"I have to move on, if I'm ready or not, because I need to be sane and stand my ground to find those responsible for the train accident. I'm petty and vengeful and I'm angry, I prefer to focus on that than on the pain right now. So… even if it hurts, I'll talk about it."
She's strong. Damn, she's absolutely strong, strong-willed. I would never be able to feel that way if I lost my parents, my grandparents, and my little siblings all together. Fuck, I would go ballistic, lightning-explosive burning everyone to crisp, not giving a shit who it was.
"Maybe, in another life, had you met him, you would be friends, and he would have a crush on your sister," she smiled at my little brother. "He was very dedicated when he had a crush, he made me teach him lots of choreographies of Kpop songs, for him to show a girl he liked, who like boys who could dance, and also liked Kpop. He also made me teach him martial arts, so he could play hero and be up the bullies in his school, when he was crushing a girl who was liked boys like that. I also taught him all his subjects in school, even when I was in MIT by video call, because his tutors were bad, and he wanted to be a grade-A student."
"I think I would definitely like a boy that dedicated," Kazuha said softly and I almost cringe, overprotectively. God, I guess I'll turn into Four when she dates somebody, what a nightmare. "And that says more about you than anything, eonni. It just shows how much of an amazing dedicated older sister you were to Kit, and I'm sure he treasured you profoundly."
Her cheeks blushed and she petted my little sister, "You are pretty good in the sweet-talk, Jiah," she winked at her. "And that's true, I was the best sister I could be, though a bit overprotective."
"Well, that's definitely in our blood then," Four chuckled.
Yeji's eyes met mine for a fraction of second, before going to her brother's, "What animal can you speak with, Four?"
He blushed, "Dogs. All of them."
She cringed and I almost barked a laugh at it. Ugh, she's so pretty even when she's cringing, her small snub button nose crunching softly, it makes me want to pinch it. Softly. "So, you can also talk to dobermans?"
"Yes," he nodded.
"He got it from me," zio purred. "Cerberus is my boy, but I'll make sure to keep him away from you, so you won't be frightened, mia belle." Her cheeks blushed at the nickname her grandparents gave her coming from her dad's lips, "And I got it from papa."
"Seems like you got part of our tendency, mia belle," nonno said.
"What about you, nonna?" She turned to nonna.
"I can talk with owls. All kinds of owls," nonna winked.
"This is crazy," she gasped. "What about you, Ari? What kinds of birds can you talk to?"
Abby blushed, "Seagulls, humming birds, and mocking birds!"
"Mocking birds? That's awesome," Yeji gasped. "You're like… Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games," then she pushed the waistband if her shorts-skirts and showed a tattoo on the left curve of her side, a bit lower than her waist… the mocking bird from the first book of the Hunger Games, "I got it tattooed, it's one of my favorite books. It's my 10th tat."
"No way," Abby's jaw dropped, then she raised her right leg on her chair and raised her dark blue denim pants, showing the right lateral side of her right ankle, where her tattoo was. "I got the mocking bird of the third book tattooed with Aylin last summer. Sera! We have matching tattoos!"
Not as many matching tattoos as I have, that's for sure. I'm still shocked about that, and I bet she'll be too, once she sees me shirtless and with shorts. Oh, man, I can't wait to see her reaction to me shirtless. She will definitely gawk at me, and I'll be able to mess with her about it, and get my revenge for how she unjustly called me a pervert.
"That's not the only one you have matching," I tilted my head. "You have one more, though it's not just you, Acqua," I grinned.
"What?" They both turned to me.
I pointed to Yeji's left shoulder, "Upper left side of her back, near her shoulder blade. It's covered by ajumma's hair."
Instantly, Yeji gathered all of her cascading long hair on her right shoulder, "You mean the Thai Five Columns, ahjussi?" She blinked in surprise and I nodded.
"You have the Five Columns?" Our dads asked at the same time.
She blinked, unsure of whom to look at, "I went to Thailand when I was 15, on Christmas, with my grandparents and Kit. I wanted a tattoo, and when I met with the snakes there, they told me to get this one, and told me what temple to go to. I initially thought about doing another one, one called the Invincible Hanuman, but the snakes told me that one wasn't suitable for me. I knew they knew better, so I did the Five Columns instead. Now people think I'm an Angelina Jolie fan," she joked. "Which I low-key am. Why? Is… is there a problem with it?"
"A problem?" Otou-san chuckled, shocked. "Absolutely not, it's just that we all have that tattoo. We all did it together in the summer of two years ago, when our animals all told us to do that one, when we went to Thailand together."
"Do you remember the name of the monk who did your tattoo?" Zio asked, and I could almost see the engines in his mind working.
A nod, "Suhendra Hadi Djaja Sudjarwadi Yuwono Budiaman. He was very kind to me, and he had a pet monkey, really naughty, it was light brown, the small type, like the monkey in Pirates of the Caribbean." She also likes Pirates of the Caribbean? God-
"That's the one who did ours, Yeji!" Zia Victoria gasped. "He was also a neather like us. That monkey he had with him wasn't a pet, it was his familiar, he was able to communicate with animals."
Wind elementalist, he had the ability of foresight. I remember him well, because I was the only one he suggested to make more than just one tattoo on, which is how I got two, the Five Columns and another one where my back meets my neck. "Did you only get that one that day, ajumma?" I asked as if it wasn't important, as if I was casually curious, but my parents and the other elders all side-eyed me for a second, knowing what I was trying to know.
"Oh? Yes," she said bluntly. "The monk told me that before I did the Five Columns, I had to do the Nine Peaks first, where my back meets my neck," pushing her hair further aside, she showed it to us, the tattoo identical to mine, and I couldn't help noticing the small raven she has right in the top of the nape of her neck. It's the second time I see both, but I didn't know if she had gotten them at the same time, or if it was like ours. It is.