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Didn't she already pass by that boulder a few minutes ago?
The irony of that thought wasn't lost on Haewon, considering just a few hours earlier she was boasting about how she knew this forest like the back of her hand.
She left the camping site late this morning with a group of hikers that she met at the start of her journey, and she broke off from them not much later, about three hours ago after a petty argument with one of the men that turned heated a bit too quickly.
It's not Haewons's fault that guy had that big of an ego! Though she would never admit her own pride was apparently more important than a safe hiking route.
So now here she was, lost in the middle of a forest because a group of randos didn't believe that she could find a shortcut through the woods.
It didn't feel like much of a shortcut now, with her thighs burning and the sun already high in the sky.
At this point Haewon was starting to hope she wouldn’t find her way back to the start of the hike to spare her from the shame she would experience if she ran into the group of hikers from before. She'd never be able to admit she was wrong and she did not want to be faced with that situation.
She would rather stay here forever and make herself a home out of sticks and stones next to this boulder that… wait didn't she already walk past that?
Wasn't that kind of a nice thought though? If she lived here she would never have to worry about creepy hiking companions, or scammers who left her stranded in the middle of nowhere. And not even annoying groups of hikers who underestimated her navigation skills!
She huffed as she climbed up a small incline littered with loose rocks and dry tree roots peeking out from the ground between them.
There were drops of sweat running down Haewon's back, and her backpack that usually never bothered her felt heavier than ever. The challenging terrain was starting to annoy her rather than creating excitement and anticipation, and even the hike itself that was usually Haewons's favourite activity felt like an exhausting chore right now.
After a while of dragging her feet through the thick undergrowth Haewon finally decided that it was time to take a break.
Even after hours of non-stop walking the experienced hiker felt embarrassed at having to stop to rest, sitting down next to a boulder that there's no way she didn't already walk past before.
She let her backpack fall next to her, laying her back against the stupid, annoying boulder.
Haewon pressed her nape against the smooth cold surface, looking up at the sky through the thick covering of tall, ancient trees.
Through the branches Haewon could make out the sun which had already started going down, telling her it was late afternoon already. That meant she has been walking alone for almost five hours now, which was significantly longer than the route she should have taken with the group.
She was starting to regret not bringing her phone or even just a compass with her. She didn't usually need things like that, since she always stays with other hikers and she commits each of her hikes to memory before going on them, but now she felt like some underprepared rookie.
Now that she was left alone with her thoughts she couldn't believe how stupid of an idea this was. Yes, she has been in this forest before, but 'knowing it like the back of her hand?' That was an insane exaggeration, and now it might become part of her last words if she continues like she has till now.
What even was the last thing she said? Something like 'we'll see about that when I beat you to the parking lot!' If she remembered correctly. She also said something about how she would never mistake different parts of the forest together, which if correct meant that somehow she has been walking in circles for the better part of an hour now, even though she never made a single turn.
Actually now that she was closer to the boulder she realised it wasn't really a simple stone. It looked natural but maybe cut to size, seeming like it was placed there on purpose, like a missing part of some Stonehenge-like structure. Could it be a marker for some old trail?
Even then, she could now see for sure that this was the same boulder that she has been running into, so if it was a marker it probably marked something like ‘you're stuck in a time loop’.
That thought sent a shiver down Haewon's spine, or maybe it was the cold wind that had suddenly picked up.
She reached over to her backpack that had fallen on its side when she tossed it on the ground earlier, opening it to inspect the items she still had left.
Her water bottle was still filled a good amount from a stream she found earlier, but when it came to food she only had an apple and a few energy bars left.
She packed just enough food for her original hike and a few extra snacks, so considering that she should already be back at the parking lot she was lucky she even had anything left.
Other than the food and some essentials she had a coil of rope and a headlight for emergencies, which she hoped she wouldn't need, but now she couldn't be sure anymore.
That was when her stomach decided to make itself known with a loud rumbling sound.
Haewon groaned at the realisation that she was starving. She ate a hearty breakfast before leaving the campsite with her former group, so she was hoping she could last a bit longer, but by sitting down to rest she made her body think it was time for a bit of relaxation. Now that she mentioned it, her feet have also been hurting more since she sat down.
In the end she gave into her craving, reaching into her backpack for the apple. The energy bars would last longer and would keep her going longer too, so she would rather save them for when she started walking again.
The wind picked up as she took the apple out into her palm. The fruit she brought with her wasn't particularly large, which she was regretting now, but when she left home she was planning on it being just a small snack, not her emergency last meal.
She went to bite into her apple when a voice from behind made her jump out of her skin.
"That apple looks really good," a melodic voice rang from high up.
