wide-eyed look.

“Oh, well…I do love the bread here!” Lydia laughed with a small smile as I watched her slowly spread her jam onto the slice. “The dough is of the right consistency and everything!”

I raised an eyebrow coming up with another idea. “Oh, really? So you like dough?” I clapped my hands smiling. “What a coincidence ‘cause Daddy has A LOT of that!” I looked over at Appa, fluttering my eyelashes. “Don’t you Daddy??”

“Oh Krystal you’re so funny…” Appa said through clenched teeth. As his face showed amusement, the look in his eyes told me that I was in deep, deep trouble.

“You have such a funny daughter!” Lydia laughed as she leaned over to straighten out Appa’s tie. “She must have gotten it from you, huh?”

The two of them laughed, continuing their little love fest. I rolled my eyes as I crossed my legs under the table, showing a relaxed stance, showing how I was trying to avoid any scene of the couple whatsoever. I looked over at Jay who was actually trying to hold a conversation with Lydia and Appa. Without Jay backing me up with my plays, it was a 3 vs 1 game.

If anything, I hated admitting defeat.

As the orders were given, and the menus were taken away, the conversation between the three continued, leaving me in the dust. If there was another thing I hated, it was being left out of anything or being treated as if my presence doesn’t matter.

“What are you guys talking about?” The looks on the kids’ faces were of disgust and ignorance, some even laughing at my attempt to include myself in the conversation. They walked away, leaving me alone once again.

“Sorry, I’m late for dinner.” A new voice interrupted my thoughts. Looking up at the stranger that had entered the room, my mouth dropped at the view.

What the hell was Genie boy doing here?!

Luhan

“Oh! Luhan, you made it! Good, good, good!” Mr. Park exclaimed as he stood up with his girlfriend who followed his lead for introductions. “Lydia, this is my daughter’s boyfriend, Luhan. Luhan, this is my lady, Lydia.”

“BOYFRIEND?!” All eyes turned to Krystal who had stood up from her seat, looking at the situation with wide eyes and fists clenched at her sides. Eyeing me, she softened a bit, noticing the outburst she had caused. She cleared , turning to the adults. “I’m sorry for the sudden outburst. It’s just that I didn’t expect my… BOYFRIEND… to be here…” Krystal suddenly clung onto my arm, tilting her head to look at me. “Dear BOYFRIEND, what are you doing here??” Her grip tightened around my arm. For a girl like her, I had to admit that she was strong.

If I were human, there would probably be a blue wring mark around my arm if she kept this up.

“Dear GIRLFRIEND” I smiled with equal emphasis on the “g” word like she had done with the “b” word. “I was invited by your father to meet his lovely new girlfriend.” I looked over at Mr. Park, making sure that the haze in his eyes showed that he was still under my control. “Isn’t that correct, Mr. Park?”

“Of course! Of course!” Mr. Park followed the words I was putting in his mind to say. “This is a family dinner after all, and what kind of a family dinner would this be without my future son-in-law?”

“APPA!” Krystal look flabbergasted at what her father had said as I was offered the empty seat beside her. I sat down and tugged Krystal’s arm, making her sit down in her seat. She continued to stare at me as I started to make conversation with the rest of the group.

I knew it wasn’t exactly my part as a Genie to intervene in such things, but ever since the start of dinner, I had been watching everything unfold between the match of Krystal vs Lydia. Watching Lydia lightly take her hits, I could tell that Krystal was slowly losing her battleground. Oh, how many countless times I shook my head at the little effects her weapons against Lydia was doing. I could have sat there and watched the rest of the dinner for Krystal to try and redeem herself, but then my detailed eyes caught the best of me.

Just like the look she had given me earlier when confronting her about her test tactics, she had that look on her face again. The look as if she was… hurting. Her eyes were dull, as if she was being hypnotized by something. She couldn’t be planning some kind of comeback to state her status at the dinner table. The way she sat with trembling lips, her head down staring at the closed fists on her lap. It was deeply intriguing to see this side of my master, but as a natural Genie instinct, my job was to make my master happy. Well in my case, not exactly 'happy' because surely my appearance most likely disturbed her a whole lot.

If I couldn’t make her happy, at least my presence would hopefully take away that look on her face.

“So do you attend the same school as Jay and Krystal?” Lydia asked as we started to eat dinner, pointing at the Park siblings. From the corner of my eye, I could see that Krystal was about to say something but I quickly interrupted her.

“Yes, I actually just transferred to Beverly Hills High today.” I turned to look at Krystal whose eyes widened even more at my statement. “I’ll be starting on Monday.”

“Yeah! Yeah! And he said that he’ll be trying out for the basketball team with me as well… right Luhan?” Jay gave me a thumbs-up as I returned him a reassuring nod. My eyes darted back at Krystal’s expression, which had now included not only widened eyes, but a dropped mouth to go with it.

I was getting under her skin now… how adorable.

