My eyes felt heavy and my head was about to explode any second, as I tried to realize what just happened. I was at my grandmother's house, I left with Peanut to go to the forest, but then...? I raised my hand and touched my head. No blood. A heavy sigh escaped my dry lips the moment I knew I wasn’t hurt physically. But wait. Why was the ground so soft under my body and my movements. Last surroundings I remember were located in the forest. Weren't they?

I silenced.

Where am I? The Beating of my nervous heart sped up and for a split second I started to panic, as I had no idea where I was and who brought me here until I saw it.

My legs struggled for freedom and I dragged my feet out of the bed I realized I was lying in, forgetting all the fear inside and the possibilities of getting in danger at that moment. It was like a driving force inside of me that was desperately craving for this piece of the past. Holding it in my hands, feeling the wooden frame with my fingertips and just...

 

"Hey."

 

I stopped in my tracks before I was able to get a hold of the old photo frame that was merely a few meters away. Turn around. Don't turn around. Turn around. I bit my lip and starred to the floor. This could be it. The end. Before this trip even started. Inside I cursed, why hadn't I followed the words of my dad? He was right all the time...no girl alone in the woods.

 

"Are you all right...Sanna?"

 

For a second my mind went blank. This person knew my name. But I wasn't even able to see a matching face to this voice speaking so caring to me. Turn around. Don't turn around. Turn away. Start screaming. My feet were betraying me, doing one step after the other, turning my body around in the process of doing the unwanted. At first, there were feet. Then the first thing seemed odd. No pants. But something like...a skirt? Scared but also critically my eyes wandered further. This was, with no doubt, a voice of a young man. And he knew my name. He knew my name....

 

"Sanna?" He took a step forward, which made me flinch.

 

Although my body felt cold, the blood inside was boiling. Not with anger, but with fear, curiosity and desperation. I mean, he did not kill me as he had the chance to do so, right? Right.

Brain: out of function.

I still thought that I had to be knocked out, but then I took a quick glance at his face. And his eyes were right starring into my soul. Dark brown eyes fixed on mine.

"Aren't you happy that I am back?" His eyebrows were furrowed as he made a questioning face and tried to hide something that felt like sadness.

"That...you are back?" My words sounded so stiff and lost. "I don't know you."

He was taken aback. "But...you were searching for me and..."

Wow, wait. Cut. Searching for him? I was searching for my dog, not for some human. Some young man and...

"What are you doing inside of my grandfathers house, huh? How did you get inside?" Suddenly I got outraged. There was this force in me, that pushed me to be brave now. To not show any weakness in front of him.

"But you said we would visit! Why are you getting angry now, Sanna?"

"Stop! I said, I don't know you! Why are you still calling me with my name then?" My face was blushing madly at this point now. My hands sweaty, my breath leaving my mouth irregularly.

"Don't know me, right? Then I'll show you!" He turned around fast, which made the thin fabric of his clothing seem to fly in the air. Leaving a scent behind him, that made me wonder were I smelled it before.

Again, he turned around. "Look at me.", he said, pointing his finger to his nose.

What was he going to do? His long finger was still pointing at his face as he watched my every move.

„You want to know who I am?! Then look close enough, Sanna! I was your whole life by your side!“

My light eyes went from his dark eyes to his small nose, down to his plump lips and straight to his neck. I gulped. „Why...are you wearing...a dog's collar?“ It seemed like the one I gave my dog a few weeks ago. Carefully he touched the material around his slender neck. Then it hit me hard. Like a rock. A truck. A punch straight into my face.

„Peanut...?“

My voice sounded like it was caged in a different galaxy. Nowhere to be found near my body, that felt like giving up on everything at any given time. It felt strange. Like this could only be a dream. Only a dream. There were no other options I had to choose from now.

His face lit up for a bit, cracking a small smile on his face. „Never wondered how a dog could get that old?“

Brain...try to function...

I took a glimpse of him. He was right. He must have been at least over 50 years by now. IF he should be my dog.

Peanut was part of our family and I never doubted that. And over the years, as I was getting older, it was slowly getting clear to me, that he could not be just a normal dog like the ones my friends or class mates had. But this, our eyes met and he started smiling, was nothing I had ever expected.

„So you brought me here?“ I looked around. Everything was still like it used to be, as I went here with my grandparents as a young child on those lazy summer days. The small kitchen, the beds, the veranda that could be seen through one of the windows and... the frames with portraits of my family and of course my grandfather. As if my heart was arching at this thought, I lowered my head.

„Yes... I thought, although you hit your head and became unconscious, that you still wanted to come and see if you can find the answer to your grandmother's box.“

„Oh my god...it really is you, Peanut...“

„Finally you understand.“

„I am talking to my dog...“

„What? Sanna...please...“

I must be crazy. I can't be talking to some guy, telling me that he is my dog that just ran away.

