Echoes of Hollow

"Where is she?" Pyrdesh asked as she stroked Nura’s head.

Opening her eyes and tilting her head slightly to the side, Nura's eyebrows raised, and with a huge smile on her face, she leapt into the air, shouting, "Sam!"

With lines creasing her forehead, Samantha instinctively caught Nura, despite her surprise.

"Her...?" Lior quickly turned, snatching the controller from the boy next to him. "She said she was going to sleep for a while."

"Sleep...? I told her to come back for some rest, and she went to sleep?!"

Grinding her teeth, Pyrdesh’s red eyes glowed as she glared towards the second floor. A click of her tongue echoed as her brow furrowed.

"Nura, go grab whatever you want from the fridge."

"Really?!"

Smiling, the girl leaped from Samantha's arms and sprinted toward the kitchen. Lior, with the controller now in hand, slid across the couch, trying to hide from something.

The fridge creaked open, an invisible wind rushed down the stairs, and Pyrdesh smiled.

"Nura, didn’t I tell you to—ugh..."

Smiling, Alyia descended slowly, each step forming beneath her feet.

"So... would you believe me if I said I was just getting ready to—"

Her brows raised, and her eyes widened. Upon seeing the black eyes she had just glimpsed earlier, her body froze, and no sound escaped her lips.

"Return to the hospital? Yes, I believe you."

"Uh... wait! What?! No, I was...!"

Heading toward the armchair, Pyrdesh sighed.

"A portal in the wall, really? Only a blind person wouldn’t have seen that."

Her steps were quick but, somehow, awkward at times, giving the impression she might trip over her own feet. As she passed by Samantha, she flashed a smile, but it wasn’t quite how she wanted it to be. Turning her face away, the smile vanished, and as she glanced at Hye, her gaze briefly narrowed.

"So, why did you go to his hospital room?"

Alyia walked over to the couch and, after sitting beside Lior, sighed as she looked briefly at Hye again.

"...He’s my boyfriend."

"No, he’s not."

"Yes, he is."

"No, he's not." Pyrdesh’s smile was sarcastic.

"I’m telling you, he is."

"I’ve already said he’s not. None of you have boyfriends, not even you."

"Hey, why are you dragging me into this?" Lior chimed in, but quickly returned to his game after receiving dual glares from both of them.

"Now I do, and he-is-my boyfriend."

Her hair shimmered as if flames were igniting, and Pyrdesh pinched the bridge of her nose, struggling to hold back.

"Someone so smart... yet still doesn’t understand the meaning of the word DISTANCE!"

"You told us to keep our distance from her, and we did. I wasn’t the one who brought her straight into our HOUSE after saying that!"

"You..."

Briefly glancing at Samantha’s confused expression, Pyrdesh sighed deeply, the glow in her hair dimming as she tried to calm herself down.

"What are you all doing? Come, sit down. Make yourselves at home."

As Samantha and Hye approached, Lior felt someone nudging him from the side. He scooted over, but it didn’t seem to be enough.

"What are you doing?!" he murmured.

"Move somewhere else, come on!" Alyia whispered back in an equally low tone.

"Ugh!"

Clicking his tongue, Lior switched to the armchair nearby. Alyia scooted over, sitting at the end of the couch and smiling as she patted the empty space beside her.

"Sit here, auntie, there's plenty of room."

'Auntie...?'

Without hesitation, Hye promptly sat next to his supposed girlfriend. However, after receiving a look, he shifted over, leaving a gap between them. Smiling, Alyia patted the open space again. Samantha couldn’t refuse.

"So, you are..."

Alyia nodded, her smile now even brighter and more genuine. Unable to look directly at Alyia’s face for long, Samantha’s eyes wandered everywhere else.

"Hye’s girlfriend...?"

"Yes, auntie. And I loved everything you did for our first date."

Grabbing Samantha’s hand, Alyia held it gently. Sam looked into her bright blue eyes, and with the warmth spreading through her chest, she couldn’t pull her hand away.

"You two went on a date? I take it that’s why you didn’t come back earlier, huh? And seriously, cut it out, it’s starting to get weird. This really doesn’t suit you."

Hearing Pyrdesh’s words, Lior nodded silently. A pillow flew into his face, making him lose the game he had been playing with such focus.

"Yes! Now it’s my turn! Thanks, Alyia!" the grinning boy said, grabbing the controller from Lior’s hands, who, frozen in place, could do nothing but grit his teeth.

"Alright, enough."

Leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees, Pyrdesh stared directly at Alyia.

"We didn’t come here so you could score points with your imaginary boyfriend’s aunt."

"He is my boyfriend..."

"I want you to help the two of them—"

"Fine, I’ll do it."

Everyone except Hye and Samantha, who didn’t understand the sudden reaction, turned to look at Alyia the moment they heard her immediate response.

"N-No, but you don’t even know what I was going to say."

"It doesn’t matter, I’ll do it."

Standing up and pulling Samantha along with her, Alyia headed toward the stairs. Hye followed closely behind.

"This girl... Hey! You don’t even know what you’re supposed to do! Where do you think you're going?!" Pyrdesh shouted, looking to Lior for some kind of support. "Can you believe this...?"

But, seeing him and his son locked in a struggle over the controller, nearly biting each other, she couldn’t take it anymore. Her veins bulged, and with the red glow of her eyes intensifying, Nura quietly walked into the kitchen, clutching a small tub of ice cream. In an instant, a blinding red light filled the entire room.

‘Was she reading our minds from the beginning…?’ Pyrdesh wondered.