“A-Ae Ri!”

I looked up only to meet Jun Hyung’s face. He looked normal to me. His face was the same. His features were still there, making him similar to me. But then why, why was that aura coming from him? A dark aura, a cold aura…a monster’s aura…

“Are you ok? Leave them there, Ae Ri!”he pulled my trembling hands from the shards that were scattered all over the floor.

He pulled me out off the pool of tea, but I scrambled backwards, hitting the wall with my back.

“Ae Ri…d-don’t tell me you heard something…did you?”

His words appeared just like bubbles of mud in front of my eyes. What was I supposed to answer to him? Then, his hand suddenly grabbed my elbow tight, squeezing it with force while looking straight into my eyes.

“Tell me, did you hear something?”he whispered. But fear was like a monster behind his words, peeking from behind him, showing that splendid denture that was sharply bitting onto his own shoulder, poisoning his blood and freezing his courage to stay and listen to the truth. How he managed to remain there still while waiting for my answer, that’s something I didn’t manage to figure out then and there… “Tell me!”he jerked my arm.

“N-no…was there something that I was supposed to hear?”

“Oh…nothing! Just foolishness that I was saying to father,”his fingers left my arm with a swift movement. “Was that the tea father asked for?”

I just stood there, silent. How could he be so normal around me? How could he keep that façade on for so long? Weren’t those ugly feelings eating him inside out? Weren’t they killing him slowly? Weren’t they tormenting him with their intensity?

“Oh! It was you Ae Ri!”father’s smile seemed to illuminate the hallway. He looked so old and dusty, sitting there in the doorway of his office. Poor father!

“Yes, father,”I put up the usual smile I give him. He deserved better children than us… “But I have to go now,”I leaned and kissed his cheek. “I have to test to give tomorrow… Goodbye, father!” I said with my back turned to him. No, there was so much that my eyes held that it was almost impossible for an intelligent man like him not to read them…

How did I managed to step outside the house? How did I managed to do it without hitting something?

“Oh! Are you leaving already, Ae Ri?”

Who said that? Who called my name on that familiar name? I knew nothing…there was only blank air and space surrounding me and deleting anything else. I took the long way. The path that went through the forest. The path that was filled with darkness. The path that was always there, helping those who were running away to escape the royal guards…I took that path.

The moon began to spread her pale light over the forest while an owl began her night song, guarding the forest from her nest. I tried to keep my thoughts away from Jun Hyung, but I can’t say I succeeded. He was in love with me. And that was a fact. For me at least, was just a fact…or was it more?

“Who’s there?”a voice boomed through the night’s air as I stepped on a fallen branch. I remained silent, watching the darkness around me, wishing that I wasn’t staying right in the middle of a glade. “I said, WHO’S THERE?! Speak or I’ll shoot!”the voice threatened from behind.

And how I wished I could have remained there silent, keeping my fingers tightly wrapped around the edge of the cape. But no, there was that betraying wish inside of me, that betraying wish to live and continue that hell of life I had at that very moment. “It’s me…don’t shoot,”my voice echoed between the trees, hitting the air in a strange way.

“Teacher Cho?!”

The bushed behind me moved and I heard steps coming towards me. “Teacher Cho! What are you doing here, in the middle of the night?!”

I looked at the man in front of me without recognizing him. What did he say? How did he call me?

“What’s going on? It’s not safe for you to be around here all alone. Come, I’ll take you home,”the man caught my wrist and began pulling me after him.

Home?

I pulled back and broke from his grasp.

“Ae Ri?”this time the tone was sweeter. I know I knew him. But who was he? And why was I incapable of concentrating? “What’s wrong? Did something happened to your brother? Or at home to your folks? Or maybe the students are at you again…”

“No…not that,”my lips barely opened to let the words out.

“Then what’s wrong, Ae Ri?”

I turned my back to him and watched the peaceful glade being illuminated by the moon’s rays. “Oh, look! A fox!”my trembling index finger pointed at the small sized animal that was moving across the glade without making a sound. “Give me your bow, Thunder!”I ordered, stretching my arm. “Die!”I hissed as I released the arrow and hit the fox straight between her eyes.

“Why are you behaving like this, Ae Ri?”Thunder’s hand on my shoulder made me quiver. No, it wasn’t his fault for me being like that, feeling like that. So I slowly turned to him, showing him that face…the face of a haunted person.

“Come with me, Thunder,”I whispered, catching his soul in my grasp once again. “Take me far away from here, Thunder. Run away with me,”I played the devil’s role once again.

“A-Ai Ri!”he gasped. “W-what are you saying there?! R-run away?!”

“Yes, run away with me, Thunder!”I threw my arms around his waist, holding tight on his as if he was going to say ‘No!’ to me and run away. “Let’s flee the city and never come back. We’ll leave in a world-forgotten village, near a mountain, and we’ll become normal villagers and eat raw fish like them. Our children will be blacksmiths and shoemakers. They’ll live good. And when we’ll die, they won’t know who we used to be… Thunder,”I ended with a calling, feeling his chest all tensed up as he listened to my words. He was going to say ‘No!’ to me.

“Oh, Ae Ri,”his strong arms embraced my shoulders, making me let go off his waist. “I don’t know what happened to you and why you’re behaving like this, but there’s nothing better than a good night of sleep and a warm meal in the morning. You’ll see, everything will fade away in your dreams,”he gave me that silly smile of him. It was exactly that silly smile of his that made me say all those words not long ago. For that silly smile of his I could have forgotten all about what happened and about my plans, my feelings, my awakening heart… “Come,”he led the way through the darkness, “I’ll take you to the Academy. And tomorrow, you’ll kick some student butts with that test of yours!”

I smiled. Maybe…or maybe not.

♃~✵~♃

Thunder kept his word and left me right in front of Seonggyugwan’s gates and then left towards the town. Seung Ho was going to find out about my strange behavior maybe not.

I pushed the g