"Now that you said that," she frowned, turning to zia Victoria, "it does make sense that he could talk to animals too, because he saw me talking with the snakes and said didn't react like a normal person would. He smiled at me, as if he thought it was cute. Back then, I thought he was mocking me, but since I was already used to that, just ignored it. After all, it ain't normal to speak with animals, to actually communicate with them."
"When did you said you went there again, Yeji?" Eomma asked.
"The Christmas of when I was 15 years old. December of 2020."
"You got there before we did," otou-san realized. "We went in July of 2021," then he met zio's eyes. "The damned monk knew about her."
"Not like he could speak," Yeji chuckled darkly, side-glaring the ravens around us, who apparently new about us, and about her, and didn't do a thing about. No wonder she almost freaked out. Thankfully I was able to talk her back to me, to us, I mean. "So, uh… how many people are like us? And what is a neather, zia Victoria?"
"Neather is how people like us are called," Four told her, taking a sip of his grape juice. "Mundane is how people with no… gifts are called, the normal humans, like your Bulgarian family. You were a neather raised in a mundane family, which caused you to be taken like… insane."
"Like in Harry Potter, ajumma," I told her when I saw her pretty face getting more and more puzzled as she thought about it, knowing she will definitely understand this, since she mentioned Harry Potter before, and she does has the Soul Eater tattoo on her left inner forearm, another she and I we have in common. "There are the wizards and the smugglers, right? Like in their world, us neathers are like the wizards, and the mundanes are like the smugglers. In that way, mundanes have an extremely hard time with the whole believing what they cannot see, feel, or experience, what they cannot not see concrete proof of."
"There's lots of us around the world, ajumma. But the majority has little power, most can only talk with one animal, such as… their pet dog, cat, fish, rabbit, or small bird. Their horse, or the cow their family raises. The real power lies with those who can communicate with a whole breed, or a whole race. Communicating with an entire race is rare, like, one in a million. Communicating with two entire races is even rarer, I would say it's a one in ten millions chance, but heard of. With three is a one in half a billion. More than that? Even if it's three races and a breed, it's pretty unheard of. Like you, three races and two breeds, that's never seen before for as far as we know, ajumma."
"And for two of those three full races to be snakes and ravens?" Four took my cue, "That's even more insane, Yeji. We have no idea how or why you're able to do that, what's different in you as human that made you be able to have a connection with not just all those animals, but snakes and ravens in special."
She chuckled overwhelmingly, "I'm the weirdo out of the weirdos then, uh? The weirdest kid around. Not only am I able to talk with five of those animals, but I was raised by… mundanes, and I thought I was the only one who was able to talk to animals. Great," she scoffed sarcastically, and turned her eyes to the fruit salad she picked for herself, putting condensed milk in it, and eating it with chopsticks. Adorable.
"You're not the weirdest, eonni," Kazuha gasped, when we all just watched her. "You are the coolest. You're unique and powerful."
Yeji focused on eating the sliced strawberries, "Just because I can kill people by using them?" She scoffed bluntly. "That only means I do have mental issues and severe anger issues, and that I may be a sociopath," she picked a sliced banana this time. "Aside from that, it just mean I have them protecting me, and I won't die without ever making friends, even if they are not humans. I see no other power in that."
"But you," otou-san stopped Kai.
"She's new to everything we're familiar with, Kai. She'll come to know everything later, but it's not our job to tell her," he pointed to zio, with his chin.
"What else is there to know?" Yeji frowned, staring at otou-san.
"Mia belle, grab your fruit salad and come with me for a minute," zio told her and we all tensed, looking at her, and I swallowed when she looked at me confused, before turning to him. "Dai, follow us."
Grabbing my plate with the lemon pie I had just began eating, I stood up and Yeji mimicked me, and I could tell she was anxious. And when her eyes met mine, I winked at her, "You first, ajumma."
"Where… where are we going, ahjussi?" She asked me as we left the table and headed to the stairs, and I felt her right hand grabbing the border of my sweatpants, as she held the fruit salad in her left hand.
