Chapter Text
Jiwoo pushes her nearly empty cart slowly behind Jung eu n while Junge u n reads off the small groceries list in her hands, Jiwoo would be lying if she told Jung eu n she didn't feel bad for practically ditching Olivia at home, but Jung eu n and her needed to talk things out and doing a couple of errands without being distracted by tests, or random fires was probably for the best. Jiwoo tries to hold in her disappointed sighs, but one must slip because suddenly Junguen is looking back at her fist raised and lips in a scowl.
"I swear to god, if you sigh one more time, I'm knocking you out." Jung eu n says through gritted teeth, Jiwoo nudges her with the cart heeding her warning. It only takes about five more seconds before Jung eun is turning around and punching Jiwoos arm, hard.
" Ow! What was that for?"
"You sighed, again!" Jiwoo pouts and grabs at Junge u ns arm, but she pushes her off before Jiwoo can even grab her, it makes Jiwoo pout even more.
" Junge u n , I'm sad, and I miss Olivia." Jiwoo whines playfully. Jiwoo can't take her mind off of Olivia, especially now that they're in the sweets aisle. The last month had been an adventure to say the least, from summoning a demon to late night baking sessions, there was rarely ever a boring moment in the household. Jung eu n , albeit a bit hesitant at first, had even grown to miss Olivias presence. She even missed her now, and Jiwoo could tell by the snacks that had been haphazardly thrown into the cart. For the past few days her mind has been stuck on a pouty smile, big cheeks and apple hair (and yeah, Olivia herself doesn't really care for the hairstyle but Jiwoo and Jung eu n love it). If Jiwoos honest with herself, when she thinks of Olivia, she can barely see the demon in her, just a kid. She sighs again, lost in thought.
"Are you thinking about what Has eul said?" Jung eu n interrupts Jiwoos thoughts, it’s a quiet question, one that Jiwoo knows Jung eu n didn’t want to ask. Jiwoo wasn't thinking about Has eu ls words at all, but now it's all that fills her mind. Jiwoo ignores Jung eu n in favor of picking out more snacks to put in cart, and it isn't until she's grabbing the forth box of chocolate chip cookies that Jung eu n stops her, eyes filled with pity, Jiwoo hates it.
" Hase u l ...was right. We need to stop we can't get so hung up when Olivia-" Jiwoo snaps her head up finally meeting Jung eun s eyes, Jung eu n looks away.
"Leaves?" Jiwoo asks angrily, she doesn't mean to sound so frustrated but no matter how much she thinks about it or plays over different scenarios in her head, Olivia will always leave back to Hell and be in a lonely castle whose only occupants are her and ghosts of happier times. Junge u n has to pry the crumpled cookie box out of Jiwoos hand before it breaks.
" Jiwoo we're in too deep now huh?" Jung eu n laughs. Jiwoos mind goes back to Has eu l telling her not to get too attached, that Olivia would be leaving soon and they would be heartbroken.
" Has eu l was right, but...the moment she burned the couch, she burned her way into my heart too." Jiwoo says nearly in tears, Jung eu n bursts out laughing though, causing Jiwoo to break into small fits of giggles.
"Come on, we have a list to complete." Junge u n takes the cart from Jiwoo walking ahead, while Jiwoo follows behind. For the rest of the shopping trip they barely talk, just quietly adding to the cart and crossing off items on the list, it isn't until they're on line to pay that Jiwoo speaks up again.
" Junge u n , if I failed would Olivia st -"
"No." Junge u n cuts her off without a glance back.
“ Jiwoo you can’t do that ; Olivia will never forgive you and I wouldn’t either. You know how much this means to her, it’s her first mission ever. Study hard. It’s the least you could do to thank her.” Junge u n berates. Jiwoo already knows that, she’s always known failing wasn’t an option when both her and Olivia were putting in so much effort. She holds back a sigh and tries to quench the ache in her heart when she thinks about never seeing Olivia again.
“...I’ll pass, I know I will.”
——
Olivia had honestly thought she would never see Gowon again, but here she is in Gowons kitchen being offered tea. Gowon looks almost exactly how she remembers, pale skin, doe eyed, and a sharp nose but something is so strikingly different about her that makes Olivia want to run back to hell.
