Chapter seven: Switched

Part I

Creeeehkk...

The rusted metal cried aloud, resisting for the movement when forcefully being rubbed against another one of its kind. The gates lazily swung open, allowing a black car with its darkened windows drive in. Quietly — as if it was dared not to stir up the forever undisturbed premise. It was a windy day— said the trees, standing here and there besides a battered gravestone, merrily bowing to a rhythmic flow, and then straightening up, again.

"Young Master." The driver addressed the young man who was seated on the back seat.

But he remained still, staring out from his window, mused upon a distant sight. The elderly eyes followed his, which were fixed on a crowd, dressed in gloomy cloths with their gloomier faces bent down to the ground. The youngsters, who clearly had no tense about the situation, hung on to their parents' robes, playfully tugging another's coat calling them to play. Their amusement briefly switched off by a look from an elder—probably an older relative—as their parents, bowed apologetically and dragged them aside.

Few meters ahead of the crowd, in a spot partially covered by the shade of a beech tree, a man was sorely grieving, slapping his hands on wet soil and digging his fingers in to the mud. A girl—apparently in her teenage years—and another boy around her age—or maybe younger, on that account—was gathered around the newly buried grave, where the said man was kneeling beside. Their shoulders raised up and down, rhythmically, as the familiar movements of a sob, and a hand often wiped the tear stream which had their cheeks reddened in a crimson pink. Yet, it was the man that caught Yi Jeong's notice. Despite the distance, even through the tinted glasses of his car, his wailing was heard, loud and clear.

"Young Master."

Yi Jeong smirked, detaching his eyes from the sight.

Seems there are people out there, who are concerned to lose their wives...

The chauffeur, slightly taken aback from his act, cleared his throat. "Young Master, We are here." And announced again.

With another glance spared at the funeral ceremony and a nod towards the man on the front seat, Yi Jeong grabbed the bouquet of lavender and stepped out, not waiting for the door to be opened for him. He didn't need attention. Though he very much needed to get out from there as soon as possible, before any unwanted memories stirred to revive.

Trimmed bushes laid along the sides of his path, as a granite gravestone shone above their neatly kept lawns and flowering rose beds. In all its wilderness, the cemetery was blooming in to beauty. But Yi Jeong knew better not to be distracted, as once the dusk may reach its borders, visitors may rise from their graves. The graveyard won't remain as the sight as it is now, with their unearthly howling and groaning—and more annoyingly —their wailing.

At the reach of his destination stood a plain gravestone. Not that it was forgotten—as if algae thrived to swallow it up in whole— simply plain, that it was. No flowering bushes sat along its perimeter, just the wild grass trimmed to a decent level. It wasn't forgotten, but let to be unnoticed. Or maybe, undisturbed.

Han Yeon Woo

Dearest daughter, mother and wife.

May her soul rest in peace.

Yi Jeong read the plain characters engraved on stone. His lips twisted in a mocking way when his eyes read the word 'wife', which was barely tethered to the statement.

He sighed.

When placing the bouquet of lavender he had brought, his eyes met another, laid right beside his. A bouquet of white roses.

Seong Il Chugha... Eomoni.

Seems like his brother had visited first. Yi Jeong grinned. Il Hyun was yet to change. White roses? It wasn't even her favourite. More like himself though—pure, but bold.

Yi Jeong straightened with his brightest grin, and stared at the gravestone for a moment before bowing again.

"Seong Il Chugha. Eomoni." He greeted. And again became silent.

Yi Jeong silently stared at the lifeless stone. What was he supposed to say—that his life has been amazing? It might have been for most of the outsiders. But it sure won't make her proud of him. He hasn't been the slightest of the 'good boy' she wanted him to be. More likely, he has grown up to be resembling the worst of men who pushed her to the grave. So there was clearly nothing to be said. Hence, he remained silent.

A glimpse of other light caught in the corner of his eye. He checked his watch, it was half past six—time to handover the cemetery back to the dead.

With another bow spared for his mother, Yi Jeong turned to leave. The weather became sombre, as the wind blew through his coat giving a thrill of its coldness. It appeared as a storm was awaiting to come. Then, the visitors may rise sooner. Yi Jeong's feet hurried forward as they soundly crushed the sand beneath.

"Yeo...bae..."

He was only few feet away from his car when he heard the ghostly woman. Still dressed in bloodied clothes, she was sniffing the soil to grasp his scent. It was that newly buried grave, where the elderly man was sobbing, barely half an hour ago.

"Yeobae..." The faintest of whispers tickled his ear.

