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No one opens their mouth to speak. The only sounds in the large, old dining room are the clinking of cutlery against plates and the swirling of wine in the glass.
It's not like at home, where Zoey talks nonstop about her day, waving her hands in front of her while forgetting her plate, and Rumi's soft, melodious laughter fills the air. A place where Mira herself comments and laughs, instead of pressing her lips together and scratching her thigh under the table.
Even meals with Celine were better, and that's saying something. Celine would go on and on about demons, their training, and their diets, but even when she acted like that, Mira could see the fear in her eyes, hear the worry in her voice, and the care in every action.
Perhaps Celine wasn't perfect. In fact, she was far from it, but she was a much better adult than whatever her parents were.
The parents she had to see, and pretend not to be too angry about it.
Parents who hadn't even looked her in the eye the entire hour, talking amongst themselves and acting as if they were the perfect family. The best.
They weren't, and never will. The only decent one in this family was her brother, and of course, today he wasn't here, busy studying.
This dinner would at least have been worthwhile if she had been able to see him, but no, she wasn't that lucky.
Letting out a long exhalation through her nose, she readjusted herself in her seat.
What would Rumi and Zoey be doing now? Would they be trying to cook something to eat, despite Rumi's minimal knowledge and Zoey's penchant for experimentation? Or would they have ordered takeout?
Perhaps they were both on the couch, watching a movie about wildlife. Without Mira to keep Zoey company, Rumi was much more susceptible to being persuaded to join in. And it's not as if Rumi didn't like the hugs and cuddles that being on the couch meant, even though she could act as if that were the case. Beneath that tough, perfect leader exterior, Rumi was clingy. And oh, how Zoey and Mira loved to take advantage of that.
Hopefully, Mira could go home soon and join them. Being away from them for so many hours turned out to be quite an unpleasant experience. Codependency or something like that, Celine would murmur, pinching the bridge of her nose like, according to Zoey, only mothers do.
Or perhaps it was just the company she had at this moment that made her feel this way.
"Daughter." Exactly that company. "We have decided to give you another chance to make this family proud."
Her back straightened a little more than it already was. Her hands, gracefully hidden under the table, clenched into fists.
Her father remained unfazed, wiping his mouth with a handkerchief.
Damned idiot. Mira hated having his face. His attitude.
"Oh yeah? Which one is it this time?"
Their attempts to fix her had never been lacking during all the years she had been alive. Rulers, spoons, belts, fists—nothing ever worked. Why did they think she would stay silent and accept whatever offer they had this time?
Mira wasn't the black sheep of the family for nothing; she'd earned it. She didn't stay silent when she saw a problem. That wasn't her way. And now, she's not alone. She has Rumi, Zoey, Bobby, and Celine. She is no longer the lonely teenager she once was.
"Silence, you rude girl, your father hasn't given you permission to speak."
"Unlike you, I don't need his permission for anything."
The corner of her mouth curved. Not a smile, but far from the tightly pressed lips she had worn before.
How could she not, when the satisfaction of being able to put her mother in her place filled her? She could try to hide it, but Mira recognized that furrowed brow. It was identical to the one Mira made when she was angry.
For once, the similarity didn't anger her.
"Insolent girl-"
"Silence." Her mother closed her mouth, looking away with her chin held down. "As I said, we have another opportunity for you to prove your worth to this family. And about your question... You'll have to abandon your silly girl band and return to the family business."
That again?
"I won't do it, and you know it."
As a businessman, her father should already recognize a bad investment. It was her mother who always tried to bring her back, not him, for the same reason.
What had changed?
"So you'd prefer the public to know about your preferences?"
"What?"
"I always knew you were a deviant, but I never thought you were dumb enough to fall in love with your bandmates." His eyes locked onto hers. "As my daughter, you should know that no place is safe from the paparazzi."
Multiple photos, large and in full color, came out of his jacket pocket.
Photos of her with Rumi, with Zoey, or with both, looking at them with eyes that fans would not hesitate to describe as soft and heartfelt, gazed into her face.
Mira's heart sank.
"Abandon your career now and do it with pride, or continue to disobey me, and we'll see how long your little career lasts when your precious fans find out about this."
Bile rose in her throat.
Where, how... When?
Fuck.
This was terrible. How had a paparazzi caught them? And how had they informed her family? Was it someone from inside? From outside? Damn, damn!
