Minji had seen her around. She stood out by her clothing only; she always wore dark coloured dress shirts with high collars, elegant folds and lace details and dressy high boots along with simple leather shorts or a skirt. This was topped off with a cape and a small top hat. Her eyes were always seen through an elegant black mask. It was a refreshing sight amongst the dullness of the mall where one could hardly tell one shop from the other.

As if her outfit wasn’t enough, she stood out with her personality as well; bubbly and cheerful, slightly cocky, but always kind. She was amazing with children and adults adored her as well; she always earned herself a thunderous applause, considering the fact that her audiences were often small.

She was Handong the Magician. It was her act. Minji had seen her around town, never exchanging more than a glance. She’d attempted to pick Minji as a volunteer once, but Minji refused and ran away.

That day at the mall there was some sort of an event for performers being held. Minji and Yoobin had gone together to check it out, although they mostly wanted to browse stores and eat. They didn’t expect much from the event itself.

But there she was, Handong the Magician at her little booth, showing off props and revealing secrets to her tricks. A ‘one time chance’ to see her secrets, as it was.

Minji attempted avoiding her booth. She took Yoobin around, distracting her with shiny things and handsome people and as a last resort, food. But Yoobin ended up spotting Handong anyway, despite Minji’s attempts to distract her. Yoobin was extremely excited about this booth and dragged Minji to it; she claimed to have several questions for Handong.

Yoobin wanted to know how the water tricks were done – an illusion wherein Handong seemingly made water float around in the air. The answer was lengthy and Yoobin was eager to learn – it appeared that they’d stay there a while.

Minji mostly looked around the props, keeping her gaze down stubbornly and refusing to even look at Handong. She was afraid that if she did, her heart would burst.

Minji believed that Handong was, in fact, a witch. Not only the tricks she did, but there was something mystical about her aura. Therefore Minji was scared to go near her – this witch would definitely be able to read her mind, or emotions, or the very least she’d be able to hear Minji’s heart beat.

After a while of looking around it seemed that Yoobin and Handong were done talking. Minji dared lift her gaze, to look for her friend and tell her that they should get going, only to be met with Handong’s gaze. She was leaning on the counter, chin rested on her palm, that way they were only millimeters apart.

Minji jumped back, letting out a startled noise.

Handong chuckled and straightened up. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you! Is there anything you’re interested in?”

Minji needed a moment to collect herself. She fixed her hair and looked around, anywhere but Handong. “I’m just looking for my friend. We should get going soon…”

Handong pouted, her shoulders dropping. “That’s a shame. She’s over there—“ she pointed, “She seems really interested in sawing people in half.”

Minji hid her face in embarrassment. “Ah, yeah, she’s…” She let the sentence hang in the air, not bothering to finish it. Instead of continuing the conversation, Minji tried to catch Yoobin’s attention by waving.

The younger pushed through the crowd to Minji, who then told her that they must leave immediately.

Yoobin was confused, but Minji didn’t let herself be swayed. She couldn’t stay there another second, her face already matched the redness of her shirt and it was all Handong the Magician’s fault.

As they turned to leave, Handong called out for the two, “Hold on a second!”

Minji bit her lip and involuntarily turned around. She didn’t match Yoobin’s enthusiasm about the call-back.

“You’ve got something there,” Handong said, motioning vaguely to Minji’s face.

Minji froze and immediately her hand flew to her left cheek, trying to figure out what was it that Handong saw.

The other beckoned Minji, saying, “Here, let me.”

Minji hesitantly stepped forward, while Handong leaned all the way over the counter. She reached for Minji and – took out a card from behind her ear.

Minji’s face was burning. She didn’t appreciate the fact that she had been dragged into one of Handong’s magic shows against her will. And now people were starting to watch.

“How did that get here?” Handong asked with the brightest smile on her face.

Minji didn’t answer, fidgeting with the straps of her bag.

“But look,” Handong passed her hand over the card and showed it to the small crowd that had gathered. “It’s blank!”

Minji stood still, staring at the ground. She was aware of Handong’s scribbling something on the now empty card, but didn’t look up until Handong handed her the card.

Up until that point Minji’s heart was beating too quickly. Now, it stopped. Written on the card were the words, ‘can I have your number?’

Yoobin, who was watching the show with wide eyes and a smile of admiration, nudged Minji to help her make a decision.

Minji gave into the pressure – considering that they were being watched by many people and she didn’t want to embarrass Handong in front of her audience – she wrote her number on the card.

Handong seemed proud and endlessly happy. “Fold it!” She said, not yet accepting the card back.

Minji did as told. The next request was even weirder,

“Now blow it into the air. Just like fairy dust, blow it off your palm.”

Utterly confused, Minji did this too. In the air the card turned into a bunch of flower petals and a white rose dropped onto the counter. Handong picked it up and handed it to Minji.

“Thank you,” she said with a small bow of gratitude.

As Minji took the rose, she saw that, somehow, the card was now in the pocket of Handong’s dress shirt.

She muttered a, “You’re welcome,” took Yoobin by the arm and dragged her the hell away.