Slamming the door with force like it wasn’t actually 2 in the morning, I the light and threw my purse onto the wooden cupboard standing to my left in the narrow hallway, painted in dark purple. It wobbled dangerously for a second on the edge of my old furniture before falling down to the floor, causing yet another noise in my apartment. Something broke inside – probably a small glass bottle of perfume I had inside the purse – and a small puddle of liquid, smelling like vanilla with cinnamon, formed on the floor. At that point I was sure all of my neighbors had woken up, but I was too drunk to care. Leaving the mess behind and kicking off my shoes, which landed in the corner after hitting the wall, I headed straight to my bathroom, taking off my clothes on the way. I was planning to take a long relaxing bath in order to get rid of the smell of alcohol and cigarettes radiating from every strand of my hair.

I couldn’t even remember how I had ended up in the bar, drinking more than my body could tolerate, but I guessed it was part of Sehun’s amazing ability to make people do everything he wanted that had convinced me to have a little fun tonight instead of going home directly after seeing my ex-boyfriend with my best friend. Or more like ex-best friend now. After three bottles of beer – I’d never had high alcohol tolerance – the world around me had started spinning around, leaving me dizzy and on the verge of throwing up – as if I’d just barely survived a long, shaky rollercoaster ride. But surprisingly enough, I was still able to walk on my own, even though Sehun had had to pull me back onto the sidewalk, screaming at me for being careless whenever I’ve walked into the street, laughing like a possessed person.

Well, that was fun.

I bent down and leaned forward, placing one of my hands on the brim of my bathtub and reaching for the tap to turn on the water. After checking its temperature, I took off my lingerie and carefully got into the tub, in a breath when the water turned out to be a little too hot for my liking. Normally I would’ve waited till it had cooled a bit, but the abnormal amount of alcohol in my veins decreased my ability to feel and think properly, convincing me to take the risk of possible burn marks.

I inhaled deeply when my whole body was finally under the water, and soon the warmth of the bath gave me the comfort I had been craving since I had left my bed early in the morning. I closed my eyes with a resigned sigh, leaning my head against the wall behind me and pressing my back into the still-cool porcelain edge of the bathtub. The water was reaching my neck, slowly easing the pressure by squeezing my tired muscles and making me feel less tense but also more sleepy. It was at that moment that I realized how damn tired I was. Not only was I working in one of the busiest cafés in Seoul, I also had to deal with the whole fuss around me – Luhan and Mina – and that was all the energy out of me. By the end of the day, my mind was screaming for at least a minute of rest, without thinking about my ex-boyfriend, without considering what was best to do in the current situation with my so-called friend. Without planning how to kill them both for stabbing me in the back.

And as much as I wanted to give my brain a break, I had to think about my next move. I had to go back to the café tomorrow and face Luhan again – that was more than certain, since I still officially worked there – but I needed to find out if it’d be better for me to meet him with or without my resignation letter. If I could, I would’ve quit my job even today, but I’d never been one of those spontaneous people who could just give up on everything they had and start from a complete zero. I always had to have a backup plan, that eventual indemnity against losing everything and ending up on the street without a cent. Being organized and always thinking ahead was a characteristic I had gotten from my mom, and one of the things I liked about myself. Funnily enough, it was also the reason why Luhan dumped me.

Maybe that’s why I wasn’t able to come up with a good solution anymore. Planning every move, thinking everything over and playing it safe seemed now like something inconceivably wrong because, according to Luhan, it was boring and predictable. I was boring and predictable.

And I had wasted one year of my life just to hear that.

I slowly opened my eyes, feeling the fatigue overwhelming my body. I decided to get out of the tub before I fell asleep there. Reaching for my blue towel and wrapping it around my wet body, I tried to erase from my head the revelations I’d heard the day Luhan had decided to leave me. The memories of our break up and his words still made me angry. He had changed so much, and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t really realized it sooner. The guy who had helped me find something I liked to do in my life, the guy who had showed me how little you needed to be happy, was gone – and a big part of me had vanished irretrievably along with him. I couldn’t believe it had been almost two years since I’d met that charming blond man who had been starting his own business, finishing his studies at my University and having most of his lectures in a classroom next to mine.

As they say, people really change.

I slipped into my bed, rolling over and tightening my grip on the blanket, trying hard to fall asleep. I was too tired and obviously too drunk to think about tomorrow. A good long sleep would definitely be more beneficial than contemplations about Luhan and his sudden change in attitude. I needed to sleep, not to think about my broken heart.

But when the weak light beam in my room – coming from a shining neon sign placed on the top of convenience store near my apartment – was swallowed up by absolute darkness, I knew it wouldn’t be a pleasant rest. It was starting again. It was just a dream, but still I shook with fear, knowing what would happen next. I got through it every night, not really sure why I kept dreaming that one particular dream, but I somehow couldn’t get used to it.

As always, I saw myself sitting alone on the floor of an empty black room, trying to fight the shivers shaking my whole body due to the terrible cold. But this time, I had a feeling that I wasn’t alone at all. Something was waiting for me. Or someone. The quiet whispers I heard made me look around in panic. As I saw the big, wooden doors in front of me open with a groan, I felt an unpleasant commotion in my stomach, making me feel sick again –as if I’d gone for another drinking round with Sehun. I prepared myself to see the bloody creature I had once seen lying with me in my bed, but the fear clouding my mind made me close my eyes tightly a second later. Whatever was going to happen, I wasn’t going to open them, ready to blindly wait for this nightmare to end.

But nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.

“We finally meet, Su Jin.”

Hearing a woman softly call my name, I carefully opened one of my eyes. The creature I had expected to see was nowhere to be found. Instead I saw a woman is her 30s, with short hair, big, black eyes, and red lipstick, greeting me with a slightly tired half-smile. I gulped, not sure what was going on, still afraid that the bloody ghost would not miss the chance to see me, like last time. The lady sq