It’s just before dawn when Gwiboon leaves. She dresses herself as quickly and quietly as she can before she grabs her basket out from its hiding place. She climbs over the fence, fearing the gate with creak too much if she tries to open it.  Until she gets passed the last house on the lane she walks properly, dignified. No one should be awake at this hour but she doesn’t want to run the risk of making a scene. Once she’s reached the part of the road where the trees thicken, however, she picks up her skirts and run as fast as her legs will take her. Dawn has come by the time she reaches the edge of the lake. A dense fog covers it, and she almost loses her nerve, but she puts her basket in the first rowboat she can get loose and sets off. Growing up, she’d always been told how important it was to stay within sight of the shore, how important it is not to get trapped in the fog, how the people who ventured too far sent home empty boats. As she rows away from the shore, she goes as far as she can before she turns and travels perpendicular to the shore. The lake is huge, practically a sea, and she wants to get as far away from her town as she can before anyone else ventures out.

An hour later, she can no longer see the dock that she left from nor any similar looking outcroppings. It’s getting brighter out but the fog on the lake doesn’t dissipate at all. Birds flit around in the trees, but none venture over the water. Gwiboon stops rowing and takes an apple out of her basket. She doesn’t have much food with her and even less money, but she’s hopeful that wherever she lands that the people will be kind. After another hour of rowing, she hears a noise coming from the fog. It’s high pitch, almost like the sound of someone crying. Gwiboon keeps rowing and tries to ignore the sound. The fog has her on edge enough and nothing good has ever come from following strange noises. Yet, over time, Gwiboon finds herself peering into the fog, trying to find the source of the noise. The shore gets further and further away until finally Gwiboon turns her boat fully away from it. The fog doesn’t envelop her like she thinks it will; there’s a gap around her, almost as if she’s sitting in a bubble, extending more than an arm’s length beyond the sides of the boat. The noise is getting louder and Gwiboon realizes that it’s not crying, but singing. She gets excited as the song grows clearer. She rows as hard as she can until she seems to find a clearing. The song is loud and wonderful and nearby. She scans around, looking for another boat, looking for the singer. She notices someone swimming around and the song stops.

“Hello?” she calls out.

The swimmer -- a woman -- turns around. When their eyes meet, she swims to the side of Gwiboon’s boat.

“Hello.” the woman whispers, reaching a hand up onto the edge of the boat.

“Are you safe? Where’s your boat?” Gwiboon asks, concerned.

The woman laughs. “I don’t need a boat.”

“Was...was that you singing?”

“Maybe. Did you like it?”

“Oh yes. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard.”

The woman beams. “Yes, it was me.”

“What are you doing out here?”

“I’m doing what I please.”

“Oh.”

“What are you doing out here? It’s not often I see girls alone in boats, very rarely so pretty as you.”

Gwiboon hesitates. “I’m...leaving.”

“Where to, pretty girl?”

“I...I haven’t decided yet.”

“Running away, then?”

“Yeah...yeah. I’m running away from my husband.”

“What’s your name, pretty girl?”

“Gwi-Gwiboon.” she says, blushing deeply.

“That’s a pretty name. A pretty name for a pretty girl.”  The woman reaches up a hand to Gwiboon’s cheek. “I could help you run away.”

“How?”

“I could hide you away for a few days. You’re worried about this husband coming to look for you, yes? If your boat comes home empty, he won’t look for you anymore. Then you can go on to a new town as a new girl. No ties, no worries.”

“Where would I hide at?”

“I have a house close.”

“How do I know you won’t hurt me?”

The woman laughs. “If I wanted to hurt you, Gwiboon, I would’ve done it already.”

Gwiboon becomes acutely aware of just how far out of the water the woman is, how she seems to be.

“Is there...what do you want in return?”

“For hiding you away? A kiss.”

Gwiboon swallows hard. The only person she’s ever kissed has been her husband, none of them ever pleasant.

“Are you...sure that’s what you want?”

The woman laughs. “Yes, I’m sure. Besides, what else have you to offer me? I’m not interested in first borns. I have no use for money. I’m not going to eat you. So instead, just a kiss and perhaps a thank you will suffice for my efforts.”

Gwiboon stays still, trying her best to look away from the woman.

“It’s a fair deal, isn’t it? Just close your pretty eyes for me, Gwiboon.”

