“Oh my God, Mara, what happened?” Mr. Han’s voice was heard. Mara realized she was burying her head on Jongin’s chest, and hastily pushed him away.

     “Screw this dull and empty neighborhood—Sir, how can you leave her alone?” Jongin glared.

     “His son is sick! Don’t scold him!” Mara warned him as she wiped her tears.

     “Oh God, why is there a knife… Oh dear, that must have been scary for you.” Mr. Han picked the knife, and crouched to collect the scattered things that fell when the robber was kicked.

     “No, it’s okay, I’m okay, let me help you.” Mara dropped to the floor and started to pick up the things too. Jongin suddenly pulled her back up.

     “No, you can’t be here any longer. You should go home.”

     Mara yanked off his grab and hissed. “Who are you to—“

     “Jongin-ssi is right, Mara, go home and rest. I’ll close the store immediately, now just go home.”

     Jongin-ssi? Who is this boy, really?

     “I’ll take her home.” Jongin said. “Go get your things.”

     Mara looked at Mr. Han, and he just signaled her to just go. Mara took her bag behind the counter, and went outside. Jongin was ready on his motorcycle.

     “Get on.” he said.

     “My house is at the end of this street. I can go alone.”

     “You wouldn’t want to risk encountering people like the previous ones again in this neighborhood. I’m trying to help you.”

     Mara heaved a sigh and got on his motorcycle.

     “Hold on to me.” Jongin commanded.

     Mara uneasily pulled the sides of his leather jacket.

     He sneered. “Oh, come on.” he took both of Mara’s hands and wrapped it around his body. “You don’t want to fall off this.”

     Mara was basically backhugging him. Jongin started to speed up his motorcycle, and Mara really had no other choice other than sticking to him like that. He freaking did this on purpose, Mara resented.

     They arrived at her house, and Mara got off as she said “Thank you for the ride.”

     “Disappointing.” Jongin squinted his eyes. Mara frowned. “That didn’t even take five minutes to go here, it would be nice if you could stay behind me a little bit longer.”

     Mara could feel her face getting red. She hoped for the night darkness to make it unnoticeable.

     “Why is your house so dark, anyway?”

     “There’s currently nobody in the house.”

     “What—you’re alone? Man. Do you want me to stay?”

     Mara got taken aback. “What are you say—“ The house next door opened and Miyoung and Khun got outside on their night attires. “I have these people, though. Thank you.”

     Jongin just smirked. “See you tomorrow then.”

     Mara watched him as he started his motorcycle and went away.

     “Mara, who’s that guy? Your boyfriend?” Khun asked.

     “No, oppa.” Mara shook her head while cringing.

     “Then who is he? How nice of him to take you home like this.” Miyoung said.

     “I… Don’t know.” Mara stared at the ground. “Anyway, oppa, unni, go inside, mind the baby. Go, go.” Mara took her keys from Khun and entered her house right away.

     Mara went to bed feeling exhausted, and suddenly Jongin’s words popped inside her mind. See you tomorrow.

     She covered her face with a pillow and whimpered. She felt bipolar. He’s kind of irritating but I want to know who he is.

-

     The next day, Mr. Han repeatedly apologized to Mara for making her stay alone during that moment as they arranged the display in the evening. Mara brushed it off, minding that everything was okay, and asked about his son.

     “He’s now fine, fortunately. So Jongin-ssi took you home?”

     “Yes.” Mara hesitated. “Who is he actually, Sir? Why are you formally addressing him?”

     “Um… It’s a bit hard to explain who he—“

     “Look at you talking behind my back.”

     Mara turned around, and there he was, Kim Jongin. He was wearing his school uniform.

     “No worries, Mr. Han, I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to her.” Jongin smiled sweetly. Mara turned her back again and stiffly putting more stuff to the rack.

     A customer called for Mr. Han, and he left Mara and Jongin alone at the snacks alley.

     “You’re that curious?” Jongin said, and Mara could feel him lightly chuckling behind her. He stepped forward to move beside her, and helped her with the stuff. “I’m nobody, though. What did Mr. Han told you about me at first?”

     “He said you were a special customer of this store.”

     “Hm, that’s pretty accurate. There, your question is answered. Now is my turn. This neighborhood turned out to be pretty scary, did something ever happen to you before? You must have gone home at night after school, right?”

     “Nothing ever happened. And I usually didn’t go home alone.”

     “What? With whom do you go home with?”

     “What’s with that tone… My grandfather or Khun oppa picked me up from school sometimes.”

     “Who’s Khun oppa? Your boyfriend?”

     Mara groaned. “It’s my neighbor, you saw him last night. And you could see he has a pregnant wife.”

     “Oh.” Jongin’s tone magically got cheerier.

     “Yep, questions time is over.” Mara said flatly, and carried the snack box on her feet, heading to the storage room. Jongin followed her.

