Chapter 65 - Morning Regrets

Eun Ha woke up to the uncomfortable noise of a vacuum cleaner, somewhere inside her mind, and it seemed to want to rip off pieces of her brain. "Ahnnn no!" she rolled to her side, pulling the covers with her, and stared at the star-painted ceiling of her room. "Ye Rim, isn't it too early for that ?!" she asked, even though she knew Ye Rim wouldn't hear.

Feeling awkward and rather crumpled, she stretched, trying to muster up the courage to get up. The hangover feeling was the worst possible.

And she had forgotten how she ended up drunken.

"Wait… !?" she said to herself with a strange feeling.

She sat up, feeling something hard against her belly. She fumbled until she pulled the object; it is actually a rigid wrapping in brown paper and string.

"What's… this?"

Eun Ha felt her greasy and flaky face, a sign that she had slept without taking off her makeup… 'Ugg, a week of skin detox! I cannot afford it! Why the hell did I drink so much ?!'

But the images began to come as she undid the package.

Lee Dae Won… Which got her a smile. 'He is really a gentleman.'

Something about talking about her childhood ... 'But, what, exactly?'

This, she could not remember.

Finally unwrapping the contents of the package, Eun Ha was surprised and intrigued. It looked like an oversized, hardcover children's book. It was not a new edition, it actually looked like a used but well-kept book. The image on the cover was done in an watercolor old style; and like the old school typography, it bestowed the book a vintage charm. The title read:

"The Magic Girl"

"What the hell… Where did I… No!"

A flash of her hand squeezing a finger against the Hunter's lips came back to hers mind like a whiplash. 'Oh!' Eun Ha dropped the book in a rush, covering her mouth with both hands. "Omo!"

She looked at her own finger_the finger that touched his full lips_ with wonder and curiosity. The fact that she was still holding her hand seemed incredible. 'What else did I do ?!'

She looked under the covers, but she was fully dressed except for the shoes. She just couldn't remember how she got into the apartment... or lay down on her bed, for what matter… Just recalled being tossed off the Hunter's broad back and feeling very dizzy as they quickly went upstairs.

She rose from the bed in distress and went to look in the mirror. All she saw was her typical rubbish expression after a drunkenness. She fumbled once more her wrinkled clothing, finding her magic wand exactly where she had left it. "I ... Did I really appoint a class with him and skipped it?" she couldn't remember that much.

In the shower, the warm water running down her head and body brought back fragments of events, and worse: the things she had said and done on her way to the apartment.

"Aishhhh!" She punched the bathroom tiles in disbelief and annoyance. "Did I really do all this? I really called him boring; I asked him to carry me; and talked about going up_ or not going up_ to eat ramyun… ?! How can I face him now ?!"

Still disheartened, after she got out of the shower, she sat on her bed, dressed in her downy robe_ black like all the clothes she wore. The fairy reached for the mysterious book, and looked at it again:

"Did Professor Shin leave it? I really don't remember…" And also, the fact that it's a children's book didn't make much sense. 'Is it an indirect message? Aigoo! He is so annoying!'

She couldn't imagine another way that book was in her bed, so she decided to blame it on the Hunter. She opened the book, flipping through it carefully looking at the pictures first. The delicate watercolor art had beautiful lines, and it refinedly ill.u.s.trated a fairy tale so far unknown to her.

"How ironic! A fairy tale for a fairy…" Though she started the thought with a sullen mood, the realization that she, Eun Ha, was a fairy, drew a silly giggle from her. She shook her head, trying to focus, and began to read,

"Once upon a time there was a girl, who lived on the mountain with…"

The noise of the vacuum cleaner getting louder as it came closer her room_ along with the remnants of her hangover,_ did not even allow her to finish reading the first sentence. The fairy's head throbbed hard, and she was about to get up for some aspirin when the bedroom door opened. Eun Ha hastily threw the book under the covers and scratched her head in disguise of her nervousness. She didn't want to have to explain anything now to Ye Rim, much less about the fairy subject, which she didn't even master herself.

Whether or not Ye Rim noticed her maneuver, the fairy had no way of knowing. The younger one gestured for Eun Ha to lift her feet off the floor, which she did by sitting on the bed. Ye Rim vacuumed around and below the bed, then turned off the appliance:

"Unnie, there's some guy calling you..."

"A guy?" Eun ha's intuition said it wasn't MP Lee Dae Won, let alone Stylist Zhang,

"And he did not say his name, I suppose."

