"That's the ideal meeting...once upon a time, only once, unexpectedly, then never again." - Helen Oyeyemi

It was close to 9 p.m. when Himchan looked down at his watch. He quickened his pace and trudged through the cold weather with his backpack slung over his shoulder. His teeth were chattering and he regretted for not buying that cup of hot coffee from the vending machine at the side of the road before he made his way to the hospital.

When he got there, he flashed a smile at the receptionist before he stepped into the elevator.

“Your grandma’s asleep by the way,” the receptionist named Hyosung told him. “Do close the door gently once you’re inside, Himchan-ah.”

“I will,” Himchan waved a hand with a low chuckle. He then pushed the fourth floor button and leaned back against the metal surface of the wall, waiting for the door to close.

“Wait, wait, wait!” a voice from the distance called out.

It took Himchan a few seconds to realize that the voice was telling him to stop the elevator. He pushed himself off the wall and frantically jabbed at the button. The elevator door opened once again and soon enough a young man about his age scurried inside, gasping for air as he bent down with his hands on his knees. The red beanie he wore on his head was tilted sideways, covering one of his eyes, and his black bangs had turned messy from the sprint.

“I’m sorry,” Himchan apologized as he stared down at the man. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

The man chuckled, his deep voice reverberating in the confined space of the elevator. He then held up a hand and shook his head as he smiled at Himchan.

“Nah, wasn’t your fault. Thanks anyway for opening the door.” He straightened himself and adjusted the beanie so it wasn’t covering half of his face anymore. The same smile was still plastered on his face and the way his gums appeared beneath his lips made him look quite goofy.

Himchan smiled faintly at the sight. “No problem.”

When the door closed for the second time, Himchan stood still in his place instead of leaning against the wall. On the other hand, the man nonchalantly leaned back and crossed his arms.

“Who are you visiting?”

Himchan blinked and craned his neck to look at the man.

“My grandma.”

The elevator dinged and the door opened. It was the fourth floor. Himchan stepped outside and turned to the man, one hand in the pocket of his black jacket. Before he could say something, the man beat him to it.

“Well, see you around.” The man smiled.

“Sure,” Himchan nodded.

Once the door was closed, Himchan turned away from the elevator and walked to the room where his grandmother was admitted. He pushed the door open gently and peeked inside. The room was dark save for the light at the bedside table. He could make out his grandmother’s peacefully sleeping face in the dim lighting, her shadow gliding over the wall in a shape of a mountain.

The grandson sat down on the sofa opposite the bed and placed his backpack beside him before he took out a book and started reading. It was a weekly routine for him to visit his grandmother at the hospital. Since the day his grandmother was admitted into the hospital, his father had come up with a schedule for the family members to take turn to accompany the sick woman. The family consisted of Himchan, his father, his mother and his sister. On Monday and Tuesday it was his sister’s shift. On Wednesday and Thursday it was his mother’s and Friday belonged to his father. On the weekends, it was his turn.

His grandmother was diagnosed with stomach cancer a month ago. At first she lost her appetite and wouldn’t eat for days but then her gastric acted up. She started throwing up whenever she ate something. Even after taking medicine for her gastric, she still faced the same problem. It wasn’t until she started vomiting blood that they took her to the hospital.

Despite his final year in the university, Himchan knew he still had to make time for his grandmother. He understood that she needed her family with her now that her condition had worsened. They recently found out that the cancer had gone to stage four, where the cancer cells had spread to the lungs. His grandmother had trouble breathing sometimes that in the end she had to use breathing support.

The family had sat down and talked about it after Himchan’s parents came back from the hospital the day they found out about the bad news. His sister had cried and by the look of his mother’s distressed appearance and red-rimmed eyes, Himchan could tell that she had cried back at the hospital. For Himchan, he did feel sad about it but he couldn’t really connect to the feeling of in the verge of losing someone—maybe because he wasn’t that close to his grandmother. His sister had spent most of her childhood days with his grandmother so it was understandable that she would be the saddest in this situation. Himchan admitted that he didn’t really have that many memories shared with his grandmother. It was because he lived with his parents in the town and his sister lived with his grandmother in the countryside because she studied and graduated there. He’d always busied himself with school and spent his time away from home even when his grandmother had moved in to live with them for the last two years. He felt a little guilty for not spending his free time with his grandmother.

