Broken Mirror

Chapter 4

Ding! Dong! A sound of a bell rang, piercing the silence in the warm night air.

The gate was opened, revealing a boy in a long-sleeve white shirt and a pair of grey training pants. His black hair was damp, and his after-shower scent was fresh and manly.

On the other side of the gate, a girl with her messy long hair, wearing a pair of baby pink pajamas and a dying look on her face.

"Sorry, Cha Jinhee is unavailable and too tired at the moment. Please come again next life." Jinhee murmured and closed the gate, but the boy's swift hand slipped in and held it from being shut.

"It won't take long," Wooshin said, "I brought my bike."

"I'll tell my dad so he'll make you go away."

Wooshin caught Jinhee's wrist before she could walk back into her house.

"...I'm alone," Wooshin said.

"Doesn't that sound kinda unsafe for a girl?" Jinhee yawned.

"Please."

One simple word got Jinhee stunned. Wooshin can say 'please'? Wow, he must be really desperate.

"Fine. Not more than half an hour. My parents are busy watching a drama right now, but it ends in thirty minutes."

Wooshin nodded and immediately pulled the other towards his bike.

"It's the first time I go out in pajamas." Jinhee sighed.

"Doesn't matter, nobody sees it." After Jinhee was seated behind him, Wooshin pedaled away quickly towards his own home.

They failed to notice the presence of the boy standing on the balcony, who was watching over them in anxiety.

"So, what now?" Jinhee asked as soon as they entered the empty house. "Don't do anything stupid, please. School was tiring already."

"Ice cream?"

"No, thanks. I'm full."

"Okay." Wooshin took her wrist and led her upstairs towards his room.

"Don't you think it's too soon to bring a girl into your room?" Jinhee asked groggily. But her eyes then rounded as soon as the whole view of the bedroom was registered into her mind.

It was just about the size of her own room, quite spacious yet not too big for one person. The walls had baby blue wallpapers, the same color as the furniture, and the floor was covered by soft carpets in light grey and white. What surprised Jinhee the most was the giant white stuffed cat in the corner of the room, with scattered toys and smaller stuffed animals around it.

It was just like a bedroom of a little boy.

Except that there was a huge flat screen TV in it.

"Is this... your room?" Jinhee asked carefully.

"Yeah. Never changed room since I moved here." Wooshin closed the door behind them.

"Can I look around?" Jinhee asked.

Wooshin cleared his throat and looked away. "Sure."

Jinhee went to take a closer look of the giant white cat in the corner. It was even taller than her.

"Wow, it's so big and cute." Jinhee gaped in awe.

"My mom sent me that on my eleventh birthday. It looks like my old pet back in my hometown, but it's dead now." Wooshin crouched down next to the other and scanned through the toys.

"Sorry to hear that." Jinhee looked down at the various kinds of toys – blocks, toy cars and train, puzzles, and the old stuffed animals. "But, the other toys? Do you still play with them?"