Grandma rushed to get to her granddaughter’s room as soon as she heard the scream. Her heart raced as she pushed the door flew opened with her eyes quickly scanning and assessing the situation in the room. Her eyes then fell to Jooyoung who was sitting on the bed.

“What is it Jooyoung?”

Jooyoung flashed an awkward smile as she stared straight ahead at Grandma’s face. She managed small shook on her head, “Th-There’s… There’s a cockroach!”

Grandma narrowed her eyebrows in suspicion, she couldn’t recall of any event where Jooyoung scream over small pesticides or insects. She always claimed that she was huge anyway compare to the small creatures, she didn’t deserve to be afraid of them.

“Cockroach? I don’t know that you’re afraid of cockroaches?”

Jooyoung forced a laugh as she got up from the bed and walked to Grandma. Grandma still had her suspicious eyes watching Jooyoung’s every move. “I’m not scared of them but I was more into… shock by them. A friend crawled on me while I was trying to sleep.”

“For real?” Grandma asked as she entered the room and walked towards the bed. Jooyoung’s eyes rounded as her grandmother became closer to the bed.

“Grandma!” she called.

Grandma ignored her call and pulled Jooyoung’s blanket to check if the cockroach still roaming around the bed. Jooyoung got flustered and tried to stop her grandmother, “Grandma, it’s gone. I saw it running away.”

“No, what if the cockroach brings their other friends? I don’t want them to scare my granddaughter again,” Grandma proceeded to check under the bed where Jooyoung quickly grabbed on Grandma’s arm.

Grandma stopped immediately and looked at Jooyoung, puzzled. Jooyoung’s face showed that she wanted her grandmother to stop checking and returned to bed.

“Grandma, that’s enough. I’m not a five year old kid; I can handle this by myself. Remember? I come here not to put on burden on you?” Jooyoung smiled. Grandma stood up straight against her granddaughter and nodded, “Alright…”

Jooyoung grinned, “Good night once again!” She then pulled Grandma into a hug and planted a kiss on both Grandma’s cheeks. “Good night, Jooyoung,” Grandma pulled a soft smile before she let out few chuckles.

“You almost got me heart attack,” Grandma joked, making Jooyoung felt bad. “Did I? I’m sorry,” Jooyoung sincerely apologised before she sent her back to her bedroom.

Returning back at her bedroom, without seeing around, she ran to check under her bed. Instead of seeing that person under the bed, a voice greeted her from the other side of the room. She shot up quickly from her crouching position to meet eyes with the owner of the voice.

“Can your grandmother really see me?” Hongbin questioned, fear covered his face, making his pale face even paler.

Jooyoung let out several breathy chuckles, “What? Do you think my grandmother is blind? Of course she can see you! Are you out of your mind? What are you doing here? I thought I live in a close-minded village, now why am I in a same room with a guy I don’t even know his name?”

Hongbin stared at the way moved, the way pronounced every words made him paying nil attention to her questions. Jooyoung noticed his stare and she purposely pursed , surprising Hongbin. She laughed with his response.

Hongbin turned fluster, what kind of ghost was he facing right now? He even got attracted to her lips, this didn’t begin so well. He needed to get himself together and acted tough. He shouldn’t let Lee Sunmi’s words leaved his mind.

This girl in front of him might be a manipulative soul… He must be extra careful around her.

“Are you even listening?” Jooyoung raised both her hands in the air. “Look, I’m maybe a girl from an urban city but hey, I don’t open the door to my room so easily! You sneak into my room!”

Hongbin moved closer to her who was sitting at the edge of the bed, he tried the harsh approach as he grabbed her chin once again, repeating the action he did when he kidnapped her away. Jooyoung grabbed the arm that was holding his chin, her heart raced, watching his next move.

His grip on her chin was so rough that she could feel he was trying to crush his chin. “What are you doing?” she spoke desperately, if it was not because of her grandmother mentioning about heart attack, she would scream to her heart content at this time.

He widened his eyes as he tried to scan the whole face of her, using his other hand; he brought his thumbs to rub on her right temple, hoping that the mark would appear. Jooyoung winced in pain, she shut her eyes as he rubbed it roughly, she had no idea what was he attempting.

Failing, Hongbin tried to rub off any covering stuffs on her left temple this time and this time, even rougher. His thumb was cold and he pressed it forcefully, she swore, he was going to disfigure her look if she didn’t stop him. She moved her hands to the arm that was bothering her temple and with her strength; she tried to push his hand away.

