part 4
 
on the saturday he had intended to take her out on – before getting rejected – yesung had showed up at nine in the morning again, making a gamble that he just might be able to see her around.
 
and he was right, yuri had been at her usual spot behind the counter, managing the cash register. he joined the queue.
 
when it was his turn, he greeted her brightly with a smile on his face. “hi.”
 
she perked up a little. “oh, hey! latte, yeah?”
 
he nodded and took out a bill from his wallet, placing it on the table. “I thought you were booked by your boyfriend today.”
 
she looked at him, a deadpan expression taking over her initial smiley one. “oh. I was, but then he said he had something on, so I decided to come for work instead.”
 
yesung carefully scanned through her expression while she was focused on the cash register. “so when does your shift end today?”
 
her head shot up, confusion visible on her face. “seven in the evening, why?”
 
he grinned. “great.”
 
she grabbed his cup and passed it to him. “why?” she asked again.
 
he shrugged in response and, with that same playful grin, took his cup and left the café.
 
while she had no idea of what he was planning to do, she was almost sure that she would see him again at seven. she was right.
 
leaving the café through the back door, she bumped into someone standing right outside the door. yesung turned and greeted with a wave. “hello. you’re right on time!”
 
she chuckled. “what’s this about? you’re carrying your camera and waiting for me?”
 
he started walking towards the main road. “since your evening’s going to be boring and empty, I’d like to bring you somewhere.”
 
“where?”
 
“nowhere dangerous, you can be sure of that.”
 
they went down the pavement at the same pace, a distance of three feet separating them. “will it take long?”
 
“do you have a curfew?”
 
“well, no—“
 
“then everything will be fine. we’re almost reaching.”
 
it was only when he delivered his last line when the sounds of the oceans reverberated around her ears. she looked up to find herself a stone’s throw away from the beach. he was already on the other side of the street, ready to venture into the sandy ground.
 
she followed suit. “so you’re bringing me to the beach?”
 
he nodded, taking in a deep breath. “the beach is a beautiful place at night.”
 
“it’s beautiful in the day too.”
 
“there’s too many people in the day. I prefer to just check out the beautiful landscape.” he raised his camera and took a shot. the ocean breeze was slow and calm, but as they stepped into the sand, the winds started to get stronger.
 
“take off your shoes. it’s really fun to walk in the sand barefoot.”
 
yuri did as she was told, slipping off her sandals. she hung the sandals to her wrist and stretched her arms out, taking a deep breath just like he did earlier on, absorbing the ocean air. she took a few steps into the sand and continued in, yesung trailing behind.
 
it had been a really long time since yuri ever felt at ease like that. she was careful with her steps, but as she went closer to the waters, she stopped being cautious and broke into a small run. she ran along the waters, the ocean relieving her of any worry she had before that.
 
yesung stood still from where he was, watching her play on her own around the beach. unknowingly, he was already busy snapping away with his camera. after a few hundred or so shots, he saw her approach.
 
“don’t just stand there, come play with me!” she dragged him towards the waters and he set his things down on the sand, slipping out of his sneakers and socks. he watched as she continued to frolick around the shore, occasionally yelping when the cold water touched her feet. he found himself chuckling silently, mirroring her frolicking but at a slower pace. then she put her hand into the water and started splashing at him.
 
when he felt the water hitting his face, he burst out into laughter. “hey! I’m going to get my revenge!” then he put his own hands into the water and started splashing at her.
 
she yelled in surprise and started running away, only to find him chasing her with a kind of vigor that she hadn’t ever witnessed from him before. she ran faster and faster, only to trip and land knee-first into the sand. he halted in his tracks and went to help her up, dusting the sand off from her knees for her. “you okay? sorry about that, I didn’t mean to—“
 
to his surprise – or not really – she was laughing. she kicked some sand in his direction, dirtying his jeans. he found himself laughing along too, kicking sand in her direction.
 
(they didn’t realize it at that moment, but right then, they no longer felt lonely.)
 
after god-knows-how-long, they finally felt the exhaustion kicking in and stopped their games, slipping on their footwear to get ready to go.
 
yesung was done first. he picked up his items and watched as yuri continued to dust the dirt away from her jeans. her hair was no longer done up like it had been before with the long, neatly-tied ponytail. instead, the rubber band had loosened and it became a low, loose ponytail. along with her fringe, her hair now flowed a lot more easily than before. almost instinctively, he shot away with his camera again.
 
“I’m done!” she sprung up from her sitting position and noticed the flash going off at regular intervals. she smiled and did a few random poses before grabbing the camera away from his hands.
 
“how many photos did you take of me tonight?” she browsed through the most recently taken ones, until he got hold of his camera again.
 
he kept it safely in the camera bag before grinning at her. “maybe a thousand.”
 
she smirked and started walking towards where they came from earlier in the night. “you should’ve told me you wanted to take my photos. I could do some poses and charge you for every shot taken!”
 
he gave a sarcastic smile as a response. she chuckled. then they both sat on the bench under the bus stop shelter. he stared into space before turning to her all of a sudden. “it’s weird that we don’t use each other’s names when we talk to each other.”
 
