*The Next Day

“I heard about your dad, I’m so sorry.” Taeyeon says hugging me tightly.

“Thank you.” I hug her back. The mention of my father makes my chest ache.

“Why didn’t you stay at home?” She asks pulling away.

“No use, I’d miss too much anyway and then I’d be even more behind.” I say.

“That is true.” She says. The day goes by like it usually does, Hana trying to make my day miserable and me trying to keep up in class. Thankfully my Korean’s gotten a lot better and people can't make fun of it so much so that’s a big jump. Once the bell rings the weekend has started, I do some of my homework and then decide go for a run around town. I plug in my headphones and start my run. I look at my watch, one hour until sunset. I go to the beach and decide to run the length of it a few times. I stop panting with sweat dripping from my forehead, I go to the sea and splash some water on my face, the water is still cold and feels wonderful on my skin.

“You’re not planning on doing anything dangerous are you?” A familiar voice next to me says. I look to my left to see Tao sitting there in different clothes than yesterday.

“No, not today. How did you change clothes?” I ask.

“Being a ghost has it’s perks, I can choose to change into the clothes that I had owned before I–you know–died.” He says.

“Not bad.” I say and he shrugs. I take off my backpack and pull out a bottle of water. I open it and drink a good fourth of it.

“How much did you run?” He asks.

“A lot, I guess. I didn’t keep track.” I shrug, “How long have you been here?” I ask.

“Not long, I saw you running and then coming to the sea and I got a bit nervous.” He says.

“This time I brought a towel though.” I say taking it out.

“What else do you have in that pack?” He asks.

“Take a peek.” I say stretching. He does, then he reaches in a pulls out my phone. His eyes widen as he stares at the phone, then it passes through his hand and lands back in the bag.

“It was nice while it lasted.” He says slightly disappointed, “Is that the latest edition?” He asks.

“Second last one.” I correct him.

“It’s nice.” He says looking at his hands again.

“Yeah, it is.” I say. Then I hear a loud shout coming from my right. I look around to see a group of people coming and I recognize most of them to be from my school.

“Did you know that as a ghost, I can still eat the last thing I ate and drink the last thing I drank.” Tao says.

“No, what are they?” I ask.

“Cola and pizza margarita.” He says, “I can only have it once a day but it’s worth it.” He waves his hand and two colas and two pizzas appear. His eyes widen, “I guess we can eat together.” He says. I hesitantly pick up a slice and nibble on it.

“It’s delicious.” I say. He also takes a slice and as soon as he bites into it he becomes a little more solid.

“Loser! What are you doing here? This is our beach and you don’t belong here.” Another familiar voice says. I sigh and turn around to see Hana. I open my mouth to say something when Tao interrupts.

“I don’t think it’s your place to say whose beach this is and who belongs here.” He says. I’m suddenly scared that she might recognize him but when I look back at him I see he’s wearing sunglasses, which make him not as recognizable.

“Who are you? Her cousin, brother?” Hana asks suddenly girly and bubbly.

“Boyfriend.” Tao smirks. What? I gawk at him. He puts his hand on mine and it doesn’t pass through, it still feels slightly smoky but otherwise it feels like a normal hand. Hana’s face turns bright red.

“W-what?! How? Sh-she’s not…” She splutters.

“Not what? A loser like you?” He asks. Hana opens and closes and then turns around and runs back to the main group. “Her face was priceless.” He sniggers, sunglasses off again, “Who was that?” He asks.

“It was Hana, she’s one of the ‘popular’ girls in my school.” I roll my eyes.

“I recognize her, she always used to try and get into our parties. Desperate girl.” He snorts. That short tale makes me feel slightly better when I realize we’re still holding hands, I look down at our hands to see that Tao’s is very solid but then he lets go and it turns transparent again. You just imagined it, I tell myself.