Love is such a complex thing. But true love? Even more so. There people out there who would give up so, so much for this so-called “true love” because they hope for it each day, they long for the feeling of that unexplainable happiness that blooms from within their very souls and course through their very veins.

They wish to find it in someone. Their supposed “other half.” Someone who, to them, is beyond perfect, beyond what they ever imagined or even asked for. Someone so surreal, almost mythical. Someone that’s too good to be true.

I’m Min Ha. I’m 24 years old and I have a wonderful boyfriend named Sehun. My boyfriend is handsome. He’s tall, smart, nice, caring… basically every girl’s dream. To me, Sehun is perfect, or at least close to perfect. Every day we spend together is utter bliss and contentment. I sometimes stare at him and think to myself, “Wow, this person in mine. I’m very lucky to have him.”

We spend days going for long walks, talking about anything and everything. We have dinner together in fancy restaurants. He picks me up and takes me to work too. Everything was perfect, or at least… close to perfect.  The longer we dated, the more I noticed his little quirks. His little quirks that I soon realized were more of… unusual behaviors.

There are times when I see him smiling to himself. I used to find it cute until he told me why he does so. “My friend, Hongshim the bird says the silliest things sometimes,” he said, still chuckling at what this bird has apparently told him. I gaped at him. We live in the middle of the city where there isn’t a single bird in sight. How could he say he had a friend that’s a bird? Let alone have an animal tell him silly jokes?

There was a time when I saw him waving at someone in an empty street on a late night when he picked me up after my overtime. I looked around for a couple of minutes but saw no one except ourselves walking. I risked asking him who he was waving at and he said his co-worker, Kang Chul was sitting on a bench near the bus stop. He even asked me to greet him.

I know everyone he works with. There wasn’t anyone named Kang Chul and I was pretty sure the bench was as empty as the street we were passing by. Confused and slightly bothered by his oddity, I did as I was told, convincing myself he was just joking, teasing me.

And one time, when he suddenly barged into my apartment and asked me to start packing because someone was following him and wanted to kill him, me included, I realized that there was really something wrong with my perfect boyfriend.

He pulled me out of bed that day and even got a bag for me to put my clothes in. “Hurry!” he told me in a panicked tone, eyes shaking nervously and sweat beads starting to form on his forehead. I was still disoriented from being woken up so suddenly but his hands were shaking terribly when he held the bag and I had to do something.

“Sehun,” I began, taking the bag away from him and slowly sitting him down on my bed. “No one’s following you and there’s certainly no one wanting to kill you,” I said in the gentlest voice I could muster. He shook his head vigorously. He shot up from my bed at the startling speed and held me by the shoulders.

“I know they’re out for me, Min Ha. I know! I can hear them,” he whispered with pleading eyes. Fear was starting to bubble up in my stomach. What was he saying? What was wrong with him? Although completely scared and worried, I took a deep breath to calm myself down and readied myself to talk some sense into him but before I could even open my mouth, he gasped.

His eyes grew wide with shock. “I can hear them! Oh my god! They’re coming, Min Ha!” He was beginning to yell, shaking my shoulders and pulling me up to my feet.  “Sehun, wait! H-Hear them?” I furrowed my brows, just unable to comprehend what was going on.

“What are you talking about. Who are they?” He looked me in the eye, his eyebrow twitching, eyes wide and crazed. He lifted his hand up his head and tapped his temple with his middle finger. “Here, Min Ha… I can hear voices in my head and they’ll kill me if I don’t run.”

The fear in me tripled and I couldn’t even speak, nor could I really move at my own will. He was pulling at my arm, dragging me to who knows where. I was dazed, completely out of my mind until I snapped out of my thoughts moments later. I looked around and noticed that were somewhere else already.

He turned to me looking a lot calmer than before, a small smile tugging on his lips as he pulled me into his arms. “We’re safe here,” he said into my hair. “At least for now…” My words wouldn’t formulate. I could only blink and have my own arms coming up to wrap around his waist.

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