"I'm home~" Bom faked a sweet syrupy voice as she entered their house. She readied her thousand-watt smile and rearranged her damp hair. "Umma? Appa?" she called out. Outside, the rain was pouring again. Bom walked to their kitchen and saw her mom busy preparing her dinner. She set her bag on the counter and greeted her mom.

"Umma, I'm home." she said and went over to kiss her mom on the cheeks.

"Aigo, Bom, why are you all wet?"

"I'm sorry, umma." Bom flashed an apologetic smile. "I forgot my umbrella this morning."

"Aigo, why did you forgot?" her mom asked. "You never forget your umbrella."

Bom just looked down to show how sorry she was. "It's been a crazy day, I know." she thought to herself.

"Just go change your clothes first before you come down with something." her mom ordered her and went back to the food she was cooking.

"Ne." Bom grabbed her bag and was about to go upstairs to her room when she stopped. "Umma, where's appa?"

"He called earlier. He said he still has a lot of work to do in the hospital. He's coming home late today."

"Arasseo."

~~

Her room was pitch black except for the faint moonlight from the window. The curtains fluttered and danced to the night breeze. "Eh? Did I leave my window open when I left?" Bom thought as she closed the door behind her. In her whole life, she has never forgotten to close her window before leaving the house. And her umbrella. "This day is so weird." she thought. Her hand reached for the light switch and she flicked it open. As soon as the lights went on, she stopped herself from screaming when she saw what was on her bed.

The cat.

"This is not happening. I'm seeing things." Bom thought as she closed the lights again. She counted to three before she turned it on again. The cat was still there and it stared at her.

"Meow~"

She shooed the cat out to her window but the cat wouldn't budge. It just sat at her bed and stared. "That's my favorite pillow." She thought as the cat climbed on her pillow and lied down comfortably. Its tail swung like a pendulum. Bom sighed in defeat as she got new clothes from her dresser and went out to the bathroom.

"I'm not going to change my clothes in front of a stupid cat." she thought to herself.

~~

The long dining table was quiet. Only the scraping of chairs and the clatter of chopsticks against the ceramic bowl were heard across the table. Bom was sitting on one side while her mom opposite to her. Bom tried her best to finish the food even if she was already full.

"Anything interesting happened at school?" her mom said as she broke the tense silence between them.

"Ne, umma. I got accepted to the university I never wanted. I met a cat on the way home too. He talks by the way. I forgot my umbrella and was soaking wet when I got home. And, oh, the weird talking cat is on my bed right now." Bom thought but decided not to speak up. She just smiled and said, "Aniyo, umma, just the usual stuff."

"Have you been doing well in class?"

Bom nodded as she chewed her food. "Oh the cat…" she thought as she looked at her bowl of rice. It was still half-full. Making sure her mom wouldn't notice her, Bom wrapped the remaining food on her bowl in table napkin and placed it in her pocket. "That cat must still be hungry."

"Any news from Yonsei?"

Bom stopped what she was doing and looked at her mom. "Ahh…" Bom started. A while ago at her room, she checked her bag and saw her notebooks and books all wet. Except for one certain white envelope that she almost flushed down the toilet. "I guess I have no choice but to tell them."

"Well?" her mom asked as she waited for her daughter to answer.

"Umma, I got accepted to their Pre-medicine Degree." Bom sweetly said with a smile. She saw her mom's eyes widened as she drank a glass of water.

"Is that right, Bom?" her mother's face broke into a smile that Bom hasn't seen for a long time. "You're entering Yonsei next year? You don't know how proud your appa and I are of you now. I'm going to call him right after we eat."

"Kamsahamnida umma." Bom said and bowed from her seat.

"O, such a polite daughter that I have." her mom gushed about her. "I'm so proud of you, dear. Aish, your appa will brag this to his colleagues I'm sure. The only daughter of Dankook University Hospital's director is going to Yonsei to follow his footsteps. He's going to be very happy."

"Ne." Bom answered with a nod. She finished wrapping the rest of her food in napkin and asked to be excused from the table.

"Do you need help with the dishes, umma?"

"Aniyo," her mom said with a wave of her hand. "Take a rest, I'm sure you're tired."

"Ne, kamsahamnida." Bom said with a bow. She walked towards the stairs lost in thought. "There I go, I finally got their praise that I have been working hard for. I could feel that umma's proud of me. But, why am I not happy? Haven't I been waiting for this moment since I was little?" She glanced back at the empty table and the untouched bowl for her father. "Appa, when will you come home? Will you be as proud of me like umma?"

Bom slowly turned her doorknob open and took out the food she saved for the cat. "I'm not giving this to the cat because I want to. I'm giving this to him so I could just excuse myself from dinner." She thought as she looked around for the cat. It was not on her bed. "Where could it have gone?" she thought as she doublechecked her window. It was shut close. Bom bent down to check under her bed but there was no sign of the strange cat. She tiptoed to check the top of her cabinet but it was empty.

"Where did it go?" she asked herself and threw the leftover on the trash can. "Aish, maybe there was no cat to begin with."

~~

1:57 AM

The digital clock on Bom's bedside glared in the darkness. Even the moon was hiding behind the night clouds. Bom was sound asleep with her blanket tucked under her chin. She fell asleep even before her appa arrived from work. "I'll probably just tell him tomorrow," she thought before falling asleep.

The curtains fluttered and let the after-rain breeze in. The distinct musky smell of wet grass entered the room. The window was open again. Above the sleeping Bom, a glowing figure hovered above her. It was a guy, probably of same age as her, his hair platinum white and eyes as blue as the violent ocean. He was dressed in all-white - white polo and white pants. He was barefoot. His face was inches away from Bom's face. He tried to poke her cheeks but he couldn't.    

Bom felt something cold brushed her cheeks. She pulled her blanket closer to her. Still with her eyes closed she thought, "Aishh, is the window open again?" She tried to open her eyes but the sleepiness in her dragged her mind back to sleep.

"Noona, I want more of your cookies." a voice spoke up.

Bom's eyes shot open and she bolted upright. When her eyes adjusted to the eerie darkness, she came face to face with the glowing translucent figure.

ta-dah~ thank you for reading <3 comment and subscribe if you like it~

here's a little trivia: the places I mentioned here in the story are all real. I've tried to make it as accurate as possible.

Cheonan Girl's High (Bom's school) and Dankook University Hospital are located in Cheonan~ a city south of Seoul.

Cheonan is approximately 1 hour away from Seoul if you take the highspeed railway while 2 hrs. and 30 mins. if you take Seoul Subway Line 1

Yonsei Uni is one of the top 3 prestigious university in Korea. It's part of the SKY universities which is an acronym of Seoul National Uni, Korea Uni and Yonsei Uni. SKY is like the equivalent of Ivy League schools in America (I think)

Heehee, I've just been to Korea for a field trip...using Google Earth! (=^-^=) hope you enjoyed my little trivia there.