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I study him, searching for any traces of dishonesty, and find none.

Jae-hyun asked me to this bathhouse for his own discreet purposes. Not because of my actions.

I bow my head once. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

Our meeting ends as abruptly as it started. I show myself out, deciding that Jae-hyun can keep his secret regarding his nephew. I have my own waiting back in my apartment.

On my drive back to Gijang-gun, Monroe is on my mind. A burden has been lifted off my shoulders after the meeting withJae-hyun, and I’m looking forward to spending the rest of the afternoon at the apartment with her.

Images of her in my bed from this morning filter through my head—bare-faced, warm and naked under the bedsheet, eyes dark and glittering. It was as if she was the slice of happiness I had never experienced before.

Now I can’t let her go.

I stop by a drugstore halfway home and pick up some items I’m sure she’ll appreciate. Basic needs like tampons and soap and treats that she enjoys like the strawberry-flavored MyChew candy she won’t shut up about. I add a pack of paper face masks that she likes putting on in the evenings before bed.

I’m already approaching the counter when I notice a paperback thriller on display. It’s an American author, the cover a dramatic silhouette of a couple in the window of a house. She’s read so many classic pieces of literature since she’s come to stay, a change in genre might be nice. I add the book to the basket of things.

The summer sunshine is bright as I return to the roads. I crack the window and let some of the ocean air blow in. My spirits are higher than usual, the landscape shifting around me. The city vibe of Busan falls away for the tranquil calm that’s the fishing village.

The salt in the air is distinct and fresh.

But on this afternoon it’s joined by hints of smoke. Something acrid and biting that hangs insistently in the air.

I press the button to bring down the rest of the window and inhale more of the smoky scent, trying to place it.

Then I hear the wail of sirens.

My eyes snap to the rearview mirror in time to watch police cars and fire trucks whiz by me. A surreal haze creeps over the moment, suddenly making everything feel like a dream.

I turn down the same corner the police and firemen went down. The same corner that leads to…

My heart stills inside my chest.

Dark smoke billows from my apartment building, thickening by the second. It curls toward the sky as flames roar and lash at the building’s foundation.

My apartment has been set on fire… and Monroe is trapped inside.

19.Monroe

I’m pulledfrom my nap by the abrupt blare of the fire alarm. I snap upright on the futon couch where I’d nodded off reading an Ernest Hemingway book, figuring even as my eyes drifted shut that Jin would probably be home by the time I woke up.

Instead, the alarm rings over other sounds like sharp cracking and popping. The air hazes with smoke that darkens by the second.

Any drowsiness vanishes. My eyes widen, gaze landing across the apartment. From under the front door I can see the orange glow of flames.

The building is on fire!

This thought screams from inside my head, even louder than the alarm and cracking noises.

It’s like I went to sleep in Jin’s apartment and woke up in the burning pits of hell.

Suddenly, the air I’m breathing runs on terrifyingly short supply. My throat aches as I sputter trying to draw another breath. I scramble from the couch coughing and then almost stumble over my own two feet and the chain strewn across the floor—the metal cuff.

My stomach drops as true horror washes over me.

No. No. No. NO!

The cuff is locked around my ankle.