With his arms folded against his torso, he silently watched as Jaehwan strode off to his bicycle and rode it away from Jooyoung’s house. Jaehwan was unaware of other presence apart from himself but that night felt oddly unusual. There was no moon to light his path and the strange silence was killing him slowly in the inside. There was no sound of night insects to put his heart on ease.

He began to feel paranoid all of sudden, sensing as if someone was watching him closely but he knew it was all in his mind and the cold night that started biting on his skin didn’t help him any further. Perhaps there was something else out there with him but he was fine with his condition where he couldn’t see any of them. He would go straight home without looking back and made sure that he washed his feet before get to bed.

Hongbin who was sitting on top of one of the branch at the big tree in front of Jooyoung’s house could only watch Jaehwan leaving hurriedly but without a noise. Hongbin knew Jaehwan felt his presence but he didn’t possess the same ability as Jooyoung, which could turn his world upside down.

His gaze averted to the house beside the tree he had been spending time on since he saw Jaehwan leading his bicycle towards the house. Hongbin knew, Jaehwan’s intention was to meet Jooyoung after he eavesdropped their conversation that took place earlier on at the alley.

Jooyoung must have been traumatised and in need but he knew it was his entire fault, and he had no idea how to put everything back into its place. He was afraid as her…Afraid that she was leaving him for real.

He remembered the day that he saw with his own eyes that confirmed her was not any kind of manipulative soul or other creatures. She was walking alone from the convenience store and it was pretty late, the sun already set. In the village, it is a normal sight to see deserted night; it was rare for the girls, especially young girls, to wander around at night.

The girls knew better that it was safer in the house than it was in the outside in the darkness. Not that there was no one was dare to leave their houses at night but if they do, most of them are the older villagers and the men of the village.

Hongbin watched Jooyoung strolled down the alley and at times she would pause on her track and reached to touch the back of her neck while looking around, as if looking for something but she ignore it afterwards after seeing no one. She must been feeling his presence but he didn’t want to show himself.

After few steps, his eyes caught something on the roof, not far from her. He turned frozen and he didn’t dare to follow her even closer because he knew that the thing on the roof is not something good. The thing moved its head and at instant Hongbin could see the same mark that he owned on his skin.

Quickly his gaze followed her and he wondered if Jooyoung noticed the thing that had her leg dangling at the end of the roof, swinging slowly to and fro. Now, the thing had her attention to oblivious Jooyoung. Jooyoung was almost walking under the roof and Hongbin could only helplessly watch. If Jooyoung had the same mark as him, the thing on the roof would be in her radar by now and she wouldn’t take that route but she did.

“Is she an accomplice?” Hongbin thought. The thing on the roof could be her friend, he must miss that and he needed to watch it till the end.

The thing on the roof suddenly jumped off of the roof and landed right in front of Joooyoung’s path but instead of pulling to a halt or collided with it, she walked pass through it and acted as if nothing bothering her though she began to hugging herself. That sight left Hongbin dumbfounded and the thing also walked away and vanished from the alley.

And it wasn’t once; it had happened more than once that she couldn’t look the other restless soul like what she could to him.

That piqued his interest.

He leaned his back against the tree and looked far ahead of him. It was a moonless night and it was a long night. He felt empty that night, feeling as if he lost something… precious.

He used to be wandering aimlessly around the village, trying to remember the time when he was alive. He couldn’t flash back even a bit of it. Like how he died, his real name, what he did, where he live and if he ever in love?

He remembered when he used to wave to some of the villagers, hoping them to see him but they never did. It left a bitter aftertaste to him and sometime he gave a small revenge to them for ignoring him, but not as harmful as costing a life. Making their infant cried was one of them.

After he had been adjusted with the new life, he preferred to hide, letting the time to pass and hoping that God stop punishing him.

Maybe he did something bad when he was alive.

Lee Hongbin is the name given to him by the spirit of the oak tree, Lee Sunmi. She purposely gave him the same family name as her so that he wouldn’t forget her. He won’t. How could he ever erase someone so important in his new world? She was the one that comforting him that one day he could move on and would leave the loathing world once he finished what he should had done before he passed away.

However, he didn’t know what was it like or how to.

What he wished before he left the world.

He glanced back to the house and sensing that she wouldn’t let him to be any closer to her these few days. Nodding, he should have left much earlier, stop following her and continued living the life he used to live.