"You have until tomorrow to decide. This dinner has ended."
Pulling his heavy chair away from the table, her father stood up, putting the photos back in his pocket, and headed towards the door.
Following his example, her mother got up from the chair, her heels clicking with each step towards the door, but unlike him, she didn't leave immediately.
"Your reputation and that of your leader may survive, but that other member of your group, the American one, will not be so lucky. Perhaps the media will say that she corrupted you with her strange foreign habits, who knows?"
Foreign habits?
Mira stood up abruptly, bracing her hands against the table as the chair fell backward.
"Don't talk about Zoey like that!" Heat coursed through her chest, her fingers twitching with the urge to summon her weapon. God, not even the demons of Gwi-Ma were this evil. "And if you even dare to spread that as news, I will finish you off."
Shaking her head in disappointment, but not surprise, that stupid woman who claimed to be her mother spoke.
"You'll have to work on your manners and attitude if you don't want anything to happen to those girls, miss." Looking back at the hallway where her husband disappeared, she continued. "Prepare your apologies for tomorrow; you'll need them."
Mira gripped the table in her hands, the wood splintering under the force of an enraged hunter, while trying not to jump on her mother and wipe that stupid smug look off her face.
Only when the sound of her heels fading away did Mira let go of the table, splinters embedded in her skin, and small traces of blood trickling from them.
She put on her jacket without thinking, her heart pounding against her chest, and rubbed her face.
"...Thank you for the food." She murmured to the family chef, earning a nod from him, and eyes filled with pity. How disgusting.
Without looking back, Mira left the dining room and headed for the door, her skin itching and her brain throbbing to the rhythm of her feet against the ground.
How lucky that her brother wasn't here today, huh? Their parents had definitely planned it. He always managed to defend her, and they had noticed.
"Breathe, Mira, or can't you do something so basic?" Celine and Zoey hadn't spent months putting breathing strategies into her head for her not to use them.
Zoey... Just thinking about what her mother had said about her filled her with rage. A rage as hot as her skin, which the cold night wind could do nothing to quell.
And Rumi...
How could Mira tell them what had happened? How could she even open her mouth and admit to them what she hadn't even admitted to herself?
I always knew you were a deviant.
How did her father know? How could he see through the excuses Mira created and refuse to stop believing?
Mira hadn't even come out to anyone. She'd never even dated anyone. How could he have known?
Was she that obvious? So... unsubtle?
Celine or Bobby would have said something about it if that were the case, wouldn't they? But Mira had always been a public relations disaster waiting to happen. Perhaps they thought it was implied.
God, did Zoey or Rumi know about this? If her feelings had been visible enough for her father of all people to see them, Zoey, who is emotionally intelligent, and Rumi, who is intuitive, should already know.
Was that why Rumi never changed clothes with them, nor agreed to go to the bathhouse? Because she was afraid that Mira could do something to her?
The bile rose back into her throat, or perhaps it had never gone down, and she was just noticing it.
"I need a drink."
Something, anything, that would pull her mind out of the gutter, and take away all this anxious energy that was invading her.
If only she had her hat or her glasses...
But since she didn't have them, going anywhere other than their house wasn't an option.
Taking a deep breath, she walked along the streets, her hands deep in her pockets, the itching in her eyes largely ignored.
She felt like a weak and foolish teenager again, running away from home after another fight with her parents, just like she used to do back then.
Had she made no progress at all? Had all these years as Celine's apprentice and Bobby's protégé been for nothing?
Mira can't even think of a clear answer. She can't think anymore. Her head feels strange.
She doesn't know when the cold air stops hitting her skin, or when the outside becomes the inside. One moment, she's simply in the elevator, when before she wasn't, with the repetitive and boring music ringing in her ears.
Zoey could do a much better beat than that. Why haven't they changed it? This one is annoying, so... empty, and alone.
Like her.
The difference is that she cannot change. She cannot be modified.
She doesn't know what that means yet. Which way it leans.
Is she, and always will she be, the black sheep of the Kang family? Tied to them even when she claims to be free?
Or has she always been Rumi and Zoey's complement, their other half?
That will be decided tonight, whether she likes it or not.
All because Mira had let her guard down, had become too complacent. Why did she think this, this love, care and softness wouldn't blow up in her face?
