~

How can you look at your reflection and apply make-up, dress, dance or do whatever?

Haven’t you wondered for one second why there is some glass plate that should show you yourself?

Because when you think about it, it doesn’t even show your reality. It’s just your reflection. It’s just a replica of our world, a very well done fake.

But it’s mirrored and that’s the difference. You see that it is different but you don’t think about it.

But I did.

I wondered if there is something behind the glass. I came to the conclusion that there has to be another world.

It is like ours, like a replica, but with still enough things different.

When I stare into the mirror, I dream about this world. It’s peaceful and calm.

Everything is made of glass and it sparkles in the sun.

And sometimes when I walk through the mirror world, I can hear birds tweeting, the wind whispering and a high crystal clear sound.

It’s pure and beautiful.

I thought it was a voice singing or calling, talking or whispering.

But when I searched for a person, I only found glass and more glass and the wind brushing through the shining sculptures and buildings.

But I know that you’ve been here, right there between the glass... maybe inside the glass...

Singing, calling or whispering my name.

~

ONE

“Mum!”

She ignored his desperate attempts to convince her.

“Mum, please”, Kyungsoo begged her. She hurried through the living room and stuffed some other things into his suitcase.

“Mum”, Kyungsoo said again and grabbed her shoulders.

She stopped and breathed out. Kyungsoo loosened his grip, he hadn’t grabbed her firmly, but she felt so fragile under his hands that he was afraid she would break.

She had lost so much weight, since his father died. When she looked up to him, her smile was weak.

“Kyungsoo, please don’t make it any harder for me”, she said quietly. Kyungsoo bit his lip and let her go. He stared to the floor of the living room.

“You remember you dad’s aunt, don’t you? Your auntie always sends you birthday presents”, she said and faked another smile.

“Yes, mum. I know, but we haven’t seen her for ages. And now... we should move into her house?”, Kyungsoo said doubtful.

“Look, she has gotten old, she needs a little help with the house and stuff. Show your gratitude towards her after everything she has done for us”, his mother sighed. She didn’t need to say out loud that without the financial support of his aunt they would sit on the streets.

She was very rich that’s why she even owned a big house in Seoul, which was now supposed to become his new home. Kyungsoo rubbed his temples. It wasn’t that he didn’t like her, but he didn’t want to leave his home here – not that he liked it here that much – and he felt weird to move into a house of an old woman.

His great-uncle had already died because of a heart disease, ever since then, she had been alone.

“I thought there’s a caretaker, why does she need our help?”, he murmured, but his mother overheard that.

“Sweetheart, don’t make such a face. You won’t be alone, your sister is going to be there, too”, his mother said and Kyungsoo rolled his eyes.

“Yeah sure”, he murmured. “Now please bring your suitcase into the car”, she said. He nodded obediently. His sister was already stuffing her suitcase into the trunk.

“Hurry up, Kyungsoo”, she called and waved impatiently with her hand. Kyungsoo groaned. She had no problem of moving to Seoul, she was actually very happy about that, because then she could finally see her boyfriend regularly.

He was another reason, why Kyungsoo disliked moving to Seoul. He may have looked like a lovely caring boyfriend, but in reality he was a complete .

His sister probably knew very well that he was cheating on her, but she ignored it and kept saying that he loved her and she was sure of it. Kyungsoo wondered how blindly in love someone could be.

Kyungsoo fell asleep on the way and when he woke up, they had already arrived. He was alone in the car, someone had covered him with a jacket. It must have been his sister...

Kyungsoo searched for his mobile to find out that it was already late afternoon. Kyungsoo quickly got up and looked around.

The car was parked in front of a garage, next to their new home. It was a big house, too big for three people, Kyungsoo thought. His auntie had lived there alone for a couple of years now, she was only using the ground-floor and so Kyungsoo and his sister would move into the first floor.

The suitcases had already been brought into the house, so he picked up the last package – his own bag – and went over to the entrance door.

It was open.

He pushed the door open and heard voices. A male voice and a female one. Kyungsoo groaned as he remembered the only reason why his sister wasn’t unhappy about their move. His sister’s boyfriend.

Kyungsoo wondered if she stayed with him, because she really loved him or simply because she needed someone she could hold onto. As the older sister she had to be strong for Kyungsoo, but for him this imagination looked absurd.

His whole life looked like a caricature and Kyungsoo wondered how it could have happened that this happy family had turned into a broken mess of people trying almost too hard to live a quite normal life.

