= Chapter I =

 Furtunate Meowting

"Emotional earthquake, bring on disaster"

“If you keep eating like that you will become bigger than Molang!” Seoyeon told her friend disapprovingly, picking up her hair in a ponytail.

It was the spring of their 16’s birthday and Seoyeon and Hyejin walked back from school together.

The latter was busy eating bread and ignoring Seoyeon’s warning, dragging her feet on the road.

“That’s no way for a lady to eat!” Seoyeon said pushing her friend. She was the typical girl with black long straight hair and no feature that made her shine in the middle of the others but Hyejin had beautiful brown hair that féll on her shoulders and greenish brown eyes. If she was less focused on eating and more focused on being pretty she could be dating already.

“I’m hungry!” Hyejin answered almost letting her bread fall “and this is delicious!”

“You will have dinner soon!”

“By the way!” Hyejin swallowed the bread “My mother has a new guy! Meat guy!”

Seoyeon laughed. It was very common for Hyejin to rename her mother’s boyfriends. Sadly there were too many to count now. Ever since her father left them it was as if her mother didn’t know how to be alone. Apparently that didn’t affect Hyejin. Apparently, because Seoyeon knew her better.

“How is this one?”

“He is ok. He works at the meat store. We get free meat!”

“Food is not everything you know?! I wonder how you can be so thin with everything you eat.” That was something that made her friend jealous. Seoyeon was able to put on weight very easily.

“OH!” Seoyeon grabbed Hyejin and she struggled with the bread almost letting it fall again. The first one pulled her friend behind a tree.

The two girls peeked from behind the trunk at the two handsome boys wearing matching school uniforms with theirs.

“Isn’t that…?” Hyejin tried to ask.

“Yes! David the most beautiful man on Earth!”

Hyejin peeked again. David was an American boy that was studying at their school and he had as much of handsome as he had of rudeness.

The most handsome man on Earth was with another of their classmates bullying another kid.

Hyejin saw him before. He didn’t go to school with her and often wandered the streets as if he was a stray dog.

“Look at how scared he is!” David laughed pushing the poor skinny boy. “Are you a man or a dog?”

“He does seem like a dog to me!” The other one said.

Seoyeon gasped just when Hyejin walked in their direction eating her bread.

“Is there a problem here?”

David turned to her and his attitude changed immediately when he noticed that Seoyeon was also with her.

“No ladies, we were just talking.”

Of course he needed to keep his good boy reputation.

“It looked more like you were bullying him!” Hyejin said cleaning the skinny boy's clothes that were ripped on his arms. What the hell was he doing? In a fight? He truly looked like an animal more than a person.

Seoyeon pushed Hyejin away “She is just joking. Of course you wouldn’t be hurting this poor…” Her fake smile faded when she looked at the boy her age with dirty clothes that looked back at her expressionless “Poor boy.”

“Of course not!” David said charmingly “Do you want us to accompany you home?”

Seoyeon was all smiles accepting the offer and she walked with them leaving Hyejin behind with the dog like boy.

“Here!” She gave the boy her bread and he grabbed it with trembling hands. “If those guys try to be mean to you again just kick them. They are pretty weak even though they don’t seem like it. You can bit them too!”

“Hyejin come on!” Seoyeon called.

She followed after her friend while the boy looked at the bread half eaten she gave him.

At the time Hyejin still believed that you should always be true to yourself, not hiding your true personality and be someone else to achieve something.

Back then she became a hero for that boy sealing part of her fate.

Present Day

Hyejin the light of her apartment and threw her heels off from her feet before she stumbled inside it, crashing against the small closet she had in the living room.

“I’M HOME!” She screamed to the walls knowing well no one would answer.

“You live alone Hyejin!” Jiwoo, her coworker, younger than her by two years said eyeing the mess that her sunbae's  room looked with dirty dishware and clothes everywhere.

“I just do it for effect!” Hyejin let herself fall on the bed of her small bedroom and Jiwoo placed her sunbae's bag over the bed.

“I need to go now. I told my boyfriend I would call once I arrive home and he must be worried.”

Hyejin grabbed Jiwoo skirt and raised her pleading eyes to her “Stay with me please!”

“I-I can’t…I need to go home!”