“I know I have a lot of explaining -“
“You do.” Olivia cuts her off with a snarl. Gowon barely blinks at the harshness, just settles in the chair across the table with a look of hope in her eyes.
“I was wrong.” Gowon breathes out, Olivia tries her best to hide her shaking hands under the table , but she knows Gowon had already noticed them, Gowon notices everything about Olivia.
“Yves, Chuu and I, we. We shouldn’t have left you behind. But we did. I’m so sorry. We had a plan, but nothing worked out at all.” Gowon says all in one breathe. Olivia makes to stand up but Gowon beats her to it, leaning across the table and taking both her hand in hers.
"Please Olivia. I missed you so much, we all did, I'm so sorry for everything, you don't even have to forgive me, I just don't want you to hate me." Gowons desperate and teary eyed, hands wringing her shirt almost painfully, Olivia feels awful seeing her like this, but she feels worst knowing she had done it to her.
“I could never hate you.” Olivia admits. While she is still upset, hating Gowon had never crossed her mind, Gowon would always hold a special place in her heart no matter what she did. Gowon breathes a sigh of relief, finally releasing her shirt and rubbing away the unshed tears in her eyes.
“And Yve -”
“Don’t mention her!” Olivia slams her hands on the table. She could forgive Gowon easily, but Yves, who had dragged her dear friends into this mess, Oliva couldn’t care less for her.
“Olivia please, just speak to her, please. She’s here in the city, I’ll give you the adres -” Olivia stands up so fast her chair clatters to the ground, she practically runs to the door not even turning around when Gowon chases after her.
“Be careful Olivia please, hell will punish mistakes!” Gowon yell after her from the door way. Olivia just keeps running ignoring the burn in her lungs and heart. Olivia feels incredibly overwhelmed, the quickly darkening sky and comforting warmth from Gowons tea only make her feel worst, she nearly starts hyperventilating when she realizes she's still completely lost. She should turn back and ask Gowon for some sort of direction , but her pride doesn’t let her. She wanders again, taking random turns and hoping for the best even when her legs tire out, she would at least levitate but after Jiwoos and Jung eu ns lecture about using her powers in public she’s too afraid to disappoint them. She sticks to her instinct and takes another right, and just like she suspected she still doesn’t recognize anything.
“You’re a little young to be wandering around at night , aren’t you?” A voice makes Olivia stop. She turns around to face it, it’s 2 young girls, hol d ing hands and both with dark hair, both seem...kind.
“I’m lost.” Olivia admits after a moment, they both look at her the same way Haseul , Jiwoo and Jungeun do. Both girls step closer, close enough that Olivia can smell their perfume (both smell like c offee and bread , Olivia smiles) but away enough that Olivia doesn’t feel like running.
“I’m Heejin ,” The shorter points at herself, “and this Hyunjin ,” she motions towards the taller girl. “Don’t worry we grew up here, we’ll help you!” Heejin finishes reassuringly, Hyunjin nods in agreement.
“What’s your address.” Hyunjin speaks up. Address? The confusion and panic must show on Olivia’s face because both girls jump up to comfort her.
“Hey it’s okay!”
“Yeah, you don’t need to know that, you’ll find your way home!”
“Yeah yeah , do you know any stores near your home?” Stores? Olivia knows there’s a shopping strip about 20 minutes away full of furniture stores, a pet shop and some fast food, she also knows there’s a supermarket about ten minutes away , but she can’t remember the name of it, there’s also-
“A bakery. It’s called “One Third” I think. You can help me get there.” Hase u l would know exactly what to do. Both girls nod then take out their phones frantically searching, it only takes about 2 minutes before their high fiving each other in victory.
