Narrator's POV

Three days went by as if it never even happened.

Hwayoung stood in front of her mirror, checking her appearance for one last time. She combed her hair, smoothing out tangled ends and finally letting out a satisfied smile. She turned towards the boy, whose back was hunched in that usual manner of his. “Chanyeol,” Hwayoung called out, gaining momentum as she made her way towards the tall lad.

Exiting the room, they comfortably walked side by side towards the library, where Hwayoung had been spending most of her time lately. She stayed there, almost converting it into her second bedroom for she would often sleep there while Chanyeol would just watch her in awestruck wonder like he would always do.

As she had promise herself, Hwayoung searched high and low inside the spacious room while trying to find every bit of information from the books from the dozen different shelves. Fatigue was never an excuse for her because she knows pretty well that no one else could help her, not even her grandmother. You can’t really expect a corpse to come back to life, can you?

Gently, Hwayoung turned the doorknob and she trudged inside the library as Chanyeol – who was busy sniffing the whole place again – followed like a loyal puppy behind her. She sat on their usual desk while across her, the boy sat and craned his neck into different angles as the sunlight drowned the entire room in its brightness. Hwayoung giggled. “Let’s exchange seats, Chanyeol. You seem to hate the sun so much.”

At the girl’s statement, Chanyeol stood with no hesitation even though he didn’t understand her. He never did anyway. It was just that her eyes told him more of what to do than what could ever try to say. Slowly, he walked towards her seat and she walked towards his, feeling as if everything was almost back to normal after that incident with Chanyeol.

Almost.

For even though Hwayoung wouldn’t admit it, his raven-like gray eyes outstood every single memory that she had these past few days. It amazed her up to no extent, knowing that the boy was probably a tad more different compared to a normal human being. And this made her more curious – the good type of curious to be exact – because she knew that Chanyeol would sooner or later need someone to confide in. Hwayoung knows and is fully aware that after the rigorous days of searching and trying to end up with a conclusion, the boy staring right across the table will unleash his true nature in the right time.

And just then, Mijeong’s shrill of a voice snapped Hwayoung out from her trance. She arched her eyebrow, suddenly puzzled since it was too early for lunch for her mother to be calling them. But nevertheless, she stood up from her seat and prodded the ever so clueless Chanyeol to go follow her out of the library. “What must be so important that omma wants us to go down?” she mumbled to herself before heading downstairs.

“Why did you call us omma?” Hwayoung asked while stepping out towards the living room and suddenly surprising Mijeong with her presence. Swiftly, the older woman shifted her attention towards her daughter and ushered her to go beside her. “Come here, Hwayoung. Someone’s looking for you,” Mijeong stated before pulling Hwayoung by her side to greet their unexpected guest.

“You’re the quack doctor, right?” the girl questioned, recognizing the weirdly-dressed man in front of her. He was wearing eyeglasses and he had this yellow bandana tied around his head, looking exactly the same way since she last saw him. She stood still on her spot, not even bowing to the lanky old man before she felt a nudge.

Mijeong whispered to her. “Yell if he does something to offend you. I’ll just go back to the kitchen and check the food I’m preparing.” She then turned to their visitor, faking a smile. “And no matter what, don’t let him in. I have a feeling that, that man is up to no good," she told Hwayoung in a hushed voice before excusing herself and leaving her daughter by the front door.

“Well, is there something you need sir?” Hwayoung spoke rather impatiently while Chanyeol stood behind her, growling as if he was ready to pounce on the doctor.

But the man stayed composed and laughed instead. He then reached inside his pocket, bringing out a packet of biscuits for the young boy. “Take this," he told Chanyeol, ignoring the Hwayoung's threatening glare. At the sight of food, Chanyeol visibly softened and without even thinking, he grabbed the biscuits from the man’s hands.

But trying to be cautious, Hwayoung spoke. “Gidaryo,” she ordered the boy and in a blink of an eye, Chanyeol had the biscuit an inch away from his lips. Immediately, Hwayoung took the food away from him which caused him to whimper a little. “You’re a good boy, you’ll give it to me right?” she cooed, patting his head softly. Chanyeol nodded, staying behind Hwayoung once again as she spoke.

“You can take it back. What is it that you need anyway?!” asked the girl, agitated at the smirk that the man sported. "If you only came here to give Chanyeol some food, you can go back home now. We have sufficient food in here and I can feed him if he's hungry."

He started whistling, tapping his feet against the ground padded with dry leaves. “Am I not invited to come in?”

“No.” Hwayoung told him firmly, putting him in place, to which he grimaced.

“Oh, is that so?” The man responded. “I actually have a gift I wanted to give you but I think you’re not really interested. Since you don’t even want me to come in, I think I’d better go.”

At this, Hwayoung evidently grew curious but tried her best to keep a straight face. “How did you even know our house, anyway? And what purpose do you really have?” she asked just when he was about to turn around and go.

“I have my ways.” The doctor shrugged. “And as for my purpose of coming here. I already told you, I have a gift in store for you.”

“What is it?"

“Will you let me come in and talk to the boy behind you?” he responded and for a while, Hwayoung thought of the consequences that might arise  if ever she agreed. She closed her eyes sighing heavily. Finally, “I’ll let you talk to him but you can’t go near. And I’ll be staying with him as long as you converse,” Hwayoung tried negotiating.

The old man nodded curtly, thinking it was a fair enough bargain. “Very well then," he muttered and smiled mischievously.

“Chanyeol, you can come out now," said the doctor, a devious glint manifested in his eyes. In an instant, Hwayoung started trembling from head to toe, her face slowly getting paler as she caught sight of the male now standing in front of her. He was wearing a trench coat, looking much more civilized than the boy she discovered in their backyard days ago.

Smoothly, he moved and compared to the way the other Chanyeol bowed, this man wasn’t the least bit stiff. He smiled at her, his nose almost twitching as he did. “Annyeonghaseyo. Park Chanyeol imnida," he said.