Her hands were occupied, with a dirty dish in her left hand and a sponge in her right. It was a very mundane task, so her hands worked away without needing conscious thoughts while her mind drifted away to faraway thoughts, particularly back to the past she had been trying to get out of.

It has been more than a year since he passed away, but to her it was just like yesterday. Nonetheless, she wondered about his current whereabouts, wondered if he had already begun a new life as a new person somewhere in the world. Next, she thought about how she should stop thinking about him and just completely move on, but she knew no matter how hard she tried to move on, she would still find herself running around in circles at times like this. Then, she would start to feel apologetic and a sense of guilt towards Myungsoo, her current partner for life. She felt especially sorry for him, when she thought about how he was still willing to be with her despite knowing that her heart was partly occupied.

That’s not true! He just wants your money!

Her busy movements came to a stop when she heard a strange voice in her ears. She couldn’t determine the exact direction regarding the source of the voice, because it sounded like a faint echo from somewhere, or everywhere. Nevertheless, she turned her body around, her eyes darting left and right trying to locate the strange voice again but it never came. She tiptoed to look at Myungsoo, mentally confirming to herself that he was not the one who spoke. Indeed, it wasn’t him, because the guy was still watching some random shows on TV and crunching on some chips. Failed to find the source, she shrugged and decided to ask if Myungsoo had heard the same thing.

 “Myungsoo, did you hear anyone talking?”

To her dismay, she was met by a slow, half-hearted shaking of the head, indicating a ‘No’ from Myungsoo’s side. Moreover, when he gave his answer, his eyes had never even left the screen, now showing two people discussing about something serious. She took in a breath, thinking to herself that it might just be some mishearing. She chuckled at herself for being ridiculous and bumped her palm lightly on her temple before continuing to finish up the washing.

---

That early afternoon, the sun greeted them passionately as the both of them walked themselves light-heartedly to the LRT station. They were on their way to the town area on such a fine day, because he promised her that they would go for a stroll and to shop around for the day. She smiled at him when they met eyes, satisfied just by thinking that the day was going to be well spent with him.

When the both finally reached the station, the transport was nowhere to be seen yet, so they took the time to fool around while waiting for the LRT to arrive. He checked his watch, then at the schedule of the LRT, before a cheeky smile crept up to his face as he had something in his mind. He approached the clueless Ji Kyung carefully and started tickling her, causing her to laugh and retreat her body.

While they were having their own little time, it was sure that they were faced by confused, some disgusted, eyes and weird gazes from around. However, that didn’t stop him from his playful act, only until Ji Kyung got so embarrassed and tried to push him away.

“Stop it Myungsoo, it’s embarrassing!” She whined.

Argh, get your hands off her please.

He was about to tickle her again when he heard a distant voice directed at him. He froze instinctively because of the coldness of the voice, and he looked around the station packed with people, trying to find the person who said that. Needless to say, it was a failed attempt to find the owner of the voice, so he furrowed his brows and pressed his lips together.

“What’s wrong?” She asked in concern.

“Did you say anything?” He asked, looking around aimlessly once more.

“Say what?” She replied, her head tilted to a side in curiosity.

He scratched his head and shook his shoulders in defeat. Shortly enough, the both of them were interrupted by the arrival of the LRT, so he shook off those odd thoughts and took hold of her hand to board on right after the previous passengers got off.

With a sound alerting that the door was about to close, Myungsoo shifted his body to face the door while his hand searched for a tighter grip on the stanchion. When the door slides to a close, he looked ahead and a cold shuddered down his spines when he witnessed a guy standing right outside looking at him with a fiery glare. Myungsoo had to blink his eyes several times to make sure that his mind was not playing games with him.

Tsk, what’s so good about you? Kim Myungsoo.

His eyes widened in shock when the voice echoed in his ears, so he took a cautious step back from the door which was now fully closed. He could not believe what he has heard nor see, but the mysterious guy was still standing at the same exact spot, while the glare was already replaced by a cunning smile. Thankful for him, the LRT drove off in a speedy manner, and the stranger was then out of sight.

Game starts now.

The time passed by unknowingly, but he was no longer keeping track of it when he dozed off after a while despite being in a standing position. She was still holding onto his free arm, and she took a peek at his sleeping face before feeling worried that he was in fact, not well rested the night before but still insisted to carry on with today’s plan. She shook his arm to wake him up when she heard the announcement of the next stop the LRT was making, which was also where they were supposed to get off.

