missing presumed dead

Why does he has to say something like that?

Now it's all I could think about. It's not as if Yoon hasn't already occupied my mind but now, he's got me all confused.

Ouch! 

I stabbed my finger with my sewing needle quickly nipping at red dot on my finger. Mother turned to me, her eyes widening until she realized what happened. 

"You've been so out of it, I thought it was just matter of time before you stab yourself." She remarked. 

That was her sarcastic way of scolding me. Mother never yelled but she has her way of making me feel guilty or pointing out something a did. 

Was I that obvious? 

Well, if you've gone through the same kind of stress as I did, I wouldn't doubt you'll be out of it yourself. In a matter of days, I was almost taken by a fox spirit, engaged to a man that I would never fall in love with and a stepbrother that....

A thought entered my head. I turned to mother out of curiosity. I know this could be a sensitive subject and I know this might upset her but I wanted to see for myself.

"What would you do if I run away with Yoon?"

Her face fumed biting her lip. Mother was instantly angry but manage to calm down immediately. I don't think I've ever seen that much reaction from her. She was always the softest. "Don't ever say anything like that, Hana!" She looked over her shoulder to the room where she and stepfather shared. It was a gesture, stepfather isn't home, he is out for work today. "What if your father overheard? Do you know what kind of trouble you'll create?"

Of course, I do. I lived in this household long enough to know he'd react with violence.

I flashed her a wide grin. "Relax, I was kidding!

Yoon left days after. He must've felt so strange or weirded out with his offer of running away - that he avoided me ever since. Yoon skipped all meals sitting with us citing business elsewhere. He left most of the evenings and did not come back til dawn. Then, he spent the entire morning asleep. This has been a habit of him since we were young. Yoon always stayed out at night climbing out of his window and returning at the break of dawn.

I convinced myself that he didn't mean what he said. He was just trying to make me feel better. But what's so upsetting is that, I have considered running away with him.

"Hana." Mother called out. "There's people here to see you." I looked up to her, reorienting my eyes after being absorbed in my sewing all day. It took a second but I noticed the somber way she appeared. Something about her face told me I might be hearing bad news.

I got up and strutted over to the living room where I found our guests waiting on the sofa. It was the Kim's, Mr. Kim and his wife both came.

My chest pounded as I curve to the corner and saw their long faces. Their appearance only added to the dread of what I'm about to hear.

"Hana, dear." Groaned Mrs. Kim softly. The dark circles around her eyes told me she'd been crying all day. She reached for my hand and squeezed it. "Jungjae is missing."

I gasped surprised. I showed them a face of shock, however, deep inside I was overwhelmed with a feeling of relief. Perhaps, he had run away like Xin - never to be seen again. Perhaps he didn't want anything to do with me either.

In the next few days we'd hear more news about Jungjae's disappearance. We were told as the days went on, the chances of his survival grew slim - until one day when the investigators in charged of his case declared him dead. They haven't found a body but they found articles and belongings that belonged to him. They were at the ditch near the clearing where I first witnessed the Fox spirit.

Come to think of it, I haven't seen the Fox spirit or any stray foxes running around since the evening I had a nightmare. Strange as it is, perhaps it had given up on me and decided to eat Jungjae instead.

I wouldn't wish that kind of luck on anyone but the timing of things are starting to get alarming.

The whispers of the man eating Fox spirit came alive again.

Whispers of the demon fox spirit spread through the town like wild fire. They said the Fox spirit returned to haunt us again. They warned everyone to stay away from the forest and anyone trying to lure them away. Mother was scared but stepfather don't seem to be bothered by it. In fact, he seem more angry than anything else.