Clenching my jaw, Diego opened the doors of zio's office and we stormed inside, then I grabbed an empty chair at the left corner of the room near door as if it weighted nothing and set it near the other corner closer to where zio and otou-san were, then I forced him down the chair.
"Jin," eomma gasped, "no need to treat him like a sack of potatoes."
"Ahjussi's fine, eomma. No need to worry about him."
He scowled, "Your son lacks Korean manners, rude brat."
"Ugh, he takes after his father," she side-eyed otou-san.
"Tsk," otou-san clicked his tongue. "Nothing's wrong with Dai."
"Now, ahjussi," I bent over him, narrowing my eyes at him as he glared back at me, annoyed, "could you tell me something?"
"Couldn't you have asked that before dragging me here, brat?"
"Uncle, don't bother," Abby mocked. "He's the type to act first and think later. Impulsive condescending jerk," she pouted. "He's insufferable and annoying, he's been like that since we were kids."
Sighing, he looked at everyone for a second, as if evaluating them, our parents and us, the 17-18 years old, plus me and Four, as we're the only 19-20 year olds, only to stop on me again, "You could have at least let me get a shirt, brat."
"And hide your ripped abs, ahjussi?" I mocked and he blushed. "It was an unnecessary effort, no one here cares about it, ahjussi."
"Fine, brat," he scowled. "What do you want to know?"
With a nod from otou-san and zio Silas, I began, "Who was Yeji's psychiatrist back in Sofia, ahjussi? Was is the same one since she was a little kid when her mom made her start consulting?"
He blinked, as if he expected something worse, then relaxed, "Oh? Yes, it's always been the same one, Phoebe Bartlett Bell. Born in London, she moved to Sofia when Missy was 2 years old, and began living in their neighborhood, where she met Felicity, they befriended each other, and she offered to help when Felicity told her that Missy's behavior was growing weird and that she was hallucinating talking with animals."
"How did Yeji react to her?" I pressed.
He squinted his brown eyes a bit under the glasses, passing a hand over his sandy blonde hair, as if trying to squeeze a memory of years back, "She threw a tantrum and cried saying she wouldn't go, that she wasn't crazy, and that she didn't like Bell. Saying the animals didn't like her, something like that," sigh. "Felicity made her go either way, then it was another tantrum when Bell told her to start taking the pink pills. And though I'm not sure, I think that she began to fake-taking them, and to fool us into thinking she was taking them. I saw her doing that some times, but I said nothing," he smiled mischievously.
"What did this ajumma say about the pills?" I clenched my jaw.
"Take them three times a day, and when she started hearing things."
"Do you have any of those pills for my people to take a deeper look at, Daniel?" Zio asked, and by the tone of his voice, I could tell he was doing his best not to conjure his wind and tear down the windows again.
"The doctor in Sofia told me to handle them for the doctors here in Chicago, but since we didn't go to a hospital, I kept them with me in my bag," he folded his arms. "Why? Do you think that might be why she acted like that that day? Because she had consumed a dangerous amount of it?"
"Yes," I said before anyone could say anything else. "That's why we need the pills, ahjussi. Can you get it for us?"
A nod, "Of course, anything to keep Missy healthy. She shouldn't have taken those pills to begin with," he hissed the words bitterly. "She was never crazy, she never hallucinated anything. And I know you must think she did and I'm full of bullshit, but she really does talks with animals, they protect her," sighing, I stepped aside and he stood up. "There was only one more bottle of the pills in her house, I got them last month when we went there to get her phone. If… if there's something bad in the pills, tell me, okay? I want to know."
"Yeah, yeah, ahjussi, just get the pills for us."
"Ungrateful brat," he cursed under his breath as he left the room.
Sitting down on the chair instead, we watched him leave, and only when half a minute had passed did I break the silence, "Oh, yes, this Phoebe was definitely the missing X of the equation," I exclaimed. "Let's hope Yeji really was mischievous enough to throw the pills away and fake taking them for most of her life."
"It won't change the fact that she drank a bottle of it at once, but it will definitely tone down whatever effect that caused," Four stated.
"What do we do now, zio Silas?" Elias asked, pressing his lips tight together. "How are we going to tell Aleena about… our… world truth?"
"I'll talk to her," he exclaimed decided and we all turned to him. "Which of you is she at least more familiarized with?"
My friends and my cousin all glared at me annoyed and I grinned, "Me," I chanted, not hiding my amusement.
And I couldn't help but to notice how zio and my parents seemed happy about that, "Then you stay with me when I talk to her. I don't think she… will be so welcome to me yet. She'll feel better talking with me if there's someone she can already deal with, with me."
