Aria is not ashamed to admit she's on the edge of her chair, gleefully watching the drama unfold. One often discovers a sort of guilty pleasure for the mundane when age catches up to them. Aria has plenty of years stacked up to enjoy.
"You dammed sissy! After messing around with me you dared to hide here? Today I will teach you a good lesson!"
The thug in the lead shouts, already crossing the room.
The shorter teen flinches, visibly recoiling until his back knocks into the computer screen, his hands flail and the keyboard slides off the table.
A pin drop silence engulfs the room, most of the people slowly crawl out, unwilling to be part of the fight but their curiosity stalls their feet, their eyes keep wandering over their shoulders hoping to catch a glimpse.
Aria decides it's about time to head out too. She slips by the group of thugs mixed in with a group of teenagers, lest she draws their attention too.
Although the swelling in her ankle has gone down massively, Aria is not too confident to face off a bunch of idiotic wannabes, the fact that her ankle was twisted had slipped her mind completely.
"What are you doing?!"
"I'm leaving," she answers, tired of the system's nagging.
"You can't."
"Everyone is leaving."
"Not Kang Jimin!"
Aria freezes. She squats down, roughly dragging the pads of her fingers over her face – what sin has she committed so gravely? Besides sleeping with a married man, which she had no part in because he omitted that little tid-bit. Respectively, she should have guessed considering his age.
"You are telling me one of them is the twat I'm supposed to drag back?"
Ignoring the muttering of the few stragglers peering in through the doorway, Aria resolutely bangs her head on the floor.
She jumps up, fist pumping the air. She could always let them get beaten up, then scoop the dammed brat away. By the ear.
"Look what we have here," a bald-headed man says as he grabs her forearm.
"You want to die brat?"
His demeanour shifts, shoulders bunching in, a rash like blush quickly spreading on his face and head. She sees the minute change when he makes up his mind, sleazy hand sliding under her jacket, stupid grin widening.
Aria tilts her head back, counts to four, gives up. She rips her arm free, swinging at the same time and uppercuts him squarely in the jaw. The sad joke of a conception drops, the thud his body makes on impact echoes. The rest of the thug wannabes turn around, parting in the middle.
She gets her first good look at the brats.
Aria is hit by deja-vu.
*
A young man sticks his head between the doors, pouting cutely. Aria sighs, beckoning him in. The door clinks softly, he treads lightly, peeking from under his eyelashes.
"Sister, you won't let them bully me. Right?"
The young man twiddles his fingers, his voice high pitched but mellow – his usual tenor is thick and rough, a heavy contrast to his adorable, rounded face and huge brown doe eyes.
"You dammed brat! You dare act cute after all the trouble you caused!?" Arianna shouts, throwing the folder across the room, it misses him by a foot or so, smacking resoundingly on the wall.
The young man turns puppy eyes on his sister, he whimpers pitifully, cutely holding his arms to his chest.
Aria sits down heavily, she pinches her nose but waves the brat to sit down.
"How many times have I told you if you want to pick a fight go ahead, but don't look like the bully!"
"They were cursing you," he mutters quietly.
*
Aria is startled to the present, there is a hand squeezing her chin and cheap Ajax deodorant in her nose. The boy is broad shouldered, lanky and marked by a patch of pimples on either cheek, his eyes are narrowed, squinting a path down her body.
Her stomach bubbles, nausea rising in her throat.
She can't breath. Her throat is closing. The world is faint. The only picture in sharp relief is the beautiful face of the teenager with his large honey eyes and his petal red lips, his pointed chin and soft black hair.
A blurry movement cuts through the tunnel vision.
Aria snaps her head to the side, catches the incoming fist, squeezes the thick wrist, but she forgets this is not her body and the momentum carries the blow. It hits her shoulder, she staggers.
"Now you've really done it," Aria snarls.
She tugs, sidesteps and sticks out her leg to trip him; he notices and pulls free, Aria spits in his face, uses the distraction to kick his knee, he stumbles forward, and she mercilessly goes for the family jewels. He keens, bowling over. But Aria is not finished. She twists his arm until his shoulder pops, watches as they take a step back collectively as she crunches his palm with her heel.
"What the fuck?" the taller teen says.
"This bitch is crazy..." Kang Jimin replies.
These fuckers. Seriously? Kang Jimin ah, Kang Jimin. Should this good sister let you get a good beating?
The one with lime green hair stutters, steps forward, pauses; the jeers of his mates push him on and he barrels at her. Aria lets him get close and when it's too late to react, she grabs a chair and hauls it over her head, smacking him straight in the face.
"Anymore of you fuckers want a go?" Aria asks.
She swipes her glasses off, tucking them in the rim of her shirt.
This time they come at her as a group. Aria kisses her teeth, and while channelling all her fury at the star she ends up beating all of them to a bloody pulp. Everyone is free game. They try to crawl away, Aria drags them back by their foot. They cry for mercy, she hits them harder. The owners call the police, and ambulances too; the twerps are taken in and Aria is left on the side-line smiling angelically.
"Sir, she beat them up! NOT US."
The police officer gives them a blank look, turns to look at the thugs being carried on stretches, each crying for their parents pitifully; he shakes his head, pushing them through the door forcefully.
"I'm his older sister, but you can keep him for a couple of hours, let these troublemakers pay the consequences. I have a date with my nails. Toddles losers."
Aria blows them a kiss.
"Aria?! Wait! That's my sister. Wait!"
"That's your sister? Of course, the weird creepy cosplayer's sister would be a soul-eating demon," the taller teen, who's name is Wang Suo, mutters.
"What did you call me?" Kang Jimim lunges, the police officer curses.
Aria whistles.
It takes two police officers and three bystanders to pull them apart. Kang Jimin comes away with a chunk of hair clutched in his hand but a bruising cut in the corner of his mouth. Wang Suo's shirt is deformed, the collar hanging loosely over a shoulder, the side seam of his jeans is ripped from his waist down to his knee.
The police officers sternly warn them that unless they want to walk to the station they better behave. A staring contest ensues. No one is sure if they want to fuck or kill each other.
Aria is definitely letting them spend a night in a cell together