He was quiet very quiet when I first met him. He would only look at me silently while I mistake him as my neighbor next door. Wearing a blood stained hanbok standing at my door step, I was too scared then to even scream at the stranger.

Anyone would’ve thought he was a murderer of some sort. But his doe eyes were the only thing I could see clearly under the dimly lit corridor. They were so deep-set and clear. Despite his chuseok dressing despite now being summer, that one blank look he gave has already swept me off my feet.

‘Where am I?’ That was the first thing he said. His posture of a gentleman was different from any guy on the streets. ‘Huh?’

‘What year is it?’ He asked again his tone slightly authoritative.

‘2..2012?’

That was how I met him.

He slept in the living room on the floor using my textbooks as his pillow. He didn’t know anything; he didn’t know what a toothbrush is, how to use the toilet and almost took the detergent as water. I didn’t even know his name. He was just as innocent as a kid; never knew what a plane was, never seen automobiles on the streets before. 

Also a man of few words.

But he likes the Gyeongbokgung. As a child I learnt my history well, but our magnificent palace has now turned into a tourist attraction. Weird enough he would go there every day and stared in awe at the magnificent structure muttering random inaudible speeches of chimology that I can’t seem to understand. It was strange because he would be there at the main entrance be it rain or shine and stayed for a very long time. 

His gaze had always felt so far away, like he was seeing something I would never have known.

‘Did you lose your memories?’ I asked as he stared quizzically at the money I used to buy us food. 

Everything seems new to him, as though he was just born yesterday. This guy must have serious Amnesia. How could you not know what cash is? Isn’t it all about the cha-chings and the b-blings  in this world?

‘Would you believe me, if I used to stay in Gyeongbokgung?’ He would always direct his question back at me. I laughed it off.

‘I was exiled.’ He said with sad eyes and a forced smile. I shrugged and patted his back, hoping he would have a better dream about something else that night.

‘Do you remember your parents?’ He would smile slightly at my question counting my luminous stars in the living room ceiling.

‘How old are you?’

‘twenty-two.’ He answered with a smile, one dazzling blinding smile. If he was a student in my lecture, I would have fallen for him right away. He could be a burden sometimes, following me to school in my brother’s clothes. He wouldn’t even cut his long hair and all I could do is ask him to tie it up into a pony tail. 

But his looks itself is enough to get all the girls in my lecture hall go crazy and swooning over him. But one thing I like was how he would always stand up in an apologetic manner if any other girl was to get near. Anyone except for me. He made me a little special and my heart did a little flip.

‘You do remember your name right?’ I asked one day finally while sipping Cola by the Han River. He smiles dazzlingly at me with his tied up hair still trying to figure out how to open the can, his smile was even mesmerizing than the moon that day despite his clumsiness. I took his can over and snap it open. He took a careful sip at the liquid and squeezed his eyes shut at the sensation of gas rushing up his nose. I chuckled at his behaviour, it was amazingly adorable.

‘Luhan.’ He said after regaining his posture and bowed slightly. To be honest, his mannerism has got to me and somehow I began acting more like a lady in front of him.

It didn’t occur to me how I’ve already gotten used to his presence until he disappeared for a whole week. We were only together for a month. That was how short I’ve baby-sat him. I tried looking for any signs of his relatives. Distributing that one selca I took with him. I looked everywhere for him, afraid that he’d lost his way. But he’d disappeared. Just like that.

It was then a day, when he suddenly appeared in the middle of my living room in his Hanbok and a huge gash on his arm. Fresh blood oozing out of his wound, he didn’t even have the strength to groan and his lips had turned a faint purplish.

‘Why are you in this manner?!’ I cried in shock, tears streaming down my cheeks without me knowing. They fell like beads on his pale face as I held him in my arms staining my hands with his warm blood. He had lost the dazzle in the windows of his soul. His voice was almost a whisper, but still soft and melodious.

Outside it had started raining and he lay on my knees in my dark apartment. I could only see his face clearly every few seconds when the lightning strikes.

‘Wh..what happened? W..Why..’ I asked inbetween sobs. It was then I truly felt frightened. Memories of us flashed back in that instant. He lips parted and closed. I leaned closer.

‘I’m sorry.’ He whispered into my ears but his breathing is already difficult. I grabbed my phone on the coffee table about to dial the emergency number. ‘Don’t’ He tried to shake his head with closed eyes.

My tears fell continuously blurring my sight. I tried to wipe them away but his face was nothing but a blur. My hands shook as I buried my face in his chest.

‘Don’t you dare to die.’ I ordered with all my strength and felt his chest shook. I looked up and saw his smiling face. He coughed for the last time before another lightning flashed across the sky lighting up the living room.

Suddenly, without any warning he was dissolving in my arms right infront of my eyes. ‘Luhan?’ I stared in shock as his body vanished into thin air together with his blood leaving no trace. It was like I’ve lived a dream for all this while. I stared at my hands but they were clean and clear of blood. I glanced around at the floor. It was clean too, with nothing. 

Nothing at all. 

I ran out of my apartment into the rain calling his name. Totally drenched I walked a distance searching for any signs of his existence but there was nothing. I stared at my hands again they had turned cold in the rain, that little bit of warmth he left could no longer be felt.

He was gone.

The last thing I remembered was the blinding headlights of a car and the loud deafening sound of the thunder.

‘KANG HYE JUNG!’

My eyes flew opened in an instant at the scene of a hundred pair of eyes staring. I bowed apologetically before the lecture hall breaks into laughter.

‘Do you want me to buy you a bed?!’ Prof Kim shouts with his hands on his waist stretching his neck as high as he could to see me at the last row.

‘Chaesonghamnida.’ I bowed again before staring at my history text book scratching my head frustratingly.

‘To begin, Queen Inhyun of the Joseon Dynasty was exiled…’ Prof Kim’s voice echoes through the hall as I stared at the illustration of Queen Inhyun and the King and their son.

The long awaited bell resounded through the school as I stand up and stretch my arms. 

‘Having the same dream again. I must have studied too hard.’

'Hye Jung ah let's go grab something to eat.' 

'Alright! Wait outside, I'm coming.' 

Yawning, I took one last look at the family portrait and shut the textbook. 

- THE END -