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 Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 7:07 pm
She paused outside the door and brushed her hair out of her eyes. That alone would be enough to convince the person she was visiting that it wasn't her- Hae-min had never had to mess with her hair once she was done with the styling for the day. But things had changed- her hair had gone from her lower back to her chin, and it hadn't been her choice.
Well, that was besides the point. She smoothed her neat black slacks, brushed imaginary dust off her blouse, and knocked on Brad's door. Nervously, she tucked her hands behind her back and looked down at her feet. Her bad mood... she tried to feel better, she really did, but it was hard. What if Brad didn't recognize her? She didn't normally dress like this. "Calm," she ordered herself. It would all be fine. It had to be!
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 7:28 pm
The man was, unsurprisingly, working. Brad hunkered over his laptop in nothing but his comfortable jeans, a watch and his corno draped over his bare chest, equally bare feet tapping in time with some jazz tune in the background. He moved fluidly between the drawn blueprint clasped to a large easel with a light behind it and the program open on the glowing screen in front of him, moving 2D to 3D, creating a full model for viewing. This was always the easiest part of his job, and when the knock at the door came, he welcomed it as a break, despite his confusion and surprise.
No one ever visited him...unless it was his sister, and that might not have been so welcome.
Hiking his pants up (they were comfortable, not exactly well fitted), he padded barefoot across the hardwood floor from his work room, passing the kitchen and reaching for the door, opening it without a second thought to his appearance. His sight adjusted to the dim hallway, but not the vision in front of him.
Indigo eyes blinked in surprise. The woman before him was not someone he had seen before, even though she seemed familiar to him. She was a beautiful young woman dressed sharply, defining cool and collected and looking quite remarkable at it; definitely no one that belonged at his door. "I'm sorry," he said with a neutral expression, not exactly favoring being interrupted from his work by accident. "Can I help..."
He didn't finish. Something clicked in his head, and he knew - KNEW who the woman in front of him was, but his mind refused to register and acknowledge it. It was like a road block, or maybe more like the Wall of China in his case, that he could not utter her name or make any type of intelligent comment. He could see her legs (clothed as they may be), the top was attractive on her...and her hair. He was so shocked between both the loss of the tresses and how much it made her look younger and beautiful that there was nothing to say. The truth of who he was looking at filled his mind, even as it refused to accept it.
Brad was speechless.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 7:40 pm
He didn't recognize her. Hae-min drew back a little, her melancholy deepening (the aura of peace around her thusly strengthening at least tenfold). For once, how she felt was clear on her face, but soon enough she regained control over herself and looked carefully blank. He would remember, of course he would. Even she hadn't recognized her own self in the mirror after Maki had cut so much of her hair off as payment for her protection for so many years. He'd get used to it... right? He had to. Still, she pulled back a step. "A-aiyeh... Oppa?" Even her voice had changed a little, she noted with surprise; it was lower, less soprano than before. The fact that it was still definably her voice made it better, but only a little.
If she had known there would be this great of a change, she might have refused the favor.
"I just got off work," she mumbled, though she didn't say for the last time in the foreseeable future. He'd find out soon enough, since there were projects they were supposed to work together on in the near future. It'd be okay, though, she had protegees who knew their talents and could work together to get something close to her instructions. Besides... A Sin didn't have time to work. "I wanted to come see you, but if you're busy, I can go." Surely she could find something to do with Tae-yul, or... that person. Her official duties didn't start for a few days yet...
He still hadn't said anything. Hae-min reached up- with heels on, she was almost tall enough to touch the top of his head, but instead she pressed one hand gently to the side of his face. "Oppa?" Her worry rung clear in her tone.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 7:59 pm
He was silent as she talked, staring with slightly wider eyes than normal, his lips parting with words that refused to be spoken. It was her, his sorella, his Hae-min, and yet...no, it didn't matter. It seemed that hearing her voice did some good for him, as he felt a bit more relaxed but still within the grips of shock.
His hand lifted to touch the one against his face, slightly breaking his trance. "No," he croaked out, "not busy. Don't leave." Because he wasn't sure his voice could be heard, he stepped out of the loft and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her dearly and with purpose. Brad sincerely did not want her to go, not when she showed up of her own will, not when she looked like this! He almost wished his mind was burning with questions, because her image and the words he was associating with it was not welcome.
