Trembling. She was trembling so badly that one would still be able to tell from miles away. Her ponytail had long been messed up, the loose strands cascading down her face, covering her bloodshot eyes due to her non-stop crying. The tall boy that stood rigidly next to her did not look much older than her. He was dressed in a simple short-sleeved black button-down shirt and black slacks, his head downcast as well. The two teenagers were drenched to the bone, but they couldn’t be bothered to move an inch.

   “It’s all your fault.”

   His snapped out of his daze, head lifting a little at her sudden and mean comment. He opened his mouth to retort back, but she stood up before he could even make a single sound.

   “It’s all your fault that this happened!” She screamed, pointing at the flower-decorated gravestone that stood a small distance in front of them. The dull grey stone had the name ‘Yang Yoseob’ engraved at the top of it, with a photo of a handsome lad of no more than seventeen, which was around the age of his friends that stood in front of his resting place, was pasted right below his name. Fresh tears brimmed in her caramel-brown eyes again, but she ignored them and continued to glare fiercely at the golden-haired boy in front of her. “It’s all your fault, Doojoon. If you haven’t been so reckless and controlled your anger, he would still be with us right now. If you had kept your calm and reasoned with Yoseob in a civilised manner instead of throwing furious punches at him over one little comment that accidentally slipped his tongue, he would be alive.” She breathed in heavily, trying to keep her tears in. “He would still be my boyfriend.” At this, Doojoon’s onyx eyes gazed into her lighter ones, showing a look of extreme hurt. He wanted to say something to her - something that would convince her that he would have been a much better choice than Yoseob - but he knew that that was exactly why she was even more angry with him than she should have been.

   “It’s all your fault, Doojoon,” she repeated once again. “And I am never - ever - going to forgive you, much less love you!” With a tight slap on his right cheek, she ran off, crying, leaving him standing there, his heart breaking into a million pieces.

   “Yoseob... I didn’t mean it... I didn’t mean it...” And he too broke down, in front of my grave.

   I guess I really was dead, huh?

-

   My eyes fluttered open as the chatter of the rushing crowd started growing louder. I drifted out of the alleyway and into the packed streets of Seoul, hovering next to the all-too-familiar newspaper stand. Being a ghost did have its perks, but the cons outnumbered the pros greatly. For one, the wrinkled newspaper man besides me had delicious-looking kimchi pancakes displayed proudly for the morning rush of workers, making me my lips greedily, wishing countless times that I had the ability to even feel hungry.

   My eyes brightened and a smile automatically appeared on my lips as I spotted a familiar ebony-haired girl amongst the crowd. “Hi, Seoyoung,” I whispered. She continued walking on, her long ponytail swaying behind her. I sighed, but the smile remained on my face. Even though it hurt to know my beloved wasn’t able to hear me, being able to see her every day was enough for me.

   I followed her towards the end of the street, where a light grey two-storey building stood. Its golden gates towered above us, gleaming intimidatingly under the morning sun, but Seoyoung paid no notice and pushed the gates open with ease. I drifted in after her, my eyes wandering in all directions, taking in the scenery of Anyang High. That was where Seoyoung worked as a History teacher, and where the three of us studied during our high school years.

   “Hey, Seoyoung.” I greeted her cheerfully, planting a kiss on her cheek as I slung an arm over her shoulder. She blushed and looked at the ground, muttering a small greeting in the process. I laughed, reaching out to pinch her cheek that was tinged with pink. “You’re so cute when you’re embarrassed, Seoyoung.” I teased, pecking her yet again. She playfully smacked my hand away from my cheek, storming off in the direction of the cafeteria. I laughed - Han Seoyoung really was the cutest thing on Earth.

   A throat was cleared behind me as I started towards the cafeteria too, and I turned around, already knowing who it was. “What do you want, Doojoon?” I asked, annoyed. Ever since I started dating Seoyoung two weeks ago, Doojoon had constantly been interrupting us at any chance possible, or quarrelling with me if he had missed those golden opportunities of his. Today was not an exception, and I was growing extremely tired of his antics.