In order to make up the time he’d lost with his grandmother, he’d decided to balance the time he spent for his final year in the university and visiting her at the hospital. It was quite tough since he had a lot of papers to tend to but a little bit of struggle in life wouldn’t hurt, he figured.

After reading about ten pages, Himchan’s eyes started drooping. He rubbed at his eyes and forced himself to read the last two pages of the chapter but his eyes weren’t cooperating. He blinked and squinted his eyes. He then closed them and they stayed like that for a while— the sleep greeting him to dreamland— until he heard crackling sounds coming from outside.

He opened his eyes and sat up straight on the sofa, the book lay forgotten by his side. The crackles were still there. He turned his head to look at the closed curtains. It glowed in different colors and for a while Himchan was confused. He stood up from the sofa and approached the curtains before he drew them open. His mouth parted in awe as he stared outside the window. There were fireworks in the night sky. They varied in colors and shapes as they exploded in the sky. Himchan could make out the shape of flowers and circles. He remembered the hill located at the back of the hospital. That must be the place where the firework was set. He wondered who had set them up and for what occasion it was. 

When the firework ended, Himchan drew the curtains close and went back to the sofa to sleep. He had a smile carved on his face as he shut his eyes that night.

-

Someone was shaking his shoulders. He stirred but kept his eyes closed. The exhaustion from yesterday was still clinging to him like loose thread. He’d been attending classes since morning to night yesterday and he was thankful that it was a Saturday today so he figured that he could sleep longer. Nevertheless, the shaking intensified after a minute so he woke up with a slight groan escaping his lips. When he opened his eyes, he saw his mother staring down at him. He pushed himself up from the sofa and yawned, glancing at his grandmother who was still sleeping on the bed. The only sounds present in the room were the humming of the heater and the beeping machine. Himchan shivered and saw that it had started snowing outside.

“Go home, I’ll take over for this weekend.” His mother said, giving his hair a ruffle. Himchan wanted to argue but then his mother stopped him with a cluck of her tongue.

Himchan nodded at that and stood on his feet before he fetched his backpack. He almost forgot his book if it wasn’t for his mother.

“Oh honey, can you stop by at the market and buy some bread? I’m gonna make bread pudding later.”  

“Sure,” Himchan shrugged before he walked out of the room and went into the elevator.

He looked at his watch and noted that it was only eight in the morning. The market would open at nine. When the elevator door opened, he made a step to exit but then someone bumped into him. He lost grip of his backpack and it ended up on the floor, the contents spilled out since he forgot to do the zip.

“Whoa, I’m really sorry. I didn’t see you just now.” The person apologized.

Himchan looked at the floor number painted on the wall outside the elevator and mentally scolded himself.

“No, it’s my fault. This isn’t my floor.” He shook his head as he started gathering his stuff. A hand appeared within his sight to grab at the book on the floor and he looked up to meet the owner’s eyes.

The goofy smile and the red beanie from last night confirmed his memory of the young man kneeling before him.

“Hey, it’s you again. Cat eyes.” The man said.

Himchan blinked at what he said. Did he just call him Cat eyes? That was a weird nickname. He’d never heard people call him that before.

“It’s Kim Himchan,” he decided to introduce himself.

The man pursed his lips and nodded. He then extended his hand and Himchan gladly shook it.

“Bang Yongguk.” The man replied with a grin. “You spent the night at the hospital huh?”

“Every weekend,” Himchan shrugged. He attempted to put his stuff back into his backpack but then Yongguk stopped him and did it himself.

“I bumped into you so it’s only fair that I help you with this,” he reasoned.

Himchan narrowed his eyes at him but nodded sheepishly in return. After Yongguk had put all of his stuff into his backpack, he handed it to Himchan.

“Thanks,” Himchan said as he stood up from the floor and slung his backpack over his shoulder after making sure that the zip wasn’t undone this time. “What are you doing here early in the morning? You spent the night here too?”

