The Odyssey, ㅤ ㅤAlchemy Of Souls

2. Betrayal? It's strange

BETRAYAL? IT'S STRANGE      ✷     CHAPTER TWO:

                           PARK HEESO'S CHEEK was kissed by a foreign pain that she had not felt in a long time, especially one that was delivered by her supposed friend. The wound was still raw, still fresh. And whilst the pain began to subside, the tears in her eyes lingered. 

   Her eyes stung yet she would not cry. She would not let the tears fall — she couldn't even if she wanted too. They were all watching her, and she would not give them the satisfaction of seeing her crumble beneath their piercing, curious gaze. Familiar eyes were peeling away at her layer by layer, trying to find the pieces of her that she had tucked away long ago. 

    They would not find what they were seeking within her — disappointment had been one of the earliest traits Park Heeso had displayed, and she was sure that they had long-since become acquainted with it.

  But the pain was unbearable and she was exhausted. 

  Betrayal wasn't foreign to Heeso, she knew it well enough — like one knew the back of their hand. But betrayal from Jang Uk was something that she had never thought she would encounter.

   "You are like them?" Her lips quivered and her eyes burned. It was them or us. Them or us. The divide between them only grew.

  Jang Uk would not meet her eyes — couldn't even if he tried. They had formed a special type of kinship with their inability to become mages, but their bond had been severed when his gate of energy had been unsealed. Her issues seemed trivial now since he could no longer relate.

  She felt herself deflate beneath the weight of his gaze, or rather the weight that came with knowing that she would never be able to confide in her greatest confidant again. 

  There was an obvious divide that had wedged itself between the pair that had not been there before. 

  Park Jin, sensing the tense atmosphere, cleared his throat. "He does not try, he will amount to nothing. No one will train him anyway — they've been forbidden." 

  Heeso narrowed her eyes at her uncle. She scoffed. "Just as you said he would never be able to unseal his flow of energy? You're a reliable man uncle." 

  His mouth parted open, the shock evident on his furrowed brows and creased expression. "That's no way to talk to your uncle," he scolded. 

  Heeso only hummed in response as she spun around, turning on her heels. 

  They watched in silence as she turned her backs on them once again.

✷

                     SONGRIM DID NOT feel like home anymore. It seemed to only serve as a temporary refuge for Park Heeso now. She had no home, and the revelation left her head reeling, goosebumps travelling up her spine and along her arm.

   Angrily, she clenched her fists as Dang-gu approached. He nestled down beside her, wrapping his arm around the girl as she flinched against his touch.

  "It's not his fault, Heeso." 

  She felt the blood drain out of her face, the silent tremble overtaking her body as she frowned. "I know," she seethed. "But I'm in mourning." She planted herself on her bed, head suffocated by her pillow, her throat squeezed shut. She should've been happy for him, elated even, but her pride would not allow her too. She could not celebrate his success when it came with the loss of her own.

  Dang-gu snorted in response. 

  "I'm mourning the loss of my best friend," she declared, sitting upright then. 

  "But I'm still alive," Jang Uk huffed, his mouth parted open as he nestled down beside her, his head on her shoulder.

  She frowned at him, her scowl only deepening as she shrugged him off. Quickly, she wrenched her eyes shut. "For your past self," she corrected. "Now I'm the only vessel remaining."

  "Vessel?" Yul retorted as he pulled open the shuttered door, little streams of light filtering in. He stepped into the wide room, confusion was branded across his unnervingly beautiful face.

  Heeso groaned in response. "Three's a party, and four is three too many."

  She sighed, continuing on. "Besides, I'm the only one who's not like you. I'm useless now." Her lip trembled, the words were sour on her tongue. So sour that she almost didn't dare to utter them aloud.

  Yul observed her, silently. His head was tilted to the side, molten eyes narrowed, and red lips parted. He was thinking. The thoughtful expression stamped across his face and knitted in-between his brows made her gaze falter, her throat dry. 

  She didn't like it when he thought — he was too good at reading people, too good at reading her. He could tell what she was thinking before she even thought it — it was his greatest gift, an art only he had been able to master. 

  She looked away. "Stop doing that."

  "Doing what?" he questioned.

  "Looking at me like you know what I'm thinking."

  He blinked. "But I do know what you're thinking."

  She screwed her eyes shut then, turning her head to face away from him. She couldn't talk to him when he was like this, couldn't even meet his eyes. Her throat seized up, a haze passed over her face and she returned to her silent sulking. 

(They didn't dare disrupt her this time.)

                                     ✷ AUTHOR'S NOTE:        would it b bad if i tell u guys how much i adore this chapter like PLEASEEE ... their dynamics asw ??? HELLO ??? they're all such cuties bruh i litro love them all sosososo much like i treasure them ... they r litro all soulmates, best buddies, ykwim ???

    again, ik we don't hav a solid love interest PLS but i'm so excited 4 heeso to meet mudeok cuz she's my golden girl, my bae, litro my favourite character ever in alchemy of souls like please i wish she had another szn          tbh my fav character in tv history

   opinions please !! also i just watched soulmate which is this kmovie and OMG it was so beautiful and sad ... sosososo sad i literally sat there crying for like the last half an hr LOLLL it was so deeply depressing i'm acc scarred and idk how i'll ever recover but yolo best move i've ever watched, it's SO up there w waves, like lowk thinking it beats waves altho waves had such beaut. cinematography and shi, idek why i'm going on a whole tangent abt movies but whatevs i'm lit a connoseuir like pls i don't want 2 be unleashed into work society, i want to get paid 2 watch movies and tv for a living ... like gogglebox i suppose, sigh