“Come on,” the young man’s fiancée urged, dragging him into a small room in the corner of her house that he had never visited before. Inside stood an altar dedicated to holding the spirit tablets of the young woman’s ancestors. In front of the altar was a table set with food and incense. He was Christian, so he didn’t believe in ancestors watching over people, but he had consented to paying his respects since the two of them were getting married in a church at his request.

Kneeling on the floor, she beckoned for him to join her. He dropped to his knees as well, and they closed their eyes and prayed for a moment. He didn’t know exact kind of words her prayers contained, but he was praying for her ancestors’ souls in heaven.

They opened their eyes, and as they were rising to their feet, he noticed a small bronze statue of a fox sitting on the table as part of the centerpiece.

“Here, too?” he asked, surprised.

His fiancée had always been obsessed with foxes for some reason, buying whatever items that she could that had the critters on them, even amassing a collection of stuffed foxes of various sizes. After learning of her love for them, he’d bought her a fox charm that she hung on her phone. She told him it reminded her of him, with its sharp snout and tiny, laughing eyes. One time she had even joked that she’d agreed to date him because he looked like a fox. At times, he almost questioned whether she was joking or serious.

“My family’s guardian animal is the fox,” she explained. “I never told you this before because, you know…” They had largely avoided the topic of religion, agreeing to disagree.

“Oh. That’s interesting.” His gaze traveled away from the fox and up to the two primary spirit tablets, the largest wooden pieces occupying the altar. “Who are they, anyway?” he asked, pointing. “Do you know?”

“Uh, that one’s the oldest ancestor we know of. He’s the founder of my family. The other one is famous for taking the civil service examinations and becoming one of King Sejong the Great’s government officials, increasing the family's social status” She shrugged. “According to my dad, I also had a female ancestor who fought off the Manchurian invasion at the time. Sounds pretty badass but seems a little bit far-fetched, I guess. We don't have records of it.”

He almost didn’t catch the tail end of what she said since for a minute, he was lost in a strange vision where he fought alongside a young woman disguised as a man who looked just like his fiancée. It seemed like a scene from a half-remembered dream, but in truth it felt more like a memory from another life, even though he didn’t believe in reincarnation.

At last, the vision ended, and he returned to the present. Smiling, he said, “I can believe it, Seolhye.”

The End.

A/N: The chapter after this is a bunch of background information about my writing process and self-reflections for this fic. You don't have to read it, but I think it's pretty informative. x)