Hyerin didn’t believe in the phony ‘magic’ of fortune tellers, and neither did Amber or Taehyung. So why they were dragging her into a fortune telling shop was completely beyond her. But perhaps it was because they were tired of hearing her complain about wanting a boyfriend, which she had to admit had become an increasing occurrence.

 

But there they were, sitting at a table across from an oddly dressed woman in an even more oddly decorated room. The oddness of everything was probably to give an authentic feel, Hyerin was sure of.

 

“Hello, my name is Dara, how can I help you three today?” The woman inquired.

 

“Our friend wants to know if she’ll get a boyfriend any time soon.” Amber said as she glared at Hyerin while Taehyung furiously nodded.

 

“Oh, a love fortune I see, these are my favorite.” The woman rubbed her hands together and placed them palm up on the table. “Place your hands on mine please.”

 

Hyerin reluctantly did so. She figured if she went along with this the faster she could get out. Once she placed her hands on Dara’s the woman began quietly chanting some words.

 

“Yes, yes, I see that you’ve been looking for love for a very long time. Well you’re in luck, it’s coming soon. I can sense that he’s close.”

 

Hyerin’s eyes widened for a second, almost in fear and peeked to her right. The woman followed her gaze to the boy with a finger up his nose and grimaced. “Not that close dear.”

 

Hyerin sighed in relief then decided to play along. “Well then, do I know him?”

 

“Not personally no, but I can sense that he goes to your school. Would you like to see him?” The woman stood up and motioned for Hyerin to follow.

 

They entered into another room where there was only a window, a telescope, and a chair. The woman led Hyerin over to the chair and told her sit, so she did.

 

“Do you believe in fate?” Dara asked Hyerin while removing the plastic cover off the telescope.

 

“No.”

 

“Ah, neither do I. But you never can be sure of what kind of things can happen in this world, right?” Dara placed a hand on the telescope and adjusted it for the girl. “If you look through this telescope you’ll see the person you’re meant to be with.”

 

Hyerin looked at the woman like she was crazy, but still she went along with it. She placed her eye to the viewfinder and looked through. All she saw was darkness with specks of light, like looking into the night sky. She moved the telescope a bit trying to see if she could find a person. But when she finally did notice something all she saw was a black mask.

 

“Do you see him?”

 

“No, I just see a mask.”

 

Dara pondered for a second, her pointer finger tapping against her chin. “Well then he must be hiding.”

 

“Hiding? Where could he be?”

 

“I’m not sure. Ah, wait!” The woman pulled out a magnifying glass from her apron and gently grabbed Hyerin’s chin. “Let me just check your eyes.”

 

She stood there for a minute or two, carefully inspecting both of Hyerin’s eyes, her face scrunched up in pure concentration. And when she was done she placed the magnifying glass back inside her apron pocket.

“Yes, just as I thought, he’s hiding in your dreams. Have you seen anyone in your dreams wearing a mask?”

 

Hyerin tried to think if she had ever seen such a thing. “No, I don’t think so.”

 

Dara simply nodded her head. “Well you can not see him because you haven’t seen him.”

 

“What is that supposed to mean?”

 

“It’s all in the eyes my dear,” the woman said as she pointed at her left eye. “Eye contact is the key.”

 

A bell sounded from the other room and Dara pulled up her sleeve to check her watch. “I have to prepare for my one o’clock appointment.” She looked at Hyerin and smiled, “my work with you seems to be done.”

 

They both went back into the main room and Dara began to usher the three out of the building. “Quick, quick, I must prepare.”

 

“Wait, how much do we owe you?”

 

“Don't worry, this one is on the house.” She said with a wink.

 

“So what happened? What did she say?” Taehyung asked once they had finally left the shop and began walking to their favorite cafe for a bite to eat.

 

“Not much, she made me look through a telescope to see the person I’m meant to be with but all I saw was a mask. Then she said something about my dreams and eyes being the key or something like that. I don’t know, this whole thing was stupid.”

 

It was a Tuesday, three days after they had gone into the fortune telling shop, and nothing eventful had happened since Hyerin had seen the fortune teller. No boys and certainly no masked people in her dreams.

