http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qv6BfR_6lk

 

“I should be angry at you because you got me into trouble.” You said. “But at the same time, you also helped me to find things out. My brother loves me, he really does. He doesn’t tell me about the adopted child part, but I’m just so grateful to find him care to me more than anyone else in this world. My parents didn’t know about me missing. My brother didn’t tell them anyways.”

The fortune teller lady just nodded without plastered any expression on her face. “So, are you angry at me?”

“I can’t say that. Maybe I am, but I’m not that angry at you.” you replied.

“Such a good girl.” She smirked.

“Do you always give people chocolate milk and make them turn into cats?” you asked carefully.

“Oh, no, young lady, no.” she answered. “Do you think I have much time to do it?” she looked annoyed.

You shook your hand. “I don’t mean that!”

She snorted. “Anything you want to ask?”

You were confused how she could know that you wanted to ask something, but then you said. “About the footprints. Why should I follow them? They led me to meet a guy. I mean, the owner of the footprints is a guy. So, why should I meet him?”

She stared at you. “Oh, you want to know?”

“Yes.” You nodded. “Can you tell me?”

“I just can tell you that he just led you to another footprint.”

“Another footprint? W-what?”

“Oh, right. Footprints you see are the property of those who are related to you, past and future.”

She likes to play with clues, you thought. “What do you mean?”

 “Oh, you will know it pretty soon.”

 

 

“Oh, hi, Myungsoo!”

 Myungsoo smiled a little to a guy who was walking toward him. He was Jang Dongwoo. He smiled brightly and cheerfully when he saw Myungsoo coming. He was always cheerful and he smiled a lot. Myungsoo rarely met and talked to Dongwoo, everyone is busy, remember? He was bit uncertain to come here and ask for his help.

Dongwoo shook Myungsoo’s hand. “Long time no see you, Neighbor!” he laughed.

“Yeah, I think so.” Myungsoo replied simply.

“What brings you here?” Dongwoo asked directly. “Is there anything I can help?” he blinked and glanced at Myungsoo’s tall friend, Sungyeol, who was busy interrupting some corps investigation on some fighting high schoolers.

“Yeah, a bit.” He rubbed the back of his head. He got confused to see all the police were busy. Seems that many cases come to them this week. Some of them were busy typing some statements from some people who got into trouble (it was like case about robbing) and the others looked busy bringing some high schoolers who got into fights. Myungsoo shook his head. No kidding the police station was co crowded today.

Myungsoo gave Dongwoo a paper of missing Kimi. Dongwoo took the paper with confused expression written in his face.

“I lost…my cat.” Myungsoo said. “Someone has stolen it.”

“Oh, really?” Dongwoo looked shocked. “When was its missing?”

“It was about a week.” Myungsoo said.

“Oh, so you’re the one who called the police about a missing cat a week ago?” Dongwoo asked, a bit looked surprised. “I’ve read the report but I didn’t know that the cat is yours. Well, last week I was in Busan. I was in, yeah, a trip, with my partner, Howon.” He pointed a guy who was busy writing some reports, the one who had sharp eyes. That Howon guy glanced at both Dongwoo and Myungsoo for some seconds before he was busy with his works again. He looks cold tough, Myungsoo thought.

“Can you help me to find my cat?” Myungsoo looked at Dongwoo. Missing Kimi just made him frustrated. He wanted to find it as soon as possible. He knew the police was still looking for it (they even promised him they would find Kimi), but he could not wait any longer. He then decided to ask help from Dongwoo. He believed that Dongwoo would find Kimi for him.

“Of course I will help you, Myungsoo neighbor! Don’t worry! My other partners already gave you a visit, right? They said the CCTV in your floor didn’t work at that time so they had no clue about the thief. I will take the reports from them and try to solve this case. We will find your cat soon!”

Myungsoo just nodded then he gave Dongwoo his laptop. He asked Dongwoo to check the fingerprints. Myungsoo was anxious that he wanted to tell Dongwoo about the girl he met some hours ago, the girl who had a silver infinity bracelet around her wrist. It was not a problem if that girl didn’t have the same bracelet as Kimi’s. The problem was the girl got it. Where did she get it? He was pretty sure that the bracelet was a limited edition. Did the employee lie at him? The bracelet was not the only one? It could be, but was it true?