Kyungsoo stood in an entrance hall, there was a wardrobe to his right and stairs to his left, the hall led into the living room.

The entrance hall was cold, almost colder than outside and it was pretty cold for spring time. So he made his way into the living room, it was a lot more comfortable and warmer in here. Suitcases and cartons were standing everywhere.

“Ah Kyungsoo, have you already chosen a room, darling?”, his mother asked. She stepped out of another room on the left that led into the living room. Obviously, the kitchen.

The ground floor already seemed to be very large and wide.

“No, not yet”, Kyungsoo murmured.

“Go upstairs. I think the first floor has the prettiest rooms. Don’t mind all the white blankets, no one used the first floor for years”, she said with a nervous smile.

“Your auntie sleeps here”, she added and pointed at a door on her right. Kyungsoo hadn’t yet noticed the other door in the living room.

Kyungsoo nodded and left the living room, he quickly climbed the stairs.

He reached the first floor and saw that at the end of the corridor there was another staircase leading up to the second floor, which was the attic, if he remembered correctly what the caretaker had told them. They had met him once before moving in.

The first floor had 5 rooms, one bathroom, three bedrooms and a storage room.

He saw that his sister had chosen the bedroom at the end of the corridor and since Kyungsoo wanted to be as far away as possible from her boyfriend, he chose the first bedroom.

The first room on the left. The room wasn’t very big, but it looked perfect for Kyungsoo. In contrary to the other rooms, this room had a lot more furniture in it. A bed, a closet, a desk.

Every furniture piece was covered by a white blanket, that Kyungsoo pulled down to see what had been left there.

He wondered why his auntie had so much furniture up here, which she didn’t need and why she didn’t sell it, when it obviously had no meaning to her. Kyungsoo liked that the desk was placed in front of the window and the bed was on the right; the big closet on the left, the other side of the room.

He decided to leave this constellation, but he really needed a bedside table or something like that. Then another furniture piece caught his eye. It was standing next to the closet. It was a few feet higher than Kyungsoo and a little wider than him.
 

A mirror maybe, he thought and pulled down the blanket. And indeed it was a mirror. The frame was dark golden and gave the mirror a very old fashioned style.

To his surprise the mirror was covered in dust. Kyungsoo frowned and eyed the mirror closely. He wondered why it was the only furniture that was covered with dust, although a blanket had been thrown over it.

As if someone had forgotten about it until they wanted to move in and had tried to hide it...

Kyungsoo’s fingers over the golden frame. It was cold and it felt... weird.

Kyungsoo made a step back, his heart was pounding against his chest quickly. He didn’t realize how fast his breath was going until he heard himself gasping for air.

His fingertips that had touched the frame was tingling and cold as ice, as if the coldness of the mirror had crept over onto his skin. Kyungsoo quickly grabbed the white blanket and threw it over the mirror again.

Then he stumbled out of the room. 

“Kyunghwa? Kyungsoo? Please come downstairs and help unpacking!”, he heard his mother calling.

On the floor he met his sister and her boyfriend who didn’t even bother to look at him, the three walked downstairs into the living room. On the old sofa another woman was sitting, Kyungsoo had seen his auntie on pictures, but she had gotten a lot older.

She breathed heavily as she got up and Kyungsoo’s mother immediately hurried towards her to help her.

“No, no I don’t need help! Why are you here? I’ve told Jongmin a thousand times I don’t need a maid”, she complained.

“What is that woman talking about?”, Kyunghwa’s boyfriend grumbled.

“Shhh”, she whispered. “She’s a bit demented”, she explained. He rolled his eyes.

“And now you’ve got to take care of her? Do you even have time for me then?”, he groaned. She quickly nodded.

“Of course, of course. Kyungsoo will help, too, so don’t worry. I’m always there for you”, she murmured. Kyungsoo clenched his hands.

“I’m there, too? I’m not your servant”, he growled.

“Hey, respect what elders say so shut it”, her boyfriend hissed. Kyungsoo glared at him, but he didn’t say a word, because he knew that he would get beat up easily by this guy who consisted out of muscles and he didn’t want his mother to worry any more.

“Kids, please”, she called. Kyungsoo looked apologetic towards his mother who tried to calm them.

His aunt hadn’t noticed anything and walked slowly into the kitchen. Kyungsoo rubbed his temples and sighed.

