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What is the meaning of life?
Seulgi stared at the question on her laptop for what seemed like forever—something she could actually do if she wanted. It was silly, she thought as she shut the machine before her. Why was she even in college in the first place? Why surround herself with human beings who would forget her, who would die ahead of her, who would be rewarded the gift of death.
Boredom, she supposed. She was once foolish to believe that she wouldn't come to this—that the world had so much to offer, something new to keep her occupied every other day. But she was excruciatingly bored. Of people. Of places. Of living, in general, if she could call it that.
"Are you really bored?" She asked her reflection in the mirror. Her long dark hair cascaded in waves against her chest, nightgown flowing down her thighs.
Seulgi looked like any other average college student, except—of course—she wasn't. Not really. Not when she's lived over six hundred years, crawling on Earth, a creature bound to it—trapped in a cage she couldn't fully live in. There's no living when you're dead. Only fleeting moments of anonymity, of pleasure and pain, of complete and utter solitude.
Not bored, she concluded. Lonely? Seulgi took pause at the thought but shrugged it off. No. Feelings will not be had in this household. Creatures like her shouldn't dwell on such mundane things. It was unbecoming. Disgusting, even.
Feelings are for girls who could afford it—and no matter how wealthy she was, no coin she had in her collection would be able to grant her the luxury of attachment. Not now, not in this lifetime. Not again.
Perhaps college was a mistake, she thought as she made her way to the kitchen. It was terribly quiet—a little too quiet. She would usually hear her host watching television or reading, but there was not a living soul in her house.
"Seulgi."
She stilled at the sound of a voice speaking behind her. Her slender fingers gripped on the glass of water she had pretended to prepare for herself—sometimes doing human things made her feel a little less dead—and she was ready to run. Far away. As far as she could go.
Fuck. She was on the other side of the world, miles from where he'd last left her all of those centuries ago. How did he—
"How did you get in here?" she asked, almost indifferent but with the right touch of annoyance to feign calmness. She took a second to brace herself before taking a sip of water and going about what she was doing, not letting herself look at him. Not yet.
"I ran into your handmaid outside," he said. She rolled her eyes.
"She's not my handmaid."
"Mother, then? Are you calling her that?"
Seulgi leaned against the counter on the other side of the kitchen and finally met his eyes. He hasn't aged a day, as expected. She wanted to drive a knife in his chest. Perhaps that would at least let him feel what she felt when he abandoned her.
"Aunt, actually. I'm adopted." She gave him a sarcastic smile but dropped it a second later. "How did you find me?"
"I'm not here to cause you trouble, I—"
"How did you find me?"
"I just so happened to be in town and saw you the other night."
"So you didn't find me." She placed the glass she'd been holding for support in the kitchen sink and walked past him, but he was standing mere inches in front of her in an instant, blocking her.
"Get out of my house," she said as calmly as she could.
"Seulgi—"
Her skin crawled at the feeling of his breath against her cheek. She took a step and he blocked it again. She took a step back, afraid of what she would do if she didn't remove herself from his reach.
"What do you want, Yixing? Why are you here?"
For a moment he only looked at her. She didn't know how to read this expression, she's never seen this on him before. His eyes were dark as the day they parted, hair a lot shorter now. Then again, long hair has gone out of fashion over the centuries. He still looked like the handsome man who saved her from her fate. Funny how he's also the man who'd cursed her with immortality.
It took him a while to answer and Seulgi was about to walk away again when he spoke.
"I've come home, Seulgi, to you," he said, his voice unrecognizable. Was that... softness she just heard? Has he gotten this good at lying since they've last seen each other?
Seulgi took a step forward, eyes never leaving his, and with all of her strength tried not to scream in his face.
"You have no home here."