It wasn’t long until I began to notice the changes occurring in Hyukjae.  There was something off about his personality after that evening.  Strangely, the cheerful Hyukjae had almost disappeared—his smile was gradually vanishing as the days passed.  Then, he became cold.  It was too familiar to me, because I had witnessed this before with not only my father, but with my brother as well.  I knew what was going to happen, but I chose not to believe it.  Instead, I continued to trust Hyukjae.  He had risked his life for the sake of mine, and if he was going to abandon me as well, I knew he would have a good reason.  As I predicted, I woke up on a cold winter morning to find that Hyukjae was no longer with me.  I knew this all too well, but what made it different this time was the fact that I was now alone.

            I found an unexpected breakfast set on the table that morning, but only one meal was waiting for me.  It was then that I accepted the fact that Hyukjae had really left, because there was no second breakfast across from mine.  The food was still warm, so I assumed that he hadn’t been gone for long, but the frustrating part was that the food could only tell me about his departure.  Nothing could tell me when Hyukjae was going to return.  I ate this meal silently, refusing to think any further on the issue at hand.  After finishing, I lifted my plate and was on my way to the sink when something slid from the tip of my fingers and drifted down to the floor in front of me.  It was a note.

Donghae,
The Resistance is growing these days, and with growth comes strength.  I know this may be tough for you, but bear with me.  I’m joining the Resistance, not for revenge, but for answers.  Trust me when I say that I will return to you.

            And that was enough for me.  I never questioned Hyukjae’s actions after that, but instead I waited for him.  It was true that I wanted answers.  I was desperate for them.  I wanted to know why my father left, why Donghwa abandoned me for the dark, and most of all, I wanted to know their intentions.  What would they do with our fear?  What would become of our desire for peace?  It took weeks and months though, until I realized that Hyukjae wouldn’t return any time soon.  I finally decided that I would seek these answers on my own.

            It started with a fearless stroll down the streets.  I wanted to know what the Resistance was exactly, and if I wanted that, I’d have to find their members.  The only way to drag the Resistance from hiding was to create an issue that would matter to them.  I found this issue without any effort, because it was already happening in front of Mr. Jung’s market.  It was late afternoon when I approached the store and witnessed a tense situation between two men, both dressed in black.  But one wore a mask that covered everything except his eyes, which glared at the chuckling male before him.  I recognized this man; he was the one that always demanded money from Mr. Jung.

            “What do you expect to do with that gun, son?  You’re holding it wrong,” the man laughed as he retrieved his own pistol from his pocket.  “Let me show—”

            And the tension between them exploded.  The trigger was pulled by the man with the mask, and with that, the other man fell to the ground.  I watched this confusedly—what citizen would dare to strike at these men?  The man with the mask turned and looked at me before attempting to carry the unconscious body on the ground.  Without thinking, I came closer and kneeled to give him a hand.  The thoughts of the disgusting body I was touching did not reach my mind.  Instead, I asked,

            “Are you from the Resistance?”

            But he did not answer.  The Resistance hadn’t been around for long, but I assumed they were extremely secretive.  I repeated my question and the man only nodded.  It wasn’t much, but I took it.  It was enough for now.  We dragged the body with us; it was a far distance and the man with the mask kept trying to shoo me off, but I had no intentions of leaving.  We were at the border of the town when he finally led me to a small battered building.  It was an abandoned warehouse, and it was still deserted.  This confused me, but my puzzlement ended when we reached a handle on the floor.  The man pulled on it until it opened, revealing a series of steps that led to the unknown.  I looked at the man and he stared straight back at me before hinting me to leave once more.

            “I can’t,” I said.  “I need answers.”

            It took a long silence until I heard him sigh.  “Join us,” he finally stated.  This surprised me.  He led me down the stairs and we continued to carry the body until we reached the bottom.  He led me through an underground hallway that contained a number of rooms until we reached the specific one he was looking for.  He opened the door and guided me to the corner where someone sat waiting on a chair.

            “Thank you, Sunwon,” the man in the corner stated as the body was placed in front of him.

            Sunwon bowed before he quickly exited the room, leaving me with the stranger on the chair.  This man was old, possibly older than Mr. Jung, and he stared at me intently.  I avoided eye contact until he began to laugh a bit.  “You remind me of someone.”  And I took a questioning glance at him.

            “Why are you here?” he asked me.  “The Resistance doesn’t normally take in citizens, so Sunwon must’ve had a good reason to bring you here.”