Hyejin released a cry but let her dongsaeng go.

It was ok. She was used to being alone already. She didn’t mind it. After a time you get used to it, you start finding pleasure in the small things you can’t appreciate when you live in a house filled with people. Besides she was tired of living with her mother and her recent boyfriend.

It was definitely better to live alone with her things. Hyejin didn’t need anyone. She only needed good food, good soju and a bed.

“Should I turn off the light?” Jiwoo asked from the door.

“NO! Hell no!”

Her dongsaeng left and soon the door of her apartment was closed and Hyejin was all alone again.

She didn’t move for a while and then stretched her arm on her bed grabbing the small notebook she had over her bedside table. She struggled to open it and raise her head and stared at the picture inside it with drunk eyes.

Choi Minho.

He worked with her.  He was the Manager at the old and important and yet small Hibiscus Syriacus Palace she worked at.

 Hyejin was a simple guide of the palace, used to guide the group of tourists they got every day, using her skills in Japanese, English and Portuguese to introduce the palace's wonders to them.

She barely had the opportunity to talk with Choi Minho that was in charge of supervising everything that happened inside the palace, including her work.

She rolled on the bed admiring his beauty on the photograph that she took of him in secret.

Minho was perfect!

He was tall with dark hair, small face and big beautiful dark eyes. He was good at sports, a good body - she knew he went to the gym everyday – he was smart and hardworking. He also was sweet to the little kids that sometimes visited the palace. He was loved by everyone. He was absolutely perfect.

Hyejin didn’t believe in princes which was funny since she spent her days talking about them but she believed that if South Korea had a prince then Choi Minho was it.

Hyejin kissed the photograph and placed it inside her notebook again closing it.

Maybe someday Minho would look at her differently and turn her into a princess.

Soon she fell asleep, her snoring filling the bedroom. 

The big white cat with grayish stripes and gold like eyes sat at the door of the chicken restaurant sniffing the air.

Chicken.

He loved chicken, especially when it was fried, crunchy and spicy. It was probably one of the only things he didn’t mind to eat well cooked. He liked his beef almost bloody.

The cat his lips almost drooling with the image inside his brain.

A young lady came out from the store carrying a plastic bag and stopped in front of the cat.

“Aren’t you the cutest thing?!”

As a cue the white cat moved his tail in an enchanting dance as if he was a dog. His stomach growled loudly and the lady laughed since it was the first time she saw a cat do that.

“You are hungry right?”

The cat stood up and tilted his head just like a dog as if he knew what the lady was saying and she giggled opening her bag and taking out a piece of chicken.

“Here, a gift for you.”

The cat looked at her thankful and the lady placed the chicken in the ground in front of him.

The ground was dirty and the cat frowned slightly his whiskers moving unappreciable, but he was hungry so…

The lady crouched watching the cat eat and she released a faint sound when the white ball of fur raised his eyes to her.

The once gold brown eyes were blue now.

“How did you do that?” She asked receiving no answer from the cat that kept eating as if he hasn't eaten in days.

The lady caressed the cat's head and walked away.

The cat glanced at her while he chewed and then resumed his meal just when the owner of the restaurant showed up with a broom and spooked him away.

“STUPID CATS!”

The white stripped cat ran and hid below a car watching the man enter the restaurant after he collected the rest of his meal.

Damn…he barely ate, also he wasn’t stupid. He was probably way smarter than that man.

His stomach growl again and the cat decided to hide for the day and sleep a little.

He ran all the way back, climbed over a tree using his claws and them jumped from the tree branch to the big wall that enclosed the Hibiscus Palace.

Like always the cat fall on his feet and graciously walked inside the gardens on its way to the building he liked to call his bedroom.

An old man dressed with a green jumpsuit was collecting some of his gardening tools. He looked at the cat noticing his blue glowing eyes that were slowly becoming gold again but didn’t say anything.

“So you are back…” The man mumbled to himself amused.

s

Hyejin was late.

That was not admissible although it happened too many times to count. She barely had time to change into her guide clothes, which consisted of the same blue skirt and coat with a white shirt underneath. Sometimes at special occasions they would dress up in hanboks which was a pain in the to work around with.

She ran through the park because it was faster that way and she needed to enter the main building at the entrance in less than 2 minutes.