“How can I make you believe me?” His words were filled with desperation as he tried to catch a hold of my hand but failed as I turned away quickly to avoid contact. “I don't know...” I really had no clue. Maybe I should just start with some easy questions and then make him uncomfortable? My head began to hurt again. But then, I thought, I would make it simple. At least this would give me answers. “What is your name? Who are you? And most of all, WHAT are you?” His reaction to my questions made me think that he was taken aback by them, but the opposite was shown. He smiled again.

“It makes me happy that you ask.” He grinned, “Please, take a seat.” Followed by him, we took place at the yellowish sofa my grandmother picked out years ago. She said it would make the house more comfortable, a feeling of summer and holidays between all the wood inside here, but as a child it always reminded me of a huge banana that fell out of a huge fruit cocktail.

Still stuck in the mindset of thinking that this was all a bad dream, I decided to give him a chance.

He inhaled, and then his story began.

“As you might can tell, I am not a real dog.” He looked relieved. Continuing his words with a bit more of joy, “But no human as well.” Again his clothes were making a rustling sound, distracting me for a split second.

“No human? Then what are you?”

“To make it simple, I am a woodland deity. My name is Yoo Youngjae.” As far as possible, he bowed on the yellow couch on which we were facing each other.

“And now you're going to tell me, that this is your forest, huh?”

“Indeed. I used to live here before your grandfather started taking care of me.”

“You knew my grandfather...” I forced a smile on my lips, “How did you two met?”

“You mean, how did a human got a woodland deity as his pet dog? Well...I was in trouble and your grandfather helped me out with taking me home to his house... But I did not choose to become a dog!” He laughed.

 

~~~~~

 

Youngjae, although I still had the urge to call him Peanut, told me everything important that he thought I should know. However, it still was unclear to me what or who was chasing after him. And what they want from him that had to be so important to them, that they were even chasing after him. What was he hiding? And I still had no idea what the wooden box was hiding inside of its walls.

 

In the meantime we both decided to sit around on the ground. This way we were able to spread the old photos my grandmother gave me around the floor.

Startled I took a glimpse of the old papers and photos in my hands.

"Your grandfather was a good man. He treated me like I was a part of your family, although he knew, that someday I may have to leave again." Youngjae smiled to himself as he, I guess, remembered a moment he had with my grandpa. "He always took me with him wherever he went to. Always trying to make those moments special and unforgettable I had in a human form." He took a photo out of my hands and gave it an intense look. "See? This is me." He pointed to a dog next to a young man I recognized as my grandfather. And suddenly, out of the blue, I felt like Youngjae had spent more moments with my grandfather as I could in the short time we both had together. I started sobbing. I didn't want to cry but I couldn't hold it back any longer. Salty tears found their way down my face, tried to escape into my hands I now held in front of my face. But there it was, the moment I realized, that I did not even had a photo together with my beloved granddad.

"Sanna?" His hands grasped mine and tried to remove them from their position. "Sanna, please, don't cry." Of course I opened my eyes the moment I felt his stare on me. While opening them I saw that his face was close to mine. Trying to see whether I would look at his angelic face or not.

Why was I feeling so familiar with him? Suddenly I had no problem with him holding my hands or sitting so close to me...

He seemed like he had no idea of what to do with me. A few ugly sobs later I felt that I had enough power to act normal again. At least I hoped so. A weak smile crossed my lips, "Youngjae...would you...would you please tell me something about him?" At first, he did not seem to understand, but then he made a smiling gesture, "I would love to." He opened his arms and offered me a place to listen to him closely. So warm... He cleared his throat before he started.

"He was a man made out of honesty and peace." His words slowly resonated trough my body. "He knew how to cook, how to build things. This house was only made by him. He didn't even wanted my help as I offered it to him." Those words did not even surprised me. My mom always told me how he managed everything. Even things nobody knew at his time. Like he was sent from the future. "One day, he came back home with your grandmother, and his face was lit up with so much happiness, that I thought the sun wasn't shining as much as he did at that moment. He entered the living room and was searching for me. 'Peanut! Peanut! Look what I've got here! Look at her! This is my granddaughter!' He was waving at me with a photo of his granddaughter, of you, in his hands." I buried my head into the collar of Youngjaes clothing, which reminded me of a mixture of a traditional Korean hanbok and a Chinese hanfu. But nevertheless, my tears coated it. "On that day I had to make a promise with him. And until now, I did not dare to break it." I loosened from his grip, rubbed my eyes and tried to understand his words, "What promise?" Large and warm hands cupped my face and rubbed away the salty tears on my cheeks. "If there would be a time, where he can't be by your side anymore, that I start to protect you. I followed his footsteps."