“You’re really far from home, this bakery is over a forty-minute walk away.” Heejin sighs showing her the screen of her phone. Olivia nods, pretending to comprehend what Heejin is showing her
“We’ll walk you, come on.” Hyunjin walks along the street tugging Heejin behind her leaving no room for Olivia to protest. Olivia follows as closely behind as she can, the two girls tug her between them, leaving little space for Olivia to get lost again, she can’t help the smile that breaches her lips. They walk q u ietly, the only sounds are Hyunjins occasional humming and Heejins more than occasional giggles whenever she makes eye contact with Hyunjin . The walk, just like Heejins and Hyunjins devices had suggested, is long. So long in fact Olivia is surprised she doesn’t pass out while their walking. Both girls do little to help her exhaustion, only laughing when she yawns and rubs her eyes, dam- darn Jungeun and her bedtimes for making her this tired. By the time they make it to the bakery the moon is high in the sky and streets are empty. Both girls walk her safely to the door before bidding her goodbye. Olivia walks up, suddenly nervous. What if Haseul is mad at her? It’s definetly too late for Haseul to be sane. Olivia shoves the door open anyways and is about to step in when she gets tackled and tumbles fruitlessly to the ground.
“Olivia oh my God, where have you been?” Jiwoo yells are muffled by fabric of Olivias borrowed sweatshirt. Olivia doesn’t know where she was, so she just pats Jiwoos back in what she can only assume is comforting. Haseul walks up to them, grabs Jiwoo off of her then helps her up off the ground.
“ Well where were you?” Haseul asks.
“I- I don’t know, I got lost.” Olivia stutters out after a moment her answer only makes Jiwoo burst out in tears. Olivia unsure of what to do looks at Haseul who in turn looks back at Olivia, they stare at each other awkwardly for a moment before Haseul sighs and drags Olivia closer to Jiwoo .
“Here.” Haseul wraps Olivia’s arms around Jiwoo , “Comfort her.” Haseul walks away. Olivia stays put with her arms stiffly around Jiwoos body while Jiwoo soaks up her sweatshirt with tears, she pats awkwardly at her back until Jiwoos finally looks up, red faced and snotty, Olivia gags.
“You ready to go home?”
_____
They enter only to find a police officer arguing with Jungeun in the kitchen.
“48 hours is bullshit and you know it! You need to search the city now!”
“Ma’am could you please cal -
“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Jiwoo quickly steps between the both of them and points towards Olivia. Olivia waves unsure of the expression that overtakes Jungeuns face when they make eye contact.
“Sorry for wasting your time officer.” The officer huffs and walks out leaving behind an akward tension in the air. Jungeun doesn’t cry like Jiwoo does, she just looks mad, it makes Olivia uneasy, Jiwoo grabs Jungeuns arm but she shakes her off stepping in front of Olivia and glaring into her eyes.
“Where have you been?” Olivia opens her mouth to answer, but Jungeun quickly cuts her off.
“Do you have any idea how worried we were? I called the cops! Oliva for god sake you can’t just disappear like that! Jiwoo had been running around the whole city asking everyone where you’ve been!” Jungeuns voice gets increasingly louder till she’s practically yelling in Olivia's face, she only stops when Jiwoo grabs her arm again.
“Well?” Jungeun prompts. Olivia looks between them, she can see the anger die away from Jungeun eyes and turn to fear, she turns to Jiwoo whose face is still red from crying and suddenly it all becomes too much, from the anger of seeing Gowon to the sadness and uneasiness of being loss, and now to having hurt Jiwoo and Jungeun . She starts sobbing before she can help herself. Both girl envelope her in hug, muttering in her ears and patting her hair, and it works, it doesn’t take long for her sobs to quiet down into hiccups and once those die down Olivia is thoroughly exhausted. She’s so exhausted that Jungeun and Jiwoo don’t even tell her to wash up before bed, they just send her to sleep. Olivia knocks out in an instant.
____
The next morning Olivia gets a very long lecture about how yes, she can use her powers if it's an emergency, a slip of paper in her pockets with their home address, and lots of hugs and cookies. It isn’t a very productive day study wise, but their all exhausted so no one really says anything.
