Grandma had known that Jooyoung would spend her time with Jaehwan that night. They were at late Grandma Kim house, and everybody that came were busy preparing for the 14th day ritual. The sun hadn’t set yet and they had around an hour before the sun set.

While waiting, Jaehwan had been dragging her everywhere to introduce her to some of his friends and relatives that came. As she expected, she wasn’t really welcome there by some of the ladies but she faked a smile, showing them her very best. At least, she didn’t glare back and create a mess.

It’s okay if they can’t like her, it’s not like she could do anything about it.

“I know her,” said one of the three ladies. Jooyoung remembered her, they were the girls that gave her a nasty look on the day Jaehwan approached her.

Jaehwan shot the girl a surprise look but before he could produce a word the girl had gestured him to lean closer. Leaning closer, she began to whisper stuff and ended with her gaze landed on Jooyoung. Without even eavesdropping what the girl was whispering, she knew what it was about from the look the girl gave.

Her look screamed hatred.

A sheepish smile formed on Jaehwan’s face as he nodded. Glancing at him, Jooyoung tried to read from his face but he just shook his head to the girl and he diverted his attention to Jooyoung without making an eye contact.

After a few metres apart from the group of the irritating ladies, Jooyoung searched his eyes and managed to catch his. He could only form an apologetic small smile, “Let’s meet the other.”

“They don’t like me, do they?” Jooyoung shot him a question boldly. She watched how quick his facial expression changed and he began fidgeting with his hands. He really didn’t know how to respond to her question.

“You don’t have to feel sorry, it’s not your fault,” she added.

“What to do?” he said regretfully.

“I guess we have to find your friends that can like me?” she tried to cheer him up and she knew it was a success when she saw the light in his eyes. He then brought her to his group of friend who might like her.

---

The sun seemed to begin setting down at any minutes and Jaehwan was excited to start the ritual. Jooyoung anxiously looking around, she feared that she would miss the timing to escape and miss the plan she had in her mind.

She needed to sneak out without a person in the house knowing. Since she told Grandma that she would be with Jaehwan for the whole ritual, Grandma wouldn’t be looking for her.

Tugging Jaehwan’s on his sleeve, she got his attention and he arched his eyebrows in puzzlement. “I need to go to the toilet,” she made a face, showing him that she was desperate.

He nodded, “Don’t take a long time. We’ll going to start anytime soon.” She made an okay sign before quickly vanished from his sight. Somehow, her leaving suddenly made him felt uneasy. She just gone for a minute and he already could tell that she wouldn’t going to make it.

That was when he decided to follow her.

After checking almost all the bathrooms in the house, Jaehwan found no trace of her. From afar, he saw Jooyoung’s grandmother but he couldn’t see Jooyoung next to Grandma. His mind then went to Sunhwa and the girls. Quickly, his eyes darted around the house to find the group of friend and found them. However, there was no Jooyoung with them.

Where could she be at this hour? She shouldn’t be wandering around.

He then sneakily left the house and felt small drop of water fell on his skin. Looking up to the source of the water, he noticed that it was raining lightly and the day was getting darker quickly. Fear that the sound of the explosion started any soon, he forced himself to run to see the last place she could be –the pathway.

All of sudden, to his horror, his ears caught the sound of explosion and his eyes caught a figure walking down on the pathway but he felt a force pulling him back to the house. Turning around instantly, he couldn’t see the owner of the hand that was pulling him but the ritual had started –and he wasn’t allowed to leave the house.

---

After making sure that the place was out of reach of the house, Jooyoung bent down while taking a deep breath, trying to make her heart beat at regular pace. She had been running from house as if she was chased, hoping that no one caught her sight, or else she would ended up to villagers’ headline the next day.

Standing at the middle way of the path, she wasn’t sure the direction the escaping souls would take. It was raining lightly and the cold breeze biting on her skin. Following her instinct, she faced the path towards the house.

The sun had set, and she gripped the flashlight in her hand hard. Slowly, she starting to run towards the house and there was a blast of wind on her way, causing her to shut her eyes immediately, to shield her eyes from the dust.

That was when she sent herself crashing down the ground, after she tripped on the rocky ground. Burning sensation instantly felt on both her knees. Even though she wasn’t wearing skirt that day, she must have created little marks on her knees, though not severed.

She also felt the pain on both her palms and she froze in her position as she started to cry silently. She must have been crazy enough to think that she would see Hongbin running towards her again, the same way he ran at the first day she met.

Sobbing hard under the drizzle, she didn’t care if she was now been stepped on by the unseen souls.

While crying her heart out, she sensed a presence in front of her and the sudden stop of raining. The person beside her must had an umbrella to cover her, because she could still hear the drizzle falling on the ground. That person must be Jaehwan, who realised her missing.

“You’re hurting yourself again?” the deep voice said as the voice sound so close to her ears.

Her eyes shot opened immediately to the familiar sound of the voice. Looking up in front of her, her gaze landed on the pale face. He had a large piece of leaf on his hand that was covering her from the rain water.

