Eun Ji’s eyes widen in amusement, a look of glee glistened in her clear eyes. Her jaw dropped, a very excited grin plastered across her fair face, getting wider after seconds. She can’t stop smiling like a fool seeing her father sat on a stool, his hands full of repairing tools. “My father looked like a pro,” she said with a smirk, her eyes shot her father a look.

Mr Han just shook his head and took a slight glance of her daughter. Noticing his daughter smirking, he looked away then bluntly said, “It’s nothing, darling. I’m just a man who repairs clocks for people.” He smiled then chuckled. “With my lovely yet  pabo daughter.” He uttered a giggle.

The word pabo left her embarrassed. “Appa!” she cried then hit her father’s shoulder, making Mr Han to giggle even harder. Eun Ji’s cheek flushed in light pink, her arms crossed to her chest. “It’s not fair; calling people pabo all the time,” she said, pouting.

“Aww, Eun Ji-yah,” he whined, making Eun Ji’s attention turned to him. “Why do you suddenly become sensitive? I thought you used to this,” he sneered, poking Eun Ji’s waist making Eun Ji to giggle in ticklish. Mr Han attacked her with dozens of pokes continuously.

“Appa!” she giggled. “Stop – stop it! Hahaha – s-stop!” she cried, her eyes welling with tears of laughter. Finally, Mr Han stopped. Eun Ji exhaled a breath of relief from her plump lips.

“That’s really ticklish, appa,” she pouted once again. She stared at her father earnestly, her chin rested on her hand. If the both of them sat next to each other, people will never dare to doubt that the two people were happen to be in the same family. With that brownish, sleek hair with a pair of huge, clear eyes, Eun Ji greatly resembled her father. Remembering and collecting those facts made Eun Ji to grin broadly unconsciously, receiving a curious look from her father.

“Why are you grinning now?” Mr Han’s forehead wrinkled. He eyed Eun Ji’s face suspiciously. How could she grin like a stupid girl all of a sudden?

“Oh, nothing. Really, appa,”she sang, her body danced both left and right. Her eyes kept on pinning her father’s face. “You’re indeed a pabo, Eun Ji,” he said, patted his daughter’s head while standing up on both of his feet. He always knew that Eun Ji hated so much when he called her pabo. Plus, calling her that made Eun Ji’s inner heart to roar madly and to Mr Han, that reaction was totally cute.

“Stop calling me that, appa!” She stood up, stomping her feet hard on the ground. She puffed her cheeks, unsatisfied.

“Oh, hang in there Eun Ji, I’m just joking,” Mr Han assured his daughter, his hands raised to the level of his head. “Arasso, I’ll stop calling you that, okay? Instead, I will call you – I don’t know, maybe, Ji-Ji?” He sneered.

“Appa!” Eun Ji tried to hit her father on his shoulder, but she failed. Mr Han backed away swiftly that Eun Ji’s hands didn't make it to land on his shoulder. He then ran away from Eun Ji, laughing. “Haha, alright, alright. Wait here, I’m going to the garage to get some more tools. Stay here, okay?” he said, and then just lifted his feet towards the garage.

Eun Ji eyed him from the back, shook her head in annoyance. Aish, he will never stop teasing me, she thought. She crossed her arms and escaped a gust of breath from her parted lips. Oh well, it was her father, after all.

She blinked her eyes twice before whirled around, taking a whole look of her house. The house was old that it looked like it had already built and stood up for ages. The brown wood that shielded the house had turned black with a few of deep carves applied on it.

She then focused at the ground. The floor was also covered by the exact same thing, which is, needless to say, wood. Its’ light brown colour clearly differentiates the floor and the wood that walled the house.

She shifted her eyes towards the window, taking a gaze of the night sky. The lights of the crescent moon and stars embroidered the dark sky beautifully. Eun Ji smiled, and walked towards an old cabinet.

The cabinet was dusty, a few photo frames arranged neatly on it. She picked up one of the aged frame with her tiny hands, and then wiped the dust off the fragile and thin glass that covered the picture. A tiny smile crept upon Eun Ji’s pink lips. She caressed the picture with her fingers. “Eomma,” she mumbled.

So far she could remember, the picture was taken about 13 years ago on Christmas, when Eun Ji was still a little girl in the age of three. Mr and Mrs Han wore a huge, fluffy coat, a long red scarf rested on the couples’ shoulder. One of Mrs Han’s hand was holding the young Eun Ji, who grinned and made a ‘peace’ sign out of her tiny fingers.

Eun Ji’s eyes lowered. “I miss you, eomma,” she muttered then slowly put the frame on the cabinet once again.

She breathed out. She then continued to look around the house while tap her feet gracefully. The clock that her father already repaired hung up high, leaned against the wall. The clock were in different sizes and colours, the hands of all the clock moved non-stop, creating small ticking sound to pass into Eun Ji’s ears.

Eun Ji stared at the clocks. The time has been standardized. The second hand, the longest hand among them all, kept on ticking non-stop. 10 seconds more to eight, Eun Ji silently thought. One by one, she counted down.

Ten, nine, eight.

Eun Ji decided to sit down on the floor, her eyes kept on pinning the clock. There was nothing else to do, especially when Mr Han was not with her.

Six, five.

Another few seconds, Eun Ji thought. She sighed heavily in bore. She didn’t know what she wanted to do by then, maybe … check on her father? Oh well, instead, she decided to stay, lying on the floor.

Three, two.

One.

Complete silence. Not even a single ticking sound whispered in Eun Ji’s ears.

“Eh?” Eun Ji wondered, her forehead wrinkled in confusion. Where did the ticking sound gone? She tilted her head above, facing the clock. Her eyes widen in shock and gasped. She stood up with her wobbly knees, her heart ponder faster in her chest.

“T-the clocks stopped… they stopped moving…” Eun Ji gulped a lump in , gaped in surprise. The clocks were frozen and didn’t move a flinch, and all of them pointed at number eight, with the second hand pointed at the number 12, signing it were 8p.m. sharp. Not even a single sound of tick appeared, making Eun Ji to shiver. A mixture feeling of eager and nervous burst in her heart.

Suddenly, everything around Eun Ji shook and moved madly. The glass of the window shattered. An earthquake? Eun Ji panicked and started to take cover of herself. But she stopped on her tracks once a thought invade her mind. “Appa!” she cried. Tears started to roll down her cheek, desperation filled in her mind. Whatever happens, she wanted to save her father first. She had promise to herself that she will live with her father throughout her life. She don’t want to die alone… nor to be left alone.

She decided to pace towards the door and turned the door knob. Unexpectedly, there was like an invisible hands that made Eun Ji stop, her movements froze. She tried to open the door but she couldn’t even lift a finger.

“Appa!”

That single word was the last thing that she yelled, before she fell on her back. “Appa…” she tried to call, but it felt like there was something stuck in the middle of . She fell hard, her nose cringed of pain. “Appa…” she mumbled under her breath, soundless.