Myungsoo kept the fact as a secret that he must figure it out himself.

 

 

You just headed out from your office. Yes, you worked like you usually did. You worked in a music course as piano teacher. Everyone felt curious when you were missing. Everyone thought that you would never come back. But they were happy to know you came back, especially your students. They all loved you though, that made you happier. Being loved, it was the most beautiful thing in the world.

You felt hungry as you realized that it was already lunch time. You gave your brother, Sunggyu, a ring. You wanted to have lunch with him. Then you two decided to go to a restaurant which was his friend’s. You have gone there two weeks ago and you really liked the food. You walked slowly, looking around, enjoying the fine Wednesday noon. You hummed some random songs which have been practiced this morning. You felt so happy. You were smiling to yourself, remembering your students, as you saw a guy in black coat walking in the opposite direction as you. You widened your eyes. It was Kim Myungsoo. Where is he going? You didn’t expect that you would meet him again after two weeks. You two exchanged glances. He looked at you intently, with that cold stare you’ve been familiar with. He was like digging some holes in your face with his stares. You hurriedly looked away. Your heart beat faster without you knowing. When he walked passed you, you felt a bit relief. You didn’t understand why you were so nervous. You had told yourself to be honest with him if you met him again. You wanted to tell him everything, and said thanks as well. But it wasn’t that easy, was it? Now you two met again and you couldn’t tell anything to him. It was too sudden, you thought. You still couldn’t get some right words.

You were still thinking about how to tell him the truth as you felt someone grabbed your wrist and made you turning around.

It was him.

You widened your eyes in shock. What is this guy doing?

“P-pardon me. What are you doing?” You said to him. He did hold your hand tightly. He ignored you. He just stared at you straight into your eyes. It made you remember the staring contest you two have done few months ago. You looked away. His stare somehow was too cold. You couldn’t stand it. You tried to release his grip from your wrist, but it was no use. You were panicked at his sudden and weird action as you saw some people around you looking at you both interestedly and curiously.

“Agassi,” he tried to speak,”do you know me?”

You blinked. Why is he asking that, all of sudden?

“I don’t know you.” you replied, lying. He narrowed his eyes, seems that he didn’t believe you.

“Really? You don’t know me?”

“No, I don’t know you.” you said firmly. “Could you please let go of my hand?” you, once again, tried to release your hand from his grip. He stubbornly held your hand even tighter. You frowned.

“Why do you seem to know me?” he said seconds later. “Why did you stare at me with those stares? Your stares look like you know me, and you’re afraid of something.”

Your eyes widened even wider. Your heart was thumping and you lost your breaths. You were dead surprised. The guy in front of you just did nothing. He glanced at your wrist and then he asked

“Where did you get this bracelet, Agassi? Are you the one who stole my cat?”

 

 

Look at her expression.

She was dead shocked. Her face turned pale. Myungsoo was sure that this girl was the one who has stolen Kimi. He decided to spy on her since he came to the police station. His curiosity that made him started to spy on her. It was too weird, but yeah, he did spy on her. Luckily he still saved the paper from the tiny eyes guy whose sister was missing about four months ago. She was the missing sister. Myungsoo was pretty sure that she really was. He got her brother’s phone number and address. He felt he was like a real detective when he came to the address and asked some people who lived near the guy’s house. He got some important information about their parents who lived abroad and the guy and his little sister lived together with their cousin. Myungsoo even got her name and where she worked. That’s why he could meet her on this fine Wednesday noon.

He needed to ask her something, that’s why he needed to meet her.

“Where is my cat, Agassi?” Myungsoo asked her. He didn’t care about her face turning pale. He didn’t care with all frightened expression on her face. All he cared for was Kimi. He needed to find it as soon as possible. This girl should tell him where Kimi was because he was dead curious.

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.” she said as she looked away. Myungsoo didn’t get it why this girl always avoided to stare at him in the eyes. She must hide something from him. She must be having a truth to tell. She must be having something which was a mistake, that she has stolen his cat. Myungsoo couldn’t stop thinking about those possibilities.

“This bracelet, where did you get this? I’m sure not many people got this kind of bracelet because it was a limited product. Can I say that there’s only one person in the world who got this?” he pointed at the bracelet. He stared at her coldly. “Where is my cat?”

“Get off!” she tugged his hand.

