Come to think about it, the primary time I summoned Fenex, I scattered mother-of-pearl on the ground to idiot the attention.

All issues thought of, there is just one reply.

“…Starlight within the sea.”

It was a seashell. Fenex ate whereas I used to be asleep. No, Michael had eaten the shell on the shelf and disappeared, leaving nothing however crumbs behind. Though I had misplaced a reminiscence of my dad, I used to be in a position to relive that joyful feeling in my goals. It was a quid professional quo.

From then on, I saved a seashell by my bedside each evening. I get up smiling daily due to it. I now not endure from nightmares. The lonely nights of tossing and turning as a result of I couldn’t sleep are gone.

I couldn’t ask for extra.

……That’s what I assumed, till, not even per week later, it occurred.

“You….”

I return residence from work with a beer in hand, solely to search out an officer standing at my door. He greets me politely, and it’s Simeon’s bodyguard. He drives me residence, and the enterprise is completed.

“What are you doing right here?”

I ask and he takes a step again.

“I’ve one thing necessary to inform you.”

“I’m not listening.”

Most likely one thing to do with Simeon anyway.

With a curt refusal, I reached for the entrance door lock. However the bodyguard stepped in entrance of me, blocking my manner. I regarded up sharply, and he frowned in confusion. It was uncharacteristic of him, and it solely elevated my suspicions.

“Did Simeon put you as much as this?”

“No, sir. It was my very own initiative.”

“…Did he order you to say that?”

“I got here purely of my very own volition; moderately, Simeon ordered me to not go to your facet, it doesn’t matter what.”

The unwavering gaze in his eyes didn’t lie. He had all the time carried out what Simeon instructed him to do, however to say it was of his personal accord? He wouldn’t lie, however he would do something for his superior. No, it didn’t matter what the explanation was or who instructed him to do it. He’d severed his ties with him.

“Step apart.”

After I glanced away as if I wasn’t , the bodyguard referred to as my title for the primary time. “Shin Ha-jae.” There’s a touch of embarrassment in his voice as he calls out, one other man who, like Raphael, has nothing to do with this, however he’s working for Simeon, so he has no alternative however to chop to the chase.

“You had been with me on the time, so you recognize. If you happen to go to me even as soon as, what did I say I used to be going to do…”

Quietly, I pulled out my cell phone and stated,

“That is my final warning, please depart earlier than I name the police.”

There was a heavy rigidity within the air. Nobody moved for some time, so I switched off the sensor lights. Solely the sunshine of the cell phone glowed menacingly within the darkness. After a second, the bodyguard obediently turned and walked away.

I watched the black sedan disappear out the window and knew instantly the place he was going. Irrespective of the place I’m, the spirit will know the place I’m, however I have to go someplace they received’t discover me simply. Ideally down within the southern tip, near the ocean. So I can all the time run away once more.

For a couple of days, my senses had been heightened to the slightest noise, and I used to be on edge, questioning if it was him, after which questioning what the hell I used to be doing. It didn’t take lengthy to shatter my barely restored routine.

Someday, out of the blue, the doorbell rang.

“Who’s it?”

I requested from the entrance door, however there was no reply. I ponder if it’s him once more.

“I instructed you, I don’t have something to say to you, and I don’t need to trouble you.”

I waited for some time, however it was quiet outdoors the door. Simply to be on the protected facet, I glanced out via the small gap within the door. Nobody was there. The sensors within the hallway didn’t activate both, so it was darkish.

“What the….”

I puzzled if I used to be listening to issues, and as I stepped again from the doorway, I heard a voice behind me.

“It’s been some time.”

A comfortable, languid voice. It was his, the one I couldn’t get out of my head regardless of how onerous I attempted.

”How are you?”

My physique stiffened as if I’d been doused with ice water. I didn’t dare look again. No, I didn’t need to look; the lengthy shadow had been transferring towards me all alongside. As quickly as I heard the silent footsteps, I squeezed my eyes shut and screamed on the prime of my lungs.

“Get out of my home now!”

“Shin Hajae-ssi.”

“You promised me you wouldn’t come again.”

Nonetheless, he didn’t cease strolling. He knew I couldn’t escape if I used to be caught, so I made the identical risk.

“You haven’t forgotten what I instructed you I’d do to in case you got here again, have you ever?”

“Simply hearken to me.”

