perfectly wrong

acceptance

She was furious.

By the time her shift had ended and she found herself back at the motel, her anger had seemed to overwhelm any other emotion.

She slammed the motel's main door open and glared at Mr. Park.

He was sitting on a couch, carefully stirring some sugar into his tea.

He ignored the noise, which made it seem like he either didn't notice or he didn't care.

Neither option did well to calm her frustrations.

"What did you do to me?" She shouted, arms wide open.

Mr. Park turned to look at her, completely expressionless.

"For some reason, you hesitated, Do Hana. Part of our intertwined fate includes me having control over you. That's how it works." He explains, sipping on the tea he had made for himself.

"You never told me that. You haven't explained anything to me. I'm not leaving until I know why the hell I'm going after these people." She exclaimed, plopping herself down on the couch opposite to him.

Mr. Park let out a disgruntled sigh, before setting his tea down to look at her.

"First, tell me why you hesitated. You've never done that before." He questioned, hands lying on his lap.

She hesitated. Not because she had a bad excuse but because she didn't have one at all.

She had no clue why she hesitated to follow orders. Why she preferred the idea of going back into the cafe than fighting against a Counter.

"I-I don't know. But I won't hesitate again as long as I know why this is important." She responded.

Mr. Park took another sip of his tea before finally telling her what she wanted to know.

"So Mun, the boy you fought earlier, he's one of the most powerful Counters in the world. His goal is to get rid of me. The only thing stopping him from doing that is you." He stated.

"What do you mean me? How am I stopping him?" She questioned, focusing solely on Mr. Park.

"Our fates are intertwined. When you die, I become vulnerable. He needs to kill you before he can successfully get rid of me." Mr. Park explained, finishing off his final sip of tea.

"Why? Why didn't he kill me? He's had so many chances, but he keeps letting me go." She mutters, a reflection of the same question she had asked him hours before.

Mr. Park had a glint in his eyes.

"For some reason, he seems unable to do it. That's a weakness. But just because he's incapable of doing it, doesn't mean the other Counters will hesitate." He responds.

"Do Hana, the only chance for us to both come out of this alive is to not hesitate anymore. You have to fight, and you have to win. It's either you or them." Mr. Park suggests, staring directly at her.

Kill or be killed.

It's either her death or the destruction of these strangers who seem to keep coming after her.

She didn't really have a choice, did she?

Mr. Park offered it to her like an option, but it was either her own will or his.

And she'd rather do things her way.

Why did this have to happen to her? Why was she the one forced into a role she didn't want?

She had to be emotionless, unfeeling. She couldn't let her fear and anger show through.

Hana just straightened her posture, arms firmly across her chest, focused entirely on the man before her.