Jaehwan sat back after the excruciating pain jolted throughout his body. He opened his eyes to see Hongbin had left him. Bringing his hand to his forehead, he wiped away the beads of cold perspiration. He then tried to sense the unusual cold but he only felt nothing unusual.

He lifted his chin to check on the nearest trees but he saw no one. He saw nothing and that set his heart to an ease but the things that he just seen and felt was starting to bug him.

He believed it all started after he almost lost his life to the lake that remained quiet and calm in front of his eyes.

Yes.

It was a curse.

He had the ability to see the dead.

It was no gift.

And no one knew about this ability of him, not even his family. Even in the young age, he knew how conservative the village was. His first experience was seeing his grandmother after the news of her passed away reached to his house.

His family went to his grandmother’s house for the funeral. He saw it, the icy cold body of his grandmother lying motionlessly in the coffin but he was confused to see his grandmother in her bedroom as well. The only difference he could spot was that the grandmother he saw in the bedroom was that she had kind of painting on her left temple when his real grandmother had none.

He never approached the grandmother in the bedroom closely though… Because she looked unreal. He never wanted to tell his family about the bedroom’s grandmother to avoid them feeling sad. He remembered how loud her mother sobbed when they came to the house; the sight made his heart ached.

When the 14th day came, it was the first time he joined the ritual. Since it was his grandmother who passed away and his mother thought that he was old enough to endure the noise, his mother thought he should give it a try.

But his mother forgot to tell her the concept of the ritual. She just gave the instruction on how the ritual was done.

Since his mother was busy preparing, he decided to gather with the boys around his age so that he could fool around but the nature call arrived regardless time and place. Quickly, he moved to the toilet in the house but it was unavailable. The house only had one toilet in the house and another one, outside of the house.

Couldn’t hold it any longer, he dashed to outside without anyone knowing and ran for the outside toilet. Fortunately, it was empty and he did his deed but the time he opened the door to get back into the house, there was a sound of loud explosion.

He was totally shock and his eyes darted to the house. The windows were pitching black. There were no lights at all and the sun had set. There was noise of people as if they were scaring something away and the sound of plastic bottle hitting everything that could be reached in the house.

Standing still, he could hear his own heartbeat and his knees went weak when his eyes caught a running figure out of the front door. He noticed that the figure had the same hair as his grandmother. He tailed her with his eyes until she reached to the lane.

That was when he saw a crowd of people running together. His grandmother joined the parade and his eyes fixed the group of unknown people. He kept staring at them until they left the lane to nowhere. The sound from the house had died down and he spent no time but to run back into the house, with his lips locked tight.

That was why he was scared to death after seeing Jooyoung running down the pathway that day. He knew what was going on and he was terrified that she would be collided by the flock of the escaping souls.

His ability also the reason he approached her in the first place. He wasn’t lying when he said he first met her at late Uncle Yoon’s house but he never thought he would approach her the next day. He did it after seeing a figure at the end of the alley keeping eyes closely to her.

Even though he couldn’t see the mark on him but he could tell that figure was no human from the zero reaction people around him gave. Some even passed through him, unknowingly.

That piqued his interest that he befriended her due to his curiosity. He wanted to find out what made the figure tailed her.

It surprised him after Jooyoung told him that she could see the spirit. So, it was not only him that could see them in the village, he almost celebrating it but that would only make things awkward. Her story didn’t only stop there, she even added that she could hear and… touch them.

He couldn’t touch them.

That was a proof, when Hongbin hand passed through his shoulder.

He hated it when the spirits trying to touch him or accidentally touch him because they unconsciously passed their pain and memory towards him. That explained the sudden reaction from Hongbin’s touch. Hongbin was sending his pain and memory towards him.

He had to make up words to avoid suspicion because of his attempt daringly looked Hongbin in the eyes. Fortunately, Hongbin believed it and disappeared afterwards.

He laid down with his hands behind his head and recalled the moment Hongbin placed his hand through him. He wasn’t expecting he would shove his hand to him without warning and there he went crazy from the brief connection.

His heart ached from the brief introduction to Hongbin’s life…

The poor guy had lived his life without receiving much love.

---

A week passed and Hongbin hadn’t shown up in front of her or anywhere he could be found. That made Jooyoung wondered if she had lost the ability to see him. The thoughts managed to break her heart apart for a second but shook her head, trying to see the glass, half filled.

She wanted to stay positive even if she began to lost hope as each day arrived without seeing him.

