# Jonghyun

I have done some pretty disgusting things, like stepping on a pile of doggie dumps. ‘Stepped on it right before a date with a girl I liked for so long’. Let me tell you now, that the foul smell didn’t deteriorate for hours and my body seemed to have absorbed it. There was also that one time where a wraith practically dragged me behind a massive garbage wheelie bin. ‘Oh wait, that’s present time, it’s happening right this moment’. This is just gross.

I was currently hiding behind a massive garbage wheelie bin. This ghost or whatever she was, named Jessica squishing up beside me, poking her head up above the garbage once in a while and jerking her head from side to side whenever she did. I couldn’t help but notice how pale in colour she became since I first saw her. ‘Oh well, couldn’t care less. I’m talking to a ghost ... how entirely creepy’. She was frantically searching for something. ‘What in the world?’

I just stared at her head popping up from time to time, whilst my head stayed up above the lid of the garbage. ‘She’s so strange’. What’s the point of trying to take cover when no one can see her besides me anyway? ‘I know how unlucky’. All I know from the little detail that she had given me not too long ago at the café was that she was searching for her boyfriend. How is she supposed to find this boyfriend of hers if he could be anywhere? And yet here we are hiding behind one out of a million wheelie bins. ‘Genius’.

Jessica’s head popped up beside mine again, startling me from my train of thought.

“Will you stop it!? You’re making me dizzy, are you planning to do this for the whole day?” I just had to say it before she popped her head down and then back up again. I massaged my temples, my eyes slightly shut.

I heard Jessica huff. “Until the death!”

“You’re kidding right!?” I jolted my eyes open and stared at her in disbelief.

“Of course I’m kidding ... what do you think I am? A human being?!” Jessica frowned whilst continuing to search for that familiar face of her boyfriend.

“Now I’m convinced you’d do it till my death.” I mumbled.‘This annoying wraith’.

“Oh will you shut u-.” Fortunately, I managed to get a hold of her hand before she can slap my arm. ‘Unfortunately, my back hit another bin next to me along the process and ended up shaking a rack filled with garbage bags’. I hoped that none of the bags would’ve fallen off the rack but I guess today wasn’t my lucky day. ‘Lost hope right from the beginning’. Before I knew it, I got thumped on my head by a massive garbage bag. ‘Ouch ...’.

“Ow!” Jessica audibly squealed, throwing a little fit and kicking the garbage bag away.

‘That’s weird, she felt that garbage bag fall on top of her head?’ I found it weird. I mean, being a wraith and all. You wouldn’t feel anything, right?

“You felt that?” I couldn’t help asking.

Jessica seemed a little confused as well, judging by the pout fixated on her face. She seemed to be thinking for a moment until she laid her eyes on my fingers wrapped tightly around her wrist. ‘Oh my bad’.

“Yah! Let go of my wrist! Gee!” Jessica shook her hand frantically forcing me to loosen my grip.

“Sorry ... hey, you know what?” I glanced around, truthfully hoping no one was staring at me. “I think I have a better plan.”

Jessica rolled her eyes and observed her nails. “Hey, I ain’t going to pop my head through the walls of this bin, if that’s what you were thinking of.”

“... To do what? ... No! I mean, that’s not what I was going to say! What’s with you and this bin anyway!?” Honestly. She could’ve just dragged me behind a wheelie bin at the shopping village, there were plenty of cleaner ones there. ‘But no!’ She just had to drag me all the way, past several blocks, back into the cul-de-sac and behind this particular wheelie bin. ‘I have no idea what she’s playing it’. One thing I did know was that this definitely wasn’t my apartment’s wheelie bin.

# Jessica

I couldn’t understand it myself. When I started dragging Jonghyun, my feet just brought me here. ‘Towards Key’s old apartment, which is now owned by this annoying brat’. But why did she have such an attraction towards this wheelie bin? I know it isn’t just an ordinary feeling, it must be some sort of sign.

"I don't know," I slowly got up and examined the bin carefully, my fingertips slightly touching the walls of the wheelie bin, "I feel something, really strong radiating from this bin."

"Uh," Jonghyun mimicked my actions and started sniffing the wheelie bin, "are you sure it isn't the rotten hoddeok, there's some powerful smelly strength radiating from that."

Jonghyun fanned his hand in front of his nose. I laughed and hit him on the shoulder. ‘Total idiot'.

“I’m being serious here!” I slapped his arm several times again.

“Alright, alright ... calm down I was only joking.” Jonghyun smirked. ‘Ugh’.

“Oh stop.” I wiped my filthy, bacteria-covered hand over his smug mouth.

He began frantically wiping his mouth. ‘Yes, you deserve that’. While that kept him a little busy, my fingertips regained contact with the wall of the wheelie bin. Well not actual direct contact, If I shift my hands a little forward they would go right through. Then I felt a jolt, something of an electric current run swiftly up my arm and sending a slight shiver down my spine.

“Why’d you do that for?!” The brat was still wiping his mouth. ‘How whiny’.

I ignored him. “Hey, can you open the lid of the bin for me?”

“Why can’t you?”

‘Ugh! Just do it already! Can’t you see I’m the only one doing anything decent between the two of us’. I turned to look at Jonghyun and I could see that he was still a little angry at my action. It was a little harsh I guess. Okay, maybe I can’t get his help. I huffed in annoyance. ‘He’s so childish’.

Rubbing my hands once, I slowly and carefully placed my palms on the surface of the wheelie bin and hoping not to plough my transparent hands right through. I closed my eyes and cleared everything on my mind, my full concentration was now on my hands. ‘Just wondering, how can I touch Jonghyun so easily and yet with other objects it’s so difficult to even feel them. What’s even more confusing was that garbage bag that fell on our heads not too long ago ... Damn it!’. I lost my concentration. I opened my eyes and rubbed my hands together again, going in for a second attempt.

