Here, have some more eye candy.
Aramina's POV
I sat on a couch in the living room, watching some cartoons (do kids in Korea have any specific cartoons or is it just the universal stuff) on TV, while Master sat on the couch to my left and silently sipped his tea. Over the past few weeks or so, I guessed I'd grown somewhat closer to the Master but I couldn't really tell since he barely ever talked. So the best kind of interaction we ever had was just sitting in the same room with me watching TV and him having his tea. How did he never get bored of tea though? Couldn't he try some other drinks, like orange juice or Sprite? Sprite was a nice drink. But Master seemed to love his tea so much that I didn't have the guts to suggest it to him.
"Master."
Daddy suddenly showed up out of nowhere and Master set down his cup of tea, while I quietly observed just how elegantly he put down his cup of tea. It was one of the simplest tasks out there, and yet Master performed it with such grace and class that my mind would be blown away. I could now kind of understand why our P.Ed teacher, and some other teachers too, always kept yelling at us. Compared to people like Master, we were so clumsy and stupid that it was embarrassing.
"Jake and Marie have the children."
I looked up at Daddy, frowning once.
"Who're Jake and Marie?"
"The bad guys."
"Like those other two men and the creepy dude?"
Daddy stared at me for a second before glancing at Master, who only rose up from his seat and walked away towards the front door. Which he finally knew how to open.
"Listen, Aramina."
Daddy walked around the couch to kneel down in front of me and cupped my face with one hand.
"A lot of things have actually been happening these last few days but we haven't told you anything so you don't get scared. But that doesn't mean that there aren't any dangers out there. We're going to go save some people now-"
"The children?" I interrupted. "Which children? Do I know them?"
Daddy hesitated for a bit, before slowly telling me that he was referring to my oppas and unnie. My jaw fell and I could feel my hands starting to quiver in fear and anger. So it was those two men who had kidnapped Yuna unnie that night! Jake and Marie were probably two more of their friends, like that creepy man who'd attacked us.
"Aramina." Daddy brought his other hand up to cup my face as well and looked straight into my eyes. "I promise you that nothing's gonna happen to your oppas and unnie, okay? We'll bring them back, safe and sound. But I'll have to leave you alone for a few hours which isn't something I've ever done at night and-"
"Daddy. Your students need you more right now."
"You're really four years old?"
"I don't know, you're the one who said I was a baby four years ago."
Daddy chuckled and slightly leaned up to peck me on the nose, making me giggle, after which he told me that he'd kept some food in the microwave and then went out the front door. I pouted when I heard a click from the outside, knowing that he'd locked me in. There was no need to have done that. I knew perfectly well how to lock the door from the inside, and I knew how to do it better than Master. I think.
Which button next to the handle was I supposed to press again?
I sweatdropped when I realized just why Daddy had decided to lock the door from the outside and continued to watch TV for a while longer, before yawning once and thought that it would be good if I took a short nap on the couch. Staying awake would only make me keep worrying about my oppas and unnie, but I was sure that Master and Daddy would be able to save them on time. I mean, I'd never actually seen either of them in action, but I trusted them enough to know that they won't let any harm come to students of Ye Ran High School. Switching off the TV, I yawned again and rubbed my eyes with one fist, before curling into the corner of the couch which was a position that Daddy said always made me look like a little kitten, and then closed my eyes.
When I opened my eyes though, I wasn't in the living room of my house anymore. Well, at least the ceiling above me definitely wasn't the ceiling in the living room of my house. No. The ceiling in the living room of my house was just a plain white with lots of square shaped lights, but the ceiling I currently saw above me wasn't even white. It was actually brown, maybe wood, with plenty of fancy designs swirling around on it. Further ahead, hanging from the centre of the ceiling was a glimmering golden chandelier, but hanging right above my head was a circular thing. And since there were pink drapes on either side of my head, that circular thing had to be the thing from which the pink drapes were falling down. But my bed wasn't like that, so then where in the world was I? Panicking, I tried to open my mouth to call out for Daddy but the only sounds that came out were a bunch of gurgles and my eyes widened.
Had I been turned into a baby?
I tried to call for Daddy again, screaming this time, but just as I had feared, the only sound that came out was that unbelievably loud and shrill shriek only babies could make. My panic amplified, making me fear just what might have gone wrong with me while I was taking my short nap, when I suddenly heard quick footsteps approaching me. When those footsteps completely stopped, a face was looming above my own.
