Daemon

so me friend here (coughRachelcough XD) must've watched The Golden Compass or something because she suddenly asked me to take a quiz to find out what is my Daemon (apparently pronounced demon and is the animal form of a person's soul)

and so i did. and these are my results

Results

and you can take the test Here

honestly speaking, the results were very accurate in my case. how about yours? it described my situation perfectly as how people perceives who i am and how i can be an introvert at times and an extrovert at other times. haha

so what did you get? =]

Untitled

I am the daughter of a reputable family in this community. Every single thing that I do is under the scrutiny of the public. Sadly to say, even my childhood was somehow under the surveillance of the people around me.

Naturally, my freedom is restricted. The list of things I was not allowed to do or to participate in seemed like it would never end. Every time I could only look at my peers, my eyes burnt with envy and my heart ached to be one of them, running free.

I went to school as any other child did. In class there was no room for fooling around and flunking classes was not allowed to be on my to-do/to-try list. A single B+ in my list of grades was enough to send me into hours worth of nagging courtesy of me mom. An F would certainly saw that I never step out of the house again.

I often wondered, how would things be like if I weren’t born into this family. How would I look like? What would I be doing now? I would be sounding like an ungrateful brat, completely disregarding the fact that thanks to this family’s rich background I am able to live very comfortably and had never tasted an ounce of bitterness in my young life.

As sheltered as I seem to be, I had a few friends close enough to call them my best friends. I don’t know about them, but I did feel very comfortable around them. I could laugh and joke all I wanted and they would laugh along with me. With them I felt like I could finally be myself. That is of course, until one faithful day when all three of them decided that they had enough of my constant endless babbles and confronted me in a manner I didn’t think they would. I never thought I would experience being backstabbed at an age as young as 15.

Needless to say I was shattered after that. I reverted back to my old quiet form, which all of us had not seen since my elementary school years. I was separated from the three the following year as they transferred to another high school together, without telling me of course. I didn’t take it to heart, they seemed like they were done with me so why should I even be bothered about them?

The first day of college, I remembered everybody gawking at me the moment I stepped into the school. Whispers of who I was and who my parents were filled the corridor. It was nothing new; every first day was like that. Trying to avoid as much attention as possible, I made my way to the office with my gaze fixed firmly on the ground. Naturally, I bumped into somebody who was running in the corridor.

I wondered if her head was made of metal or some sort because it hurt a whole damn lot. Rubbing her head, she helped gathered some of our things which fell during collision and uttered a quick apology before dashing off again. We didn’t even notice that our books got switched. It didn’t really matter to me, since it was the first day of class and our books were practically brand new.

The first bell rang and soon the corridors were empty. I found myself a seat at the back corner of the class by the window. We worked on a first come first served basis so that seat will be mine throughout the semester. You must be thinking what’s a straight A student doing sitting at the back of the class, and by the window of all places where it is easiest to drift off into a day dream?  I had my reasons.

Before our lecturer could walk in, a girl burst through the door and quickly scanned the vicinity for signs of authority. Huffing in relieve, she smirked and made her way into the class and looked for a seat. From the way she greeted our classmates, I would say that she knew almost half the class. Must be from the same high school or something. I thought. It was the only possible explanation.

As cliché as it would sound, she plopped down right beside me. After settling her things and wiggled into a comfortable position, she turned to me with a book in hand.

‘Hey, I think this is yours and you have mine,’ she flashed one of the warmest smiles I have seen in a very long time.

‘Oh? I didn’t even notice they were switched!’ I sounded absolutely fake; I couldn’t lie to save my life. I quickly dug her book out from my bag and un-switched our books.

‘Sorry for the bump earlier. I was in a rush. I’m Jessica by the way, Jessica Jung.’

‘Taeyeon…er..Kim Taeyeon’ I hesitated for a moment in introducing myself and awkwardly stuck my hand out for a shake.

She smiled mischievously and gently shook my hand before commenting

‘A pretty name like yours should be said with confidence.’

For the first time ever I felt my cheeks coloured as I quickly withdrew my arms and turned to face front in great haste. I could hear her snickering beside me.

***

Had I knew that my life would slowly turned cliché from that encounter during my first day of college, well, at least I would have made some effort to turn it into least a cliché that is a bit more interesting.

It would turn out that Jessica was in all of my classes for that semester. I didn’t know what to think of it, was it a good thing or a bad thing I would never know. Perhaps it was a good thing. Despite hearing rumours floating about in campus, Jessica was not what they made her seem to be. Rumours of her being a cold and heartless ice princess were not true at all, at least I had yet to see her act as claimed.

