Ciphertext – Chapter 35: Pizza (finally)

Luciel, Eun-ji and Vanderwood had perched themselves on the huge beanbags that adorned the hacker's living room. The pizza delivery had made its way to them and they were busy tucking into their well-deserved meal. It was only ten in the morning, but even so it was a welcome treat.

"Mmm. Ham and pineapple is my all-time favourite topping!" declared Eun-ji, savouring one of the thinner slices and letting some of the stringy mozzarella wrap around her tongue. "I've liked it ever since I was a child and I'm not even sure why. I don't eat pineapple at any other time, but when it's on top of a pizza and combined with ham, it's just so tasty!" She took a few more bites and continued her story through muffled mouthfuls. "My parents used to have a takeaway night once every two weeks. Normally they were super health-conscious, but since my father insisted that my mother take some time off from cooking, we decided to have regular pizza nights." She sighed and chewed simultaneously. "Ah, I really miss those days."

Vanderwood picked up a slice of his veggie pizza and checked the consistency of the base carefully. "This local pizza place really knows how to cook the dough to perfection." He took his first bite before changing the subject not-so-expertly. "Tell me Eun-ji. When was the last time you enjoyed one of those pizza nights with your family?"

"I um-" She was finding it difficult to have a natural conversation with this man, who was in fact her cousin on her mother's side. It wasn't that she was especially intent on keeping her true identity a secret from Vanderwood, but as things stood, he was only observing some resemblance between the way she was now and her past self. There wasn't enough evidence on his side to prove anything one way or another - only pure speculation and a vague air of familiarity.

Something caused Vanderwood to chuckle and he practically choked on a mushroom. "Hey, why are you so embarrassed to say what's on your mind?" He shifted a little closer towards Eun-ji and tried to follow her eye line, glaring intently at her.

Eun-ji put the ham and pineapple pizza slice back down into the cardboard box and tilted her head forwards slightly so her bangs covered most of her face. "I'm not … ashamed of anything … it's just that-"

"Hmm … well, that's not exactly what I was referring to." Then, Vanderwood nodded, as though he had gleaned some extra valuable knowledge that no-one else could possibly understand. "Oh-ho … I get it. Are you … maybe … attracted to me?"

"WHAT!?" Eun-ji blurted out, more forcefully than she had hoped. "What are you talking about?" she said, in a much softer tone.

"Huh? Am I wrong?" He grinned. "I could have sworn I caught you blushing earlier."

"I'm just a bit flustered, you know. I-I'm getting used to this whole 'normality' thing again."

"It's because you're in the presence of such a tragically handsome individual, right?" He swept his hair back and arranged it into a ponytail before tying the locks up in a bun. Some of the loose strands fell down around his face. Now he looked even more ridiculous. Zen would have been mortified.

Eun-ji blushed at the horror of it all. That pose, combined with his terribly retro fashion sense just made no sense to her whatsoever. "Um, n-no. That's not-"

"I can tell you now, that's really not what she meant." Luciel interrupted, determined to steer Vanderwood off the topic. "Will you please just cut this out already. Anyway, why are you even asking her these things?"

"I'm serious, look at how shy she's been acting since you arrived here!" Vanderwood gestured towards her. "I know for a fact what she's like when she's alone with you – so much more than just a smitten kitten! It's like she's on fire!"

"Argh … Honestly, just give it a rest man!" It hurt Luciel's mind to think that Vanderwood may have stumbled across the dirty footage of them from Rika's apartment. "Don't you think the reason she's acting like that is because you're prying into her private life too much?"

"Is that what you think I'm doing? No, I just want to get to know this beautiful create, Eun-ji Moon. Maybe it's because she's your girlfriend. It kind of makes me want to steal her from you," he joked.

Eun-ji felt her stomach turn at the mention of how beautiful she was. Vanderwood was still so blissfully unaware of the truth. She had long killed off the side of her that was Ji-ho in an attempt to distance herself from that life and the people that existed within it. Although she'd had many good memories, the emotional wounds from before the operation had remained firmly open.

She was happy with the new person she'd become, but it was times like these when the past just kept creeping up on her and she felt utterly powerless to let go. It would take some time until she was ready to face her demons head-on. But for now, she had Luciel.

Sensing the hesitation in her movements, Luciel looked Vanderwood directly in the eyes. "Yeah, well. Just consider how those comments might be making her feel, especially after everything she's been subjected to these past few days. The experience was completely out of the ordinary. So I'm asking you to be more considerate."

Vanderwood crossed his legs and sat there in silence, pouting a little. "You know what Luciel? Right now, you're not half as crazy and fun as you used to be. I've noticed that your humour radar is starting to malfunction … and pretty quickly too."

"Hmm?" Luciel's ears pricked up at this comment. "Are you saying that you actually preferred that version of me?"

He considered the reason he had brought it up. "I wouldn't exactly say 'preferred' but there's just something about this new persona. I'm not sure what to think about it. It's like you're not Agent 707 anymore. You're just-"

"Saeyoung Choi?" He said. "Whatever it is you want to call me, it doesn't change who I am. This is me, it's who I've always been. As far as I'm concerned, 707 never truly existed. He was really nothing more than a defence mechanism that I created so I could face this cruel world with a little more courage. Sure, there's still a part of me that loves that character, but that's all he was – a character."

"I disagree," Eun-ji piped up, finishing off a small mouthful of pizza. "You'll never completely lose that side of your personality no matter how hard you try to push it down." She reached out and took off his glasses, placing them onto her own face cutely. "Anyway, I don't think it's fair to completely shut him out, do you?"

Luciel wanted to be sure that she wasn't just saying what he wanted to hear. "Eun-ji … would you be okay with that? I mean, right now I don't feel like he is even a necessary part of my existence. Too many people got the wrong idea about me when I was acting out 707's strange, happy-go-lucky fantasy."

Eun-ji smiled and chewed enthusiastically on her pizza slice. "Well, I didn't get the wrong idea about you, did I?" She cocked her head to one side and let out a small laugh.

Unable to maintain his frown, Luciel's expression softened and he parroted her comforting laugh. "I don't think you did …. at least you hope not, huh?"

Suddenly, the doorbell rang but instead of alerting them with a simple chime, it played an 8-bit gaming tune. The three of them stared blankly at the entrance without saying a word.

Luciel walked over to the intercom and pressed the button to see who was visiting him this time of day. He smiled as Yoosung put his face right up to the camera, the convex lens warping his features into a strange alien-like pattern. It looked as though he was holding some sort of food storage container in his hands.

"Seven, are you in?" said Yoosung, cautious as a cat.

Luciel pushed the 'talk' button. "Yoosung! Yeah, I'm here."

"Ah! I'm so glad to hear your voice! I heard what happened from Jumin, I've been so worried about you guys!"

"Aha. Well, you don't need to worry. We're doing just fine." Luciel finally felt calm talking about it.

"Cool. Um. So, are you gonna let me in or what? You know I don't speak Arabic!" said Yoosung, pouting.

"Sure. I'll be right there."