“You know I’ve noticed something-”

“Now really isn’t the time, as you can see my dear chingu.” I interrupted Jonghyun before he could say something stupid again and proceeded with what’s important.

“No really-”

I sighed, which cut him off again. “Seriously, can’t you see I’m-”

“You’re fading!” Jonghyun’s tone intensified, which took me by complete surprise.

‘Fading?’ I left my stare on Jonghyun for a while to see if he was kidding around, but his facial expression said otherwise. Bringing my hands in level with my eyes, I could finally see what Jonghyun was talking about. My transparency has become even worse than this morning.  ‘Oh my goodness ... I am fading ...’

“I’m ... I’m fading.” My voice seemed to have weakened a little because even I could barely hear it. ‘Why?’ It was because I knew what was going to happen after the fading phase. ‘You vanish’. It was a pretty tragic thing, like starting on first base again.

Jonghyun seemed a little sympathetic. “It’s not that bad. You’ve only just faded a little.”

He was right. I only faded a little, but exactly why am I fading? It hasn’t even been that long since the start of the mission.

“Probably because you’re using too much of your energy.”

I jerk my head in Jonghyun’s direction. ‘It could be that’.

“Possibly, but I have to use my strength,” I stared at my transparent hands and thought about my useless and weak strength, “I really feel I’m onto something here.”

“Don’t touch anything.”

“Sorry?” ‘What the heck is he on about?!’

I stared at Jonghyun as he tried to find a cleaner edge on the wheelie bin to lift the lid. Once he had a firm grip on the edge, he lifted the lid with no sweat at all. ‘Well ... I guess he’s useful for one thing’. Then without hesitation, Jonghyun did something honestly unexpected. He held me by the waist and hoisted me up and over the wall of the wheelie bin and made sure he heard the thud of my feet on the wheelie bin’s base before letting go. ‘... That was unexpected. Why was he being so nice now?’

“Stop gawking and hurry and find whatever radiating thing you were talking about earlier.” Jonghyun turned around to face opposite direction from where I was. ‘I’m in a bin’. He leaned on the wall of the garbage wheelie bin. ‘Yeah. Thanks’.

I took a deep breath and held it in before using the energy that has a minimum to rummage and feel through the garbage bags. ‘Heck, not in my lifetime would I have thought I’d be desperate enough to look through garbage bags’. I stuck my hand through one particular garbage bag and felt that electrifying jolt, in which I instinctively pulled my hand out from it. ‘This must be it!’

Although I was terrified of that electrifying jolt, it was equivalent to having an electric shot but a little more harsh, I swiftly stuck my hand back in.

            # Narrator

“I found it!”

Jessica smiled triumphantly held it in the palm of her hands. As if the wind was going to blow the delicate thing away. Jessica was still situated on the floor of the wheelie bin. It stunk so much and she reeked just like wheelie bin but she couldn’t stop her happiness. She looked up at the sky and grinned. Maybe there are advantages to her powers that cannot be possessed by mortals. ‘I knew it! I knew that feeling was a sign. This is the key, the answer to my questions. This marks the end of my doubt and cluelessness. I finally found it! A-’.

“-Packet of nacho flavoured cheese balls?”

Jonghyun peered over the walls of the wheelie bin, a bored expression on his face. ‘All that? ... for a packet of cheese balls?’ Jonghyun just stared at Jessica and back at the packet of cheese balls.

Jessica gasped. “You don’t get it!”

‘Ha!’ Jonghyun furrowed his eyebrows. “Yeah, I don’t get it.”

But Jessica was way too ecstatic to explain things to Jonghyun. Instead, she ordered for him to hoist her out of the wheelie bin.

“Do you know what this means?” Before Jonghyun could answer, Jessica continued in her cheery state, “this isn’t just any nacho flavoured cheese balls packet, It so happens to be Key’s favourite snack!”

Jonghyun kept his eyebrows furrowed. “And so?”

Jessica finally noticed Jonghyun’s presence and started to get annoyed at his constant questioning.

“And so Key is definitely living in this apartment!”

‘That’s impossible’. Jonghyun couldn’t help but thinking. “But didn’t you say that he used to live where I live right now? Why in the world would you want to be bothered moving all your furniture when you’re only living right across from your old home? It’s pointless.”

Jessica didn’t seem to be listening to Jonghyun, instead she was observing the apartment building, one of many duplicate apartment buildings in this specific cul-de-sac.

“And if I wanted to move apartments, I’d sure want something that isn’t a replica of my old apartment.” Jonghyun continued on.

Jessica held out a hand in front of his face, signalling for him to stop talking. She held it there and continued to observe the apartment building. Jonghyun sighed. ‘She’s probably figuring out a way to get in the building and actually getting to where his apartment is. There are heaps of floors in every apartment. What if I suggest we eat first ... I’m starving’

“We’re going in!” Jessica smiled evilly. ‘Oh this will be good’.

Jonghyun grumbled. ‘Guess not’.

an update by mc_cwiss my co-author!
She couldn't go on to personally update but this is her author's message to you guys:

I finally updated chapter 3! ^^
In like what?
Almost a year? T.T
I know it's been so long

but I really hope you haven't forgotten about 'Cupid Phantom'!

I love you! ♥
thank you so much for commenting and subscribing!
Chris eonnie and I appreciate it so much! ♥
and hopefully you enjoyed this update!

p.s. there shall be a poster soon :)
so anticipate that as well!