Gwiboon looks back and nods. The woman reaches her other hand up, cupping Gwiboon’s face and she does her best to mentally prepare. Kisses from her husband have always been rough, unkind, taken from her. Gwiboon half expects the woman to pull her over the side of the boat in an attempt to drown her. When the woman puts her lips to Gwiboon’s, however, the feeling is completely new. It feels soft and warm and lovelier than anything Gwiboon’s ever felt before. When the woman pulls away, Gwiboon feels herself instinctively try to follow her for more. The woman laughs.

“See? Not so bad, is it?”

Gwiboon blushes deeply again and shakes her head shyly.

“Do you have the strength to keep rowing? My house is close by.”

Gwiboon nods and the woman starts swimming away.

“Just follow me, pretty girl. We’ll be there soon and then you can rest.”

Eventually, they reach what Gwiboon assumes must be the woman’s house. There’s a clearing, right in the middle of the fog, with a large island. On it sits a quaint little house, surrounded by bushes full of roses and strawberries. A forest extends behind it. It’s warm and lovely and looks more inviting than any home back in Gwiboon’s old town. The woman stops swimming a good distance out from the shore.

“I...I can go no further, but my home is yours for now. There’s not much, but you’re welcome to anything you need. When you reach the shore, take your dress off, just the outer layer, and put it back in the boat. Then push the boat back to me. I’ll be back in two days time.”

“Why so long?”

“I’ll explain when I get back.”

Gwiboon starts rowing towards shore, then stops again.

“What’s your name?”

“Minjung. Now hurry. I can’t stay long.”

Gwiboon does her best to reach the shore quickly, removing her overdress and sending the boat back out. It drifts to Minjung quickly and soon she’s waving goodbye and heading back into the fog. Gwiboon stands on the shore for a while, looking at where Minjung’s disappeared. When it’s clear she’s not coming back, she heads inside. True to Minjung’s word, there’s not much inside: a cot, a few baskets of food, flowers drying on a string, a basket of fabric. Gwiboon goes to the food and grabs a roll of bread before sitting down on the cot. She’s exhausted from rowing all morning, so she decides to sleep. After all, she has two days to wait for Minjung to come back.

Gwiboon wakes to Minjung’s song. Thinking she’s come home early, Gwiboon rushes outside. She’s still alone though, the sound simply drifting through the fog. Judging by the amount of light coming through, it’s early afternoon. She walks around the house, inspecting everything she can. She sits on the shore, as close to the water as she can, and closes her eyes, listening to Minjung’s song. When she opens her eyes again, it’s dark, She goes inside, eats something, and goes to bed.

Minjung returns around noon. Gwiboon’s sitting in the doorway, waiting, when she spots Minjung’s head peek up out of the water. She stands and walks to the water’s edge as she comes walking up onto shore. Minjung’s taller than she thought she would be; when Gwiboon realizes that Minjung is in fact , long hair clinging to her body but doing little to cover her, she tries to look away.

“I sent your boat back; they stopped looking for you at nightfall.” Minjung explains.

“Did he...was anyone upset?”

“If they were, I didn’t hear it. I heard whispers that they were surprised it took this long. They seem to be under the impression that he killed you.”

Gwiboon looks down at the ground, unsure of what to feel about the situation.

“Do you know where you want to go? From here?” Minjung asks, walking into the house.

“Not really, I’ve never...I haven’t....”

“You’ve never been outside before, have you?”

Gwiboon shakes her head. Minjung sighs and starts digging through a basket.

“Aha! Here’s a map. It’s a little old, so take it with a grain of salt. If there’s a place that tickles your fancy, I’ll take you tomorrow.”

“What if there isn’t?”

“There’s no rush, pretty girl.”

Minjung looks Gwiboon over and there’s something to her gaze that makes her shiver. Gwiboon is still trying not to look at Minjung, though it’s getting increasingly hard.

“Can you...would you mind putting something on?” she asks.

Minjung glances down at herself and then smiles.

“I can if it bothers you.”

“It’s not that it bothers me, I just...it just....you see...”

“Gwiboon, your body is no different than mine. Is it something to be ashamed of?”

Gwiboon feels her cheeks turning red. “How am I supposed to know?”

“Haven’t you seen yourself before?”

Gwiboon shakes her head and Minjung’s shocked face makes her feel even more embarrassed.

“Women aren’t allowed to look into mirrors, in my...in my old town. They say it makes us bad if we do.”

“That’s terrible! Come here, come stand by me.” Minjung instructs, pulling a curtain away from the wall.

Gwiboon does as she’s told but avoids looking at the now exposed mirror. Minjung puts a hand on either side of her waist, positioning her properly in front of the mirror.