     “Why are you tagging along? Aren’t you going to shop or something?” Mara lifted the box to put it to the highest shelf, and struggled to do so. Jongin took over, and he easily put the box on its place. “Thank you.” Mara said quietly.

     “You know, I’m still wondering about that time.” Jongin said.

     “What time?”

     “When we were looking at each other that time. That was on a red light, and we were staring at each other for at least thirty seconds. I kept thinking about it, and even tested it afterwards, that looking at someone’s eyes for just ten seconds felt awkward and weird already. How could we do it for so long?”

     Mara stayed silent.

     “I was not playing around that time, and you were also not the type to joke around, after I got to know you. It’s just fascinating.” Jongin chuckled again. “What could that mean…”

     Mara was also thinking hard, but found no answer. “I don’t know.”

     Jongin closed the storage room’s door, and trapped the two of them inside. He stood up in front of Mara, a bit too close to each other. Mara’s back nearly pressed to the wall behind her.

     “What are you doing?”

     “Let’s do that again.”

     Jongin started looking at her, and for some reasons Mara was just somehow compelled to look at him back. So this was what they were doing that time? Only way closer, this time.

     It was like they were pulled by each other’s sight, and they couldn’t escape. Mara felt like she was looking at two cups of clear tea from above, because of his eye color. It was a pretty color.

     Jongin suddenly diverted his sight to something above Mara’s head. “See. We almost spent a minute.”

     Mara turned her head and saw the clock on the wall. A minute?

     “I can safely say that this is just our thing.” Jongin said, smiling a little.

     Mara frowned. Jongin’s hand reached to something on the wall beside Mara, and after a click, the room went pitch black.

     “Kim Jongin, what are you doing?!”

     Jongin found Mara’s wrists, and held it tightly. “Can you see me?”

     “The lights are off, silly, how can I see you? Turn it on!”

     Jongin gave Mara a quick peck on her lips, and Mara froze. He released her wrists, turned the lights back on. He muttered “See you tomorrow.” and exited the room.

     Mara leaned her back on the wall, and slumped down to the floor.

     Their second staring contest that happened for almost a minute seemed like just mere seconds, but that swift peck… It felt like it happened in slow motion.

     It was dark, how could he find my lips precisely?

     Mara got back to the store, and Mr. Han was taking over as the cashier, just finished a recent customer. “Mara, what took you so long? Do you need help? Jongin-ssi already left.”

     “No, I finished. You can go to your office Sir, I’ll stay here.”

     “You look weird, did something happen? Are you okay?”

     Yes, something happened. No, it’s not okay.

     Mara just shook her head, still a bit stunned. “No, everything’s okay.”

-

     That night at home, Mara purposely her TV even though she rarely watched it, and set it in a loud volume. She was trying to distract herself, but what happened today in the storage room wouldn’t leave her mind.

     The next day, she was having breakfast at Miyoung’s house. In the middle of eating, she asked for some time.

     “Unni, look at me for awhile. You can blink and whatever, but just look at my eyes. Khun oppa, can you count the time?”

     The couple looked puzzled by Mara’s request, but they silently complied. Mara started to look at Miyoung, and after some time that felt like forever, she looked away. “Oppa, how long was it?”

     “Five seconds.”

     Mara frowned, and she tried it to Khun.

     “Seven seconds.” Miyoung counted the time.

     Mara looked at her kimchi stew. Looking at other people seemed like forever, but why with him…

     “Mara-ya, is there something wrong? Are you sick?” Miyoung reached to touch her forehead.

     “No, unni, I’m fine.”

     She felt woozy on the way to school, she felt woozy everywhere. She blanked out when she was talking with her teacher, and a male teacher who loved to tease the students, also her teacher’s rival, commented from the next teacher’s table, “Are you sure this is the kid who got only one question wrong in the entire exams?”

     “She definitely is, shut up.” Mara’s teacher snapped. “Anyway, Mara, you seem weird today. Did something happen?”

     Mara shook her head stoutly, and excused herself to go.

     Mara wasn’t feeling weird just because the kiss, but also the whole thing. This Kim Jongin suddenly on her list of “people I meet every day” and even made a move on her. She might think that he was just an ordinary high schooler just like her, but everything he said about how they first noticed each other either scared or made her found him as a weirdo. But truthfully Mara was just as curious to know the meaning of all this.

     “Watch where you’re going, you’re a step away from the road.”

     Mara turned her head to the voice and found no other else than Kim Jongin, this day also in his uniform. Mara was even less surprised to see him than to find herself suddenly ended up at this bus stop.

     “Do you want to get hit by the vehicles, hadn’t you noticed your steps? I’ve been seeing you from afar and you didn’t even see where you’re going. But it’s okay, I can save you now since I’m here.”

     Mara opened a little, but she lost words to say. Saying “What do you mean?” “What are you doing?” or “Who are you to do that?” would be a waste of energy to say to Kim Jongin.

