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To be honest, Albert should've seen it coming. One of the sponsors of the FIT fashion show held every year was literally Fujinet, the company Cindy stalked for Threats & Menaces. He should've known, from the way the CEO was, that the woman would have showed up.
But in his defense, CEOs never came to these things. Why would an influencer-slash-CEO like Saya Ishii actually attend a show for amateur fashion designers? He'd thought about it, as a joke, but now that he was facing her in real life, he regretted even joking about it.
The said CEO was shorter than he remembered. But maybe that was because she looked tall in her Instagram pictures. Albert had run into her while carrying a bunch of hats from one room to the other. Her signature streak of white hair stood in stark contrast to her black, short-sleeved one piece. A deep purple necklace hung low and a matching belt cinched her waist, nice accents to break up the wall of black. She radiated confidence in a power stance with her arms crossed and Albert was fully intimidated without her even having to open her mouth.
Her eyes were round, cool, and analytical, but her face froze for a fraction of a second. Albert knew that she recognized him from the way her already ramrod straight shoulders stiffened even more. She surveyed the hats in his possession, then leveled Albert with an unimpressed stare. "Moon."
Albert straightened, feeling woefully underdressed in his white drop shoulder tee and dress pants. He made a mental note to wear his vest later, which his friend Rebecca had stolen from him. Trying his best not to glare, he leveled his tone. "Hi."
"Hiya," Saya Ishii hummed noncommittally, tapping her fingers on her arm. Albert shifted under her gaze, uncomfortable to be in the same vicinity of someone who figured out Silk's true identity, teamed up with them, then blew up the mission (literally) in their faces. "Fancy seeing you here."
"Yeah?" Albert immediately regretted opening his mouth. The tendency to always have the last word was something both him and Cindy shared, and it often wasn't a good thing.
Her eyes narrowed. "Yeah is right. I didn't know you did fashion."
"You never asked? I'm literally a fashion major."
"Really?" Saya was momentarily taken aback.
"Yeah, funny how you didn't find that out when you searched up my sis. What are you up to, Ishii?"
"Don't call me Ishii it makes me feel old." She wrinkled her nose and pulled out her phone. Reading something on it, she promptly spun on her heels and glided away, leaving Albert even more confused. He palmed his pockets for his phone, then realized he left it in his vest. Texting Cindy a head up about their mutual friend was probably the smart idea.
"Becca!" Albert hollered as soon as Saya left his sight, rounding the corner to where the hats were needed. "Where's my vest?"
"I gave it to Marissa! Oh! Can you put the hats on the top shelf? I can't reach that high."
Albert groaned. This was going to be a long day.
"Hey Albert, I saw your sister wandering around." Marissa bit off a stray strand on her sleeve. "She was with someone else."
"Who?" Albert asked; his brows shot up. Cindy hadn't mention bringing any friends.
"I don't know, someone with really cool hair."
Probably Lola then, Albert guessed. He slipped on his vest before studying the pairs of shoes Marissa were debating over. "Didn't you decide on the white ones last night?"
"I know, I know," Marissa sighed, her artfully done makeup did nothing to hide her frazzled expression. "But don't the black ones look better?"
Both colors looked equally good. He hesitated to answer, he was only a sophomore and not someone who was about to graduate like Marissa was. "Black gives it a more serious feel, white makes it more playful?"
Marissa bit her lip, debating, and Albert made his excuses to meet his sister. He slipped out of the room, passing by a backstage photographer before he made his way to the audience. He craned his neck, searching for a familiar face in the crowd. Cindy was there in the back, wearing black skinny jeans and a shirt Albert was immediately convinced was his, talking to someone with black and white hair. For a split second, Albert thought it was Saya before he realized that this was a completely different outfit.
Something clicked in Albert's brain. He tried his best to keep up with Cindy's superhero connections, and this was a no brainer for a fashion student like him. One of the most legendary Korean fashion designers exclusively worked with 4L1T for last year's fashion week. He had woken up at insane hours of the night to watch the presentation live. It had to be Luna Snow.
Albert didn't know what he expected after that run in with Saya. A pat on the back? Actually being able to find scissors on the first try? Getting his vest back? It definitely wasn't finding out that 4L1T's Luna Snow was visiting. Marching over to Cindy, he fixed his vest and gave Luna Snow a dazzling smile before dragging Cindy a step away.
"How'd you get an international icon here?" Albert whispered furiously into her ear. "Also, that's my shirt."
"I didn't know this was your shirt; hello to you too." Cindy oozed false innocence. "And it was surprisingly easy, considering how strict her manager is."
