The sun was just beginning to rise, casting a soft golden glow over the mountain path. Eunha Lin tightened her scarf and adjusted her bag as she walked alone, enjoying the rare silence away from the chaos of home.
Her life at home was… complicated. Her father had remarried when she was ten, leaving her with a stepmother who was kind but overly protective. Her stepmother adored her, but sometimes Eunha felt suffocated by the constant reminders to behave "properly," to always appear flawless, and to keep her heart guarded.
"Eunha, remember your piano lesson today," her stepmother would say, gently but insistently.
"Yes, I remember," Eunha would reply, masking her frustration behind a polite smile.
Even with a loving stepmother, Eunha often felt lonely. Her friends were supportive, but they couldn't understand the quiet ache she carried — the part of her heart that longed for something she couldn't name.
It was on one of these lonely mornings that she stumbled upon a tiny, injured snake near a hidden lake in the mountains. She froze for a moment, unsure what to do, but then her instincts took over.
She ran home, grabbed her first aid kit, and returned to care for the little creature. Day after day, she tended to him, cleaned his wounds, and secretly fed him. Animals weren't allowed at her house, so she hid him carefully near the lake, her heart slowly opening to the tiny, silent companion.
The snake seemed to understand her loneliness. When Eunha whispered,
"If only you were human… I'd be happy to have you always with me,"
she didn't realize how deep a bond had formed.
But life was never simple. One afternoon, her stepmother found her hiding near the lake.
"Eunha! What are you doing out here again?" she called, concern flashing in her eyes.
Eunha froze, unsure how to explain, but the words caught in her throat. "I… I was just… walking…"
Her stepmother frowned. "Be careful. You shouldn't be wandering here alone. This mountain isn't safe."
Eunha nodded, masking her disappointment. She wanted to take the snake home, to truly care for it, but rules and fear held her back. Still, she returned every day, feeding him and playing with him quietly, feeling a happiness she hadn't felt at home in years.
Then, one day, the snake was gone. No trace, no sign of him near the lake. Eunha searched for hours, every corner of the mountain, calling his name softly, her chest tightening with worry. Weeks passed, and despite her efforts, he never returned.
She stopped coming to the mountain, but the memory of that small, injured snake — and the strange, comforting presence he had given her — stayed with her. Deep down, she didn't know that the boy she had saved all those years ago would one day return to her life in a new form, bound by destiny and moonlight.