Hyejin opened her purse trying not to trip in her heels and took out her makeup pouch. She needed to do her makeup that she didn’t finish inside the bus.

She struggled with a mirror in one hand and the mascara in the other while she applied it to her eyelashes.  It was a hard task to do while walking so she stopped in the middle of the bushes applying it correctly.

She was so focused on it that she didn’t notice the pair of small ears that popped out from the middle of the bush on her right.

The white grey striped cat yawned and tilted his head watching her with his gold brown eyes.

“Damn it…” She cursed placing the mascara inside the pouch and rummaged through it searching for the right lipstick. “Where the hell is it…where….argh!”

The cat smiled because that lady was funny and he lied down peeking from below the bushes watching her curiously. She let her bag fall to the ground and several objects spread all over it.

“OH !”

Her cursing made the cat flinch but he didn’t move from his place watching the scene.

She bended over grabbing her bag and the cat widened its eyes since he could see her red . He covered his eyes with one of his paws and yet one of his eyes remained uncovered and able to see.

She crouched then grabbing everything and throwing it inside her bag. “Damn it…why did I drink so much yesterday…argh…damn you soju…delicious soju…”

She stopped talking once she noticed the cat and the way he was still covering one of his eyes although it was not necessary anymore.

It was a weird action for a cat and the animal seemed to remember that fact since he took his paw away and it instead in a very cat like way.

Hyejin closed her bag still eyeing the cat “You are cute.” She mumbled opening her bag again and taking a small package with bread from inside it. “I was going to eat it later but I really should watch my weight.” She ripped the package and placed it in front of the cat. “Here. Don’t tell anyone I fed you. No cats are allowed inside the palace.“ She positioned her finger in front of her lips and then stood up placing her bag on her shoulder so she could open the pouch again to finish her makeup.

The cat didn’t move, watching her, how she smiled when she found her lipstick and applied it on her pouty full lips, the soft breeze making her brown hair  sway.

She was beautiful, like a character out of a Korean manga, a princess from another time and somehow familiar to him.

Hyejin finished and was going to run when she froze completely her eyes on something.

The cat followed her gaze and it fell on a tall man with prince like features. If the cat didn’t know better he would have thought he was inside a drama for sure.

The prince smiled widely when he saw Hyejin and walked in her direction making all of her posture change.

The cat tilted his head wondering who that new woman in front of him was. She looked like the same klutz that cursed and was nice to him but something else felt different.

“Minho-ssi…” Her voice was ten times sweeter now “I-I’m sorry I am late!”

Was she buttering up the man? Was he her boss? The cat remembered seeing him before but he never cared much.

“I-I...My friend drank a lot last night and I had to accompany her home.” It sounded like a lie though.

“You are always an amazing person. Such a big heart.” He said gently and Hyejin giggled shyly which made the cat very confused.

“Oh you look beautiful this morning, although you do look beautiful every morning.”

She blushed slightly with the man's comment. “Thank you.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear “I did my best. “

He bowed to her saying he would see her later and she watched him walk away with a silly smile on her face.

Oh she wasn’t buttering up to him. She had a big damn crush on him. Hyejin sighed in love and the cat scratched his ear thinking.

Love.

He could never understand that human emotion. Yes he was the type to fall in love with everything and everyone and yet he was also able to fall out of love as quickly as it happened. There was only one thing that he couldn’t stop loving – food…most specifically chicken.

But sometimes he wondered. Maybe love was more than what he felt for chicken, maybe sometimes hugging someone you loved was like finding a warm place to sleep, finding home…

Hyejin shook her head becoming herself again in the cat's eyes and then walked away completely forgetting about the animal's existence.

Jinki, the cat, grabbed the bread with his mouth and disappeared in the middle of the bushes.

Jinki was hungry and he was out to eat.

Like the reader probably realized he wasn’t the typical cat. Actually he wasn’t even a cat. He belonged to the Tiger clan, a family of the gods. He was actually one of the heirs and he would probably be the king if he wasn’t born white.

Siberian Tigers couldn’t be white. In centuries since the beginning of time there wasn’t a tale about any white tiger in the family. Jinki was apparently the first one and therefore many saw him as a curse, as a bad sign that the Gods above were upset with the Gods on Earth.

