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She must have emptied her stomach of that delicious curry she had had for breakfast. By the time Choi Sooyoung regained control of herself, she noticed the presence of three other young women in the room. In addition to the three she had met earlier, there were another girl sporting short hair sitting next to her on the couch, another sprawled(?) on the floor, and another sitting cross-legged by the coffee table.
“That’s gross,” Hyoyeon remarked, eyes judging the content inside the bucket in front of Sooyoung.
“I…” Sooyoung held her tongue. What was she supposed to say? ‘I’m sorry for throwing up?’ But just seconds ago she was out there, entrapped in an alleyway with the three women, and now she was here, sitting on the couch in God-knows-whose living room. Between the alleyway and the living room, it had felt like a roller coaster ride, but faster and blurrier. Now was it really her fault that she threw up?
Hyoyeon made a face. “Fine. I get it,” she said, as though in response to Sooyoung’s thought. Sooyoung didn’t get to ask what she meant because then Tiffany was speaking. “Hyo, you may want to slow down a bit.” She turned to Sooyoung and added, “You’re freaking her out.”
“Well, that was gross. I just had to.” Hyoyeon shrugged, stepping back from the crowd, taking her seat on a couch on the other side of the room. “But in my defense,
we
all are.”
“Excuse me,” Sooyoung tried, shifting in her seat, “but can anyone—” Just then she noticed the absence of the bucket between her feet. Sooyoung jumped, hugging both legs to her chest in reflex. Next thing she knew
she
would be the one erased clean from the living room. She looked back at Tiffany, and it seemed everyone was capable of reading her mind, because Tiffany nodded in response and started explaining.
Soon, Sooyoung learned the name of the other three women—Soonkyu, Yuri, and Yoona. Some of them had lived in the house for some time, Yoona and Soonkyu being the first. She also noted that the duo had known each other long before that, Taeyeon and Hyoyeon were twins who once went to the same school as Tiffany, and Yuri had only been with them for about one month. Tiffany was not sure how many more out there who were
like them
, but Sooyoung included, they were nine of them in the house.
“Like us as in affected by the event,” Hyoyeon filled in. Sooyoung would’ve asked how, but she would be so dumb to be forgetting about Hyoyeon’s constantly answering questions Sooyoung had only uttered in her mind. She wondered if instant movement was part of it, too; she saw Hyoyeon nodding from the other side of the room.
She had heard of it. Her parents talked about it a couple of times before. About the alignment of planets in the solar system.
The
phenomenon. They believed once all eight planets were aligned, it would trigger a change in human’s bodies, giving them
powers
. Her parents were obsessed with the idea. Sooyoung had laughed at them, thinking how ridiculous the notion was, yet here she was now with a blonde girl who could hear her thoughts, move at the speed of light, and five others whose powers she had yet to know about. (She was pretty much certain the ice controlling thing back in the alleyway had been Tiffany’s doing.)
“Taeyeon saw you,” Tiffany continued. “That’s how we knew where you were.”
Sooyoung shifted her attention to the other blonde woman. “You saw me… where?”
“Down in the basement,” answered Taeyeon. Her brows furrowed, adding, “I mean, not before, but later on. If you were never here to begin with, how could you be in the basement, right? Hence us coming to get you.”
Her head spun. Unlike her twin who spoke clearly, Kim Taeyeon seemed fond of riddles. She turned back to Tiffany. “Is this some kind of shelter? You guys aiding survivors or something?”
“Not exactly so.”
“Right.” Sooyoung leaned back. “Then why am I here? I had a place to go to. My parents must be worried.”
“You wouldn’t have made it to your parents’ place otherwise,” Tiffany pointed out.
Tiffany suggested her to lay low for some time. They were not certain how long those men in black would keep at it, but once they stopped looking for her, Tiffany promised Sooyoung she could go to her parents. In the meantime, they welcomed Sooyoung to stay. Sooyoung might’ve imagined it, but they seemed almost thrilled to have her there.
She was shown her room and made to wait there while Tiffany went back to the living, having forgotten something. There was only the one bed in it. From the look of it, it was unoccupied. Sooyoung went to sit on it. There was a tall drawer in one corner, and close to it was a makeup table. There was no makeup on top, but the mirror was clean; Sooyoung figured somebody must be using it from time to time. She walked to the drawer and opened one door, noting some clothes hung inside. She could use some since she lost all her luggages thanks to the men in black. She wondered if going out shopping sounded like a good idea to Tiffany or any of them.
“I don’t mind sharing. Although I doubt we’re the same size.”
The voice startled her. Sooyoung turned on her heels and found a woman standing beside her. She was not among the ones she had met in the living room. Also, why was the woman naked?
Sooyoung took a step back, almost tripping herself on the carpet in the process. “I—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to rummage through your stuff—eh, this is your drawer, right?”
The woman hummed, seemingly unfazed by Sooyoung’s stuttering. “Yours, too, now,” she said, moving a step closer with every step back Sooyoung took, stopping when Sooyoung did only because there was no more space Sooyoung could step back to. She tilted her head to one side, her smile permanent on her lips. “Looks like I got me a roommate now.”
Sooyoung swallowed, trying to think of something other than the fact that this stranger was all pressed up against her—and that she was naked, and that she was very, very attractive with that stunning smile on her lips. Something else, like a reply to the woman’s statement for a start. She settled with, “Nice to meet you,” lamely.