But…

How could he leave alone someone that can see, hear and touch him?

He couldn’t!

---

The rain was pouring hard and it gave Jooyoung more reason to stay indoors. She could hear Grandma’s complaints on how it was hard for her to walk around with the weather but Jooyoung pretended as if she didn’t hear any because of the loud rain.

“Jooyoung, Grandma have to make Kimchi with Grandma Joo, I have to leave the house with you. If you’re going out, don’t forget to lock. I have the spare key with me,” Grandma spoke as soon as her gaze fell on her granddaughter who was wrapping herself in her blanket.

Jooyoung nodded, indicating that she heard and understood everything. Without waiting for the heavy rain to cease, Grandma left Jooyoung and continued with her plan of the day. Jooyoung wasn’t planning of doing anything that day and she walked to the nearest window, watching her grandmother running under the rain with her umbrella opened.

Plopping herself on one of the couch, she leaned her head back on the couch’s head and shut her eyes, enjoying the sound of the rain before the rain music was distracted by a voice that was calling her name.

“Shin Jooyoung!” called the male voice.

Her eyes shot open as her head directed to the sound of the voice at the door. “Lee Jaehwan?” she called back, taken aback.

That foolish smile came across his face as he took off his rain coat, “We didn’t have enough time to exchange story last night. Do you want to continue it today?”

She turned speechless as she stared at him emptily.

“How about you listen to my story today instead? How’s that sound?” he chuckled and took a seat next to her and involuntarily shiver. Seeing that, she offered him her blanket and left him to make him a hot drink.

---

“They said that if you dream of someone is dead, when in reality he is still alive, it tells that person you dream of will have a long life,” he took a sip of the hot chocolate. Jooyoung was staring at him, waiting for him to continue his story. She thought, this was the first time in her life that she gave her utmost attention to the creepy tales and beliefs of the village.

“The dream gave me hope,” he broke their eye contact and he landed his gaze on the drink table. “My friend was very sick. The doctor told us that he only has fifty-fifty chance to live and I almost crush the doctor’s face into pieces when he told us that.”

Jooyoung remained silent as her eyes glued on his side profile.

“The doctor told us that even if he survives, he wouldn’t be able to do anything in his life. His brain was affected as well as his spinal cord,” he paused for a second before he inhaled deeply. Even though he wasn’t looking at her, she knew the memories gave him so much pain.

She wanted to stop him from recalling his painful memories but it was not like she forced him to choose the painful story to begin with. He must have his own reason for choosing that story.

“He was fine the day before the accident and the next day he was lying motionless on the bed. He was in coma for two months and I prayed that he would do every opposite things that the doctor expected.”

The rain was still pouring, but it had become lighter, as if giving way for the both of them having conversation.

“Then that early morning, I dreamed of my friend’s cold, lifeless body on a table that they usually put corpse on. His body was covered with white sheet up to his chest… His face look pale but I didn’t have the courage to go even nearer to see him. I just stared at him from his side…”

Jooyoung could feel where the story was going and she was holding the her eyes that were began to b with tears. It must be hard for him, and he was strong enough that he had the courage to re-open the heart wrenching memory.

“And I got the phone call from the hospital,” he turned to face Jooyoung who was now struggling to not cry. Jaehwan realised that he had pulled the atmosphere down. He shouldn’t make her cry after crying last night.

“You’re strong,” she voiced, still holding on the tears that threatened to fall.

“No, I’m just telling you why I don’t really take seriously the things the villagers told me,” he grinned, trying to lighten up the mood.

She nodded as she felt slightly relieve that the tears didn’t fall. “Thank you and sorry. Sorry that you have to open up the past just to–”

“It’s nothing. It is all in the past!” he beamed and quickly took another sip of the chocolate drink that slowly cooling.

She watched as he drank and opened the snacks that she didn’t touch at all yesterday. Who knew? A guy that she thought that won’t get mad at all and smiling a lot had a deep wound inside him?

“Is that why you kept asking me if I felt as if someone was watching us?” Jaehwan suddenly asked, catching her off-guard. Her hand paused mid-air and she slowly glanced at him.

He noticed the shock look on her face and quickly bowed apologetically. “I didn’t mean to scare you, sorry. I just remember about it all of sudden. It’s just coming back to me, fitting in like a puzzle.”

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