Shadow’s POV 

Kyungsoo lets out a string of stutters. “Wha-who-how-”

I wince. This was not supposed to happen.

Kyungsoo manages to form a coherent sentence. “Are - are you a ghost?”

I shake my head, but he seems to ignore me because he poses the next question with a slight tremor in his voice. “How long have you been haunting this house?”

“I’m not a ghost,” I repeat, this time aloud. Wait, when did I get the ability to talk?

“Well, if you’re not a ghost? What are you?” he says, holding his cup like it’s some sort of weapon.

“I’m your shadow,” I say, bracing myself for the string of questions that is bound to follow.

“My- my shadow?” Kyungsoo glances down at the floor again to confirm what I just said.

I echo my previous words. “Yes, your shadow.”

Kyungsoo holds his head in his hands the way one would when experiencing a severe headache. He probably is having a severe headache. It’s a lot to take in even for me. I can’t imagine what his mind is going through right now. I won’t blame him if he’s having a mental breakdown.

“Wait, if you’re my shadow, why aren’t you - I mean why are you in that form?” He gestures to me.

I sigh and explain everything to him, starting from Krystal’s accident. I try to talk slowly to give him time to digest the information. At points in the story, he nods and at other points, he furrows his brows.

At the end of the story, I scan over my mind to see if I missed out on anything necessary. The fact that I’m in love with him pops into my mind, but I quickly dismiss it. That fact is so very important, but not necessary to say out loud.

And it is only then that I finally understand the difference between the words “important” and “necessary”. Importance means that something is valuable and it should be cherished. Necessary means that something is needed and it cannot be substituted with any other thing. I am necessary to Kyungsoo, because I am his shadow and who knows how people would react if he showed up without one. But I am not important to him, because to be important means to be cherished and loved. And this is why it took me so long to realize the difference between these two words, because I didn’t want to realize that I wasn’t important.

Kyungsoo’s POV 

I wake up and squint at the sunlight streaming in through the windows. My mind is a jumble of mixed thoughts when I suddenly remember my shadow. I bolt out of bed and look at the floor. My shadow’s right there, trailing behind me, just as it’s always been.

“What a weird dream,” I mumble. And it certainly was. It must have been the after-effects of the horror movie playing with my mind. It had made the whole situation seem so real.

I arrive at school 10 minutes before class starts and I spot Xiumin at the front of the school. I know that when I see one of them, the rest will be there.

They spot me as I’m walking towards them and they wave. I wave back half-heartedly, still caught up in my thoughts about my shadow.

“Kyungsoo!” Kai calls. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost! Was the movie that scary?”

Maybe I have seen a ghost. I think to myself. But instead I reply back, “Hey! As I recall, you were covering your eyes too!” My remark successfully wipes the smirk of Kai’s face.

“The movie was pretty scary,” Sehun says. “I bet even Kris was secretly hiding underneath his bed covers after he went home.”

We all laugh at the imagined scenario when Kris interrupts us. “Hey! That’s not true. Chickening out is not my style.”

Kris’ catch phrase earns another bout of laughter from us.

But Suho’s laughter dies off the quickest. It seems that he noticed my black eye that I tried to hide underneath a hoodie. He points at it. “I forgot to ask you about that yesterday, D.O., what happened?

Lay gasps as he sees it. “I didn’t see it yesterday. It was too dark. D.O., are you okay?”

“It wasn’t because I hit you when you pranked me, right?” Luhan asks.

I wave off their questions. “I’m fine, hyung. Don’t worry about me.”

I feel someone staring at me and I turn around. Sure enough, it’s Damon. If looks could kill, I would be dead by now.

I feel like glaring back at him too. But I’m smart enough to know that would only provoke another fight. It takes every ounce in me to just look down at the floor.

I don’t feel like staying here since Damon’s presence is so near so I wave goodbye to all 11 of the guys.

“I’ll go to class first! Bye, see you at lunch!”

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Every 10 minutes, I glance back to see if my shadow is still there. It’s been 3 hours since I got home from school and there are still no abnormal signs.

So it really was a dream, I tell myself. Why would I even doubt it was a dream anyway? The whole thing had seemed too unrealistic, like something that came from a fictional novel.

I look at the clock. It reads 7:30 pm. Well, time for dinner. I go downstairs and make myself ramen. Just when I’m about to put the seasoning into the soup, I hear a voice say “Don’t put too much, it’s not healthy for you.”

Well, looks like the person who owns the voice got her wish because I am so startled that I sprinkle the seasoning everywhere but into the soup. I turn around, expecting to face my mom, but instead I’m faced with my shadow once again.

My jaw drops open in utter surprise.

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Even though my parents never told me, I’m pretty sure I was one of those kids who took candy from strangers. Why do I say that, you ask? Because here I am, letting a shadow cook for me.

After I had spread the seasoning all over the place, Krystal’s shadow had picked up a cloth and helped me clean it up. She held the cloth like it would slip through her hands at any second. Based on that, I am guessing she never knew shadows could carry things. Me neither.

And then right on cue, my stomach had growled. Krystal had asked me if I was hungry or anything. I couldn’t deny it, because it was obvious that I was. After all, I had been trying to cook ramen. And then she offered to cook me spaghetti, and I just couldn’t resist her offer because I remember that even when we were kids, she made the best spaghetti ever. Plus, I wanted to see if she was really Krystal.

No, I am not making excuses to eat.

Anyways, so here I am, facing a plate of really good-looking spaghetti. I take a bite of it and conclude that it’s as good as looks. Actually, even better. I give Krystal a thumbs up.

“Best spaghetti I’ve had in a decade.” And it’s the truth.

Even though I can’t see her facial expression because her face is just a dark silhouette, I somehow get the feeling that she smiled. 

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