“Doesn’t what I’m saying make sense?”

A protracted shadow slowly swallows me up. It grabs my ankles like a rising tide, and I attain for the entrance door, realizing I need to escape.

“If you happen to received’t go, I’ll go.”

At that second, a hand shot out from behind and grabbed my wrist. The tough tug spun me round like a straw. I might odor the cool evening air. My face was pressed towards his, as if I had been falling asleep.

“…What are you doing?”

I struggled to get away, and he pulled me into an impatient embrace. His robust arms trembled anxiously, as if he may lose me. After a second’s hesitation, he buried his face in my hair and whispered in a low voice.

“Hyung. Are you going to go away me once more?”

…What?

My coronary heart sank. I’m clearly awake. My eyes are large open, however it’s onerous to soak up the sudden actuality.

Hyung. You left me ‘once more’. And now Simeon is…….

“…I missed you.”

His low voice trembled with emotion. I squirmed in panic, and he hugged me onerous sufficient to interrupt me. After I stopped respiratory, I might really feel his heartbeat in my stilled ear. Thump, thump. The sound was onerous and heavy, louder than my very own anxious beating.

“I by no means forgot you, not for a second.”

He rubbed his cheek towards my head, as if he had been a toddler. I, however, stood dumbfounded, unable to push him away or pull him right into a hug. It wasn’t till my overloaded mind lastly caught up with me that I managed to get the phrases out.

“How do you know……?”

“I’ve recognized about it since we first met.”

“…You’re mendacity.”

After we first met, we ran into one another in a again alley. That is the primary time he’s been capable of finding out that I’m John as a result of the situation for getting into the barrier is that I do know Simeon’s face, so why didn’t he inform me beforehand. Did he need me to disclose my id first?

After I couldn’t communicate anymore due to the confusion, Simeon frankly spoke his thoughts.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t imply to harm you …Did it damage rather a lot?”

A chilly hand gently touched his neck. It shouldn’t damage from the handfuls of instances he’d been stabbed by thorns, however unusually sufficient, the wound stung with every mild contact. After I winced, Simeon let loose a small sob and hugged me tighter.

“It’s simply… I really feel unhealthy that you just left me behind, I imply, I’m this damaged and also you’re wonderful, and also you appear to have forgotten all about me……. so it simply stings a bit.”

it by the best way I look now, by the best way my face is mangled as I attempt to swallow again my tears, by the best way I cowl my mangled coronary heart with my arms and switch my head away as if I don’t know.

And but you requested.

“Have been you content with out me?”

A really merciless query.

I instantly raised my hand and grabbed his shoulder and pushed. I gave him a bit push, however he was simply pushed away. Biting his lip onerous, he regarded up, his eyes vivid pink. Simeon’s masks had fallen away, and he was now the person I knew. He was the kid I knew, the one who couldn’t disguise his coronary heart and my layered resolve crumbled instantly.

“No, Heo-sang, I didn’t. All the pieces I left you, all the things…….”

Snap, thud!

The sound of a harsh door slamming shut made my eyes pop open.

“…….”

I might hear the fridge working and footsteps outdoors the door. I blinked dazedly, and the tears that had fashioned on my eyelashes fell away. The hand that reached out to stroke the cheek of his prime stretched towards the ceiling. As an alternative of heat, my fingers had been greeted by mud and air.

So it was all a dream.

“…Hah.”

He parted his tightly clenched lips and let loose a small gasp. He clenched his fists onerous, his nails digging into his palms, and the ache was palpable. That is actuality. I look to the facet, eyes filled with resentment, and see a pure white chook perched on the windowsill.

“Michael, why are you displaying me these goals?”

No reply got here. Michael pale silently into the moonlight. I instructed him I didn’t need him anymore, however from that day ahead, he haunted my goals. Not a day glided by that I didn’t have a imaginative and prescient of him coming to my door.

“Brother John. I missed you.”

I even name him by title now. He smiles and pulls me into an embarrassingly mild hug. With every dream, the contact turns into extra vivid. I place my hand on his again and really feel the onerous wing bones and the muscle groups of his physique. I breathe in, and the odor of the chilly winter evening reaches deep into my lungs, so how can I believe it is a dream?

“Heo-sang.”

However the second I name his title, I get up. After I get up, all that is still is an unspeakable sense of vacancy and loathing for me.