Yongguk hummed and shrugged. “Take a guess.”

Crossing his arms, Himchan gave Yongguk a scrutinizing look. He wasn’t expecting for the guy to be that playful with someone he just met.

“You have a grandmother to take care of too?”

Yongguk shook his head and smiled.

“Your mother?”

Another shake of his head.

“Sister? Brother?”

Yongguk chuckled and held up a hand. “Okay, enough with the guessing. I’ll just tell you later.”

Himchan hummed in return. The fact that Yongguk had said ‘later’ only meant that he was planning to meet Himchan again in the future.

When the elevator reached the ground floor, Himchan stepped out of it and was bidding Yongguk goodbye when the latter spoke up.

“Where are you heading to?”

“Um, to the market.” Himchan said. He raised a brow at Yongguk when he saw that the said man suddenly beamed at his reply. “Why?”

“I was thinking of heading there too. I need to buy something.” Yongguk said. He blinked and smiled, teeth showing. “You won’t mind me tagging along, right?”

Himchan shook his head at the question, shrugging his shoulders.

“Well, no I guess.”

“Great. Let’s take the bus.” Yongguk quickly led the way outside the hospital. He was walking with long strides so Himchan had to power walk to tail behind him.

When they reached the bus stop, the bus was already there. Himchan gave Yongguk a confused look when the latter turned back to smile at him. He guessed Yongguk knew the bus schedule. Both of them boarded the bus and sat down at the third row. There weren’t that many passengers since it was early in the morning.

“So you always come here?” Himchan asked when the bus started moving.

Yongguk looked at him and raised a brow. “Why’d you say that?”

“Because you know the bus schedule,” Himchan pointed out.

Yongguk leaned back in his seat and his hands into the pockets of his black jacket, letting out a long hum instead of answering Himchan.

“Yeah, I think do come here often,” Yongguk finally answered. “You can say that it’s my second home.”

Himchan blinked and gave Yongguk another one of his confused look but then a little boy who was sitting in front of them turned around and fixed his gaze on Yongguk. Yongguk flashed him a big smile and waved both of his hands. The boy smiled back. Without a word, Yongguk pulled out a lollipop from his jacket and presented it to the boy. The boy let out a gasp and called out to his mother who was sitting beside him, patting her shoulder with his small hand.

“Mommy, look.” The boy showed her the lollipop.

The woman craned her neck to look back and saw that Yongguk was nodding at her son. She thanked him and scolded her son when he started bouncing in his seat, happy from the sudden treat.

“Wow, I didn’t think she’d thank you,” Himchan blurted out.

“Why?” Yongguk narrowed his eyes at Himchan.

“I mean don’t parents always teach their children to not receive anything from strangers? Especially candies?”

Yongguk burst out laughing at that, which had startled Himchan. He never imagined for someone like Yongguk to laugh so loud. His laugh had attracted quite a number of passengers in the bus so when he realized that he’d become the center of attention, he cleared his throat and slumped in his seat, nudging at Himchan’s elbow.

“You’re quite funny, Himchan.”

“I wasn’t trying to be funny though…” Himchan blinked. He couldn’t help but smile though when he saw that Yongguk was trying hard to contain his laugh.

-

The market had only opened when they arrived at the said place. Both of them stepped inside with their hands in their pockets and shoulders hunched, shivering from the cold. There were Christmas lights decorating the walls of the market and the employees all wore Santa hats on their heads, some carrying bells with them as they promoted some Christmas stuff. The atmosphere was certainly festive what with the song and the cheers coming from outside by the singing robot standing at the entrance of the market.

“So what are you buying?” Yongguk asked Himchan as they walked along the aisle.

Himchan looked around him and squinted his eyes at the signs hanging on the ceiling. “Um, I need to buy bread for my mom.”

“Oh, it’s at the fourth section.” Yongguk pointed to the right.

Himchan followed him and when they reached the pastry aisle, Himchan carefully chose the type of bread his mother would want him to buy. He couldn’t really remember what brand was his mother’s favourite though.