 

Hyerin and Amber walked through the hall on the third floor of the school building heading to their classes. The girls’ classes were right next to each other so they stood outside chatting before the bell could ring, signaling the start of the school day. As they were talking Amber noticed three boys standing not too far down the hall. She looked over Hyerin’s shoulder to examine them. Seeing that Amber was distracted she looked behind her to see what had caught the girl’s attention.

 

“What are you looking at?”

 

Amber returned her gaze to Hyerin and answered the girl. “Those guys are staring at us.”

 

Hyerin looked where her friend was pointing and noticed the boys she had been talking about. She locked eyes with the one standing in the middle and Hyerin immediately recognized him.

 

“I know him. The one in the middle is Yoongi.”

 

“Hmm? How do you know him?” Amber gave the girl an inquisitive look.

 

“He’s in my class. He sits behind me.”

 

She then watched as he turned to the boy on his left and whispered in his ear, causing the latter to look over at the two girls and nod. Suddenly Hyerin remembered something and turned back to look at Amber.

 

“I just remembered that he approached me yesterday.”

 

“Who? That Yoongi guy?”

 

Hyerin nodded. “He said he wanted to ask me something. I didn’t get to hear what it was though since Jimin is sick and my mom wanted me to rush to the pharmacy to grab his medicine.”

 

“Huh, I wonder what he wanted to ask.”

 

Hyerin just shrugged her shoulders and once more looked back at the three boys. Her attention was brought to the fidgeting boy to Yoongi’s right. He looked up at her, feeling that he was being stared at, and gave a small wave. Hyerin was unsure what to do in that situation, she didn’t know the boy and yet he was waving at her. So she hesitantly raised her hand and gave a short wave back, causing the boy to smile.

 

It was then that the morning bell rang and students that were left lingering in the halls rushed into their classrooms. The two girls also headed to their own classes, but not before a quick “see you at lunch”.

 

Yoongi was the last to enter the room, and Hyerin watched the boy make his way to the desk behind her. She was curious as to why he had been looking at her earlier but decided not to say anything.

 

Ten minutes into class and Hyerin found it difficult to keep her eyes open. She had been up late the night before tending to her annoying brother that had still not gotten over his cold. The girl laid her head down, hoping the teacher wouldn’t notice, and closed her eyes.

 

Just five minutes, she thought to herself.

 

Hyerin held onto the metal pole in front of her as she sat on the horse that slowly moved up and down making its way around, and listened as the soft music of the carousel played in her ears. It was the second lap around, and Hyerin still wore a smile on her face like that of a child. It was a bit ridiculous, she thought, for a teenager to be excited about riding on a carousel, but she just sat there and enjoyed it anyways.

 

Around and around the carousel went, never seeming like it would come to an end, and yet Hyerin’s smile remained. The carousel was colored in beautiful pastels. All of the horses were a pearly white with manes of varying colors and decorated with many types flowers. Even the saddles and sashes were colored beautifully.

 

But she then saw a peculiar thing in front of her, something that stood out from the gentle colors, a person dressed all in black. They seemed to have noticed that she was looking at them, she watched as they slid off of the horse they were perched on and began walking away from her. Curious, she hopped down and made her way forward. She jogged a bit hoping to catch up to the person but didn’t seem to find them. Hyerin went the whole way around and there was absolutely no one to be found. Then an idea popped into her head to go the other way, surely they would meet then.

 

She went around the carousel once and hadn’t seen the person at all. Which didn’t make sense to her because surely they would have ran into each other by now. A tapping of feet against the floor came from the direction she had just come from, so she rushed back. And around she went once again. As she was to make another lap around she no longer found herself on the carousel surrounded by the horses and gentle music.

 

Hyerin was now in a large red and white tent with a new sort of music booming throughout. The girl found herself in the middle of a circus, bright lights trained on her, and crowds of faceless people looking on at the girl. She went to walk away out of the spotlight but a girl, obviously the ring leader, stopped and spoke to her.

 

“Welcome young lady, are you excited for the show?”

 

“Amber? Is that you?” She was baffled to find one of her friends dressed in such ridiculous attire.

 

“Well since you’re our special guest we reserved a seat for you.”

 

The other girl brought her over to a comfortable looking chair, very unlike the hard wooden benches the rest of the crowd sat on. The ringleader carefully pushed Hyerin down to sit in the chair and left to begin the show. To be honest, Hyerin was quite giddy to see the acts that were to be performed, as she had never been to a circus before.