Jessica was, how should I put it? Jessica was nice. Yes, that would be a sufficient word. Nice. Jessica was nice. She was nice enough to unswitch out books on the day we met and was also nice enough to be sitting next to me in all of our classes. She was also nice enough to find me through the crowd of people during lunch in the cafeteria and ate lunch with me.

Even though she was being nice I kept my distance. I didn’t want to be betrayed like so I didn’t talk to her much even though she was being nice and everything. I just didn’t think I can handle another episode of drama like the previous one. It wasn’t very pretty; I’d like to avoid that if possible. Still, I found her company to be very enjoyable. She’s nice.

The Jessica I met was a rather cheery person, completely different from the one in the rumours. It was about two weeks into college when I heard a new rumour saying that the reason why she was being nice and warm this time around was because all her friends left her back in school and so she was trying to get new friends.

I actually didn’t bother about those rumours but clearly she was. She sat down in her seat one Tuesday morning and turned to me with a very serious expression and asked in an equally serious tone

‘Taeyeon, what have you heard about me?’ her eyes bored into me as I reluctantly met her gaze

‘That you were an ice princess who’s suddenly became warm because you wanted friends…’

‘Oh…you must’ve heard the nice version then..’ she drifted off for a while before reverting back to her 

cheery self

‘so..there’s this new dessert café that just opened last week and I’ve been dying to check it out. Come with me?’

A pout..cute..

I didn’t understand what was going on with that girl one bit. For a moment she could be serious and the next, she could be melting souls with that pout of hers. As to why she was pouting at me I would never know, at least not yet.

‘S-s-sure…after classes later?’

She giggled

‘You need to work on your stuttering and yes I was thinking after class later too!’ she clapped her hands together and that glint appeared in her eyes.

I smiled at her and turned to face front but she grabbed my arm and tugged on them, making me lurch forward, our faces a few inches apart.

‘Why are you so quiet?’

‘I-I-I-I…’ and then our lecturer walked into the room.

‘Saved by the bell…’ Jessica muttered as she let me go and prepared for class.

Back in my seat I kept my face down trying to calm myself down. My face flushed, I just knew it. It felt really warm and I knew if Jessica were to see it, I would get teased. After a few moments I recollected myself and rejoined the class. Perhaps I hadn’t completely calmed down yet because I could hear my next seat neighbour snickering under her breath.

That afternoon spent at the dessert café was by far then, the most enjoyable hang out I have had with my friends. We talked; or rather Jessica talked of various things. We sat there for a good two hours and within that time; Jessica had managed to cover topics ranging from her elementary school days to a portion of her middle school days. She must’ve really wanted to tell me about those rumours.

‘Taeyeon, about those rumours…’

‘I don’t really bother about them.’ I said quickly and defensively, causing her to burst laughing.

‘Thank you, Taeyeon. I appreciate that very much.’

‘But you are still bothered by them?’ I asked cautiously as she kept her gaze on her strawberry which she 

had been playing with with her fork for quite a while. She finally looked up and replied

‘Well, I can’t say that I am not bothered by them. Are you curious? I bet you are, you just don’t know how to ask me about them, do you?’

‘A little, but I’ll live even without knowing the truth.’

‘Touché..but I’ll tell you anyway. I want to, I mean, we’re friends right? I think it’s the least I can do to let 

you know that I am not hanging out with you just because I am desperate for friends.’

I nodded in agreement but still I did not understand her. In our new found friendship; or whatever you would call it, Jessica was the one who pushed it while I was just standing still, not minding whatever progress that was made.

‘Yes I was all that that they say. I was that ice bitch..’

‘Princess…’ I quickly interrupted her

‘Taeyeon, you heard the nice version remember?’ I could only nod as she continued ‘about two years ago, when we were 14? I had a few good friends, best friends even’

Whoa…déjà vu..well..sort of…

‘Anyway so we were really close, we told each other everything. There were no secrets between us whatsoever. And then one day it happened. We had a, disagreement call it, and they spilled almost all of my secrets and I have never been so humiliated in my life before.’

‘I can relate…’ I mumbled incoherently.

‘Pardon?’

‘Nothing..carry on..’ I motioned her to continue.

And then she went on about her middle school life after that. How she became quiet and distant and started to shun people, making others think that she’s an icy bitch. I could relate, somehow I could. Out stories were almost similar. It scared me a little as to how similar we were.

Of course gradually I started to open up to her. I still haven’t told her why I was so quiet and reserved. If Jessica was as genuine as she was acting nice I would. But the problem was I didn’t know if she was sincere in her actions or was she just being nice to me because I’m currently her only close friend.

