Chapter 4 Sungmin

After the meet I sat on the locker room bench in my swimming gear and a towel around my neck. There were countless drops of chlorine water dripping down the side of my face, or it could have been sweat. I hadn't been this exhausted in…ever. At least that I could remember.

Wiping off whatever it was crawling down my face, I stretched out and leaned back against the cool lockers. The feel of the metal against my back soothed my erratic breathing.

As I settled into a quiet moment with myself, a water bottle landed on my lap causing me to lurch forward in pain when it landed. Leave it to Mingyu to get me in the nuts. It was like he'd had an automatic target zoned in on that spot.

"You lost momentum on the end of your race." Mingyu was a meticulous and perfect son of a bitch, so I wasn't surprised that he was criticizing me. The man who had been sent back on his own assignment turned out to be my English teacher and now my micromanager. "However, you race a lot better than this runt."

He walked the few steps over to me and ruffled up my wet hair. Patting away and looking me in the eyes like it was the most natural thing in the world.

I swatted his hand away.

I hated being doted on. Especially more that I wasn't in my own body. It felt wrong. Violating.

Mingyu sat on the bench beside me blowing out a heavy sigh. "I forgot how exhausting humans were." He closed his eyes, wrinkling his brows. What could he have to worry about? He was the poster boy for following the rules according to Annabeth.

I took that time to chug down the fresh bottle of water. I didn't realize how much I needed it until I drank the whole thing.

When I was done with it, I wiped off the excess from my lips and turned to Mingyu. He wouldn't track me down for nothing. He'd only ever hovered if given the order.

"Why are you here?" I squished the empty bottle and tossed it into the barrel a few feet away, almost missing off one of the sides. "You said you wanted to keep the lowest profile as possible. Adhere to student-teacher relations. I didn't misunderstand, did I?"

Mingyu opened his eyes and leaned into me. We were almost the same size. He had this intense look to his eyes though. They'd almost changed instantly with each mood. Like a switch came on at the back of his head and his hazel eyes were beautiful, kind. But then the next second, they turned almost black, distant and cold. Sometimes seeing through me instead of at me. It only lasted for a second and only ever when he was angry.

"Any luck with fixing your mistake." I also knew that Mingyu smelled of pine and mint. And that when he smiled there was a barely visible dimple close to his lips on the left side of his face making his words sting less.

You're too close, I thought when I pushed him away and stood up.

I walked over to my locker marked with my name…or rather this person's name and started slipping my clothes over my wet shorts. The bright pink shirt and white pants were the only thing in his closet I didn't entirely hate and the white docs I had swiped from a thrift shop a few days ago after getting tired of sandals.

What surprised me the most was finding that this kid did swimming. I pegged him for being antisocial.

"I'm working on it." I threw my damp towel in and slammed the locker. Figured I'd worry about the smell later, when it took up the entire locker room. Of course, anyone walking by wouldn't question it. "But it's not easy getting them together. They're barely in the same room for more than five minutes. Maybe the arrow didn't get them."

"Is your arrow known to miss its target?"

No, never. They were precise.

"Even if Annabeth has the slightest doubt that your arrow got them, it doesn't matter. She'd ask you to use your black arrow and separate them. Have you've used it on regular people before?" Mingyu meant those that I never matched.

I nodded.

I hadn't. There hadn't been reasonable doubt before. Everyone I had used it on, I knew for a fact my arrow matched.

"What would happen to the person?"

"Probably die!" I was being a bit dramatic, but it could happen. That's always what happened in all the books I read on this kids shelf. When the heroes in his books were in situations like this there was always an eighty percent chance one of them would die. There were chances both would.

"They'll probably die either way if they're kept paired together. Isn't that what happened to your previous match?" The bastard was right even if I refused to admit it.

"You can tell Annabeth that I'll get it done." I told him, then added under my breath as Mingyu went for the door. "I bet you've made plenty of mistakes."

"I've never given someone a nightmare that ultimately caused their death due to fright. I know better than that." He spat back at me, like the insult hurt his pride. "Make sure you get it done before something worse happens…. again."

I ground my teeth and swore I could feel shavings with how hard I was doing it. I'd fix this if only to stop Annabeth and Mingyu from thinking I was a teenage screwup.

Kang mansion was impressive. Large and spacious, enough room to get lost in.

Afterall, I had gotten lost on the second floor when I first woke up on a Monday morning. I remembered because I'd eaten breakfast alone and I didn't particularly like rice to start my day. I had preferred toast.

That was me. Simple.

I walked into the kitchen and scanned what was in the fridge. After swimming I was always hungry, and it didn't occur to me to bring snacks with me to the high school.

"Sir?" I heard the familiar young and smooth voice behind me. But I didn't turn around. "Sir would you like me to make you something?"

As far as I knew about Raymond, he had moved to Korea a few years ago with his uncle. He was my age, if not a year or two older, barely spoke the language, and came to work for the Kang's to pay his college tuition. That's what I gathered from the whispering gossip of the rest of the staff. Lucky for Raymond, I had been fluent in English.

"What can you make other than soup from a can?" I asked, teasingly. I found out that when he was embarrassed, his olive skin tone turned bright red at the cheeks.

Except he'd never had that look on his face.

