The phrase wouldn't stop repeating in her ears.

"Mindeulle?!"

"Mindeulle?!"

"Where are you?!"

It was Minwoo.  It was his voice.  The voice of the man that made her anxious.  And made her heart quiver with her hands.  The man who had given her so much, had given up so much for her.  The man who had taught her to open herself to more people.  The man she left.  The man she loved.

It had been fifteen years since her mother's disappearance.  And it had been fifteen year's-worth of days that she had come to the same place to seek her mother's return.  No children came here anymore.  The spread rumor of a crazy girl living in the tunnels had made visitors infrequent and unlikely.  She was sitting in the familiar tube, the inside of its throat with her fingertips.  That's when she heard the sound: boots crunching against the snow.  She began to scramble towards the mouth of the tunnel until she heard the voice of one who was not her mother:

"Hello?" a deep, masculine voice called, permeating the crisp air with their warm breath, a white smoke emanating from their mouth. "Anyone here?"

She gave no response, pushing herself further into the tunnel.

"I heard someone was living here." the voice said, louder as a chilly wind whipped across the playground, the air whistling through the holes in the tunnel.

Again, she returned nothing.  Instead, she inched closer and closer to the mouth of the tube.  When her shoes touched the snowy ground, he turned and faced her.  He was very lean and tall, his dark hair a great contrast to the silken white snow surrounding them.  He smiled at her with a bright grin, his teeth nearly as white as the snow.  He advanced toward the yellow slide but stopped when she began scrambling back inside.

When she didn't hear his boots, she peered out and saw him take a seat on a bench a few meters from where she sat on the base of the slide.

He began asking a series of questions: "What's your name?  How old are you?  How long have you been here?", to which she gave him no response.  She merely stared at him and he stared back, an act that left her nearly breathless when his eyes caught hold on hers.  Her cheeks would redden and he would chuckle a bit, sigh, and smile.

These meetings continued for several months, and every time he would get closer and closer to where she sat.  Once he had seated himself directly in front of the mouth, his face a mere meter from hers.  When she had trusted him enough, she had let him warm her hands.  Later that month, he had asked her to move in with him.  A few days later, she hesitantly agreed.

She could hear the sound of his shoes hitting the ground, the sound echoing through the cylinder where she sat, silent as always.  She could hear the sound of his shirt as it crinkled as he sat directly in front of the slide.  He stared through the gaps in the tape and into her eyes.  His own were wet.

"Here," he spoke softly.  "You deserve to see this yourself.  I tried to hide it from you so you would stay with me.  I was selfish.  I'm so sorry."

He pulled a paper from his pocket; it crumpled slightly as his hand shook.  Her hand reached up, but she kept recoiling as if she already knew it was something bad.  Her eyes traced over the heading twice before falling to the name listed.  She dropped the paper, shaking violently with years of unshed tears.

Full name of Deceased...Song Haemin...Cause of Death...Cause of Death...Cause of Death...

Her body shook with emotion and grief.  With the resolution that had come far too late.  She lurched forward, grasping the grieving man she loved.  Held him tight around the neck, her face buried in his shoulder as she cried with the weight of loss on her small body.

"I'm so sorry, Mindeulle.  I was selfish.  But I didn't want to hurt you.  I'm so sorry.  I love you." He spoke softly as tears fell from his eyes.

She broke away from him at that moment, suddenly standing and screaming at the top of her lungs.  It was agonizing as it passed by his ears.  He knew it was his fault.  All that pain she had kept inside for so long, all coming out in a painful screech from her chest and throat.

She screamed until their was no air left in her lungs and collapsed to her knees in front of him.  Her cheeks were stained with clear trails that dripped from her chin.  He reached out for her and took her in his arms.  At that moment, muffled and quiet, uneasy and unused, a voice touched his ears:

"I don't want to be trapped in my head anymore," she whispered as she choked and cried. "It's so lonely...I've been alone in my head for so long."

He was shocked, but he hugged her tighter and she clutched to him and shuttered. "That's why you have me," Minwoo whispered quietly.