“I’m fine, really,” Haneul sighed deeply as she held an ice pack to her forehead, sitting grumpily in one of the kitchen chairs. She had actually fainted when the police had informed her that she would suddenly be moving to Seoul, and in the way down she had struck the front of her head against the end table in the entryway, and now had a throbbing knot on her forehead. Sandeul was sitting next to her, on the edge of his seat as he fretted over her well-being. “Really, Sandeul, I just have a headache. A very. Big. Headache,” she muttered up as she glanced at the officers, the bearers of the ill news that had made her pass out in the first place. After she had taken her tumble, a flustered Sandeul had invited them inside and given them tea. Should’ve let them stand outside, she thought in annoyance. “Ahem. So, you want to tell me what’s really going on here?” she snapped crossly.

“Miss Haneul,” one of them said gruffly, obviously sensing her displeasure and not too happy about it. “After we closed your case, considering that your mother left no sort of will, it is standard procedure for us to find your closest living relative, since you are a minor. It took us some time since your mother was estranged from her relatives and both sets of your grandparents are unfortunately deceased. We were able to track down one of your father’s sisters, and she has agreed to house you,” he explained with a curt smile.

“But I’ve been living here!” she protested. “I go to school here, all of my friends are here, my boyfriend is here!” she shouted, rising from the chair to stamp her feet. Although my boyfriend and I aren’t seeing much of each other, but that’s beside the point! “My entire life is here! You can’t expect me to just drop everything and move, just like that!”

“Well, I am afraid that’s the law, little lady,” the other officer frowned at her. “The bottom line is that you are a minor, and you must remain in the custody of a legal guardian. As gracious as this family has been taking you in, they are not your legal guardians. Therefore, you cannot remain in their care,” he insisted, and as the pair of officers glared harshly at her, Haneul's anger faded and was replaced by acute sadness. This is really happening, isn’t it? She thought as she sank down into the chair, placing a hand over .

“Uh, thanks for coming by, officers. You can leave the aunt's information with me,” Sandeul said quickly, ushering the two police officers out of the room. The boy came back a few minutes later, holding a piece of small note paper in his hand. He eased down into the chair beside her, reaching over to gently take her free hand. “Haneul?” he asked quietly, and she instantly burst into tears.

“I can’t believe I won’t be living here anymore,” she cried out, sniffling miserably. “I’ve been here my whole life… You’re my best friend, and I love going to school here, and… and Baro is here…” she continued quietly. She buried her face into her hands, but the tears soon ran out. She had spent them all the previous night, sobbing over Baro and his painful absence. As she sat up, rubbing the water away from her face and trying to keep herself together. I… I have to leave… I… I really have to go… she realized. She gently took the note paper from him, staring down at the address and phone number. “I… I guess I had better call her,” she murmured. She stood up, pulling out her cell phone to dial the number. She paced the room nervously as the dial tone rang, and then her heart stopped when a woman picked up the phone.

“Hello?” she asked, and Hanuel looked at Sandeul in fear, trying to find her words. He encouraged her gently, and she nodded slowly before returning her attention to the phone call.

“Hello, um… I-I’m Haneul,” she stammered shyly. “Um… Rina's daughter. Your niece,” she continued awkwardly. She jumped when the woman on the other line exclaimed with delight.

“Oh, Haneul! Yes! I am so excited to meet you, honey. The police officers told me that you should come here as soon as possible. Would tomorrow afternoon, around three, be enough time for you to get everything packed, dear?” she inquired politely, but despite her cheerful tone it felt like someone hit her in the chest with a sledgehammer. She sank down onto the living room couch, trying not to burst into tears once again. “Haneul, honey?”

“Y-yes!” she squeaked. “Yes, that would be perfect. I'm so excited meet you…” she sighed deeply, and hung up the phone after making pleasant conversation. “This is really happening, Sandeul…” she sniffed as she leaned back into the cushions, running her hands through her hair. He walked over to rub her shoulders reassuringly, then hugged her tightly.

“I’m so sorry, Haneul… I’m so sorry,” he kept saying, but it didn’t make her feel any better. All she could think about was how her entire world was up-ended, how it was crashing down all around her and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She had lost her mother, she had lost the man she loved, and now she was even losing her home and best friend. It was all too much to take, and she just turned around to bury her face into Sandeul's shoulder as the tears came once more.

After she was finished with that crying spell, she came to terms with the reality that she really was leaving, more or less, and so she and Sandeul wandered up to her room to begin packing. It was hard to believe that in the span of less than a year, she was already moving again. As she sat on the carpeted floor putting together boxes, a numb feeling came over her. Robotically, she folded up her clothes and piled them neatly into the box. I’m leaving, she thought blankly. I’ll never be in this room again.

