-: II :-
 

“Ah! I’m sorry!” The young man apologized as he startled the girl in front of him. She dropped a large round bamboo tube and it rolled toward his feet.

“No, it’s alright.” She replied and smiled. Her hair was long – it reached her shoulder blades and she was clad in a deep blue hanbok. She looked at him as he inspected the tube. He was dressed simply – in sober colors of white and grey and carried a large bag on his shoulder. His face looked friendly and his hair was messy.

“My apologies, here,” He stood up from where he had been crouching and handed it back to the girl with mild interest. “May I ask what this might be?”

“Oh, yes!” She laughed as she took in his curiosity. “This is a telescope. You can use it to view the moon in close proximity.”

“The moon?” He looked surprised. “However does a contraption like that enable one to see it up close?” She giggled.

“Would you like to take a look?” She stood up from her small stool and gestured for him to sit down and he complied, grasping the bamboo tube delicately.

“Now you hold it up to your eyes and focus on the moon… you must adjust this wheel, to see better.” As she helped him focus, his mouth opened in a gasp and he let out an astonished yelp.

“By dear god! I see it! I see the designs on the moon!”

“It is beautiful isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is.” He was now looking at her with a smile and she felt herself blush.

Aya woke up again, her lungs begging for more oxygen and the back of her shirt drenched. She blinked, trying to focus on the floral print of her bed sheet and as the seconds ticked by, found herself calming down. The clock showed 3:39 AM.

When the sun rose up and Aya walked down the stairs, fully dressed and ready for her first day at University, her parents shot each other a worried glance. The girl looked tired; her face was drawn and tight.

“Aya? Is everything okay? You’ve been looking extremely tired lately.” Her father enquired as he opened the day’s newspaper. “Is anything wrong?” Her mother followed.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Aya laughed lightly, dismissing their worry with a shake of her head. “It’s just probably the bed… it’s been… slightly difficult to sleep.” She tried not to look at either of them and concentrated on eating her breakfast. What she could tell them wasn't very believable anyway. And for fear of being dragged away to the psychiatrist, she kept shut for the time being. She would properly figure this out - she wanted to.

“Oh dear… I’ll have it aired outside today then,” Her mother sounded a bit relieved and Aya let out a sigh. Her parents were sharp – she knew they didn’t really believe her. But they weren’t the kind to pry. She was brought up being taught to ask for help when she needed it and handle everything else she could, on her own.

“Well, I’m off!”

 

As Aya walked through the streets toward her university, she couldn’t stop admiring the landscape and the scenery. This town was beautiful. Rows and rows of cherry trees aligned the roadsides; pavements were speckled with rays of mild sunshine through the overhanging branches that sagged with heavy clusters of flowers; the lake spanned her right as far as she could see; small shops were opening with houses at the back; boys rode on bicycles ahead of her and the sky was as blue as she could imagine with puffs of cirrus clouds. Aya openly enjoyed nature and the small things in life like the drops of dew fresh on leaves early in the morning and the startling green of the blades of grass under her feet. After another 20 minutes, she came face to face with the gates of her University where new students milled around and seniors trapped the newbies with flyers and leaflets. She chuckled at the bustling activity as she somehow pushed through the crowd and escaped into the building. 

Aya was a quintessential example of a normal girl. Making friends was not much of an intimidating task despite the fact that it took her a while to truly warm up and open up to them. Once that had been done though, she was a rather cheerful girl, up for anything and everything, enjoying life in general, and at times extremely philosophical, much to everyone's shock. Within 2 hours she had found herself three friends - Jin, who was in a few of her classes and was everywhere and nowhere at the same time, mingling with various circles of friends; Mari who was a bubbly and outgoing friend who had caught Aya like a fish hooked in a fishing line and declared to be a friend of; and Han who was a quiet guy with soft brown eyes and dyed, blonde hair who didn't say much but was nice.  As the hands on the clock shifted their positions, she collected her books, signed up for the astronomy club and ate her lunch with the others, getting to know them. The day passed by rather quickly and before she knew it, she was sitting in her last class.

“Alright, in our next class we’ll be starting with advanced nuclear fusion for the year. There’s also a project that you students will have to complete at the end of the month – but more details on that later.” The professor rapped on the table and with a wave of his hand, dismissed everyone. Aya got up, gathered her belongings and checked the time, but before she had taken a step forward, she froze in her tracks.

