cake and coffee

"You're paying," I say with frown, crossing my arms as I look at him with a very unimpressed expression.

"Oh, you're not treating your boyfriend?" Cal asks with feign hurt on his face. He takes another bite of his cheesecake, savouring the moment like he's in some sort of commercial or something. "Oh, where has the romance gone?"

"Listen to me, you stupid genie," I say through gritted teeth. "You are not really my boyfriend, and you'll never be. So stop acting like it."

It's bad enough that Cal basically forced us to have a little detour in a small restaurant off-campus - now I have to deal with more of his relentless teasing? I'd scream, but we all know how that's going to go.

And why did he insist on this detour? Because according to Cal, 'if I'm going to waste our time, then he needs a snack to charge him for the rest of the day'. Which almost led to me asking him why he eats in the first place, but I didn't have the energy to deal with his innuendo-filled response.

I've had enough of that to last me a whole damn lifetime at this point. That and his sarcastic little quips. And just his voice in general.

"Aww, Mimi," Cal says, pouting at me with seemingly sparkling blue eyes. "Are you mad at me?"

"Cal," I whine, wanting to rip my hair out. My poor, beautifully pink dyed hair. "Could you just stop, please."

"Stop what?" he says with a shrug, taking another bite of his dessert. "Being your wonderful accomplice?"

"Just know that in my mind, I have already shoved this damn necklace off a bridge into the Han River," I mutter in response, rolling my eyes. Begrudgingly, I take a bite of my own carrot cake; one of my favourites.

And because Cal read my damn diary, he knew that it was my favourite and ended ordering it for me before I could even open my mouth when the waiter got here. It's creepy and annoying, but at least I get a free piece of cake out of this. Who says no to free cake?

Well, at least I think it's free - Cal better magic up some money to pay for this. I don't feel like asking Hajoon for spending money again.

Cal chuckles, clearly unfazed by my threats. "Ah, Mimi," he says, wiping an imaginary year from his round cheek. "How you wound me with your words."

"And here I thought that magic guards your feelings," I retort sarcastically, rolling my eyes at him. Cue another angry shove of cake into my mouth.

"Sort of can't use all my magic in public, now can I?" Cal answers, raising an eyebrow at me. This earns nothing but another glare from my side. Considering he used magic to turn his hair from a deep brown to a red shade before we got here, I doubt that he's worried about being discreet.

"Whatever," I mumble under my breath, subconsciously reaching for the salt shaker. Unfortunately for me, that's exactly where Cal's right hand is resting. And as luck would have it, my pinky manages to touch his.

"Ow," we both say at the same time, retracting at the same time. I shake my palm, and Cal crosses his arms as if he's unimpressed.

Welcome to the club, buddy.

"Look," Cal huffs, blue eyes ablaze. "I know that it must be very difficult for you to do, but could you please keep your hands to yourself? Toasting after every touch isn't exactly a joy to experience, you know?"

"And you think this is great for me?" I all but hiss in his direction, making sure to not raise my voice too much. "You think I like being stuck with someone as annoying as you? You think it's even freaking easy to be lying to my friends the day after my birthday? It's a miracle my brother hasn't found out about our fake relationship yet!"

"I'm sensing a lot of hostility here," he says, equally amused and annoyed. "It's not like I asked for this either, you know."

"Can we just finish this damn tea party we've got going here and get to the damn antique store?" I say with and exasperated sigh, very tempted to rip off the necklace again.

Cal gives me a similar look, like dealing with me is the most tedious task on the planet. As if. "You mean antique stores, right. On the count of how we have to go play some endless version of ding-dong ditch."

"I don't want to lie to Jaeun again," I say matter-of-factly, thinking about the whole awkward encounter this morning.

"I don't want to lie to Jaeun," Cal mocks, making his voice sounds extra girly on purpose. Talk about childish.

"How old are you?" I ask, rolling my eyes. "Aren't genies supposed to be mature?"

"I mean sure," Cal says nonchalantly. "But a thousand year existance would be pretty boring like that, don't you think?"

He takes another bite of his treat, followed by a sip of his cappuccino. I mean, I would be annoyed by his nonchalance if I wasn't focusing on the fact that he basically just revealed his age.

