Kim Soeun was wiping the table as the awaiting customers already took their place. They thanked her and she smiled sweetly while handed them the menu. She moved to the next table as she saw other customers started to leave their table.  She thanked them and wished them to have a happy night and then she gathered all the dirty dishes to clear the table for the next customers. It was a peek hour as the busy people in Seoul preferred to have their dinner in a restaurant like the one she work at.

This was her routine every day for as long as she can remember. Every day after school she will come to the restaurant to work for money. She started to work part time ever since she was in junior high school. She has done a lot of works; from a dish washer to a cashier, a chef’s assistance, a store keeper and also a waitress. She was known as the most hardworking worker in that restaurant, a title that nobody dared to challenge.

No one would think that this hardworking girl was actually a scholarship student of SNU, the top university in Korea. Even she herself didn’t have the confidence that she can finish high school with a lot of problems that she had to face, let alone to have a degree. Problems that following her from the day she was born.

Kim Soeun was born by a loving mother but without a father. Her mother never talked about him. When she was a little kid, she did ask about her father, many times, as curiosity was normal to a kid like her. But silence became the only answer she received from her mother. After sometimes, she gave up asking and started to accept the fact that she only had her mother as her only relative.

That fact slowly faded as they found out that her beloved mother had a cervical cancer. That’s when everything started to change. They had to sell their only sanctuary to cover the medical cost and rented a single bedroom flat. Soeun became the breadwinner to keep them feed and also to pay for the rent. Luckily she was gifted with a genius brain that makes it easier for her to success in her study without putting too much effort.

She didn’t mind to work her fingers to the bone as long as she still has her mother. But after years of battling this malicious disease, her mother finally raised the white flag. She lost her mother just after a day she graduated from high school. She saw it coming because she saw how her mother forced herself to live. She saw her mother hold the pain when all medication became a useless weapon to fight the cancerous cells. She knew her mother was hanging on until she finished high school so that she will be adult enough to be left alone.

That’s how she started to survive without anybody by her side. She had no close friend because all her free time she used for work. She had no time to enjoy herself, no time and money to go shopping and no time to read the magazine. Though she had no worries about her tuition fees, she still needs to worry about her house’s rent and her meal.

One night after she finished her work, while doing her assignment in her room, she heard knocks on her door. Although she felt sceptically because she never received a visitor before especially during midnight, she slowly walked towards the door and opened it.

“Good evening.” greeted the guy with a red cap “Is this Kim Soeun’s house?”

“Yes, I’m Kim Soeun. Can I help you?”

“I’m here to send this parcel for you Miss Kim.” Soeun frowned at the guy. She never knew there was still a delivery guy working late at night.

“Are you sure it is my parcel?” She asked for confirmation because it was impossible for her to make a huge mistake by ordering (spent money) on whatever items in that box.

“Well I come to the right address and you happen to be Miss Kim Soeun so I’m sure that this parcel is yours.”

Soeun hesitantly took the big box and signed on the consignment form. The delivery guy thanked her before he took off. When she opened the box, she was shocked to see so many foods inside; rice, breads, ramyun (instant noodle), coffee powder, sugar and junk foods.

The next day at the same time, the same delivery guy knocked on her door again and this time he brought a bowl of jajangmyun.

“Do you know who’s sending it to me?”

“I’m sorry Miss Kim, I’m just a delivery guy and I delivered anything at any time for my client. Sometimes my clients remain anonymous and just ordered me through my email and one of it is your secret admirer.” Soeun can feel the hotness spreading on her face and she knew she was blushing at the thought of someone secretly have a special feeling towards a poor girl like her. She continued to focus her attention back to the delivery guy when she heard him spoke. “You’re living under my territories so you will see me again if your secret admirer decides to hide much longer.” He gave her a dazzling smile and then excused himself.

And from that moment she met the delivery guy almost every day and received lots of gifts from this mysterious secret admirer. Most of the time she would receive foods, sometime she received flowers and one time she received a big teddy bear. It continued for three months but she still didn’t have any idea who the secret admirer is.

But at least, she got a new friend. The friendly delivery guy became ‘the’ someone who she can talk too. She always looking forward to their five minutes conversation and she felt relax every time she heard the guy’s deep voice. Every night she would wait for the delivery guy to show up on her door step. At first she thought that she can’t wait to receive the gift he delivered but after sometimes she started to doubt the exact reason why she felt happy to see him.

“I guess this secret admirer really likes you Miss Kim.” The delivery guy smiled sweetly at her while passing the consignment form for her to sign.

“Well I still don’t know who he is but I can’t throw away his gifts right? It will be such a waste.” She smiled back and returned the copy to him.

“Err Miss Kim, can I use your toilet please? It’s freezing out here and I don’t think I can hold ‘you know what’ anymore.”

Soeun giggled leisurely. “Of course. Come in.” Soeun moved a little to give some space for him to walk into her house. She showed him the toilet and then she immediately boiled the water to make a hot coffee for both of them.

“I realise that you don’t have a heater in your house. How can you stand the chill?” She heard his voice approaching her in the kitchen. She handed the hot coffee to him and sipped hers.

“Well heater is expensive and will use lots of electricity that I can’t afford to pay. But don’t worry, I already got used to it every year, I can wear thick cloths. But this year is special because now I can make a hot coffee to warm me.” She smiled at him while proudly raised up her mug.

He smiled back and silently felt amazed that she can be so proud at a simple thing. “So, Christmas is just around the corner, how do you plan to celebrate it?”

“Same like last year. There will be lots of customers on that day so usually I’ll stay the whole day in the restaurant.”

“Oh okay. I will go back to my hometown tomorrow so I won’t see you for a while.” They had a few more conversation and the delivery guy thanked her for the coffee before headed to the door. “Merry Christmas in advance Miss Kim.”

“Merry Christmas to you too.”