He pulled back slowly, gently kissing her cheek in the process, a sweet and lingering thing of curiosity. "Hae-min..." he finally said her name, although it felt funny not to call her by their shared nicknames. "Are you okay?" he asked, worry as clear in his baritone as it was in her sweet voice, having only seen Hae-min in anything but her normal attire only when Tae-yul had hid her traditional clothing. This, the hair cut...he didn't say it out loud, but if that sorry excuse for a brother was behind it, 'livid' wouldn't even become close to describe the anger that would burn.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:09 pm
Something seemed different, she considered, even as she hugged him back. Was it... could he tell? Panic seized her for a moment, but quickly Hae-min attempted to calm. Equilibrium was important. "Okay," she said softly, letting him go when he moved away and dropping her arms to her sides again. She shifted her weight to the other foot and smiled, though it didn't quite reach her eyes until he asked how she was doing.
"Oh, I'm fine, really I am," she said, a true and guileless smile coming easily now. "I just decided it was time for a change." A little jerkily, she reached up to tug on a lock of her hair. With a nervous hesitation, she looked up at him and asked "Do you like it?"
She decided she liked it when he said her name. Sorella sounded nice, but... It had been years since he'd actually called her Hae-min. Weird, yes, but good. (Some part of her rebelled at those thoughts, but was quashed by another piece of her mind. The new part.) "And you can't wear hanbok to work..." Well, you could. She often had. It hadn't seemed appropriate, not for the thing she was asking for...
Panic came again when she thought about what they would tell Brad when he was ready to move on to their joint projects. Her excuse... he'd know it was a lie. Even her boss had been doubtful. She folded her hands together to stop herself from fidgeting with her necklace.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:26 pm
A frown creased his worry, his brows knitting slightly. She was acting similar to how she had when Tae-yul had hit her, averting attention and seeming...anxious. Her excuse for the hair cut set off red flags in his mind, as 'Hae-min' and 'change' should never be spoken together, or in the very least, not seriously. At her question, he couldn't even speak his disbelief, instead being prompted to acknowledge it. With a somber nod, Brad replied honestly. "You look very young and beautiful."
He was nearly floored as it seemed she outright lied to him. Not appropriate to wear her traditional clothing to work? Like she'd done everyday since the day they'd met? It did not bode well, making him feel as though he should be on edge, but unable, unusually calm in fact. With a quiet nod, Brad stepped back into the loft, extending his hand within. "Why don't you come in? You came all this way, the least I can do is pretend I know how to be a host."
His front door was neatly arranged into a small foyer, the left hooking off into an impressive kitchen of stainless steel and dark countertops, impeccably clean and spotless save for a coffee maker, a can opener and a microwave next to the giant fridge. The window over the sink was closed but had a great view of the city. Continuing on lead into what one could call the living room and dining room; the living room looked completely unlived in with plush microfiber couch set and a wide screen TV against the far wall, complete with a stereo system from which the smooth jazz emitted from. All state of the art and all very unused, otherwise.
Where the dining room should be was his work space, his laptop propped open on a high desk where the light still illuminated his near finished project; various easels, writing utensils and rulers lay strewn about in a controlled chaos. The patio could be found by the living room, leading to a private little enclosure over looking the city; the rest of the loft could not be seen, as it continued left and onwards from his work station.
He paused between the kitchen and his work area, remembering she hadn't been to his home before, not since he'd moved out of the house he'd built for... "Can I get you anything to drink?" he offered politely, still uncertain of the true basis for the visit.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:37 pm
"Thank you," she said, her mood improving with the compliment. Beautiful, she thought cheerfully. Yes, that definitely was a positive shift in her mood there; the calming effect shifted, lightened.
Then she considered suddenly that Brad had worked with her for a long time. Maybe she had better tell him before he heard it from someone else. An explanation might help him understand why it wasn't appropriate... "No," she said. "But thank you. I didn't... walk here or anything." Curiously, she looked around; Brad had come to visit her many times, but she'd never been to the place where he lived. She couldn't help but be curious.