I mean, I know that he's probably been around for a long time. But I didn't know that it was that long. Has he even mentioned it before now?

"So, you've been stuck in this necklace for a thousand years?" I ask instead, trying to wrap my head around this. I mean, I don't know much other than what he told me last night in front of the statue. And if I'm stuck with him for the rest of the day, why not find out more, right?

I mean, last week this time, I never would've guessed that I'd encounter a genie in the first place, so...

Cal nods casually, taking another sip of his cappuccino. "I haven't always been in the necklace," he says, face darkening for a second before reverting back to normal. "But yeah, you could say that I've been around that long. It's hard to keep track of the exact amount when all the years stack up on one another like that."

I lean back in my chair, mulling this over. "You said yesterday that since I'm wearing the necklace, that makes me a Holder, right?" I ask, playing with the salt shaker that I managed to retrieve. "How many of those have you had then?"

"Way more than a thousand, that I can tell you," he answers, unloaded by my curiosity. "Although, you're the first one I've had in a while."

"What do you mean, a while?" I ask, brows furrowed.

"Uhm, hello," Cal says, making a gesture with his hand. "Your precious Jaeun found me in a damn antique store. That's a clear indicator of my being out of use."

"Then how did you even get stuck in the necklace in the first place," I finally ask, leaning forward again. My elbows rest on the table, but bad table manners are the last thing in my mind right now. "Earlier in class, you said that you were human once as well. What does this all mean, Cal?"

Cal sighs, like one does when you're dealing with an extremely stubborn child, before looking me in the eyes. His eyes look almost indigo the way they dim miraculously. "If you must know," he says, lowering his voice a bit, "I was essentially...turned into a genie. Once upon a time, when times were desperate."

"Desperate?" I ask, confused.

"Come on, Kiama," Cal says, rolling his eyes. "I was born in 1010 AD. A small look into just Korean history would reveal that that wasn't the best time to be alive, you know."

My eyes go wide a little, feeling my brain metaphorically explode. First the tale of the moon goddess, now him saying that he was born in 1010 AD? It's a lot to take in, for crying out loud.

Not exactly the afterparty you want going for you the day after your nineteenth birthday.

"So, if you were turned," I continue to unravel, because I need to get to the bottom of this, "that means someone gave you this ability, right? Is that what you were talking about yesterday when you said that there were people above you?"

"Great deductive thinking, Mimi," Cal says with fake enthusiasm, which gets exactly the opposite response from me.

"Don't call me that," I mutter under my breath, probably for the millionth time in the last 24 hours.

"But to answer your question," he replies, taking another mouthful of cake, "yes, that is what I meant. And ad you saw last night, my pull to the magic of the Selene Fountain didn't exactly help me bypass whatever freaky shock business us happening between the two of us."

He swallows the cake, scrunching his face a little with enjoyment before continuing. "And the reason we have to find the antique store is to see if there might be any other magic items that are or were there. Maybe they interfered with some of my magic, which is causing this glitch. Perhaps we'll find another clue there if that isn't the case."

"So we aren't even sure what we're looking for?" I ask, feeling a slight headache coming along. "How long will this even take?"

"I wouldn't know, dearest Mimi," he says, looking me dead in the eye again. "I haven't come across someone whose wish I couldn't grant before, remember?"

"Ugh, this whole thing is a damn mess," I say, groaning before I throw my head on the table in frustration and exhaustion of the whole thing. And I technically speaking still have like four classes to attend later today.

Of course, skipping them is definitely out of the question - I take pride in my perfect attendance and great grades. Besides, my mom would probably chase after me if she found out I even considered it.

Then again, she'll probably do the exact same thing if she ever finds out about my 'boyfriend'. Which is why Hajoon must never find out about this - that's one person I couldn't even try to lie to about this.

Literally next to Jaeun, Hajoon basically reads me like a book. A book he's read about a million times over and over by now.

"Speaking of granting wishes," Cal interrupts my thoughts, bringing me back to the present. "Mind telling me what your wish was all about."

"What, why?" I ask, feeling defensive all of a sudden. It's not like I signed up to explain my wish it anything.

