“I hope you like it,” Jaehwan spoke as he walked by Jooyoung’s side, watching her practising walking with the help of the pair of crutches. “I was thinking of throwing it away but I always forget to bring it with me if I’m out.”

She halted as she inhaled deeply, the crutches did not help her to walk smoothly but it was the only thing that could hold her standing for now. If she listened to what her heart said, the crutches probably miles away from her right now, she really wanted to throw it away for making her life even difficult. It was tiring!

“Are you okay?” he asked as he stepped in front of her. “I know it’s hard. I’ve been there before but you’ll get used to it.”

Ignoring him, she collected her strength as she readjusted her way of using the new aid, hoping that at least she could be comfortable with it. He noticed the frown on her face; he smiled as he understood what she was feeling at that time.

“Don’t want to sit down first?” he asked as he sat on the bench, patting the empty space beside him. She acted as if he wasn’t saying anything as she kept on moving forward with the pair of crutches leaving him with no response.

Shaking the bad feeling away, he got up and stood in front of her as to stop her. “Stop it, you’ll get tired. You can try it again later once y–”

“Move!” she raised her voice all of sudden, earning a shock look from him. Never in his mind, would he expect a yell from the girl had he just known less than a month.

One of the crutches then fell down as she held her forehead before she looked up to him who was still in frozen state. “Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

Seeing her struggling with her words, he then gently pulled her to sit on the bench. “I’m so sorry, I’m–” her words cut off as he shook her head, acting as if there was nothing happening between them just now. “It’s nothing, you can’t imagine what I look like when I first using them.”

Biting her lips, she cursed herself in her head. The thoughts of her nightmare kept coming into her, haunting her. She thought getting out of the house would at least erase some part of her fear but it wasn’t helping her any further. Instead it was getting worse, especially since she was around him.

“It’s okay, I won’t hold grudge,” he tried to lighten up the atmosphere. “But if you don’t mind me holding grudge, I’ll hold them.”

A small smile produced on her lips as she slowly glanced up to meet his eyes. As their eyes met, he pulled his genuine smile, setting her heart to ease. “You’re a good kid,” she voiced. “I shouldn’t have treated you like that but I…”

He nodded, “Friends should be comfortable with each other. Let’s get comfortable with each other and you can scream at me comfortably.” He held his hand out as to make a deal but she hit his hand away lightly, amused.

“Yeah right,” she teased.

“Lift up your legs,” he suddenly asked. She shot him a confuse look but he gestured her to lay her legs up on the bench. Carefully, she rested both her legs on top of the bench between them and he gave her a look, “May I?”

His hand hovered above her ankle. Catching the hint, she hesitantly nodded. She watched as he examined her ankle carefully. She could see how he limited the contact between his hand and her ankle, showing that he didn’t want to put her on uncomfortable situation.

His action all of sudden brought her to the moment when an icy cold hand assessing her ankle. The disturbing look of the owner of the icy hands from the nightmare suddenly haunted her back.

“Have you ever brought this to any outside help? I mean, like clinic?” he asked, interrupting her train of thoughts as he pulled his hand away from her feet.

She shook her head as a response. “I don’t think I have to go that far…?”

He stared at her for a few seconds causing mixed feelings rushed into her, “It will heal soon, in few days… Don’t worry.”

“What if it doesn’t?” his question sent sharp tug into her heart, his gaze was sharp, turning her speechless. Why did he ask for the other possibilities? If only she had the answer to when her ankle would recover completely…

“I know a grandmother that I think, can help you. What do you think?” he suggested as she saw he arched his eyebrows. Seeing the unconvincing look from her face, his face then turned soft with sympathy, “We’ll go together. I’ll make sure that the grandmother won’t hurt you, okay?”

Her eyes glued at his face as he considering his suggestion before she opened , “Is the grandmother’s house far?”

As if he caught what she was trying to tell, he laughed, earning a strange look from her. He stopped instantly as he cleared his throat, “I’ll bring my bicycle.”

---

Arrived at the place Jaehwan mentioned, he quickly helped her got down from his bicycle. He rested her arm around his shoulder, supporting her from her side since they couldn’t bring along the crutches on their ride.

“Are you sure she’s home?” she questioned with her eyes scanning the place. It looked deserted and abandoned, sending an eerie feeling to her. Something off lingered around the area and she wasn’t sure if she had made the right choice that day.

“This grandma, she lives alone,” both of them stopped right in front of the front door. “Are you sure we’re doing this today?” she could feel the hair on the back of her neck raised, without proper reason.

“We’ve come this far. Of course we’re doing it today. Let me call her,” he looked around before he shouted. “Grandma? Are you home? It’s me Jaehwan. I come with a friend.”

She tightened her grip on his knitted sweater, “I don’t feel good.”