She shifted again, placing one hand on his arm to steady herself. "I won't... be working for a while. Things... changed, and I don't have time. I had to... use a really dumb excuse to get the time off I needed..." Why was it so hard to explain? Her mood plummeted again. She was doing this all wrong! He'd just be getting even more worried and she didn't want that... "It's nothing bad. Tae-yul had nothing to do with it, I promise, I wouldn't lie about that, it would be so, so wrong and it's not what happened." Only the first part was a lie. It was something bad. But the rest of it wasn't, and she was counting on her truths in the rest of the explanation to hide her unease over lying to Brad, of all people.
A sudden impulse disturbed her troubled thoughts, but she suppressed it. Why would she want to do that? With Br- her oppa. Brother, she reminded herself, looking up at him. "I'm just adjusting," she said softly to herself. "It'll get better."
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:54 pm
The hand lighting upon his arm did nothing to soothe the expression from his face. His jaw flexed in faint annoyance, knowing something was bothering her. Even her reassurance that Tae-yul had nothing to do with it did not bring him peace, despite his otherwise calm demeanor. If anything, the revelation only worried him more, for what else would upset the woman and make her leave work?
His hand lifted, pressing encouragingly over the one on his arm, taking a small comfort in the touch. "What happened?" he asked quietly, his tone indicating that he didn't want anything but the straight truth, no embelishment or lacking details. "What are you adjusting to?" Brad couldn't help that the frown lingered; it was not disapproving or mad, but concerned, quirking occasionally with something else.
Dark eyes were fixed on her face. He couldn't look away. Her fidgeting, her words, her hair, they all kept him locked on her. He knew he should look away or at least try to make his stare less intense - as he had a tendancy to be - he could not. Brad wanted to imprint the seriousness of his concern, although he couldn't deny the part of his mind that was still turning over just how lovely she looked. She was his sorella, his sister, as he had always known her...but it was hard to pin that on the woman with him now, that looked and acted very little like the woman he knew.
His lips pursed further. The change was only sidetracking him; he had to know what happened. Her strange antics were likely just a byproduct of what was ailing her...something he had to find out.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 9:03 pm
"I..." she faltered. "I did a favor for someone..." She looked down at her shoes, but kept talking. "The shop," she decided, looking back up now that she knew where to start. "I summoned a demon a while back... The deal was that the demon would protect me and when the contract was dissolved, I would give it a lock of my hair..." Hae-min had the good grace to look chagrined here. "I never defined a lock. So it took... a lot. And I had to dissolve it, because..."
Well... She quailed under the look Brad was giving her, and tried to organize her thoughts. It failed in a very impressive fashion. "It threatened you," she said. "It said... It said if I didn't, then you and Tae-yul... and that Tae-yul had already done it, so... And that was why he hit me, because of the thing he'd done, and it said that I had to end the contract with Maki, my demon, and I did, I had to!"
Her immediate thought following that was Damnit. Why couldn't she just keep her mouth shut, anyway?
Another horrible thought occurred to her. Brad was only human... If it was successful, then... Her grip on his arm tightened. There had to be a way!
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 9:14 pm
The frown could have split Brad's face in half, it was deepening with the statements. At the mentioning of summoning a demon, his expression completely reversed, his eyebrows shooting up with surprise, his lips parting in similar shock to when he'd opened the door. He could have missed everything else that was said, and maybe he had, as none of it made sense to him. His mind was spinning and tring to wrap around the idea that Hae-min had a demon.
"What is 'it?'" he questioned, bewilderment obvious in his voice. Brad blinked and shook his head, trying to clear his head, moving his hand from hers to cup her face and use gentle insistance to look him in the eye. "What threatened me?" he asked again, his voice far more soft than he had intended, his normal reaction of upset seeming to be held at bay in favor of a calm and near peaceful speech pattern. It was as though his thoughts couldn't be wrapped up in the turmoil he knew he should feel, as though he couldn't summon the wild concern that should be taking him.
He wanted to smile, but he knew it'd be a farse, and instead looked with great care into her face. "I can see why you needed protection, but what is this 'it' and what did Tae-yul do?" Brad couldn't even be frustrated that he wasn't more concerned; he tried to utilize the calmness to impart into the woman near by, his heart aching with her suffering.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 9:23 pm
Actually, the calm he seemed to feel made her mood brighten, nearly reaching a place where the aura that came with being the sin of lust (how she shuddered at that thought!) was almost completely negated. "I don't know what 'it' is," she said, leaning on him tentatively. "It said if I didn't do as it said, it would hurt you, and one of the things it said was Don't try to find out who I am. But I think it was a woman, because the voice was high... I think I knew her," she said, puzzled.
