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Celine did not remember clearly when everything had started. Perhaps because she refused to let herself accept it. That was too much, an unthinkable thing.
Of all the people in the world, she could not be going deaf. Although it was something that made quite a bit of sense. After all, she had spent entire years in recording studios, listening to music at full volume without headphones. In concerts that made speakers burst from the high volumes, with barely any protection. And let’s not even talk about the explosions caused when she fought demons.
Now that she thought about it, perhaps it should have been something much more expected.
However, Celine did not have time to think about her hearing problems. After all, her defects and fears never had to be seen if they wanted to achieve the golden Honmoon. That included her.
And there was nothing more important than the golden Honmoon. When it was formed, Rumi could finally be free. She would have fulfilled her mission as a hunter and honored the promise she made to Mi-Yeong the day she died. She would be able to see her beloved Rumi be truly happy.
So, she decided it didn't matter if she heard people from a bit further away. Or if she had to read lips to follow the thread of conversations when Bobby came to give her information about the company. Or when the girls told her things during the dinners she prepared once a month.
After all, she had the excuse of being a bit distracted in case she made a mistake in something. No one had the courage to tell her no, that there was something evidently strange about her. Besides, she was an excellent actress. There was no way people would suspect.
But the days turned into weeks. And then, the weeks turned into months. And her hearing grew worse day by day.
She didn't hear someone if they were on the other side of her office. She had to start remembering to modulate her voice because she didn't hear herself. She stopped going to Huntr/x concerts with the excuse that she was "exhausted." She let the girls be completely independent in hunting for their freedom. She couldn't hear any of their instructions.
Perhaps it was a bit of her pride, but Celine had no desire to talk about her problem. She kept it inside herself, hidden in a trunk where she kept all her secrets. She couldn't face that problem, not yet.
It wasn't something important. She wasn't important. If she spoke, she would worry the girls; they would delay their world tour or cancel a couple of concerts to come take care of her. That would give them a bad image. Huntr/x couldn't get into controversies. They couldn't disappoint the fans; if they did that, they would never get the golden Honmoon.
That's why she once again kept her worsening condition inside her. She didn't let out a single word. She didn't seek help. She didn't even look for a doctor who could diagnose her.
She never imagined that night would come.
"I thought I could fix it… Fix myself… But I ran out of time."
Celine dropped the sickle she had in her hands. Fix herself? What was Rumi talking about? Why did she look like that?
The Honmoon is being destroyed. It was clear it wasn't going to hide Rumi anymore. Zoey and Mira had to have realized.
Perhaps she was asking for help to fix the situation.
"This is what I am."
Celine didn't know what to respond. She said no, because, of course. She wasn't going to allow her little girl to think she was a demon. She wasn't; she never would be.
Rumi would never be a demon.
At least that was what she thought when she handed her the sword. She thought her beloved and adored Rumi was only giving up her birthright. She was giving up being a hunter.
She couldn't read her lips; Rumi had lowered her head. She couldn't hear her. She didn't know what she was saying. Celine had no choice but to guess. To guess what it was that Rumi wanted to say to her on that night. In that moment.
She saw the Honmoon tremble. Born from Rumi. It had to be that. It had to be the Honmoon trying to give her an alert.
Celine only did what her instincts told her. She lowered the sword took her by the arms, telling her she couldn't do it. She couldn't take away her desire as a hunter. She tried to remind her of her mother; she confessed her promise to protect her. How she never thought she was going to have a daughter like her.
"You asked me to hide!"
Celine frowned, unable to fully understand. Of course she had asked her! The Honmoon proved it was necessary. That was what she had come for! So she would help her fix everything with Zoey and Mira.
She put her shawl on her, looked her in the eyes, tried to smile at her, but nothing seemed to change Rumi's body language.
What was she doing wrong? Why was her anxiety increasing? Why did she feel like she was making a massive mistake?
But then, Rumi rebelled; she took off the shawl. And Celine looked down, scared, looking at the ground to confirm that the Honmoon didn't tremble again.
But now it was disappearing.
"Rumi, we can still fix it." She tried to say to give a bit of confidence. She didn't realize what reality was.
"Why couldn't you love me?!"
If she had managed to hear that, it was because Rumi had to be screaming. But…
How could Rumi say she didn't love her? Her breathing began to increase. There was a part of the conversation she had lost; there was something she didn't understand. There were many things she didn't understand.
Why couldn't she lift her face? Why couldn't she look her in the eyes again? Why was she sweating in that way?
"I love you." She let out almost automatically.
"All of me!"
The Honmoon trembled again. Celine looked around her, scared. What had happened to her little girl? How had they ended up in that moment?
At what point had she failed Rumi?
When she disappeared, Celine could only fall to her knees. Thinking about that last thing Rumi had said and that she didn't manage to hear.
