The emotion that slowly grips your coronary heart is both concern or despair. The way in which your physique trembles, it’s undoubtedly concern. However it’s not concern from bodily ache or the stress of the state of affairs. It’s the concern of a person with a false face, saying and doing issues {that a} false face would by no means do. The shattering of expectations and familiarity got here as a larger shock than I anticipated.

I used to be flawed about Heo-sang.

“Do you continue to don’t have anything to say?”

The strain tightens my breath, however I can’t escape the black grip. I’m not even allowed to avert my gaze.

I preserve my mouth shut, and Simeon slips his fingers round my collar. The thorns that had been digging into the again of his neck slipped out, and he breathed simpler. As I breathed raggedly, Simeon pulled one thing out of his jacket pocket and held it out to me.

“You’re going to fake you don’t know this?”

Notes. Notes that I wrote down about Simeon. I even went as far as to check comparable traits and habits with Heo-sang. No surprise they suspected me of being a spy behind the Apostle’s again.

However I made no excuses. If I opened my mouth, I might have offered my very own grave. Then Simeon unfolded his pocket book and pointed to a spot, a black marker the place I had written Heo-sang identify after which swiftly erased it.

“What did you write right here?”

Rattling it. Irrespective of how a lot I racked my mind, I couldn’t give you a very good cause. At occasions like this, it’s greatest to only stroll away. I put a griddle on my face and stare him straight within the eye.

“Nothing, I’m simply annoyed as a result of I don’t know who you’re, so I painted it on.”

“You count on me to consider that?”

“Yeah. You’re not going to consider something I say till it offers you the reply you need anyway.”

Simeon burst out laughing at my phrases. I don’t know if it’s as a result of I’m being intelligent or as a result of I’m being ridiculous. He had a wry smile on his face and gave the impression to be having fun with the tug-of-war. The following second, Simeon pulled a photograph out from between his notes and confirmed it to me.

“And this one?”

Now that you just’ve seen the photograph I secretly took, there’s actually no escape. I used to be presupposed to delete all of them as quickly as I despatched them to the consumer, however I had the nerve to set one apart and secretly preserve it.

I glanced up at Simeon in despair.

“If I inform you the reality, will you consider me?”

Simeon raised one eyebrow as if to say, ‘Go forward.’ That is the place our destiny will likely be determined, he confessed, meekly clasping his palms collectively like a scholar referred to as to the workplace.

“I used to be commissioned to take an image of you, however I didn’t know when or the place you’d present up, so I did some analysis and jotted it down in my notes.”

“Who would do this?”

“I don’t know, it’s nameless.”

The truth is, in accordance with the contract, I’m not even supposed to say it. However who cares about contracts when you may be mistaken for a spy and disappear and not using a hint?

Simeon frowned subtly as I watched him nervously.

“So that you’re saying that you just had been requested to take an image of me anonymously, and you probably did simply that?”

“Sure.”

I nodded sincerely, and Simeon smirked as if to say, ‘Don’t joke with me.’

“That’s a believable lie.”

“I assume you don’t consider me in any case.”

“Would you consider Hajae Shin, the person who saved these notes and images?”

I… I don’t consider it both. Truthfully, it sounds a bit like a lie. However what if it’s all actual?

I sighed in unspeakable frustration. If he thought it was an act, Simeon requested, thrusting the photograph in entrance of me as soon as extra.

“Then why do you have got a print of this?”

“As a result of….”

“Isn’t the fee over when you ship the file?”

He was so persistent, I couldn’t assist however blurt out the reality.

“I simply… I needed to maintain it.”

It’s true, however you received’t consider me.

As anticipated, Simeon smiled softly and shook his head.

“It is best to have mentioned you’re a stalker, then I might have thought you had been cute.”

“I’m not kidding.”

“Neither am I.”

It’s irritating, and it’s driving me loopy. After all, this entire state of affairs might be cleared up by saying, ‘I used to be questioning in case you had been Heo-sang, so I wrote down your traits in a pocket book, after which I believed you had been Heo-sang, so I saved the photograph.’ However there’s no cause to say that except you’re actually loopy.

Biting his lip for lack of the rest to say, Simeon tiled in an impatient voice.

“You do realise that you just’re very suspicious, don’t you?”

“…Sure. I do know….”

” what?”

“That’s all I do know.”

