CHAPTER 3  Plum Blossoms

"Meili... Meili... "

Chun Hee rolled over in her bed and curled up making her head almost reach her knees. She covered her face with her thick black blanket pretending that she hadn't heard anything. She wanted some comfort. She needed more comfort. That day she didn't want to wake up, she didn't want to leave her house, not even her bed. She felt jaded and had no interest in doing anything. She had planned to take the day off and the only thing she wanted right at that moment was waking up late once in a while.

"Mei... "

For the 100th time, she closed her eyes in a failed attempt to sleep again.

"MeiMei..."

She rubbed her eyes trying to adjust them to the brightness of the sunlight.

"Me..."

"FINE!" She shouted while abruptly throwing her blanket and sitting on the edge of the bed. "I'M AWAKE NOW ARE YOU SATISFIED?"

She looked at the clock and sighed. It was still 6 a.m. "Wake up late huh?" she shrugged and sighed again.

It hasn't been long since she had started hearing that voice calling her every day. It had always been the same voice. Always. For three months she had been waking up to the same alarm; a young man's mysterious voice. Who is he? She actually had no clue. Sometimes she thought that it would be better if she took Chanyeol's advice into consideration and visited a specialist. Well, a psychologist, to be exact. But she had never been convinced by the idea and she had always claimed she was okay. Well maybe she was having some troubles -like not being able to wake up late when she planned to- but she was going to get over it sooner or later. She was not having mental troubles, not because of the accident anyway, like what Chanyeol had been saying plenty of times, not because of anything. She was doing well trying to fit in her new life. She was fine. She was just fine with everything she did. She was fine even when she failed to get a job. She was fine when she was running out of money. She was fine when she failed to cook a decent meal for her brother -as known as Chanyeol- because she just didn't have enough food in her fridge.... She was fine with everything. Nothing could have affected her mental health. And if it was really because of the accident, why hadn't she noticed anything strange since years? "Why now?" she would ask herself. Years had passed since she last saw her grandma. More years had passed since she last saw her parents. Why would she hear a strange voice calling her after 23 years? That made no sense, especially that the one calling her was neither her father nor her mother nor a member of her family. Or at least his voice didn’t seem like it.

But that day something was a bit different than usual. For about three months the only word she could hear was her Chinese name, Meili. But that day, as if the owner of the voice was getting a bit closer to her, a bit more affectionate, he was calling her with her nickname, Mei. Everybody used to call her Mei when she still had her family around. But, MeiMei? She only knew one person who used to call her that way. And that person was certainly not the voice's owner for one simple reason; the ghost-guy was much older, judging by his voice.

Chun Hee took a long shower, dried her hair and pulled it up in a ponytail. She was not going out even if she had already woken up early. She prepared a hot cup of chocolate milk and went out to the small balcony of her apartment. It was small, but its wonderful design made her feel a lot better and it was her favorite place to relax. She had put so much effort into decorating it by herself and adding few details from time to time that every inch looked like a paradise. It was simple and most of the decoration consisted in different types of flowers that she had carefully chosen and planted. She would feel satisfied and overwhelmed whenever she looked at the artistically arranged colors. Maybe it was the reason everyone used to call her Mei, after all. The first thing she could pronounce when she learned to talk was "Chun Mei" which means spring plum blossoms, and the first thing she could walk to was a gracious tree full of "Dong Mei"; winter plum blossoms. She loved flowers of all types and she loved plum blossoms the most, part of why she had chosen "Lee Chun Hee" as her Korean name, Lee as plum and Chun Hee as spring girl, sometimes even her Japanese not-so-close friends would call her "Sakura", which also refers to Japanese cherry blossoms.

"Mei? No! I don't want to!" He scoffed and looked at her rather curious about the reason she asked him to call her Mei instead of Meili. Her original name sounded beautiful after all. Why would she want to change it?

"Why? Everyone calls me Mei! Why don't you want to do it too?" Her chubby cheeks made her face look puffy as she pouted in defeat.

"Because I'm not like everyone! I want to call you with another nickname that will always remind you of me! What about MeiMei?"

"MeiMei? What does it mean?"

"It means beautiful girl! Just like you."

"Haaaa!" She beamed and started clapping in ecstasy. "So you really think I'm beautiful Ed?"

"Do you want to hear me say it again?" He smirked.

The boy with raven black hair was only 6 but he had that kind of smiles that could melt a 4-year-old girl's heart. He liked her too and he somehow felt responsible for her happiness and well-being even though they only knew each other since few weeks. He put a light kiss on her cheek, grasped her hand and led her to a near garden full of winter plum blossom trees. Winter had been her favorite season since then.

Chun Hee shivered as a cool