She never understood why that boy – Myungsoo – and herself were defined the living representation of perfect. Any mention of the words Queenka and Kingka made her want to hurl. It was dumb, putting people above others because of their looks. Sometimes, she wished that she weren’t so ‘good looking’, as others said her to be.

She could see her flaws, as exposed as everyone else’s, yet they all seemed to think that she and that other boy were without imperfections, that they were made with no mistakes.

The ringing of the school bell brought her back to reality. She sighed and allowed her head to fall down onto the cool wood of her desk. Her seatmate, Myungsoo raised an eyebrow at her. Ironic how they were seated beside each other, she thought. “You alright?” He asked, voice low.

“Fine.” She muttered. She pushed herself back up to a proper sitting position, staring at the clean sheet of paper lain in front of her. She held her pencil in one hand, the end of it tapping against her cheek.

“Aren’t you going to leave?” Myungsoo asked as he put his things away neatly into his bag. She sighed. “No. I have to write something for English. That teacher of ours is addicted to plots that scream blood.” He pressed his lips into a line before packing her things, and she sighed again.

She didn’t even look up. “What are you doing?”

“I have something to show you. Might inspire you.” He said, unreadable expression taking over his usual blank eyes. She tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at him, but getting up anyway. “Alright then,” She said, taking her bag from his outstretched hand and slinging it over her shoulder. “Let’s see what you got.”

*

They arrived at a dark place past six in the evening. She scrutinized the building as they stepped into it, the cold draft of air coming from inside making her shiver.

Myungsoo led her into a room at the end of to corridor, and she gasped at the contents inside.

All sorts of knives, guns, and other instruments hung on the wall, and before she realized what was going on, the door slammed shut.

“Uh, Myungsoo? What’s going –“ She spun around to find his face very close to hers and she nearly screamed. He grasped her wrists with bruising force, and she struggled against his grip. He pinned her to the wall. “What... are you... doin— hey! Let me go!” She shrieked as shackles clicked, wrapping around her wrists. “Myungsoo!”

“You know about my feelings. Or maybe you don’t.” He said darkly, eyes filled with longing as he stared at her. “I can’t believe this is finally happening.”

Her breathing ragged as she struggled to speak. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” He said, turning away from her, grabbing a book off a shelf. “that I can finally work this spell on you. They say if your one sided love for someone is strong enough, they’ll survive. You’ll survive. I love you. You’ll survive.”

Her eyes now filled with fear, she thrashed against the restriction on her arms. “You have to let me go! If you really love someone, you’d let them go!”

“But that’s not what I want! This spell will make you love me. Love me like I want you to. You want that, right? To love someone? Your smile has always been empty, and when I look into your thoughts you think of love. Won’t this make you happy? Won’t it put meaning behind your smile?”

He turned several pages, and walked a bit away, picking a knife out of the shelf. He was a worker of dark magic, which she never once thought existed. The aura of the room suddenly changed, dropping drastically and she could only watch, fear making her shake. She closed her eyes shut, praying for it all to be a dream.

"You know, Sungmi," Myungsoo murmured as he neared, threat lacing his voice. His eyes darkened as he roughly took hold of her chin. "they say that love is as much of an object as an obsession." She finally realized that this was going to happen one way or another. She wasn't going to wake up from the moment. It wasn't a dream.

"Everyone wants it," He continued, studying her face with a scrutinizing stare, tilting her head from side to side. "everyone seeks it," At this, he roughly dropped his hand and she glared up a him. "but few ever achieve it. Those who do cherish it, become lost in it, and among all, they never, ever forget it.”

He took a deep breath. “Sehnsucht. The inconsolable longing of the heart for we do not know what. But I know what my heart longs. You.”

ran dry, tears glistening. "Oh, what's this? The ice princess is crying? You were nicknamed such, weren’t you? And me as the ice prince. Don’t you see? We must’ve been a match made in heaven.”

“Or hell.” She spat at him, glaring hatefully. "We have more in common than you think, Myungsoo." She continued, trying to put up a stronger front. Her voice broke and it gave her away.

"Please, don't do this." She begged, eyes widening in horror as she took in the sight of the knife shining in the moonlight, the point seeming especially bright as though it were taunting her.

He took a quick glance at the book by his side, studying the patterns and symbols printed onto the page. "This is a long spell, my dear. It's a shame that spells only work when cut into skin."

When Myungsoo first pierced the knife into the skin of her arm, she bit her lip to keep from crying out. She was not going to give him that satisfaction. But he drew the knife even deeper, and she squeezed her eyes shut, tears seeping out of the corners of her eyes.

"Agape." He whispered, the empty boy smiling a twisted smile. The girl was filled with part of him as the magic of the spell coursed into her, and she screamed.

Her body convulsed and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Her body stilled. Myungsoo’s eyes widened, tears immediately flooding his eyes as he realized what happened.

“No... It wasn’t supposed to be like this... No...” He murmured, tears running down his cheeks. “I love her. Why did...” He carefully undid the chains on her arms, catching her body as it fell forward, flopping uselessly.

“I’m so sorry.” He whispered painfully, hugging her body close to his, savoring the warmth that still remained.

He had quite a story to tell now. He loved sad endings, but now that the ending was his to bear, he felt even worse.

*

Two years later

Myungsoo was peeking from behind a wall at a young girl who was still sitting on her chair in class, lost in thought. He smiled. Bittersweet, it was. The boy still felt empty. Some things never ceased to remain the same.

"You seem troubled. May I be of any assistance?" He said as he walked in, and the girl looked up and smiled. "Maybe. I need inspiration for this horror piece I'm supposed to write for Literature."

He smiled warmly at her, and she had no idea that it was fake. It pained him to speak of it, but he swore to Sungmi’s non beating heart that he would make up for what he did somehow. Maybe sharing the horror that still filled his heart for someone’s sake, superficial as the cause may be, could be a start.

"I have a story that might help. Would you like to hear the tale of the girl with the empty smile, and the smile of the empty boy?"

*