The elevator doors opened, and her feet moved forward without thinking, escaping the music, the confinement that oppressed her.
But was she?
"Silence." She murmured, leaving her jacket on the strangely empty couch. Her head turned, noticing the faint sound of voices in the kitchen, along with the yellow light coming from there, and against all her instincts, she decided to go, although she would much rather hide in her room and drink until she passed out.
The threads of the Honmoon pressed against her fingers, warm and soft like silk.
Of course she had caught Honmoon's attention with this, how could she not?
"I'm fine."
At least that's what she wanted to believe.
The Honmoon, proving to be a centuries-old entity with the souls of dozens of women as stubborn or even more so as Mira, inside, did not believe her, tightening their grip on her, trying to guide her hand towards the kitchen, as if delivering some stupid motivational message like "you have someone to turn to".
Mira let herself be drawn into their grasp, too weak to refuse something she has always wanted and will always want.
"Hey."
Zoey and Rumi's heads, which had been bowed as they talked on the kitchen island, at a distance not very usual for mere friends, were instantly lifted, like those of two very lively puppies.
"Mira!" A dwarf missile in the shape of Zoey crashed into her, trapping her in her arms with the same force a Boa constrictor would with its victims.
Unlike those victims, Mira likes her place, even if it makes it hard to breathe, and she wraps her arms around Zoey's slender body, squeezing her closer than usual. This could be the last time she can do this.
(She barely feels the pain of the splinters digging deeper into her skin. Pain is welcome when her head is too sober for this.)
Rumi smiled from ear to ear, gracefully rising from her chair, and joining the hug.
"You've finally arrived."
"I had a busy day."
With Rumi and Zoey's bodies pressed against hers, in an embrace too long to be just friendly, she realized that she was doomed from the start to be discovered.
When Rumi, as always, let go first, Zoey followed her and Mira will never admit that she missed them instantly.
She wasn't clingy; she had an image to maintain. One that was crumbling, but damn if it was still there.
"How did it go?" Rumi's voice was soft as she looked at her.
"Why do you ask?"
"You don't look like, uh," Zoey rocked on her tiptoes. "Like it went really well. You were there almost all day, when you always sneak out earlier."
"The lunch invitation extended into dinner." If you can call it that when her parents have expressly forbidden the staff from letting her leave before a mandatory dinner. "But it wasn't... very good."
"It never is when it comes to your parents." Rumi took her hand in hers, squeezing it.
"Even Celine hates them, and she only hates demons."
"I don't think there's much difference between them and demons." At least a demon would have given her a more sweet deal, even if it was full of lies. "They're trying again to get me to quit Huntr/x."
"They never give up, huh?" Zoey wrapped her arms around her waist. "Even Gwi-Ma isn't that insistent."
"Yeah..." Rumi squeezed her hand with more force. "But something else happened, didn't it?"
Mira nodded, opening her mouth, but struggling to find the words. The girls wait for her, calm and patient, and damn, Mira didn't want to miss this.
"They're blackmailing me this time." Well, blackmailing her with something that did affect her. Something they had not achieved before. "They say that if I don't go back to the business, they'll expose to the fans my... attraction to women."
There, a secret between two was out. She could handle this. Mira wasn't a coward. What did it matter if she had never even acknowledged her sexuality? The truth was going to come out one way or another. At least here she still had some power.
"What?" Rumi shook her head, her sharp nails digging into her skin. "I'll call Celine and Bobby right away. They can prevent the media storm if that happens, Mira."
"Oh I'm gonna fucking kill them. Did they say something else?" Zoey's smile was as sharp as her knives. And Zoey liked really sharp knives, the kind that could slice through skin with just a touch.
"If they don't have evidence, we can sue them for defamation when they try."
"That's the problem, Rumi, they have evidence of me being...this." Inhale, exhale, Mira. Inhale and exhale. You can't be that useless. "I stay on Huntr/x and he exposes the photos he has against me, or I go back to the family business."
"That son of a bitch-"
"Okay, okay, we can work this out. Mira, is it just you in those photos, or is there someone else with you? And do you know the context of those photos? If we know that, Celine and Bobby will be able to deal with them better.
This is where it all ended. It was good while it lasted, she supposes.
"In the photos... You and Zoey are with me, Rumi."
"Me...and Zoey?"