   “Meet me at the rooftop after school. Don’t bring anyone with you, especially Seoyoung. We’ll fight it out once and for all - for Seoyoung’s heart.”

   With a cold glare he his heel and left, leaving me standing in the middle of the empty hallway, shocked. He was out of his mind, that’s what he was. How could we battle for Seoyoung’s heart? It wasn’t like we had the ability to control who she loved. Shaking my head clear of the confusing thoughts, I continued towards the cafeteria, ignoring the nagging at the back of my mind, telling me that this would not end well at all.

   “Yoseob, are you okay? You’re unusually quiet today.” Seoyoung noticed as we headed back to class. I snapped out of my daze just in time to register her concern, and reassured her with a smile. “Just a little tired,” I lied smoothly. The look on her face showed that she still had her doubts, but she nodded and smiled back anyhow. “Okay then.” She beamed brightly at me, momentarily causing me to forget all about my worries and nervousness. Doojoon was a gangster back in our first year of high school, but he stopped being as rowdy when Seoyoung joined our class. I was afraid of him and what would happen, yes, but my pride was not going to stop me from facing Doojoon.

   The sound of the school bell that signalled the end of school rang even louder and sounded even more shrill than usual, causing me to jump up in my seat in fright, earning a few curious glances from my peers as they started packing their things. I shot them a sheepish smile, scratching the back of my neck awkwardly as I too started gathering my items. “Let’s go, oppa.” I looked up to meet Seoyoung’s gentle smile and shining light brown eyes, and couldn’t help to feel a little guilty. Seoyoung and I had always walked home together, and she would always wait for me no matter how long it took and vice versa. “Oh, yeah, about that... I kind of got something to attend to, so you head home first, alright? Don’t wait up for oppa, either. Just go straight home, you hear?” I blabbered, trying my best to cover up one lie after the other. Seoyoung stared at me quizzically, but sighed and nodded. “Just for today I’ll make an exception. Be careful on your way home, oppa!” With a final smile and a wave she bounded out of the door, and I couldn’t stop thanking my lucky stars that I didn’t have to lie to her.

   “I’m surprised. You actually showed up.” Doojoon greeted harshly when the door to the rooftop creaked open, a triumphant smirk on his face. I glared at him, “Of course I would. I too want to settle this once and for all, so you never bother me and Seoyoung again.” Doojoon scoffed, crossing his arms against his chest. “Are you sure even sure that she truly loves you, and not Hyunseung?” He taunted. Anger boiled inside of me. Seoyoung had always harboured a huge crush on the most popular boy of Anyang High, Jang Hyunseung. With wavy black hair and large, double-lidded brown eyes, he was the object of almost every girl in Anyang High’s affection, and Seoyoung was one of them too.

   “At least she didn’t pick a guy who was harsh and rude, cruel and heartless, an ex-gangster who didn’t give a damn about rules and his life. At least she picked a guy who would be kind to her, one who would shower her with endless love and affection and had a clean record, not some piece of trash that nobody wants and has given up all hope on.” I smirked in triumph - I had hit a sensitive nerve within Doojoon, and I could tell that he himself couldn’t deny the fact that Seoyoung never paid much attention to Doojoon, and even cowered in the presence of him. “At least,” I breathed. “At least she chose me over you.”

   That was the last straw.

   I flew through the air and hit my back on the metal door to the rooftop, sliding down onto the ground pitifully as blood oozed out of a fresh gash on my forehead and lips that were caused by the impact. I felt weak - black spots were clouding my vision and all my limbs refused to move, screaming in agony every time I tried to move.

   I was extremely wrong in thinking that Doojoon would be satisfied after flinging me at the door.

   He grabbed me by my shirt’s collar, making me stand despite the protests of my muscles, and started punching me repeatedly. “How dare you say that about me!” Doojoon shouted through gritted teeth. One punch. I really regretted not training hard enough during gym classes. I was extremely weak, and a punch from a muscular guy like Doojoon resulted into me staggering backwards towards the edge of the rooftop more than a normal person should. “I would never hurt Han Seoyoung!” Two punches. “I love her even more than you do!”  Three punches. I was getting closer and closer to the edge. “She should have chosen me!” Four punches. Just one more punch and it would be the end for me. I watched in fear as Doojoon raised his arm, aiming at my chest. I shut my eyes - this was it. I counted down the seconds in my head. I had no more strength left within me. I was done for.