Thanks to Kyunghwa’s boyfriend and the new duty of taking care of his dad’s aunt, he already hated it here and felt bad at the same time to think such things. His aunt didn’t choose to get demented, but he wasn’t sure if he could cope with that, especially when Kyunghwa’s boyfriend was around.

“Ok, ok. Auntie doesn’t remember that Jongmin died, so don’t mention it towards her. Please be patient with her. I got to leave now”, his mother said and pulled him into a hug.

“Please take good care of your little brother”, she said towards Kyunghwa and hugged her as well. She smiled weakly towards her boyfriend and then she bit her lip. Hesitatingly she left the living room and Kyungsoo opened his mouth.

“Goodbye, mum”, he managed to say. She stopped but didn’t turn around. “Goodbye, darling”, she whispered and then she left the house.

“So, baby, there’s a good club very close. Let’s go celebrating firstly that you have arrived here, you’re in Seoul now!”, he called and grabbed her waist. She laughed nervously.

“I should unpack first, I think”, she said. He frowned.

“What are you talking about? Kyungsoo can do that”, he said and pulled her closer. Suddenly his face softened.

“I’ve missed you so much, now that we are finally together in the same city, can’t you understand that I want to spend more time with you?”, he asked gently. She opened .

“I-I…”, she stuttered and he knew he had won. And Kyungsoo wanted to throw up, because everything he had said was so faked and he hated to see how his sister fell for that again and again.

“Sorry, Kyungsoo. I’ll leave it to you”, she said and with a smile they disappeared. Kyungsoo kicked his bag.

“Great. Absolutely great”, he groaned.

“What are you doing here?”, someone suddenly asked. His aunt stepped into the living room, in her hands she held a cup of tea.

“I’m Kyungsoo. I moved in, remember?”, he said slowly. She frowned.

“I’ve told Jongmin that I don’t need help with the house. I still can clean everything and tidy up”, she murmured and sat down as if she had already forgotten that Kyungsoo was there. Kyungsoo covered his face and took a deep breath.

“I will unpack everything now, ok?”, he said. But the old woman ignored him, she switched on the television and turned up the volume so that Kyungsoo wondered if he would ever be able to use his ears again properly.

It took him the rest of the day to unpack everything, pull down the white blankets, bring them into the laundry room – there was no washing machine, was he supposed to wash it by hands? – and tidy up the whole first floor. Exhausted by the work he fell into his bed and fell asleep immediately.

***

- Look at that boy.

- Which one?

- The one with the brown wavy hair.

- Is that the one whose mother has gone crazy?

- Yeah, yeah right. I heard she will be moved into a mental institution.

- Really? But she drove him to school today, is someone like her allowed to go outside?

- I don’t know. They said she’s not a danger for the people around her, more likely for herself.

- Ah yeah right. She tried to hang herself, didn’t she?

- Poor kid.

- I heard he’s moving away and his mother will stay at the mental institution.

***

Kyungsoo’s eyes twitched open, then he closed them again and turned around to pull the blanket over his head. Although there was no one who could see his tears and who could make fun of his mother and pity him.

How would you feel like if your beloved one died, he wanted to ask them, but he knew he would end up crying and he couldn’t stand people seeing him cry.

Since his mother’s suicide attempt he had nightmares about the kids at school making fun of him and his mother and often enough he dreamt about his mother trying to take her life again.

But he knew and reminded himself everyday that she had help now, she was seeing a psychiatrist almost every day and she tried her best to move on. He hoped that one day they could be a normal family again, even without his father.

But when he had been told that his mother had to go to the mental institution, he knew that it was hopeless and nothing would turn back to normal.

The air got sticky so he pulled down the blanket and sat up. The moon was shining into his room and when he checked his mobile, he saw that it was 3 am.

The house was quiet and Kyungsoo sighed relieved because obviously his aunt had gone to bed. But he remembered that he could never be sure if she maybe fainted or broke her leg and was lying on the floor, so he got up to check on her. But the living room was empty, the TV was switched off properly and when he went into his aunt’s bedroom, he found her in her bed sleeping calmly.

He sighed relieved and went back into his room, the first floor was dark so he guessed his sister wasn’t back yet. He stepped into his room and closed the door, when he turned around he frowned.

Something had changed, he wasn’t sure what, but something was different. When he crawled onto the bed he blinked as he looked into his own face staring back at him.

The mirror. Kyungsoo froze, because he was sure he had put the blanket over it again. Who removed it? He was alone with his aunt, no one could have gone to his room to remove the blanket…

Kyungsoo slowly got up and picked up the white blanket on the floor, it glowed in the moonlight. As he looked up into the old mirror he suddenly felt an incredible sadness rushing over him.

