Four hours passed since the short girl claimed herself to be Seungwan. Four hours full of constant walking and sightseeing everything her eyes could reach, like a tourist in a new town. The sun was already setting down but the suffocating heat stayed with the night. She could feel her feet burning and legs hurting but wasn’t showing it. Her small frame drenched in sweat gave her away to those who curiously laid their eyes on her. She could feel her skin sticky and itchy while the sweat ran down her face. Some would find it troubling or annoying but she didn’t, neither did she mind the pain that engulfed her limbs.

She walked and walked for one more hour without a clear destination in mind but ceased her steps when she reached a huge…lake? Her eyes spotted a few bridges with cars crossing to reach the other side of the city where tall buildings were the first thing to greet them. Seungwan stayed there for a couple of minutes listening to the quiet and weak breeze that carried with it the laughs and joy of those who were there while still holding that childish backpack. How long had it been? Her mind was quietly processing this sort of different world she just walked into that felt somewhat tad familiar.

Her hair was so wet that she looked as if she had just taken a shower, which raised some concern among the passersby who decided to mind their own business despite their curiosity. It wasn’t something unusual, the Han River was considered a haven for those with joy and pain, who sought to cry or laugh peacefully. 

Her eyes were set on the calm water that reflected perfectly the starry night above when another figure suddenly stood less than a meter away from her. She paid no mind to the newcomer for a few minutes but something irked her insides and forced her to face the person who decided that standing next to her was the best place for them. One thing was for sure, she wasn’t expecting a pair of dark shallow eyes to welcome her right away and dissect her face as soon as she turned their way, with the owner being a girl slightly taller than her. It was deadly silent but the other party showed no signs of initiating a talk, not that she was willing to be part of it but the person in front was starting to get on her nerves and they were aware, hard not to notice those empty eyes filled with irritation with each second that passed. 

“What are you looking at?” She spat through clenched teeth. The other one seemed unfazed, which made the girl who named herself Seungwan lose it. “Got a problem?” Her voice became deeper, anyone with ears and eyes could take the hint but not the girl in front. 

“What was the name again?” 

Seungwan’s face full of hatred vanished in an instant and was replaced with confusion. “What?” The question escaped her lips without permission which took her by surprise but she ignored it when that blank face was expecting an answer. It was hard to pay attention when the moon was making her brown hair look like gold sun rays in Seungwan’s eyes.

“The book. What was the name of the book?” Her voice was calm but her eyes were urging the short girl to speak. 

Realization finally hit Seungwan who lowered her face as quickly as she knew what was happening. Anguish was swallowing her mind whole, it was happening already. She was trying to think of something when a pair of white sneakers approached her slowly as if she was a lonely stray cat. “I don’t remember.” She said under her breath and raised her head once again to face those empty dark orbs that were already on her, making you wonder if they ever left her frame at some point. 

She took a step back when she felt like she was caught after a slight frown suddenly appeared on the girl’s face. She was ready to run away and it was easy for the other one to catch on to her intentions. 

“I’m leaving.” Seungwan said and turned around hurrying her steps. She didn’t look back and felt safe once she knew the distance between the two of them was growing but was taken aback when a hand suddenly pulled her back softly by the shoulder. She felt cornered once she saw those eyes again, so she turned her right hand into a fist ready to lay a hard hit on her face in case she needed it. 

“Where are you going?” Her tone was flat and there was not a single hint on her face that let the shorter girl know if she had been truly caught or not. Maybe she was still safe but needed to be careful because that person knew her.

“Home.” The less she talked the better. She determined she would decrease the chances of messing up if she kept her words to a minimum. 

The girl nodded her head slowly but her hand was still on her shoulder with her hold not losing one bit, which was like a warning to Seungwan that she was still walking on thin ice. “But you don’t live that way.” 

That’s it. Seungwan threw a punch at her hoping to disorient her and take that chance to run away however, she wasn’t prepared for the girl to catch it easily with her left hand. Her breathing accelerated quickly as she tried to pry her hand away from that deathly hold but the girl was insanely strong. “Let me go!” She almost yelled with venom. “I’ll ing kill you!” She whispered in hopes of scaring the girl nonetheless it wasn’t working, it was as if she was threatening a pair of deaf ears. 