Red eyes again. The face looming above my own definitely had red eyes and on paying more attention, I realized that that face belonged to a woman. Other than the red eyes, she also shared her dark brown hair colour with me though her hair was way wavier than my bone straight hair, and her skin too was as fair as mine. But, as beautiful as this unknown woman was, she was still unknown me and I started panicking even more. Sadly, since I'd somehow become a baby, my panic came out in the form of crying with sound. With sound. I never cried with sound! And yet here I was now, crying my eyes out and screaming my throat raw like the more spoiled kids at my kindergarten always did for no reason. Except, in my case, I had a pretty good reason. I didn't know who this woman was and at a time like this when a group of bad guys were kidnapping my oppas and unnie and thinking of doing who knows what to them, I could forgive myself for crying loudly just this one time.
"Oh, Aramina, honey, what's wrong?"
The woman looked down at me, frowning, which made me frown as well. How did she know my name when I had no idea of hers? And why did she just call me honey?
I was startled when she abruptly stretched her hands out to me, screeching louder from the fear that she was going to hurt me, but she just wrapped her arms around my torso and picked me up to cradle me to her chest. Whoa. Looking down at my tiny body, I saw that I really had been turned into a baby. But what felt weirder than my body being so tiny was the long white dress that had been put on me, which felt a bit too big for the tiny body.
"Are you missing your father again, sweetie?"
The woman cooed to me in a soft voice and I looked up at her, momentarily halting my crying though my cheeks still felt wet, and desperately hoped that Daddy would show up any second now and take me away from the hold of this stranger. Come to think of it, I hadn't actually been getting any bad vibes from this stranger from the start and now that she was gently rocking me back and forth, I was even starting to feel drowsy. But she was still a stranger. And she could also have been the one to change me into a baby for some own selfish reason of hers. A creaking sound suddenly jolted me out of my sleepiness and I peeked past the woman's shoulder to see that a set of double brown doors, very ornate double brown doors, straight ahead of us were being pushed open. Then a man stepped through the doors, but before I could get a proper look at his face, I felt myself being shaken violently.
My eyes opened once more but this time when I looked up, I was immensely relieved to see that the ceiling above me was the familiar white ceiling with the square shaped lights in the living room of my house, while the face looming above mine was Daddy's.
"Daddy!"
I squealed happily and quickly sat up, hugging him tight. Daddy hugged me back as tightly, actually a little more, which made me worried.
"Is swomething wrong, Daddy?"
"Nothing is wrong, monkey. Nothing is wrong."
The relief coated in Daddy's voice gave away that there had been something very wrong which was why he sounded relieved, because whatever problem could have been created by that very wrong thing had been averted. However, I knew not to question Daddy when he sounded worried or angry, so I let it be. Unless that very wrong thing had happened with my oppas and unnie, and whatever problem had been averted had only been a minor problem while the major problem still remained.
"Daddy!"
I squealed again, but this time in fear, and swiftly broke our hug to look right up at him.
"What hap-"
"They're fine, Aramina. They're in the hospital, but they're fine."
Daddy gave me a small smile and moved to ruffle my hair but I pushed his hand away, knowing he would understand that as my gesture to explain that I was not satisfied with that answer.
"How can they be fine if they're in the hospital?"
I demanded but before Daddy could answer, I looked past him and stumbled back on seeing the person standing behind him, just a few feet away from where Master had taken his place on his couch.
It was the man with the cold grey eyes. One of the two who refused to help us that night, because he was one of the two who planned the whole thing. The only thing different about him was that the vibe coming from didn't feel so evil anymore. In fact, I detected some kind of sadness in the vibe coming from him today, but that didn't mean I liked him any better.
"What is he doing here?"
I hissed like that meanie cat who always kept showing up on our playground during recess just to hiss at us even though we gave her plenty of food, and glared as angrily as I could at that man. I didn't know if it worked though, because he just stared back at me with a blank look on his face.
"Aramina." Daddy started slowly. "I know what you're thinking, but he isn't-"
"He pwanned that attack on Yuna unnie and me!" I screamed before Daddy could finish and angrily stood up on the couch, clenching the fist of one hand and pointing the accusatory finger of the other hand at that man. "He also got Yuna unnie, Shinwoo oppa and Ik-Han oppa kidnapped the first time and tonight too!"
"Tonight was not his doing, Aramina." Daddy said quietly, though I could sense the growing rage in his voice and shuddered on the inside. "He is the reason we could save them tonight."
"I don't bwelieve you! Why would he hwelp us after everything else?!"