"Morbid curiosity, I guess," Cal shrugs, finally finishing his cheesecake. "I'd have thought that you'd wish for Jaeun to kiss you or something."

My cheeks instantly turn the lunkest shade it has ever been in its life. "What!" I exclaim, basically choking on air. "That's ridiculous! Why...why would I even- No!"

"Hey, hey, just sharing my thoughts here," he replies, hands in the air. But his face reveals that he's clearly finding this very damn funny.

Stupid genie!

The thought of Jaeun kissing me flashes before my mind, and I will it away immediately. I don't want to even entertain a thought like that - I've willed myself not to since that one time when we were fifteen.

It was a rainy day, and we were at Jaeun's house. We were watching a movie and there was this really dramatic kissing scene in one of the action movies that Jaeun insisted upon seeing with me. I bet that kissing while doing a stunt would be impossible, while Jaeun opted for the opposite end of that argument.

Which is how we ended up in a playful wrestle that ended with me pinned on the couch and Jaeun hovering above me, victorious bunny grin on his face.

And in the aftermath of this little battle of us, Jaeun and I were face to face, breaths essentially mingling into one from exertion. And there was this look in his eyes, something that I couldn't figure out - still can't to this day.

Maybe it was my imagination, or a really bad memory recall, but it seemed like he was leaving closer to me. And I couldn't decide if I wanted him to or not.

Only, nothing ever happened. Because his dog, Noob, came dashing in at that very moment and stuck his head between the two of hours. I think the poor thing thought it was a game and felt jealous for being excluded.

Which led Jaeun to laugh at him and pull away. He acted normally after that, and so did I. I chalked it up to my mind playing tricks on me, and practically forgot about it all.

Until now. Until the damn necklace. I absentmindedly twiddle with it, glancing down at the grand tiny jewel. My mind thinks back to yesterday, when Jaeun have it to me in the first place.

I think about Micheal's words earlier as well; when he said that Jaeun doesn't gift jewellery. He's right - Jaeun doesn't do fancy. But he said this made him think of me, that it was pretty like I was.

What could all this mean? I thought I could just excuse it as Jaeun being mature, but is that the true answer? And it doesn't help that Cal keeps on making comments about this. It's just messing with my head more than the magic nonsense at this point.

"Hello, earth to Kiama," Cal says again, now waving a hand in front of my face. There's a teasing smile on his face, and I already know what that entails.

"What?" I reply, narrowing my eyes at him.

"I know I mentioned your lover boy, but that doesn't mean you should go all daydreamy on me," he says, resting his chin on his palms. To the unknowing eye, it looks like he's invested in whatever I have to say to him. I know better. "We were talking about your wish, you know."

"What about my wish?" I ask, shaking the whole Jaeun drama out of my head.

"You said you want to see your mother again. Your biological mother?" he says, his left eyebrow twitching a bit in intrigue. "Why's that?"

"I hardly think genies are supposed to interrogate their Holders," I huff speedily, feeling my heart rate pick up a bit. I don't want to talk about this right now. I don't really want to talk about this ever.

"I just find it interesting, though," Cal says, shrugging again. It's a miracle his shoulders haven't fallen off my now. "If you're as happy with Hajoon and his mom as your diary claims, then why would you want to see your birth mother again?"

"That is none of your business," I spit out, standing up instantly. "Excuse me." With that, I leave the table, intended on using the bathroom or going outside of whatever. Anything to make me get away from his questions.

Because the truth is, I don't know. I don't know why I made that wish - and I also don't know what would've happened if it actually even got granted in the first place. I have seen her in thirteen freaking years. She left me in the doorstep of some random house; I shouldn't have even thought of her to begin with.

But no matter how hard I try, some days will always have memories of my mother filled in them: memories of Kalaeleigh Galdur.

I feel my heart still pounding, and my head beginning to thrive even louder. I curse under my breath, wanting to get to the bathroom so that I can splash some water on my face.

Only, when I do reach the door, I see a flash. A sudden white flash, all-consuming and accompanied by a loud piercing sound.

Pain flashes through my

entire being for a second, and I feel my body fall to the floor. Only, before it hits the ground, a pitch blackness envolpes me, hugging me from all sides.

***