Hongbin could have his own reason for not approaching her the week. Perhaps he was staying away from her to avoid getting her into trouble once again but she hadn’t actually mind. The trouble she had actually gave colours to her life.

At least, she thought it was fun living in the village.

She sighed as her eyes dropped on the makeup tools that were sprawled on top of the dresser’s table. There was a sketchbook, stood against the bottom of the mirror. The sketchbook was opened to a page of beautiful abstract of what looked like an exploding firework.

Taking a deep breath, she averted her eyes to the mirror, seeing her reflection staring back at her. Her hand reached on a strand of front hair and tucked it neatly behind her ear. Reaching for a bobby pin, she then pushed the bobby pin on the hair near her temple, so that her right temple was clearly visible.

Another sigh escaped from her as she observed the drawing on the sketchbook. The drawing then brought her to another day spent with Hongbin. She remembered how she asked him to stay still so that she could make a portrait of him. He wasn’t cooperating at first but after several pleas, he gave up.

She was not really good at drawing but she believed she could at least make something that would remind her of him. He wouldn’t stay in the village forever and so was she. She had no camera to take a picture of him but even if she had one, the camera wouldn’t be able to take his picture.

Hongbin frowned when he found out that she wasn’t drawing a picture of him, but the mark he had. He had the mark exposed, following her demand. He wished he could get rid of it but she admired the mark so much, it made his heart ache.

“This is the only thing I can copy. I am bad at drawing face.”

Hongbin only gave him a bitter smile and covered the mark quickly with his bang.

Jooyoung forced a smile as she looked at herself on the mirror. There was a thin brush in her hand and she moved her face closely to the mirror to see the work of art she just made on her temple. Even though it wasn’t looking completely like the original, but she was satisfied with it.

Placing down the brush, she stared at the combination of blue and purple vine look a-like art and the glitter she added for effect. It looked beautiful on her. Hongbin’s mark looked more beautiful than hers and there was a texture on it. She remembered it when she ran her fingers on it.

She pulled the bobby pin away and placed down her hair to cover the art. She then busied herself with cleaning her makeup stuff and closed the sketchbook, making sure that she put it on somewhere safe.

Walking to the window to close it since the dark had crept in; her hand froze on the handle of the window when her eyes caught a familiar figure leaning against the wall, outside of her bedroom.

“Hongbin?” she called, genuinely surprise.

Hongbin head turned to the voice calling him. His eyes caught hers, and also the mark on her temple. His eyes widened in horror and ran to her immediately. She stood still as his fingers caught on her chin in a split of second.

“Wh-What-Where…” he stuttered, wasn’t able to utter proper words.

His icy fingers felt as if it would pierce into her chin bone and crushed it into pieces. His eyes were wide, scanning on the work of art she just made. There was an unreadable look in his eyes and she looked at his face, feeling butterflies in her tummy.

She realised that she had missed this guy in front of him.

He then brought up his free hand to reach for it to smear it off but the mark remained intact. He began to look confused but his eyes remained fixed on the mark. She watched as his face undergone various unreadable expression.

His action brought her back to the first day they met each other. She wondered what if he found the mark he was looking for on her. That day probably the first and the last day the both of them seeing each other. And this day would never come.

Her eyes slowly b with tears as her eyes remained fixed on his face. The tears were not from the painful grip of his fingers and not from the sudden twist in his personality but the sudden fear of not seeing him again.

Why did she sense of separation was coming?

He noticed the tears and gradually loosened his grip and took his hand away. Looking away instantly, he felt a sudden regret in his heart. He came not to give her more trouble and looked where he had his hand on. He was hurting her again.

“Lee Hongbin,” she called, her voice trembled.

He was not responding as he still look away, feeling embarrass, worthless, and deserve another punishment.

“Lee Hongbin,” she called him again but he still stuck in his position stubbornly.

She pulled a sad smile as she wiped her eyes to stop them from falling. She realised she cried a lot lately and lost her tough personality.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked, knowing that he was listening even though he looked like he wasn’t paying her any attention. “I made it myself. Beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked again, persistent. A drop of tear rolled down her face, she could felt it skidded down her cheek.

“It may not look like yours, but don’t worry. I love yours better,” she said bitterly. “Lee Hongbin, do you hear me?”

He was still not responding but she could see he was hurting in the inside.

“I know. I just shock you. It wasn’t my intention. I just want to see how it’ll look like if I had in on my skin.”

“Believe me, you don’t want to own that mark,” he responded coldly. He suddenly disappeared in front of her eyes and she gasped at the sudden leaving but not long. He suddenly appeared in the room and pulled her away from the window and closed the window.