Lies. Cindy had photographic memory, of course she knew that was his shirt. Plus, Cindy didn't own shirts like these. Albert eyed the koi fish detailing on the pocket area and the wave embroidery going down from the neckline down the short sleeves. He liked that shirt, it was one of his favorite box fits, but pairing it with skinny jeans was a bold move. "You should've worn dress pants."
Cindy patted him on the head like a little kid and completely disregarded his fashion advice, per usual. "Thanks for the shirt."
"Not your shirt," Albert grumbled. He risked a glance at the V.I.P. next to them, who was clearly listening in. "Are you sure this is okay?"
"Relax, no one will even notice her." Cindy shrugged. "People never notice celebs in real life.
Luna Snow — or Seol as he was instructed to call her — was in a baggy pink hoodie and a black pleated skirt. Cindy could learn a thing or two from her style. Her half-black and half-white hair wasn't out of place in a fashion show, but the big sunglasses and black cap obscured her unique irises. The K-Pop idol nodded, "it's true."
Albert rolled his eyes and led the two to their seats. "If you say so. Oh, Seol—... Seol-noona?" He phrased it as a question, unused to switching into Korean formalities while speaking in English.
"Just Seol," Seol assured him in Korean. "Cindy-unnie said it's more casual here."
That tidbit of information stopped Albert in his tracks. "Cindy-unnie?" He raised an eyebrow at Cindy's nervous laugh. "I never use formalities with Cin."
Cindy swatted his arm. "That's because you're a jerk."
"It's because I don't respect you."
With an exasperated sigh, Cindy turned to Seol. "Ignore him, he's an idiot."
"I'm right here," Albert complained — more out of principle — as he scanned the quickly filling room. "Cin, you should send our address to Seol's phone in case we lose each other. You're welcome to stay over, Seol."
"Thank you, I can't wait to see your designs."
"Actually, I'm not designing this year, this show's for new graduates only. I'm only helping out."
"Well then I look forward to see your..." Seol searched for the word before giving up and using the Korean word for seniors. "sunbae's designs?"
"Yeah! It's gonna be great," Albert enthused. "Keep a look out for Marissa and Rebecca, they're a power duo. Also Quinton's modeling this year, so take a lot of pictures of him for me Cin. He's gonna be the tall blonde one in the blue..." He trailed off as he caught the sight of Saya Ishii's well trained eyes on them from the entrance to backstage. "Um, Cin?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't look but one of the siblings you two timed is here."
"Max?" Cindy searched the crowd, following his gaze to the influencer. She groaned, "Saya? What's that gen Z wannabe doing here?"
"That's what I was wondering."
"I'm gonna go see what she wants."
Before she could stalk off, Albert grabbed her wrist. He held up the ID card around his neck with the most deadpan expression he could muster. "You need clearance to go backstage."
Cindy rolled her eyes and checked back on Seol. "Wanna go meet a bad guy?"
"The bad guy has an incredible fashion sense," Seol noted grudgingly. Albert had to agree, Saya Ishii and Seol both could easily replace any model in their show.
"I guess that's why she's Instagram famous." Albert shrugged. "I follow her."
Cindy gaped. "You follow her?"
"Yeah?" Albert pulled out his phone. "Her outfits are really well coordinated."
"I thought you were supposed to be on my side," Cindy groused. "Not following the person that betrayed us."
"A good outfit's a good outfit."
Seol looked intrigued. "What's her handle?"
Albert watched in fascination as the K-Pop idol tapped onto Instagram and switched accounts in one smooth motion. The blue checkmark account became one with no bio or profile picture as she hit the search bar for Saya Ishii. Looking up, she caught Albert's eye and gave a smug smile. "You can't just think I only have a public account."
"I mean, I never thought about it," Albert admitted. "But it makes sense."
Cindy shot them a confused glance, still wounded from finding out her brother followed Saya Ishii on social media. "You can have more than one Instagram account?"
Albert reined in a groan and Seol laughed. Cindy never went on her phone besides texting and looking stuff up. She only had Instagram because Lola forcibly downloaded it for her and even that was practically empty. Her Twitter was only for work too, mostly run by her company's PR team.
Saya Ishii's glare burned through Albert's neck. He looked over his shoulder to see the CEO tapping her foot impatiently. Cindy noticed too, shooting an eye roll in that direction. The glare intensified.
"Looks like your villain is getting annoyed," Seol noted.
