I woke up, my breath caught in my lungs; beads of sweat formed on my face and fell down to the bedspread beneath me. My eyes found its way to the window that sets beside my bed; it was scorching hot outside.

I reached out to touch my fingertips on the glass but once in contact, I shuddered. I jerked my fingers away and sat upright on my bed.  I placed my whole palm on the window, hoping that the pain would sting me, hoping that the heat would wake me up, and hoping that what I am seeing isn’t true.

“The glass is covered with frost.”

I snapped my head to the corner of my room—near the foot of my bed— and we stared into each other’s eyes. His gaze attracted me, drawing me closer into his dark chocolate eyes; it stabbed my heart into thousands of pieces, piercing its sharp blades through every muscle in my body, trying to cut its way out of me.

The second he smiled at me, honey slowly dropped inside of me, soothing the pain with its sweet flavor and making me forget the sudden emotion I felt in his eyes.

“Hello. I’m Minseok,” he waved at me with a grin, though his eyes were masked with emotions that I couldn’t feel.

“I’m the guardian you have been reading,” he informed, waving a hand at me. I gave him a weird look as I glimpsed at the book sitting on the floor beside him.

“But they don’t exist,” I whispered harshly at him; I seemed to notice the sudden flinch of his shoulders. I felt a wave of guilt as I saw him looking at me with hurt and pain.

“That’s what everybody says,” he sighed and looked at me. “Then I saw you there every single day and I thought that maybe you go there because you actually believed in me. That maybe you were looking for me.”

I stared at his soft features and stoic stature. He blinked at me and I continued to stare at him. My breath caught up in my lungs as my heart began to lose its beating. I felt my hands become icy cold as the blood in my veins vanished like a shadow in the dark.

“You’re lonely, aren’t you?” I spoke without knowing the danger that might fall before me. He stood up and aimlessly roamed around the room. I was starting to think at how comfortable he looked when he walked around.

His soft-looking and fragile fingers slid through the wall and instantly, the whole wall was covered with white frost and I shivered at the sudden drop of temperature.

“For years, I have been roaming around this country just to find one person who believes in me. For years, people feared me for having something that was weird and inhuman.” A pause. “I thought that maybe if I appeared in front of people and show them who I am, they would like me.” He looked at me; his icy blue eyes greeted me with a sad hello.

“I was slowly vanishing,” he chuckled as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Then I found you,” his raspy and captivating voice squished my mind empty. “I thought you believed in me,” his hands pressed his chest and his eyes looked distant and empty, “I thought that you were waiting for me to appear,”

My eyes widened in fear. I could see through him then I couldn’t. I sat upright and watched him say things that would bring fear and pain into him and me. His fingers grazed the closet beside him; small and spiky ice covered my closet and entirely devoured every inch of it.

“I’m not real,” he blankly said to me; his crooked grin presented on his face.

His figure became translucent then opaque. My feet touched the floor as I pushed myself up, avoiding the dizziness that was entering my heavy body. I heavily walked towards him, trying to keep my balance intact.

“You’re walking out on me, right? You can’t stick with my rants.” His crisp blue eyes gaze at mine; I shuddered. It looked frightening and deadly.

I kept my mouth shut as I approached him. I examined his shaking fists and his stiff upper lip manner; he was in defense mode.

Slowly, crystal-like ice started to skate through the floor and I tried to walk faster, one, two, three steps more.

“Don’t come near me,” he cried as he punched the wall at his left—just a few feet next to the door—and snowflakes hovered above me as I threw my arms around him; my frozen figure stuck on him like glue.

“I be-believe in you,” I stammered, choking the words out from my frostbite-like body. “I believe in you,” I whispered; steam came out from my mouth.

“I do,” then everything went black.            

A hand grazed my hair as I inwardly flinched. It was warm and comforting. I forced my eyes to open as I managed to breathe evenly.

It was blurry when I saw a golden red colored appear in front of me. I blinked the haziness away as I wrapped my hand around my eyes, rubbing them softly.

“Are you okay?” A voice jolted me awake as my vision became clearer.

I had a million of thoughts invading my mind. Why is he here in my own house? Why does he know where I lived? Why is he right here? Why is the guardian I have been reading about real? Why? Why? Why?

“I’m fine,” I assured him by smiling at him. He searched for my eyes as I watched his glassy eyes form a river of tears.

“Why are you crying?” I asked; I forced my body to sit on the bed as I wiped the tears away.

“I almost killed you,” he whispered but I smiled. “I almost killed you too,” I chuckled as I dried my wet fingers on the blanket.

“You were vanishing,” my hand reached for his as I hold onto it; I thought about what to say next then I was remembered by his sudden outburst. “Do you want people to know about you?”

He nodded slowly, a curious look planted on his face. “It’s freakin’ hot in this town. You might want to chill it up?”

A beam on his face ignited as his crooked grin flashed. I slowly stood up; his hand tensed a bit as I relied my balance on it. I showed him a smile as I took a few steps.

“Let’s go?” We went out of my room then to the real world.

He shot his hand up, palms facing the sky and a beam of light blue rays hovered above us as mini cotton balls slowly fell down. I shivered at the drop of temperature but enjoyed the scene before me.

Slowly, a white blanket formed beneath me and I let out a soft chuckle. I looked at golden red boy and he gazed at me with a grin on his face; I couldn’t help but blush a little bit.

I heard a door click open and I shouted the words with excite, “Come out!”. One by one, a house would open its door, peek, and astonishingly look around.

An old lady walked up to me and asked, “Did you do this?”; I shook my head and pointed to the boy beside me.

“Thank you for creating this,” she praised, “It is splendid,” She walked away with a smile on her face.

A glint in my eyes flickered as I called everyone. They all circled around him and I and wore a questioning expression.

“This boy right here is the Guardian of Snow,” I shouted, “He made this happen and you should believe in him so that this will occur again.” I smiled.

“Snow?” A child asked me and I nodded. “Yes, snow.”

Then they scattered, some thanked the boy and some played with the snow.

I faced the boy but was surprised at the length between our faces.

“I’m sorry but I didn’t get your name,” I cleared my throat and he backed away.

“I’m Minseok,” he flashed a grin, “What about yours?”

A wave of guilt slapped me hard on the face. I haven’t said my name for years: I don’t even remember the last time I said my name.

My lips formed a string of foreign words as I twisted my tongue to say it.

“Noh Hyemi…” My lungs malfunctioned for a quick second as I looked at him with eager eyes; I just hoped that sounded right.

The second he said a pair of words, it’s like a boxer punched me right in the lungs and I couldn’t breathe normally. My heart throbbed nervously as my mind floated in cloud nine.

He said my name and I have fallen completely into my own delusions.