Rays of dawn dipped their sneaky toes past my open window and through the fluttering curtains to peck my forehead a good morning kiss.
Unlike the other days, where the sunny kiss usually felt warm on my skin, today it felt wet. The wind which usually playfully tickled my hair and ears felt like it was sniffing me from beside.
I turned in my bed, wanting a few more good minutes of sleep before my alarm could kick me out of bed like a strict matron of a private college dorm.
But to my sheer surprise, or utter disdain— I couldn't quite grasp the prospect of it yet, I felt something soft being squished under my hand.
When did my pillows fluff up like the rich kid ones?
I mewled in delight as I leaned in to the softness, kneading the supposed pillow with pure satisfaction and the placing my head on it.
Ah, bliss!
Which lasted approximately five seconds before I heard a moan ease out above my ear.
"Mistress, not now...we can do this after we marry," someone whispered, raspy breaths hitting my ear in my sleep-ridden state I opened one eye to look up at someone with hair flowing down like a leaking spring color pallet. I sighed, the color was calming.
It's a dream...
Until— she flipped us over, pressed her chest against mine and started dry humping my thigh— then did I realise it wasn't a dream.
"Mistress, will you marry me after you fuck me?"
Shrieking, like a three-year-old who didn't get their desired Christmas present, I jumped out of the bed to see a creature— a girl with bunny ears and a stubby pink nose, staring up at me with her eyes wide and pleading.
"Mistress?" The girl spoke up, voice as melodic as a literal piano note. I gasped out, frantic, "Who is your mistress?! And why are you here?! How did you even get inside?!"
The girl innocently clutched my blanket around her voluptuous breasts, as she tipped her cherry blossom head towards something behind me.
I turned around, dreading, only to see baby Ahren sleeping on my couch with his thumb in his mouth. He suckled on it, peacefully snoring on my not so very comfortable couch. Though, weirdly, seeing him on my couch wasn't as terrifying as it should have been.
I should be freaking out, how did a strange girl in bunny cosplay and a child end up in my room overnight?
I should be freaking out, quitting life, packing my bags, changing identities and moving back to Korea and live in some stranded part of Daegu.
"I followed the Shadow," The girl spoke up, and I looked behind to see her biting her lip at me. WAS SHE TRYING TO SEDUCE ME WHILE STILL BEING IN MY BED?!
"What shadow?! And how did you even—" My eyes fled to the open window and I all but groaned internally. Nova's warning rang in my ears.
"Why even are you here?! Is it something to do with the prophet?! Please, whatever you are after, I don't have it!" I pleaded out, standing in a defensive stance as the girl stood up from my bed.
The sheets slid off her, to reveal a barely fitting cold shoulder dress, hugging her curves a little obnoxiously. I felt like I had seen it somewhere— but where?
Her long legs were bi-coloured, the pale white of her skin blend into a blushing pink from knee down. She stood tall and proud, taking each step delicately, yet, with a power beyond my comprehension. Her blushing white ears kept moving in two different directions, as working on their own secret agenda, and it was enough proof to convey she wasn't a cosplayer.
I backed into the couch, eyes frantically searching for something— anything, that could be used as a weapon if need be. I spotted the hello kitty lamp on my study table, at hand's distance, and a stool beside the couch with a photo frame of my favorite K-pop band, TxT.
She smirked, brilliant blue eyes gleaming with something intergalactically sinister. "I am Princess Psyflo of Ispania—"
"—Like, from, Spain?" I couldn't help but cut in. Bad decision, shouldn't have. She didn't look like she liked being interrupted.
She scowled.
"No, human, not from your puny thievery of a country name," She placed her blushing fingertips on her bulging cleavage and rose her head high, looking smug, "I am from planet Ispania, the original land of our kind. I'm their 423rd heir to the throne and a beloved divine being among my people. I have been sent to Earth," Her words almost seethed at the end, "to woo you," the sweet notes become more embittered, "you— human child."
"Woo me?" I questioned, slowly creating a considerable space between us, not quite intent on engaging in a conversation with her, not when she introduced herself as a divine being and my knowledge in that area was as great as my skill in the kitchen. Negligible.
Though, my subtle effort of space was rendered futile when Psyflo pushed me into the wall and leaned in front, her ears tickling my hair as a dainty finger tipped my chin to look her in those hypnotising azure eyes. My breath hitched, hands going clammy again, breathing paced as she stared at my face as if searching for something.
"Yes, mistress treasure, woo you. Make you mine. Wed you, bed you, and everything in between," She smirked again, her eyes stopped the search and settled to stare into mine instead.
She was beautiful, I realized. Uncannily so.
Something felt awfully wrong, and it wasn't the glaring obvious of a bunny pressing me into my room's wall and moulding her body in mine. This was different.
"Why though? If you are a princess, Don't you have everything already?" I questioned, almost exasperated, frantic eyes looking for my phone and memory trying to remember where I put it before I slept. I need to call Elvi or Nova.
Psyflo tsked in a belittling tone.
"Not freedom, not the throne, not the power to break you now and not repent over the consequences," Her sharp nail traced my throat as if on a needlepoint that could pierce my skin and draw blood at any moment.
