𝓈𝒾𝓃𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 ─── ˢˡᵒʷ ᵘᵖᵈᵃᵗᵉˢ

⁰⁴. ❞𝐢𝐭❜𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐛𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮❞

''  "ᶦᵗ'ˡˡ ᵃˡʷᵃʸˢ ᵇᵉ ʸᵒᵘ" ''

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What looked like a cute fairy's cottage from the outside turned out to be a witch's lair on the inside. As soon as Sunoh stepped inside, he found himself surrounded by a dark interior with weird but funky-looking decorations placed in every corner. The floorboards, staircase, and banister were all made from black wood, and all sorts of weird and wonderful objects were displayed on seemingly endless shelves which helped to liven up the scene. Coloured bottles dangled from the ceiling encasing various lightbulbs which painted rainbows on the otherwise blank canvas of the walls, adding a mystical vibe to the interior.

"This place is amazing," Sunoh breathed as his eyes darted around the corridor, trying to take in as much of the place as he could.

"You like it?" Nari questioned, peering at the boy closely as she tried to figure out whether he was joking or being genuine.

Sunoh nodded eagerly. "Yeah—it looks awesome! Where did you get all of this stuff?"

"Thrift stores, of course."

As he turned to look at her, Sunoh just about caught the twinkle in her eyes and the slight upwards curve of her lips before she turned away from him.

Her current state was very fitting to the witchy atmosphere of her home. Her hair was tied up into what Sunoh guessed was supposed to be a bun though it was too messy to tell, and she was dressed in a dark silky bathrobe that trailed along the floor behind her. The matching slippers on her feet had strangely pointed ends, and for a moment he wondered where on Earth she had managed to find them. Given her not-so-subtle love for thrift stores, he guessed she must have found them in one of those.

"Make yourself at home. The kitchen is there and the living room is there, the bathroom is through there," Nari explained, pointing at the respective doors to the rooms she named as she began to climb up the stairs. "You can look around or turn the TV on in the living room or something—do whatever you like, I'll be back in a minute."

Sunoh watched her climb the stairs, still intrigued by her get-up. Once she disappeared from his sight, he turned his attention to his surroundings and cautiously began to explore the bottom floor, venturing further into the witch's lair.

─🌊─

Once she had returned, Nari found Sunoh staring at a collection of photos hanging on the wall in the living room. Her heart dropped as she realised what the photos were of. Approaching slowly with her gaze focused on the photos, she mumbled, "I should get rid of these, shouldn't I?"

Sunoh jumped, his gaze snapping over to her as she stopped at his side. Exhaling as he calmed his startled heart, he uttered, "Oh—you're back."

The black-haired girl was now wearing mom jeans and an over-sized pastel blue jumper, the sleeves of which ended just past her hands with only her fingertips poking out. Her messy hair was now brushed and let down, the familiar butterfly hairclip clipping back her bangs on one side as usual. She had touched up her makeup too, eyelids shimmering and lashes fluttering as she blinked.

Sunoh trailed her melancholy gaze back to the photographs on the wall. She was grinning in all of them, her smile so bright that Sunoh wondered if it was really her. He had never seen her smile since the day he had met her, save for that flicker of a smile he had caught earlier when she mentioned thrift stores. His dislike for her ex-boyfriend, who was  no doubt the cause for the disappearance of her smile, only grew stronger.