Haewon fell forward from the jumpscare, whipping her head around from the spot on the ground where she landed, and promptly making eye contact with the most beautiful woman she had ever seen.
The woman was smiling down at her from her spot, head tilted in curiosity, standing on the boulder that has been haunting Haewon for the past hour.
She had icy blue eyes and platinum blonde hair that seemed to glister in the dwindling sunlight. She was wearing a long dark coat paired boldly with a rainbow scarf that fluttered in the wind, which had begun to blow even stronger now. She was leaning on a seemingly translucent umbrella, using it as one would a walking stick.
The woman's words finally caught up to Haewon, causing her to look down at the fruit in her hand in confusion. It looked like a normal apple to her.
She looked back up at the woman with a questioning look, not being able to put her current thoughts into words due to the absurdity of this whole situation.
The woman was grinning at her now, opening her mouth to speak again.
"Can I have it?" She asked, glancing down at the apple expectantly.
Haewon finally understood now. She was dying.
She probably hit her head on that stupid boulder and her mind was trying to comfort her in her final moments with a hallucination of an inhumanly perfect woman that's exactly her type to make her passing easier.
"Sure," she finally answered in defeat when her voice came back to her, holding up the apple weakly from her spot on the ground.
If she was going to die, she could at least humor her brain's attempt at making her death more pleasurable, why not.
The woman jumped down from the boulder, but it was more as if she glided down through the air, her knees not even bending when she softly made contact with the ground in front of Haewon.
When she leaned in to take the apple with one hand her fingers brushed against Haewon's and simultaneously a short gust of wind blew into her face from the woman's direction.
They made eye contact with the woman's hand still softly brushing Haewon’s. And now that she had a better look at the woman's face, Haewon realised she really looked too perfect to be human.
"You're not dying," the stranger said with a deadpan expression as she straightened up with the apple in her hand.
Haewon could only let out a soft 'huh' as she watched the woman who had apparently just read her mind sit up on the boulder, legs dangling from the stone, not long enough to touch the ground. She placed the umbrella next to the boulder, letting it lean against the hard surface.
She watched as the woman bit into the fruit and hummed in a way that seemed overexaggerated for a simple apple.
"I haven't had a fruit in so long," she whined, which if you asked Haewon sounded pretty unhealthy.
Haewon watched as the woman devoured the apple in record time, eating like someone who's been starved for days. When she was finished only the stem remained, and a seed that she casually spit somewhere into the undergrowth.
The stranger hummed again, savouring the taste as she licked the remaining juice off of her fingers, the view causing Haewon's brain to short circuit. The woman suddenly made eye contact with Haewon, as if she just remembered the other was even there.
"Sorry about that, where are my manners?" The stranger laughed awkwardly, facing Haewon fully, "I'm Lily and you're Haewon, right?" she smiled down, offering her hand for a handshake.
Haewon, who was now sitting up, reached for her hand, not even bothering to ask how the woman, Lily, knew her name without her ever mentioning it.
When their hands connected a cold gust of wind blew into Haewon's face again, causing her to shiver from the drop in temperature. The sun was already going down, and the wind wasn't helping.
"Oh are you cold?" Lily asked in worry. She pulled her hand back and reached to take the scarf from around her neck.
Haewon opened her mouth, getting ready to politely decline, thinking the woman was going to offer the garment to her, but instead Lily just placed it down on the stone behind her.
Haewon looked at the woman in confusion with her mouth still open, when she was hit with the realisation that the wind had stopped. Not just the cold gusts that have been keeping her from warming up, but wind all together. She could no longer feel the air on her skin, and she couldn't even hear the rustling of leaves anymore.
It felt like time had stopped with how quiet the world seemed suddenly.
"The wind stopped when you took off your scarf," Haewon noted aloud.
"Did it now?" Lily asked with amusement in her tone, tilting her head at Haewon as if expecting her to continue.
Suddenly as Haewon looked into Lily's inhumanly blue eyes she was reminded of a story she heard as a child. Something about the weather and a magical umbrella.
Her eyes drifted down to the umbrella still leaning against the boulder next to Lily, not missing how the woman's eyes followed her line of sight.
"Are you the Weatherman?" Haewon blurted out before her brain could catch up to her mouth, her face immediately flushing at how childish she sounded. Here she was in the middle of the woods with the most beautiful woman she has ever met (who might or might not be some kind of mythical being) and she was thinking about children's stories. Not only that, but she was comparing the woman in question to a fictional old man.
She heard Lily laugh, causing her eyes to snap back up at the woman. When they made eye contact again, the other grinned at her.