"She's not my vill—" Cindy broke off with an embarrassed shake of the head. "Nevermind."
Eyeing his sister, Albert fiddled with his pass. He wasn't exactly sure if this was allowed, per se, but he bet the show's sponsor would allow Cindy and whoever was with her in. With a sigh, he led the two towards backstage.
Sure enough, Saya Ishii stepped to the side, allowing them to pass and immediately pulled Cindy to a stop in front of her. "We need to talk." She looked meaningfully around at a tense Seol and a worried Albert. "Alone."
"Wha—?" Cindy shook her head, incredulous, and removed herself from Saya Ishii's grip. "Why?"
"Cin, bad idea," Albert warned. "You know what happened last time."
"I don't reach out without reason, Albie." Saya smirked. "You know that."
"Don't call him Albie." Another heated exchange of stares passed and Cindy relented with a groan. "Fine, this better be worth it."
Albert was quite sure that archenemies weren't supposed to be able to communicate with looks, or have that much tension between them, but what did he know. He watched as Cindy gave them a "go ahead" gesture and Saya Ishii dragged her a good distance away.
"So..." Albert searched for a way to change the topic. Seol looked like she was forcibly holding herself back from going after them. "Want me to show you around?"
Seol took a while to answer. "Sure," she replied finally and let herself be led away. Her gaze didn't leave the two conversing figures till the last second.
A whirlwind of a tour later, Albert left Seol in the good hands of Rebecca. Seol was interested in what the graduate was working on, and Becca wasn't the type to pay attention to foreign celebrities, so it seemed like a win-win. With only about thirty more minutes to go till the show started, Albert was busy fulfilling the duties of an errand boy.
He passed by the corner where Cindy was still in deep discussion with Saya Ishii. Pausing his step, he observed them for a while before continuing on. Whatever they were talking about, Albert wanted no part in it. Unless it meant that the CEO would pay off his tuition, or treat them to dinner. Villains treated heroes to dinner, right? It would be rude not to after trying to ruin the world.
His stride was broken by a tap to his shoulder. Albert started to turn his head but before he could get a glimpse of who it was, he was dragged to a dark corner of the room. He stumbled, thanking the heavens that he wasn't delivering anything currently. Jerking his head up to meet the rude person who had pulled him without preamble, he froze.
Was it just him or was everyone sporting white hair today? It was like the amount of white hair he saw on a person was slowly increasing over time. Saya Ishii had just a streak, Luna Snow had half of her head, and now the woman-in-front-of-him's entire head was white. What was going on?
"Um.." Albert said very comprehensively, because he was eloquent like that. "Is there a reason for this? Because I really can't get kidnapped right now. Maybe we can reschedule for tomorrow?"
The white haired woman pursed her plump lips. She had smoky eye makeup and well defined brows. A diamond sparkle crop top fitted around her shoulders, a large scoop neck and thin straps revealing generous amounts of skin. Her leather pants could only be described as tight and uncomfortable. Albert guessed that she must be around Cindy's age, and something in his gut told him that this person had connections to his older sister as well.
Oh my God, he thought, mildly terrified. Is this a pattern? It's definitely a pattern. But even if it was, Albert had no idea what it meant. It couldn't be just villains because Seol was included in the line up, and Albert couldn't tell if this woman was a villain or not. Barring all that, however, the key thing here was that she wasn't wearing a backstage pass, so it was clear she wasn't supposed to be here.
"Where's your pass?" Albert asked when the woman didn't speak. "This and the leather pants really aren't helping your case of not being a potential kidnapper. I know taekwondo, you know."
That was a lie. Albert got his black belt in the third grade then quit the sport immediately after. If he learned anything during that time, it was surely all forgotten now.
Lady White Hair huffed slightly, looking a bit exasperated. He had that effect on people and he fully blamed Cindy for the bad influence. She finally spoke, ''do you know them?" and nodded over to where Cindy and Saya Ishii were talking.
Albert eyed the woman suspiciously. "What happens if I don't?"
"You do."
"Nope, never have seen them in my li—"
"You know them, or her, at least." The woman gestured impatiently, and Albert caught sight of an expensive, black watch on her wrist. He wasn't sure which her she was referring to, but, either way, the edge in her voice left no room for argument. Something about her seemed unbalanced, like she wasn't usually like this. Maybe seeing Cindy with the Fujinet CEO had set her off, although Albert had no idea why that would be so.
Taking a wild guess, he quirked his head. "Are you talking about my sister? Because she'll be a lot harder to kidnap than me. She's also very aggressive, so yeah... good luck with that."
