Youngjae is six years old. Yesterday summer holiday started officially and his parents brought him to his grandparents. Boy jumped out of car straight into the arms of his beloved grandpa. He told him stories and brought him fishing every summer. His grandpa was the best grandpa. And grandma was the loveliest. She cooked him pancakes in the morning and poured delicious jam on them. She baked cookies and pies and her embrace smelled like vanilla and cookie dough.

Grandpa wakes him early and they go fishing. Youngjae wears simple clothes and admires grandpa in his fishing costume. One day he'll wear one too. Sun is just about to break through the horizont as they walk to the lake in quiet. Youngjae's smile grows wider from excitement when he hears frogs croak. They approach their usual spot-between the reeds where they settle down. A large old willow is hovering above them, so even when the sun comes up high they have a shadow to hide underneath.

Youngjae looks at the boy wide-eyed.

"I never killed you. I don't even know you."

Killing someone isn't a thing one cannot not notice or forget. He knows he wouldn't have been able to live with the thought of what he had done, better, he would be stuck in jail by now. But he knows he had no one to kill in the first place.

Junhong laughs lightheartedly and starts walking motioning Youngjae to follow him and he complies.

"First of all, I want you to hear my story. I was abandoned by my parents when I was only a newborn child.

They carefreely left me in the alley where I was alleged to die. I was probably crying out of hunger and fear and this woman found me before it was too late. She brought me home and cleaned me up, changing into new clothes, before feeding me and holding me until I was sound asleep. One day she confessed that she lost her baby in the 6th month of pregnancy, but she already had baby clothes and everything prepared.

I grew up happy in the family I loved and I didn't knew they weren't my real parents. I heard the truth when I entered Junior High. They were afraid to tell me fearing that I will become sad and go search for my real parents. That didn't happen because I already loved them, they were my real family.

Our happy life began to fall down, like a tower of blocks when you remove a piece from below.

At first my dad was starting to feel tired even though he tried his best to rest after work. He ended in the hospital after he fainted. They did tests and found cancer. He didn't had much left. Since then we watched him disappear in our eyes and then he was gone. Mom couldn't handle anymore sorrow and she found comfort in a glass of wine or whiskey. From glass to a bottle and there wasn't a day when she was sober. She stopped caring after me and I went wrong ways, easily influenced by bad kids. I was partying, drinking and smoked weed with others, no longer recalling how happy I use to be.

I lived near here and I loved going to the lake I know you and your grandpa were fishing

I often visited your grandpa when you weren't around and he was so nice to me. When I fell down he picked me up and gave another life. It became the only place where I felt happy."

"Do you see now? Do you understand why are we here? It's because this is my heaven, not yours."

Youngjae was once again visiting his grandparents. He now graduated from high school and had time before the university starts. Today was his birthday and grandparents gave him a fisherman's suit. Youngjae smiled seeing the gift he wished for in his childhood. "Would you like to try it out today?" His grandpa asked and the boy lit up. "Really? Can we?" "Sure, just dress warmly. You can also try cutting a hole in ice today." They were soon dressed and with the right equipment left. Youngjae had never been finishing in Winter before and when he made a hole in ice grandpa came to him. "Not good enough. Don't do it so near the shore, the ice is thicker here. Come on." He gathered his stuff and followed his grandpa.

Junhong loved skating on ice and today was perfect weather. When he was walking out and passed the living room he saw mom starting the daily routine of drinking. Boy frowned and stepped outside slowly closing door behind him to not get her attention. He breathed out easier once he was out and looked forward to skating. Before going on ice he changed to skating shoes and stepped on ice. After snow last night it was covered in thin white layer, but it didn't disturb the skating. Junhong couldn't be separated from skateboard in Summer and skating shoes and ice in Winter. He felt so easy on ice that he could close his eyes and pretend he's alone in whole world. He was caught by surprise when his leg fell into something dragging his whole body. His mind couldn't picture what happened and shock swept through his body. When he tried to grab the edge of the ice it was too late. Cold water paralysed his muscles and dragged him to the bottom.

"Do you see now Youngjae?"

They stopped and boy went quiet after he told the story from his own point of view.

Youngjae felt his body tremble.

"I...I had no idea. Please forgive me."

"It's not your fault. I wasn't looking where I'm going."

Youngjae’s body tensed up. He clenched his jaw. "That's why I'm here. To atone for that. Justice needs to triumph, right?"

“Fairness, does not govern life and death. If it did, no good person would ever die young.”

Junhong smiled. "No Youngjae, you are here to learn something from me. Each person you'll meet here will teach you something.

"Like what?"

"For example, that there are no random acts. Everything is connected."

“Each affects the other, and the other affects the next, and the world is full of stories, but the stories are all one.”

Junhong took both of Youngjae's hands and in a moment he felt everything Junhong felt in his life:loneliness, happiness, grief and despair.

"I need to leave." He whispered into Youngjae's ear. "There's nothing left for me to do here." Youngjae snapped from the trance he was in.

"Wait! Tell me one thing. Did I save her?" Junhong didn't respond and Youngjae felt the ground slipping from under his feet. "So that means my life and death were meaningless?"

Junhong paused to look back at him.

“There are no meaningless lives.” He disagreed.

“The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone.”

Youngjae stepped back and he watched the boy walk away before he disappeared into the thin air and he felt himself being lifted from the place. He felt like he was spinning and then-darkness.

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I hope you liked the 2nd chapter. Tell me how is it ^^

I continued to read and now thinking about 2nd person. Can you guess who he is?