Return

            No one else believed me when I said that Ryeowook had saved me, aside from Siwon, Eunhyuk, and Donghae.  Everyone else figured I was hallucinating.  I’d somehow managed to pull myself out of the water, climbed the stairs, started a fire, took off my clothes, and called Eunhyuk by myself.  I mean, that sounded more unbelievable to me than a ghost helping me.  Thankfully, I didn’t tell too many people that version of the story.  The police believed that I’d been hit in the head by an assailant, fell into the water, and managed to reach the house before suffering from the effects of the hypothermia and concussion.  I left the story at that.

            The nurses were so happy that I’d recovered, they were in tears as I was leaving the hospital.  Eunhyuk picked me up late in the afternoon.  It was the first time I’d seen him alone since I’d driven him to Donghae’s house and I finally asked him what was going on between him and his ex.  He explained that Donghae stopped by shortly after I’d dropped him off on the night of the attack.  They hadn’t seen or spoken to each other in a while and, being forced around each other for the first time after such a long absence, it brought a lot of feelings to the surface for both of them.

            Donghae was still at his house when he got the mysterious call from my cellphone and he didn’t want Eunhyuk to go alone, in case there was danger.  Eunhyuk was worried that I was in danger, so he didn’t refuse the help.  When they arrived at the house, they knew something was wrong.  The headlights to the car were on and the door to the driver’s side was open.  I hadn’t left them like that.  Ryeowook must have done that when getting the cellphone out of my car.  It would immediately alert someone to a possible struggle.  When they walked into the house, they immediately found me lying in the living room, cold to the touch, but alive. 

            I asked if they were reconciling.  Eunhyuk wasn’t sure how to answer me.  He claimed that they hadn’t officially discussed it, but they had been spending a lot of time together, since the day we’d gone to see him. 

            I had too much time to think when I was in the hospital.  I kept replaying the events of the day of the attack in my head.  I replayed the conversations I’d had with Donghae and Yesung, trying to figure out if I’d missed anything important that would help the police.  But mostly, I thought of Ryeowook.  He’d vanished before Eunhyuk and Donghae reached my house that night and I wasn’t sure if he just didn’t want to be seen by them or if he could only stay for a limited time.  Perhaps he wouldn’t be there when I got back.  A sense of dread hit me whenever I thought of never seeing Ryeowook again.  But thankfully, that wasn’t the thought that often found me the most distracted.  It was the kiss.  I replayed Ryeowook kissing me, over and over, in my head.  He’d only done it to save my life, but I hoped that it wouldn’t be the only time I ever got to kiss him.

            I felt unsettled until Eunhyuk dropped me off.  Would Ryeowook still be there?  I rushed out of the car the moment Eunhyuk pulled up to the house, quickly thanking him, but not inviting him in.  Since I wasn’t sure if Ryeowook would willingly appear in front of him, I didn’t want him in the house.  After he drove off, I nervously walked to the back of my house, looking around.  The sun had almost set and the area around the house was dark.  It would be hard to see someone sneak up on me.  I should have been worried that Yesung would return to the house, but I kept thinking about Ryeowook instead.

            I unlocked the door and cautiously opened it.  “Honey, I’m home!” I called out, walking into the kitchen. 

            There was no response.

            A bowl full of cookies sat on the kitchen counter.  Sungmin and Saeun had looked over my house while I was in the hospital and he told me that his wife had made some treats for my return.  I walked over and picked up a couple, eating them right away.  I’d had nothing but hospital food for the last week.  It was awful.  If that wasn’t the best motivation to live a healthy life, to avoid further hospitalization, I didn’t know what was.

            The first room I walked into was the music room.  It looked the same as it had when I’d left it last.  Ryeowook’s iris was still standing, which meant that my neighbors were better about watering plants than I was.  Then I headed into the living room.  Someone had picked up all the clothes and blankets around the room.  The only proof of the night I’d nearly drowned were the new ashes in the fireplace. 