"Yes."
"So they want to use our relationship to threaten you and distance you from us ?"
Zoey's grip on her waist tightened.
"You're gay to us and we to you, so what? What the hell is it to them to interfere in our business?"
"Gay to me?"
"Mira, I have, like, the biggest, craziest crush on you in years, and obviously I'm also in love with Rumi, I mean, look at her, she's everyone's type, but that's not the point here! The point is, your parents want to separate us!"
Mira opened her mouth, wanting to affirm that yes, that's the point and that she needs to hear all about how Zoey is apparently in love with her and Rumi, but she can't get the words out before-
"They won't do it."
Before Rumi's voice interrupted her. A voice they had never heard before. It was deeper, double, and resonant in her bones like that of a demon.
"They can't make you leave, because you belong to me." Rumi's nails, no, claws, stopped digging into her skin, instead holding her hand tenderly, and rests her eyes on hers. One of them bright gold, with a small pupil, like a cat's. Her patterns cover her skin, going up the neck of her sweatshirt to her face, and oh, that was the reason why Rumi never changed her clothes with them.
Although Mira doesn't understand why. Her patterns are unlike any she's ever seen before. They aren't even purple, but a furious red. Not terrifying, but... protective. Protective of her.
Heat rises to her cheeks. Watching Rumi lose control because of her is incredibly attractive, and Mira feels like she could melt into a puddle. Especially when Rumi's brow furrows as she notices something strange in her hand, and she uses her claws to gently remove each splinter.
Her mouth feels dry, and she's sure it's not due to dehydration.
She doesn't even flinch when Rumi finishes tending to her hand, and a purple flame suddenly engulfs them. She only knows that now she has an excuse to be red that it doesn't ruin her reputation.
Zoey, equally interested in the whole situation, but preserving her neurons better than she did, backs away a little at the sight of the flame, even if her pupils dilate with fascination.
As close as she is to Rumi, it would be foolish to assume that Mira can think. She can't.
"Rumi, what the hell?"
Rumi's eyes dart across Zoey's face, quick and agile, and before Zoey can react, she takes her hand and encircles it with her own. A purple flame of the same color envelops them.
Zoey swallows nervously, her eyes swimming from Rumi to the flame, but when she realizes it doesn't burn, they remain fixed on Rumi.
The Honmoon strings warm around them. Loving, calm. Almost proud, and somewhere, Celine must be having a breakdown.
"I own your soul. Zoey's and yours. " Rumi declares, caressing the back of their hands. "Right?"
Zoey's response is automatic and breathless, as if it had been trapped in her chest for years and could finally get out.
"Yes!"
Mira's isn't better. Rumi has them wrapped around her little finger, and she knows it.
"Yeah."
The red disappeared from Rumi's patterns, changing into a rainbow of colors that the fire in her hands mimicked. Her lips curved into a smile, and oh shit, Zoey and she almost fainted at the sight of fangs there. Maybe Mira should thank her father for this opportunity. That would ruin his life.
"I'll take care of your parents." The flames faded, but Rumi didn't let go. "Neither they nor anyone else will separate us."
"Yes." Zoey nodded, the crystalline look in her eyes slowly disappearing. "Yes, they can't beat us if we beat them at their own game! They want to expose that you're in love with us, right, Mira? So let's make it clear that you are, and that we are in love with you too!"
Mira blinked repeatedly, leaving the gay paradise she was in.
"Zoey, we don't have time to make a plan, he gave me until tomorrow to decide."
"We don't need a plan. Just my phone's camera and my Twitter!"
"Can't I just ruin them physically, emotionally, and financially?"
"Oh, you can, Rumi, but that will be later! The best revenge is the one you don't expect. And what do I have in mind? It will be their nightmare. "
Zoey's smile was wide, too wide, and definitely terrifying to anyone. Anyone other than Mira or Rumi, that is, because wow, if that wasn't sexy too.
Although Mira loved seeing Rumi and Zoey being sweet and tender, seeing this other side of them made her knees weak. If they continued like this, she wouldn't hesitate to kneel and worship them like the goddesses they were, screw her tough girl image.
With her ears burning, she cleared her throat and tried to get that image out of her head.
"So what's your idea?"