Great. Now I felt like a bastard for teasing him.

I turned back to the fridge. Never being stocked wasn't the problem for me, however, I wasn't keen on kale and spinach, or the falafel Sungmin's mother had a maid leave for him at the back of the fridge with a note made to look like her handwriting.

Suddenly the large house felt stuffy.

I slammed the door and let the fridge rattle back into place, then turned to Raymond. "Have you eaten? Jihoon, get the car ready!" I called out to Sungmin's driver without letting Raymond answer my question.

Raymond had been quiet since leaving Kang mansion and tensed up when I'd insisted he sit in the back with me. It wasn't custom and perhaps not something the real Sungmin did often, but it felt odd sitting alone in the back of the car. If the car could drive itself, I would drag Jihoon into the back with me if only to feel remotely middle class.

Raymond was staring out the restaurant window watching the city lights when I came back with our food order.

Seoul was vibrant at night. A whole different world to those who didn't call it home. I'd picked the spot because all day I'd been craving good comfort, greasy food and I knew Raymond would appreciate the view.

There was a section of the street, down in the middle of the plaza where you could see starving artists busking for the smallest amount of Wons. One would get discovered occasionally, and they all came back hoping it'd be them next.

After passing Raymond his toast and drink, I sat across from him and sucked on my tooth in thought.

"Raymond?" I played with his name. It was a mouth full and didn't fit the kid in front of me. "Can I call you Ray or Mond?"

"Ray is fine." He still carried himself as if he was still working. There was even the look of the thoughts churning in his head. Don't say anything offensive and make sure you act accordingly.

"Ray? Much better." I grabbed my toast and could feel my eyes roll back in ecstasy from that first bite. Sugnmins mother would have a heart attack if she knew the things I was putting in her sons body. And I could only imagine the things that passed his lips before I took over. But Sungmin didn't keep his physique perfect from indulging every day.

I stared again at Ray and at his untouched food through my eyelashes.

"I know it's not the western food your used to, but I can guarantee you'll like it. Maybe even better than a burger." I tried coaxing him and when he didn't respond, I grabbed his hands and shook his arms vigorously. "Relax a little. The only way you're going to offend me is if you don't eat. I hate eating alone."

Tonight, Haeboom toast was full. It was a rare sight. Its emptiness had been its appeal because there would be no one around to see me cry into my toast. The last day of summer had it filled with college students enjoying one last outing.

"Well, was I lying?" I asked watching Ray wipe off some sauce from his lips with his hand.

"So good." He said with a mouth full.

I smiled seeing Rays more relaxed nature. The real him, if I could call it from what I saw of the young man.

"I'm glad." I instinctively replied in Korean then switched back to English as if Sungmin had been speaking it his whole life and not because his mother thought a second or third language would be beneficial for business. "Do you have any other family besides old man Kibum?"

"I have a little brother. He's ten."

I thought then how nice it would be to have a little brother, any sibling really. Someone I could boss around and argue with. It beat the quietness of home.

"What's he like?" Now I was interested. And once I set mhy mind on a topic it was hard getting me out of it. And so, I bombarded Ray with questions. "Does he ever drive you crazy? Does he get in all sorts of trouble, and you have to take the blame? Do you guys play sports together?"

Ray looked like he didn't know which question to answer first, so I thought he went for an overall one. An answer matching his simplistic nature. "He's a handful. Uncle Kibum hopes he doesn't become even more in two years."

The conversation was comfortable after that. I had learned a lot of Ray, like how he spoke fluent Korean, but defaulted to English because it was safe, comfortable. After he'd packed up what was left of his toast for his brother, I had Jihoon drop him off at some sketchy night job. I'd wanted to push and ask about the kind of job it was, but I'd always been educated that what our staff did on their own time was of no concern to us.

Then I found myself back at the Luna Grande. That same booth occupied by me countless of times was starting to get a permanent imprint of my ass. I didn't care. MY business here was the same. All I was looking for was one opening to finally unmatch those two and maybe I could be done with it.

However, now that I thought about it, the likely hood of that happening was as likely as me remembering who I was. Extremely slim.

Insu walked through the door. He'd been coming by almost every day since the beginning of the summer. A regular in his own right. And when he walked in, I could smell the pheromones coming off him like a dog in heat ready to mark his territory.

This was it! I was finally going to put things back to how they were. I reached for my black arrow. I can't tell how many times I'd used it. Almost as frequently as my pink one by now. I'd been bored at the beginning of this second life, so it was natural to play around.

Only this time when I reached for it, it burned me. Like the damn thing didn't want me to use it.

"This is not the time to rebel." I whispered into my pocket. "I need you to cooperate."

I went for it again, but it felt like lava.

Then there was laughter filling the restaurant and my eyes shot up, making me forget my current disagreement with my arrow. Insu was at the bar, talking to some man. By the looks of it they were very familiar.

My head started to pound, and my eyes began to blur. Like when I first woke up a spirit. It was this light feeling, like floating in the ocean. Steady and calm. The images that came after passed in front of me without a second to spare. I'd caught glimpses of it. A red bicycle, a man holding on to my hand and taking me away, and another looking sad behind us.

And as quickly as they came, they were gone.

But they were memories, they had to be.