Sunday, 28 November 2021 - Greenwich Village, New York City, United States

“Hey lover… this an early morning booty call?.” Ella was relaxed and a bit punchy from staying up all night.

“Excuse me?” The voice was unfamiliar and Ella quickly looked at her phone. It was a group call.

“Ummm…. Ella, this is my grandfather.” Jae-Young’s voice broke in. Ella could feel the flush in her face, and she stammered a bit before a greeting.

“Well, young lady, it appears nae sonja didn’t tell me everything.” The voice was amused, but the accent was entirely different than Jae-Young’s. A mix between what sounded like British and Chinese.

“I’m sorry Ella. I told him everything. About you.” Jae-Young sounded despairingly apologetic. The kind of voice you would wring hands over.

“It’s okay Jae. I have wanted to tell my parents so many times. And, even, sometimes my brother.”

The grandfather interrupted the moment of silence, “When Jae-Young called me, I wasn’t ever expecting what he told me. And then he told me you needed some way to connect with his other side. So, I have a story to tell, but I will tell you it may be dangerous.”

And so he began:

I was born in Hong Kong in 1921. My mother was, as you know from Jae-Young, from Iceland and had travelled through Europe and then fled the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. I didn’t know much more than that of her past as she never spoke of it. When she was asked, she would just smile and move to other subjects.

I did not know she was an elf when I was young. She had married my father, a minor Korean banker, who had fled the encroaching Japanese occupation. Perhaps they found commonality in that.

My mother was a sight in Hong Kong, blonde with pale skin and blue eyes, and we attracted attention wherever we went but the people were mostly kind.

One day, my father and mother made me dress in my finest clothing. We were to meet with a very important banker about the development of Kowloon. Kowloon at the time was an old military fort that existed in a legal, um, absence and was already developing a bit of a reputation.

I remember the day well. My father was so nervous and Hong Kong is brutally humid in the summer. We took a rickshaw to the fanciest gardens I had ever been and walked into the room.

I saw a group of men surrounding a sitting man, he was very elegant, almost perfect. I remember thinking he was the most attractive person I had ever seen. He wore an elegant morning coat and very expensive tinted spectacles.

The voice on the line paused for a moment. And Ella could hear the tremendous age in this recitation. As if this story was forcing the man to confront how long he had lived.

But, this is not what stood out about him. He was glowing. I could see the light around him and it was painful. I thought I would go blind. But this was not light I saw with my eyes and even with them closed, I would be able to have find him. My mother, I remember her grip on my hand, her squeezing so hard it hurt.

She whispered something into my father’s ear. I could not hear it but whatever it was he did not care for. He argued with her some, but she was firm. He bowed and apologized to the strange glowing man, and we left.

I never knew if my mother saw what I saw. She told me to never say anything. That I was to keep quiet and even should I live a hundred years, this man could hurt me. Well, I am over a hundred now and breaking that promise I made. And I am doing so because that man, I could not let go of my curiosity. I found out who he was by listening to my father complain about the missed opportunity. I saw him occasionally in the newspapers.

And when we fled Hong Kong during the war, into China for a time and then back to Korea after, I saw in the newspaper that this man, a very important banker, had fled to America, and died at sea with his wife. But his son survived and became a very important financier after the War.

And he looked exactly like his father.

Without the warning of my mother, I might have thought it merely familiar resemblance. And I spoke to her before she left, and she told me he would live forever. That nothing would kill him and that I should never even think about him again.

“Before she left?” Jae-Young asked tentatively?

“Oh yes, she was an elf and she was long lived. When my father was dying of old age, she told me she would retreat from the world as her kind would. That we might never see each other again. I don’t think I ever accepted that, but one day she was gone. All her clothes and items left but one family picture she took with her. She left her ring, which Jae-Young has and that was the last time I saw her.”

“And so,” Ella spoke, “somewhere out there is a person who glows, who will live forever, and that your mother was terrified of?”

“Yes. When I knew him, his name was Wu Shen and the son’s name was Wu Longwei.”

His grandfathers voice strengthened, “I have held onto this for so long. It is a relief to tell someone, and it is a blessing that it is someone that will believe me.

“Well that gives us something to start with,” said Ella dubiously.

“No it gives us two leads,” said Jae-Young. “My great grandmother is probably still alive. Somewhere.”

The grandfather laughed, “I would love to see her. I am not sure how long I will live, her blood is so weak in me compared to Jae-Young. And I will get to yell at her for leaving me even if i was a middle-aged man when she went. That will feel good.”

“Oehalabeonim, kansamnida ” Jae Young murmured.

“Yes, thank you.” Ella said forcefully.

“Of course. And I admit, I always wanted to know who that man was. So please be careful, but let me know.”