His parents grieved for years and his father, the one in charge of the clan - you can almost call him the king (Jinki liked to do that) – always tried to ignore the fact that Jinki wasn’t a tiger like the others. However once Taemin, his younger brother was born, a beautiful cub with orange fur and dark stripes, everything fell into place. There was already another one that could be the chief of the clan. Jinki wasn’t needed anymore so he felt the need to search for another purpose on his life.

Being different was something that human kind wanted very much to achieve in their daily life. However for Jinki it was something he always wanted to hide from everyone.

He stopped turning into a tiger, hiding his beautiful white fur and dark stripes from the others and instead he started using his smaller weak form as a cat to walk around among humans. He decided to do part time jobs, used some of the money his parents gave him and he went to college. In his free time he did some charity work, mostly cos it gave him free food but not only because of that.

As a descendent of a God, a magical creature, Jinki believed that his role in the world was to help others. At least it should have been if he wasn’t a white furry weirdo.

He rarely visited his clan now. He lived among humans, watching them, learning more about them, trying to be like them. He was a cat most of the time and when he wasn’t he spent his time having fun, seducing women – which came easy to him with his beautiful smile and appearance  – or playing games at the arcade. He was almost 30 and yet he just wanted to have fun.

That night he needed food.

A normal human would go out to buy some groceries or eat at a restaurant but Jinki rarely did that. His hunger wasn’t like normal humans. Yes he loved the normal food but his godly side needed another kind of energy, the one that only humans can give – emotions.

That’s why sometimes seducing women was a type of hunting to him.

Another type was fear. No wonder many Earth Gods spent their time scaring the hell out of humans. Fear was absolutely delicious, a bit bitter like coffee but very addictive.

Jinki wasn’t a bad guy/animal.  He needed to eat and he refused to kill; and there was no better place to scare people than old buildings that were supposedly haunted.

That’s why now he lived at the palace most of the time.  Also he liked that it was close to the chicken restaurant he loved and also it had a beautiful garden with a lot of grass for him to sleep under the sun…as a cat.

Another thing that was very delicious, probably the major source of energy to any God was human fluids. He could drink tears, sweat (which he avoided because absolutely disgusting), ual fluids (yes…even that) and blood. Blood….blood was delicious. Nutritious and comforting like a piece of chocolate.

Jinki his lips and walked in the middle of the bushes in the dark his eyes fixed on the woman that was closing the ticket office.

He knew her. She believed in the silly stories about the palace being haunted.

Jinki approached her sniffing the air.

The woman turned around and placed the key inside her bag absentminded walking to her car parked in front.

Jinki jumped skillfully and followed after her in the shadows like a predator following his victim.

He needed energy. Lately he was getting lazy eating too much human food and he needed more.

Blood…ooooh he missed the taste of blood so much.

Jinki moved his tongue on his cat black lips and walked closer to the woman following her steps.

She turned around and he quickly hid under her car passing to the driver’s side.

The woman gulped scared watching her surroundings but only the wind on the trees could be heard and there was nothing for her to see.

Jinki could smell it, he could taste it already.

Fear.

He closed his eyes, his body absorbing the invisible energy. More…he needed more. He needed to make her heart beat faster, the delicious blood pump in her veins.

Jinki opened his mouth showing his teeth trying to contain his desire to bit that woman and drink her blood but he wasn’t going to act like a stupid blood er. Vampires were selfish idiots.

Instead Jinki lay down under the car waiting.

The woman opened the door of her car but before she could enter Jinki jumped on her, releasing a deep unhuman howl and quickly run to hide in the middle of the trees.

The woman released a cry of fear and looked around her, her heart beating faster before she entered the car and closed the door.

Jinki watched her, his gold brown eyes turning into blue, a smile of victory on his cat face.

Yes. That was it. That jump scare, the hot blood pumping quickly, the heart beating fast and the panic of the woman trying to run away quickly because she had no idea of what just happened…

Humans were easy to scare. The unknown, things that were strange or that they couldn’t explain scared the hell out of them.

Jinki yawned, feeling the new acquired energy running through his body.

