It was Tuesday morning and I was restlessly waiting for Kim Heechul to arrive. It was raining heavily outside and I wondered, if he chose to stay at home because of the rain. But for what I know, he could have stayed at home because of a certain nosy waiter.

I was looking into the cake display and playing with my hair. Do I seem like a kid to him with that blonde hair? The reflection on the display was showing a thin man with sickly white skin and only a little darker hair colour. Maybe I should dye it? Or perhaps I should do something with my face instead? Protruding cheekbones, single lidded eyes and those horrible gums that show up whenever I smile a little wider. I have a lot to complain about, living as Kim Heechul would be a lot easier. The guy is almost perfect, or he might pretty much be the standard of beauty. I sighed and wiped the display with a kitchen cloth. Stop thinking about useless things, Hyukjae.

I waited until it was past lunch and then decided to stop looking at the glass door expectantly. Who would come to the same café three days in row? I went back to the kitchen because the coffee machine was almost out of milk. When I returned, to my happiness I found the ghost investigator sitting in his favourite corner. I almost clapped my hands like a seal, when I saw him. Grinning, forget the ugly gums, I rushed to get his order.

“What would you like?” I said cheerfully.

“Here you are, I was already wondering,” Kim Heechul said and his voice sounded annoyed. He was in a bad mood, my smile dropped. When somebody is feeling irritated, it´s not a good idea to smile in front of him too much. I´ve already been hit once when I smiled in front of an irritated person. I wasn´t laughing that much, but those gums of mine make me look much more amused than I actually am. I didn´t think Heechul was any stronger than me but I still didn´t want to take the risk.

“Americano?” I asked him instead.

“Yes, please,” the dark haired man answered courtly and I disappeared behind the counter like a mouse.

I served a customer who wanted a take out, the Americano filled the glass in the meantime. I put it on a plate and hesitated looking at the glass display. Should I or should I rather not? In the end I couldn´t hold myself back and added a red fancy looking dessert on the plate. I´m this kind of person, it´s unavoidable.

“Here´s your order,” I said quietly not to disturb the busy man. Heechul was holding a camera in his hands and playing with the settings. Unknowingly he took a photo of the small table and seeing the photo on the monitor, he turned his head up to me. I had goose-bumps.

“Hyukjae?” That one word almost had me throwing up.

“Alright,” I began before he makes me cry from being unwanted. “I know you didn´t order the cupcake but I swear there isn´t anything better than strawberries when you have a bad day!”

“I see,” Heechul looked back on the camera and then on the real life picture in front of him. There really was standing a strawberry cupcake with two mint leaves on top. I would say it looked more than delicious but the problem was that I wasn´t the one who was going to eat it.

“Call me if you need anything else,” I sighed and walked away dejectedly.

I didn´t dare to return for at least half an hour. It wasn´t needed anyway because Heechul kept playing with his camera and then another one he pulled out of his bag. There were some cables and lenses, also some plastic gadgets I had no idea what they were used for. I guessed it had something to do with Heechul´s job but I didn´t have enough confidence to go and strike a conversation with him.

“Hyukjae?!” I jumped when I heard my name being called. At first I thought it was from the kitchen because I was daydreaming but then I realised that it was actually the ghost investigator that called me up. I gulped and went to the table in the corner.

“Can I help you?” I asked with a small bow and my hair fell over my eyes. Heechul turned to me but then sighed.

“Seriously, look at yourself,” he frowned, “what a sight.” Can I be honest? I thought I would cry, today was such a bad day. And it was still raining too.

“Fine, I will go back and put on a mask,” I whined and was about to turn around.

“Wait!” The surprised man grabbed my wrist. He ing touched me! I blushed right away and was lucky to have my hair all over my face. “I think you misunderstood, sit down.” He didn´t leave me any chance to protest and pulled me to sit down right next to him.

“Today everything you do reminds me of a story,” he smirked and sipped from his cold coffee. “You might be familiar with this one.”

“What story?” I tried to not sound too sad and smile a little. Only a little, though, because I still didn´t know what he meant by his previous remark.

“Kuchisake onna,” Heechul said but when he saw my blank face, he decided to tell me the story. “You may know the Korean version of the story. A guy is sitting in the train when a girl with red mask sits in front of him. ´Am I pretty?´ She asks and the guy of course nods. Then the girl puts down the mask and is slit from her left to her right ear, her teeth, gums and muscles showing! The guy runs away.”

“Ew, that´s ugly,” I shook my head. “What exactly on me reminded you of that story?” To tell the truth, the story about wrong plastic surgery was interesting and I´m sure I´ve heard of it before, but I felt pretty down with this talk about beauty. I may have been a little offended too.

“Many things,” Heechul chuckled and I considered leaving. “First the red cupcake, the colour of the cream is pretty intense. Also I´ve seen you check yourself in the cake display a lot today and then you come with your hair all over your eyes like a ghost.”

“This café is haunted then,” I answered coldly. I wasn´t in mood to let myself be insulted any more.

“I think you should cut your hair,” Heechul then leaned against the table with his left elbow so he had a good view at me. “Your face would show more, you´re good-looking.”

„What?“ I snorted, what a joke.

“You have a sharp jaw and clean skin, your nose is pointy and your eyebrows charismatic. You should consider changing your hairstyle,” he told me completely seriously while looking into my eyes. I´m sure I reddened to the point the cupcake looked bland next to me.

“You said the story had some other version?” I stammered quickly to change the topic. I wasn´t just surprised by Heechul´s words, I was completely baffled. The latter was smiling as if nothing.

“Yeah, it´s originally a Japanese folklore,” Heechul crossed his arms over his chest and leaned his back against the seat. “Kuchisake onna looks for children that walk around in the dark. She asks if she´s pretty and when the child says no, she cuts him with scissors. When the child answers positively she shows her nasty ripped face and gleaming eyes and asks again. ´How about now?´ If the child answers with not pretty, she cuts them in half!”

“But what if they say she´s pretty for the second time?” I asked. There had to be a way to escape the ghost.

“Then she slits their face so they look pretty too,” Heechul answered.

“That´s really scary, Heechul,” I rubbed my arms to get rid of goose-bumps, not noticing that I just called the latter´s name in a way too familiar manner. “I don´t think I could do your job.”

“The reality is usually different from urban legends but not any less exciting, Hyukjae,” Heechul pronounced my name louder than he does normally. I realised he was pointing at my mistake but decided to ignore it.

“I don´t have your guts, Heechul,” I grinned, purposely provoking him. I was warming up slowly, enjoying his presence next to me.

“I think you do have the guts to call me by my name,” he groaned but there was this content smile on his face. He was in a good mood, I told you that strawberries would work. It was my goal from the beginning, to make that irritated man smile honestly at me. I succeeded.

“I have to go back now,” I stood up and smiled widely. I even chuckled when I saw the man defeated by my happiness. I was so excited until the ghost investigator got me again. Calling over at me through the café.

“Hyukjae? Am I pretty?” My smile dropped, what was the right answer again?

Hello! Sorry for being away for so long! I was fighting to get my Bc. degree and won. Exhausted but satisfied. :) I´ve always liked the story of Kuchisake onna and when I found out it addapted to Korean urban folklore, I had to use it. Korea is famous for exagerrated care for appearance so the Slit-mouth woman easilly addapted to the environment. I hope you shivered a little. Thank you for reading and your patience. Have a nice summer! - PandaHero