 

The show began with the usual circus introduction which was then followed by two harlequins, one male and the other female, riding out on unicycles while juggling pins that lit up with bright colors. They circled around the ring a few times, once changing to a new bike in which they shared. The man pedaled the bicycle while the woman stood on the handlebars, still juggling the pins. She then went to stand on the man’s shoulders, pins still spinning through the air. Their act ended when the woman did a backflip off of the man, landing perfectly on her feet. A quick bow from the two and they were running off behind some curtains across the tent from where the audience sat.

 

Next came the trapeze artists, performing death defying stunts fifty feet off the ground. At first there was only one person, a man, swinging and flipping from one bar to another. Then a second person, a woman, was introduced. Another woman came in, bringing the number of people to three. Hyerin looked on in horror and fascination, occasionally covering her eyes when she was sure one of them was about to fall. She heard the oohs and ahhs and the gasps of the crowd as they did the same. It was amazing that three people were able to work together on the swings above, gliding easily through the air, having no trouble holding on to each other.

 

After the trapeze artists was the horse trainer. A young girl, not much older than Hyerin, rode out on a magnificent white horse. She showed off her skills by standing atop the animal and switching to a handstand as the horse walked around the ring. She occasionally switched from two hands to one then back to two. The girl then brought the horse through a series of hoops and performing amazing tricks for the crowd. The girl brought the horse to stand on its back legs, then had it walk up onto a platform. She climbed up onto it while another hoop was brought in front of them. The girl waved to the crowd as she and the horse went through the hoop and disappeared, not coming out of the other side.

 

The tightrope walker came after, with a young woman climbing up the ladder to the high wire. Once at the top, the woman took her first step onto the thin rope. The first couple of steps were a bit shaky but she continued to move along with ease. The audience watched with bated breath, the tent growing quiet except for the music playing from the small orchestra. Shoulders relaxed a bit as the woman reached the halfway point. But as she placed her next foot forward she lost her balance and began to fall.

 

Hyerin covered her eyes and let out a small scream along with the shocked gasps and yells of the audience. But then thunderous applause erupted from the spectators, causing Hyerin to move her hands from her face. She peered up to see that the tightrope walker still had her feet firmly planted to the rope, but this time she was upside down.  And not only was she upside down but walking backwards as well, towards the opposite end of the rope. Hyerin’s eyes sparkled with childlike wonder as she watched the young woman, giggles bubbling up from at the sight above her.

 

Once the tightrope walker reached the end and brought herself right side up she pulled an umbrella out of nowhere then bowed. And as soon as she opened it the girl burst into hundreds of flower petals that rained down upon the circus ring. A few of the petals, before reaching the floor, turned into people that ran around and gathered into a group. They then started to climb each other one by one until they formed a pyramid.

 

The group went on to move around in extraordinary shapes and patterns, their bodies bending in ways that didn't seem possible for a human; while some others remained on the floor, twirling and dancing around.

 

It was almost hypnotizing to watch. No one could tear their eyes away from the spectacle. The performers moved well together, almost like water, as they moved through the carefully practiced routine. Hyerin was amazed at how they had the strength to easily climb and hold each other up, she couldn’t imagine being able to hold up another human being in such ways as they were. The act finally ended when all performers feet touched the floor and formed into a mist before disappearing altogether.

 

The show went on for a while, with Hyerin clapping and smiling at all the performances. She had completely forgotten about the person she had seen earlier on the carousel. That was until now when she noticed them sitting in the stands among the rest of the crowd of people.

 

It looked to be a boy around her age, she couldn’t tell by his face as he was wearing a black mask, but his clothing gave him away. And even though he wore a mask she could tell that he wasn’t looking at the performers but rather at her. Hyerin stood up from her seat and watched as the boy did the same. They both stood there for a couple seconds until the girl took a step forward, and then the masked boy took off, pushing his way through the rows of people.

 

As Hyerin took another step forward two girls in elaborate sparkling costumes approached her and pulled the girl to the center ring. Amber, the ringleader, then announced that their special guest was going to be a part of the final act. Hyerin tried to get away, not wanting to be in any sort of performance, and also because she wanted to find the boy.