“Sandeul…” she sighed deeply as she taped up the box of her clothes. She slumped her shoulders, unsure of how she wanted to feel. She felt sad that she was leaving the life she knew, she felt mad that the police officers were forcing her to move, she felt frustrated that all of this was happening so fast, and she felt the tiniest bit excited that she was starting a new life in Seoul. She didn’t say anything else, but her best friend crawled over to her and wrapped her in his arms.

“I know. Don’t worry, Haneul. I’ll still be your best friend!” he beamed, shaking her slightly. “I’ll come see you all the time! It’ll be like nothing ever changed!” he reassured her.

“But everything has changed…” she frowned miserably as the sadness returned. “I mean, I’m starting an entirely new life! I thought I already did…” she murmured, staring up at the ceiling and watching the ceiling fan rotate slowly above her head. “I just… It’s happening so fast…” she admitted quietly.

“I know, but… It is happening,” he murmured, and that’s when the reality truly set in. I’m really never coming back here. This is… the end.

“I… I have to get packed, huh?” she whispered as she sat up and rubbed the top of the closed box. They spent the rest of the night packing everything she owned into the boxes, and what had been her bedroom transformed into a room with a bed with a bare mattress, an empty closet, and a vacant vanity. To make things easier, Haneul had elected to sleep downstairs on the couch, that way she wouldn’t have to worry about stripping the bed in the morning. As she gazed at the boxes stacked against the wall, it hit her once again that she was leaving, that her life as she knew it was ending. A new one was about to begin, but she’s wasn’t sure whether she wanted it to. She sighed deeply and headed for the bedroom door, moving to close it behind her. She paused when she heard something clatter against it. She peered around the wooden door and her heart almost stopped. She reached up to gently run her hand over the soft black feather. Baro… she thought, plucking the feather off the door and holding it close to her chest. I would give anything… anything… to see you one last time… Still holding the feather gently, she took one last sweeping glance at the room before walking downstairs and getting into bed. Sleep evaded her for a long while, but eventually exhaustion consumed her and she fell into unconsciousness.

When she awoke, however, the anxiety returned full-force, so powerfully that she could even look at food without getting nauseated. She wrung her hands repeatedly as she paced the floor, breaking out in a nervous sweat. “Sandeul… Sandeul, I can’t do this…” she cried as she moved to start unpacking one of the boxes. Sandeul jumped onto her back and pinned her down on the couch until she relented, and she just sat miserably on the couch nibbling at the corner of a piece of toast.

“Hey, Haneul… Your aunt will be here in about thirty minutes. Maybe… You should go see your mother's grave?” Sandeul suggested quietly from across the room, and her eyebrows shot up. She was amazed how the thought had not occurred to her, and she felt ashamed that she had been so self-absorbed that she had neglected to consider visiting the cemetery before she left, as she didn’t know when the next time she would be able to would come. She hopped up from the couch and threw on her sweater.

“Yes, Sandeul, I’ll do just that,” she told him breathlessly. “Call me when she gets here, okay?” she added as she hugged him tightly. Then she bustled quickly out of the house, jumping down the steps and trotting down the sidewalk with her hands in her sweater pockets. The brisk morning air felt good for her nervous energy, and as she jogged along the cement path she felt her head clear and her troubled mind unwind. Maybe this is good, she thought. I mean… After everything with Baro… Maybe it’s good that I get this fresh new start. Dong-woo won’t be able to find me, and Baro will be safe because we'll be apart… And it’ll be easier to get over him.

She slowed to a walk as she arrived to the graveyard. She opened the gate and began strolling through the headstones. It was so familiar to her that she now longer needed to look at the names on them or count the rows. She turned down the correct aisle and stopped in front of her mother's grave, kneeling down and smiling at the smooth gray rock etched with her beloved mother's name. “Hey, Mom,” she started with a deep exhale. She rubbed her thighs, suddenly nervous. “I have some news.”

“I’m… moving to Seoul,” she sighed deeply. “One of Dad's sisters has agreed to take me in. I’m… not sure how I feel about it,” she admitted quietly. “At first, I was really upset… It seemed like I was just getting my life put back together, and then out of the blue, I’m starting it all over again in a new city, with new people…” she frowned as she sat back on her calves, reaching forward to straighten out the flowers in the vase by the headstone. “But now, I’m starting to think that maybe it’s a good thing. I mean… I haven’t seen Baro in over a week…” Her bottom lip quivered at the thought of the demon, and the next thing she knew tears were splashing down onto her jeans.

