Circus of Longing

Debts of Silk

Bong had told Da Som to choose any empty tent as hers but Da Som found all of them too dark and empty. Da Som was tired. Suddenly she heard a husky, female voice calling her, "Your future is no more mysterious than your past. Come let me take you where past and future meet at the crossroads."

Da Som was too scared to take a risk again but what more could go wrong? She went deeper into the tent. The tent was azure in color. A dark Blue lace curtain was hanging from the tent roof to the ground with a woman sitting across it. She was wearing a beautiful peacock blue gown but there was no chair. Da Som was not sure how to put it in words, but she was seated on air and she was sure her gown and feet were not touching the ground. Her face was not visible as it was hidden with a veil.

"Give me your hand dear," the woman said.

Her sharp nails were clawing at the back of Da Som's palm and her skin felt shriveled like a raisin"Plum blossoms at full moon, two lovers sitting on a river bank, the smell of old scrolls, a piano out of tune..."

"What does it mean?" Da Som asked.

The woman was visibly irritated, "Never...ever...interrupt me..." Her voice was now becoming like coal smoke.

"Here you are," Da Som was relieved by Bong's voice. Bong took her hands and pulled her towards him. He swept away a lock of hair from her face, Da Som stood on her toes and inched towards Bong and Bong kissed her. Da Som looked around her. They were kissing under a cherry blossom tree at the banks of Han River with the traffic of Seoul obliviously passing them by.

"How...We...?"

Bong put his fingers on Da Som's lips, saying, "Hush...I know it was your dream for your first kiss to be under this cherry blossom tree at the banks of Han."

Da Som took everything in, the cherry petals drifting on the river, the lights shining like fireflies in the concrete jungle and of course, Bong's ethereal face.

Suddenly she was back in the circus again but this time alone under the sky.

"Now that we've kissed,"Bong said nonchalantly, "I hope you'd stop behaving like a clingy puppy when I'm around."

Da Som could feel tears stinging her eyes. She could not stop herself from punching Bong's face but Bong stopped her hand in between.

"Don't ever make this mistake again," Bong said. For a second, Da Som thought he would crush her fist but his hand starting cooling to a freezing temperature, and dropping further. It was so cold that Da Som screamed.

The woman with the veil raised her veil up. She was bewitching, more beautiful than any idol Da Som had seen on television. She traced Bong's face with her long fingers, "What do you intend to do with her?"

Bong made the purple silk cloth take the shape of a fox and exhaled, "Just returning Sung Jong's favour to her only female descendent."

"Careful," the woman said, poking at Bong's chest, "However cold you think you've grown in these centuries, that thing is still inside there, warm and susceptible to human emotions."

"I think you are mistaking me for someone else, Tae Ri" Bong pinned her to the wall and his hands crept on her neck and he pulled the silk cloth around her, which started burning her throat, "You of all people, should know how cold I am, without any love, without any pity. Kim Eun Seok is not here. Stop looking for him." He hissed and went out of the tent to find a tent for Da Som.