Alika and James exchanged looks. She stares in disbelief. Her heart was beating so fast while James was still standing there tried to guess her expressions.
"Alika..." Called James, trying to bring her back to her senses after a few minutes of freezing.
"AAAAAAAAAAHH !!!" She screamed and ran back into her bedroom like a little child that just met a monster. James leaned against the door while calling her name several times.
"Are You, James?!" Asked Alika once again
"We talked for a long time. How can you be surprised now," James asked her back.
"It was all blurry." She Answered
"I'm telling you! I'm not human!" James started to lose his control.
Alika closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. She touched the bandage and confused about what to do next. On the other side, she remembered very well how James said everyone he saved ended up committing suicide or dying even more horribly.
"How do you know where I lived?" Alika shouted one more time.
"Stop yelling. Come out and talk. " James chooses to walk away from her room and sat back at the dining table. Meanwhile, Alika peeked and watched every inch of his figure. It was white as snow and the veins on his body that protruded to the face. Most of them, the eyes are frightening. It was all white and empty.
"Put them on!" Alika finally decided to leave the room and handed James a pair of sunglasses. James looked up at her in surprise. Nobody will think that after his eyes were both covered, he looked quite like a human. Despite the veins Stretching and protruding from his neck to his face, he looks pretty decent.
"This is better. Now tell me how you found my house, and how can I wake up with a bandage?" Alika immediately showered him with questions. James was amazed at how she managed to change from incredibly terrified to this calm and wise human being.
"Are you even human?" Asked James one more time.
"Huh? You should answer my question first. " Alika still shivered to see his smile. He frowned and looked back at her
"Told you, I will..." James was silent and could not continue his words.
"You saved me?" Alika was sitting there looked straight at him.
His face changed; He nodded.
"It means that you are here because .."
"Yes. Please listen to my explanation first. The man with the gray beanie was the one who beat you to death, and I feel glad you were strong enough to survive. That man came back. He brought a trolley including a sack to carry your dead body. Sorry I did it without permission. Now, what I want you to know is, I am not a devil. I am a ghost who gets punished by the real devil called destiny. You can also ignore me and pretend not to see me. But what you have to know is that my body will move on its own wherever you go. I am around you. I know you may feel uncomfortable, but there is nothing I can do to stop my body from following you. And there is no way you can escape me before you ..." James was again unable to continue his sentence.
"Die?" Alika finished it casually; James nodded.
"I want you to promise me to live as normal as you want while I'm trying to be as invisible as possible. No one else can see me but you. What currently happened is my fault. I beg you to hold on." James explained as if he was terrified of something happening to Alika. She was stunned to see his attitude.
"You remind me of Casper. A kind-hearted ghost. If only you were white, bald, and chubby. " Alika answered briefly with a smile, James gawk at her relieving statement.
"Alika. Are you serious?" Alika rolled her eyes as she wanted him to stop asking that question.
"You cooked all of that? those are real ingredients and not human flesh, right? " Alika dragged the plate filled with food that James seemed to have prepared.
"Alika," James still watched Alika's reaction in disbelief.
"Yes," Alika waiting for him to answer her last question about the meat.
"It is not human flesh, right?" Alika made sure.
"OF COURSE NOT!" James exclaimed.
"IT'S GOOD!" Like a statue, He froze while looking straight at Alika.
"James?" Alika patted his hand that seems petrified.
"Alika, you are a normal human?" James makes sure of the same thing that started to annoys Alika.
"How long do we want to talk about this, huh? Yes. I accept your presence. Welcome to my miserable life! no, I promise you not to kill myself. In reverse, I'm afraid you will be the one hoping to die twice because you are stuck with me." Alika Closed that conversation with laughs. James was still staring at her in wonder.
***
This Sunday morning, Alika woke up to her window already wide open. It allowed the fresh morning breeze and the wet smell of the roads after rain to enter and shackle the whole house. She never woke up to such fresh air; she jumped out to take a little walk around the house. Instead, she found James was watering the grass in the backyard wearing sunglasses she gave him last night. She chuckled at his behavior and felt guilty to ever thought he was creepy.
"Morning James!" Greet Alika trying to startle James, leaning against the back door frame with a towel perched on her shoulder.
James turned around and smiled as he turned off the tap.
"You don't go to work today?" he walked past her to get a glass of water and gave it to her.
"Uhmm... Today is Sunday, James" She flattered for a while and grabbed the water he brought him.
" I see." James glared.
"Thank you, James." Alika handed back the empty glass to him.
"I should be the one said thank you." James smiled and put the glass in the sink.
" Why?" James still busy washing the empty glass.
"By the way, Sorry, last night I shouted too loud. Alika showed a guilty smirk.
"I have never felt this peaceful. Thank you for accepting me in your house. " Their eyes met for a moment; Become awkward. He should admit that she looks gorgeous this morning.
"You are not that hard to be accepted. It just that the previous people were not as smart as me who initiate to give you the sunglasses. See? this way, You are not that scary." Alika smiled broadly at him.
"Still, I am a ghost. People will think you have a mental disorder."
" To be honest, All night I had thought about that too. Maybe you were just a hallucination that appears because I had lost my mind from living alone for so many years. "
"Then?"
"Then, I am convinced that you are not. Because if I ever hallucinate living with a man, he must be as handsome as Hyun Bin or Lee Min Ho. " his expression shifted entirely. Alika burst out laughing, satisfied that she had succeeded in leading him to some of her weird jokes.
" Just Kidding. This morning I woke up with the windows open, fresh air and a cold morning breeze. Also, I love the smell of wet roads after the rain. I suppose to say thank you because I can't remember the last time I woke up in such a peaceful atmosphere. Normally, I went back to sleep and too lazy to open the window. " James didn't ready for that kind of compliment, he blushed in embarrassment.
"I need to take a shower. Make yourself at home. " Alika left James to the bathroom. Meanwhile, James was looking for the TV remote control that probably lost somewhere. He was exploring the whole house; under the sofa until inside a drawer.
James paused for a moment to look at one spot where Alika keeps all her pictures. James took one photograph of Alika's whole family. It appears that she has one brother whose age probably is not much different due to their physical differences. James reached any deeper into the drawer, giggled at some of her high school pictures. James wondered how she ended up so lonely. Before he found that remote, Alika came out of the bathroom out of sudden, wrapped in a white towel and wet hair. James immediately corrected his sunglasses then threw his eyes back into the drawer where the photos had been.
"Sorry. I'm looking for remote control," said James, stuttering. Alika walked towards him and making him even more nervous.
"It's under here. She bent over into a squat position, holding the half-slumped towel with left hands while the other hand open the drawer and try to reach deep into it. James couldn't help but stare at her cleavage and roundness that pressed by her knees as she was squatting and lowering her head to look for the remote.
"Alika, is this your brother?" James started a conversation to make Alika back upright.
"Oh yeah, he's only a year younger than me." She immediately stood up and took the picture. He finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Where is he now?"
"Unfortunately, he must be in a rehabilitation center due to his problem with drug addiction." Her eyes stuck quite a while at the picture.
"I'm sorry." James Replied.
" It's okay, it just what happens when parents are too stubborn to control their children's life. My parents have two children, but neither of them managed to follow their ambition. Here it is." she handed him the remote as soon as she realized that her appearance had made James uncomfortable. After all, he is a man. She re-adjusted the towel and walked into her room, Leaving James and his dirty thoughts behind.
***