“What to do? I happen to be around?” he spoke, using the classic reason. She then lifted one of her hand and showed him the scratch she got on her palm as she slowly laughed. A small smile broke on his lips as he gazed at her, relieved.

---

The sound of the rain was the only sound she listened to that night. She was sitting under a big tree that managed to shield her from the light rain that seemed like that it won’t stop anytime soon. Hongbin was sitting beside her, not saying anything after he offered to carry her to a hiding place.

When the weight of the silence started to bugging her, she produced flashlight from her hand, and switch it on and off repetitively. Taking the hint, Hongbin closed the gap between them and planned to break the silence.

“Can I see your knees?” he questioned, noticing that she just let out an involuntary shiver. He felt bad instantly as he remembered that he couldn’t give her warm.

Wordlessly, she pulled and folded up her jeans. Strangely, she forgot that she actually hurt herself. She assumed the pain gone because of how ridiculously cold tonight but she held it in.

There was only small scratch on her left knee and her right knee was fine. Same went to her palms; there were small scratch marks on both her palms. She didn’t suffer terrible cut as she tend to have.

Hugging herself from the freezing night, Hongbin couldn’t help but to look at her in concern. “Want to go home? You’re freezing,” he said as he brought his hand to her hand. He used to feel warmth from her but she felt as icy as he is.

Jooyoung shook her head, pulling her hands away, his hand felt as she expected –icy cold.

“You know, I was supposed to run away when I first saw you,” she said, her voice trembled at the end of the sentence. “You were wicked, rude and–” she didn’t get to finish her description when their eyes met.

“–and overbearing?” he finished her sentence.

Her tongue turned numb as she lost in the sea of his eyes. He was giving that look again, that longing look, that look that urge her to give him a hug and said sorry for thousandth time.

“Why m-me?” she stuttered. The question suddenly popped in her mind out of nowhere and he held his gaze on her. “Why me?” he returned the question but he shook his head and broke of the eye contact for a moment before he searched her eyes back and his expression softened. “Why me?” he asked with a gentler tone.

She shook her head slowly, “I don’t get it.”

“Aren’t you afraid of me?” he asked, taking risk.

She looked stun for a moment but she wasn’t in the state of fearing anything. However, the instant Déjà vu rush into her, making her shivered. She heard this question rolled out his tongue before but it didn’t give the same effect as it did right now. Hongbin looked normal to her and he didn’t pull any scary gig to scare her off, why would she be scared?

Remember? She is the brave girl that doesn’t believe any of the crappy belief of the villagers.

The last time was an exception, she was shocked and at the same time confuse. The feelings of not understanding and knowing scared the life of her and it made her looked weak. But she is still the girl that can’t accept the belief and the superstitious of the village.

“Why should I?” she scoffed as she broke the eye contact. A disbelief sigh escaped him, attracting her attention immediately.

“I thought I won’t see that arrogant look in you anymore,” he genuinely smile and chuckled. His low chuckled emitted a spark in her, raising her body temperature all of sudden. But his happy moment didn’t last long as his expression fell as if something had turned the switch of his happiness off.

“I can’t keep lying,” he spoke. “I guess I don’t have any more secret to keep,” he grinned but it was as fast as lightning, the grin disappeared immediately.

She hated the gloomy reunion and tried to steer the atmosphere. “No, you never lied to me,” she pressed her lips into a straight line while working on the next line in her head. “Well, a lie is when you said something that is untrue.”

He looked as if he wanted to say something, but made up his mind to not say anything, giving her the chance to lead the conversation.

“You never tell me you’re a human. If you did, it makes you a liar,” she grinned.

“But I never tell that I’m not a human too,” he said, feeling dejected. She softened to his words, the guy who was now sitting in front of her must struggle a lot in his new world. That explain the lost look he had in his eyes, she found herself sighing while thinking of it.

“Can you read mind?” she asked randomly.

Her question reminded him to Lee Sunmi, who had the ability to read mind. He shook his head, “What do you think? Do I look like I can read yours?”

“You don’t,” she replied. “You would know that we live at different world.”

Her words sent sharp tug to his heart but before he could even starting to feel depress about it, she already ask him another question.

“Why didn’t you run? Aren’t the ritual supposed to scare you?”

Her eyes bore into him and he bravely gazed back.

He suddenly brought to the moment where he heard the loud banging sound that warned him to run. He ran and saw the others ran with him until he saw one of them collapsed to the ground. Trying to ignore it, he suddenly noticed that the others ran passed through her and what intrigued him more was the direction she fell.

She supposed to run away from the house, but she was going at the opposite direction, towards the house. That was when the realisation hit him and the banging sound stopped or was it him that stopped hearing it.

He stood frozen in the middle of the path with the weeping Jooyoung in his sight.

That was when he sensed that someone was coming. Quickly, he covered her with the large leaf and managed to bring her away for himself before that someone’s presence –Jaehwan’s presence – snatched Jooyoung from him.

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A/N; Thank you for the upvotes!!! @jijelkim thank you for loving this story! Continue loving this story! ^-^