"You're offering your sister up for kidnapping?" The question came out more amused than anything, but her eyes snapped to Albert when he mentioned his sister.
"She can handle herself." Albert wasn't sure what exactly he was saying, but he figured talking a lot would delay his inevitable murder. "She's very rude and has no taste, though, so I don't think you'd want her."
The woman arched a brow. "And which one would be your rude sister?"
Albert stalled, but something told him that he didn't have a choice but to answer. He gave in reluctantly, "the girl in the blue? That's her wearing my shirt. The other one is Saya Ishii, the Fujinet CEO."
Some emotion Albert couldn't name flickered in the woman's face. She leveled him with a piercing stare; Albert gulped. "Brother?"
"Yeah, can I go now?" Albert asked, making a mental note to ask Cindy about what was up with these girls coming to his university's fashion show today.
"No."
"Okay." He shuffled his feet awkwardly as the woman crossed her arms. "Then can I at least have your name?"
Her answer was curt. "Felicia."
"No way." His jaw dropped; his stomach sank. "You're Black Cat, aren't you?"
The tiniest nod confirmed his question, but a raise of her eyebrows showed her reaction to the unexpected name drop. Albert steeled himself, remembering how sad and guilty Cindy always looked whenever she recalled old memories. She wouldn't want him to go all pissed-off-brother on the Black Cat who could claw his face off more than it already was. He took a deep breath, choosing to focus on one thing he could genuinely thank her for. "Thanks for taking apart Goblin Nation, I guess."
Felicia Hardy looked mildly surprised, as if she hadn't been anticipating the gratitude. Unconsciously, Albert had started rubbing the big X that marred his face.
"No, seriously," Albert added. "My friend Matt was one of the people you saved. He would've been —... you know — if he hadn't remembered my number."
The best way to describe her was looking thoughtful, her shoulders lowered before she tilted her head. "You were in Goblin Nation?"
Albert gestured to his scar with a bitter ghost of a smile. "Cool souvenir, right?"
A tense silence descended between them before a thought struck him. He narrowed his eyes, Black Cat worked with Silk to dispose of the Goblin Gang but Cindy had never said if the thief knew her civilian identity or not. Horror bloomed inside his chest as he combed through his previous statements, searching for any slip-ups he may had made. In his panic, he almost missed Felicia murmuring, as if reminding herself, "personal is bad for business."
Yeah yeah, whatever. Albert didn't particularly care what a world renown ex-crime lord thought about what was bad for business or not. But the word personal caught his attention; if she was here for something personal, Albert was pretty sure she was here for Cindy. He planted his feet, stood a bit taller, and crossed his arms.
Felicia shot him an unimpressed look. "Yes?"
"Why did you drag me here?"
She smirked. "To compliment your vest."
"Thanks, it's from Korea. Cin got it for m— hey, no changing the subject. What do you really want?" The flick of Felicia's eyes towards the two girls they were discussing confirmed whatever Albert was thinking. "And how do you know Cindy?"
As Felicia mulled over her words, Albert tried to narrow his eyes and look intimidating. To be honest, she — despite being shorter — was plenty more scary. She was quieter this time, curt. "We're old... coworkers."
Wow, that was a major understatement. Albert couldn't contain his snort. Saya and Seol could both say the same and get away with it. Hmmm, maybe that was the pattern. As soon as he thought that, he discarded the notion, Seol was still "coworkers" with Cindy, after all. Everyone else were ex-coworkers.
"What?" Felicia asked, demanded, when Albert didn't follow up with a response.
"It's just," he jerked a thumb towards Saya. "She's also considered an old work friend. They had this whole thing, and she came to our apartment for it. Very not cool of her, by the way."
"A thing."
"A collaboration," he quickly amended. He didn't know why he felt the need to clear it up, but it seemed relevant. "I meant a collaboration."
Albert was watching carefully now, searching for any sign of Felicia knowing Cindy's alter ego. He added, cautiously. "Didn't you hear about the article that exposed Saya's involvement with the gangs?"
A flash of recognition confirmed that she did. "The one by Silk?"
"Who else," he deadpanned before he could think. Then, the name used caught up to him and he squinted at the thief. "You know?"
"I do."
"Who doesn't know?" He let out a long, suffering sigh. "What's the point of a secret identity if everyone knows?" Felicia started to open her mouth, looking smug, but Albert shot her a look. "Not asking you."
"So, Saya and Silk." Felicia brought the topic back. "What's up with them?"
"Just call her Cindy like a normal person, would you?"
