Sua carried a tray with three drinks out into the courtyard. They were all still cold, but had been delayed because of a multitude of questions she wanted to ask the bartender, or receptionist. She pushed the glass door open with her back, and spun around, to enter, quickly, yet carefully so as not to spill any of the drinks. She glanced around the courtyard, it was beautiful. She could see it from inside, but it was truly gorgeous when walking out to see it yourself. Her eyes wandered around the trees, and wanted to place the drinks down, and run to the green leaves. Enjoy picking the flowers, and turning around to hand off to her father.

She gently held the stem of one of the flowers, she bent down and inhaled the scent. The lily had a beautiful smell, and she breathed out a sigh of relief, satisfaction, and relaxation. She should probably get some flowers to adorn her place when she gets back home. Her fingers lingered on the stem, as she stared into its pink petals. There was still a bit of water from the sprinklers, she figured, dripping off the leaves and petals. The weight of the collecting drops pulled the light petal down, before springing it back up, upon leaving its embrace. If only life were like that. If only, when her father had left her, it was to let her spring back up, and become successful. Instead, it seemed like the opposite was true, and he had felt burdened with her, and had to drop her into the unknown world of dirt and thorns.

“Hey, Sua!” Seonwoo’s voice echoed across the courtyard, and she let go of the stem, glancing around to find him.

When had she become so dependent on seeing him? She had only met him once, and yet, now, she desperately wanted him to hold onto her, and not let her go, like a little girl to her baby doll. She wanted him to embrace her in a hug, and when she saw him running over to her, Alleah trying to keep up with his longer strides, she could only wish that it was to wrap his arms around her torso, and bury his face in the crook of her neck, mumbling words such as ‘I missed you.’ But that was probably a hope and a fantasy she wanted her father to do, bestowed upon this new man in her life that actually appeared to have at least a mild genuine interest in her. It was a fleeting feeling, just like it had been for all the men before him.

“Ooh!” Seonwoo stated, skidding to a halt before her, crashing that faint hope that had glimmered for the briefest of seconds, “These the drinks Mira made?” he grabbed the fireball drink, “Which one’s Alleah’s?”

She glanced from his eyes to the drinks on the tray she was holding, she looked between the two drinks briefly, before pointing to the smaller glass, with her free hand, “This one.”

“Awesome!” Seonwoo cheered as he swooped the glass from the tray and handed it to Alleah in one clean movement. “Did you try yours?” he asked her, smiling at the girl as she sipped her strawberry lemonade.

“No, not yet,” Sua admitted, glancing at the drink he held in his hand, surprisingly unspilt, he hadn’t taken a sip from it yet, “what about you?”

“Just about to.” he replied, straightening himself, and bringing the glass to his lips, he brought it down as an idea struck him, “Do you not drink these kinds of drinks?”

“No, it’s just…” she trailed off.

“You can’t!” Seonwoo exclaimed, slamming his glass onto the tray, nearly tilting it off her hand and onto the concrete pavement of the courtyard.

“No, I can,” Sua replied, steadying the tray with her other hand, “I’m old enough, it’s just I don’t do it often, and I’ve normally stuck with the drinks I know.”

“Oh,” Seonwoo sighed, “Ya had me worried for a sec.” he grabbed his glass back off the tray and took a large gulp from it.

“Hey, Seonwoo,” Sua mumbled, as she took a seat on the stone wall around a few bushes of flowers.

“Yeah?” he asked, eyes dropping to the still untouched drink.

“Can you be honest with me for a second?” she grasped the glass with both hands, the tray resting on her lap.

“I’m always honest with ya.” he smiled, before his attention went elsewhere, “Hey! Alleah! Stay where I can see you!”

She glanced up to see that the little girl had left her glass of lemonade and was chasing a few butterflies with her gun. She looked over to the pink haired man beside her, as his gaze watched the dark haired girl. His beanie still covered all of his hair, save the few tufts that curled around its rim. “Pay attention to what I’m saying for a moment, then.” she sighed, dropping her gaze from his sharp jawline to her cup again.

“I am,” he stated, sitting down beside her.

“This is gonna sound really stupid, but…” she looked over at him, her thumbs gliding over the glass. “Never mind.” she mumbled, and brought the cup to her lips.

“Geeze, Sua,” Seonwoo hummed under his breath, as he took his glass and took another gulp of its alcohol induced contents.

“Ack!” she stated as she brought the cup down.

“What?” Seonwoo’s head snapped over to look at her.

“The drink’s got more of a kick than I had thought.”

“Of course it does!” Seonwoo chuckled, “It’s Kira’s favorite!”

“Who’s Kira?”

“Another person contracted here. She’s the devil. I’ve known her since I was little. She could probably kick down a whole mountain.”

“That sounds impossible.”

“It’s Kira, it’s possible.” Seonwoo shrugged, “So are you gonna finish it?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll finish it, it’s just stronger than I had thought.”

“Should be.” Seonwoo mumbled, “but I’m stronger.”