Myungsoo didn’t let her. “Where is my cat, Agassi? The one who has this bracelet is only my cat. Where is it?”

“I don’t know anything about your cat!” she yelled. “Now let me go!”

This time Myungsoo released his grip from her hand. She breathed in and out, looked at him with teary eyes before she walked fast, leaving him. He couldn’t give up easily, could he? He was sure she knew where Kimi was. He couldn’t let her go.

He followed her to a restaurant. There was a guy waiting for her in there. It was her brother, the guy with tiny eyes. Her brother looked confused to find him following her. She got confused as well. She didn’t know that Myungsoo followed her.

“Who are you?” her brother asked, when he saw him sitting across him, next to her.

“Me?” Myungsoo glanced at her. “I’m her friend.” He lied. He didn’t know why he lied. Those words came out naturally from his mouth.

“No, he’s not.” she said hurriedly while glancing at Myungsoo. “Why are you here? I’ve told you I didn’t know anything!” She stubbornly said. She looked annoyed.

“I still got many questions to ask, you know.” Myungsoo rolled his eyes. The one who had the right to get annoyed was him, was it right? That girl wasn’t that cooperative to tell him. Actually he was still curious, he was sure that the girl was the thief. He needed to know.

Her brother blinked. “Seriously, who is he?” he asked her.

“I don’t know him, Oppa.” She replied her brother. She looked at Myungsoo with please-leave-I-really-don’t-know-about-your –cat stare.

Since Myungsoo still needed to ask her and didn’t want to let her go, he made another white lie.

“You said earlier you wanted to introduce me to your Oppa. Now you said you didn’t know me. Why did you do that?” Myungsoo said, pretending that he was hurt and annoyed. But actually he was, and now he was making another act in front of her brother. She looked shock.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, quite panic.

“Hey, who is he, Dongsaeng? Is he your boyfriend?” her brother looked interested in this dialogue of theirs.

“No, Oppa!” she replied quickly in panic. Myungsoo just smiled in victory when she turned around and stared at him with a death glare.

Her brother giggled. He looked at Myungsoo with tiny eyes of his. “Hey, I think I’ve met you before. Your face kinda familiar for me.”

Myungsoo smiled a little, a polite one. “I think we’ve met about few months ago. I remembered you. You gave me a paper about your missing little sister.” He replied.

“Ah, right! I remember now! You’re the one who brought a cute cat with you that time, right?” her brother looked excited. Myungsoo glanced at her and he didn’t get it why she turned pale as white as a paper.

“Yeah. And this time I lost my cat.” He said honestly.

Her brother looked surprised. “Oh, really? How could that happen?”

“Somebody just stole it from me.” he emphasized the first word, while glancing at her. She was frozen in her chair and didn’t say anything.

“Anyway, I asked for help from your sister. She said she wanted to help me.” Myungsoo said once again as a waiter came to their table.

 

 

“Leave me alone! I need to work!” you yelled at Myungsoo as he kept following you wherever you went. It was really annoying.

“You haven’t answered my questions.” He said. “If you avoid me like this, it just means that you know where my cat is.” He added.

“I don’t know anything!” you yelled in frustration.

“Liar.” He stared at you with his familiar cold stare. “Don’t try to hide anything from me. Where is Kimi? Why did you steal it?”

You were bit shivering when you heard he mentioned name ‘Kimi’. You sighed. You really wanted to tell him everything, but before you did it, he accused you to steal Kimi. Kimi was you and you were Kimi. How could you explain to him?

“Did you keep Kimi in your house? Or you have sold it to other people? Don’t tell me you killed it to get that bracelet.” Myungsoo got more suspicious.

Oh dear, this guy. He kept thinking that you stole the cat. You didn’t know what to say and kept walking to your office. He then grabbed your hand and made you turning around to face him. You gulped to see he stared at you in the eyes. You both stared for some seconds. He mesmerized you. You felt your heart racing. You could see loneliness, longing, in his eyes. Did he really feel lonely when he lost Kimi? Did he really miss Kimi?

“Where is it?” he asked once again.

You shook your head. “I-I don’t know.”

“You must know about it. You must know about Kimi. If you don’t, you wouldn’t have that bracelet with you.” he looked down at your wrist.

You breathed in and breathed out, insecure. “Someone gave me this.” you saw Myungsoo’s face brightened up.

