Eunbin sat there awaiting an answer from them, but couldn't get one thing off her mind ever since it was said.
Who was this 'divine being' that Sunless said was more beautiful than her?
Eunbin wasn't jealous at all, no, she was only very, very curious as to who this woman he was talking about was.
Being jealous over such a thing was above her; it had to be, as she was a princess for spell's sake! But… now that she was on the topic, it was safe to say it couldn't have been an actual divine being.
That would be impossible even for someone like him, whose tales are always somehow true.
So was it the woman he was previously infatuated with?
Eunbin immediately felt herself frown at the thought, but stopped when her father spoke.
"Jess, please, honey, go get it," he said as he held the object that was wrapped in so much paper that it was impossible to tell what it was.
"Okay," her mother gave a shaky nod and stood up, then walked to their room, making Eunbin wonder just how long they had been here and why the cleaner didn't announce their presence to her in the first place.
Well, Eunbin knew why already,
'She probably thought she was seeing ghosts and ran off terrified,'
She didn't blame her one bit,
Just as she thought, her father confirmed her suspicion.
"When we arrived in the waking world and came to our house, the door was already unlocked. When we walked in, your cleaner was dusting the kitchen and fell over, then bolted out of the house, screaming in terror when she turned around and saw us walk in."
"That explains why she didn't tell me you two were here; she probably thought you two were ghosts—ah, speaking of women, who was the woman that you said was divine and more beautiful than me, Sunless? I'm very curious,"
Eunbin watched in satisfaction as her friend froze in place and grew slightly pale, then he looked to her father for help, who glanced up from inspecting the object, and his grim expression melted away as he cracked a smile.
"Don't look to me for help, kid; you brought this on yourself." He said with a growing smile and croaked out a warm laugh as Sunless shot him a look of betrayal.
Sunless turned to Eunbin with a forced smile.
"Well, um, she was Daemon, Eunbin, she was otherworldly, so beautiful that I wanted to cry."
"Oh? You don't do that when I'm around, so what I'm understanding is that you're trying to say I'm ugly?" Eunbin asked, putting her hand underneath her chin and raising an eyebrow, watching him squirm in place.
"No, no! Of course not! How did you even come to that conclusion?!" He stammered out, his carefully crafted mask of Master Sunless slipping.
"You're the one who said it, not me," She shrugged with a nonchalant expression in an attempt to suppress her smile.
Who would've thought the terrifying Lord of shadows could get so nervous?
After a few seconds of silence, Sunless stared at her with a blank expression, then turned away as he spoke.
"I didn't know you wore braces as a child." His tone was flat, but his shoulders shook as he spoke.
Eunbin's jaw dropped.
"Y-you won't speak a word of this to anyone," She pointed a finger at him with a look of outrage.
"A word of what?" His tone was innocent, but his expression was full of mirth.
"Don't play dumb," She scoffed at him.
"You know she had pigtails at one point?" Her father looked at Sunless with a smile, and the somber atmosphere slowly dissipated momentarily.
"Father!"
"Really? Can I see?" Sunless, faced her father, his onyx eyes were bright with glee.
"Sure, I'll show you later on, you didn't get to see before Eunbin pulled you away, but she also had glasses at one point, too, hehe, they were pink."
"Father!"
"Gods, that's adorable, I have to see that," Sunless and her father let out a laugh, making Eunbin slightly pout.
Yet she wasn't truly mad; she was secretly glad the two men were bonding and getting along well, despite having met only twenty minutes ago.
Her mother came back with a file in her hand and set it down on the table, then sat back down next to her father, whose amused expression slowly gave way to a grim one as he looked at it, and her mother leaned against him.
He stared at the file for a while before letting out a long sigh and rubbing his face tiredly.
"This is where the story begins," He said as he ripped the paper off the object, revealing… a small mirror?
"What is this supposed to mean? Did you meet a man who wears a black suit and has an affinity for reflections?" Eunbin couldn't help but frown.
"No, not exactly, tell me, Eunbin, when you look at this, what do you see?" He asked, turning the mirror on her, showing her scarred face.
"I see my reflection, why?" Her face scrunched up in confusion as she stared at her reflection.
"And your boyfriend?" He asked, turning the mirror on her friend's gorgeous face.
Eunbin was about to protest, but stopped when she looked at his face and saw that there was not an ounce of humor in her father's expression.
"His reflection," Eunbin answered, trying to ignore the heat she felt rushing to her cheeks at the assumption her parents had come to about her relationship with Sunless.
"Exactly, now what about me?" He turned the mirror on himself and angled it so she could see his handsome reflection, dark hair, and hardened brown eyes staring back at her.
"Your reflection," She answered, having no idea where he was going with this.
"And your mother?" He turned the mirror on her mother, who glanced at it and looked away in fright.
"Her reflection, father, I'd like to know where you're going with this." She replied, feeling annoyance creep into her tone.
She wanted answers, not cryptics.
He didn't answer; instead, he opened the file, took out a few pictures, and slid them across the table to her. It was the pictures of their dead bodies.
"To be honest, we lied to you about a nightmare gate opening on top of us; it never did, and those bodies weren't ours, they never were, Eunbin. They're the bodies of the creatures who locked us away in the dream realm in a place of imagination and took our faces for a while." Her father confessed with a grim expression.
They lied?
"What?! What do you mean it never fell on top of you? I saw it happen!" Eunbin stood up with a slight shout as she felt her mind racing a million kilometers an hour at the information.
"It opened on top of them," He pointed to the pictures that showed their mangled corpses.
None of this was making any sense,
"If you're here, then…then who the hell are these people in the picture?"
"We call them the others, or at least Clan Valor did when they got us out of there after being stuck in that place for twenty-five years."
"Out of where? What place? You're not making any sense, Father. What does Valor have to do with any of this? You keep avoiding the main question: where were you two all this time?" Eunbin asked, exasperated, and walked over to where her parents were seated, then sat down beside them.
He didn't answer for a few moments before he spoke. When he did, his voice was barely above a whisper, and yet the words he said made her mother tremble and hug her father.
"Mirage City,"
Sorry for the short chapter, I've been busy with my other fanfics :) Have a Happy New Year!
Also, I've been going back and slowly editing the previous chapters because I just now realized how terrible a writer I was when I first started.
So don't be surprised if your old comments are missing :)