“I'm not really a man, am I?” Lily questioned back in a playful tone, causing Haewon to flush further. In reality she wasn't sure if Lily was a woman either, nor a human, but she had a feeling that was exactly what Lily had meant with the question.
"Do you control the weather?" She asked again, looking down at Lily's hands which were now grasping the handle of the umbrella in front of her.
"I guess I do have a special connection to the weather," Lily smiled, shrugging her shoulders lazily.
That could mean literally anything, Haewon noted, squinting at Lily in suspicion.
The woman looked down at her with a smug smile, her near-white hair framing her face from this angle, highlighting her eyes and making her skin look smoother than Haewon thought possible. The hiker's breath caught in her throat.
She looked beautiful.
Suddenly Lily looked away from Haewon shyly, biting her lip to try, but failing to keep a smile off her face.
"So you really think I'm pretty?" She asked quietly looking back after a moment.
Haewon's mouth fell open and her face flushed dark red when she heard what Lily just said.
"So you did read my mind!" She accused defensively, trying to change the subject as fast as possible to get the blush off her face.
"Was I not supposed to?" Lily asked so casually, it sounded almost like she was really just talking about some everyday occurrence.
"No of course not!" Haewon shrieked after a moment when her surprise wore off, raising her hands in front of her forehead to maybe try to stop the woman from probing her mind that way.
Lily just giggled at the other's reaction.
"That's not gonna stop me dummy," she said playfully, "but I won't do it anymore if it makes you uncomfortable," she finished with her head lowered, looking up with a slight smile.
Haewon put her hands down hesitantly, deciding to trust Lily since there was probably no way to stop her anyway. She slowly looked back up at the smiling woman.
"So what are you then?" Haewon asked after a few moments. She realised the question could sound disrespectful, but she really needed to know.
Lily looked like she was pondering the question for a bit, performatively raising one of her hands off the umbrella to her chin, making a show of the whole thing.
Haewon resisted the urge to roll her eyes in amusement, not wanting to take them off the woman.
Lily looked back at Haewon after a few minutes, her mouth widening into a teasing smile.
"What do you think I am?" She asked, tilting her head at the hiker.
Now Haewon couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes, Lily immediately letting out a laugh at her reaction.
"You needed to think that long about that response?" Haewon questioned, raising an eyebrow at the woman who was still giggling up on her seat.
"I was trying to decide what you're expecting of me," Lily answered, continuing when she saw Haewon's confused expression, "it's hard to read people without looking in their minds," she finished, looking down, embarrassed at her confession.
Haewon's mouth widened into a smile at the woman's honesty. It was cute how she shyly hid her face behind her short platinum hair.
"I wasn't expecting anything of you," she said after a moment, "I just want to understand you," she finished, looking up at the girl, hoping her eyes conveyed how serious she was, despite the casual tone.
Lily looked back at her with a surprised expression, her mouth slightly ajar.
Haewon tilted her head at the woman in question once again.
Lily shook her head, trying to decide how to phrase her explanation.
"Humans usually come here when they want something from me," she said finally, causing Haewon to frown before Lily continued, "not always on purpose, but every time someone gets lost in this forest they can only leave after they take something from me," she finished looking blankly at nothing in particular, perhaps lost in a memory.
Haewon's frown deepened at that. Why and what would someone want to take something from Lily? And if that was the case why was Haewon seemingly stuck in here when she didn't want anything from the woman.
"The only reason I talked to you is because you're the first person who I could tell didn't want anything," Lily said quietly after a few moments.
"If people can only leave when they take something from you, what happened to those you didn't talk to?" Haewon blurted out the question before she could think, and immediately she realised it was the wrong thing to say.
Lily shut her eyes tight, moving her arms to hug herself, the umbrella she was previously holding miraculously staying upright where she left it.
"I can't, I'm sorry I couldn't, not after the last time," Lily mumbled, shaking her head furiously and hugging herself stronger, mentally stuck in some horrible memory that Haewon foolishly reminded her of.
She didn't know what exactly Lily went through, but she could guess from her reaction and she wanted to kick herself for being the one to remind the woman of something like that.
Haewon didn't know what to do. She wasn't the best at comforting people, and even if she was, if she tried to get closer the woman now she could just make everything worse.
She scrambled to stand up in front of Lily, looking at the woman who was still shaking her head with her eyes shut tight.
"Lily," she tried calling her, voice too small to be heard by the other.
"Lily!" She tried again, more desperate this time, seeing the woman's eyebrows furrow for a second before falling back into the memory.
"Lily, please listen to me," Haewon choked out, her hands raised uselessly at her sides.