“Oh that seems wonderful!” Lydia clapped her hands. “I love it when kids get involved in extracurricular activities… You know I remembered during high school …”

“That shouldn’t be too hard to recall since that only happened a year or two ago…” I heard Krystal whisper under her breath as Lydia continued talking about her glory days. It seemed as if I was the only one who heard this, causing me to almost choke on the meatball I had been in the process of chewing; I recovered myself quickly before anybody noticed.

I have to admit, Krystal was funny.

“Speaking of extracurricular activities,” Krystal stood up from her chair, gaining attention back to herself again. “My BOYFRIEND and I have something to do for school.” She looked down at me, giving me a sweet smile together with her piercing stare, which no one caught. I chuckled, placing my hand on her arm, returning the look she was giving me.

“But dear GIRLFRIEND, how can I already have school work to do when I haven’t even started school yet…” I pointed down at her chair. “Come on now, we can have our own time together after dinner.” I gave her a wink as she gave an unpleasant look of disgust before sitting down. I smiled to myself as I let Lydia continue where she left off.

As a Genie, I knew I shouldn’t be enjoying the power I was having over Krystal, since she was my master after all, plus it was supposed to be the other way around; Krystal was supposed to have control over me. But, I couldn’t help but enjoy the looks I was receiving from Krystal. Sure, they weren’t loving, lustful looks I usually got from women and I guess that’s what made it fun. For the first time in a long time, I was actually being frowned upon.

And for some weird reason, I was enjoying that.

The rest of the dinner proceeded smoothly with, surprisingly, no more snide, smart comments coming from Krystal’s rose-pink lips. She was quiet for the rest of the dinner, leaving the rest of the family and me to talk in peace. Every once in a while, when I could tell she wanted to say something, I sneaked my hand over hers, giving it a light squeeze. She would give me a shocked look, quickly pulling away, immediately shutting up. I would laugh to myself, telling the others how she wasn’t much of PDA person.

“We save our precious moments for only us two to see…” I said, taking her hand with mine. Krystal had tried to pull away, but I used my powers to stick them together like glue. “Because love is a crime that needs no witness to know it has been done.” I placed a kiss on the back of her hand earning a blank, shocked face from my master. Lydia and Mr. Park stared in awe as I could see Jay choking on whatever he was eating, trying to keep himself from laughing out loud.

I literally had her in the palm of my hand.

All in all, Lydia was quite nice and I could tell that Mr. Park had definitely fallen deep for her. Observing Jay, he was opening up to her as well, talking about his life, inviting her to basketball games if he made the team. I even told her my own interests and aspirations, creating a fake family background for myself. In reality, I didn’t actually have a REAL family consisting of a mom or dad. More along the lines of having 12 brothers, including myself, created out of a Genie lamp. The idea of ever having a “real family” never really phased me, seeing as to how I was born the way I looked now, meaning I had no childhood to go through, nor did I experience pain or suffering. No awkward teenage years. No elderly years. Genies were immortal. I had been born as the handsome, intelligent Luhan everyone knows me as. Did I see that as a bad thing?

Not yet.

“It was such a pleasure to meet you Lydia,” I bowed once we bid our goodbyes outside the restaurant, waiting for the valet to pull out the cars.

“Oh no, the pleasure is all mine, Luhan!” Lydia smiled as she took Mr. Park’s hand in hers, placing her cheek on his shoulder. “He will definitely make a great son-in-law.” She gave an overdone wink to Krystal and watching my master, she just scoffed, turning around ignoring her.

“Excuse my dear girlfriend,” I defended her behavior as I took her hand in mine, using my powers to make my grip inescapable. “She gets pretty shy when talking about our future.”

Jay let out an elephant blow as he tried to keep his laughter to himself. If I knew any better, I bet he wasn’t used to seeing his noona being controlled… That she usually had everything go her way, and now that I was here, the tables have been turned; he was clearly enjoying this side of Krystal just as much as I was.

“Boyfriend dear,” Krystal’s sweet voice sang into my ears. I turned my head as she pointed to her BMW that had pulled up with the driver’s door open. “I have to take my leave now so—“

“Oh, yes, of course. I’ll drive you home, my dear girlfriend.” I turned to the Mr. Park. “If you don’t mind—“

“You go right ahead and take her home,” I hypnotized Mr. Park to say. “Just keep my little girl safe and don’t stay out too late, you hear?”

“Yes sir,” I nodded as I lightly pushed Krystal forward to get her to the passenger’s side of the car. “I will make sure to keep her real safe.” I used my powers to push her down onto the seat and buckled her up. She reached over the seatbelt clasp trying to unlock herself, but my powers had prevented her from doing so. I closed the door before she let out a scream of anger. When I reached the driver’s seat of the car, I had given one last wave of goodbye before I drove off.

Krystal

“LET ME GO THIS INSTANT LUHAN” I shouted, trying to unbuckle my seatbelt, almost punching off the contraption. “AND THAT’S AN ORDER, YOU HEAR ME?!”

The little punk looked over for a second giving me a uncaring shrug, “Do you wish for it to be off master??” 

“LUHAN!” I can’t believe he was playing this wish thing now! After embarrassing me in front of my Dad’s new girl and my family, he had the nerve to give me this taste of medicine?!