Hongbin noticed the tears coming out from her eyes and the image of her injured elbows flashed back across his head. In a split of second, he pulled his hands away from her face, making a wide distance between the two of them. His uncovered eyes scanned her face in horror…

No, he shouldn’t hurt her even more.

Jooyoung held her chin in pain as she looked up to glare at him, “Are you looking for the mark again? It hurts!”

Hongbin’s eyes averted to the bandaged elbows, guilty feeling rushed inside him all of sudden. Jooyoung had it enough; she got up and walked closer to him, maintaining the eye contact. Hongbin stared back at her with fear, could it be that the girl in front of her is a real human being.

“Leave!” Jooyoung ordered sternly. There were red marks on both of her temple, marks that had been left by him. If she was a ghost, she wouldn’t have any mark left by him… “Please leave silently!”

“Lee Hongbin, my name is Lee Hongbin,” he blurted out all of sudden.

Jooyoung’s face that was initially filled with anger was now changed into confused look, “Why all of sudden…” her voice ceased. She hissed in annoyance, “Are you trying to stop from getting mad at you? You didn’t even apologize to me.”

She placed her hands on her hip, “Do you live around here? Where did you go when my grandma came?”

Her sudden change indicated that his tactic worked, and it caught Hongbin in surprise, “I-I’m afraid of your grandmother…”

Tilting her head to the side, she brought her hand to touch his hand; he jerked away, shock with her unpredictable move. Jooyoung gave her a questionable look as she stared deep in his eye. “What’s y-your name?” Hongbin asked, trembling. He didn’t get it since when he could tremble.

“Why are you afraid of my grandma?” she paused and her eyes lighted up. “Ah~ Was it because you hurt me and kidnap me away!”

She chuckled, “No wonder.”

Hongbin could only stare at her, why didn’t she freak out at him. She should know what he was by now. Jooyoung looked away as in thinking before she looked back at him, “Why do you look so pale? And your hand, it feels so cold like corpses.”

His eyes widened as he moved away to the window, getting ready to leave. He better disappeared from there before she screamed for the second time. This was not his world; she was not one of them. He had gone so far, she might be bait and a threat to him, he would never know.

“Wait, are you leaving?” she grabbed on the back of his dark sweater, stopping his chance to escape from the situation. He tried to struggle free from her but she had already blocking the window. “I am not finish with you. Where do you think are you going? I don’t even get to tell you what my name is. Aren’t you curious?”

Hongbin didn’t reply to her question instead he gave her a blank look. Her words kept playing in his head;

“I just moved in a month ago to stay with my grandmother.”

Jooyoung watched him in admiration, “You know what? I guess you’re the first person that will be my friend from this village.”

Confused look flashed across his face as he avoided her gaze, attempting to hide his face. “Believe me, you don’t want to get close with a thing like me…” he spoke gloomily.

His words made the hairs at the back of his neck stood up; she rubbed the back of her neck to get rid of the sudden shivers. What was wrong with this guy in front of her, at one time, he was the badass guy and at one time he could act all so sad as if someone he loved just passed away suddenly.

Could he be… a person that suffers multiple personality sickness or was he just a plain guy with mental sickness? From the way he dressed, he sure looked like he had escaped from castle-look-a-like prison and the way he covered his right eye and the unique tattoo he had, he sure looked like he belong to a group of cult group.

Wait a second, was that the reason he ran away from her grandmother’s sight?

“Are you something like a kid from a,” she paused as she leaned in closer to his ear. “A secret cult group?” she whispered. She lived in a conservative village, there was a possibility that the group existed among the community. She knew she shouldn’t go around and accuse people of being a member of the taboo group but her curiosity had killed many cats before.

Hongbin narrowed his eyebrows, “What?”

She leaned back and shook her head, “Never mind.”

“I never saw you before, did you just moved in too?” she asked. All the rage she had towards him had vanished to the thin air and instead, the rage was replaced with the feeling of inquisitiveness. She became greedy all of sudden; she wanted to know more about him.

He shook his head, “Let me ask you a question… Aren’t you afraid of me?”

His question made her to look him in the eyes, what was this sudden creepy feeling inside her? Was she supposed to get afraid of him and distance herself from him? Was he trying to warn her? Suddenly her grandmother’s story played like a movie in her head.

“Am I supposed to?” she forced a laugh.

“Haven’t you heard any stories from this village…?” he questioned with the dead eye staring down into her soul. He pulled a half smile afterward sending shivers down her spine. “Haven’t your grandmother warn you about anything in this village or ask you strange questions…? Especially after she found you were with me?”

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A/N; This will be going to be a short story, about ten chapters, maybe? So, I hope you guys enjoy~

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