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Sunset at Han river
Was it just a scare?

Was it just a scare?

Ana looked at the business card she had been holding like a life saver. “Beak Hee-Joon.” she found a strange pleasure saying his name out loud. Finally, she gave up trying to sleep and turned on the lamplight. Suppose calling, asking him to come back and sleep there with her was out of the question. She laughed at the thought, feeling the weight on her chest disappear.

The morning light was already out when Ana finally managed to sleep. She heard the sound of the mobile ringing, first very distant and then gradually closer, waking her up. With eyes still shut she felt her way to the device.

“Hum, sim?” for a moment she forgot she was not in Portugal anymore; that was a first.

“Hello?” she hurried to correct.

The silence on the other side made her heart jump.

“Ana where are you? I’ve been waiting for you for 40 minutes now.” Christopher's pissed off voice was also a first.

“I’m sorry Chris.” she jumped off the bed and opened her closet to take out something to wear.

“Give me 20 minutes, no 15 minutes.” she was putting on her jeans at the same time as holding her phone between her ear and her shoulder.

“Forget about it. Let’s just leave it for another day.”

Man, he was really upset with her! Before she could say another word he had already hanged up on her. Dropping the phone and letting herself fall on the bed she stared at the ceiling still sleepy. “Great! You managed to piss off who is probably your only friend in this country.”

The sunset near the Han river was even more beautiful. Seated with her legs crossed on top of the bench, a bag of fried chicken on her lap and a soda on her side, Ana was emptied of worries and concerns. Watching as the oranges, reds, and yellows were turning into a light and then darker shade of blue. The chicken was finished and so was the soda. The place slowly filling with groups of young people smiling and talking.

“안녕하세요 선생님”(Hello teacher) the greeting almost made her fall from the seat.

“Oh, 안녕하세요 (hello) Ji-Hyung.” Putting down her legs she assumed a more dignified position.

Since that night she was never again comfortable in the presence of this student. He was towering over her as usual and she felt the need to get up to her feet.

“Beautiful night isn’t it?” the silence needed to be filled.

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“Yes, it is. Are you here by yourself 선생님 (teacher)?”

A red light of warning lighted up with that question. Why did he want to know if she was alone or not? Why was he here anyway? What if he was the one sending her all those weird messages? What if he broke into her apartment? With her hand on her phone ready to dial 119 or to throw it at his head if need be, she asked:

“What brings you here?”

He gave her a shy smile and pointed out a group of people 200 meters ahead.

“I came with some friends.”

OMG, she was going nuts, poor kid, of course, he had valid reasons to be there it was a park after all… she gave him a big smile of apologetic relieve.

“Well have fun. I have to go now. See you in class on Monday.” Ana gave her student a wave of goodbye and watched as he joined the others.

Shaking her head she made her way out of the park while answering her ringing mobile.

“Yes?”

“Is this Ana Aguiar?”

Oh, that voice again...she could get used to hearing it every day.

“Yes, this is she. Officer Baek Hee-Joon?”

“Detective. I see you haven’t forgotten about me.”

Ana could hear the smile in his voice. Forget about him? Now there was a challenge.

“How could I? You were so kind last night. And I didn’t even thank you properly.” Ana rolled her eyes at herself realizing she was automatically making a very sweet voice.

What the hell was that?! That was not her voice! And how inappropriate, he was the detective taking care of her complaint!

“I just called to let you know that there were no fingerprints found in that bandaid.” The smile had now disappeared from his tone.

“I see.” Great! Now he must definitely think she was an attention seeker.

Not that she wanted something to be found, or that someone other than she had been inside the apartment. But, she also did not want him to think she was a hysterical woman.

“That’s actually strange. At least your fingerprints should have been found. But it was clean. Nothing else happened so far right?”

Now that he mentioned it... he was right, it was strange. After all, when you pick up a thing you’re bound to leave at least a partial print.

“Yes, nothing strange happened again.”

Entering her building she greeted the night security guard with a wave and a smile.

“And you changed your password, right?” His voice showed concern and Ana was very thankful for that. It made her feel safer.

“Yes. Right after you left.”

“I’m sorry to say that there’s not enough to open an investigation and without a warrant, we can’t look for the origin of the phone messages. But I’m sure nothing else will happen. You probably spook him calling the police.” He was clearly trying to calm her down. “If you need my help, please feel free to call.”

“Can I call you even if I don’t need your help?” the cheeky thought almost went out through her mouth. But she pressed her lips together in time.

“Detective. I would like to properly thank you for what you did yesterday...could I maybe...buy you dinner one of these days?” Before he could reply she continued “Or lunch, or coffee...just to say thank you.” Staring at her reflexion in the elevator mirror she shook her head disapprovingly. She sounded like a fearful teenager.