Daddy stared at me for a minute, before shooting a death glare right at my face which I'd seen him keep reserved only for the worst of his worst students, and then only used his eyes to gesture me to get down from the couch. I resisted, knowing I would probably get grounded for the rest of my life but at this point, I didn't care. Daddy rarely got mad at me because I rarely gave him a chance to get mad at me, making everybody consider me a good kid. And I was happy to be the good kid, but that didn't mean I would just accept anything at all. How could I be expected to be okay with being in the same room as the man who had his friend almost kill Yuna unnie and me on one night, kidnap unnie and my oppas the next, and then do that same thing a second time? Well, according to Daddy, he actually wasn't at fault for this time and was even helpful in saving my friends, but I still wasn't alright with trusting him that easily.
"Aramina." I looked up at Daddy who was looking down at me, that hint of rage still evident in his voice. "Get down from the couch. Now."
"N-"
"Now!"
I winced and flinched away, terrified of the way Daddy had yelled at me before quickly jumping down from the couch, all that confidence from my previous bout of resistance gone, and then ran off up the stairs. I didn't stop until I reached the third floor where my room was, though I was careful not to slam the door of my room when I went in lest I angered Daddy even more, after which I silently skulked out to my balcony. The sky provided a beautiful view of the stars from my balcony and since I loved stargazing, I would often come out here to admire the diamonds embedded in the coal. Tonight though, I came out here just to stop myself from crying. I'd already done enough of that in that other room, which I realized only now had just been a dream, but I had still cried and didn't feel like crying anymore. Of course, I still felt hurt. Daddy never yelled at me like that, and to think that he did it now because I was angry on seeing the man who had wanted to kill me and my friends, made the pain even worse. Was I really the wrong one in this situation? Maybe I shouldn't have said all those things in front of the man himself because no matter what, he was still older than me. But he had also attempted to harm me and my unnie and oppas, so I had every right to be unhappy on being around him, right? A hundred bad things could not be erased because of one good thing a person did. At least according to my kindergarten teacher. She occasionally kept telling us these deep quotes that we never fully understood, but that quote which she had told us last week made complete sense now.
Then I recalled the new vibe I'd felt from that man, the vibe of sadness rather than evil, and I wondered if perhaps I was being very unfairly judgmental about him.
Sighing, I sat down near the railing of the balcony as Daddy said that it was too dangerous for me to climb up on the railing, and looked up at the night sky. The stars were out just as I had expected, almost making me feel like they had come out just for me, and I began to try figuring out any shapes the stars made to distract myself from everything that had happened only minutes ago. At the beginning of the movie Barbie of Swan Lake, Barbie had shown a kid the constellation Cygnus which looked just like a swan, but I had never been able to find it in the sky no matter how hard I tried. And I'd always liked swans. They were so pretty and graceful and elegant-
And had wings they could use to fly away from their problems.
But I probably didn't have problems which were so bad I needed wings to run away from. According to Shinwoo oppa, I was still a kindergartner and decades away from high school so I didn't have anything actually serious to worry about. Maybe he was right. Maybe I really needed to stop thinking so much for someone my age.
A presence suddenly made itself known behind me and I turned around to see that it was Master. I tilted my head, confused why he would be here, but stood up to bow to him anyway as he walked over to stand right next to me.
"I was like you once."
He said softly and I stared up at him, speechless. There was no way that he, of all people, had been like a stupid little girl once.
"I used to admire the stars too from a window in my mansion."
Oh, he meant that.
"They give you a sense of peace, do they not?"
"Yeah."
I grinned a little and nodded in agreement. They did give me a sense of peace.
"This sense of peace makes you think about everything you have done in your life. These stars light the path you should truly take."
I stared up at Master, not really understanding what he was trying to say since he was starting to sound like my kindergarten teacher now, when he slowly moved his focus away from the stars and looked down at me.
"You may find it hard to believe, Aramina, but you are a noble."
Wait, what?! A noble as in a noble of Lukedonia?! But I was just...a human. Then again, I knew nothing about my biological parents since I'd been left on Daddy's doorstep as a baby but that didn't mean I was a noble. And even if I was, how did Master find out? Had he told Daddy?
"The stars light the path a noble like you should truly take."
Then Master walked away, leaving me a confused mess. With no other choice, I looked up at the stars again and tilted my head.
"I can't see what path you're lwighting for me. Can you lwight it a little brighter?"
That man had been staying at our place for a few days now. His name was M-21, though that hardly sounded like a real name, so Daddy had told me that a whole organization of bad guys called the Union had kidnapped him to do some weird tests on him and had erased all the memories of his past life, including the memory of his name. Now that had made me feel slightly bad about how I had been so harsh towards him when he first got here, but then I would see him staring at me with those cold grey eyes of his and I would feel angry again. I had also thought about what Master had told me regarding the stars lighting the path (the stars didn't shine brighter that night, by the way) and since he'd said it right after my outburst on M-21, I just assumed that maybe he was telling me that everybody deserved a second chance. Then Daddy also told me that M-21's only surviving friend had been killed by Jake and Marie so M-21 had fled from the Union, which basically made him a good guy.