Lily finally stopped shaking her head at that, sitting still for a few moments before slowly opening her eyes and making eye contact with Haewon. There were tears in her eyes and her pupils were unfocused, clearly not seeing Haewon even when she was looking right at her.
"It's just me Lily, there's no one else here, you're safe," she tried, a bit quieter this time, searching for any sign of recognition in Lily's eyes.
After a few seconds the woman blinked slowly, her eyes darting around before connecting with Haewon's again, this time really seeing her.
After a few seconds of silence Lily shut her eyes again and broke into a sob.
Haewon stepped closer in panic, not knowing how she could help the woman, scared of making things worse. She felt her own cheeks getting wet, realising after a bit that it had started raining.
"Haewon," Lily called weakly, the woman responding immediately with a quiet 'yes?'.
"Can you please hold me?" Lily asked, her voice not louder than a choked out whisper.
Haewon moved immediately to comply with her request, sneaking her arms around Lily, a bit awkwardly at first with Lily's hands still around herself, but when she finally had her arms around the woman Lily's hands moved to grasp at Haewon's shirt, locking the two in a weird but comfortable embrace.
The two stayed like that for a while, getting soaked in the rain that was now pouring above them.
Lily's sobs grew quiet after a few minutes, turning into small sniffles instead.
After a while Haewon felt Lily shift slightly, and suddenly she didn't feel raindrops hitting her face anymore.
She turned her face up to the sky, only for her vision to be covered with the translucent umbrella open above the two, now looking more pearly rather than the simple see-through that Haewon was expecting.
Lily wasn't holding the handle, instead the umbrella just casually hovered above the two, the end of the handle floating right next to Lily's head. At this point Haewon didn't even try to question how that was possible.
She then turned back towards Lily who was now also looking at her.
The woman had just cried for several minutes in the pouring rain, but somehow she was completely dry, the only indication of what had happened before being her slightly puffy and red eyes. Even her makeup seemed to be intact, though Haewon wasn't sure if that was makeup or if Lily's face just looked that perfect normally.
Haewon then realised that in contrast to Lily she herself was still soaked from head to toe with freezing rainwater. She immediately started shivering when the realisation hit her, trying to instinctively move closer to Lily's warmth.
Lily seemed to be radiating heat and when she felt Haewon scoot closer towards herself, she wrapped her hands around the others waist, acting as a human (or inhuman) heating pad for the shivering woman.
They stayed wrapped together like that for a while, but it didn't take long for Lily's warmth to start drying Haewon's clothes, and when she finally stopped shivering, Haewon kind of wished she was still soaked so she could stay longer in Lily's arms.
But after a while they had to pull apart, and when they did Haewon could only look at Lily in amazement. The girl now looked just as perfect as before, as if somehow she got filled with energy or maybe with some magical power while the two hugged.
The rain had already stopped and Lily looked at Haewon with a slight smile as the umbrella floated down seemingly on its own, closing simultaneously and lying itself against the boulder that started everything.
Haewon made eye contact with Lily again who was now looking at her with an unreadable expression.
Haewon didn't know what she could say, or if she even should say anything, so she let the silence drag out, giving space for Lily to gather her thoughts.
After a while Lily spoke up quietly, her words cutting through the silence of the still windless forest.
“Thank you,” was the only thing she said, but somehow her eyes carried so much more meaning than the words she uttered.
Haewon slowly shook her head.
“Anyone would have done the same for you,” she tried to say, but was quickly cut off by Lily.
“Not anyone,” she said, tightening her hold on Haewon's waist, making the other woman aware of how they were still connected through Lily's palms.
The two held eye contact again.
Lily's eyes seemed deeper, darker than before, filled with something that Haewon couldn't decipher. She ended up being the one to avert her eyes first, not being able to look into the intense blue irises from so close any longer.
After a while she felt Lily's hands squeeze her waist one last time, before her arms loosened, Haewon taking that as a sign to finally pull away from Lily's personal space even if she didn't really want to.
The two stepped apart, Haewon clearing her throat awkwardly. Now that the two were standing right in front of each other Haewon could see that Lily was almost exactly her height, maybe a bit taller. It somehow felt like the two were now closer in more than one way, since Lily didn't seem so inhuman and unreachable anymore. The thought caused a weird warmth to spread in Haewon's chest.
Lily looked up at the sky, Haewon's eyes following her line of sight. The sun was setting by now, casting the sky and the forest in a warm, pinkish-orange glow.
Lily looked back down at Haewon, her mouth widening into a slight smile. She stepped closer to the hiker, hooking their arms together.
“Come on, I think I know the way,” she said softly, pulling on Haewon's arm to make her follow.
“Wait, my backpack,” Haewon started, not bothering to ask where the woman was leading her, but still not wanting to lose her equipment.
