Several years before:

Ji Hyo POV.

I hurried along the dark street, sticking close to the wall for shelter - or as much shelter as I could find. The rain was sleeting down in sheets now, layer after layer. I was sodden to the skin. Didn't even have a proper coat. Or an umbrella. Stupid, Ji Hyo. Stupid.

I turned the corner, hoping to find a map of some sorts. No luck. I did find something, however - and I stifled a gasp. 

It was a small figure. Bigger than I was, but I was quite a small person. Unfortunately. I stepped closer, tentatively, and saw that it was a boy, probably around my age. He was sitting on the bank of the river, not moving as the black waves rolled in, then back, then in again. The dark wet tendrils snakes up the beach, reaching for me, and I jumped back. 

The boy looked up. 

His eyes, the soft brown orbs that almost glowed through the sheets of rain, locked onto mine.

I stared back at him. 

Those eyes ... haad me entranced. I couldn't look away, no matter how hard I tried. 

The boy blinked once, then turned back to face the river, this time hugging his arms around his legs. 

I immeadiately stepped down besides him. I expected him to flinch away. He didn't. 

I settled down besides him, my chin on my knees, and turned to face the river with him. I could see something beautiful about those waves. The ripples of pure obsidian that rolled over the glassy beaches and banks, the currents that swirled and danced in the middle of the river. I felt a slight shift besides me. I turned to look at him