“yes, indeed, yesung.”
 
he chuckled. “same to you, yuri.”
 
when they went back into silence, she had a good desire to thank him for the night well spent. and maybe hint that there should be another.
 
but that would be equivalent to having a premature farewell, one she didn’t want. she preferred farewells to be said only when they weren’t going to see each other again… until the next day, at least.
 
so she kept quiet. then their bus arrived.
 
as for him, he preferred to talk only if he had a topic he was confident a conversation could have been built upon. and truth be told, he did have something he wanted to tell her. he didn’t know why, but he just felt like he wanted to tell her this story. the moment they settled into their seats on the bus, he turned forty-five degrees towards her side.
 
“yuri, do you want to hear a story?”
 
“about what?”
 
“about a boy. and why he’s been frequenting a certain café for all three hundred and sixty-five days of his past year.”
 
she could hear a certain emotion rising in his tone, but he kept it controlled well. she wasn’t sure what it was, but she did know that he really wanted her to hear him out. she nodded and kept her eyes fixated on the handle that was right in front of her.
 
“there was once this boy. and this girl. they were in love. really deeply in love.” then he paused. she looked at him, wondering if that was all. but he went on.
 
“I mean… I don’t know if she felt the same, but I loved her a lot. we were together for six months. it was… it felt wonderful. like you were amongst the clouds, you know. I thought I’d be with her forever. it just seemed that way, until…”
 
she heard him sniff a little, and she almost flinched when she realized he could be crying. if there was anything she didn’t know how to deal with, it was people who were crying. but, again, he went on anyway, giving her the impression that he was okay, even if he wasn’t (and pretty far from it).
 
“I didn’t know why it had to happen. why she had to be taken away from me. and after she was gone, it just felt like a complete piece of… blank in front of me. I didn’t know where to go, what to do, or how to even live at all. it was because I couldn’t let go. I know, if I couldn’t let go, I’ll just feel lonely, and lonelier as days went by. but I was afraid of letting go, because what would become of me if I had erased her presence from my life?”
 
she mulled over his words, carefully piecing together the pieces of his story. his story about himself, to be exact. it didn’t take her long for her to start seeing him in another light. then he went on, cutting off her trail of thoughts.
 
“and that’s why, for one whole year after her death, I went to the café at nine in the morning every single day to get a cup of latte. because nine in the morning, in that same café, was the exact setting when I met her for the first time. and latte was her favorite drink, the one she spilt on me when we first met.”
 
he was proud of himself. he didn’t know how he would have fared telling an outsider – or anybody at all, actually – his story, the story he’s never let anyone know of before. but he did pretty well, since he didn’t shed any tears or break down. in fact, he had a smile on when he finished telling the story. it was a smile at ease, one that couldn’t have been found on yesung’s face unless you looked back to slightly over a year ago, when she was still alive and he was physically beside her.
 
yuri only dared to look at his face when his story had ended. and she was surprised to find that tiny smile on his face. she was surprised, and glad nonetheless. subconsciously, she had reached over to give him a pat on the back, rounding up the storytelling session. he looked at her and his smile turned brighter. “there’s another story I need to tell, yuri.”
 
she settled into position again, ready to listen to his next story. he took a deep breath.
 
“this story is about a boy. and why he’s still frequenting the café after three hundred and sixty-five days.”
 
instead of looking at the handle again, she looked at him. his words struck a chord inside her head. he wanted to look back at her, straight into her eyes, but found that he couldn’t do it, so he looked at her long black hair instead.
 
“on the three hundred and sixty-sixth day, he walked into the café again. it wasn’t going to be any different from the three hundred and sixty-fifth day, he told himself. but then he made eye contact with the new girl working here, and suddenly it hit him… maybe the three hundred and sixty-sixth day of frequenting this café for the girl he once loved was going to be a little different after all.”
 
he didn’t know what gave him that sudden bout of courage, but he just felt daring out of the blue. so he turned his eyes away from her hair and straight into her eyes. then he went on.
 
“maybe it was the first day of frequenting this café for a girl he’s in love with right now.”
 
something clicked in her head.
 
then the bus jerked to a stop at that same moment. it was her stop.
 
she scrambled to get out, almost tripping as she got out of her seat. as she regained her posture, she felt a tug on her hand. it was yesung.
 
“I always thought that loneliness was something everyday to me. but tonight proved me wrong.” he let go of her hand and smiled again. “thanks for tonight, yuri.”
 
she strained a smile and hurried to get out, but not before whispering a quick “thanks for tonight, too”.
 
it was when she was finally out of the bus and the doors had closed when yesung gave himself a mental slap. that probably wasn’t the ideal confession he had intended to give her.
 
but the smile didn’t disappear, anyway. because he did make his confession at the end of the day.