~~~

Hyojin ran far away from her home, away from the village and far away from her father.

To the river where she had always gone to when she didn’t feel like to hear anymore unkind remarks about her and her mother.

The river was where people didn’t even have the courage to cross over. This river was terrifying, because the pile of floating mist blocked the view to the other side. They said the mist would work its magic and confused people to where they were heading to that it was dangerous for them. They didn’t even know where it led to.

But to Hyojin, that was the only place where she felt at peace. Because of the abandoned atmosphere, she felt like she belonged. Finally, she didn’t feel suffocated nor did she felt the smallest amount of torment. She could breathe fresh air and she could dip her feet into the cool water. And the best part was that no one was there to judge her.

She came to a smooth halt when she finally had the refreshing view that she yearned for the entire day. She sighed and took off the painful slippers that she had to wear the whole day. She was still in her ‘engagement ’dress plus the hood minus the heavy jewelries.

She took a minute to process the uplifting view, the sound of leaves rustling, water flowing smoothly in the river current and cool breeze of the wind, a light water droplets sprayed onto her face which reminded her; her face was still covered by pale powder and ruby red lipstick painted onto her lips.

She stared onto the eyes of own her reflection into the water and sighed, this time in an inexpressible emotion. Sadness? Disappointment? She wasn’t quite sure herself.

 But she did know what she saw in the reflection; Empty.

Most people said that your reflection was just a mere virtual version of you showing only your image, but Hyojin begged to differ. Her reflection showed exactly who she was.

Nothing.

She never did anything for herself nor did she try to free herself, all she did was play along to the part she was forced to take. She didn’t even know herself. Just like her reflection; lifeless. At least that was what Hyojin believed.

Hyojin studied her powdered face carefully. *That’s not me.*

She clutched the pink flower pink. She hated how the color classified as something joyous, she wasn’t like that. Plucking the soft petals, her tears fell unconsciously.

Cupping her hand together, she gathered water to her hand and roughly rinsed off the makeup off her face.

Now, she looked onto her reflection and tied her hair into a messy bun, “Much better.” She muttered to herself.

She strolled over to the broader part of the river until she eyes found what she had been searching for. A small boat.

She untied the rope and gave her boat a little push before getting in. she pushed down the water current with the two wooden paddles on both of her sides.

She then realized the heavy looking clouds crowding over the grey skies. *oh no. I need to find shelter.* but when she was about to go against the water current, it rained. Why did she go off too far?

And now, the rain became heavier as the water became rougher that it pushed her small boat to the somewhere further. She screamed in fear when the rough water current crashed her small boat further to the mist. *Oh no!*

Everywhere she went, she would see nothing but the rough current would rock her boat which made poor Hyojin scared. Who wouldn’t? No one had ever past through the mist?!

Hyojin shut her eyes tightly as she yelled her mother’s name since it was the first thing that came to her mind. Her voiced were drowned down by the sound of the thunderous storm and the water crashing.

CRASH!

***

“Hey, lady. Are you okay?”

Hyojin slowly opened her eyes and blinked.

Once. Twice. She was greeted by a man, whom she had to admit was far better-looking than her fiancé. She took in every details of his face.

Flawless.

Shiny brown eyes.

Fair.

Thin pink lips.

Thick brown hair swept to the side. Just over his eyes.

Gorgeous.

But, wait. Why was he so close?

She quickly reacted and slapped him across his face and pushed him backwards a little too hard that he stumbled and landed on his .

“A simple thanks would be just nice, lady. I did save you, just so you know.” He palmed his now red cheek. “Wow, you sure can slap.” He muttered under his breath.

“I’m Oh Sehun. And you are?” he dusted of the dirt on his pants. Hyojin stayed silent, where was she?

“Not much of a talker, are you?” Sehun stated the obvious.  He walked over to her to shake hands but Hyojin picked up the nearest stick and threaten to hit him with it if he took one step closer to her.

“Whoa, there. I’m innocent. I didn’t do anything to ya. I swear. I just wanted to be friendly.” He raised his hands to his chest with his eyes widen, *Why is she so scared of me?* he wondered.

“Look, its okay. I won’t hurt you.” Sehun said slowly as if he was belittling her, she wrinkled her nose in disgust, “How did you find me?” Hyojin asked lowly.

“So you can talk.”Sehun put his hands to his waist while eying her head to toe, amazed.

Hyojin hit him on the head which startled the boy. “Okay. Rude! That wasn’t the right way to treat your savior. Where’s your gratitude?!” Sehun went ballistic. His hair was something he valued a lot, so his precious hair was off limits to everyone, and he meant it to everyone, even his beloved mama, whom he loved dearly.

Hyojin just stared at him blankly while he continued on babbling about how precious his hair was. She knew he didn’t plan on stopping any time soon so she jabbed the end of her stick to his stomach.

Sehun grunted in pain and landed on the ground, rolling his pain away.

Hyojin dropped her stick on the ground which unintentionally landed on Sehun’s thigh, “Seriously?” he squeaked.

She made a run for it; she didn’t know what had gotten into her. She would usually ignore people from the village but what happened back there with… Sehun was something she couldn’t quite explain.

Then again, he didn’t seem familiar to her, although she was anti-social in the village; she knew people’s faces there, mainly because of the small number of population. And if he was really from the village, he would kick Myungjae from the title of being the best-looking young man in the village.

So, who was this Oh Sehun?

As Hyojin ran, she didn’t realized where she was heading to. She didn’t even know where she was to begin with.

“Yah! Come back here, lady!!” Hyojin heard Sehun’s voice not far from where she was. *Wow, he is fast.* She mentally compliment.

She continued to run but at the end stumbled onto a tree’s root and fell to the adjacent bush.

“Ugh.”Hyojin groaned. *That was unlucky. Very unlucky.*

“Gotcha!” Sehun smirked in victory. He pulled her up and held to her slender forearm firmly, “You are not escaping me this time, you hear me? Now, you have got yourself some explaining to do! First off, why are at the forbidden part of the village, you will be in a big trouble, Y’know that?! – Yah! Are you even listening to me?!”Sehun shrieked when he realized that Hyojin was all caught up to something that she looked a bit dazed.

Sehun pouted, *This girl is really rude. What is she even looking at?*

He stood behind her and stoop to her shoulder to see what she had found so amusing of, rather than the Oh Sehun standing beside her, if he may add.

“Is that a tomb?”Sehun asked stupefied.

~~~

And Sehun has arrived!

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