"A genie?" I repeat for the millionth time, still unable to wrap my head around the whole damn thing. "Like, one in a lamp that grants wishes?"
Cal sighs, rolling his blue eyes so far back I'm surprised they didn't get stuck at the back of his skull. If he even has a skull...
"I swear, the only thing you people know about magical genies come from Aladdin," he says, as if that sentence alone could take off thirty years of his life. "If I had a dollar for every time I got asked that question since that movie's release, I'd have enough money to overthrow the current stock market."
I look at the suited stranger with a strange expression. My left hand absentmindedly fiddles with the necklace he just said he came from - which I'm obviously still struggling to understand. You'd be perplexed too if you had to figure out how this 1,74 m tall (I'm guessing) dude could just zip into the world's tiniest gemstone. Well, not the tiniest, but you get my point.
My thoughts are a tangled mess, and Cal's snippy and sarcastic attitude isn't helping me make sense of the situation. It's been about fifteen minutes since his sudden appearance, and it almost feels like I've fallen into a parallel universe or something.
I glance back down at the necklace, feeling the cold silver rest on my clavicles. His appearance...
"How did you emerge from the necklace, then?" I ask, thinking back to the moment Jaeun put it on my neck to when he left. There was a moment where I thought it was a little too warm, but I just thought that it was skin reacting to something it wasn't really used to.
"You summoned me," Cal says matter-of-factly. "Every genie emerges from their Hold when they're summoned."
"Summon?" I ask, eyebrows raised incredulously. "Half an hour ago, I didn't even know you existed. How could I possibly have summoned you?"
"You really don't know anything, do you?" he says condescendingly, looking at me like one looks at a child who made a mess. "You'd think a Holder would be more educated before taking possession of a magical necklace."
"I didn't take possession of it," I hiss back, resorting back to glaring at him. If he's going to talk down on me like some idiot, the least I can do is give him dirty glances. "It was a gift. From my best friend."
"Oh, so that's who that fella was," Cal says, tapping his chin. "Like I said, I couldn't wait for him to be out of the room. Being invisible for that long sure does take a tax on the ol' genie form."
I grunt in frustration, sensing no more progress in this whole thing than when we started. Which impulsively makes me lash out. And before I know it, I'm standing in front of the so-called genie, glaring up at him with all the anger I can muster at the moment.
"Listen here, buster," I hear myself saying, not really processing my own actions. "You're going to stop being so damn snarky and sarcastic and freaking answer my questions, or so help, I'll smash this necklace to pieces."
"And break a birthday gift from your best friend?" Cal says, feigning shock. He even clutches his palm to his chest in dramatic fashion.
"I'll tell him it was possessed by an annoying ghost," I retort, a sly smirk settling on my features.
"Oh please, dollface," he says, rolling his eyes. "You have to die in order to become a ghost."
"What, are you saying that you're some immortal being thing, then?" I ask back, both bitter and curious in tone. Damn you, curiosity.
"What about the word genie makes you think that I'm mortal?" he deadpans, eyebrows laying flat above his eyes.
"You're little quips don't answer my question," I reply after a small moment, mentally noting that he is apparently immortal. "How did I summon you?"
"You said 'I wish'," Cal replies, another deadpan. "And then the world around me crashed and fell apart and all of a sudden, I was in this sad excuse for a room."
"Excuse me?" I say, focusing way too much on the last part of that sentence.
"I mean, look at the place," he says, gesturing to my joint room with Jaeun. "Not only does it it need a thorough cleaning, but even I know that the colour scheme in here is atrocious. Brown walls, but your bedsheets are black?"
"Oh, and you and your supposed magical wisdom would do better?" I clap back, super offended. I've always liked the way our room looked. Yes, it was a bit on the messy side - but it was our little mess. My me and my best friend's. And occasionally Hajoon's when he illegally crashes here from time to time.
The university will definitely fire his ass when they find out he overnights in his sister's dorm sometimes. Luckily, that day has not yet arrived.
"No, darling," he says, condescending tone back in action. "Not just me, everyone who knows the colour wheel can do better."
"Ugh," is all I can respond with, balling my fists at this rude, condescending jerk. "You're annoying, you know that?"