-----
The days pass by uneventfully and before Olivia knows it, she’s been levitating in the middle of Jiwoos and Jungeuns room for a little over 4 weeks. She checks the calendar and bites her lip, a red circle glaring back at her menacingly with multiple arrows and sticky notes with reminders of a day Olivia has engrained in her head. 2 more days till Jiwoos final, 2 more days until Olivia either fails or passes her first mission, she’s nervous. Jiwoo and her had made tremendous progress, turns out Jiwoos need to nurture and teach Olivia outweighed her confusion on the subject, they were a little over halfway through the textbook and everything was sticking for Jiwoo so far. Olivia, whether Jiwoo would pass or not, would return to hell with a great knowledge of physics. Olivia sighed, another subject she was nervous about, Hell. Hell was her home, yet she found herself a little too confused about why she felt so comfortable levitating in the center of the room and eating dinner which she didn’t need to eat with Jungeun and Jiwoo . Olivia had even gotten used to and looked forward to Haseul and her random stops with snacks that Olivia filled her mouth so full with she couldn’t speak yet was able to smile and get her cheeks pinched, she had also actually learned the names of Jiwoos many friends, from Jinsol who worked at the pet store where Jiwoo frequented to play with puppies, to the library where Vivi would chastise them quietly for always being a little too loud, to the neighbor Yerim who was loud and rambunctious and honestly scared Olivia at first but she soon learned that she was as playful as she was sweet. She even met Jungeuns younger cousin, Yeojin who had an obsession with frogs and had demanded that Olivia find some with her, so Olivia had conjured them in the living room for her ( Jungeun had been rather upset to find several frogs in her bed, while Yeojin was overjoyed at the sight of so many frogs). Olivia’s place was in hell, but for some reason she wasn’t quite sure of that anymore. Haseul taps her shoulder breaking her out of her thoughts. She smiles at Haseul then returns to the task at hand, mixing. While Jiwoo and Jungeun are out doing “adult things” (Olivia had asked, but both immediately got into rants about capitalism, so Olivia never bothered asking again.) Haseul had offered to teach Olivia about baking, she hadn't really been interested but Haseul looked to excited to turn down, so now every weekend Olivia spends her time at the bakery, well baking.
“You can take a break, you look tired.” Haseul says after a moment. Olivia isn’t really tired per say, but she takes the break anyways, heading out of the kitchen and into the dining area so Haseul could sever some cookies, hopefully none that she had any hand in making. She sits down and lets her mind wander again, trying to steer her thoughts away from physics, when the chair across from her scraps on the floor bringing her out of her thoughts. It’s Gowon, daintily sitting down and smiling as if Olivia hadn’t hightailed out of her house 2 weeks ago.
“ So what's good here? Olivia looks her over, from the awkward smile on her face to the tapping of her fingers, and smiles. She really did miss her, no matter how hard she tried not to.
“The cookies.” Olivia doesn’t even have to think.
-----
Gowon and Olivia actually talk , maybe it’s the atmosphere of the bakery, maybe its Haseul bringing them cookies every 20 minutes, but something makes Olivia stop and listen. She listens as Gowon explains a plan to escape hell that had just gone horribly wrong, for everyone involved.
“Yves was gonna leave with Chuu but I kind of figured out their plan, so they had to let me in. Once they told me we tried to keep it if from you, it was dangerous, and I’m sorry, we left you. I thought we would be able to return, but I don’t know. I just couldn’t.” And at that moment it hits Olivia, why Gowon looks almost exactly the same , but the air around her has shifted so drastically.
“You’re...human.” Gowon nods, a sad smile taking place.
“It’s why we couldn’t return.” Gowon has long since stopped eating, only nibbling at the random cookies Olivia puts on her plate. Haseul walks up to them, only to tell Olivia that Jungeun is coming to pick her up soon, Olivia hadn’t even realized how much time had passed.
“ Jungeun ?” Gowon asks the moment Haseul is out of ear shot.
“Yeah, she’s Jiwoos roommate.”
“ Jiwoo ?” Gowon asks with a raise of her eyebrow. Olivia isn't sure she has enough time to explain everything that has happened from the time she got summoned till now, but she doesn’t think one or two sentences can be a just description of who Jiwoo and Jungeun are, she hesitates and it makes Gowon burst out laughing.
“Let’s just say they’re who summoned me. My mission is almost up.” She doesn’t mean to sound so melancholy, but her feelings slip out before she can help herself. Gowon taps her chin pensively before standing up patting her shoulder.