Yi Jeong sighed. The sight itself was gross, never mind the annoying gasps. Yet, with obvious hesitation, he pulled himself to turn towards the ghost.

"It's just the initial shock. Better not expect them to visit you every day. " He said in a flat tone.

The ghost stopped sniffing, and with a crack of her neck, twisted her head one eighty degrees, facing Yi Jeong. The woman had bleeding eye holes, and a partly squashed face—a possibility of an accident—probably had died on the spot. It was even more hideous from the front. And Yi Jeong barely held his lunch in its place. But he continued, though looking away to avoid any possible nuisance.

" At least you have been loved when alive... Aren't you expecting a bit too much?" He snorted.

Not sparing another glance at the ghost, he turned to head back to his car. Dry leaves violently crushed behind him, as the furious ghost—in all her twisted arms and legs—crawled towards him. Yet, why bother? When the lavender scent lingering to his cloths kept them all at bay.

The helpless soul howled at the leaving figure, clutching her fists on soil and gritting her teeth—typical behaviour of a wraith.

Getting back to his car, Yi Jeong pulled out his phone. After browsing through his list of contacts for quite some time, his finger hesitantly hovered over Woo Bin's name. No. He needed something more than that. Since the morning when he had foolishly tried to contact his father, to the moment he had met with the wraith, the day has grown from bad to worse. At times like this, he really needed to let it go. Besides, he had done that grave mistake of mentioning Woo Bin about Ga Eulyang.

On the other hand, Ga Eulyang— the girl who has been living with him for months and started dating another guy a few weeks ago. It wasn't that he was jealous— or at least, it better not be. And it was not that he didn't care for her either. As far as he knew, he did. The question was, in which way that he did. Though there have been countless times he tried to put his skills into test, no matter what, she had seen through his facade—his meaningless flirting has been disgusted and dismissed. Evidently proven— that that one thing he thought he was best at, had its own limits. Yi Jeong shook his head. No. That chain of thoughts was too tiring to be allowed.

He let out a sigh. "Gaja." And commanded his chauffeur, choosing a random number from his list. A date—or more precisely—a companion for the night, just to bury the memories of that horrible day under the comforts of a bed.

...

...

...

Or at least that was what he expected. Until he was pinned to the very bed forcing to stare upright. He wouldn't have been surprised, if it was one of his flings being too possessive of him. But it was Chu Ga Eul.

Guarae.

That same Ga Eulyang.

Sitting on top of him, with no trace of her usual timidity, she had her right arm outstretched, constricting his throat.

Yi Jeong gasped. The two girls he had brought for the night, fled out from the room screaming their lungs out.

He rolled his eyes, partly annoyed by the squeal and ashamed of the betrayal.

Abeujjinim...the wraith... and ...the annoying lights at the club...

Battling with the alcohol, he tried to recall the events that lead him to this helpless position.

Yi Jeong recalled a weeping Ga Eulyang who then fled to her room seeing him with the two other girls, enter the apartment. But how she ended up in his room—he couldn't recall.

Yet he very much needed her to be out of his sight, at least for the night. Or maybe 'him' out of hers. So he chose the words, that he knew may break her heart and force her to run away.

But 'this' was not what he expected.

He stared into her blood red pupils. Her face was as lifeless as the gravestone back then. Ga Eulyang, has been possessed. And for a credit, it was all his fault.

His own hands numbly laid at his sides, effortless to free himself.

At least this is a better way to die...

He smirked.

After all, nothing would ever end the way he had wanted them to be. What difference was with that day?

"Aish." he sighed, and closed his eyes.

But he was wrong. Again.

The day—it was yet to begin.

–to be continued.

A/N:

I had to split this chapter into few parts (probably two, maximum three.), because if not, I may take at least three months to complete it. And it's hard to keep it all to myself for a long time:)

Myrslayer-- Thanks for all your lovely reviews. Hope you enjoyed this one too. Oh and I too am a very big fan of supernatural things :) I hope you will stay curious for the rest of the chapters too.

Maria Rosa Cisi-- I think I answered some of your questions in this chapter. but yeah there's a lot to be answered in the coming ones. As always, I love your reviews too.

For the guest-- I have kept my promise:) I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Thanks for the motivation. haha...

Soeulmates forever-- I hope that's enough backstory for Yi Jeong. to avoid spoilers we'll talk more about it through PMs ;) Thanks for the constructive criticism.

The next chapter will continue from where this has ended. As it is obvious, there will be more interactions between YJ and GE. Sorry for taking this long for that.

Take care:)