            I burst, unable to hold my questions any longer.  I asked him where my father was, where my brother was, where my friend was, what their intentions were, and lastly, I asked if I could join them.  If this meant finding Hyukjae again, I would do it under any circumstance.  Hyukjae’s promised return was taking too long.  Almost a year had passed.  But I wasn’t going to wait any longer.  I don’t know if the man found my determination interesting or my nonstop talking voice, but he nodded as a response to my last question.  He didn’t answer anything else.  But with that nod, I was transferred to a new room and taught to hold a gun.  Another month passed before they deemed me skilled enough to start using the gun above ground.  But I told them that wasn’t my desire yet.

            “I wish to find somebody,” I explained.  “Can you take me to Lee Hyukjae?”

            “Lee Hyukjae,” one of the higher ranked members sighed before removing the mask to speak.  It was a woman.  “He’s a brave soldier.  He was looking for someone, too.  I don’t remember the name, but the person is up in District 12.  Hyukjae’s travelling through the districts to find this person.”

            I stared at her and she raised an eyebrow at me.  I asked the woman when he was going to return.

            “He promised he’d come back after he found who he was looking for.  Something about returning to someone waiting for him… poor kid.  It’s dangerous up in those double digit districts… He may not even make it back.”

            “Then I wish to go to District 12,” I replied and after a long silence, she acknowledged my words and let me go.

            My house was settled in District 9, so finding Hyukjae wouldn’t take as bad of a distance as it could’ve.  But interesting occurrences happened once I reached District 10.  I left alone, with no other Resistance members to accompany me.  It was late at night when I strolled through District 10 to find a young girl crying on the streets.  She was probably four, but the surprising part was that she was alone outdoors at night.  I kneeled down beside the child and asked her where her parents were, and with a sob, she pointed down the street.  I noticed three silhouettes a little further in the distance, and I ordered her to wait before standing up.  She cried and told me how scared she was.

            “Don’t worry,” I whispered and removed my mask to smile at her, hoping it would serve as enough comfort just for a moment.  And that was when I approached the shadows down the street.

            “Just keep our daughter safe!” I heard a woman scream, and I assumed it was the mother.  She was shoved to the ground.  The father hurriedly kneeled down beside her, but was pushed as well.

            I noticed a member of the Resistance in this group; he made a shooing motion with his hand, signaling for the couple to leave while they could.  This member wore the mask as well, but his face was hidden in the shadows of the buildings around us.  He turned and pointed a knife at the man before him.  I supposed he needed a hand, so I pulled the mask above nose to avoid any identity crisis that could come.  I approached the two, but was told to stop.

            “Go, I can handle him,” the masked man told me and tightened his grip on the dagger.

            “Are you sure about that, you rascal?” the older man laughed and retrieved a gun.

            It was quiet as they pointed their weapons at each other.  I heard a loud boom and shut my eyes before opening them again.  The unknown Resistance member had kicked the gun out of the man’s hand, and it went sliding across the cold pavement.  The man seemed surprised at this action, but he gasped when he was shoved to the floor.  The masked male stomped his foot on this man’s chest and lowered his head, about to speak.

            “Not today, son,” the man on the ground growled as he took his pocketknife that was hooked on his belt.  I watched silently, with my eyes open… I tried to scream and tell the Resistance member to watch out, but he was a step ahead of me.  He grabbed the man’s hand the moment he touched his pocketknife, and with his other hand took the weapon and threw it away with the gun.  It was then that the man below him began to panic.  His eyes began to bulge and I heard as his breathing became louder and unsteady.

            “O-Okay, kid.  You got me, what… what now?” the man asked, with the hint of panic completely obvious in his voice.

            “Helpless without your weapons,” I managed to hear the masked man say, but it was badly muffled by the mask.  “People like you don’t deserve to live.”

            The sentence was all too familiar.

            “W-What do you want from me?” the frightened man asked.

            “You’re going to tell me something,” a slight aggression settled in the Resistance member’s voice.  He reached up with his other hand and removed the mask from his face.  I gasped.  “Where are my parents?”

            I knew this person’s jawline like the back of my hand.  I recognized those plump lips and I definitely knew whose voice was speaking.  But I did not recognize the personality.

            “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

            Hyukjae’s grip on this man’s hand tightened and he began to twist his foot on the man’s chest.  The victim cried out at the pain of not being able to breathe.  Hyukjae growled, “Look at my face and tell me that you don’t know where my parents are.”

            The man tilted his head and began to stare closely at the face in front of him.  “You’re… you’re the child…”

            Hyukjae laughed.  “You remember me?”

            “Your parents… th-they’re alive… in District 17,” he inhaled deeply for air afterwards.

            Hyukjae removed his foot and grip after processing the information.  He paced over to where the man’s weapons lied and picked them up before approaching the man who was still on the floor once more.  “Let me show you how it feels to be harmed by your own tools.”

            He raised the gun and pointed the weapon at the victim’s chest.  And that was when I chose to stop him.