She didn't want to tell him. "It... wanted me to..." Her reluctance was quite clear, and her mood sunk again. "It wants to... get rid of misery," she said, obviously confused by this goal. "So it needs people... to be the 'focus' for whatever it needs to do. And... each of the people chosen represent a specific sin." Hae-min blushed a brilliant red, and tried to continue, but couldn't bring herself to say which sin she was. "Tae-yul is Wrath," she said, "and I'm..." Embarrassment overcame her and she couldn't look him quite in the eye. This was humiliating!
"Please don't make me say it," she mumbled, letting go of his arm to wrap her arms about herself.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 9:38 pm
More riddles, more confusion. Brad sighed quietly to himself, feeling the ache in his heart intensify. She did something bad, something for him, something worth lying over and now being afraid--
"What?" He snapped out of his thoughts, even beyond baffled at the mention of sins and personifying them. She mentioned Tae-yul, and the look that briefly flitted his features spoke loudly of thinking it couldn't have better suited him if it tried. It was no excuse for him to be a raging a**, but as she pulled away and refused to look at him, it became apparent to him that the problem was much, much bigger than a mere demon.
"No." The word fell from his suddenly dry mouth. It wasn't an answer to her plea, it was denial, heavy and disbelieving. Brad was not a stupid man, but he did have his dense moments; it did not, however, take him long to go over the seven sins and decide which one Hae-min would be upset over.
Hae-min.
He reached for her, wanting to hug her and comfort her, uncertain of what her burden meant but knowing she was upset over it. That was enough for him. "I wont make...make you do anything, and it wont change the fact that I love you, Hae-min."
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 9:51 pm
She flinched visibly. Had he figured it out-- yes. What he said... It was a denial. But he didn't seem to think she was lying. It had to be denial of what she'd decided to do... If he could ignore it, then, well, she could too. For now.
That decided, she stepped forward and hugged him. Really, she was grateful, but... She couldn't be too happy. Equilibrium, at least for now. Later she could yield and be her cheerful self. Later she could... be Lust. Now she wanted to talk with Brad. "Thank you," she said, clinging tightly for reasons she didn't quite understand. "But I'm more worried about... me making you do things."
Hae-min paused, uncertain as to whether she could say this without her mood dropping again. "When I'm happy, other people feel differently," she said carefully. "And when I'm sad, it's the same way." She gave him a guilty look. "You noticed you couldn't... get worried, right? Not a lot?" Her gaze slid away again. "That's... what happens when I'm sad. So I'm trying to balance it. It's... difficult."
It was nice to be able to be honest, at least.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 10:05 pm
Listening carefully, he gazed at the woman in his arms, concern etching lines around his eyes and mouth as if to advance his age. He rathered she stay with him, because he could feel her and know that she was safe and well; even just standing near by, he felt like he was helpless to do anything for or with her. Brad was not graceful in such positions.
One dark brow dipped low over a dark eye, the other rising to nearly hide beneath his messy hair as she continued. The explanation didn't do much for him other than add another strange layer to this complicated tale. "How could that make me do anything? Yes, I..." He hesitated. "I felt disquieted but not upset like I should have been. But it's just a minor influence, I can still think."
He lifted a hand to draw around her newly shortened hair - not through it, he would never touch it without permission - wishing he could understand better. "You don't have to worry around me, okay? I want you to be comfortable, and be yourself with me. Don't feel you need to be any other way but as the sweet woman I know." Brad did smile then, gentle, hopeful.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 10:14 pm
But she couldn't be comfortable! Because then he wouldn't be. She might be largely clueless as to men and women, but she knew enough to know that. And the things she didn't know were getting filled in quickly anyway...
Hae-min tried to quash a general feeling of well-being (it was happiness, really) but couldn't. If the effects weren't as strong on Brad, if he didn't succumb to thoughtless indulgences like the others she'd observed on the way over, maybe she could stay close. Maybe she could be happy around him, even. She smiled at him, glancing up at his hand. "You can touch it, you know," she said softly. "It's easier to fix, now."
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