Shin Se Kyung peered in the dim light, glancing to the man sitting in front of her. She stared at his perfect chiselled face while swallowing her food. A lot of things flashed in her mind. He was a wanted criminal, a dangerous person. She should be afraid of him. Stay away from him. Call the police to get him arrested.

But she didn’t.

Instead, she allowed him to enter into her life. Her mind. And maybe…her heart. There’s something about him that made her confused of the decision that she had made. The feeling of closeness and destiny. It’s like she had fated to meet him…to fell in love with him.

Her heart fluttered and her stomach twisted.

“Do you want to say anything…or you just want to keep staring?”

She startled. “No, I mean…I’m sorry,” she said bashfully. Her cheeks burned.

“That’s okay. I’m used to people staring,” he grinned.

She smiled at his witted remark. “I don’t know that you can cook.”

He finished his food and wiped his lips with a napkin. “I had lived alone for years and I can’t survive on a take-out. I just learn a few simple meals. I can’t starve myself. People with weaknesses get killed by the people who lack them. Notice I’m not dead.”

She sighed silently. “Why do you have to make something serious out of something so simple?” she stood up and walked into her room, rummaging her closet and stepped out with a blue cotton t-shirt. “This is all I have. You have been wearing that shirt for the whole day, sleeping with a new one will be more comfortable,” she said as she handed the shirt.

Se Kyung lies on her bed staring blankly on the ceiling. Her mind roamed to the stranger in her living room, again. His strong steady gaze had pierced her mangled heart, making hole like a key inserted into the lock. It fitted perfectly. And it did hurt. But strangely, she didn’t mind the pain. And his eyes…it’s like he can read into her mind, digging up her past. And she felt .

“Are you sleeping yet?” he called out.

She hitched her breath. “No.”

“Why? You have a trouble sleeping or… my intrusion here had made you…relentless?”

“I’m just wondering…”

“About what?”

“You.”

“Ask me anything.”

She breathed slowly. “How is like…to kill someone? Don’t you feel bad about that? You’re taking people’s life…”

“Never.”

She swallowed thickly.

“I never feel guilt or remorse for what I’ve done. I’m doing the right thing. Someone told me that…if you want to be bad, be bad with purpose. Everyone that I’ve killed was evil. Someone who doesn’t worth a living, a devil in human flesh. A wolf in a sheep mask. They pretend to be good, to be sincere but their heart are rotten.”

“And you’re playing God, deciding who’ll live and who’ll die?”

“And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. Isaiah 13:11. As what you said, someone had to do the job. God wants me to punish them and that’s what I do. And for an added bonus, I get paid for that.”

Both of them fell into a brief silent.

“Now you’re scared?”

“No, I was just thinking…Kira is not just a fiction.”

He chuckled. “A death note will be more convenient. At least a Shinigami will do all the dirty work and I don’t even have to move a muscle and make myself prone to death.”

“Aren’t you afraid…to die?”

“I am,” he paused. “I was just a teenager when I first ventured into this world. And I feel like dying every day until someone saved me from those miseries. I’ve been bullied for not knowing my roots; they beat me up when I stole bread from a bakery. And one day, when I’m escaping from a bunch of scoundrel who was chasing me, I met him. Uncle John, he’s the one who trained me to be an assassin. He taught me how to use firearms, how to attack and defend myself and to use everything and anything as a weapon when in crisis. He told me that in this world there’s only two types of people, a bad one and the kind one.”

“So, which one are you?”

He smiled into the darkness. “I’m…someone who’s in the middle. Sometime I can be bad and sometime, I can be nice.”

“I wish I can be more like you. To be free to be, whoever I want.”

“Freedom comes with a price.” He changed his position on the couch so that he was looking at the closed door. “You never told me about your life after the accident. You were living with your aunt, right? How was it?”

Her eyes bewildered. She faked a yawn and pulled up her blanket. “I’m sleepy; let’s just continue talking tomorrow, okay.”

“You’re running away.”

“What?”

“You’re running from the past. The past will haunt you forever if you’re not brave enough to face your demon and put a stop to everything that makes you afraid. Fear is a weakness and by weakness, it makes you vulnerable.”

His true words silenced her.

“It’s getting late. You should sleep now.” He adjusted his position and tucked the blanket under his arms. “Good night, Se Kyung.”

“Good night.” She closed her eyes and cleared out her thought. She’s waiting for sleep to find her and suddenly her eyes flung open. “You’re gonna still be here tomorrow right?” She heard nothing from the other side of the door and her question left unanswered.

Se kyung woke up when the sun shone its light into the room. Her eyes flickered and she rushed into the door wanting to see if he was still there. She sighed slowly when she saw the empty couch with a blanket and the blue t-shirt folded neatly on the coffee table. He must have left early in the morning when she was still asleep.

He had left.

She felt a strange sadness in her heart. She can’t even speak like there’s a huge lump in and she felt sick in the pit of her stomach.

Empty.

That was she felt. She started to feel that someone else was similar to her. Alone and in need of someone to save her. Someone who understand her; her fear and her loneliness. But right now, she’s all alone again.