Sitting her on the bed and him on the dresser’s chair, he was sitting with his elbows both on his thighs. She waited for him to say something as she tried to calm her heart down. She could sense that he had a lot bottled inside of him, only waiting time to explode.

“Lee Hongbin?” she called after seeing how long he remained in the position.

He then straightened in his seat and looked at her. Their eyes connected and she saw fears, pains and longing mixed into one. The sight sent a sharp tug to her heart. “What happened? I don’t see you often these past few days.”

He pressed his lips into thin line, causing his dimples to show up. He was taking a time to say something but his eyes never left her. To her, she might feel she had stop seeing him around her but he was always there without her knowing.

He always visited her when she was in her deep slumber.

He hadn’t the courage to see her in her conscious state, feared that he became too attached to her. He wanted to stop craving for her touch and her warmth.

At least, when she was in her sleep, he could only stare at her without doing anything to her, to avoid her from waking up and frightening her.

“Jaehwan had come to me…” he paused. This wasn’t something he wanted to say but it just slipped from his tongue. “And he had made apology… Tell him I’m sorry. It’s nothing like he do anything wrong to me.”

Jooyoung looked stun but remained composed in her seat.

He was about to say something again but he stopped as a pang of pain flashed across his face. “Are you okay?” she asked in concern.

He nodded as he shielded his face from her, at the same time breaking the eye contact. He uncovered his face and landed his gaze on the floor. “I saw the light…”

Her breath stopped as she stared at him in a frozen state. He looked up to her and said it once again, to make sure that she was hearing the right thing. “I saw the light, Jooyoung. I saw the light…”

He then made small nods and forced a bitter smile. “I finally saw the light…”

“So… that’s mean…” she forced a smile, trying to look happy in front of him but the tears had begun to blur her vision. “…You’re leaving?”

He nodded as a response as he observed her facial expression. She was smiling, she would be okay right?

“But how… Have you regain your–”

“No,” he interrupted. “I guess the past is not relevant for me anymore. Perhaps I lived a hateful life that I shouldn’t recall any of them.”

She nodded as she couldn’t control the tears anymore. The tears poured down her cheeks endlessly as she blinked to regain a clear sight. She didn’t want to stop looking at his face. She must remembered every featured of his face, every lines and every facial expression. She wouldn’t see him anymore.

“Aren’t you happy to hear it?” he asked, somehow hoping that she would say ‘no’.

She nodded, “I’m so happy to hear it. You’re finally being able to leave.”

His smile remained on his face as he heard the words from her. She was the last person he wanted to see before he left. His eyes scanned the features on her face, starting from the mark she created down to her lips, that was forced into a smile.

“I believe you can take care of yourself,” he spoke and his words made her tears to form even more.

“Don’t make it sound like I don’t know how to take care of myself,” she playfully scoffed, making his smile even wider.

“Before I leave…” his expression turned grim all of sudden.

She wiped her eyes and peered at him, expectantly.

“Can you answer my last question?”

She inhaled painfully as she felt the lump in . “What is it…?” She croaked, couldn’t control her feelings anymore.

He pulled out the painful smile once again on his face as he saw her messy face.

“Is this foreign feeling I keep getting inside me… every time I see you… is what you call ‘love’…?”

She stared at him for a moment before bursting into a big cry. She then threw herself to him without warning. His arm went opened instinctively as she wrapped his neck with her arms. She had her cry muffled on his shoulder and he felt her tears wetting his sweater. Wrapping his hand around her, he found himself patting her on her back as he felt the warmth spread towards him and her shaking body from the uncontrollable cry.

Jooyoung was lost in words.

She hadn’t known how to answer.

She didn’t even have the answer but she knew one answer to his three words.

“I love you, Shin Jooyoung,” he said as he tightened his embrace.

“Me too. I love you too, Lee Hongbin.”

And that was when bright light emitted from him and she let go of him immediately. The tears had stopped as soon as she stared at the blinding light and shielded her eyes from it.

After few minutes, she opened her eyes and darted her eyes to the last place he was sitting… only to see an empty spot.

He had gone…

He had gone for real.

Goodbye, Lee Hongbin…

Meanwhile, under the oak tree, Lee Sunmi shut her eyes in pain as she sensed another soul parted away. Saying farewell to Lee Hongbin silently, she was glad that he found what he wanted.

Lee Sunmi had known his past but she wasn’t allowed to share it to them, not even their name. But Lee Sunmi saw a very painful past from Hongbin, that she broke the rule and told him his real name and lied to him the reason she chose the name.