She got a chuckle as a response and, “I bet it is.” The woman leaned in, and Sooyoung felt her breath tickle her nose as she whispered, “Here’s a little welcoming gift from me.”
‘What?’ was at the tip of her tongue, but perhaps she had had too many questions in one day; she didn’t feel like questioning anymore. She didn’t see the woman carrying a weapon whatsoever. With her hands on either side of Sooyoung’s jaw now the worst she could do was to choke her to death. Yet Sooyoung was taller. She could overpower the woman easy if it came to that. Which was highly unlikely with the woman’s lips just a breath away from her own—
“Jessica, stop.”
The warmth left her. Sooyoung had to blink twice before she could process what was happening. She saw Tiffany standing in the doorway, breathing hard, eyes never leaving the other woman who she addressed as Jessica. The woman, Jessica, had her back to Sooyoung; she couldn’t make out the expression she had on her face, but the atmosphere told her she was in rage.
“We’ve talked about this,” Tiffany started.
“
You
talked.”
“Well, excuse me, but when I cannot see the person I’m talking to, I assume they
are
listening.”
At that point, Sooyoung took a step forward, meaning to put her jacket around Jessica’s shoulders. She cleared her throat and began, “Please, uh, cover up a bit.”
What she didn’t know was that apparently was a wrong move. Before she could reach the woman, Jessica had spun around. One hand rose to block Sooyoung, but instead got caught on the jacket. Sooyoung watched in surprise that soon turned into horror as the fabric darkened. The threads seemed to untangle themselves from one another, down to the tiniest bit of it, until all turned to dust. What remained of it settled on the floor. Sooyoung didn’t need to be told twice; she was already plastered to the wall when Jessica spoke through gritted teeth, telling Sooyoung to stay away from her.
With that she walked past Tiffany and disappeared.
Tiffany rushed to her side. For the first time since they met, Tiffany looked shaken. Nothing like the confident and friendly woman she had been. Sooyoung could feel her trembling from her hold on Sooyoung’s forearm. Or was it her own?
“I am so sorry,” Tiffany started again. “I was meaning to introduce you two, but I forgot to ask Hyo where she was. I went back to the living room and Hyo said—” Tiffany closed her mouth with both hands.
The most Jessica could do was to choke her to death, huh? Had Tiffany not stopped her, Sooyoung might’ve been on the floor as well, turned to dust by Jessica’s touch.
--
After making sure that Sooyoung was fine, Tiffany walked out of the room, trailing the path Jessica took after leaving. Or so she thought. It is not everyday you could guess where an invisible person is once they go, well, invisible. Sometimes Tiffany wished one of the girls had such power. That way she could tell if she was actually talking to Jessica Jung or it was just empty air in front of her.
Her feet brought her to the kitchen, and she found Hyoyeon there. “Out in the balcony,” Hyoyeon provided without waiting for the question. Tiffany nodded appreciatively and continued past the door to an empty balcony at the back side of the house. She didn’t step outside right away. After what happened in Jessica’s room earlier, Tiffany was wise enough not to stand too close to Jessica. Problem was she didn’t know where exactly the woman was standing.
Tiffany had heard of what Jessica could do. However, the most she had witnessed was Jessica disappearing before her eyes. The thing she could do with her touch… that sounded like a made up story coming straight out of a comic book. Despite what she could do herself, Jessica’s power sounded too terrifying to be true. Juhyun mentioned it once, but only that one time, and the girl had kept it brief. Yuri, too. Tiffany understood better than to ask them more. (Asking more about it eventually led to more questions about The Facility, and that’s something you don’t go around asking.) That’s why that’s all she had. A brief description of what Jessica could do. Seeing it firsthand… that was another experience altogether.
“I want her out of my room.”
Tiffany turned to her left. Jessica was there, sitting cross-legged on a chair. Tiffany offered her a blanket she brought with her. This time she took it and wrapped herself in it.
“It’s only for a few days,” Tiffany bargained. “She’ll be off to her parents’ once it’s safe for her to go out there.”
Jessica snorted. “It’s amazing how deeply you lot care about a stranger.”
“Jess, what you did back there—”
“—was an accident,” Jessica finished it for her. She turned to Tiffany, the resignation apparent in her eyes. “Hyo’s not wrong. I did think that. Originally, anyway. I swear I had switched it off when you came.”
“But the jacket…”
“She sneaked up behind me, all right?” Jessica threw her hands in frustration. “I don’t know. I must’ve sensed danger.”
It was Tiffany’s turn to exhale in exasperation.
“She
does
look like someone from The Facility,” Jessica insisted. “Not just her look, but also her aura. I’m not rooming with someone like that. She can room with Kwon Yuri for all I care.”
“That’s it. I’ve heard enough of this. This talk ends now.”
“You can’t make me room with her.”
“Then why did you change your mind?” Tiffany challenged. “The fact that you did is enough proof she’s not a threat like you originally thought. Besides, Taeyeon said—”
“‘Taeyeon said’,” Jessica mimicked her, voice thick with mockery. “What does she know about The Facility anyway? What do
you
know?”
“Not much,” Tiffany admitted, “but we do know that Choi Sooyoung has spent more than half her life in Japan. Today’s the first time she’s in Korea after fifteen years. There’s no way you have met her before.”
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