“Stop.” She was clearly ordering the wild animal who was on a rampage and had no intention of doing as she was being told. She was pulling her body back like crazy as if her life depended on it. “I won’t tell anyone about you, so calm down before someone calls the police.” This time there was exasperation in her voice and that made the breathless girl stop. She stared at the girl incredulously not getting what she had just said. The brunette took a step back and let her go to prove what she was saying was true. 

“Ho-How…” She was still trying to catch her breath. Sweat ran profusely down her face due to her failed attempts to set herself free. 

“How did I know? Well, you were pretty obvious. Anyone who knows or has seen Wendy will notice something isn’t right by taking just one look at you.”

“But that’s not enough for you to assume I’m not her.” Seungwan was right. “Are you her friend?” She cautiously asked while she wiped off the sweat on her face with her forearm.  

“No, I’m not.” That caught Seungwan’s interest. “If I were, my reaction would’ve been different and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” Fair enough. “We go to the same school and we just happened to come across each other earlier.” 

She her dry lower lip to ease the dizziness that suddenly took over her. “When you approached me, you already knew I wasn’t her, right?” She waited no time to ask what she needed. “How long have you been following me?”

The taller brunette pursed her perfect small lips. “First, I wasn’t following you. I work at that convenience store.” She tilted her head to point to the shiny store that was like a lighthouse in the night. Her black blouse with the same K-Mart logo was proof enough. It wasn’t that far but it took probably 5 minutes to get to where Seungwan was standing previously before trying to escape. “I was done with my shift and ready to leave until I saw someone familiar standing all alone.” The girl got quiet all of a sudden and a thoughtful expression crept up her face. “Normally I would just leave but I saw her in such a bad state after school was over…”

Seungwan couldn’t stop herself from interrupting her, and neither did she care. “Bad state?”

She nodded. “She was crying so much.” She looked down at the grass. “This place might look beautiful to you but many people have come here to end their lives.” She saw the shock and confusion the other girl portrayed.

“Why would they do something so dumb?” She asked baffled at such actions. 

“Some think that’s the only option they have. Others can’t bear the pain they are going through so they choose to end it.” Her soft thumb tapped her fingertips as if she was quietly playing an invisible piano, something that caught Seungwan’s attention. “So I thought Wendy was here to do the same. The more I approached her and saw her state, the more I convinced myself my thoughts were right. So I just wanted to make sure she didn’t do anything stupid.” She faced the girl once again with curiosity in her dark eyes. “The clothes and face matched her but I guess not the name.”

“Acting differently isn’t enough for you to conclude I’m not her, so why?” Her deep voice urged for an answer as she was starting to feel herself vanish. Maybe it was the tiredness finally hitting her or dehydration that was claiming her body. Either way, the taller girl noticed.

“It was your eyes. Those eyes weren’t the same ones that looked at me earlier.” Those words hit Seungwan like a storm yet for some reason were hard to process. It had to be her brain’s silently asking for a drop of water. Her shaky legs gave up and she fell knees first on the rough grass, her hand tried to keep the salty sweat off her eyes but even that was a hard task for her. She was trying to get a hold of herself but everything was turning black. 

“Here.” The feminine voice rang through her ears like a painful sound that forced her to look up only to be welcomed by a cold water bottle that was already open. She was trying to take it but her arms weren’t responding. The other girl let out a sigh and helped the girl take a few sips after kneeling in front of her. 

As soon as the cold nectar touched her tongue, Seungwan wanted to drink the entire bottle in one gulp but the girl wasn’t letting her. She was getting frustrated until the firm look she was receiving was enough for her to keep shut. Sweet, refreshing, and cold. That’s all she could think of while emptying that 600 ml water bottle. 

“Sit down, you must be tired.” She pushed the girl back carefully and sat next to her. The Han River was emptying little by little.

“Your eyes were only the start because you couldn’t even remember the name of a book you knew from memory a few hours earlier. I was certain something was happening until you finally gave me the answer the moment you told me you were going home.”

Seungwan finally regained her senses. “Who are you? Why are you…helping me?” A demanding tone made its way through the question, even so, it didn’t throw off the receptor.

The unfazed girl who sat with crossed legs, faced the glorious moon ignoring her question and asking her own. “I’m Sooyeon. And you?”

