In the moment you let go of your fears and embrace the present, that’s the moment you start to feel like you truly live. That very moment, when Yu Na let go of everything that was holding her back, that’s when she felt, for the first time in so long, that she was alive, that she regained control over her life.

Yeong-hwan held her tightly into his arms, kissing her forehead as she looked gently at him. Then, when they both looked outside, they saw the snowflakes that gently fell on the ground. Yu Na’s eyes sparkled with joy as she saw the very first snow.

‘It’s snowing! Isn’t it too soon to snow, Yeong-hwan?’

‘It’s almost december, it was about time to snow.’ he replied as he gently patted her back

‘Time really flies, doesn’t it?’ 

Yeong-hwan agreed and then stood up, gesturing to her to do the same thing. It was already late, they needed to head into their room and get some rest before the sun rises.

‘Tomorrow I have to go to Mister Han to give him some books to sell, do you want to come with me?’ asked Yeong-hwan as they entered their room

‘You already finished writing everything he asked you to bring? You’re so fast.’ she softly giggled ‘I’ll come too.’

Yeong-hwan smiled and he proceeded to make the bed for them. Yu Na stood in a corner, looking over to the boy and recalling everything that happened that night. She put her finger on her lips, and, thinking to that very moment, she couldn’t stop herself from blushing.

‘Now… what are we, Yeong-hwan?’ 

Yeonghwan turned to see her reaction. He softly smiled as he approached her. Kneeling in front of her, he took her small hands into his.

‘I would like to think that we share the same feelings, am I wrong?’

‘No, you aren’t. Everytime you’re around, I feel butterflies, and when you’re gone, there’s this constant feeling of emptiness. I want us to… be together. To stop that play-pretend that we agreed on. I want us to–’

Yeong-hwan was happy hearing the true feelings that the girl was having for him.

‘I want us to be together, too, Yu Na. I wished this day would come true for some time. Everything about you fascinates me, I don’t ever remember when I fell in love with you. It may be the very first moment we met, but each and every time, it felt like my feelings for you kept on growing, so I am so happy that we share the same feelings.’ he couldn’t contain his feelings, feeling like his heart was pounding so fast

On the other side, in the room next door, Hyun-woo, who wasn’t asleep, heard everything that the two of them said. As he was laying on his bed, looking out of the window, at the moon that shined brightly, he bit his lip.

‘If everything until this point was a pretense, then what is keeping a secret, Yeong-hwan?  What happened with the trust between us? Is it gone? Or is the thing that you kept a secret something that you don’t ever want me to find out?’ those thought kept wandering inside Hyun-woo’s mind

He was angry, he felt betrayed. His own friend, with whom he shared many memories, got to keep something from him. Was there something that he did wrong that made Yeong-hwan lose his trust in him? He had his doubts about his friend from the moment he came back here, but now the doubts were becoming true.

Lost in thoughts, he didn’t realize the moment he had fallen asleep. It was past midnight when the three of them were deep in the world of dreams. While for each of them, dreams portrayed the greatest fear that they had at that moment, for Yu Na, the dream she had kept a deeper meaning. For all the answers about the world she was living in, it seemed like this dream would hold an answer.

In the darkness of the dream world, Yu Na felt again the presence of someone she didn’t know. The same person that came into her dreams on the very first day she came into this world.

‘You’re quite the persistent one, aren’t you, Yu Na? Why can’t you die?’ asked the shadow.