It was the same smell. She turned her head, trying to guess where it was coming from – but just like the last few times, she couldn’t decide. Was it perfume? No, it couldn’t be… she had been alone in her house the previous times she had smelt it. Was it coming from a person? A thing? But I can’t place my finger on where or what I should look for-

Aya’s thoughts were interrupted when a male voice from the classroom door called loudly, “Can those who have signed up for the Astronomy Club gather in the observatory? Thank you!” There was a murmur behind her as a bunch of boys pushed past her in aisle and headed toward the door. As they brushed past her, her heart throbbed.

Aya had no idea why, but there was a pang of longing – her eyes suddenly welled up with tears as they absent mindedly followed the group of boys' exit through the doors and her heart was racing a mile a minute. No sound came from and the only thing she could do was sit back down until she felt alright again.

 

“So, how was your first day?” Her mother chirped from the kitchen balcony as Aya walked through the wooden gates, humming to herself at the immense satisfaction she felt on the sucess of her first day. She noticed her father high up on the cherry tree, pulling off unwanted creepers and parasitic plants as her mother watched him, sipping her freshly made tea. The evening was cool and slightly windy.

“It was okay. I made a few friends and signed up for a club.” She smiled, pulling off her shoes and socks. “They have an observatory with the latest equipment! I’m in the Astronomy club.” She explained and poured herself a cup of tea.

“That’s good,” Her mother’s eyes wrinkled at the corners in a relieved smile. “I think the change of air is doing your father good here – he seems much healthier.” She smiled fondly at her husband who was enthusiastically pulling branches aside. They both watched him for a minute before breaking out into laughter.

That night, after she had completed a few chores and run a few errands, Aya rummaged around in her parent’s cupboard for the house documents as her parents watched TV in the living room.

“Mom! Do we still have the brochures for this house?” She called out.

“On the top shelf on your father’s side of the cupboard… why?” Came the reply.

“Nothing, I just wanted to see them!” She soon found the title deeds and the pamphlets for the house in a thin manila envelope and pulled it out and trudged up the stairs to her room to read it. As she stepped into her cozy attic-turned-room, she thought back to what had happened at the Astronomy Club.

“Aya! You signed up too? I’m so glad!”  Jin jogged up to her and ruffled her hair, much to the girl’s annoyance.

“Hey! Seriously,” She grumbled and Jin laughed. “Were Mari and Han in there too? It was so crowded in here; I didn’t see you or them.” He enquired as they both walked toward the observatory's exit door with the other club members.

“I don’t think so, they joined some other club,” Aya frowned, searching for her phone. “I’ll text them and ask.” Jin walked beside her, his hands shoved into his pockets.

“It’s amazing isn’t it? The observatory, I mean. I heard it’s really top notch.”

“True, I wasn’t expecting something of this size,” She laughed, bubbles of excitement bursting at the pit of her stomach. With an observatory with such advanced resources, she could learn a lot here. Aya loved astronomy and the fact that she didn't own a telescope of her own bothered her. But the existence of this observatory quelled her impatience to get one.

“Agreed. That’s why, despite being in a small town, the University is famous. More so because it offers courses and specialization in fields you wouldn’t normally find elsewhere,” He continued. “Like Herbalism.”

“Herbalism?” She raised her eyebrows, utterly clueless.

“Yeah, it’s the study of …. No, no, the use of… medicinal plants...? Uh... I forgot,” He laughed. “I have a friend who’s enrolled for that course. I don’t know what he sees in it, I randomly sat in one of his classes this morning and I died of boredom.” They both laughed and as they exited the doors, a painting caught Aya’s eye.

“Who’s that?” She wondered aloud as she made her way to a portrait hanging on the wall. It was of a woman, sitting with her hands on top of each other, wearing a beautiful hanbok. Her hair was tied in a beautiful fashion – a few locks tied together at the back while the rest fell around her shoulders freely. She was intelligent – her expression told Aya that. Jin read the words at the bottom of the portrait aloud.

“Kim Se Ryung, 1730 – 1871, founder of this observatory. She lived at Hana-do in this town and contributed tremendously to the field of astronomical research.”

“I live at Hana-do,” Aya breathed.

The girl sifted through the papers, and paused when her fingers pulled out the pamphlet for the house’s sale. She spread it out fully – it was a very large sheet - and her breath hitched and her skin prickled with goosebumps when her gaze fell on a series of pictures of the original owners of the house. The woman in the pictures, standing beside her husband, was indeed Kim Se Ryung – but she looked much younger in these photos.

It was also the same woman in her dreams.