Even though the way he would just silently glare at everyone and everything around him didn't really make him look like a good guy.
Still, for Master and Daddy's sake, I had tried to get along with him. I even once asked him to play tea party with me because Daddy was busy and I was not allowed to disturb Master while he had his real tea. You know what M-21 did? He said no.
How was I supposed to get along with him then?! How was I supposed to get along with anyone who didn't like tea parties?! Even Shinwoo oppa liked tea parties, though he was a bit too clumsy to attend one since he always kept dropping all my cups and saucers.
Speaking of Shinwoo oppa, he, Ik-Han oppa and Yuna unnie had recovered from whatever injuries they had sustained during the kidnapping by Jake and Marie, so we were going to visit them at the hospital now.
"Should I really be going with you guys?"
M-21 asked, drawing my attention away from the window next to me because I badly wanted to say no, but refrained myself from doing so because Daddy was the one driving the car and I didn't want to see what would happen if he started yelling at me while driving the car. I had already felt awkward enough when he'd come in later on the night M-21 arrived, to tuck me in like nothing had ever gone down between us, so I obviously didn't want a repetition of that.
"There's nothing you need to worry about." Daddy reassured him while rounding past the corner from where we could see the hospital looming in the distance. "Master has rewritten all their memories."
"What do you mean, rewritten?" M-21 asked. "When the Union brainwashes someone to forget something, they leave gaps in their memories. Isn't that what he's done to the kids?"
"Nope." I couldn't control myself this time. "Master isn't a bad person like the Union. He's way better, both in personanity and in skills."
"Aramina."
Daddy called my name in a warning tone and I quickly shut up, though I didn't stop pouting. Until my pout soon fell because I caught M-21's face in the rear view mirror and I was stunned to see that he was actually smiling. Whoa. I didn't even know that dude could smile. But wait a minute. Was he smiling because I'd gotten scolded by Daddy? How mean!
I huffed and returned my attention to the window, staying quiet for the rest of the ride while listening to Daddy explain that Master literally changed people's memories unlike the Union, until we finally pulled up in front of the hospital. Master and M-21 were already out of the car when Daddy unstrapped me from my baby seat, but I was the first one to run into the hospital room.
"Shinwoo oppa! Ik-Han oppa! Yuna unnie!"
I screamed their names in turn and jumped on the first bed, which happened to be Shinwoo oppa's bed, making him release a small oof before he hugged me tight to his chest.
"So you do wuv me, Mia! You finally showed up to visit me!"
"Once again, it's love, not wuv. Fix your vocabillary, Han Shinwoo."
"Once again, that is Han Shinwoo oppa to you, young lady."
"You gwonna bring out Tickle Mwonster again?"
"Don't tempt me."
I gasped when Shinwoo oppa suddenly grabbed my sides and actually brought out Tickle Monster, making me laugh that loud and silly laugh all over again. I didn't know why Shinwoo oppa got such a kick out of torturing me like this but unlike last time, today the torture didn't last all the way till my face went red because Yuna unnie snatched me away before that could happen.
"Thank you, Unnie!"
I sighed in relief and buried my face into Yuna unnie's chest, but not before sticking my tongue out at Shinwoo oppa once which made him stick his tongue out at me as well. What a child.
"You seem pretty alright now to be tickling her like that, Shinwoo."
Daddy spoke up from behind me, a bright smile on his face, and Shinwoo oppa chuckled while awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.
"Yeah, the accident was pretty bad but we all managed to survive."
"And you even got your arm broken just to save the two of us."
Ik-Han oppa piped in, which made me stare at Shinwoo oppa. I knew very well that this accident they were talking about wasn't actually an accident but just the rewritten memory Master had given them to ensure that they forgot about being kidnapped by Jake and Marie. But given Shinwoo oppa's personality, I wouldn't be surprised if he had picked a fight with the kidnappers just to protect Ik-Han oppa and Yuna unnie. A small smile carved itself on my lips. Shinwoo oppa really was a hero, and I looked up to him for that. He never even took credit for or boasted about what he did, just like now when he was saying something along the lines of how it wasn't a big deal.
"Whoa, wait." Shinwoo oppa's gaze suddenly shifted to Daddy who was holding a fruit basket in his hand. "Is that-"
"Only for people who don't attack others with Tickle Mwonster."
