“Ki Sun, 1987-2000”

Hye read the words again for the hundredth time. Jun wrote the epitaph saying it was what Ki would have wanted. It was true. She could picture Ki saying those words in his mocking voice.

Those words written on his grave was also too true.

One day, all the people in the world will end up like him.

Dead.

It was already decided when each and every one of us were born.

We were fated to die.

She could still recall that day exactly nine years ago when she cried alone hysterically in front of his grave. It was a gloomy Sunday with no sun to comfort the tormented souls. Hye didn’t cry for Ki. She was crying selfishly for herself. The guilt swelled up inside of her like a balloon about to burst. It was unbearable. She couldn’t help thinking about what might have happened if she didn’t suggest going to the unknown parts of the tunnel or what would have happened if she managed to persuade him to come back with them. He might still be alive and kicking right now. She wouldn’t have this throbbing guilt and Jun wouldn’t have changed so much.

After the news of Ki’s death, Jun spoke to no one and kept to his room. On the few occasions when she passed him in the hallways, Hye, for a moment, mistaken him for Ki. It took awhile but the fact finally sunk in. Ki was dead and the person before her was Jun.

He was Jun not Ki.

It would be foolish to think otherwise. The twins, since birth, had never taken off their amulet. They were so similar when they were little, it was easier to tell them apart by the stone color around their neck. Jun had a stone as dark as the deep blue ocean. Ki had one the color of the light blue sky. They didn’t always live with Hye. A traveling magician brought the brothers to the old house when Hye was four. So the black amulet Jun wore could not possibly lie.

That day she cried in the open for the first time was also the day she met him.

He was an outsider who didn’t belong within the castle walls. Somehow, he managed to climb the lower wall. Hye abruptly stopped her crying when she heard him cursing. He landed in the thorny bushes lining the inner side of the wall (which were planted there for trespassers like him). When he finally managed to stand up, she saw that he had long light brown hair. Wiping her tears away, she fearlessly walked towards him to get a better look. He wore all black clothes and something red was peeping out from his hair (which she later found out was a ruby stuck in the pewter hoop earring). Hye had a good look at him when he noticed her presence.

His face was pretty even with the bleeding scratch on his cheek and the odd muddy-colored lipstick. He didn’t look a day older than the twins. They spoke to each other and this was the conversation Hye remembered:

“Please don’t call the guards. I’m already having a bad day as it is.”

“I can’t be bothered to yell for them.”

“Thank you so much.”

“Who are you and what are you doing in my home?”

“You’re the princess of this castle then?”

Hye though for a moment and replied.

“Yes, I am.”

Athough she wasn’t really a princess, but Jun and the household servants call her princess. It wasn’t a lie… really…

“You don’t have you princess crown-“

“Forget the crown, you still haven’t told me who you are and why you’re here.”

“My name is Jae Moon and I needed to hide from the village kids. They’re not very nice. I just moved to this place, you see, but the people here aren’t very accepting about have us-“

Hye interrupted him and pointed at his ear.

“Did you know there is blood stains in your hair?”

“Ahh… talking to you made the pain go away but now that you mentioned it… my ear hurts.”

“What happened to it?”

“The village kids yanked out my earring and it tore my earlobe.”

“You deserve it…”

Pause.

“Because you’re an idiot.”

She had very little sympathy for strangers.

“What?”

Jae probably thought that he would never see a real princess speaking like this.

“Have you looked in the mirror lately? You look like a crazy clown with that outfit and that hair and that brown muck on your lips.”

“Oh… this is just how I like to dress. People from where I use to live don’t seem to mind.”

“Then you must have lived in the crazy clown country.”

“Hahaha… I’ve never been to “the crazy clown country. Have you been there bef-”

“Of course not. And your ear looks like it is bleeding more.”

“Arggh, do you think maybe you could help-“

“No, I will not help, absolutely not. First of all, you’re a stranger and secondly you’re a trespasser.”

She could tell Jae Moon was stunned by her response.

“You can show yourself out. The gate is over there and it is unlocked.”

So it was unlocked all this time. Idiot.

Hye smiled back at the memory. It was supposed to be a sad crying day but it ended up being very amusing. Hye enjoyed talking to Jae. She couldn’t deny it. He was her link to the outside world, a world with telephones, computers, cars, and machines that washed clothes by themselves.