"Oh, she can definitely handle Dai's ass," Four mocked. "In just an hour, she roasted him like no one ever did," he added, way too happy.
Zia Victoria, eomma, uncle Tiger, and uncle Javier both cracked a laughter at that, which got me rolling my eyes heavy. Hah, they are envious of me, just because she talks more with me than with them, even if it's just to bicker, which I am liking more and more.
"Will you tell her we can also talk with animals, zio?" I asked.
After a second, he nodded, "I think being honest will be the best way to get her to collaborate with us, especially when she takes so much value in loyalty and in the truth. She's been in the dark for too long, it's time to let her know everything. It is about her, after all."
"I agree," zia Victoria nodded. "She needs to go to the academy. There she'll be safe, and so will everyone else who could be possibly hit by her when she awakens. We should also strength the barrier of the academy to prepare for it. We have no idea how strong she'll be, and what powers she possess. But if we go by Abby's feeling, and her abilities end up being destructive, we should be prepared."
"They are!" Abby confirmed. "I know what I'm feeling, mamma."
"It's good that she seems to be a quick learner!" Four pointed.
"To have learned that level of hacking just with her mom's help?" Otou-san scoffed, "Calling her a quick learner might be an understatement. Let's remember that she might be smarter than most of you, she may be your age, but she's already a bachelorette in Computer Science from MIT. She's probably a prodigy genius like Dai."
"She did call herself that," Pravya chuckled.
"Seems like she might rival him on the ego too," Four grinned at me, and I rolled my eyes, hiding how amused that makes me. "Let's see if you're going to keep your 1st place in the academy now, dumbass."
"Bitter much, 2nd place?" I countered grinning devilishly. "I'll stay in the 1st place, because she won't be in our grade, she'll be in theirs."
"Not if she passes the test with a score high enough to fall in your grade," eomma suggested, wolfishly amused.
"Hah, this will be amazing," Abby beamed giggling.
"Even so, we have many classes in common with you guys," Elias pointed, just as amused with the idea of me losing my 1st spot as the others. "Most of them, actually. In your grade or in ours, she'll definitely end up outshining you."
What they don't seem to be understanding here, is that, while I do not like them outshining me, I would step out of the spotlight at any time, if it's for her. If it's her that's outshining me, I'll gladly become her shadow. God, I would play dumb just to give her the 1st place, if she told me she wanted it. Though I doubt she would like that.
"Well, I do love the idea of a worthy academic rival," I purred.
A knock came from the double doors and we all turned our eyes to it, only to find ahjussi there, this time with a black oversized t-shirt on, the dark pink bottle of the pills in hand. "Found it," he waved it to us.
Jumping to my feet, I walked to him, "Finally, ahjussi. It's great that you brought it with you, or we would have to go to Sofia just to get it back," I grabbed the pills he was extending it to me. "Very… pink."
"Speaking of pink," ahjussi began, "Missy hates it. The color gives her repulsion, actually. It might be because she hated the pills, or anything else I don't know, but… just, hm… her room is very pink, she definitely must have hated the decoration. I'm not sure if she would say anything about it, so, I'm saying it for her."
"She hates pink?" Abby gasped in shock. "I thought that… since twins always like opposite things, because I like blue, she would like pink."
He smiled softly, "I see where you're coming from, Ari, but no. She doesn't like pink at all. The grieving aside, her favorite color is black. Black and green. Her favorite shades are forest, phtalo, peridot, and emerald. She also likes dark red, gold, and midnight blue, but not as much as green and black. Dark colors, that's her thing. She whined enough about this to me that I know it by memory now."
"Ain't she a Slytherin through and through?" I purred.
"Quite literally, brat. Anyways, am I of any help? Or can I go back to work without worrying that a mad dog will burst inside and drag me out?" He fully on glared at me, but I just smirked mischievously.
"You can go, Daniel," zio let him off.
"Thank God," he scoffed and quickly left the room as if he couldn't wait to stay away from us… well, from me for sure.
"Hah, he called you a mad dog," Magnus mocked.
"He is papa and uncle's mad dog though," Four grinned.
I rolled my eyes, "I can smell your envy from here, number Four."
"Fuck off, Dai," he scowled and I winked at him provokingly.
"Enough, you two," zio stopped us. "You're the oldest out of your circle, and you act like bickering children."
"You should have seen Dai with Aileen, zio," Diego mocked.
"Oh, I will, later. I'm counting on you to help me on this, Dai!"
I nodded, this time taking it seriously, "I won't disappoint," otou-san slapped my back softly, in agreement, and remained firm on my words.