"This!" Before Mira could ask what she meant, Zoey grabbed the collar of her blouse and used her strength to force her to bend down to her level, her soft lips crashing against hers. And oh, Mira wanted to do this for the rest of her days.
Sadly, the kiss ended with the click of a camera taking a picture, and while Mira blinked and tried to revive her scattered thoughts, Zoey went for her next victim.
Rumi, red as a tomato, let out a high-pitched, inhuman squeal as Zoey approached. Fortunately for everyone, her patterns no longer glowed, having settled into her skin as cute white marks, although explaining to fans why Rumi suddenly had tattoos would be difficult anyway.
"Z-Zoey!?"
Mira straightened up, licking her lips as Zoey, laughing as if she were drunk, grabbed Rumi by the chin with one hand and pushed her down. For a demon who just minutes ago seemed ferocious, Rumi was now nothing more than a ball of nervousness and shyness, barely reacting enough to close her eyes and return the kiss, albeit awkwardly.
Her parents would die when these photos went viral. Whoever the paparazzi was who had obtained all those photos, none of them would pose a threat anymore when Zoey had photos which all journalists and paparazzi would sell their souls and organs for on her phone.
Celine should really be grateful that Rumi didn't turn evil or something. If that had happened, Zoey would have been a terrifying enemy for Celine. Not for Mira, though. She would have followed them without hesitation. Rumi and Zoey could ask her to kill someone and she would just ask where to hide the body.
...Is this what her brother meant when he said she was whipped?
The click of a camera snapped her out of her thoughts. Zoey, just like before, instantly pulled away from Rumi, who didn't even open her eyes, motionless in place like a gargoyle.
"And now–" Zoey looked at them with a soft blush on her cheeks that Mira wanted to kiss. "Kiss, you two!"
Rumi let out another squeal, but Mira didn't hesitate, holding her chin with one of her hands, and slowly guiding her towards a kiss, giving her time to back away if she wanted.
Rumi refused, closing her eyes and lunging forward, crashing her lips against her as if she physically needed to. Mira's hands moved down, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her body closer. Rumi, following her example, wrapped her arms around her neck, her fingers scratching her scalp in an absurdly addictive way.
Mira opened her mouth, biting Rumi's lower lip with her teeth, and gasping for breath as a sinful sound escaped from Rumi's throat.
The sound of the camera taking a picture sounded several times, and the fact that Zoey was watching them, capturing what they were doing on film, only made them more needed.
"Girls..." Zoey's voice was high-pitched, her breathing labored. "It was about taking a picture of a kiss, not filming a porn movie."
The joke was weak, breathless, and Mira didn't hesitate to open one eye and observe how Zoey was.
The response was trembling, and very, very delightful to look at.
Pulling away from Rumi, who let out a groan as a complaint that absolutely did not make her lower stomach boil, Mira spoke.
"Have you posted the photos yet?"
"Y-yes, I just did it. Let's see if it's helpful for your parents to have some old information about something that's no longer a secret!"
Later, when Mira could worry about her parents, she would thank Zoey, but for now...
"Then come. Don't think we'll let you get away with just that insipid kiss."
Public relations and the ever-increasing gray hair on Celine and Bobby would be her future problems. Right now, Mira just wanted to have Rumi and Zoey against her.
"Yes ma'am." As if she were a soldier speaking to someone of higher rank, Zoey put her hand to her forehead and saluted, walking obediently towards them.
"I still have to get the splinters out of your other hand." Rumi murmured against her neck, her warm breath against her skin, her voice returned to normal.
Zoey, now resting her head on Rumi's shoulder, arched her eyebrows.
"Splinters?"
"It's a long story, I'll tell you tomorrow. For now, how about we go to the couch and watch an animal documentary?"
"Sure." Zoey smiled. "Hey Rumi, look at me?"
When she did, Zoey pulled her into another kiss, this one slower, her lips moving over Rumi's, guiding her as if it were a dance.
When they separated, Rumi smiled with all her canines in view.
"I really like this."
"I hope you like this too then." And without further ado, Zoey moved, grabbing the collar of her blouse again and pushing her down. It seemed to be one of her favorite moves. Not that Mira complained.
Mira closed her eyes, letting herself go.
She was definitely going to brag to her parents that they were the reason she got two girlfriends. Right in their faces. And she'd even record it. They would be absolutely horrified.
But now it was time to pamper those two girlfriends.