"Likewise," he says, lazily scanning over his nails. With his gaze lowered like that, I can almost make out the golden eye shadow coating his lids. They seem to match his glossed lips, although I don't know where he could have possibly gotten eyeshadow and lipgloss from if he was trapped in the necklace all these years.
Cal's snarky attitude is seriously getting on my nerves. I didn't ask for this situation, and I certainly didn't ask for his sarcastic remarks. My best friend's birthday gift has somehow turned into an obnoxious and uninvited magical entity.
What are the freaking odds...
"Alright, genie or not, I don't need your fashion advice," I retort, crossing my arms. "I need answers. You say I summoned you by saying 'I wish'; I don't recall saying that all."
"I really hate this part every single time," he mutters to himself, looking at the ceiling. Eventually, after taking a deep breath, he looks at me again. "Sure you did, kid. When you were speaking to your best friend fella."
"What?" I ask, frowning. But then I remember it. I remember telling Jaeun that I wish he saw how awful his onesie was.
"Are you going to tell me that you were so engrossed in you homeboy's eyes that you forgot your conversation?" Cal asks, grinning slyly. "Talk about love is blind."
"What...!?" I choke out again, but this one sounds way more strangled than the previous one. And my cheeks are way redder. "It's not...it's not like that."
It definitely wasn't like that. I wasn't even looking at Jaeun's face when I said that. Right?
"Whatever you say, kiddo," Cal says, shrugging and looking bored out of his mind. "Point is, you're wearing the necklace and you summon. Therefore, I'm bound to you till the end of our contract."
"Contract?" I ask again, getting more and more bamboozled. "What contract?"
Another heavy sigh from Cal before he steps closer, and closer and standing right before me in a spilt second. His hands brush over the silver of my necklace before lifting the gem part lightly off my chest. "This contract. When the Holder puts it on, the genie of the Hold is bound to them till the end of their business."
For a moment, I am speechless. Mainly because of the proximity between the two of us. From this close, I can make out even more of his features, and if ever there was a doubt that he was magical creature before, it's definitely gone now.
His dark hair, adorned with silver highlights, continues to fall in a tousled manner. Somehow, it manages to add an ethereal quality to his appearance. His eyes, which I'm now seeing up close, are a mesmerizing shade of blue, like two deep pools of cerulean. They almost resemble the colour that the hem on my necklace was before he appeared. They're framed by long, dark lashes that make them even more striking.
His high cheekbones give his face a sculpted, elegant look and even though I hate to admit, his smug expression makes him look even more alluring. But beneath all the snark, there's something enigmatic about his expression, as if he carries ancient secrets in his gaze. As if I both know what he does, but don't.
"What business...?" I ask, my voice surprisingly soft despite my racing mind.
"See, that's totally up to you," he says, letting go of my necklace and taking several steps back. I feel myself relax, not realizing how tense I was when he was near. So damn near. "Unlike the movies, dollface, you only get one wish from this genie."
"Could I wish for you to disappear?" I ask, rolling my shoulders to relieve some more tension. "Nothing would make me happier."
"Nice try, darling," he says, pulling a face. "But that particular wish is well out of the reach of my parameters. A genie cannot illuminate themselves. No matter how hard they try."
When he says that last bit, his voice seems to fade away a bit, and his eyes darken in colour. But the moment I blink, his face is back to its normal annoying self, and I wonder if that was my mind playing tricks on me.
What if I'm still dreaming, and Jungkook didn't wake me up yet...?
I mentally face-palm for not thinking if that possibility. I mean, if I was having strange dreams about someone calling me their daughter in the dark, then snarky genies in suits isn't too far from the realm of possibilities either. All I have to do is pinch myself and-
"Trust me, Kiama," Cal says, looking at me wanting to pinch my arm, "you most certainly aren't dreaming."
I freeze mid-action, glancing back at the genie. "How do you know my name?" I ask, genuinely confused once more. I never told him anything besides Jaeun being my best friend...
"I know everything about you," he says, looking serious all of a sudden. "I know that you were adopted by Kim Euri when you were seven, and that Kim Hajoon is your older brother because of it. I know that this is your second year in university, and that your majors are Anthropology and Linguistics and Applied Language Studies."