"No."
"Okay, whatever. Why do you want to know?"
"I'm just curious."
"That's not really a good reason, why are you here again?"
Annoyance glimmered underneath her cold facade. "I'm here because I like fashion." She waved a ticket that appeared out of nowhere. Albert hoped that it hadn't been stolen. "It was just a coincidence that I saw a familiar face."
"Uh-huh." That made sense enough, he guessed, barring the whole personal business thing he heard from her. "Well, enjoy the show, I guess." He turned on his heel and started marching away.
A hand grabbed his wrist and he was right back where he started. Felicia let go as soon as he stepped into the shadows again and shot him a look. She made a motion of zipping her lips them disappeared.
What was that for? Did she really think Albert was going to keep this interaction private? He was literally planning on telling Cin as soon as he saw her.
Speaking of, Cindy was barreling towards him right now. She grabbed his wrist and took off in a full sprint, making a beeline to the backstage entrance. Albert stumbled along, his questions going unanswered.
So much for being an errand boy. He looked behind them and saw Saya Ishii in pursuit. They were running from Saya Ishii. A sponsor of the fashion show. Albert was so going to lose his scholarship. "Why are we running from her?"
"Reasons! None of then good!"
"Wow, very helpful! Anything else I need to know?"
"I may have hooked up with her at some point," Cin admitted as they switched directions.
"I did not need to know that." They skidded to a stop. In front of them, in the distance, was Felicia Hardy with her arms crossed and looking stern.
"Other way!" Cindy pulled Albert sideways.
"Why?"
"Let's just assume that I've hooked up with everyone with white hair in this vicinity, okay?!"
"Cin!"
Cindy pulled Albert to a stop once they barged into a particularly thick crowd. They both craned their necks, searching for Seolhee. Albert saw a glimpse of pink and dragged Cindy in that direction before the words Cindy said registered fully on his mind. Everyone with white hair..
He pulled them to a stop. "Cin, don't tell me you slept with Luna Snow too."
His big sister awkwardly cleared her throat and gave a half shrug. "We flirted?"
Albert looked up in exasperation. "Do you only hook up with white haired girls?"
"I mean, there was—"
"I don't want to know!" Albert was already scarred for life with this new information. He hadn't known Cindy had such an... illustrious love life — could it even be called a love life? "Oh my God. I don't think I can ever look at Seol in the eye ever again."
"At least she's not the ones chasing us?" Cin's voice pitched higher as both Saya and Felicia came into view. "Let's go!"
They practically ran into Seol, who stumbled back and was immediately on alert. She lowered her sunglasses and clocked the people chasing them with a tilt of her head.
"That girl stole my look," she sniffed at Saya's streak of white hair.
"I'm pretty sure she was born with i—" Cindy stopped herself. Albert shot her an unimpressed glare. "Anyways, Seol, run!"
They wove through the crowd, Albert struggling to keep up with two incredibly fit women. Seol dropped to his side, keeping pace as they followed Cindy outside. "Who even are they?"
"Cindy's ex-girlfriends?"
"She has ex-girlfriends?!"
"I don't really know; it's all very complicated!"
Seol muttered something unintelligible under her breath but didn't say anything out loud, for which Albert was grateful: he could not talk and run at the same time. How did heroes do this?
Right, heroes usually exercised. The most Albert ever did was run to class when he was late. And played Genshin Impact. He wondered if that was why Cindy never took him roof hopping. That was a shame, he was sure he would be amazing at it.
They weaved through the crowd and Albert almost cried when the music stopped, signaling the start of the show. He was going to miss the fashion show, wasn't he. Bursting out of the building, he followed Cindy and Seol all the way to some Mediterranean shop across the street.
"What are you?" Albert rounded on Cindy as soon as he could catch his breath. "A magnet for people with white hair?"
Cindy shrugged helplessly. "I don't know."
"I would like to know too," Seol said, more amused than anything. Her eyes were shining, exhilarated from the run.
"What did Saya want?"
"She wanted to hijack the fashion show." Cindy rolled her eyes. "But she needed inside help to do it and I told her you wouldn't. And then I knew she would chase us rather than stay so we started running."
Was this a good time to mention Felicia Hardy? Albert closed his mouth. "Huh, how would've she done that?"
A gruff voice with a heavy New York accent came from behind them. "Are you going to order?"
Cindy turned her head and glanced at the menu. "Well, since we're already here. Want me to pay for lunch?"
"You're telling me you create your own suit but you don't separate the gloves from the suit or the shoes?"