“Who is it?”

You

At last you kept your mouth shut. You didn’t dare to look in his eyes anymore. You looked down at the ground.

“Now you don’t want to tell me who gave you this bracelet? Are you lying to me?” you heard cold tone from him. You looked up and shook your head hurriedly. You couldn’t do anything since he was too suspicious to you. Myungsoo stared at you coldly. “I know you’re lying. I know it’s you who stole Kimi from me.”

What? Oh dear, he’s really got a suspicious mind!

“Tell me how you stole it from my house.” Myungsoo dragged you to go to his apartment. After a month, you came back to this house. It somehow made you remember the time you spent here. And as always Myungsoo’s flat was kind of messy. He doesn’t clean this house up? You thought. You glanced at him who was looking at you. You were surprised and then looked away.

“My flat is kind of messy. Sorry.” He said to you.

You have known about it. He didn’t change, he still let his flat messy and he was too lazy to clean up. You couldn’t forget every 30 minutes in midnight you did cleaning up. Seems like he didn’t know anything about that cleaning up thing, you thought. You felt relief but also worried. He kept looking at every move you did. You didn’t like it the way he stared at you. You knew he’s got suspicious mind. You knew he didn’t trust you. You two went silent for some minutes. He was like wait you to say something, to tell him how you steal his ‘cat’. He was sitting in the sofa while gluing his eyes to you. Since he didn’t tell you to take a seat, you just stood like an idiot in front of the balcony door. You looked outside and saw the skyline. You always liked the view from this balcony. You then heard him moving and mumbling. You glanced at him. You were surprised to see him widening his eyes.

“I’ve seen this sight before…” he said as he stood. His eyes widened in horror. “In a night…I’ve seen you…in front of that balcony door.” he shook his head.

You were frozen.

“How could you be there? How could you be in my house?”

Even he’s not going to believe, you had no choice besides telling him the truth.

 

Now Myungsoo knew the truths. He knew everything, not only about where Kimi was, but also about weird things happened in his flat in three months. He always felt that weird that he found his flat clean while he never cleaned up. But now he knew the answers. This girl, the girl sitting in front of him now, has told him everything. Myungsoo couldn’t easily accept the facts he already heard. He never believed in such things, how could be a girl turns into a cat? It was hard to believe, wasn’t it? He still couldn’t believe that Kimi, his cat, was the girl in front of him. Yeah, it was hard to believe.

“I’m sorry for breaking your door.” she said, she glanced at his door. Her face was full of regrets. Myungsoo didn’t say a word, he didn’t know what to say. He glued his eyes to her. “And I’d like to say thank you because of you, I’ve met my brother again.” Myungsoo face lightened up when she also told him about her brother and a weird fortune teller lady she met in carnival. She as well told him about footprints, his golden footprints and another footprint she needed to find. Other facts which I cannot believe easily, Myungsoo thought. He stared at her and she looked like worried. Even she looked that worried, seemed that she had decided to tell him the truths even he’s not going to believe.

She suddenly got up. Myungsoo blinked and got up as well. She looked at him with restless stare, then she looked down at her wrist. She unchained the bracelet and she quickly took Myungsoo’s hand. It felt like an electric shock when her hand touched his. Myungsoo felt his heart beating faster. He felt butterflies in his stomach as he felt her hand touching his skin. He felt her fingertips. He remembered he even played with Kimi’s hands and always touched its fingertips. Myungsoo didn’t get it why it felt so nice to have her fingerprints touched his hand. She directly gave him the bracelet.

“I know I’m not worth to have this. I never thought it’s mine anyways.” She laughed weakly. “It’s yours, and always be. I just return it to you.”

Myungsoo was dumbfounded. He still didn’t say a word as she walked toward the door. Myungsoo turned and stared at her. He didn’t know what he felt about what had happened, all the facts he hardly believed. It was like he would lose Kimi for twice, but he should believe that the girl wasn’t Kimi. She’s not his cat and never going to turn back into cat, but he still wanted to have her here, with him. It was all weird to have such feeling. It was weird to have his heart beating faster for her. It was weird without him knowing, he walked up to her,

“Wait!”

She turned around. She blinked in confusion as Myungsoo grabbed her hand and chained the bracelet around her wrist. She looked surprised.

“I’ve given you this, I never take it back. It’s yours,” he sighed,”Kimi.”