            The sun was setting and I made my way upstairs to shower.  For the first couple days I was in the hospital, all I did was sleep.  But once I began to recover, only the medications they gave me helped me to sleep.  Once the drugs wore off, it was nearly impossible to stay asleep.  If you could get around the hardness of the mattress, you still had to be able to sleep through all the noise and nurses checking in on you, in the middle of the night.  I would probably pass out early and sleep in late, just to recover from the lack of sleep.

            I headed up the stairs and walked through the second level, but again, there wasn’t a single sign of my ghost.  I should have known there wouldn’t be.  It had only been a week since the full moon.  He seemed to only make an appearance around then.

            I took a long shower, letting the hot water warm my skin.  I don’t know why, but I immediately compared it to the coldness of the lake.  Even the thought of it made me feel cold and I shivered a little, moving more directly under the stream of hot water.  I would have died if Ryeowook hadn’t pulled me out of the water.  I also would have died if he hadn’t helped me into the house and called Eunhyuk.  I was so close to death, the whole time he was with me, it really could have gone either way for me.

            A new thought had hit me, a few days ago, when I was lying in my hospital bed.  What if Ryeowook could only appear in front of me because I’d been close to dying?  What if that was the only time I would ever get to speak to him?  What if that was the only reason he’d been able to touch me?  I thought this over at length, standing in the shower, until my skin began to wrinkle and turn pink.  Then I exited the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist.  I walked over to the sink and began to wipe the steam off the mirror.  As I did, I suddenly saw a face reflected back at me from over my shoulder.  I screamed. 

            “Sorry!”

            I recognized Ryeowook’s voice immediately, but that didn’t stop my heart from beating hard in my chest.  I cursed under my breath and turned around to face him.

            Just one look at him took my breath away.  He was wearing different clothes than when I’d seen him last.  He wore a dark blue sweater over a light blue button-down shirt with blue jeans.  His dark brown hair was teased and hung down into his eyes.  His complexion was perfect.  I thought he would look paler, being a ghost.  I also thought ghosts glowed, but in a sense, he was glowing.  He was much, much more attractive than any picture I’d ever seen of him. 

            “Did I scare you?”

            My brows rose.  “You snuck up on me!  What do you think?”

            Ryeowook grinned at me and leaned back against the wall of the bathroom.  “Isn’t that what ghosts are supposed to do?”

            “Why are you coming into the bathroom to see me?” I asked, turning back towards the mirror.  “Trying to catch a peek of me ?”

            “I’ve already seen you ,” he reminded me.

            “You didn’t answer my question,” I said, grabbing my comb and running it through my hair. 

            “You left a week ago.  I was worried that you’d died and would never come back.  When I heard the water running upstairs, I got curious, and thought I’d see who was here,” he replied.

            “You didn’t hear me walk in?”

            “The sun just set a couple minutes ago.”

            I walked over to the window and pulled the curtain away.  The sky had grown darker since I’d returned home and the sun had set.  “Are you only able to come out in the dark?”

            Ryeowook nodded.

            I walked over towards him.  “Then why do you only play music on the night of the full moon?” I asked, stopping short of him.  If he was intimidated by my nearness, he didn’t show it.  He just looked up at me.  “What else aren’t you telling me?”

            He just stood there, still as a statue, staring at me.

            “Why can I hear you when no one else can?” I asked him, recalling what he’d told me before calling Eunhyuk.

            “I don’t know,” he said.  “Maybe it’s because you own the house.”

            I shook my head.  “I don’t think that’s it,” I said, moving closer and reaching for his shoulder.  But when I tried to touch him, my hand went through him.  “What the hell?  Why can’t I touch you?”

            Ryeowook gave me a pointed look.  “I’m a ghost.  Remember?”

            “But you had your hands all over me the day that I almost drowned!  Why can’t I touch you now?” I asked, getting irritated about it.

            “I don’t know what yo