4 years ago…

Arin grew fond of Jitae; he was not bad at all, and he really loved her mother and treated her well. His family, on the other hand, was a completely different story.

She was not looking forward to chuseok dinner with them.

She had only met them twice before, once at another dinner, and the second time at the wedding. Both times, they freaked her out. There was something really strange about them, especially the mother.

She was a tall and beautiful woman with perfect skin and lush black hair. Despite showing no signs of age whatsoever⁠—no wrinkles, no shrivelled lips, no white hair⁠—there was something about her that made her seem so clearly old. Perhaps it was the heavy look in her eye that could only be achieved with old age? Arin had never really put her finger on it. All Arin knew was that that woman had always sent chills down her spine.

Also, their house was weird. The walls were all black and there was purple velvet everywhere, and it was not decorated like normal houses. There were skulls and puppets and amulets and vials filled with liquids of different colors. It reminded Arin of an evil lair you’d see in movies.

“So, Arin,” Jitae’s mother had asked when all of them were at the table during dinner, “tell me, child, how do you feel about your new life?”

“Jitae is very kind,” Arin replied, “he takes care of me well. I’m very thankful.”

“Yes, our Jitae always takes care of his children,” the mother said, eyeing her son.

“He’s a very good man,” Arin affirmed honestly, looking in the direction of her stepfather, who seemed pleased.

“Thank you Arrie,” Jitae told her, smiling at her warmly. “I hope to remain a part of you and your mother’s life forever.”

Arin felt the guilt in the pit of her stomach, even though it was her mother who was supposed to be the guilty one. But her mother smiled at her husband graciously, pretending her infidelity away. Pretending that she did not betray a man who has given her everything she ever dreamed of.

Unlike her mother, it was hard for Arin to pretend everything was fine. So as Jitae was talking with her about how happy he was to be a part of their family, Arin couldn’t even look him in the eyes.

Averting her eyes was all it took for the witch to figure it all out.

-

“I… uh… I…” Arin couldn’t find the words to say. She began to pick into the folds of her nails as she stuttered and stumbled to find the right words to say.

The tenant eyed her curiously, staring at her with this unusual kind of intrigue that slightly creeped Arin out.

The young man was quite short and pale. He had curly brown hair, and large round glasses that looked too big for his face. He wore sweatpants and a t-shirt, and looked like he was busy doing something because his oversized pants were cuffed right below his knees.

“C… cat…” she managed to say. “There’s a. um… cat.”

“Oh… right, yes there’s cat. It peed all over the place,” he said, his nose scrunching.

“I’m so sorry,” Arin told him, feeling dread wash over her. Would the tenant file a complaint? Would he get angry? Did he hurt Meemo or throw her into the streets?

“Finally, you utter a coherent sentence. I was beginning to think you had a disability or something!”

Arin bit her lip. Even before the curse, she had always been a person who didn’t like to talk much and only opened up to the people closest to her. But now, being isolated everyone except Jeonghan and ~, her already-weak communication skills were weakened and were now practically non-existent. Being confronted with a new person like that so suddenly without preparation, she could barely hold a sentence without getting major anxiety.

Suddenly, Meemo appeared from between the tenant’s feet, drawn to Arin’s voice.

“Meemo!” Arin said in relief squatting to pet her cat’s head.

“Why was your cat in my apartment?” the tenant asked, crossing his arms.

Arin picked her cat up and bowed her head to him. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I was cleaning this place last night, and I forgot to take her…”

“You work here?” he asked.

“Yes sir. I am the cleaner here. I will clean the pee if you want,” Arin offered. It was then that she remembered that she was in clear violation of Jeonghan’s rule.

Arin was not allowed to talk to tenants unless Jeonghan specifically assigned her a task in their homes. “If you meet them in the lobby or on the stairs, don’t say anything to them. If they greet you, greet them back, but do not engage more than necessary. If they want to talk to you more, you tell them you’re busy and you leave, you hear?”

It was a very firm rule that Jeonghan laid from the moment he first hired her. He didn’t want her “fraternizing” with the rich people behind his back, probably because he wanted to be in complete control of her; for her to befriend a tenant would be to undermine his control because unlike Arin, who worked for him, he worked for the tenants.

In spite of the patronizing and avaricious reasons for the rule, Arin had gladly followed it because it agreed with her ambition to never learn anyone’s name ever again. It wasn’t hard to follow the rule, considering that 90% of the time, the tenants take the elevator and she took the stairs. And when she did happen to pass by one of them, they never said anything to her. Right now, this exchange with the new tenant was probably the longest one she ever had with any tenant over the past two years of working here.

“Yes, please clean the pee,” the new tenant said. His oversized glasses seemed to have gradually slipped down his nose, so he used his palm to push them back up.

She bowed to him. “I will take the cat and bring my cleaning supplies. Excuse me.”

“Wait,” he stopped her. “Tell me your name.”

Arin froze froze. No, no. She did not want to go there. No names. Not his, not her own. No names will be exchanged whatsoever. “I’ll go take my cat upstairs,” she mumbled softly, hoping he would let the question go, but he didn’t.

“And your name?” he asked again.

“I… I’d rather not say,” she replied as she turned her back to him and rushed up the stairs.

A/N: Forgive me but at this point my posting schedule has caught up with my writing, so I’m gonna have to slow down with the updates just a little! Anyways thanks for sticking by until now :)