Back in Darkcity, I smiled as I glanced down at the little clockwork charm that my new friend had bought for me as a meeting gift.

I guess I was right about him being an aristocrat, then. He was free enough with his money. No man who dressed as he did would so freely give a complete stranger a gift, and one as expensive as this.

It was so pretty…

But I have nowhere to put it.

I inspected my hanbok, looking for any small loops of cloth in the clothing which I could possibly attach the charm to.

Of course, I was wearing a men’s hanbok. A simple one, with a grey vest and pants, and a white undershirt. A women’s hanbok was far too conspicuous, and didn’t exactly allow freedom of movement.

I could find no such loop in my clothing, and sighed, resigned to sitting against the slimy wall and just staring at the charm in my hands.

“Why the long face?”

My heart beat joyfully in my chest as I whipped my head up to behold Yo Seob’s sly smile. Obvious pleasure danced in his eyes.

“I’m guessing your day went well?” I clasped my left hand into a fist, somehow feeling the need to hide the charm from Yo Seob.

Yo Seob’s eyes flickered briefly to my hand before darting back to my face, but his smile didn’t waver. He walked over and kneeled down in front of me.

“Look at what I brought for you today.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a metal chain. Attached to it, was an elegant pendant. It was roughly circular, with a golden gilded mask in the middle, half covering a bronze cog with a glass panel in its middle, showing the intricate layers of gears within the pendant. Two angel wings folded inward on either side of the pendant, meeting at an overlap near the end of the wings, while the tips protruded elegantly.

“Oh my gosh.” I gently skirted the outline of the pendant with my right index finger. It looked so fragile. “It’s beautiful.”

“I’m glad you like it. It’s for you.” Yo Seob said. Without even waiting for a reaction, he pulled the chain over my head and dropped it. The metal pendant fell against my chest, the coldness of it seeping through my thin clothes into my skin. I shuddered slightly.

I stared at the pendant, then at Yo Seob. He had his brilliant smile on his face again, his eyes almost spilling over with warm light.

Unable to contain my emotion, I leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. I let my lips linger close to his face for a moment as I whispered my thanks.

“Thank you.” I whispered into his skin and drew back. His smile had fallen from his face, a surprised expression taking its place instead. Embarassed at what I had just done, I looked down and fiddled with the pendant, still with my right hand, keeping the stranger’s gift in my left.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Yo Seob covering his face with one of his hands. He drew his hand up across his forehead across his hair, and his familiar smile appeared again.

Although his eyes didn’t smile as they did before.

“That’s not all.” He said as he reached for my pendant – it was mine now. Simultaneously, he lifted a necklace from within his shirt. It was a plain metal chain, similar to mine, but what hung at the end was a strange metal key, with gears in the bow.

He moved nearer so that his pendant could reach mine. I watched, entranced, as he turned the key and pulled it back out.

The wings of the pendant fluttered outward, moving up and down at a gentle pace while soft music tinkled from the mechanism inside the pendant. The gears behind the glass panel turned.

As the turning of the gears stopped, the wings folded back into their initial position and the music died down.

I glanced up at Yo Seob in amazement. No words could describe how amazed I was at the moment. So instead of telling him how wonderful his gift was, I said the most ungrateful thing I could ever have said.

“Oppa, you stole this, didn’t you?”

His watchful expression drained from his face and his eyebrows drew together.

“What? Aniyo, I worked so hard to earn enough to buy this for you. Decently.”

I couldn’t help it. Teasing him was one of the greatest joys of my life. I cocked my head back and raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

“Eyy, oppa, don’t lie. We both know that you couldn’t possibly have earned enough to buy something like this.” I held up the pendant in front of him.

His eyes darkened abruptly.

“I didn’t eat so that I could save enough to buy you this. I’m sorry the money didn’t come from anywhere decent. It was the best that I could do. Unlike the person who bought you this –“ he wrenched my left hand open and pulled out the charm, “I don’t have the chance or the ability to earn my money decently.”

He pushed the charm back into my hand, then stood up and turned to leave.

I should have stopped him. I should have held on to my pride and told him that I was wrong, that I was sorry. But instead, I just sat there and watched him go.

Even as I felt my heart pound against my ribs like a bruise, and the first tears I had cried in years fell from my eyes.