“Myungsoo... Myungsoo?”

After a few moments, he finally woke up to her call, then realized that they were about to reach their destination in a couple of minutes. He stretched his free arm and yawned lazily, before putting the arm over Ji Kyung’s shoulder. Minutes later, the both of them exited the LRT quickly, just before another new group of people rushing to get on board.

By the time the crowd lessened, he moved the protective arm from her shoulders to lace his fingers with hers, before they walked out the station together to resume their short journey to the mall. However, it didn’t take a hundred steps before the weird voice rang in his ears again, causing him to loosen the grip on her hand.

Where do you think you’re going?

His voice was hostile, but still there was no sight of the guy when Myungsoo took a quick scan around the surroundings.

 “What’s wrong?” Ji Kyung asked, attempting to intertwine her fingers back to his once again.

Since it was futile to find the mysterious guy in a pool of unfamiliar faces, he gave up and shook his head to answer her question, then tightened the grip of their hands and flash her a warm smile. However, just as they were about to continue with their steps, he was very certain that his eyes were looking at the same guy from just now and possibly the owner of the strange voice.

Standing right in front of him.

Nice to meet you, Kim Myungsoo.

Another shiver was sent down his spine when the voice rang in his ears eerily. He didn’t hesitate for a second before pulling Ji Kyung closer to him and stepped backwards. The grip on her hands were tightened again, this time to the point that she felt uncomfortable and hurtful.

 “Myungsoo? What’s wrong?” She asked, trying to free herself from his hands because of the pain he was unknowingly putting on her.

His face turned sour when he noticed that she still had the clueless tone to her question, almost as if she was not seeing the same thing as him. He couldn’t believe what was happening, but when she was still focused on freeing her hands, he loosened it apologetically and knew that she was really not on the same page as him, although the guy was definitely standing a few footsteps away from them.

Now, now... Don’t be afraid, let me introdu--

“No! Ji Kyung, let’s run! Faster!”

Myungsoo retorted, dragging Ji Kyung with him as he quickens the pace in hopes to lose sight of the strange and creepy man, or ghost, he was unsure anymore. After running for quite some time, he finally stopped to take a breather, but he felt her squeezing her hands clasped in his, and realized that they were standing in the middle of the road.

When he saw a van coming towards them without a sign of stepping on the brakes, he swore he almost wet his pants and his heartbeat stopped. The next second became a blur because he out from a panic attack.

 “Oppa!” She screamed.

---

“Myungsoo... Please don’t scare me like that... Oppa...”

Bastard, I know you’re not dead, can’t you hear she’s calling for you?!

He slowly opened up his eyes, blinked a few times before regaining a clear vision. He massaged his temples to ease the dizziness, while wondering about his whereabouts and about what had just happened. His thoughts were quickly interrupted by cold drops of water on his hand, so he sat up from the ground and saw Ji Kyung crying sorrowfully beside him.

“Myungsoo!!!”

She cried aloud when she noticed that he was finally up and about, then a smile soon began to spread across her face.

Her ankle’s injured from saving your stupid .

The moment he heard the guy’s voice again, he frantically searched his surroundings to see if the guy had followed them here, but the only familiar figure he could find was Ji Kyung’s, so he heaved a relief sigh. However, soon enough, he remembered his words and turned to Ji Kyung hastily to examine her ankle.

“Ji Kyung! Your ankle’s bleeding!” He exclaimed as he glances at her sore ankle with a little bit of blood oozing out.

She wiped her tears and returned him with a sweet smile, before reassuring him, “It’s okay since you’re okay.”

He could feel his heart melting away at the statement she had just made, and a faint blush covered his cheeks when he stared at her smile. He faked a cough to hide his love-struck expression, then decided to pick her up from the ground and carried her in his arms. He told her that they should visit the nearest clinic and put their schedule on hold. She was in no position to refuse so she just nodded obediently.

“You should take care of yourself better.”

He nagged on the way, his voice filled with concern. And she smiled listening to it. He mirrored back her smile, but seconds later, a sound echoed among the thin crust of air…

How fake of you, Kim Myungsoo.