"Do you see any seams?" Cindy brandished her wrist, there was no glove line where the glove line should've been and — much to his annoyance — seamless. She had spun a portion of her superhero outfit just to prove a point. "Do you think I have the time to create each piece individually?"
That made an awful sort of sense, like a fashion take Albert didn't want to stand behind but had to grudgingly admit its ingenuity. "How do you take it off?"
"I kinda just.." She wiggled her fingers, forehead creasing. "Suck it back in?"
"What." His tone turned disbelieving. "No way."
"Yes way," she shot back. She touched her wrist with the other hand and Albert watched in astonishment as it unraveled and spooled back into her fingertips. Another minute and she respun a mask, white turning into red and webs transforming into a material Albert didn't know the name of.
"No way."
"I literally just showed y—"
He shook his head. "No wonder the back of your suit is always changing."
"It's hard to stay consistent, yeah." Cindy shrugged nonchalantly like she hadn't dropped totally new information about her powers just now.
Albert sneaked a glance at Seol, who seemed unsurprised. "How did you find out?"
"It was how she helped take out Sindr," Seol explained. "Teamwork."
Interesting. Albert fidgeted with his phone, the livestream of the show pulled up on it. The bell on the restaurant's door rang out, he looked up and almost dropped the phone. Saya Ishii and the Black Cat walked into the Mediterranean shop together.
Immediately, Cindy shot up, her chair clattering. She looked between the two with wary eyes.
"Oh yeah," Albert said. "I forgot to tell you I ran into Black Cat. Hi Felicia." He waved.
Felicia waved back, a smirk pulling at her face.
"What about me?" Saya pouted.
Cindy rounded on Albert, her eyes wild and frantic. He'd never seen her like this. "How did you forget?"
"We were running!" He protested. He motioned towards the two villains to come have a seat and Saya took the invitation immediately, strutting over in her heels.
"Albie—" a note of warning entered Cindy's voice and Felicia stayed where she was.
"Look," he said firmly. "If I'm gonna have to miss the fashion show because of your stupid work-life drama, at least pay the guy putting up with us yelling in his shop." He gestured to the burly man behind the counter and turned towards Saya with a faked smile. "What do you want?"
Immediately, Albert knew he said the right thing to make Cindy's face crumple with indecision. She hated it when her superhero side job got in the way of them spending more time together, and hated it even more when it caused Albert to miss something that was part of his personal life. When Cindy was Albert's age, she'd been in a bunker, and so she wanted him to experience everything in college.
Sometimes, the passing thought that Cindy was in the bunker at his age stopped Albert from fully enjoying himself when he went out. But everyone had family trauma, right? Theirs was just that his sister had been trapped for ten years, and he was on the streets for at least three while their parents were in the Negative Zone.
Cindy relented, "fine," and walked to where Felicia was standing. Their eyes exchanged a volley of unspoken words, far more intense than earlier when she did the same with Saya. Something in Felicia's eyes, too, made Albert curious as to why she was actually here. Cindy marched to the cashier and Felicia took the seat next to Saya.
"You're going," Cindy announced as soon as she came back. Albert almost protested when Cindy shot him a baleful look. "You're not skipping more of that fashion show."
"Fine," he sighed. "Can Seol come with me?"
Seol shot him a dirty look, one that clearly showed how much she also wanted to stay and listen in on the drama.
"Yeah, sure." Cindy pushed them out of the shop with their wrapped gyros. "I'll take care of these two."
Albert touched her shoulder. "Be careful?"
"Kick ass!" Seol winked, knowing something Albert didn't.
"I will," Cindy managed a very stressed out smile. "Trust me, this conversation is going to be... very interesting."
He suddenly got a mental image of Cindy going all big-sister and lecturing the two villains on how to behave. "Will we see them around more, then?"
His sister's eyes became cloudy. "We'll see."
Seol was quiet after the door closed till they crossed the street. "You know," she commented, taking a bite out of her gyro. "This is the first time I'm having Mediterranean food."
Albert glanced at her to see her eyes were still shining in excitement. At least one of them stayed unbothered. "Really?"
"Yeah. And about those two other white haired girls." Her voice turned mischievous. "Who do you think will win?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I'm out of the running now." Seol said, as if it was obvious. "I have a career to think about."
"Uh—" Albert was burning with curiosity as to what happened between Seol and Cindy, but couldn't bring himself to ask. "Are you saying this is a K-drama love triangle?"
"Yep." Seol grinned as they walked towards the building. "And you better tell me who wins."