Weeks had passed since that night. Celine saw the Honmoon be destroyed and then form again, shining in rainbow colors.
That new Honmoon was different; it was clear it was sealed. It was strong, powerful, and did not feed on the love of external perfection. That Honmoon did not seem to be created to fight. It was a Honmoon that protected you and made you feel something.
Definitely, Celine could feel it. Every time she put her hand on the Honmoon and played with the threads, she could almost hear a melody, sheltering her and giving her a bit of comfort.
By this point, it was almost the only thing she could hear. Sounds were too distant and strange to her. No matter how much she shouted, the voice reached her ears only as if it were a whisper.
But she couldn't think about that. Her head was still on that night. Rumi hadn't seen her, hadn't gone to visit her. She didn't know what was happening. She didn't know what she had done wrong.
She didn't dare to call her; she knew she wouldn't hear anything. That wouldn't help her save herself and eliminate the thoughts from her head.
And when she sent messages… Rumi didn't answer them either. So she had no choice but to wait until her daughter wanted to talk to her.
She was cutting tomatoes when things began to change.
Of course, she didn't hear the sound of the motorcycle parking at the entrance of her house. Nor the keys of the door turning on the porch.
Much less anything that Zoey had to say.
"I need to talk to you." Zoey said, without even saying hello. Celine was in the kitchen, cutting a couple of carrots and tomatoes.
But Zoey didn't care if Celine saw her or not. What mattered to her was that she heard her.
"Listen, you know I will always be grateful to you for what you did when I escaped from the United States." She began, walking through the living room. "You were the mother figure I didn't have, and it's clear you gave your best effort, but… I can't believe what you did to Rumi."
Celine didn't turn around. She kept cutting the vegetables. Making Zoey give a little jump of frustration. However, she didn't stop.
"She trusted you, Celine!" she continued, hoping that would make her react. It didn't. "She saw you as her mother. Celine, for the love of God. You were the one who raised her, who gave her her role as a hunter. You are the only close person she knows, who will always be there and who knows her mother. How could you do that to her?"
Nothing happened; Celine kept cutting and washing the vegetables.
"Did you really trust us so little as to believe we would reject Rumi? Please. We adore Rumi! She is… Damn it, she is everything to us. We couldn't live without Rumi." Zoey's eyes sparkled for an instant while talking about Rumi, before turning her head and speaking again. "How could you think we were going to do something? It's not like she made a deal with Gwi-Ma! In any case, if I have to be upset with someone, it should be with Mi-Yeong, but even so… Rumi only has an inheritance. She doesn't even have to take souls to survive. She's better than bread! How were we going to think badly of her? Since we've known her, she has only talked about being a hunter. It's the dream of her life. How were we going to think she was a villain!"
Zoey huffed, passing a hand through her hair, exasperated by the immobility of the woman in front of the counter.
"Say something!" Zoey exclaimed, hitting the back of the nearest sofa with her open palm. "I know you're listening to me! You can't just turn your back on me and pretend you didn't destroy Rumi's heart. You taught us that family comes first! Was it all a lie? Are we just tools for you?"
But the only response she obtained was the rhythmic movement of Celine's knife going up and down.
"Fine. If you're not going to talk, I'll force you to look at me" Zoey grunted, taking a decisive step toward the kitchen.
At that precise instant, Celine finished slicing the last tomato. She left the knife to one side with care, wiped her hands on a kitchen towel hanging from her shoulder, and, letting out a tired sigh that she didn't hear, she turned around to look for a bowl in the opposite cupboard.
It was then that she realized she was not alone.
Celine let out a muffled scream that scraped her throat. Her body reacted with a violent spasm; she jumped back, crashing painfully against the edge of the counter. The kitchen towel fell to the floor.
She brought a hand to her chest, feeling her heart beat against her ribs like a caged bird. Her eyes were wide, fixed on Zoey as if she were seeing a specter materialize from nothing.
"Celine!" Zoey stopped in her tracks, surprised by such a visceral reaction. "Calm down! It's me. What's wrong with you? It's not like I'm a demon."
Celine was breathing agitatedly, pale as paper. She saw Zoey standing there, with a furrowed brow and arms gesturing. She saw her mouth move. She saw the tension in her jaw.
But she heard nothing, not a single word.
She tried to compose herself, tried to remember her tricks.
Read lips, Celine. Read lips.
But Zoey was speaking fast, with fury distorting her usual facial movements.
"I'm sorry, you scared me. I didn't hear you arrive." She let out casually. "Have you been here long?"
Zoey blinked, incredulous.
"I've been talking to you for almost ten minutes! What the hell is wrong with you?! Are you telling me you didn't hear anything I said to you?!"
Celine tried to keep up the pace. But Zoey was very fast. That was why she was the rapper. For an American, she spoke Korean too fast.
"Zoey, please." She pleaded, raising her hands. "Can you speak a bit slower?"