“Don’t you want to know what you look like, pretty girl?”

She looks up and tries not to be afraid of her own reflection. She can’t look long at her own face, instead moving down to look at the parts of her underdress. Minjung takes notice and turns Gwiboon around.

“Let’s take these off, yeah? Your town is the only one that refuses to let them go. You might as well get used to it as soon as you can.”

Though she thinks to protest, Gwiboon finds herself allowing Minjung to unlace her corset, untie her petticoats. When she’s , Minjung turns her back around. She can’t bring herself to look, no matter how much Minjung tries to coax her to. Eventually she gives up and starts rummaging through the fabric basket again. She pulls out two dresses, much thinner and simpler than Gwiboon’s used to; she hands one to Gwiboon and puts the other on herself. Though she’s the one that asked for this, Gwiboon’s disappointed.

“Where were you yesterday?” Gwiboon asks after almost two hours of silence.

Minjung looks up from where she’s descaling fish. “I was in the lake.”

“But how?”

“Gwiboon, you know the answer.”

When she was little, Gwiboon had heard stories about things -- people -- who lived in the lake. That’s part of why it was forbidden to swim in it. But she never for a second had thought that maybe those stories were true.

“But you’re on land now? If you...how can....”

Minjung laughs. “It’s simple, really. For seven days, I stay in the water. I move around as a please, drown sailors who are foolish enough to try and net me. Then, I get to spend the eighth day on land. I get to smell my roses and eat my strawberries. Wear dresses if I please. Then it’s back to the water to start again.”

“Oh. So tomorrow...”

“Tomorrow noon, I go back for a week. Well, one fo your weeks. My weeks are eight days.”

“So if I don’t know where I want to go, you’ll let me stay until you come back again?”

“Of course. Where else are you going to go, pretty girl? We both know you can’t swim.”

Gwiboon spends the whole night watching Minjung from a distance. They eat dinner together, Gwiboon telling Minjung about the reasons she left. An angry mother, a cruel husband, a lack of anything to do. In turn, Minjung tells Gwiboon about the people she’s seen -- and drowned. When Gwiboon lays down to sleep, she remembers her kiss in payment on the boat. She sneaks glances at Minjung’s lips until she falls asleep, dreaming about their softness. Minjung’s gone when Gwiboon wakes. She feels a pang of loneliness, but tries to get along.

Most of her week is spent in front of Minjung’s mirror. Getting acquainted with every line on her face, every curve of her body. She figures that if she left home for freedom, she might as well exercise it to the full amount. The rest of her time is spent thinking about Minjung. The sound of her voice, the curve of her lips, the shape of her body. She tries to look at the map, tries to find a place to go -- after all, she doesn’t want to overstay her welcome -- but no where sounds appealing.

When Minjung comes home again, Gwiboon’s waiting at the water’s edge. After her week of self-discovery, she’s decided to forgo her dress. She can feel Minjung’s eyes locked on her the moment her head comes out of the water.

“Busy week alone?” Minjung asks as she walks out of the water.

Gwiboon blushes, but reaches out for Minjung’s hands.

“Kiss me. Please. Like you did when you found me. Please.”

Minjung’s hands move to Gwiboon’s face, lips on hers in a second. The warm feeling returns to Gwiboon, just as before, but it disappears when Minjung pulls away.

“Just one kiss, pretty girl?” She asks, keeping her face just out of reach.

“No, not one, as many as you can fit into a day.”

Minjung’s lips are back on Gwiboon’s almost before she finishes her sentence. Gwiboon wraps first her arms around Minjung’s neck, then her legs around her waist. Minjung lets go of Gwiboon’s face in order to support her, carrying her inside. Once on Minjung’s cot, they spend no more than a moment of out each other’s arms. Gwiboon’s unable to stop asking for more and Minjung’s equally unable to stop giving. By the time dawn comes, Gwiboon thinks she might die from so many sweet kisses, so many gentle touches. Even when the lake calls to Minjung, Gwiboon can’t let go. She holds tight onto her, Minjung doing her best to walk backwards into the lake.

“Gwiboon....Gwi you need...you have to go...go back” Minjung instructs between kisses.

Gwiboon ignores her, stealing more kisses as they get knee deep.

“You can’t....Gwi you can’t....can’t swim go back.”

“Don’t...don’t leave”

“We both...both know I...I have to...Gwiboon...go...go back.”

When the water is waist deep, Minjung starts trying to push Gwi away, sets her back on the ground. At chest level, the ground suddenly drops off. Gwiboon goes to wrap herself around Minjung, to stay close to her, but she’s pushed back. The water carries her to the shore.