Simeon seemed up with a glance of frustration on his face, however he didn’t bat a watch. There was no level in enjoying for sympathy in entrance of an iron fortress. The place was all of the compassion, and what was left was a chilly smile.

“You’ll have to remain right here for some time, till the costs are cleared.”

I had imagined torture because the worst-case situation, however I used to be relieved that they wouldn’t do something to me straight away.

Simeon then slipped the photograph again into the pocket book and put it in my pocket. It was nothing particular, and I stared at his fingers as they moved in entrance of my eyes. These lengthy, sleek fingers are the identical as ever.

However as I watched, I seen a small reduce on his index finger. It seemed like he had been pricked by a thorn whereas pulling on the leash. For some cause, I couldn’t depart him alone and grabbed his wrist.

”There.”

His bushy eyebrows creased barely. However there was no signal of displeasure.

“Did it lastly happen to you to inform me?”

“Nope. I mentioned every little thing I wanted to say and….”

I introduced his hand as much as my nostril and examined the wound intently. I believed it was only a scratch, however the oozing blood made it appear deeper than it was. For some cause, out of behavior, I believed he would simply depart it alone.

“Have a look at this…. I knew you had been going to get harm.”

He held up his injured hand to Simeon, demanding to see along with his personal eyes how unhealthy the wound was.

“Ensure to deal with it. Don’t let it trouble you.”

“…….”

“Hey, are you listening…….”

I used to be anticipating him to provide me a coy smile and say one thing alongside the strains of ‘what does it matter’, however Simeon’s response was by no means what I anticipated. His forehead furrowed barely, and he stared at my face with a confused look in his eyes.

Simeon’s smile pale, and he out of the blue seemed like ‘Heo-sang’.

No, Simeon was Heo-sang from the start. He was simply hiding what was inside with a smile. And I dismissed him as a distinct individual, a ‘Simeon’ so totally different from the one I remembered.

“What’s flawed?”

I requested, and Simeon’s expression modified. There was not any pretence in his chilly smile.

“Are you nervous about me?”

Simeon didn’t jerk his wrist away from my grasp, however as an alternative pulled it in the direction of me, and I rose from the mattress as if being dragged, stopping in entrance of him. We had been at the least a foot aside in peak. Add to that his physique, and I felt twice as intimidated.

”That’s….”

I began to stroll away, however out of the blue a big hand reached out to me. I instinctively closed my eyes, not realizing what to anticipate, and heard a maniacal giggle. I felt a chill on the again of my thorny neck.

“Shouldn’t you be nervous about this one first?”

“Ugh….”

It was solely a nudge, however the wound had swollen crimson and felt extra delicate than ordinary. The chilly contact that brushed throughout my flesh was creepy, like a snake slithering previous. After I flinched on the unfamiliar contact, Simeon withdrew his hand and whispered in a low voice.

“You’re a humorous man, you’re.”

Then Simeon turned and left the room. I flopped down on the mattress lengthy after he was gone.

“Hah…….”

I knew we’d be reunited sometime, however I didn’t assume it will be on this misunderstanding. However now, I’ve no intention of unveiling my identification. As soon as the costs are dropped, I’ll be out of right here and we’ll by no means see one another once more.

The issue is, I don’t know when the costs will likely be dropped. Whether or not it is going to be a day or a number of days is anybody’s guess. I could run into Simeon a number of extra occasions till his misconceptions about me are dispelled.

Nonetheless, I’m not as fearful of Simeon as I used to be the primary time we met. Truthfully, after I had simply woken up on this room, I used to be anticipating to see a cold-blooded man behind that false veneer, however in any case…. Heo-sang is Heo-sang.

“You’re nonetheless the identical, aren’t you?”

Raised alone since childhood, he’d by no means been significantly good at exhibiting ache, so after I seen a small scar or a change in his complexion and nervous about it, he was confused, undecided how one can react. And simply now, I’d seen a glimpse of the outdated him in Simeon.

Although he has modified in some ways, he’s nonetheless Heo-sang. A boy who resembles a chilly winter.

I used to be each relieved and puzzled. Seven years isn’t a short while, however I didn’t count on him to have modified as a lot as he has. His character and mannerisms are fully totally different.

“What made you that method….”

I’m the identical individual with a distinct look, however the identical character, and I’m the identical individual with a distinct look however a distinct character.

Though we’re comparable in some ways, our paths are totally different, and our future is much from flat.