"SO," I ASKED Taehyung after a long, uncomfortable silence, "how exactly do I get my memories back?"

When he didn't answer, I turned to look at him. How quickly the kid's confidence had fizzled. It was as if somebody had snuck up behind him and popped his big red balloon with a needle. Now the poor boy was sitting next to me on the park bench with knotted brows and a deep pout. The only sound he made was the occasional frustrated huff.

As for me, I was still scrolling through the cryptic text messages on my mobile phone, hoping that some word or phrase would trigger the smallest hint of familiarity. Who was this "Flower Boy" that some girl called Soyeon hated so much? Had I already missed my lunch with Minjee? I assumed these people were friends of sort, along with this "Jin" guy, who spent way too much time in his "Maple World," whatever that was. He kept asking me when I was going to log in again, as if it was the most important thing in the world. But it meant nothing to me. None of it did.

Sighing, I set the phone aside. It might as well belong to a stranger. 

"Maybe I should just go to the hospital," I muttered in resignation. After all, here I am, sitting next to a boy who says he's a ghost. Maybe I'm just going crazy. 

The boy next to me jerked his head around. "No," he said, horrified. "No hospitals. You can't under any circumstance go the hospital. This isn't something a doctor can fix. You didn't lose your memory because of some physical trauma or disease. Moanna, listen to me. If you go to the hospital, you'll just be stuck in a hospital bed and you'll never, ever, get your memories back."

"Never?" I didn't like the sound of that. Trapped forever in the vast, black emptiness. All alone. I felt my chest tighten at the thought. No, I couldn't go back to that, not when I had just finally escaped.

I looked around the city park, taking in all the sights and smells of a beautiful, peaceful summer day. The grass had been freshly cut, I noticed, and it was still wet from its early morning watering. When I slipped my foot out of my sandal, the prickly blades tickled my toes. It made me smile. Everything did, even the burn of the sun on the back of my neck. Had I remembered to put on sunblock? Did I even use sunblock? 

All around me, people were casually going about their day, walking, jogging, biking, some with dogs or strollers carrying small children, others glued to their mobile phones. Some seemed calm, happy. Others looked annoyed. The girl sitting on the bench across from me was quietly reading a book. When she caught me staring at her, she made a face and hid among the pages.

I felt something wet trickling down my face, but I quickly rubbed it away with my hand. I didn't want some stranger seeing me cry. Taehyung must have noticed anyway because I saw his hand moving tentatively across the bench toward mine, but strangely I never felt the comforting warmth of his flesh, just the cool summer breeze tickling my skin.

I looked down and let out a sharp gasp. His hand had melted into mine! Oh my god! I ripped my hand away and retreated to the far edge of the bench. He really is a ghost!

He withdrew his hand immediately. "Sorry," he said, biting down his lip. "Sometimes I act without thinking."

The frown on his face was heartbreaking. "No, I'm sorry," I said. "I was just surprised is all. I know you told me you were a ghost and everything, but to be honest I really didn't believe you. I just thought you were crazy."

I felt myself cringe, but surprisingly Taehyung started to chuckle. It was an easy, effortless laugh that put me at ease. "Yeah, that does sound pretty crazy, doesn't it?"

I nodded, laughing along with him, but then as the laughter started to die down, I was left with a strange feeling. I couldn't help but wonder ... "What happened to you, if you don't mind me asking?" I had tried to phrase it as delicately as I could, but still his smile fell, and he looked at me with the most haunted expression. "Do you remember?" I asked. "Or are you like me? Lost."

"I ... I ..." His deep brown eyes pierced into mine with desperation, as if they were trying to convey something his words couldn't. It lasted for only a moment, though, before he gave his head a shake and smiled. "It doesn't matter. This isn't about me. What matters most is getting your memories back."

"But—" I felt my voice cracking. "How?"

He shrugged. "I don't know exactly — I'm sorry, I really wish I did — but the answers are out there somewhere. We just have to stumble back into your life, somehow, and it'll all start to come back to you little by little. It has to! Something is bound to trigger something—"

Suddenly, a noise erupted from beside me, causing me to jump up from the bench. "What is that?" I cried, spinning around.