I said proudly at which Yuna unnie and Ik-Han oppa burst out laughing while Shinwoo oppa's face turned red from embarrassment, though the fun was cut short when Daddy playfully shook his head at me and stepped forward to place the fruit basket on the table right next to Shinwoo oppa's bed.
"In your face." Shinwoo oppa smirked.
"At least I'm still allowed to eat pizza. The hospital will let you only eat fruits."
I smirked back, happy with the second round of laughter and embarrassment that followed.
"Thank you for this gift, Mr. Chairman."
Yuna unnie smiled politely at Daddy once all the laughing was done, and then moved her attention to Master.
"Thank you to you too, Rai."
Then she moved her attention to M-21.
"And thank you to you too, um-"
Yuna unnie stopped, a sweatdrop appearing on her head when she realized that she had no idea who this man was because she also had no idea that he had tried to kill and kidnap her but Master had deleted those memories from her mind. I shook my head a little to rid myself of such thoughts. No. Master had indirectly told me that as a noble, I should give M-21 a second chance (I think) and Daddy had also said that M-21 wasn't one of the bad guys anymore. Oh, yeah. As a noble. I had asked Daddy about that, but he had told me that he didn't feel any aura of nobility from me. Only Master felt that kind of an aura, and even then it was very faint, which was why we couldn't really be sure. Of course, Master had sounded pretty sure when he'd told me I was a noble that night on the balcony. But maybe he'd just been saying that to encourage me to act better and at least try to see the good in M-21. Personally, I didn't think I was anywhere close to being a noble. There was no way I was one of the cool warriors Daddy would talk about in all the cool stories of Lukedonia. I was just a little girl, and my only specialty was that I was the only kid in my entire kindergarten who that hissing playground cat of ours allowed to pet her. Daddy talked with my oppas and unnie for a while longer, after explaining that M-21 was a friend living with us for some time, and then said that it was time to leave.
"Do I have to?"
I pouted up at Daddy who shot me a stern look.
"Yes, Aramina." He said. "You have to. Let your oppas and unnie rest for now."
I sighed and nodded, knowing that he was right. But I also knew that he, Master and M-21 were going to go investigate a Union branch after this so I would be left alone at home again to watch some cartoons that I was getting bored of. Not to mention, Dora the Explorer was dumber than me since she could never see the ocean right behind her.
"It's alright, Mr. Chairman."
Yuna unnie suddenly chimed up.
"She can stay with us until visiting hours are over."
"But-"
"It's no problem, Mr. Chairman!" Ik-Han oppa interrupted Daddy before he could protest. "We've anyway been missing Aramina's company now, so it'll be cool to have her stay with us for a while longer."
I grinned at Daddy, daring him to say no now. Daddy stared back at me, eyes narrowed, before he smiled softly and shook his head.
"As you wish."
So I stayed at the hospital until visiting hours were over, talking with my oppas and unnie about anything and everything. In fact, we were having so much fun that we never even realized when time went by and Daddy came back to pick me up. When we got back home, Master was in the living room as usual, reading a book this time instead of having his tea, and M-21 was nowhere to be seen. Probably up in his room.
"Go up to your room now, Aramina." Daddy instructed. "I need to talk about something with Master, so I'll call you down when dinner's ready."
I nodded in obedience and started walking up to the third floor when, out of curiosity, I stopped on the second floor and gingerly walked towards M-21's room. His door was open so I could see him standing in front of the mirror with a suit in hand.
"What's that for?"
I asked curiously, probably startling M-21 when he swung around with a jolt, but sighed on seeing that it was just me and returned his focus to the mirror.
"Your dad's Master is letting me stay here for as long as I need in exchange for working as a special security guard at your dad's high school."
He explained, sounding neither happy nor unhappy. Weirdo. I looked around the room for a minute, before my eyes landed on the bed where I saw an armband with the symbol of Ye Ran on it. Without giving it a second thought, I went to pick up the armband and then walked up to M-21, tugging at the bottom of his shirt to grab his attention.
"I'm still a little appihensive around you cause of what you did." I placed a hand on my hip to look as intimidating as possible, though I didn't think it really worked. "But since Master trusts you, you must be a good person deep within." I frowned.
"Very, very deep within. But."
I stretched the armband out towards him.
"A good person still. So I think you'll be a great security card."
"Guard."
"Yeah, yeah."
I kept the armband up in the air, waiting for him to take it and when he did, I started to leave the room.
"Hey, Aramina?"
I stopped at the door and turned around to look up at him, eyes wide and curious. He gulped for some reason, before sighing and awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.
"Would you like to have a tea party right now?"
I grinned. "Sure!"