“Wait for a moment, I’m sure she’s home.”

She looked down, her heart beat fast. She didn’t know why but all the things she fear in life, rushed in her mind, freaking her out. She wanted to run away from there, get away from the place. It felt as if the place had a strong and dark power, and she didn’t like it.

It confused her that he looked so unaffected by it.

There was no hint of fear in his eyes. It scared her.

The door creaked open and she almost got a heart attack. The corner of his lips pulled into a curve, “Hi, grandma. Remember me?”

Jooyoung could sense her stare but she refused to meet her eyes, she kept her head down and Jaehwan noticed that, puzzling him. “This friend, she twisted her ankle few days ago. Do you mind if we ask for help…?”

The grandmother eyes darted down her ankle, she then pushed the door open wide, to give them way. She could feel being watched as they were entering and she took a glance at him and he disappointed her. He looked so unaffected. She hated him for a moment.

On their way entering the house, Jooyoung put on her courage to look the grandmother in the eyes and there was this odd feeling shot into her suddenly, making her averted her eyes away quickly in fear.

Settling down, both of them noticed that the grandmother had gone. She sat closer to him making him burst into a small laugh, “Grandma’s house is not that small, you have a lot of space there but you still want to sit closer to me? You’re funny.”

She lifted a finger and put in front of her lips, hushing him as she shook her head simultaneously. She didn’t think it was the right time and place to joke around. “Okay, you can sit close to me,” he continued joking, ignoring what she was feeling at the time.

Shuffling sound came not far from they were seated and the grandmother came with a little stuffs with her, which she assumed to be medication tools. “Come closer,” the grandmother called, her voice didn’t sound friendly and she looked far from one. There was only one expressionless look on her face and it managed to intimidate Jooyoung.

Before applying anything, the old woman decided to examine first her condition before her hand touched the skin on her ankle. Her eyes shot up quickly to meet Jooyoung’s eyes as soon as their skin came into contact and the older woman’s eyes tell lots of stories that she couldn’t read.

“How did you get this?” she questioned.

“She slipped in the bathroom,” Jaehwan behind Jooyoung answered for her. Grandmother’s eyes averted to him, “Is it?”

He nodded confidently, “I didn’t see it but she told me how she got her ankle twisted.”

Jooyoung watched her silently; anxiety was slowly killing her from the inside. What was this grandmother knew that she didn’t know? Did she know that it was a lie? If she knew it, in what way she knew that it was a lie?

“I don’t think you should continue hanging out with him,” she said in a low voice, earning a ‘what’ question from Jaehwan. Jooyoung’s eyebrows narrowed as she wanted her to repeat the warning she just heard but the older woman acted as if nothing happen as she continued applying ointment on her ankle, starting to massage her.

“Don’t you remember me? I came here once with my mother, why do you say that she shouldn’t hanging out with me?” he asked, unsatisfied. It clearly showed that she wasn’t hearing the wrong thing since he heard the same thing as her.

Pressing her lips into a thin line, she watched the grandmother’s hand massaging her ankle. She began to doubting her. Did the old woman really know what had actually happened? But if she knew, why didn’t she deny the reason Jaehwan gave?

That was strange…

---

Back from the grandmother’s house, Jaehwan helped her sitting down on one of the couches. “This time, I believe, your ankle will heal one hundred percent. I even dare to put a bet on it,” he grin cheekily producing a smile on her face.

Moving her injured ankle a bit, she was actually surprised that it felt better than before she had the massage. “The grandmother really has a magic hand; it doesn’t feel hurt as much it did.”

“What did I tell you?” there was clearly a proud look on his face making her to snort in amused.

“But really, my mother went there when she was sick and she miraculously turned healthy the next day,” he began to tell her his past experience with the grandmother. “So, does that mean the villagers go to her if they get sick?” she asked in curiosity.

He nodded, “A part of the villagers who do not believe in modern medicines? That grandma can even deal with mystic illness. You know.”

She stared at him, actually intrigued with his stories. The smile that had vanished on his face a while ago flashed on his face once again, “Do you know? That grandmother actually loses one of her sight, but she still can–”

The rest of his words didn’t reach her hearing as she all of sudden feeling her chest tightening. She could see him was still telling her what he knew but his words sink into the background. Collecting her strength, she put on her courage to question him.

“Do you know which sight…?” she asked carefully.

“If I’m not mistaken…” he paused for a thought. “Her right eye? Yeah. Right. It’s her right eye. But her left eye is okay.”

The image of the one-eyed figure flashed back in her mind, she tried to remember clearly and thought it was only a coincidence since the figure she saw in her dream lost the left eye, not the right eye.

“But I heard that her right eye can see stuffs. You know, that things.”

Her heart skipped a beat.

~~~~~~~~

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