My hands clung to the fabric of my shirt for emotional support.
"I cannot give you anything. I am no good for you, I have nothing that concerns you and you have nothing to provide me. This encounter is a mistake," I managed to choke out as her hand traced on my throat in a predatory trance.
She shook her head, "na-uh, treasure, that's wrong," She leaned in and rubbed her chin against my throat. I sucked in a breath, eyes hurriedly searching for help.
I found an escape in the study lamp and wiggled my fingers to grab it.
"Pretty girl, you should be smiling. I know that you don't know it— but I'll be showing you all those golden stars when you're mine. The stars that you'll be providing me. We're going to be nothing without each other..." She nuzzled my collarbones, speaking against them.
I smashed the lamp. On her head.
Well, I tried to smash it on her head. But in the blink of an eye, she had her leg up and the lamp lay crushed at the ground.
I cringed at the shattering sound, and suddenly Ahren started crying.
Psyflo's eyes turned violet, shifting focus between Ahren and I. Footsteps thuded up the stairs, but Psyflo's ears caught it before me as they were already bending towards the door. She sniffed the air thrice.
"I'll see you again; soon," She huffed out before leaping towards the window in one stride and then, she was gone like nothing before. Like she was never here. It was just me, my panicking heart, my sheets on the floor, a crushed hello kitty lamp on the floor and a child crying behind me.
What even—?
The door opened in a swift motion and my mother entered like the personal hater of privacy. "What happened? What was all that ruckus about? Are you okay?!" She questioned, eyes wide, breathing hard. She strode to me and held my hands up, checking left and right. "Did you get hurt? Hit your hand or something?!" She took my chin in between her fingers and used it to steer my face left and right, neck almost snapping in the process.
"No mother, it's all fine. I—uh, I'm fine," I squeaked out, leading her hand away from my face. I was unsure of what to do about the crying child on the couch. My heart wanted to lean in and cuddle the babe until he calmed down, my brain had three more brain cells working in harmony and they ordered my legs to stand in front of the couch in a defensive mechanism.
Friend's kid. Babysitting. That's my story. I don't have friends. Shit— part time job?!
As if on cue, she pushed me away and spotted baby Ahren crying on the couch. Immediately, she picked him up from the couch and cuddled him warmly in her arms. She rocked him left and right, singing sweet nothings in his ear and I just stood momentarily petrified.
"Mum—" I began, but she shushed me instantly, sharp eyes glaring me into a silence as she lulled baby Ahren to sleep. He liked her arms.
She narrowed her eyes at me and flicked her chin at the mess in front of my bed.
I all but ran to pick up the sheets and clean the broken pieces of my hello kitty lamp. Though, upon inspecting, I realised something odd— the pieces were not big and chunky as they should have looked like after being thrown at the floor.
They were rather small, finely shattered pieces of glass and equally refined pieces of plastic spread on my flooring in a strange symmetry. As if someone passed them through a fine chopping shedder to decorate my floor with.
They looked like diamonds of no monetary value, and for a tad I had forgotten about Baby Ahren and mum being in the room. I was overcome with an urge to touch it, feel it, bleed in it.
"Who's the child, Hyejin?" My mother questioned suddenly before I could press my hand against the dusty glass.
"Huh?" I mumbled in a dumb haze.
"Where did the child come from? He wasn't here when you came home. What is happening?" Her voice was crisp with objections and bitterness.
I sighed, putting my story in play.
"You wanted me to earn bucks, that's my cash counter," I tipped my chin at the sleeping form of Baby Ahren snuggled against my mother's chest. "Baby sitting, part time," I gave her a convincing smile that hopefully did not look constipated.
"But when— when did you even bring him in—? Where are his supplies? Tell me about his family, what is the pay? What are the requirements?" Mother fired questions and I widened my eyes and all but snatched Ahren from her arms.
"Chill out, it's my job, stop pestering me. I'm 18 and I can make my own decisions," I put Ahren to bed and fluffed him with pillows on all sides.
"Hyejin, you'll never stop being my child, do you get that? No matter how old you are, as long as you live here you are mine to be responsible of!" Mother snapped, pulling me by the shoulder to face her.
I scowled.
"I didn't ask you to be responsible of me! Neither did I ask you to make me stay here! You're stuck to me like a fucking pest, sucking the life out of me!" I seethed in her face.
I should have seen the slap coming. It was obvious and deserving.
Still, the sting felt humiliating and shameful.
"Study to get rich and then you can leave me," She narrowed her eyes on me. I looked small in her presence even though I was taller than her in height. She was exherting her dominance on me and I was involuntarily submitting, rubbing my stinging cheek.
I hated this.
"Or else what, you'll marry me off?" I spat out, feeling warm blood rush through me. I was being awful. I knew it. But it felt good nevertheless, to hurt when I was hurt.
"Yes."
Her reply was monotonous and firm, though I knew she was veiling a mountain of emotions. Her shoulders were bent, heavy with the weight of my responsibility and the anger she was bearing. When she walked out, I felt the increased space being instantly consumed by guilt.
The empty room consumed me in a second and I almost forgot all about Ahren or Psyflo.
Until school, that is.