The Red Palace

by June Hur

We continued to talk until my mind burned out, nothing but smoke curling up from the wick. I tried to concentrate, but when Eojin began nodding off, I told myself I’d rest my eyes for a bit. I laid my head down on the table and must have drifted off, for I woke to find pre-dawn shadows slumbering in the gray room, and very dim light streaming in through the hanji screens. As my mind reoriented itself, I noticed I wasn’t alone on the table. My head lay resting on my folded arms, my brows pressed against Eojin’s, our noses nearly touching. I watched as his eyelids flinched, moving around in a dream, or perhaps in a nightmare. But not for long. As though sensing my stare, his eyes slowly blinked open, and I was too tired to be flustered when he held my gaze. “I wonder what time it is, nauri,” I whispered. “You don’t need to keep calling me that,” he replied just as quietly. I closed my eyes again. Outside, a woman yawned as her footsteps crunched across the yard. Further off, a dog barked. I would address him properly in the morning. But just for now in these in-between hours, just for now before the sun rose and everything returned to its rightful place, I whispered, “All right … Eojin.” I finally woke to the door sliding open and a blanket I didn’t remember placing around my shoulders slipping onto the floor. Blinding sunlight shot through the doorway, and I shaded my eyes with the back of my hand. How long had I been asleep? It wasn’t Eojin who came in, to my disappointmen...

10/10 - i ship it?