He didn’t feel proud. Not at all. That wasn’t the kind of hunting he liked. He preferred other kind of emotions, like happiness when he did something really good, but for now that had to do.

He rubbed his ear against the tree truck. He needed a human bath desperately. Jinki hated to himself.

That was disgusting!

Jinki entered the old room and sat in the middle of it. It was a small storage room once but was being decorated to be the office of the supervisor of the tourism guides.  The previous day Jinki slept under the window of Choi Minho's office – the man was kinda boring – and he heard the meeting he had with one of those tourist big heads that came to visit.

Jinki knew that soon, his improvised room inside the palace was going to belong to one of the guides. Somehow he wished it belonged to the cute weird woman he met early. He grinned remembering how she let her purse fall and how he could see her . He was privileged, it wasn’t as if he was peeking on girls but it was surprising how many women would get in front of cats…or kiss cats that is. Jinki's ert grin faded with the memory of the way the girl looked at Minho after he walked away. She truly looked like a heroin of a dramatic fairytale. A one side love…how sad.

Jinki yawned. Being a cat was tiring and he felt like sleeping all the time. Slowly his small cat paws started to grow while he closed his eyes and concentrated.

The fur started to disappear and in its place human skin appeared, his body grew in size and the cat paws become arms and legs. In a blink of an eye Jinki was human again.

If someone saw him at that moment they would only see a man sitting in the middle of the room, scratching its ear. You can make a human appear from the cat but you can’t take the cat from him.

Someone did see him. A huge scream and the sound of a door closing made Jinki raise his head.

He stood up but his human body wasn’t quick enough so he went against the door.

The screams of the woman he just scared echoed inside his brain and it feed him energy, delicious energy.

“Damn! She saw me!” He peeked at the window and saw her run away to her car. She probably came back for whatever reason and saw him. He wasn’t sure if she saw him change forms but if she did he had a problem.

Jinki tried to open the door but it didn’t budge so he peeked from the closed small window again.

A broom was in place not letting him go out.

“Great!” He smiled to himself. Humans can be so innocent sometimes. A broom wouldn’t stop him. He could easily turn into a tiger or use his strength that was bigger than that of a human to push that away.  “Aigo…” It was too much of a hassle.

Instead Jinki laid down on the floor, his eyes on the moonlight entering the window.

He wasn’t hungry anymore and yet…

He raised his hand letting the light pass through his human fingers.

There must be something more to life than that.

Hyejin was late again but she managed to change quickly and was now outside watching the commotion. One of the ladies that worked at the ticketing office was speaking to one of the security guards; a big guy that worked out a lot and Hyejin was sure that he could break her neck in two if he wanted.

“I’m sure it was a ghost! It howled at me in the car and once I came back to get my phone. I saw it inside. Pale as the moonlight!”

Hyejin raised an eyebrow amused.

“Do you believe in it Sunbae?” Jiwoo asked from beside Hyejin “Ghosts are so scary!”

“Nonsense! It doesn’t exist!” An older male guide said laughing.

Hyejin wasn’t sure what to believe. She never saw anything that proved that ghosts existed but she had her fears, more specifically one that she tried to hide.

“It’s inside!” The woman grabbed the security guard’s arm “Please check it for yourself!”

“If it’s truly a ghost wouldn’t it pass through the wall?” Jiwoo asked tilting her head in deep thought.

Hyejin her lips and tiptoed to see above the guard's head.

The old door was opened, the creaking sound making goosebumps appear on Hyejin’s skin.

Everyone held their breath and then.

Meow

A cute white cat with grey stripes came out from of it stretching cutely and raising his whiskers to the sky, blinking his sleepy eyes.

“Wow scary!” The male guide joked going away, passing by the old gardener that was also watching the scene. Soon everyone walked away ignoring the woman’s whining to the security guard that she was sure of what she saw and no cat was inside the room the night before.

Hyejin was pulled by Jiwoo “Let’s go, Hyejin sunbae. We are late!” but she had time to recognize the little ball of fur.

Jinki saw her too and he followed after her for a while before he climbed a tree hiding from the guard. He was sure they would try to scare him away if they caught him.

He watched the two women while they trailed to the main building and lay down.

His mother loved to study the meaning of hanjas so he knew some too.

Hyejin…it meant bright, precious and rare.