 

The magician went on with his routines before getting to the last one. Hyerin was pushed into a large box and then the door was closed. She listened to the magician speak, announcing to the audience that he was about to make her disappear, then spoke his final words. When the door opened Hyerin stepped out into another room. She peered around noticing the many costumes, and figured it to be a backstage room where the performers got dressed.

 

Hyerin knew the show had ended by the applause that exploded from the audience, but another sound, one much closer, had stole her attention. Hyerin spun around in the direction where she heard glass shattering and watched as the masked boy ran through the curtain to outside of the tent. The girl slowly made her way over, careful not to step on any glass, and pulled the curtain open. She brought her arm up to shield her eyes from the bright light then stepped through.

 

The loud ringing of a bell pulled Hyerin out of her sleep, causing her head to shoot up from where it had been laying. A snort and snickering came from behind her so she turned around to find the culprit.

 

Yoongi sat with his arms crossed resting against his desk. He couldn’t hold back his smile from what he had just witnessed in front of him.

 

“What are you laughing at?” Hyerin squinted her eyes at the boy, not at all amused.

 

He just rolled his eyes and laughed again. “You, obviously.”

 

Hyerin was about to retort but was cut off by her teacher clearing their throat.

 

“Miss Park, the next class is about to begin, do you mind paying attention?”

 

The girl simply nodded and returned her attention to the front of the class, not wanting to get in trouble. She then felt as something slid under her elbow that she had propped up on top of her desk. Pulling the piece of paper toward her she quickly unfolded it.

 

Are you dating anyone?

 

Hyerin’s face grew red at the words scribbled on the paper, then she spun around to look at the boy that had slipped it to her. But she found that he was busy writing down notes in his notebook and he paid no attention whatsoever to the confused girl in front of him. Hyerin turned back towards the front and wrote her reply.

 

No

 

She threw the note behind her then heard the scratching of pen against paper and the note was once again passed to her. She unfolded it to read what had been written below her previous reply.

 

Is there anyone that you like?

 

Her face flushed again, and she wondered why he was asking her these things.

 

No. Why do you care?

 

Hyerin then scrunched up the note, turned around, and tossed it at Yoongi’s face. He scowled and glared at her for a second, watching as she stuck her tongue out at him and turned back around.

 

She sat there impatiently waiting for a reply, but it never came. Classes went on with no answer from the boy. When the bell rang for lunch Hyerin went to question Yoongi but saw that he was rushing out of the door. She just sighed, confused as to why he would ask such a thing.

 

Hyerin was brought out of her thoughts to a boy calling out to her.

 

“Come on Hyerin, it’s time for lunch.”

 

“Shut up Tae, I already know.”

 

Hyerin and her friends sat at their usual table eating their lunch. The two girls listened as Taehyung complained about school and homework, and how he had absolutely no time to do fun things, which they knew was a lie. The boy dedicated his time to playing video games and definitely not his homework.

 

Amber, looking over at Hyerin, noticed the strange look on her face and asked if there was something wrong. This stopped Taehyung from his one sided conversation and brought his attention the girl.

 

Hyerin sighed and looked at the other girl. “Yoongi asked me a weird question.”

 

“Wait, who’s Yoongi?” asked Taehyung.

 

“Someone in her class, now shut up.”

 

The boy glared at Amber but focused back to Hyerin.

 

“He asked if I’m dating anyone.”

 

“Oooooohh!” Taehyung shouted out causing other students from the tables around them to stare at the group of three. Amber reached across the table and smacked the boy, effectively shutting him up. Or so the two girls thought.

 

“Maybe he likes you.” The boy jumped up from his seat and ran out of the lunch room before he could get hit again, laughing the whole way out. Both Hyerin and Amber glared in his direction, reminding themselves to punish the obnoxious boy later on.

 

“I hate to say it Hyerin, but maybe Tae is right.”

 

“Oh not you too!”

 

“Well, why else would he ask?”

 

“I don’t know. Ugh… Why is everything so weird today?”

 

Amber gave her a questioning tilt of her head but Hyerin just waved it off, obviously not wanting to talk about it. Seeing that that particular conversation was over, they began talking about other things, like what they planned to do on the weekend. And although they were in the midst of speaking to each other, all Hyerin could think about was the strange boy in her dream and the incident with Yoongi.