“Fine, fine…” I suddenly felt the sudden force, that was previously pushing me down before, disappear. FINALLY. I looked out the window, mentally killing Luhan in my head with as many scenario’s that my devilish mind desired, pulling at the necklace with all my might. I was sincerely pissed off ever since he showed up for dinner, spewing nothing but bull and lies. Why the was he even there anyways? Was annoying one’s master a part of the Genie’s job description or something?

Because if so, he was doing a hell of a good job.

Besides that, his damn looks and charms weren’t helping my case either. Throughout dinner he would clasp my hand with his, and with some voodoo magic , his grip would be, like, super glue strong. I had to refrain myself from having our hands jab his face, but damn it, the lustful side of me was saying otherwise.

My lustful side was screaming "a hot man is holding your hand girl, now get him in your pants!”

I shook the dirty thoughts off my head, sneaking a peek at the Genie himself. He was wearing a different suit from what he had on this morning; looking relaxed and content, he was driving and maneuvering these roads as if knew them like the back of his hand. The way he held his stance reminded me of his confrontation about my test taking tactics; he was totally different compared to how he was at dinner. He had gone from being an annoying, tattle tale to a picture perfect boyfriend in less than a day. I tried to figure out if all he was doing was a strategical way to get me to wish for something. 

“Why the hell did you show up at dinner tonight?” I broke the silence as I shifted in my seat to turn my body towards him. “How did you even know about this dinner?”

“While your brother was showing me around school, your dad called him about it.”

“So what, you just decided to invite yourself along?”

“Well… sort of kind of, not really… If you know what I mean.” Luhan formed a cloudy ball in the palm of his hand then blew it in my face. I coughed, wiping off all the glitter and magic sparkles or whatever the hell they were of.

“Then let me guess, you used some of your magic tricks to enroll yourself into my school as well?”

Luhan reached over, messing with my hair, “My GIRLFRIEND is SO smart.” I cringed at the emphasis of the 'g' word, swatting his hand away from my now, frizzy hair.

“Why the hell are you doing all this?” I questioned as I pulled down the sunshade to fix myself in its mirror. “I thought you wanted to be in and out of my life as quick as possible!”

“I do,” He stated as he stopped at the front of our gates, waiting for them to open. “But, then I thought to myself… hmmmm, my master sure is an interesting character. Maybe I should get to understand her more so I can grant her wishes properly and in her order.” I laughed out loud and gave him a stare.

We both knew that what he was saying was bull.

“I know what you are trying to do Luhan.” I started to formulate all his possible plans in my mind. “You're trying to keep yourself around me as much as possible so that I would get SO annoyed by your presence that I make up stupid wishes to get you out of here.” I snapped my fingers and pointed at him, “Or maybe, you're trying to catch my most vulnerable moments and take advantage of my roller coaster of emotions to get me to wish something philosophical and crap!”

It was his turn to laugh at me now. Suddenly, he leaned over the armrest giving me a knowing look. “You really think I would stoop that low? To play with your feelings?”

He held my gaze with the way his orbs were shining. Was I being put under his spell or something? Was he feeling… sorry for me? Suddenly, instead of giving him a smart- retort that he deserved, I felt myself being drawn towards him. I couldn’t tell if this was his magic doing this or myself, but the in the air was growing. His lips were just right there… I mean, whoa, those lips looks just so… inviting and plump and…

All of a sudden I heard a small chuckle and suddenly his presence was... gone. I opened my eyes and what I had felt was true: he was gone. Dissappeared. Nada.

“What the fu—“ I quickly unbuckled my seat belt and got out of the car, looking around the front of the house, trying to find him. I even had the audacity to get on my knees and look UNDER my car.

“You little sh---AARGH!” I threw my hands up in the air as I gave up searching for him outside, deciding to go upstairs to look for him.

Once I entered the house, I went straight to my room. Instead of being greeted by the face of a certain Genie, my dog did the honor. Mickey scurried towards me as I picked him up in my arms.

“Mickey boy, have you seen Genie boy?” I asked my dog. Mickey barked happily, guessing that probably meant a no. I figured since he wasn’t acting up, like he did when he first realized Luhan’s presence, he wasn’t here either.

“Pssht, what the hell… why even bother?” I asked myself, carrying Mickey above my chest as I lay back on my bed. “I should be happy that he’s gone for the time being, huh Mickey?” He barked in agreement with me. I smiled, giving my dog a squeeze as Mickey gave me sloppy kisses with his tongue on my face. I was suddenly reminded of the kiss I almost had with Luhan in the car. Damn it, I've only known this guy for one day and we were already pulling those type of moves? It had to be lust, for sure. Lust. We were both naturally attracted to each other on a level of physical attractiveness; I had to admit that. Then I thought about his confrontation with me from this afternoon… A person with lust for another person wouldn’t… care like that would they? If he continued to try and figure me out like this, I may not even make my remaining wishes at all if it meant that he had to leave me.

And I couldn’t bear losing another piece of myself to someone a second time. 

Officially Posted On

July 11, 2015