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"Aera-ssi! Wait up!"

The girl with soft wavy hair turned around hearing her name. A girl with a backpack came running down the walkway asking her, "Did you do the homework for math class??" Her lips pursed as she tried to remember if she did or didn't.

Chuckling, the girl said, "Don't worry! It's not due until Friday anyways! Just wanted to let you know that." Aera asked, "Oh, really?? Did the professor say that?" The girl brushed her hair back answering Aera, "Yeah. Why weren't you in class today??"

"I was in the library...studying for another class", Aera replied nervously.

Truth was, she was at a meeting with her parents. Her family wasn’t rich or poor. They were perfectly in the middle, but like any parent out there, they wanted what was best for their child.

“Aera-ah, we would like you to meet Mrs and Mr Kim’s son, Kim Junghwa.”

Aera looked up and saw a young boy shyly staring at her. His brown hair glowed in the light and his big eyes hesitantly watched her. He was exceptionally handsome. The only thing she didn’t like about him was that he had a baby-face. Greeting each other with a bow, the boy’s mother said, “He’s just a year younger than you, but that’s fine! He can still take care of you like any boy out there! Hahaha!” Aera faked a smile and nodded.

She didn’t want to say much.  It had always been that way with her and her parents. Whatever they told her to do, she’d obey.  Though this time, she had strongly disagreed with this arranged marriage, she knew that whatever she said wouldn’t change a thing.

“Alright, then the wedding won’t be until Junghwa graduates from high school!”, his mother added. As awkward it was for Aera to sit there and hear that she was marrying a boy younger than her, she could tell that the boy also felt awkward. His parents were rich. The only reason why they agreed to arrange a marriage with her was because the boy’s father and her father were good friends.

Waiting for their parents to finish up talking, the two couple stood outside the room in awkward silence. Then suddenly, she heard the boy ask, “So why did you agree?” Looking over at him, Aera asked, “What…?” His attitude had changed. He was no longer pretending to be shy.

“Don’t tell me you’re just doing this because you want your parents to be happy, because I know that’s a lie”, Junghwa said as he played with his phone. Then he added, “If it’s for my money, then how about we make a deal? After a month, we can divorce and I can give you as much money as you want.” Aera stared at him for awhile and answered, “If you want that, I don’t mind.” She made her way out to the car to wait there instead. Watching her leave, he scoffed and shook his head.

Her friend stared at her and asked, “Did you need help studying for math class then??” Aera smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Suhyun-ah!  Without you, I don’t know where I’d be”, she said. They walked together towards the outdoor resting area.

When they were finally done studying, Aera made her way on home. As she approached her usual shortcut, she noticed that they were doing construction and had closed off that way. The only other way to get to her house was by going around the small pond in the park. She used to take that way when she was in middle school and halfway towards high school until she heard about a ert hanging around in that park.

It was known to the people living around that area that a man would be hiding behind the bushes or trees and he’d watch girls walk by. There were no reports of a girls being attacked, but the thought of a ert lurking in that area scared everyone else.

Since it was daylight, Aera decided that it’d be safe to go on ahead and walk through the park. Walking at a fast pace, she gripped onto her backpack as she entered the park. There was hardly anyone in the park which made her more paranoid. Suddenly, she heard a twig break from behind a bush in front of her. Slowly coming to a stop, she prepared herself for a fight. She approached the pathway in front of the bush and cautiously stepped over to it a little. There had been nothing there when she looked over behind the bush.

Relieved, she sighed and put her fists down when she heard a thud from a small fence further behind the bushes and trees. She jumped and took a look. She wasn’t sure if she should be curious and check it, but she thought to herself that it might be someone in trouble. Once again, she cautiously made her way over to the fence with her fists up near her chest.

When she reached the fence, she spotted something in between a crack. It looked like a duck’s feet, only it was bigger and white. Aera quickly ran over as the thudding continued. She looked over on the other side and saw a magnificent swan. She wasn’t even sure of what to call it. The feathers seemed more like silk and its wings were spread so wide that she questioned herself why she hadn’t seen it before. The beak was gold-colored and on top of its head looked like some sort of gold headband that had golden beads hanging down to its neck. Looking away from its beauty, Aera realized that this swan needed help. It was stuck and hanging from the fence’s crack.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of there, okay?” She said as she ran back to where its feet were. She could see that the skin on the swan’s legs was starting to peel. It wasn’t possible to push the legs up from the crack. After thinking about it, she realized that the fence seemed pretty old. Looking up at it, she took a hold of one side of the fence with both hands and pulled it down. She could hear the swan thudding its wings against the fence from the pain. “It’s okay!! You’ll be alright!” She heard the wood cracking. With all her strength, she grunted and the piece broke off freeing the swan’s legs. Aera ran quickly to catch it before it had hit the ground. In her arms, she held the beautiful swan. Feeling the soft silky feathers on her skin, she said, “You must belong to someone…I’ll bring you to the animal hospital-“ The swan’s wings expanded again as it attempted to fly away from her. As it escaped from her, she felt a sting on her arm. “Ow…”, she said as she looked at her arm and saw nothing. Looking back up, the swan was gone.

When she got home, she saw Junghwa waiting outside in a car. Aera made her way towards her house ignoring him until he came out of the car saying, “Get in.” She looked at him and then back at her house. Continuing her way to her house, Junghwa impatiently walked over to her. He grabbed her arm and said, “We have to get you an engagement ring. Let’s go.” Aera obediently followed him to the car.

In the car, Aera looked down at her arm that felt a stinging earlier and saw a slight glow. Startled, she lifted her arm into the light and saw that it was normal. Junghwa looked over at her wondering what she was doing. He figured she was just being weird and looked back out the window.

Arriving to the mall, Aera followed Junghwa in and trailed behind him. He stopped and looked at her.

“Yah…isn’t this weird? You’re older than me, but I’m leading you? Tch…All girls are the same, aren’t they?”

Aera didn’t bother to look at him. Instead, she walked on ahead of him. He scoffed and followed after her. In the mall, she saw that it was getting quite crowded with people. Then she heard a few girls squealing and shouting. She looked and saw the famous Shinee boys. It was strange for them to be there causing a scene since it wasn’t that big of a mall. It wasn’t announced that they’d be there, so there wasn’t a lot of people there. Aera continued her way to the jewelry shop with Junghwa walking behind her. When she looked up ahead of her, she saw the famous boys heading towards her direction. The two boys with blonde hair walked in the front leading the rest of them along. A shorter boy stood closely behind one of the blonde haired boy and behind the short boy was a tall boy with dark hair. She didn’t know their names, but she knew of them. Her friend Suhyun was a fan of theirs.

 As they got closer, she suddenly felt the sting on her arm tighten up. It was uncomfortable, but she didn’t want to cause any attention. Gritting her teeth, she continued walking. The four boys walked by and when she approached the last one, the feeling disappeared. Her heart felt calm and the noisy crowd went silent. The only thing she could hear was the sound of her heartbeat.

Slowly, she looked up and saw the boy with light brown hair looking straight at her. A strange feeling ran through her body as he walked by her. She stopped and looked back at him. Suddenly, Junghwa came up from behind her and demanded, “Come on. Let’s go”, knocking her back into reality. The light brown haired boy watched as Junghwa took a hold of her hand, dragging her away.

She stared at her arm and saw it glowing again. This time it was glowing brighter than before, showing her some sort of crest. Her heart began beating fast as she watched the glow fade. Looking back, she saw the boy still standing there looking at her.

“This isn’t real”, she said to herself, “…right?”

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