“I only have one piece of advice for you. Hell does not play favorites, find Yves if you really are sad about leaving.” And with that Gowon is out the door. Olivia mulls over Gowon's words, “sad about leaving” it would be a lie if Olivia said she wasn’t sad, but actively seeking Yves out? Olivia grimaced at the thought, she would rather fare on her own than ask Yves for help. She groans, it wasn’t supposed to be this complicated. It was supposed to be simple a mission but now... Olivia can’t bear the thought of leaving. She glances at the clock, then at the door, Jungeun burst in right in time smile on her face, Olivia decides that for now, that’s a problem for another day.
____
Olivia wakes up to Jiwoo shaking her at 6 am, which would be surprising except that, today is the day. The day of Jiwoos dreaded physics exam, they had all gone to bed at 4 am after convincing Jiwoo that taking a test half dead would it only make it worse. Olivia shoots up, nerves keeping her from being tired.
“I’m leaving now, it’s in half an hour.”
“Good luck.” Olivia manages to smile, Jiwoo smiles back then heading out of the bedroom and leaving Olivia with a Jungeun who’s still pretending to be asleep.
“You can stop pretending now.” Olivia announces as soon as she hears the door lock. Jungeun sits up groaning.
“She didn’t even eat breakfast.”
“I know.” They both lay back down, too nervous to sleep but too tired to do anything else. Its Jungeun who get up first, grumbling about cleaning and being the only one in this house who ever does anything, Olivia would disagree but, she hasn’t seen Jiwoo touch the broom since she got here.
“Come on,” Jungeun forces Olivia up, “We’re doing some chores.” Olivia tries her best to lay back down, Jungeun flips the whole mattress.
___
As it turns out, because of Jungeuns cleanliness obsession the house does not take long to clean, it only takes about an hour before their Olivia begins flying back and forth too nervous now that there's nothing to distract themselves with anymore.
“I could've just burned away the trash, that would've been quicker and funner !” Olivia huffs.
“This house still reeks of burnt plastic! And funner isn’t a word!” Jungeun huffs, pausing from trying to get rid of the burn marks only to stare at Oliva flying.
“Olivia can you please sit down-”
“But I’m nervous.” Olivia continues. What if Jiwoo fails? What if Jungeun was right about Jiwoo fainting from not eating breakfast? Thousands of scenarios run through Olivia’s mind, none of them good.
“I think we’re ALL nervous, you flying back and forth across the living room is only making me more nervous. You could hurt yourself.” Jungeun tosses the rag on the ground, standing up and trying to grab at Olivia, Olivia dodges.
“But I don’t feel any pain, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Yeah but seeing you get hurt makes hurt, you get it? So just sit down, we won’t even know Jiwoos score till about a week anyways.” Olivia finally stops, settling on the ground in confusion.
“What? A week? Why?
“Because some professors are LAZY and decide they can just push all these students' exams to the side and go out and party and then run into you at a strangers party and try to...anyways that’s just how it is. They’ll be posted by next Friday.” Jungeun stops herself with a huff. Olivia turns to look at the clock, 3 hours have passed. Jiwoo should be back any second now, but it doesn’t stop the nervousness from fluttering in her stomach. Sure they had studied their asses off, but Jiwoo had been a mess, which in turn made her and Jungeun a mess.
“I don’t know if I can last to next Friday.” Olivia mutters, finally settling down on the floor besides Jungeun , Jungeun pats her leg comfortingly before turning back to the tv, letting her other drum nervously against the floor. The seconds tick by painstakingly slow as Olivia tries to turn her focus on anything but Jiwoo and her stupid physics test. She hears the telltale signs of running down the hallway, then some yelling and then finally the front door clicking
“I aced that shit!” Olivia hears Jiwoo before she even enters the dorm, door slamming open and bag being thrown haphazardly across the room. She’s yelling and then both Jiwoo and her are, jumping up and down throughout the living room and tossing chairs to floor.
“ACED ACED ACED ACED .” They chant together until Jungeun has finally had enough.
“Kim Jiwoo if you don’t clean up-” Jiwoo doesn’t let Jungeun finish, engulfing her in a hug and spinning her off the ground.
“Aced Jungeun ! Aced! Thank you so much Olivia.” Jiwoo still has Jungeun in the air despite her protest, Olivia laughs and tries to hold back the bile in her throat, she should be ecstatic, shouldn’t she, but the godawful pit in her stomach won’t leave no matter how hard she yells along with them.