It was then that Zoey's hard gaze softened. Her eyes opened wide and her shoulders dropped before she opened her mouth, surprised.
"Celine." She began, lowering the speed of her voice and gesturing more. "Can't you hear me?"
Celine looked away, slightly uncomfortable. Her secret had been discovered.
But was there any point in continuing to hide it? She supposed not. Therefore, feeling her voice tremble from within, she nodded.
"Since when?" Zoey asked again, moving closer to take her hand, trying to comfort her.
"A year ago, maybe." She answered, surprised by the contact. "I didn't want to bother."
Zoey let out a sigh. But before she could say anything else, Zoey's phone began to ring. Zoey made a sign to Celine so she would realize it was her cell phone.
"Rumi? Yes, I'm with her. I know what you said, but I had to talk to her! I had to tell her what I thought and… Rumi there is something that…"
Before she could complete her sentence, Celine began to make signs not to say anything. She didn't want Rumi to find out about that.
Zoey sighed. Of course, there were grave communication problems there.
"Yes… Yes… Sure… I'll pass her to you."
Zoey shrugged, extending the cell phone to Celine. She began to sweat cold. She wasn't going to hear Rumi. It wasn't how she wanted her to hear her, if she said something wrong again and…
She took the cell phone in her hands. Zoey looked around, as if trying to find something to save their skins, but they couldn't leave Rumi waiting so long.
"Yes? Rumi, how are you?" she started, trying to make the conversation casual.
But no matter how much effort she put in, she couldn't hear anything.
Meanwhile, Zoey smiled, finally finding something to help them. A pencil and a list notebook.
"Uh… Give me a minute, Rumi. There's a bad signal here and…"
"She asks how she's going to be after what happened that night".
Shit. The problem was that she didn't remember anything that had happened that night because she didn't hear anything.
"Rumi, I, uh…"
Zoey wrote again.
"You told her she would have to hide forever. She feels you never really loved her as she was because of the whole business of hiding her patterns and her half-demon inheritance."
Celine's eyes opened wide. How could Rumi think something like that?! If she had made her hide her patterns, it was the same reason why she had to hide her deafness.
The world wasn't ready. She had to prioritize the honmoon, but if everything had fallen…
Oh, God.
"Rumi. I'm so sorry." She said solemnly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel unloved. Of course I love you; I've loved you from the first moment you came into the world."
A couple of seconds of silence. Zoey began to write frantically in the notebook.
"She says if that's true, why didn't you call in all those weeks? She believes you only love the version you formed of her and not who she really is."
Celine sighed upon reading that.
"No, Rumi, of course not. I love you as you are. I'm sorry if I didn't let you know and about not calling, well…" She took a breath, thinking about her words. "I couldn't do it. There's something you don't know. It would be good if you came over, Mira too. Please?"
More silence. More watching Zoey writing.
"She will be here with Mira by nightfall. She says she agrees that they have many things to talk about."
Celine nodded, relieved.
"Thank you, Rumi. I love you."
From that day on, Celine was never alone again.
Rumi and she still had things to talk about, but communication was much more pleasant when the two people could understand each other perfectly.
After all, it was easy, thanks to Rumi's demonic powers to teleport. More than anything, it was because Celine had the horrible habit of being a stubborn person and not wanting to wear her hearing aid all the time.
"How the hell did they find you?" Celine asked when she opened the door and found the smile of a woman with curly hair. "I hadn't seen you for years."
"Well. The girls found my contact on the internet. That Zoey girl is a great investigator when she puts her mind to it." She responded without even asking permission to enter the house. "They're going to be out for a couple of weeks and be busy. But they needed someone to make sure you were okay and didn't do anything crazy in that time."
Celine only rubbed the bridge of her nose. She wasn't a little girl. It was just that the device was slightly uncomfortable. She didn't need to use it most of the time; she was getting used to the silence.
It wasn't that she was falling into a depression or something like that. Definitely not.
"Poppy, it's been more than twenty years since the last time I saw you. Where had you been?" She asked her, crossing her arms. "I don't think you have the right to come and change the decoration of my house, understood?"
Poppy let out a small laugh. That wasn't something Celine had much of an opinion on.
"You always had terrible taste, dear." She responded, looking around. "And to your question… Well, Celine, there are people who decide to face their traumas by raising the semi-demon daughter of their friend with whom you have an extremely doubtful relationship… And other people, like me, decided that we face our traumas by traveling the world and spending our entire fortune, because you only live once and…"
Before Poppy could continue, Celine hugged her from behind, making the woman go slightly stiff.
"It's always a pleasure to see you, Poppy." It was the first time Celine had been a bit more expressive in a long time. "I thought I would never hear your voice again."
The woman took off the sunglasses she was wearing and relaxed her shoulders before turning and returning the hug.
"I missed you too, Celine."