Sua’s eyes widened as she turned her head to look at him. His lips were frowned in a cute pout as they nibbled at the edge of the glass he was in the middle of sipping. His eyes were looking off, probably watching his little charge dash around the courtyard til she got tired and would come back. Sua continued to stare at him until he would look over at her so she could see what he was thinking when he said that.

His head turned back to look at her, eyes lingering on the little girl for a second, though, “So, you gonna finish that?” he asked, pointing a finger to the drink her hands grasped.

“You…” she trailed off looking up at him, “did you mean that?” I asked, clutching my hands to my sides in fists. My eyesight was beginning to get blurry but I wanted to know if he truly wanted what he did.

“Of course!” he smiled, and held out a hand to me.

“So, then…” I looked up from his hand to his eyes, tears beginning to well up, “you’d stay with me forever?”

“Forever?” he asked, his hand falling slightly, “What do you mean by forever?”

I blinked away the few tears that threatened to overflow, the joyful tears turning bitter, “You won’t leave me, will you?” the frail hands of my twelve year old self hesitated over his own.

“Awe, come on Sua-sugar, why would I leave you?” he asked, lifting his hand back up so it grazed under my fingers.

“I don’t know,” I stated, clasping my hands together in front of my chest, “I just don’t want to be alone.” I lied.

“Alone?” he repeated, “Sua, we’re dating now right?”

“Dating,” I mumbled, “but we’re still young.”

“Which means we can be together for longer.”

“Do you want to leave me?” My eyes raised to meet his, still watery as his facade blurred. He frowned at my question, before opening his mouth.

“I already told you, this is how I feel about you. Nothing is going to ever change that. I promise, Sua.”

“Liar.” Sua mumbled, just under her breath, as her question to Seonwoo got lost in the breeze that blew through her hair.

“What?” Seonwoo asked, “How am I a liar? Are you calling me a liar? Cause I told you I was being honest with you.”

“Ah, no, I was just lost in thought.” she waved her hand dismissing her accidentally heard word.

“Did you wanna ask me something? You looked kinda serious a second ago.” Seonwoo asked, taking another sip from his drink.

“Ah, yeah, you said something about being stronger than the drink.” Sua whispered, ashamed to say that outloud. She took a sip to remember how strong it was.

“Stronger than the drink?” Seonwoo repeated, head tilted in confusion, “Of course I’m stronger than the drink! When did I say that?”

Her eyes darted down to his lips before she cleared her mind and shot back to his eyes as they looked up as if trying to remember. “The drink was strong, and you said you were stronger.”

“It’s a drink,” Seonwoo stated, gesturing to the glass, “Are you stupid?”

“No!” Sua snapped, though she could have sworn she saw a smirk playing on his lips.

“Okay, sorry.” he mumbled, placing his glass beside the strawberry lemonade, “Alleah! You can’t go in that door!”

“But you have the keys, right?” the little girl yelled back at him.

“Of course I do!” Seonwoo screamed at her, “But I’m not working today!”

“I want to take Sua there!” the girl screamed at him, aiming her gun at him.

“No.”

“But you were supposed to do everything I said.” her lips quivered.

“Ugh,” Seonwoo groaned, rising from his seat, and picking up his drink and Alleah’s, “My drink’s too cold anyway.”

“Your office?” Sua asked, following him to the door.

“Office?” he asked, looking over to her, “No, not exactly. Here, hold these,” he handed her the fireball, and Alleah her lemonade. “I forgot which pocket those keys were in.”

“You take everything very seriously, don’t you?” Sua asked, as he pulled a ring of keys on a lanyard out of his front pocket.

“Of course I do. What’s the fun in not?” Seonwoo asked, raising a good question.

“I think that you could be misunderstood, or misunderstand others very easily that way.” Sua explained.

“Okay, but,” Seonwoo replied, swinging the door open, and a heat wave rushed over her, “I don’t take everything seriously. Just the important things.”

“What’s this heat?” Sua asked, pulling both drinks closer to her cheeks, hoping their ice would keep her a little colder than the supposed sauna that came out of that room.

“What heat?” Seonwoo asked, as he casually walked into the room.

“You must have a high tolerance for heat,” Sua mumbled, before stepping in after the little girl who was apparently used to this abnormal temperature for a room.

“Eh,” he shrugged, “it’s what I do, so it makes sense.”

“So, this is your office, then?” Sua asked, glancing around.

“No, this is the lobby in front of my ‘office.’” Seonwoo shrugged, and laughed, “Is it too hot for you?”

“Ah, no, I’m fine.” Sua lied.

It was something she did often. Lying was one of the ways to get people off your back, to let them back up, and give you space. Or at least, it should be, but sometimes guys were just a little too pushy. She couldn’t count the times she’d lied to someone, so that they either wouldn’t know how hurt she was, or so that they’d just leave her alone. She knew it wasn’t the right thing to do, but how else was she to get people that literally just wanted something from her, to understand that she didn’t want that. Though most of the time, her lies consisted of telling people she was fine, because god-forbid they know she never felt worth it.