Jinki walked around the Palace admiring the walls. It wasn’t the first time he visited the Palace as a human but this time it was different.

He moved his eyes from the decorated ceiling to the woman wearing a dark blue suit speaking in Japanese to a group of tourists. She smiled beautifully at them and then waved a goodbye since it was explore the room alone time.

Jinki waited for everyone to disappear and then he walked closer to her pretending to be admiring the set of old ceramic pieces and dishware.

He slowly walked closer and closer to where she was standing, her expression blank as if she was far away. She barely noticed his presence so he could take his time watching her profile.

It was different to see her with human eyes. She was a little shorter than him probably more since she was wearing heels. She had cute ears and sometime ago she used to wear a piercing in her ear. She had a defined nose and her eyes had an interesting shade of brown. Her hair was caught in a bun but she had a few thin strands falling over her ear. He had to fight the urge to tuck it behind her ear and instead Jinki focused his attention on a small cup with the painting of a tiger.

Funny…that looked very familiar.

He raised his fingers to the cup but someone grabbed his hand before he touched it.

“You can’t touch the objects on display.” Hyejin warned him.

Jinki didn’t say anything his eyes on hers. He was wrong. Her eyes weren’t brown, they had a little bit of green which remind him of what his mother often said to him about his fur “Nothing is what it seems. Sometimes you can find something rare in the most common things.”

Jinki smiled softly and his eyes fell on her hand still grabbing his.

“I’m sorry!” Hyejin took her hand away immediately and cleared “I’m sorry sir but you can’t touch anything inside the palace.” She pointed at the yellow rope that was in front of him. “Everything behind the yellow ropes is off limit.”

Since he didn’t say anything, not even an apology she kept talking “You see, we have many old objects and to preserve them it’s necessary that they aren’t used much. Can you imagine if someone came here and grabbed this small cup and let it fall? It could break…what a historical loss.”

“I have a cup like that at home!” Jinki said finally “More than one actually. I used it to drink soju sometimes.”

Hyejin froze and she blinked her eyes.

“Oh! Right!” He mumbled to himself realizing he spoke too much. Of course. No human had a thing like that at home, well at least not a normal human. He did have a set because his family was as old as that palace. Maybe a King gave the set to them “I was joking!” Jinki corrected quickly giggling.

However Hyejin didn’t smile, instead she looked at him with cold eyes. Oh she didn’t like him.

Her eyes moved from his face to his clothes that were a bit too big on him. Also he was wearing a shirt with some holes – that Taemin normally wear on purpose – and ripped pants. He did look a bit like a beggar.

“You know…” Jinki cleared his throat and leaned forward making her step back. “You have really beautiful eyes.” And lips…he thought to himself, small pouty full lips.

Hyejin paled and the flirting comment didn’t have the effect he expected on her. Normally woman would melt with comments like that but he could smell her animosity.

“Should I call the guard?!” She threatened making him widen his eyes.

“What? Why?”

“Are you hitting on me? Do you want to touch the damn cup that hard?”

He blinked his eyes confused. So she thought he was flirting with her so she would let him touch a silly cup with a tiger?

“What ah…no…”

“I have principles you know?!” She had her cheeks red and seemed very upset, her sweet tone of voice was now gone. He liked it and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He liked it very much.

“You know. I could have eaten you in another life!”

“WHAT?” Her voice echoed inside the room and several tourists looked their way making Jinki swallow nervously. What was she doing?!

“Eat me?” She seemed extremely furious and he his lips, her energy stirring him up.

Maybe using his tiger jokes on a person that had no idea what he was talking about wasn’t the best of his ideas.

“I mean…we could have eaten together in another life. We could have been friends.”

“Are you drunk?” She asked leaning forward and speaking in a lower voice “Should I call someone to help you?”

“No.” He didn’t drink anything yet that day. “Not yet.”

“Is something wrong?” A deep voice asked and Hyejin posture changed.

Oh the damsel in distress.

“Minho Sunbaenim.”

“Is something wrong?” Minho repeated and she shook her head slowly blinking her eyelashes at him.

“No I was only explaining to this gentleman how we can’t touch the objects on display. “

“Ahhh our beautiful old cup with a tiger. “ He smiled beautifully and Jinki could almost swear he saw flowers blooming in her eyes “Do you know the meaning of the tiger in Korean culture?”