“Actually, it’s a beautiful mirror”, he murmured and let the blanket drop back to the floor. He reached out his hands and let his fingers over the golden frame.

“Tomorrow I will ask auntie about it”, he murmured and climbed back into his bed. He yawned and fell asleep, he was so fast asleep he didn’t even hear his sister return in the morning.

She needed to shake him and call him several times until he woke up.

“Hey, breakfast is ready. I think it’s ok if you don’t go to school today, you worked hard yesterday…”, she said and sounded a little guilty. Kyungsoo groaned sleepily, but got up and followed her out of the room.

“Auntie is up already, as well and I think today is a good day. She even remembered my name!”, she said happily. Kyungsoo nodded but stopped in the door and walked back into his room.

He stared for a full minute until his sister realized that he was not behind her anymore. “What’s wrong, Kyungsoo?”, she asked.

“T-The mirror”, Kyungsoo whispered.

“What mirror?”, she asked confused. Kyungsoo stared at the mirror that was covered with the white blanket.

“It’s under the blanket. Who has put the blanket onto it again?”, Kyungsoo asked. His sister raised one eyebrow.

“I don’t know. Don’t make such a big deal out of it, come on now”, she said and dragged him out of the room.

When they got into the kitchen there was an old man pulling a vase of flowers out of the fridge.

“I told you not to put the flowers into the fridge”, he murmured.

“Did you say something, Jongmin?”, Kyungsoo’s auntie called.

“No, nothing”, he called back. “I’m not Jongmin”, he added quietly.

“Good morning”, Kyunghwa smiled. “Ah good morning. Have you slept well?”, he asked.

Kyungsoo blinked and then recognized the caretaker. “Ah, oh. Yes, thank you”, he stuttered and sat down at the kitchen’s table.

“Good morning, auntie”, he said carefully. She turned her head and looked at him.

“Kyungsoo! What are you doing here? It’s been such a long time. Is it your birthday today? I’m sorry I’m getting a little forgetful I guess”, she laughed. Kyungsoo opened his mouth.

“Uhm, no. It’s not my birthday”, he murmured. But she didn’t listen to him anyway, she grabbed the newspaper and opened it.

“Who is that?”, she asked with a frowned face. “It’s the president, Park Geun-hye“, the caretaker answered.

“No way, she’s not!”, she said and shook her head. “She’s the president for a couple of months now”, the caretaker said patiently.

The old woman made a sound of disapproval and then closed the newspaper.

“Auntie?”, Kyungsoo asked carefully. She looked at him and Kyungsoo wondered if he would get a proper answer.

“Who does the mirror in the first floor belong to?”, he asked. She stared at him. “Did you remove the blanket?”, she called, her voice was suddenly loud.

Kyungsoo gulped. Panic rushed through his body. What was wrong with that mirror?

 “I-I… no”, he whispered.

“Don’t remove it. I still need to sell the mirror”, she murmured. “I think, I told you I wanted to sell it, Jongmin! You told me you would take care of that, didn’t you?”, she said towards the caretaker.

The caretaker sighed, obviously he was used to be mistaken for the dead husband. “Yes, I will take care of it, don’t worry”, he said.

“Is there something wrong about this mirror?”, Kyungsoo dared to ask. The caretaker shook his head.

“No, not at all”, he quickly replied. But Kyungsoo’s aunt hit the newspaper on the table.

“The mirror? I’m not talking about the mirror, but what is inside the mirror”, she said and glared at him. Kyungsoo shivered.

“What? Inside the mirror?”, he asked.

The caretaker raised his hands and shook his head and gestured him that everything was ok and she was only talking weird stuff. But Kyungsoo frowned, the mirror carried a secret, he was sure of that.

Why was the blanket removing and putting itself?

***

After breakfast Kyungsoo followed the caretaker into the garden.

“You want to know about the mirror, don’t you?”, the old man asked as he watered the rose-bush. Kyungsoo nodded. “What did she mean by inside the mirror?”, he asked.

The old man sighed. “Those are just stories, legends. They’re not true, I will tell you the real story”, he said and walked through the garden.

“Let’s sit down”, he said and with a sigh he let himself fall onto a bench.

Kyungsoo sat awkwardly next to him.

“The story starts with the family that lived here 30 years ago and you can be sure that this story is true, because I was here. I’ve always been the caretaker of this house”, he said with a grim on his face. Kyungsoo nodded.