“So you’ve been living here for a while?” he asked.

Yongguk turned to him and nodded. “Yeah, since I was ten. How about you?”

“Since I was born.”

“Hm, funny that we never come across each other before.” Yongguk narrowed his eyes at Himchan. “And funny that you don’t know your way around this town. I mean you’ve lived here since you were born.”

“I don’t really go out that much.” Himchan admitted with an embarrassed chuckle. “I’m always at school or cooped up in my room.”

“So you’re a student?”

“Currently studying at Jeongui University, taking psychology.” Himchan cited. When he noticed the peculiar look Yongguk directed at him, he quirked his eyebrows. “What?”

“Nothing. It’s just that you don’t look like a psychology student to me.”

“Then what kind of student do I look like?” Himchan looked down at his outfit, which was a dark blue coat paired with black jeans, and then back to Yongguk.

“Maybe art or communication…I don’t know.” Yongguk shrugged.

“Huh.” Himchan snorted.

“I mean you look good and…” Yongguk trailed off when he saw the judging look Himchan had on his face.

“So what you’re saying is that psychology students can’t look good?” Himchan asked, trying to ignore the fact that Yongguk had just praised his look.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Yongguk retorted, seeming like he was flustering. “Okay, my bad. Let me rephrase that. You don’t look like a psychology student because I have this particular image of them wearing thick glasses and carrying along thick books in their backpacks.”

Himchan pressed his palm to his mouth, holding back the laughter bubbling inside him.

“I’m sorry if I offended you and for being stereotypical,” Yongguk said with both of his hands raised in surrender. This time he did look like he was going to run away. Himchan had had enough of teasing.

“I was joking,” Himchan chuckled. “Don’t take it seriously.”

Yongguk let out a sigh of relief and shook his head, smiling widely in return.

“Man, I can’t really read your expression. You always have that serious look on your face so I’m not sure whether you’re joking or not.” Yongguk said.

“Really?” Himchan blinked, quite surprised at the statement. He never thought he would put up a serious expression the entire time. He had the sudden urge to look into the mirror.

“Don’t worry. You still look good,” Yongguk assured before he started walking once again, heading towards the beverage section.

Himchan tilted his head sideways; trying to comprehend the weird conversation they had a few seconds ago. If he heard correctly, Yongguk complimented him for like two times. Himchan blinked and shook his head, smiling to himself. Definitely weird.

“What are you looking for?” Himchan asked as he followed Yongguk.

Yongguk hummed for a long time as he scanned the entire shelf of beer. He then stretched out a hand to grab a carton of beer with golden stickers on them. It was the expensive brand. Himchan raised a brow at that.

“Found it,” Yongguk held the carton with both of his hands, grinning like a child.

“You’re gonna drink all of that?” Himchan blinked.

“No. They’re not for me,” Yongguk laughed. “Someone made me run the errand for them.”

Just then Yongguk’s phone rang in his pocket. Himchan immediately took the beer from Yongguk and stepped aside as he waited for the latter to answer the call.

“Yup, I got it. I’ll be there soon.” Yongguk nodded a few times. He chuckled at the person on the other line and hung up after saying a quick goodbye. He took back the beer from Himchan and let out a soft sigh. “So I think we’ll have to part ways at this moment. It was nice meeting you, Himchan.”

“Yeah, nice meeting you.” Himchan nodded, one hand in his pocket and the other holding onto the loaf of bread.

“And thanks for letting me tag along with you. I appreciate that,” Yongguk pointed out. He took a step closer to Himchan and raised his hand a bit, as if he was going to give him a pat on the shoulder, but then it seemed like he changed his mind at the last minute since he suddenly stepped back and patted his beanie awkwardly instead. “I’ll see you.”

“Bye,” Himchan waved at him.

Yongguk jogged towards the counter and paid for the beer. He then made one last turn and smiled at Himchan. Himchan returned the smile with a nod. When Yongguk was gone, he stood still in the middle of the aisle, contemplating on the way he started his morning. It was certainly weird meeting someone like Yongguk. But it wasn’t in a bad way.

Yongguk seemed like a nice guy, he thought.