     Look at me getting used already to his antics, Mara thought. Soon the bus came, and Mara sped up her steps faster than Jongin. She’d try to sit beside a stranger to avoid him, but her shoulders shrunk to see that the bus is completely empty, and there was no one besides Jongin on the bus stop.

     “Such a nice weather.” he said, as he leisurely sat beside Mara on the very back of the bus.

     “There’s still a lot of seats, why are you here?”

     “I have a friend here, why would I sit somewhere else?” he said happily. “We even became friends on this very bus, remember?”

     Mara exhaled loudly and she took out her phone and earphones. Jongin suddenly grabbed her phone.

     “What are you—give it back!”

     “Shush, let me borrow it for awhile now. I want to search for something.” he went to the search site and typed something. “I think it’s similar to what happened to us.”

     He apparently searched for the word imprint.

When a shape-shifter imprints on a specific person, he becomes unconditionally bound to her for the rest of his life. When it happens, the experience is described as being gravitationally pulled toward that person while a glowing heat fills him; the connections of everything else become severed, or simply secondary, and only the imprintee is left to matter, leaving the shape-shifter with a deep need to do anything to please and protect the person.

     “From what I saw from the movie of the book that described this meaning of imprint, they imprinted by looking at each other’s eyes. In the movie, it’s more like a one-way contact, but considering we both kind of experienced the same thing… Let’s say we imprinted each other. Have you read this book? Or watched the movie?”

     “I’ve read the book once… But not the movie. I don’t really watch movies.”

     “Really? You don’t watch movies? Ah, what should I do when we go on a date, then?”

     Mara glared at him. “Don’t tell me you take this thing seriously. You’re not a shape-shifter. Or a werewolf. Whatever the creatures are.”

     Jongin laughed. “Of course I’m not. But it’s fun. Let’s think about it. What happened when we first looked at each other? We both continued staring at each other. I could just look away, you could just look away. Why didn’t you do that?”

     Mara swallowed. “I don’t know. I… It’s like…”

     “…something pulled you in.” they finished the sentence together. Mara’s eyes widened and she took her phone back.

     “Isn’t this your stop?” Mara tried to avert his attention to something else, when the bus approached a zone.

     “No, I don’t want to get off. I’ll go to the store with you.”

     This boy is either deluded or he’s just plain crazy, Mara thought. She huffed and started to listen to a song from her phone. Just when Mara put on the earphones, Jongin pulled off one of them and put it to himself.

     “How mean, I want to listen to a song too.”

     Mara was too tired to keep glaring at him, so she kept silent and rolled her eyes. They were listening to SHINee’s Symptoms.

     “Oh, I know this song. People say I look like the maknae of the group.”

     “If you want to listen to this song, let’s do this quietly.” Mara muttered. Jongin closed his mouth.

Your cold eyes dig into my heart,

cutting deeply through the center

If I don’t cure this wound, I might die,

I might go crazy, I don’t know what will happen

The sickness that is you,

the worse it gets, the more exhausted I get

but the only medicine is you

If I can’t have you, I might die,

I might go crazy, I don’t know what will happen

The only medicine is you

I can’t live if I lose you

     When the chorus part finished, Jongin chuckled, and Mara tensed up. When this part came for the second time, Jongin slowly sang along, and put an emphasis on “The only medicine is you.”

     Before the song ended, Mara turned it off. “It’s my stop soon.”

     “Our stop.” Jongin corrected her. “But this day is too nice to be spent in the store, how about we go somewhere fun?”

     “Who are you to decide, are you the owner?! You’re just a ‘special’ customer!” Mara almost shouted.

     “No, but I’m the grandchild of the owner. Satisfied?” Jongin answered.

     Now I get the clear answer at a time like this, Mara thought. “That doesn’t make you have the right to order the employees around.” the bus would arrive at the stop soon, and Mara put her phone and earphones inside her bag, and pushed the button to get off. “Now excuse me.”

     Mara got up as the bus stopped, but Jongin’s arm reached her neck carefully and pulled her in for a kiss. Not yesterday’s peck, but a real kiss. Again, it felt like a slow motion for Mara.

     “Students, aren’t you getting off here?” the driver shouted from the front.

     Jongin broke the kiss. “No, Sir, we’re sorry, we’re getting off at Dongdaemun.”

     Mara fell to her seat, and the bus started moving again.

     “I know that you can come to work at 3. It’s still far from 3.”

     “Kim Jongin, I think you took whatever you found about what happened to us too gravely.” Mara said through her gritted teeth.

     “Go on a date with me today, and let’s see if what I assumed is only a joke, or it’s just you denying your feelings. I will suppose that this is the first time this kind of thing happened to you, because it’s the first time for me too.”

     “Kim Jo—“

     “Do I have to kiss you again?”

     That silenced Mara.

     “That’s not even a threat, don’t you realize that? A kiss should have been a reward or something.”

     “Shut up.” Mara snapped silently.

     Jongin scoffed in satisfaction, as the bus took the two to their date.