"It's you." Taehyung was pointing at the mobile phone I'd left on the bench. It was ringing loudly, a melody I didn't recognize. "Someone's calling you," he said. "Namjoon? Does that name sound familiar?"

I shook my head. "Not at all."

It kept ringing and ringing, and I didn't move. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. Part of me wanted to answer it, but a much larger part of me was too terrified to act. My heart was racing, my palms were sweating, and the phone just kept ringing and ringing. Eventually, Taehyung said I needed to answer it, so I mustered up all my courage and snatched the phone off the bench.

"H-Hello?" I could barely hear my voice over the pounding of my heart. "This is Moanna."

His deep voice came through so clearly it startled me.

"I know who you are, dummy." He sounded slightly annoyed, but he still managed a laugh. "Where are you? I thought I told you to wait for me."

"I'm ..." I glanced around for a sign and found nothing. "... at a park?"

"A park? Which park? The one a few blocks from your place?"

"Umm ... I'm not sure."

He sighed. "Don't move. I'm on my way." Then he abruptly hung up.

My eyes bulged as I pulled the phone away from my ear. "He's coming."

"That's good!" Taehyung leapt up from the bench. "A familiar face is just what we need to create that spark. Now we're bound to make some progress."

Despite my nerves, I nodded. "Then should I tell him?"

"No, not yet. Not until we're sure that we can trust him. You're in a very vulnerable position right now, Moanna. It'd be really easy for someone to take advantage of you, so we need to be careful about who we tell about your amnesia. Okay?"

"Okay."

 

For a good ten minutes, I stood by the park bench, waiting for someone I didn't even know. I had no idea what this guy looked like, so every single approaching man that so much as glanced in my general direction made me anxious. I kept tugging at my clothes and chewing on my lip, so much so that it had started to bleed within the first five minutes. I'd lost track of the number of times I'd smiled at a total stranger only to have them scowl at me and hurry past. It was constant humiliation and discomfort.

Taehyung certainly wasn't helping.

"Maybe that's him!" he would say, getting me all worked up. "Nope, never mind. Not him."

It was never him.

Until it was.

Honestly, I had started to give up hope by the time Namjoon actually arrived. Taehyung had stopped his scouting too, so I'd almost missed him entirely. Something had drawn my attention — something small and insignificant — and I caught sight of a young man walking toward me. His tall stature was the first thing I noticed, then his clothes. He had on baggy jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, and a backwards cap. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of large black sunglasses, so I couldn't tell if he was looking at me or not. I assumed he wasn't because he didn't seem like the kind of guy that would be looking for me.

But the man kept walking closer and closer, and then he finally spoke.

"Decided to play hooky, huh?" It was the same voice that I'd heard on the phone, deep and mature yet playful, completely unmistakable. Even his laugh sounded the same. But it didn't match the person I was looking at. "Looks like your coworkers are starting to rub off on you."

"Yeah, I guess." 

The man towered over me, his face obscured by his massively oversized sunglasses. How I wished he would just take them off. I wanted so badly to see his face. If I could just see his face, I thought, maybe something would click. Instead, I found myself gazing at the timid girl trapped within his shiny, black lenses. She was soon joined by Taehyung, who stared quizzically at the young man. He didn't seem very impressed.

"Who's this sketchy guy?" he whispered to me. "He looks like a delinquent."

"Is something wrong?" the man suddenly asked, making Taehyung and me jump. Perhaps I had been staring at him for too long. "Are you still not feeling well? Do you wanna go back home? I'm sure your manager won't mind."

I shook my head. "No, I - I feel fine. I just got distracted on my way to work. It's such a nice day and all." Laughing nervously, I quickly my heel and started walking at a brisk pace. Taehyung soon joined me. "Well, let's get going. I wouldn't wanna be late."

"That's the spirit!" Taehyung said. "Just act natural." 

We didn't make it very far before I heard Namjoon's voice behind me.

"Isn't it the other way?"

Taehyung and I stopped dead in our tracks and exchanged panicked looks. So far, we weren't off to a very good start.