“I just… I miss him so much, Mom,” she sniffled miserably. “I was so happy with him, you know? That night, on the dock, with the fireworks exploding over our heads and the moonlight shining down on us… It was simply magical. It was the best night of my life… And I thought, in that moment, that everything was finally going to be okay, that I was really gonna be happy…” She buried her face in her hands as her heart began to break, shattering now that she was finally uttering the words she had been keeping buried deep inside her for a week. “I… I loved him, Mom. I thought he was the one, and I wanted to be with him for the rest of my life! And now, now it’s all over. Any chance I have to see him again is gone, and any chance I have to be with him is gone…” She curled up over the grave with her hands over her chest. “What do I do, Mom? What do I do?”

As she lay there in agony, rocking herself back and forth in the grass above her mother's grave, she suddenly felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise, sensing someone gazing at her. She slowly sat up, wiping her eyes and nose with her sweater sleeves before standing up and turning around. When she did she felt her knees buckle and she collapsed back to the ground, unable to breathe as the tears came back. “B-B-ba…” she stammered dumbly, overcome with emotion as the demon rushed to her and kneeled down in front of her. He took her in his arms, her hair and whispering her name over and over as he pressed his forehead to hers.

“Haneul, Haneul, it’s okay, I’m here, I’m here,” he murmured soothingly. She was crying again, even though she thought she was all cried out, and she could only blubber like a baby in his arms. “I’m sorry, I’m so, so, so sorry. I’ve been such an idiot, and I hurt you, but that damn angel-"

“I know,” she choked out, breathing hard as she tried to wrangle her emotions and somehow retain a shred of her dignity. “Jinyoung and Gongchan told me,” she continued after she had gotten her breathing under control, and she wiped her eyes profusely before looking up at him. He looked so sad as he took her face into his hands again.

“Oh, look what I’ve done to you…” he whispered miserably. “I’m so sorry… I thought I was doing what was best for you, Haneul… But really, I was just looking out for myself. I was so scared to lose you that I just… Did whatever he wanted so he just wouldn’t hurt you…” He shook his head as he her hair some more, and then he kissed her. Softly, at first, like the night on the dock; then, he was kissing her passionately, desperately, like he never wanted to let her go. Haneul felt like she wanted to scream as he pulled her close to him, and then she forced herself to pull back and shove him away. “H-hanuel?” he stammered in shock.

“It’s too late!” she cried in frustration, standing up and turning her back to him. Suddenly it was cold, and she rubbed her arms as the tears formed in her eyes again. It seemed all she had been doing was crying, and crying, and crying, and she just wanted to stop crying, or at least have nothing left to cry about.

“What do you mean?” Baro asked as he stood up behind her, walking forward to gently rub her arms. She leaned back against him, wanting nothing more than for him to take her into his arms again and kiss her for the rest of time; unfortunately, she didn’t have that luxury, and she cried out in exasperation and stomped away from him.

“I have to leave, Baro!” she sniffed, slowly turning back to him. The look on his face broke her heart; he looked like he was in pure agony as he gazed at her, biting down on his lip and shifting his feet and looking at anywhere but her. “My… My aunt is going to take me in. The police say I have to be in the care of a relative. She lives in Seoul… I leave today.” Baro put his hands on his hips as he stared down at the ground, and she fought back the urge to run over and hug him and kiss him as his shoulders began to shake violently.

“I… I guess this is it, then,” he choked out finally, and looked up at her. He was crying, and she had never seen him cry, never. Any pain she had experienced up until then seemed inconsequential, incomparable to the pure gut-wrenching heartbreak she felt in that moment. They stared into each other’s tear-filled eyes, neither of them saying anything, but it felt like they shared more words in those few minutes than they had in the entirety they had known each other.

“Goodbye, Baro,” she nodded stiffly, digging her fingers so deep into her sweater that she felt a sharp pain in her sides, but it was nothing compared to the blinding pain in her heart. She blinked, and then he was right in front of her, and his hands were on her waist and her lips were on hers, and she melted into his arms at the passion unlike anything she had every experienced. In an instant he was gone, and when she opened her eyes all the remained of him was a single black feather floating down from above her head. She caught it in her hands, staring up at the sky trying to catch some glimpse of the demon, of the man she loved more than anything in the world. “Goodbye,” she murmured again, holding the feather close to her chest and bowing her head. “I will always love you,” she whispered faintly before stooping down to kiss her mother's headstone, and then slowly walking out of the cemetery and to her new life.