“I’m sorry.” Minjung calls out just before she dips under the water.

For the next seven days, Gwiboon can only cry and watch the waters. She tries to explore the forest behind the house; no matter how far back she goes, however, she finds herself back on the waterfront. She knows it’s days before Minjung will return, but she can’t help but be on guard at all times. When Minjung does return, there’s something different. Her kisses are still soft, but her body is colder than before, weaker than before. She falls asleep twice and Gwiboon feels guilty waking her up in order for them to have their time. When the lake calls for her, Gwiboon half carries her to the water. The week is spent anxiously; Minjung’s song grows weaker and quieter with each passing day.

She washes up on the shore just after dawn. Gwiboon just happens to wake up in time, rushing out to bring her inside. She’s almost as cold as the lake water, struggling to stay awake.

“Minjung, can you hear me?” Gwiboon asks as she lays her on the cot.

Minjung turns her head, tries to put a hand to Gwiboon’s cheek.

“My pretty girl.” she whispers before coughing.

“What’s wrong, Minjung? What’s happening?”

“I’m a fool.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m dying.”

Tears start running down Gwiboon’s cheeks.

“What do you mean you’re dying?”

“I’m a fool in love and I’m dying.”

She starts coughing again and Gwiboon helps her sit up. When it subsides, Gwiboon does her best to hold her, pressing kisses to her neck and shoulder. She coughs again and pulls away enough to rest their foreheads against each other.

“Gwi...Gwi, my pretty girl, do you love me?” she whispers.

“I do. Since the first time you came back.”

Minjung smiles and starts crying as well. Gwiboon’s confused and frightened and when Minjung starts coughing again, she fears the worst. But like before it subsides, but it’s clear that Minjung’s coughed something up. She holds it in her hand, before offering it to Gwiboon. As Gwiboon looks at it, she realizes it’s a pearl.

“If...if you love me, take it.”

“What do I...do I just hold it?”

“You have to swallow it”

“Why?”

“It’ll bind us together. It’s...think of it as a marriage.”

“What happens if I don’t?”

“If you don’t swallow it, I’m going to die. If you swallow it, but you don’t love me, I’m going to die. This is me giving you my heart. Me saying that I can’t live without you.”

Without a second thought, Gwiboon swallows the pearl.

 

Gwiboon wakes up holding Minjung. She kisses the top of her head, delighted to feel that she’s warm once again. She reaches down and grabs one of Minjung’s hands, pressing kisses into her palm until she wakes up. She seems surprised, touching Gwiboon’s face as if to make sure they’re both still real.

“When did you know you loved me?” Gwiboon asks softly.

“When I found you in your boat. For us -- for my people --, when you meet the person you’re destined for, you find your song. I’d never sang before I met you. And then all of a sudden, I saw your form through the fog and my heart was filled with song and I knew it had to be you.”

“So if I hadn’t been your...soulmate, then you would’ve drowned me?”

Minjung hums, scooting up so that they’re laying face to face. “I was a fool for you from the moment I saw you. I shouldn’t have kissed you that day. There’s a sort of internal watch that starts ticking down time after the first kiss, only so much time to develop love. I risked so much because I wanted you so bad.”

“I guess it’s lucky for us that I loved you back,”

For the first time since their meeting, Minjung gets shy.

“When did you...when did you know? That you loved me?”

“The first night you came back. When I was trying to go to sleep but was having so much trouble falling asleep because I was trying to will you to kiss me.”

“I guess you don’t have to worry about that now.”

“That’s true.” Gwiboon says, reaching over for a kiss.

Over time, it gets easier to let Minjung return to the water. Out of desperation, Gwiboon learns to swim. Everyday that Minjung must spend in the lake, they meet in the water at the edge of the fog. Days when Minjung gets to come home, Gwiboon meets her out in the water. It makes Minjung laugh, the way Gwiboon pulls her ashore with such desperation, but she’s happy and plays along. One day, Minjung finds a boat. She brings it to Gwiboon and shows her the paths to the towns. Soon enough, Gwiboon’s spending her seven days on the real shore. She takes the little allowances Minjung steals from boats to buy candies and treats and trinkets to take home. There’s whispers about her -- the woman who kisses the water and never stays longer than a week -- but she doesn’t mind them at all. Even when she chances upon her former husband, who runs away at the sight of her, she remains carefree. No matter what happens, she konws that on the eighth day of the week, she gets to go home to their island and be loved.