The short one remained silent trying to think of a good reason for her name to remain unknown but she found none as she felt no threat coming from the one in front. “I’m Seungwan.” Her name dissipated in the hot summer night. 

“Seungwan?” The girl looked back at her.

“Yes.” It was the first time Seungwan had this sort of interaction after being discovered. “Why are you willing to help me?” She asked once again cautiously pronouncing word by word.

She nodded slowly but her eyes never wavered. “I guess I’m just curious. I’ve read about your condition previously but never actually saw it with my own eyes.”  Those expecting eyes were set on Seungwan who looked confused after the revelation but that confusion turned into shock when she caught the word condition in her sentence.

“Condition...” She was breathless. 

Sooyeon’s observant eyes guarded the place. “Some people call what you are a dissociative identity disorder, which means a person can have multiple personalities. For example, you Seungwan, are one of them. Those personalities are sometimes the result of traumas." Seungwan was appalled. “There are others that define you as a split personality.” Seungwan listened attentively but there was anger engulfing her mind. “Of course, I do believe there is just a tiny truth in all that. You see, humans try so hard to find answers to what they can’t understand with the limited knowledge they have in the matter. This means they’ll find their answers even if those aren’t remotely near the truth. As long as they make sense and are related to something that was previously discovered it’s acceptable. But I don’t share those beliefs and reasonings.” Her anger vanished as Sooyeon said the last sentence. “I want to know more about you and understand you.”

“Aren’t you…afraid of me?” She was stupefied.

“No. Why?” Her voice was calm and soothing while her eyes had certain tenderness in them, something that caught Seungwan off guard. When was the last time she was seen that way? Was there even a time like that?

“Because people usually fear me when they know I’m not her.” Her face didn’t show it but there was pain in her voice, something that didn’t escape Sooyeon’s sharpness.

“So this isn’t the first time you’re here?” She asked and Seungwan shook her head in return. “Oh.” She nodded in understanding. “It must’ve been hard for you. It’s in human nature to fear the unknown. They’re scared and reject what they can’t understand.”

Seungwan stayed silent for a while. “When I first appeared, I couldn’t understand what was happening. Everything seemed huge back then and I had to take some time to look around that unknown place.” Sooyeon listened attentively. “I remember clearly a bunch of people calling me Wendy but for some reason, I knew I was Seungwan. My name was Seungwan. Her parents thought she was just playing around but when a few days passed and they noticed I still wasn’t her, they took me to see a doctor. 

He asked me many things. Who I was. How old I was. What I loved to do. What was my favorite color…” Sooyeon could see she was having some sort of trouble keeping up with all the memories she had from her past. “She is Wendy but at the same time, she is not. He said. And after that, he told me I shouldn’t be here, and that I needed to let Wendy come forward because he wanted to talk to her. Why was it so wrong for me to be there as if I was just a bad seasonal sickness?” Seungwan clenched her fists. “He tried so hard to make me think I didn’t exist, that I was indeed a mere creation of the mind out of loneliness. Neither he nor her parents could accept that I existed and was unfortunate enough to share a body with Wendy. I was a child back then and cried my heart out because I couldn’t stand the feeling of being unwanted. It’s not like I was the one who pushed her out of the way, I learned with time that Wendy is a person who runs away when things don’t go smoothly for her.” There was venom in her voice, she was finally letting herself lose and Sooyeon didn’t mind it. “They thought I would disappear with the right medications and that one day Wendy would be cured because it’s all in the mind. But I won’t. I never do. I’m just put in a deep sleep until I wake up again.” Her dull eyes suddenly got lost in the vast water in front. “The horror on their faces every time I told them I was Seungwan is always on my mind, like a plague that won’t go away. If I was lucky enough, I’d wake up in a place where they weren’t there. Normally it was a park with a playground, so I spent all the time I could there before they came to get me and…” She was breathing heavily. Her frustration was evident. ”Now I realize it never took that long for me to wake up before because everything seemed the same back then. However, now I can tell a lot of time has passed. I don’t recognize this place, nor this voice, and neither these hands.” She was staring at her slim long fingers before covering her face. “To me, this face seems like it belongs to a stranger. Even the trees that looked like they could take me to the sky, look so small now.” He