Jinki almost yawned but he was a polite person. He was so used to know about how his family was important to Korea that he didn’t need a fancy pants doing it for him again.

“Tigers represent braveness and they also represent good luck and protection from disease. It’s a symbol of valor and courage.” Hyejin explained as if she was a little girl in school reciting a part of her textbook.

“Also of greed.” Jinki added as soon as she finished “They can be brave and dignified but also cruel and greedy. Everything has two sides like a coin.”

Hyejin moved but no sound came out.

“Bravo!” Minho spoke for her “That’s true.” Minho raised his hand to shake Jinki’s “My name is Choi Minho.”

“Jinki…Lee Jinki.”

“It’s nice to meet someone that knows about our country's symbols. Did you study history?”

“Ah not really. My parents do love Tigers though. It’s a family thing.”

“Interesting.”

Jinki smiled at Minho and then gazed at Hyejin. She didn’t seem to find it interesting at all since she was still eyeing him suspiciously.

However he found her interesting.

That was true. Everyone has two sides and he was curious about both of hers.

“This story of the ghost is ridiculous.” One of the male staff said.

“I swear I saw it.” The lady from the ticket office kept insisting. “And more people say they saw a man walking around the palace gardens at night."

Jiwoo trembled in fear and Hyejin touched her arm gently. “Is it that bad that people think the palace is haunted?” In her point of view that could bring more tourists maybe even those crazy ghost hunters groups.

“Of course it is!” Duri, one of the female guides Hyejin despised the most answered “We will have less visitors because of it. Who wants to visit a place where even the staff is scared to be in?!”

Hyejin stared at Duri but their battles of stares was interrupted by Minho that raised his eyes from the report of visits of the last month to the staff in front of him.

“We have less 20% of visits. This is a problem.”

“It’s not a ghost.” The old gardener that was watering the plants of the room said “It’s an Earth God.”

“Of course it’s some bum that entered the palace and is using it to sleep. Ghosts and magical creatures don’t exist.” Duri said rudely and the old man turned around shaking his head. No one seemed to want to hear him.

“So we only need to find this man.” Minho said joining all the sheets of paper from over the table.

No one moved or made a suggestion so Hyejin raised her hand slowly “I can try and find him. I can spend the night here.”

“Oh no. I won’t let a lady do this kind of thing. We can hire an extra guard to watch the perimeter.”

“It’s ok. I really don’t mind.”

The smile Minho gave to her as a thank you was enough for her.

“I have some matters to take care of but I’ll meet you here later to help!”

Great…she thought to herself hoping she didn’t say it out loud.

“Wow! The dating expert does it again!” Jiwoo exclaimed making Hyejin turn to her with a spring in her step.

“Of course! I’m the dating expert. I’m going to find that silly inexistent ghost, save the palace and make Choi Minho admire me for my braveness! Also we will be here alone tonight!”

Jiwoo applauded and Hyejin grinned “BRAVE LIKE A TIGER!” She raised her arms in the air.

“How will you do it though?” Jiwoo asked nervously “I mean, what if it’s really a ghost? Aren’t you afraid?”

“It’s not a ghost!” The old gardener came out from the middle of the trees scaring the two girls that thought they were alone. “Why no one listens to me? It’s not a ghost.”

“What is it then?” Hyejin asked more out of politeness than interest.

“An Earth God of course.”

“What is that?” Jiwoo did seem interested.

The old man smiled rubbing his hand on his leg “A member of an old family with blood that comes from the gods. A mix of God with human. “

“Eh?” Hyejin found all of that ridiculous.

“Creatures like that live in the middle of humans, absorbing our energy. They feed from emotions and sometimes even blood. They can be dangerous but most of the times they only want to have a normal life.”

“So what kind of demon is this?” Hyejin asked barely listening her mind elsewhere on her date with Minho.

“Not a demon. It’s a God. Half human half God.”

Jiwoo was going to make more questions but the old man walked away mumbling to himself.

“No one ever listens to me…aigo. Let them see for themselves. Hope that not too late!”

