There was no use. I had to open it after all.
Or could I just ignore it?
Probably not.

I shuffled over to the package, took a deep breath and dug the scissors into the wrapping to cut it open.
What would I do if it had a severed sheep head inside? Or insects? Or a living snake?
Just open it, you idiot, I thought to myself and ripped it open.

Inside was not the expected. In fact, it only contained a small note with something written on it.
Hesitantly, I took it out of the box. It was in a beautiful handwriting, even though you could see that the writer had been in a rush when he'd written it.

There is something you must know.
Come to your favorite café at 4 pm today.
- H.S.

"H.S."? Wow, was the creepy man even revealing his name now? Was he trying to personalize himself to make it even scarier?
This weird situation had been going on for such a long time now that I started to get pissed.
Why was I intimidated by him?! Why did I let this guy turn me into this psychological wreck? I would meet him. And then I was going to tell him to just go whereever he came from. Just three more hours until 4 pm. It was time to hit the shower.

On my way to Namsan, my former determination was slightly shaken. I was probably going to sit across the guy that kissed me in a hospital room and touched my face in an almost romantic way last night. Maybe he was a stalker and I was walking straight into his trap.
While I was riding on the bus 402, there was no turning back. I would meet "H.S." after all.
But just in case... I decided to casually message Seojoon where I was. Maybe there would be an emergency situation.

I arrived at the café, only 2 tables were not occupied. I was a little disappointed that I didn't get my regular table and sat down in front of the window. "H.S." was not here yet.
He sent me a note and now he was not on time. Maybe it was all just a hoax. Maybe he wasn't even going to come. I grew impatient.

10 minutes too late, I was drawn into my phone, I heard someone scoop the chair at my table back. I looked up.
And there he was.
I was looking into his face. And I meant, breathtaking face. He had straight eyebrows, framing his face and turning his expression into stern and manly. Meanwhile, his mouth had a natural soft expression to it, as his corners of the mouth were slightly bent upwards.
And his charisma was killing. Truly. killing.
He was dressed in a black turtleneck. His hair was black, and his eyes were the darkest shade of black I'd probably ever seen.

I was not the only one taken aback. I could see basically everyone at the café looking at him. It was not just charisma. It was an actual aura floating around him. Something dark, slightly dangerous. And yet, there was a side to it that seemed almost warm-hearted.

"You must be confused as to why I asked you to come", he said in his deep voice.
I didn't dare to speak.
"My name is Hyungsik." He spoke controlled, his expression a mixture of what seemed to be concern and despair at once. I really didn't know what was going on.
"I am concerned for you...", he added.
Then his expression changed at once. All the human emotions were gone. It felt like suddenly, he turned into a corpse. His eyes were suddenly lacking every kind of glint and turned dull. His lips grew pale. And then, with a dangerous growling voice, he spoke further.
"But you will be dead soon."

I took to my heels in an instant. This was a different level of a psychopath. I grabbed my purse in panic and stormed out the café to the street. It was usually hard to find a cab here, so I cursed and thought about my possibilites to run away from this man. Up to the tower? No. If he was to follow me and meant what he said, he could push me off somewhere. Down to the the palace? Too far, that took at least 30 minutes by foot.
I remembered that the Namsan Market was ok to reach if you ran. So I turned around and started to run.

My pain killers were working well, I couldn't even feel my back while I was running. When suddenly, my scarf distracted me from the way.
I was wearing the deep purple scarf by the old lady from the hospital, only that it wasn't deep purple anymore, but a light purple now. What the hell was going on?
I had slowed down due to my distraction, when in the next moment, someone held me back with more force than needed.
He was there again. But with his human face.

"Sedam, stop!", he said. It was weird. He had run after me, but showed no signs of exhaustion. He wasn't even panting. Who was this guy? And where did he know my name from? Now, I felt defiant.
"What?! And how do you know my name, you psychopath?!", I yelled. He let go of my arm, but didn't bother to step back. He was dangerously close. Closer than a normal person would be.
"Please, just leave me be", I added. I was scared, after all.
"No, listen! I am not dangerous!", he said, and it sounded awfully honest.
"I don't know who you are, I don't know how you seem to know everything about me and why you follow me, but it's really not funny anymore! Just stop this stupid prank and leave me alone!"
"I can't leave you alone. If I do, something terrible will happen to you."
"Let me guess, I die? Nonsense! I can watch out for myself. And as far as I recall, I seem a lot more alive than you do. You don't even seem human!!" I almost yelled myself to rage, confronting this person with everything without even knowing him. I was confused, somehow I just wanted to get away from him. But at the same time, I was too curious to find out what he was about.
He hesitated. He looked around and took a deep breath, as if he was thinking about something complicated.

"I will prove to you that I am not dangerous. And that I am human."
Next moment, he slid his hands into my neck, drew me into him and gave me a gentle, yet passionate kiss.

I was in shock. He even had his eyes closed. I kissed him back, without knowing why. His lips were soft, but ice-cold. Nevertheless, his kiss electrified my body to my last bone. I was even getting more into it. When he realized that I didn't object, carefully, he let his tongue explore my lips, teeth and then met mine. It was a kiss out of this world. My heart was racing.

When he let go, he and I looked into each other's eyes, his in the shade of the few hair strands that were falling into his face. I couldn't describe the feeling that I had in this moment. It was somewhere between aroused, confused, angry, overwhelmed, and excited. Excited by this man and his phenomenal kiss.

"You see?", he asked, having one hand still in my neck. I just nodded while looking at this face.

A moment later, my scarf was doing the color-changing again. Confused, I looked down on it, so did Hyungsik.
The next second I looked up, his cold, scary corpse-expression was back, his hand in my neck turned more forceful than it was before.
He struggled to take it away, let go of me, and without any emotions other than underlying aggression, he said "I have to go."
And gone he was.

Did I kiss a phantom? A ghost? No way. This kiss had been true emotions. It'd been gentle, fiery, intimate, extraordinary. That I was sure of.
I touched my lips where his had touched them a few moments ago.
Still startled, I looked up again to go my way. And then, saw Seojoon standing maybe 100 meters further, looking at me.
The message I had sent.

Quickly, I walked up to him.
"Did you call me here so I see you with your new boyfriend?", he asked as soon as I stood in front of him. He wasn't happy, but didn't sound agry either.
"It's nothing like that, that guy is not my boyfriend!"
"No, Sedam, actually, it's okay. It's not like I can accuse you of anything. In the end, I broke up our relationship. You have every right to do this. It's just..."
"What is it?", I asked.

"It's just that you have never kissed me like you kissed the guy you just were with."