“Three people lived here. Parents with their son, he must have been your age at that time”, the caretaker continued.

“He was one boy, I tell you! He was a really famous dancer and so popular, the girls were standing in a row in front of the house every evening, but he didn’t care about them.  Everything he wanted to do was dance and he repeated that all the time.
I think he was obsessed with dancing, he got up early and went to the dance studio, he went there after school, when he came home late, he locked himself in his room and danced on. In front of a golden mirror, the mirror is still in his room. I don’t want to removed it, I can’t throw it away…

Anyways, his parents started arguing about his career. His father wanted him to become more successful, going overseas and so he pushed him harder. His mother wanted him to take a break, because he was already working too hard and she wanted him to do something else, she was afraid he would lose all of his social boundaries. Well, he really had only a few friends.
But you see, he loved his parents a lot and so their fights were a pure torture for him and so he locked himself up in his room even more often and danced until he collapsed in his room, but he didn’t stop. He dropped out of school to have more time for practice, he ended up performing every evening in several theaters and on different stages. Poor boy, it completely destroyed him. He didn’t dance away his pain, he only lost himself. The hard work and his obsession of dancing drove him insane. He hated his fans following him around and all of his managers telling him what to do and on top of that his parents divorced. After the divorce he stopped dancing”, the caretaker told.

He stopped and looked up in the sky. Kyungsoo eyed the face of the old man, deep wrinkles that were caused by too much grief covered his face, the dark brown eyes looked dull.

“His fans still followed him around and he couldn’t even leave the house without having hundreds of journalists around asking him why he retired from dancing. So he didn’t leave the house anymore. I don’t know what he did, but he locked himself in his room and didn’t come out anymore. His mother was so worried about him, poor lady…
And that girl who lived on the other side of the street caused the real trouble! I had hoped for times when everyone would just have calmed and forgotten about everything, but she had to spread rumors. Everyone believed her though, because she can look right into his room from her window… Creepy girl, stupid girl. No one is living in that house anymore, so don’t worry. No one can look into your room”, he added.

Kyungsoo blinked.

“What rumors did she spread?”, he asked.

“She told everyone that he was sitting in his room and stared into the golden mirror for hours and talked to himself. She spread the rumor that he was getting mental. Ok, I understand that it was weird that he stood in front of the mirror pressing his palms against the glass and talking to himself as if he tried to fall through the mirror… Getting into a better world”, the man said.

He looked down. “He had a hard life, but people don’t understand that. They only want stories they can amplify and make a great rumor out of it”, he murmured.

Kyungsoo pulled up his legs and leaned his chin on his knees.

“What happened to him?”, he asked quietly. “What happened to the mother?”

 The caretaker hesitated.

“One day they boy disappeared”, he started.

“He… ran away, his mother couldn’t bear losing her son and so she wanted to sell the house and move far away. But no one wanted the house, they said that it was cursed, especially the boy’s room. So she committed suicide, one year later your father’s aunt bought the house”, the caretaker ended.

Kyungsoo looked down. “How sad”, he whispered. A cool breeze ruffled through his hair and he pulled up his shoulders shivering.

“Don’t believe those rumors and legends. Nothing in this house is cursed!”, the caretaker suddenly said sharply. Kyungsoo nodded.

“I’m not scared”, he said.

Thoughtfully he went back into his room and locked the door. He hesitated for a moment but pulled the curtains in front of the window so no one could look into his room.

His heart was beating like crazy when he pulled down the blanket. But it was just the dusty, cold mirror and his reflection. No hand prints.

Kyungsoo took a deep breath and blew the dust away, he watched his worried but also excited expression if something was visible, but there was nothing on the glass. He sighed.

“Of course not, it’s just a mirror. It happened 30 years ago. What am I even looking for?”, he murmured and turned around. He crawled onto his bed and grabbed the book he was currently reading.

“You’re not heartless. No one is. Inside everyone is love, love is human’s nature.
But in most people it is covered like a mirror with dust”

Kyungsoo stared at the sentence and then he looked up to stare at the mirror.

He closed the book as he realized that from this ankle he could see them.

Traces of them… Traces of handprints on the glass.

Pressed desperately against the glass in the hope to fall right through it.

Ugh, hey I am back with a Kaisoo story...

it's been a while since I uploaded something,

feel kinda insecure about this story T__T

Idk why...

I hope you'll like it thou...