“Be a Tiger!” Hyejin said to herself lighting one of her three flashlights. She forgot about something when she devised that make Minho fall in love plan of hers.

Night meant no light. Night meant darkness. And darkness was her biggest fear ever.

She looked behind her and walked slowly in the direction of the building where supposedly the ghost was.

Minho didn’t arrive yet and once he did she hoped to have the problem solved already.

“I’m a tiger!” She whispered to herself again, covering herself better with the big coat she was wearing that made her look like a big black sausage.

“Tigers aren’t scared! Tigers are brave!” if she stopped to think about the fact that she was alone in the dark things would get bad, very bad.

“I can do this.” She could. For Minho she would do anything. He was the first man she met that made her believe in fairytales. He was truly a prince, not only in appearance but also in the way he acted.

He was caring to everyone, he was respectful and educated. Perfect! If she showed up home with a boyfriend like that she was sure her mother would stop thinking how useless she was.

It was too hard to fight with the perfect half-brother that was away aboard working and was dating a rich heir.

“Tiger…I’m a tiger…” Hyejin repeated. She could do that.

Suddenly one of her flashlights started blinking and she hit it against the other one she had lighten up and placed under her arm. “You stupid flashlight.”

As soon as she said that both flashlights stopped working and only the one she stuck to the hood of her coat was working.

“No no no !” She tried to make both flashlights work when the one she had on her hood fall to the ground turning off too.

Hyejin screamed in panic closing her eyes shut and instead of grabbing the flashlight on the floor she freaked out and started running with no aim, anywhere she could with her arms stretched in front of her.

Hyejin was lost in the darkness she feared most than any ghost.  She was no tiger.

Jinki woke up with the huge smell of fear. No. not fear. Someone was terrified. He his lips instinctively, the bitter and yet addicting taste of fear making his senses alert.

Jinki stood up from the old blanket he was sleeping on in human form and walked to the door. Whoever was scared was coming in his direction and fast.

He heard the scream after he smelled her.

Hyejin. Rare precious Hyejin that smelled as rosemary and lemon grass.

What was she even doing there and why was she so scared?! He walked outside the building, his eyes turning blue so he could see better in the night.

For a while nothing happened, he could only hear the sound of leaves being stepped on but then she showed up in his field of vision.

She seemed confused walking with her eyes closed, her heart beating so much that he could hear it clearly, her hot blood pumping, calling for him.

He frowned when she stopped a few steps from him and opened her eyes as if she sensed his presence.

He raise his eyebrow just when she saw him, her eyes widening to double the size they normally were as if she was a character of an anime.

He almost asked what was wrong until he realized he was , with blue eyes hiding in the shadows looking at her. That could be scary. No wonder they thought he was a ghost.

“OH MY GOD!” She screamed turning around and running in the wrong direction.

He raised his hand in a silent warning but it was too late. Hyejin ran against a tree and fall back on the ground unconscious.

He quickly run to her and crouched. He knew she was ok. He could hear her heart slowing down now that she wasn’t no longer conscious of where she was, therefore not scared. He touched her forehead feeling the growing bump that was going to appear there.

Jinki his lips her blood calling for him and he had to close his eyes.

It was probably so delicious and he didn’t drink blood in such a long time. All that terrifying moment that for her was hell for him would taste like heaven.

Jinki moved his hand away from the forehead and quickly pondered his options.

He could bit her. He could make it look as if she got herself hurt when she fell. He could have a delicious good meal and she wouldn’t even know but…He wasn’t that person.

Besides…

Her peaceful expression now, her rosy lips and big eyelashes... She was like little red riding hood…with a black hood and he was the big bad wolf going to eat her.

Dogs…hell no. He wasn’t a dog!

Jinki rubbed his temple waiting for the smell of fear to slowly weaken so he could approach her without actually biting her. Then he placed his hand on the ground beside her and slowly leaned forward admiring her lips which made him smile softly.

She was so fragile lying there, like a true princess, like she tried to act in front of Minho. He probably would have carried her in his arms and watch her until she woke up.

Jinki was no prince. Not a human one at least.

Jinki his lips, his eyes on her lips and then leaned down delivering a wet kiss to her forehead instead, just where her bruise was.

Oh I was so nervous to post it. 

What do you think? Be honest...

>...<