But still, for a person who was supposedly the school’s ice princess Jessica was not like that around me. She liked to joke, to gossip and loved to talk about music and whatever it is on TV. She was like a regular kid getting all excited talking about their favourite Saturday morning cartoons. I found that part about her to be rather…cute.

It didn’t take long before my parents questioned me, particularly my mother. Being a wife to a successful businessman, naturally she didn’t have to work. All she does was sit around at home, go shopping and other ridiculously meaningless things. Her favourite pastime would be to boss me around, which I find to be even more ridiculous considering how I was living in the dorms and not at home. I practically begged my father to let me stay there with the excuse of having to drive an hour up and down every day to campus was not practical and I could take care of myself.

She started asking things like why I seemed rather distracted as of late. And by that she meant that I was not paying attention during her calls more than usual and why my grades slipped a bit and by a bit a meant dropping from an A to an A- during the recent test. I shrugged it off. I wasn’t really in the mood to be explaining myself to somebody who has never really been a mother to me. It didn’t even shock me when my father revealed her to be a stepmother as my biological mother has passed away during child birth.

‘No way she’s your stepmom??!!’

I could picture Jessica’s eyes going saucers. I called her after that stepmother of mine called and gave her usual nagging plus a bonus of accusing me of being a lazy brat. I called Jessica without an apparent reason after the stepmother hung up.

‘Apparently so..my dad gave me a picture of him and my mom’s wedding…’

‘Oh…how does she look like?’

‘She…she’s very pretty…’

‘For you to be her daughter she must be.’

‘Thanks….’

‘You’re not crying, are you?’

‘No..why?’

‘Liar…you just wiped your tears didn’t you?’

‘Jessica Jung I find it astonishing as to how you can read me so well and we’ve only known each other for less than a year.’

‘Because I am awesome like that ok…now, hold your eye dams. I am coming over whether you like it or not.’

‘Thanks…’

‘See you in a bit’

***

Jessica was nice, hang on a sec, Jessica is nice. Perhaps I could open up to her and just perhaps, I won’t get 

hurt and/or humiliated, whichever comes first. She seemed to be a person who really wants this. She seemed to really want us to be good friends, perhaps like the ones she had before. But still, I cannot tell if that is the case. There were times that she would say things that were lingering in my mind as though she had read it. There were times when we would just sprout the same sentence with the exact same words when we chatted. It scared me a little but I could not deny that I was happy about it.

She told me tonnes of stories from her old high school. How her classmates were a rowdy bunch and how they had a grand scale school festival every year. I found it to be a bit hard to believe because it was too anime-ish and it seemed to only exist in the movies. But that was her story so I won’t comment much about it, accusing her of lying and stuff like that. At times I found her to be rather pompous, but at other times she seemed to be the nicest person on earth. She confused me and confuses me still.

The two of us, we became rather inseparable after the first year was over. We started to become closer and eventually I started opening up more to her, telling her about my family and stuff like that. I still haven’t told her why I was quiet though and she never asked. I took it as though she accepted the fact that I was and decided not to probe further, always liked that about her.

I wanted to ask her many times, as to why she stuck with me despite the boring person that I am. It confuses me how a person that could be as lively as her would choose to be friends with boring old me. Let’s face it; I’m not exactly the most interesting person in class. My life was doomed to be boring the moment my father married that woman and from the moment she stepped into our threshold. She dictated my life so much that I think Hitler would be very proud of her.

Living in the dorms was a good thing, I concluded after being ‘away from home’ for about seven months. It gave me that bit of freedom where nobody dictated my every move and I could actually for once in my life arrange my own personal schedule and accomplished the things on my to-do list. It was nice and once in a while Jessica would come over and we would have a sleepover. Haven’t had that in years. It was nice. Being around Jessica was nice.

During the summer of our second year, we took a road trip. The day our exams ended we just packed our bags and hit the road. Jessica drove, she had a Toyota. It was about 5 years old so she wasn’t very worried about it giving problems during the trip since it was well maintained. So the two of us hopped it and went on our way.

We didn’t exactly have a clear destination in our heads, we decided to just wing it and see what came at us. After all we had the whole summer, plenty of time to get lost in the vast highway routes and to find our way back to college just in time for the new semester. The plan was foolproof to us, so no time was wasted. After our paper in the morning, we spent the afternoon packing and by late afternoon we were off.

Jessica drove first. She saw that I was pretty tired so she said she’ll get us to the next town, we would check in to someplace reasonable and get some rest or at least map out where we would want to go and then the real adventure would begin at day break. I was beyond excited when she first popped the idea before our exams. Getting parental approval for this was an even bigger hassle compared to the time I wanted to stay at the dorms.