She widened her eyes. “But—“

“It’s yours.”

They two went silent for some minutes and right then he found her smiling. This was the second time for him to find her smiling. It was so beautiful, her smile was so beautiful. It made Myungsoo had more butterflies in his stomach. It was so mesmerized him. Once again, he didn’t get it why he felt such feeling.

“Thank you.” he heard she thanked him.

Myungsoo rubbed the back of his head nervously with his other hand. “Don’t mention it.” They two went silent again. Then Myungsoo just realized that he was still holding her hand. They stared at each other eyes for some seconds and at last he spoke up,”I’ll take you home.”

 

“I’ll take you home.”

Still holding your hand, Myungsoo guided you to exit his flat. It was strange to feel his hand in yours. It felt strange and nice at the same time. You liked it the way he held your hand. He made you feel safe. It was also a relief that Myungsoo could take all your stories. He seemed like didn’t believe it, but eventually he understood. He, as you’ve expected, didn’t say much words. Sometimes he was too cold. But you knew he was a nice guy. You were surprised to see him giving the bracelet back to you. His touch in your hand made you nervous and you didn’t understand why your heart pounding. All this time when you were with him, you heart didn’t stop pounding.

You two didn’t say a word, even when he tried to lock his door. You heard another door unlocked. You turned around and saw two guys next door.

“Oh, hi, Myungsoo!” a guy with blonde hair greeted Myungsoo in a very casual, cheerful and nice way. He smiled widely and you could say that he used to do it. You looked Myungsoo just smiled slightly and the other guy behind that cheerful guy, a guy with sharp eyes, just kept silent. You furrowed eyebrows. He looks different, not like his friend, you thought.

Myungsoo nodded. “Hi, Dongwoo Hyung. Already back from the office?” he asked.

“Yeah.” That Dongwoo guy nodded, big smile still formed in his face. “And I see you had returned from your office.” He said while glancing at you then you and Myungsoo intertwined hands. “Girlfriend, I guess?” Dongwoo chuckled. Myungsoo glanced at you but right then looked away. You blushed hard and tried to pull your hand away from him. But he didn’t let your hand go. He kept holding it.

“Ah, I’m going to check fingerprints in your laptop screen, Myungsoo.” Dongwoo pointed at laptop in his other hand. “After that we will search people with the same fingerprints.”

You had no clue what they were talking, but Myungsoo quickly said. “No! Don’t do it.” The others looked at Myungsoo, confused. Myungsoo was frozen for some seconds. “I-I mean, I need to do things for work.” He added.

“Oh, you will need this then.” Dongwoo gave Myungsoo the laptop. “I can check it later.” he chuckled. Myungsoo just nodded awkwardly while received it.

“Dongwoo Hyung, what case is he related to?” Dongwoo’s friend asked Dongwoo. He pointed at Myungsoo.

“The lost precious cat, Howon, it’s his.” Dongwoo answered simply. “You are the one who typed the report, aren’t you?” he chuckled.

“Oh, right.” That Howon guy laughed and this was the first time you saw him smiling. His smile was kind of warm.

“Well, I’ve lost someone precious too.” He told you both. He smiled weakly. You thought he was a cold guy yet he warmly talked to you all. His voice was nice and he clearly talked in Busan dialect.

“You have?” Myungsoo asked.

“Yes. In the past, about sixteen years ago, my four year old little sister was missing. My family tried to find her but unfortunately until now we still couldn’t find her.” that Howon guy looked sad.

You blinked. He lost his little sister?

“Howon still looks for his little sister even he doesn’t know how she looks like now.” Dongwoo added. “She’s 20 this year, must be having some changing and never look the same as she was young.”

Howon laughed nervously. “My mom and dad miss her so much.” He said. “Come on, we gotta go.”

You blinked many times. You quickly looked down on the floor. You were shocked to find that Howon guy’s footprints left some silver grains. You got your eyes teary.

Footprints you see are the property of those who are related to you, past and future.

You understood what the fortune teller lady said.

Myungsoo asked why your eyes were teary as you both walked toward the elevator. You just shook your head and tightened your hand in his. You stared at Howon’s back, and then looked down at your hand in Myungsoo’s. Myungsoo did lead you to another footprint. Nothing could describe how you felt right now.

 

 

Fin

November 4^th 2012