The room temperature seems to drop all of a sudden, and my heart rate automatically pics up. I mentally curse myself for leaving the ruler so far away now. Even if this genie is as immortal as he claims, it doesn't stop me from blowing a few gashes to buy time to escape.
Clearly, he's dangerous, right?
"I'm just messing with you," he says, smiling all innocently. I'm still weary. "I read your diary while I was invisible."
And of course, my eyes widen again. "You did what?" My eyes flow over to the small booklet on my desk, and sure as hell, there it is. Open somewhere in the middle - my own thoughts open for the whole world to see. "What on earth made you think that was okay?"
"I was bored," Cal whines, acting like that wasn't a huge violation of a privacy. Even a freaking genie doesn't get to cross that line, let alone a genie I've never met in my life. "And you and your boytoy were all cozy and cuddly watching movies the whole time."
"He's not my..." I sigh before I can even finish the sentence. "Whatever. What happens when I wish for something?"
"Now you're talking like responsible Holder," Cal says, fake smile shining brightly. "I go back into the necklace, of course."
"That's it?" I ask, feeling a small tinge of joy. "All I need to do to get rid of you is make a wish?"
"Pretty much," he says, shrugging. I smile depsite myself. It's only been 45 minutes and I've already had enough of this. The sooner I get rid of him, the better.
Who knows, I might just go to sleep and get to call this entire experience a birthday crazed dream in the morning.
"Okay, then," I say, blinking more times than I probably should. The grin doesn't want to leave my face. "Then I'm ready to make my wish."
"Not so fast, missy," Cal says, a mischievous smile of his own coating his magical face. "There's something you need to do first."
"Ugh, what?" I ask, glaring at him again.
Cal's mischievous smile widens, and it's clear he's enjoying every bit of this interaction. He takes a step closer, leaning in as he speaks, "Before you make your wish, you need to understand that your wish is a one-time deal, and there are rules and limitations."
"Rules? Limitations?" I repeat, my enthusiasm waning as he piles on more complexity to this already bewildering situation.
Cal nods, his playful demeanor not fading in the slightest. I can't wait to get rid of him and that stupid smirk of his. "Yes. You can't wish for more wishes, you can't wish for someone's death and you can't wish to make someone fall in love with you. Based on what I saw, it must be sad that the last one can't come true."
"Shut up!" I groan, rolling my eyes. "Anything else, freaking wise one?"
"How flattering," he replies, winking at him. I groan in annoyance once more. "Your wish has to be something specific as well, and it can't alter the course of history. No undoing past events, no changing the world or other saintly things like that," he adds.
"So, I can't wish for world peace or to end poverty," I say sarcastically. "Seriously, are you just going to quote from the very movie you said you didn't like?"
"I never said I didn't like it," Cal says, rolling his eyes this time. "I just don't like being compared to it."
"Doing a great job so far, sweetie," I say in the most blunt voice I can muster at the moment.
Cal shakes his head, but his smirk still stays. "Your wish has to be something personal," he continues, as if he has said this a million times before. The possibility exists that he had. "It must have a direct impact on your life or the life of someone you know."
I sigh, internally just wishing for this whole thing to be over and done with. But dear old Cal has already ruled out that possibility with his mention of 'parameters' earlier.
"Fine, I'm ready to make a wish," I say, crossing my arms again. I look up at the genie before me, ready to bid him adieu for good now. "What should I say?"
"Nah uh, not so fast," Cal says, taking yet another step closer. I feel my lips form a thing line the moment he does, not really looking forward to another damn rule. "When I grant your wish, you have to open you heart to me."
And with that, his palm is pressed against my chest, basically snatching the air from my lungs in an instant. Numerous shivers run down my spine, and I feel a strange warmth radiating from his hand. If my heart was pounding before, by now it is certainly pounding against my ribs.
Panic sets in for a brief moment, but I still manage to say a few words. "Open my heart to you? What does that even mean?" I stammer, trying to regain my composure.
Cal's blue eyes bore into mine, intense and unyielding. "It's the only way to grant your wish, Kiama." I expect to see yet another snarky smile, but for once, he looks sincere and serious. And not scary serious.
And for some reason, the sight thereof makes me calm down just a tiny bit. Enough to form even more words.
"Fine," I say, grunting more than actual lines of speech. "I wish...I wish I could see my biological mother again."
***