Is she scared of heights? "His office," I told her, slowing down my pace so she could catch up and stay close to me. "Fear of heights, ajumma?"
"Not of normal heights, ahjussi," she hissed under her breath, way closer to me than before, clearly scared. "It's just too high in here. It gives me a sick feeling, Sofia has no buildings this high, it's overwhelming. Even when I lived in the US, Cambridge also doesn't have buildings this high. And though I passed by many skyscraper buildings in Boston and when I dropped by New York, or in other cities, being in one is something else."
"So… you're scared of heights!" I purred, trying to distract her.
"You say that because you not only lives here, but you are used to looking down on everyone given how needlessly tall you are, ahjussi." She retorted. "I mean, you live here in this building, don't you?"
"I do, yeah. Three floors under the penthouse. Our parents entire circle lives here, the building is ours. Your father was the architect of it, by the way, we moved in one year ago, before we lived in the villa condo from his great-grandfather. Your great-great-grandfather. It's a big complex at the borders of Chicago, full of secret passages, and Victorian style. It looks like a Castle, actually. We all grew up there."
"Why did you move from that to this?" She asked after a second.
"We are experimenting something new," we got attacked by the Midnight Paranoia faction, we managed to kill most of them, but it fucked the magical barrier protecting the villa, and they are still fixing it, since they have to do it from the lowest underground floor to the top, and build all of the defenses again. The one in this building was easier to make, so we are living here for now, but we'll be back there when it's done. It'll still take some months though.
"Out of nowhere?" Yeji scoffed.
"Want me to be honest? I don't think we'll stay here for that much longer, ajumma. The villa is reforming while we are here, and I feel like we'll move back there when it's done," it's not a lie, but not straightforward either. "Our memories there are… something we can't let go off."
"How… how was Ari's childhood, ahjussi?" She whispered.
So she is worried after all, "It was good. We protect each other, she was always a happy kid, with golden retriever energy like you said, she's always been kind and softhearted. Though she's protective with those she loves, and can grow a thicker skin if she needed. She's soft but strong."
"She was never bullied, right?"
"No," I reassured her. "Me and Four beat the shit out of anyone who dared to even mock her in anyway, especially when she began dying her hair acqua blue. The other boys also protect her, and so do the girls. She isn't the youngest, but she's the softer."
"Let me guess, you're not the oldest but you're the toughest?" She poked me as we finally descended all the stairs and she took a step away from me, releasing her cute grip on the waistband of my sweatpants.
"Trying to read me, are you, ajumma?" I cocked an eyebrow at her.
She mirrored my gaze, "Haven't you been doing the same to me ever since we met, ahjussi?"
I couldn't help my grin, "Have I?"
"We both know you have," she scoffed at me. "Analyzing me with those… eyes of yours all the time. As if you're cataloguing every word I say, every move I make, every breath I take. It's unnerving."
"Seems like being perceptive is another thing we have in common," I dared to take a step closer to her, staring down, deep into her eyes, and tenderly twirling my right index finger on a rebel raven wave of her hair that was cascading near her left eye, taking advantage of how long it is to bring it to you to my face so I could breath in her delicious jasmine and coffee scent, all without taking my eyes from hers.
Her mouth parted for a second and I could tell she was struggling to breath, struggling to hide how affected she is by me, in the same way I'm struggling to hide how she is affecting me. "You're flirting with me," she whispered, as if shocked, as if she was unaware of what I've been doing.
"Have been ever since I met you, thanks for noticing," I breathed, feeling my skin heating up as much as hers were, given how red she turned.
"Hm-hm," zio coughed and we both jumped startled, putting some space between us in the same instant, faces burning, only to be met with his naughty face staring at both of us, as if he caught us kissing or something. "Am I interrupting something?"
"No!" We exclaimed at the same time, breathless.
"Then follow me," he pointed to the hallway where his office is at, "mia belle on my right, and you on my left, naughty boy. Don't flirt with my daughter in front of me," he slapped the back of my head and I did my best to repress a smile. "Eat your pie."
But this time, none of us claimed not to be flirting.