But the gumiho surprises her. Somi abruptly stands from her seat and pushes her way to the front of the Creature Café’s line. When she comes back a minute or two later, she’s holding a large boba drink. She places it in front of Hajun, along with the fat straw. “Stab it through the plastic covering on top,” Somi tells Hajun as she slides back into her seat. “Stab it hard, and then take a long drink.”

Kisa slips her hand away from Hajun’s grip as he stares at Somi in bemusement. “Why?”

“It helps,” says Nam Somi with a tremor in her voice, and Kisa feels a surge of remorse—not for the first time—about how horrible her death must have been. “Stabbing it can be cathartic.”

A little bit of light blinks back into Hajun’s eyes as he unwraps the thick straw and—with a swift, almost violent motion—does what Somi says. It stabs through the thin plastic covering the cup, and Hajun laughs before he takes a sip of the drink, dark boba blurred within the slightly transparent pink straw.

Kisa feels a small surge of surprise, relief, pride. A few months ago, Hajun would never have touched the sugary drink despite the food in the underworld being pretty illusions with no caloric benefits (save for candies like Kopiko, smuggled from the world of the living above). Now, he takes a second sip, and then smiles a tiny, hesitant smile. “This is…really good,” he whispers. “I love it, actually.”

“It’s winter melon with honey, boba, and grass jelly,” Somi replies with a grin around her own straw. “Mine’s jasmine milk tea with lychee, if you want to try it.”

Kisa glances at Seokga, wondering if she is the only one feeling as if she is witnessing something unexpectedly profound and delicate. The god’s face is surprisingly soft as he watches the two switch bobas. Somi tries Hajun’s and laughs—an unexpectedly girlish sound, innocent and bright. When she met Somi for the first time in the sick bay, she never would have thought the gumiho’s laugh would sound like that. Like tinkling bells.

“It’s so sweet!” she half-gasps, spluttering. “I didn’t expect it to be so sweet!”

Hajun’s lips tilt upward. “Yeah,” he murmurs, “me neither.” But he isn’t looking at the drink.

He’s looking at Somi.

Chapter Seventeen

Seokga

Seokga tries very hard to ignore the fact that Kisa is sitting next to him on his bed.

It is just a bed, he tells himself, clenching his phone hard enough that he worries he might break it. It is just a bed. And you are a terrible pervert.

Hwanin, perched on his other knee, gurgles.

From the way Kisa’s cheeks go blue, he can tell that she’s had the incredible misfortune of hearing some of that thought.