Echoes of Hollow

"What are you doing?" Samantha asked, looking at Hye, who was standing near the window. "Have you changed clothes yet?"

"Yes, actually, it's been a while."

"What? Impossible! When I left here, you were wearing the same clothes."

Samantha rushed to Hye's bedroom. His wardrobe had almost no variety. All of his clothes were identical, except for a few white ones. The majority of his shirts and sweaters were black, and the pants were all the same as well.

"Where did you buy these things? What happened to the clothes you brought when you traveled here?"

"I didn’t bring any. They all stayed at home."

"What?!"

Leaving the room, Samantha grabbed her purse from the couch and headed toward the door. While opening it, she said, "Let’s go. Looks like getting your hair cut won’t be the only thing we’ll do today. Who buys only black clothes, and worse, identical ones!"

"But they're the most versatile..."

Samantha didn’t stop. As they walked to the stores, took the bus, or the subway, every time she remembered Hye’s wardrobe, she began to complain about his lack of self-care.

---

"Hmm..."

"Finally awake?" Alyia asked, smiling as she looked at Teodoro, who was lying on a large red bed. "You really tried to read inside him? You don’t even know how to do that properly yet."

"Ouch!"

When he sat up, Teodoro felt a slight pain followed by dizziness. Could this be a consequence of how long his soul had been exposed to that strange place?

"I told you not to be careless when doing that," Alyia said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Part of your soul was destroyed. I’ve already fixed it, but it might take a while until your angelic side accepts the piece I created. It wasn’t easy crafting a fragment of a human soul with angelic properties. You should thank me."

"It wasn’t easy...?" Teodoro asked, letting his body fall back on the bed and then looking at Alyia with a smile. "Did it take more than a minute?"

"Less than a second, actually. But for you, just like for me, that’s a lot of time."

"Okay, okay, don’t worry, I won’t do that again anytime soon... But... had you already used your eyes on him? Did you see it too?"

"No, when I told Lior to use his eyes, I just meant to see how he didn’t appear to have any trace of mana, not to dive into his insides, looking at my boyfriend."

"Sorry... I guess I let my curiosity take over..."

"It’s fine, rest a bit more," Alyia said, stroking Teodoro’s hair before getting up and heading for the door. "That’s the least of your worries right now. I heard you snuck out of the house; they’re looking for you..."

"What?!" Teodoro grabbed his phone from his pocket and quickly checked the time. "Damn, has so much time already passed?"

In one leap, Teodoro got up and hurried to the window. But before leaving, he asked, "Alyia... aren't you even a little curious? None of the other irregulars have something like this. Don’t you want to know what makes him different?"

"I don’t remember asking you why your eyes were glowing the moment I met you. Nor did I ever look inside you without permission."

"Yes... You waited until I wanted to know myself... So, that’s it, you’ll wait for him to take the initiative to tell you?"

"That’s what I plan to do."

"And when that happens..." With flashes of memory passing through his mind, Teodoro broke into a cold sweat. "Even though he’s your boyfriend, will he go through the same thing Lior and I did?"

"Exactly because he's my boyfriend is why he'll have to go through it."

"I see... Call me when it starts happening. I won’t participate, but watching it will be very entertaining."

Teodoro jumped out of the window, but he didn’t fall. The moment he crossed to the outside, his body disappeared. His speed was such that he crossed the globe in mere moments.

"He's faster now," Alyia said, watching the nephilim vanish in the blink of an eye. "But I still don’t think it’s enough... She’s still going to catch him..."

---

"Hurry up!" Samantha exclaimed as she quickly moved from store to store, while Hye followed behind, carrying multiple bags. "We still have a few more shops to visit."

Suits, shirts, and dress shoes—Hye tried on many and bought them all since neither his aunt nor the attendants could decide which ones looked best on him. The same happened in other stores: pants, sneakers, sweaters, and jackets. He tried on so many clothes that Hye had even counted the number of fingerprint smudges on the mirrors in the dressing rooms; 132 in total.

"So?" Samantha asked, analyzing Hye, who was sitting in a black chair. She showed a hairstyle on her phone to the man beside her: a cut that cleaned up the sides, leaving the hair longer on top, perfect for the style she had in mind. "Do you think this haircut will suit him?"

"Suit him?" said the barber enthusiastically, circling Hye. "What haircut wouldn’t look good on him? Want to be my model?"

"Then, please, give him this one. We still have a lot to do."

Hye said nothing; it was as if he had no voice in the situation. Even while shopping for clothes, all he did was try them on one after the other. His opinion didn’t seem necessary or like it would carry any weight, even if he tried to offer it.

After the haircut, the next stop was a jewelry store.

"Are we buying a ring?" Hye asked as he looked at the rings in the store’s window. "But she didn’t even accept my proposal when I asked her to marry me."

"You proposed to her?!" Samantha exclaimed, astonished, looking at Hye and thinking something he couldn’t quite understand.

"It was impulsive," Hye explained. "I got my words tangled."

"Aahh..." Samantha sighed. "It won’t be a wedding ring. It’s a promise ring. If I had known this would happen, I would have brought your mother's, but for now, you can use a temporary one. Later, you can give her the other."

"And is there a difference between the types of rings? Aren’t they all the same?"

"I couldn’t exactly explain the difference, but it’s mostly about the meaning. A promise ring doesn’t carry the same weight as an engagement ring, and an engagement ring isn’t the same as a wedding ring."

"I see... So, since it’s about meaning... wouldn’t it be better if I chose the ring myself?"

Upon hearing Hye’s words, Samantha immediately stopped. She looked at her nephew for a moment. He had never shown such a look before—one filled with conviction and confidence. 'Look... he’s finally a bit more like you...'

"You’re right. Go ahead, choose."

Hye looked at the rings, and he seemed to find the perfect one almost instantly, but; "That’s a wedding ring," his aunt said before he could point it out.

"Wasn’t the difference all about the meaning?"

"Yes, that too," Samantha replied, moving a little closer to her nephew. "But it’s not that simple... Can I help you choose?"

Looking at the dozens of rings on display, Hye hesitated but finally nodded.

"Alright then, let’s see... The first three rows are engagement rings. You can pick from the next two, but not the sixth row; those are wedding rings too. Got it?"

Hye nodded. Smiling, Samantha continued, "You can choose from the seventh to the tenth rows, but all the others are off-limits. Rows eleven to fourteen are wedding rings, and the last one is all engagement rings."

Trying not to interfere too much, Samantha merely advised Hye, giving him room to choose the ring he thought was best. However, though it was the "right" decision, it was far from the fastest one.

"Not the third row! Didn’t I already tell you before?"

"Sorry..."