My father gave in eventually, said something about I should live up my youth. I betted with Jessica beforehand that he would agree because he felt bad that I had been so protected when I was younger and had no memories of such sort with my friends. I won the bet. The prize was for the loser to do whatever the winner wants for a day. A prize I have yet to claim. Jessica said it was ok, there were no expiration dates on that so I could use it whenever I wanted.

As she drove we chatted like usual but I was cautious as not to distract her too much. Father had warned me about that because apparently we youngsters were still not mature enough and had to be extra careful while on the road. I promised I would so whenever Jessica would look elsewhere other than the front, I would nag her. She understood my concerns right away and tried her best to stay focus.

We reached the next town about three hours later. Jessica found us someplace nice looking and was at a reasonable rates. As we would be splitting the bills for the rooms and for gas equally, we both agreed that the rooms didn’t have to be classy, just comfortable and clean enough for us to sleep in for a couple of nights. In the back of my head, I had the thought of money not being a problem since father did give me his master card. “Use it for anything. It’s fine.” He said. I decided on my own that I would take it out during an emergency since Jessica came from well-to-do family, we really had nothing to worry about. Still, we were only college kids so we decided it would be a good chance to learn about how to handle money independently.

The room was cosy. It had a king sized bed in the middle of it. The room was dimly lit, as most hotel rooms would, by a few lights strategically placed in the room.  The bathroom had a shower and a tub, to which Jessica was squealing in delight when she saw it.

“Oh my gosh they have a tub!!! Taengoo ah look they have a tub!!!” she gestured to me to come take a look.

“Wow nice! You miss your tub at home a lot don’t you?” I teased.

“Yea…I would soak in there for hours during the weekends.”

“and got all prune-y no doubt” I chuckled.

“Har har..now come Kim Taengoo, let’s freshen up a bit and go get dinner!”

We had dinner that night at a local diner not far away from hotel. It was a nice, comfortable place; apparently well known for its burgers. Jessica and I both ordered one of the specialities. They tasted heavenly. We gave each other half of our burgers to try out. Jessica ordered their double-decked burger while I ordered their special house burger. Jessica’s had two patties, a fish patty and a chicken patty, topped with pieces of lettuce and an egg. Mine was a combination of a meat patty, a piece of ham, halves of sausages, also topped with pieces of lettuce and an egg. The sauces for the burgers were different, they were rather difficult to imagine but it blended everything together perfectly.

“They look awesome!!!!” I was about to dig in when I heard a click go off

“Sica?” I saw her typing on her phone. I waited till she was done and she showed me. Apparently she 

instagram-ed the pictures.

“Sica Jung, are you going to do that every time before we eat something?”

“Of course” she tucked her phone into her pocket and continued. “pictures hold enough memories to last a lifetime. I’m going to take as many as possible on this trip” she flashed me a smile and swapped our burger halves and inhaled her plate. I followed suit while the other customers in the diner watched in disbelieve as two girls devoured their burgers with record breaking speed.

After dinner we decided to walk around the diner before heading back. This town was a little suburban town. It seemed to be rather safe, with a police officer visible every few blocks patrolling the area. The streets were brightly lit by street lights and the night was still young, it was only around 8pm so people still filled the streets.

We strolled the streets for about two hours or so, walking into any shop that caught our eyes. I was rather captivated by a shop selling knick knacks and pulled Jessica in. We ended up spending more than half an hour inside cracking jokes and laughing at the various knick knacks on display. It was a miracle that we weren’t asked to leave for making so much noise. The old lady who owns the shop said she hadn’t heard such happy laughter in a very long time so she let us be.

After I caught Jessica yawning for the nth time after dinner I shooed her back to the car and back to the hotel.  I showered first because I didn’t want to soak in the tub unlike Jessica. I preferred to be lazing around on the bed. Jessica joined me about forty minutes later.

“Hey Taengoo, wanna stay here for another night or something?” Jessica asked after the lights were turned off.

“I don’t mind, we don’t have a plan so why not? This place seems nice and we haven’t checked out that shopping strip yet.”

“So you’re cool?”

“Cool”

“Awesome! Now let’s get some sleep, I’m so tired…night Taengoo, sweet dreams”

“G’night…” I didn’t even get to finish when I already heard light snoring from the sleeping princess.

“G’night Sica..” 

I should just get over my insecurities and enjoy this to the max.

***

A/N: hi! i know..i know..it's been so long since i've posted anything here haha so this is something i wrote a while back and i've decided to post it here before i delete the file or something =] feedback? and yes this story's title is Untitled