"Yeah. Yes it is. How do you know?" Ye Rim was distracted by the cleaning chores and her own thoughts.

"Uhn. Just wondered. But don't worry, it's not important at all."

"Ah…" Supposing that Ye Rim would immediately cast her a suspicious look and start asking questions, Eun Ha said, stretching her body:

"Aigoo! Last night I went out with some friends… But where were you? Did I come back after you're home?"

"No, I arrived after you. I was at Pearl…" Ye Rim recounted the events at the club the day before, from the discussion over money to the musician's departure, as well as Duk Mi's late reactions.

"And the doctor? Did he answer?" Eun Ha was outraged at wondering how fighting with fate was difficult. It all came together to make Dr. Flamingo once again orbit one way or another in Ye Rim's life!

"It was checked as viewed, but he didn't reply. Alright, it was midnight. I have to apologize for sending a message like that at a time like this."

"Do it when and if he calls back. You left the message, don't start pestering, as if it were a bait to bring up the subject."

Ye rim nodded,

"But speaking of messages, don't you want to know what the unimportant guy said?" Strangely, coming from Ye Rim in such a situation, the question was not that provocative. Eun Ha cast a worried look at her friend engaged in weekly cleaning. Ye Rim looked a little fl.u.s.tered,

"Did he leave a message?"

"Yes, he said you have classes today, and he'll charge you if you skip it again. I wrote down the address and everything. What classes, unnie? "Ye Rim spoke casually, already leaving the room with the cleaning gear. Neither of them noticed the white card, crumpled along the brown paper where the mystery book had been wrapped. Ye Rim had just put it as the other trash, in the trash bag she was taking away.

"Lessons ... Lessons of ... French lessons!" she made up in a rush.

Ah… cool!" it was Ye Rim's distracted response, leaving the room. Eun Ha hastily took the book under the blanket and put it in her desk.

"How lewd! Charge fines?! What does he mean by that? I hope he doesn't even dare to play the smartass just because I'm ignorant of magic. I'm going to turn his head into a kimchi bowl, he'll just see…"

Eun Ha got up to fetch a glass of water, and shameful new images of the Hunter Shin tugging at her belt and then tossing her over his shoulder like an old bundle flashed her mind:

"Aishhh…!" I she rubbed her neck in pained stress.

…

A little later, when Eun Ha left the building, on her way to her meeting with Hunter Fairy Shin, she got across the Yoo brothers down the street. Kang Dae was leading the way, pulling a heavy shopping cart, and Chang Mi was a little behind, empty-handed, and sporting senior school uniform and his usual sulky expression.

Eunha wondered if she should scold the lazy student for not helping his brother, but she thought that would definitely put her on the level of a dreary nosy ajuhma. Her gaze met Chang Mi's, but he looked down, embarrassed.

'Uhn, this boy! You know you should be helping your hyung...!'

They stopped by her. Kang Dae said,

"Eun Ha, we got fresh persimmons! Will keep some aside for you," he was a little out of breath, but had an amused glint in his eyes, which confused Eun Ha a little. But then she remembered that she had heard Kang Dae call his younger brother Persimmon; but she did not know the origin of such nickname.

"Hello, Kang Dae, Chang Mi!"

"Your outfit is really stylish, Eun Ha," Kang Dae commented, wiping the sweat from his forehead, and noticing how the fairy was eccentrically dressed - as usual, black from head to toe. "It's good to know we have a fashion designer neighbor coming out in magazines."

"Oh, Kang Dae, it's not like that, it was just onc…" Eun Ha's attention shifted to the cart Kang Dae had dropped by talking to her. The cargo vehicle had begun to move on its own, down the sloped street:

"Kang Dae! Beware!" She warned aloud, and he turned on his heels, stunned to see the cart sliding its load downhill. With a pathetic look, the greengrocer rushed out to reach and stop the cart before it hurt anyone.

Eun Ha craned her neck to see if there was a risk of such accident. Her hand was already pressing her wand into the pocket of her garments, ready for action.

But it wasn't necessary, Kang Dae reached the vehicle and stopped it before it dealt damage. Eun Ha, however, felt young Chang Mi's penetrating gaze upon herself; more precisely, upon her hand tucked into her pocket, on a nervous grip around her wand.

"Aherm… Phew! Glad Kang Dae did it, right, Chang Mi?"

"I'm sure nothing bad would happen," the handsome yet strange teenager said cryptically.

Eun ha waved goodbye to them, keeping to herself that strange feeling about everything.