Her role was only to guide any soul that needed help, and Hongbin was fortunate to found her.

---

Lee Hongbin found himself in the narrow path once again, and the luminous light at the end of the path. He heard his name was being called again and he got up to see the face of the advancing silhouette.

“Lee Hongbin,” called the voice and emerge the face of someone he knew from his heart. The face smiled to him, “Come, Lee Hongbin.”

He smiled in tears as he ran towards the extended hand, happy to see that he could recognise someone from his past life, his grandmother…

---

Jooyoung had decided to go back to the city, to pursue knowledge. After Hongbin had left, she and Jaehwan became close once again and Jaehwan told that he wanted to continue studying in the city.

She was glad to hear that but he was applying at a different city, so she wouldn’t be able to see him again but Jaehwan promised to keep in contact. He would write her an email or if she loved the classic way, he would write her a letter.

She thought she could dig into the real live Lee Hongbin but there was nothing on the village she could started her research. Jaehwan wasn’t familiar with the name, same went to his friends. She even asked her grandmother about it but she remained clueless, claiming that she never heard such a name.

Settling in front of the laptop, she opened her email to see an email from Jaehwan. A smile spread on her face at the writing of his name. She intended to write him an email that she had enrolled in one of the universities in the city she lived, but since her house was far away from the university, she requested a dorm.

And here she was, sitting in her down, waiting for her roommate to come in.

Remember Lee Jaehwan? The handsome guy from the village?

She chuckled to read the first sentences. Jaehwan never failed to make her laugh, even when they were physically separated.

I found a low-cost room to rent and even though it is small, it’s comfortable and feels like home. The girl that rent two rooms away from me looks like a celebrity! She had a pink hair and milky white skin.

Her eyes read every update of his life until he mentioned about Lee Hongbin… Her eyes froze on the name. The painful feeling rushed inside her as the last memory she had with him flashed back in her head.

It was unfair to her that God decided to tear him away from her just like that after how He made her to be able to see, hear and touch him. Even though he left in a sad way, she never hated him.

She always had him in his heart and she was now learning to draw. So that one day, he would be able to draw out his face, and not letting him forgotten in her memory.

Meanwhile on the other part of the country, Jaehwan stared at the ceiling above him as he recalled the brief memory of Lee Hongbin. He was aware that Lee Hongbin had lost his memory, and he was relieved that Hongbin lost it anyway.

Hongbin lived with his grandmother since he was born. His mother never accepted the fact that he gave birth to Hongbin and at the same time lost her husband that she went insane. Hongbin thought he would forever live with his grandmother but he lost her when he was only seven.

He hadn’t any close relatives and some even didn’t know if he ever existed. He ended up in the foster care and it wasn’t a pleasant foster care. The owner neglected the children and let them starve. He had escaped few times to be put in another hell.

He grew up, receiving no love.

As he reached a consent age, he found himself a small job and fell in love at a first sight at the daughter of the restaurant owner where he worked. He felt alive once again every time he could lay his eyes on her.

The daughter realised that Hongbin had been keeping eyes on him and she decided to play along. Hongbin fell in her trap until he was heartbroken to hear that she was putting on a bet with her friends on their relationship.

She had never loved him at all from the start, and he was the only one in love.

Frustrated, he stopped working and found himself in the village where Jaehwan and Jooyoung’s grandmother lived. He supposed to go the next village but since the cab had left him there, he decided to stay in the village.

As he walked aimlessly, he found himself on top of a steep areas and that was when the rock under his feet break, bringing him down with it.

A fresh tear streaked down Jooyoung’s face.

Love was all he needed… Why was it so hard for human to give love to each other?

She was glad that he would be able to feel love once again before he left.

She had lost faith in humanity all of sudden and heard someone was entering the room. Quickly, she closed her laptop and wiped her face to meet her roommate. She was about to open to greet her, but her tongue turned numb as soon as her gaze landed on the familiar tattoo on her temple.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N; Thank you for reading ‘Just Give Me a Reason’. Every comment, subscription and the upvote are appreciated. Thank you so much!

I’m happy that I finally be able to finish this story after months of abandonment. Seriously, this story writes on its own. I had it plan every chapter but there was always new twist of plan, which in end makes the title sounds irrelevant to the story.

And some of the events in this story are inspried on true stories, of mine.

Nope. I don’t see the dead.

But anyhow, once again, THANK YOU SO MUCH. ^-^