            “Don’t do it,” I shouted behind my mask as I hurried over.  “He’s not worth the bullet.”

            “But he took my parents away from me.  I would never forgive a face like his,” Hyukjae spoke coldly before clenching his teeth.  “And who are you to tell me what to do?”

            “You said you weren’t seeking revenge,” I told him and he stared at me questioningly.

            “Who… are you?”

            I took a step closer to Hyukjae and I looked him straight in the eye, making it clear who I was.  My friend widened his eyes before staring pitifully at the man below him.  Hyukjae lowered the gun and the man attempted to get back up.  He ran once he was on his feet, leaving Hyukjae and me alone.

            “Your eyes… why are they still so pure?” Hyukjae asked me as he came closer until our faces were just centimeters apart.  “I abandoned you like Donghwa, yet you still stare at me without the coldness you had when he left you.”

            “It’s because you promised you’d come back,” I replied simply and Hyukjae removed the mask from my face.  I spoke again.  “I joined the Resistance to find you.”

            “Well I was on my way back to find you,” Hyukjae stated and without hesitation, his lips were on mine.  It was soft and short, and he pulled away before three seconds could pass.  I did not question this action either.  If this was Hyukjae’s confession, I would accept it regardless of the lack of words used.

            Hyukjae took my hand and led me down the street.  I asked him why we weren’t going back, and he told me he wanted to take me to District 12.  So I followed, wondering what was waiting for me up there.  It was a hard struggle, since we met them everywhere and had to take them all down, but we finally reached District 12 in a week.  Hyukjae led me to another abandoned warehouse and then underground until we reached a room somewhere down the hallways.

            “Who’s in here?” I asked, and Hyukjae only nudged me forward.  There in the corner of the room stood my brother, who was observing the blank wall in front of him.  He turned and noticed my presence before breaking into a smile.

            “Hae,” he called my name and I couldn’t help breaking into tears.  Guilt flushed through me.

            This whole time, I accused my brother of having fallen to the dark, but instead, he had been fighting against it.  But why couldn’t he tell me?  I asked him once the tears had stopped falling.

            “I didn’t want to take any risks,” Donghwa-hyung responded, “and I wanted to bring you back someone from your childhood.  This person is injured and resting right now, but I want you to see him.”

            Donghwa beckoned me to follow him out the room, so I did and Hyukjae followed.  We traveled down another series of hallways while Hyukjae informed me that Donghwa had become the secretary of District 12’s Resistance Force.  I assumed that was part of the reason he could not return home; he couldn’t abandon such a position in a town that needed him.  We reached our destination eventually and Donghwa opened the door, allowing me in first.  I approached the figure lying on the somewhat decent bed.  A blanket lied on top of this man, who seemed to be quite old, and he was still resting with his eyes closed.  But I recognized this sleeping face anywhere.

            “A-Appa…” I whispered in the dark.

            “Appa was part of the team who started the Resistance,” Donghwa explained to me and I merely nodded.  “He was shot a few days ago while visiting our district and I took him here.  It’s okay, Hae.  Appa is alive.”

            “A-And umma?” I asked, half-knowing the answer.  Donghwa-hyung bit his lip and shook his head from left to right.  I understood.  I looked over at Hyukjae, who stood at the door alone.  His eyes were moist and I began to feel extremely sorry.  This guy had witnessed my reunion with two family members, while he was still searching for his own parents.  I thought about it for a moment before I neared Hyukjae and turned to my brother.  “Hyung.  I have to accompany Hyukjae to District 17.  He longs for his parents like how we longed for ours.”

            Donghwa nodded understandingly and informed us that he’d wait for us here.  He promised me that our father would be in perfect condition waiting for me when I returned.  Hyukjae took me to an empty room where we decided to spend the rest of the night.  I told him we’d start off tomorrow and he sighed.

            “Hae, they’re my parents.  I can go find them on my own.  You really don’t have to go with me.”

            “You’re really going to say that after all that you’ve done for me?” I smiled at him and lied down on the bed, scooting as close to the wall as possible to leave room for him.  “I want to go, Hyukjae.”

            Hyukjae gave in and lied down beside me.  After a few seconds, I heard him laugh.  I turned his body around so that he was facing me and questioned him.

            “Just like old times,” he stated, referring to us sharing the bed.  I laughed with him, but he silenced me again with his lips.

            My father once told me to be careful with whom I trusted.  I kept his advice for my entire life and realized that trusting my father and my brother was never a mistake.  Then Hyukjae came along.  It took a while, but I learned to trust this person as well, even though we started as strangers.  I have no regrets with Hyukjae, who had been with me through almost everything.  He forever changed my life, and I am glad to say that I love him very much.