   Well, I guess this is goodbye, Seoyoung, I thought sadly as hot tears ran down my cheeks. I braced myself for the impact of Doojoon’s fist and for the free-fall that would follow, squeezing my eyes shut even tighter.

   “Stop!”

   It sounded like an angel. My eyes immediately fluttered open, and I couldn’t help but let a relieved smile grace my face at the sight of my girlfriend. “Seoyoung...” I breathed, my voice cracking. She was extremely afraid, I could tell, but that didn’t stop her. “Doojoon, what do you think you’re doing?” She screamed. He looked at her - a hesitant glance thrown her way, but that was it.

   “Making sure that I’m the only one you will ever love.” He growled and landed a blow on my chest.

   I will never forget how horrible Seoyoung scream sounded as I fell six floors down to my death.

   “Yoon Doojoon?”

   My head snapped up at the mention of his name. I didn’t bear any grudges against him, but I still half-heartedly wished that my dying wish wasn’t for Seoyoung to get together with Doojoon. See, all of us ghosts had a dying wish to fulfil before we officially disappeared from the world, which was what I had been trying to achieve for ten long years ever since my death. There was a small part of me that wanted them to be together, for Seoyoung to find another man, but the thing was that I had been having constant trouble locating Doojoon.

   Until today.

   Doojoon looked up, and a wave of fright washed over his face. He took cautious steps back, his lips trembling as he spoke. “Se-Seoyoung,” he started, backing away until his back hit the wall. She advanced towards him, her steely gaze keeping him from running away. “So you finally decided to show up after ten years, huh?” She spat, closing the distance between them. Doojoon dropped the gaze to the ground.

   “I just got released from my jail sentence, so I decided to find you and apologize.”

   We stared at him in utter shock. Even though Seoyoung witnessed Doojoon pushing me off the rooftop, she never told anyone, and they pretended that my death was a complete accident - which only meant that Doojoon had turned himself in.

   “Seoyoung, I’m really sorry about what happened. After I did that, I had this feeling of immense guilt, and I realized how stupid I was to think that I could actually take you away from Yoseob. Even if I did have you as my girlfriend, your heart would always belong to him. Thing is, I realized my foolishness way too late to change anything. I realized too that I wasn’t able to go on with the guilt I felt, so I decided to turn myself in. I was sentenced to ten years in jail, but I feel like I still should be in there until death. It’s logical to me, really, to atone for what I did. But when I walked out of prison today, I genuinely felt like a new person, but there was still something I had to do, and that was to apologize to you, though I didn’t think I’d run into you at the place where we last met.”

   Taking a deep breath, Doojoon sunk down on his knees, head bowed, causing Seoyoung to gasp and tried to pull him back up. “Doojoon! What are you doing!” She exclaimed. He shook his head, gaze still fixated on the ground. “Han Seoyoung, how can I ever ask for your forgiveness for what I’ve done to your boyfriend? What can I do to make you forgive me?” Doojoon asked softly, and Seoyoung stopped mid-action in trying to get him to stand again. “Doojoon,” she whispered, sinking down on her knees instead to be at his level. “I forgave you long ago. Yes, it did take some time for me, but I’m sure Yoseob too has forgiven you. I can feel it.” She assured him quietly, tilting his chin up to meet her gaze. “And to answer your confession from ten years ago - yes, Yoon Doojoon, I may just be in love with the new you.”

   And with that one sentence, I felt myself slowly fade away as I watch their lips touch. It hurt a little, but I was happy for them. My dying wish had finally been fulfilled, and we were all happy at last. All our past disagreements and fights had been resolved.

   “Be happy, Seoyoung and Doojoon. I will always be watching you from the heavens above.” I whispered, and disappeared with the wind.

-

a/n: and being the lazy person i am, this took me a full five days to finish, and ended being longer than i expected... hope you liked it!