But before she could even look behind her she suddenly felt a weight on her back. She had to quickly move one of her feet to the front to not fall backwards at the sudden change.
Haewon looked over her shoulder to see the backpack that was previously lying on the ground where she left it, now resting snugly on her back.
She turned to the front, glancing at Lily who was looking forward, slightly smirking to herself. Haewon smiled at the view, also turning to look the way the woman was leading her.
The two walked in silence for a while, before Haewon realised that nothing in the scenery looked familiar anymore. Yes it was the same trees and plants that she has been walking past for the better part of today, but she knew for a fact she hasn't been in this area of the forest before. The wind had also picked up again, soft and not as cold as before, but the natural rustling of leaves had become a constant once more.
She didn't have time to contemplate on the implications of that, before she could suddenly make out an empty area between the trees a few feet in front of the two.
Her mouth fell open in shock. No way they could already be at the edge of the forest, could they?
A few steps later she was proven wrong, when the two stopped under the last tree, looking down the small hill at the modest parking lot that Haewon could easily make out in the warm sunlight. Only a few vehicles were still parked there, most probably owned by people who were staying the night, but that also included Haewon's own car of course.
The hiker turned to Lily in shock and amazement. She has been trying to find her way out of this forest for more than five hours now, and the other woman was able to get them out in barely a few minutes.
Then suddenly she was reminded of a crucial detail.
“You said only people who took something from you can leave,” she said softly, looking at Lily with slightly furrowed brows. The woman looked back with a faint smile.
“That's right,” she uttered quietly.
“But I didn't take anything?” Haewon questioned, unsure of herself and slightly worried.
Lily, who now had her goofy rainbow scarf around her neck again, turned towards Haewon, smiling and gripping the other's forearm weakly.
“I think you did,” she whispered into the space between the two after a moment.
Haewon's eyes widened in shock and she opened her mouth to protest.
“I didn't, I didn't mean to, I don't want-” she was cut off by Lily shushing her softly. When Haewon immediately complied the woman chuckled, closing her eyes with a smile still on her lips.
Haewon observed the woman's face quietly, waiting for her to continue.
A few seconds later Lily opened her eyes, locking them with Haewon's.
“It's alright. I want you to have it,” she uttered softly, but firmly, so that the woman could not object, deciding to keep her in the dark on the subject.
The hiker just looked back at the woman with worried eyes, but now also in a bit of confusion. She really didn't mean to take anything from Lily, and she still doesn't even know what she took. It felt like she had somehow betrayed her after the woman opened up to her, even if she insisted it was okay.
That was when Lily gingerly pushed on Haewon's arm.
“Go! You should leave before it gets too dark. I heard it's dangerous to drive at night,” she said softly, unwrapping her arm from around Haewon's.
Haewon couldn't help but feel sad at the loss of contact, already missing the other's warmth, but she still let the woman step away from her.
Now at arm's length, she could clearly see the other woman's features. Her beautiful eyes almost glowing in the warm sunlight.
She took a step back, scared that she would annoy Lily if she didn't listen to her. She would probably do anything the woman asked of her.
“Wait!” Lily suddenly exclaimed when Haewon was already a few short steps away.
Haewon stopped in her tracks, waiting as Lily made her way towards her, strolling casually through the knee-high grass. The two were still under the last tree's shadow, now on the very edge of the forest.
When Lily arrived in front of Haewon she didn't waste a single moment before raising her umbrella free hand to Haewon's chest and leaning in to place a chaste kiss on the hiker's lips.
Haewon's eyes closed instinctively at the contact, but the kiss was already over before her mind could even register what had happened.
She opened her eyes with her mouth hanging open in surprise to see Lily right in front of her, smiling at Haewon with her hand still on the woman's front.
“Now you can go,” she smiled, pushing lightly at Haewon's chest.
“Will I ever see you again?” the words stumbled out of Haewon's mouth weakly, barely louder than a whisper.
“Maybe,” Lily replied without really providing an answer, and when she pushed on Haewon's chest again the other woman didn't fight it, letting Lily turn her around and giving her a slight push towards the parking lot.
After a few steps though she turned back, wanting to catch one last glimpse of the woman, but instead she was met with an empty spot where the two had just stood.
The previously familiar forest now seemed dark and empty, stretching further than the eye could see. It made Haewon feel more alone than even on the longest of solo hikes.
She couldn't push down her disappointment, raising her hand to touch her lips softly, where she could still feel the phantom touch of Lily's warm pair.
After a moment she finally turned back towards her car, the only thoughts in her head being of Lily, and if she would ever see the woman again.