Fall was around the corner.

The air was a mix of salt and leftover summer rain, the sun was soft through layers of grey clouds. Temperature began to crawl down, down the creek of cliffs and hide under caves at the beach. People started to ditch their cut-off shorts and tank top, preferring to wrap themselves in worn-out sweaters that smell like home.

It was Seulgi’s favorite time of the year.

Wendy used to say that fall is the most boring season. It didn’t bring excitement like summer, not exactly festive as winter, and absolutely not as romantic as spring. Seulgi also thought so.

For her, fall was rather melancholy. Like a moody teenager, the longing and the sadness. The sudden burst of joy. Seulgi liked the taste of bitterness in fall, the sound of quiet hum of the fallen leaves.

Fall was time for remembrance.

Years later, Seulgi found out that this year’s fall also her fated time, the one she would never ever forget for her lifetime.

It began with a strange Tuesday afternoon after office hours. Wendy joined her in her walk to go home, which was quite an unusual occurrence. In normal days, Wendy’s working hours were shorter than Seulgi’s, so they couldn’t go home together except for Fridays. Seulgi should have been able to tell at that time, that something out of her mind was bound to happen.

Wendy was bright and talking happily walking next to her. She told Seulgi about the high probability of shop product expansion based on customer’s demand. Seulgi listened to her, really, however, her eyes were set on the end of her shiny oxford shoes. The pavement was a sullen pattern of tiles, scrapped beneath their heels, the tiny grasses sprung from the creaks of the concrete.

Then the airplane. The paper airplane.

It was blue, the color so familiar to Seulgi. It reminded her of Wendy’s washed out irises, the kind of blue in winter ocean. Seulgi stopped her feet in a sudden motion, a flash of confusion entered her head.

It shouldn’t bother her. Why would it? It was just a paper. Maybe trashed out by the passerby. Probably some kind of kid’s play, sent it off from his window.

“What’s wrong?”

Wendy was already two meters ahead of her, looking over her shoulders with questioning eyes.

Seulgi didn’t answer. She decided that it was nothing anyway. But Wendy had stepped back, now standing slightly in front of Seulgi. She caught Seulgi’s attention on the blue paper and raised her eyebrows.

“Seriously, Seulgi?” Even though she rolled her eyes, Wendy finally bent down to pick the paper airplane, studied it for some moment before unfolding it.

“What is it?”

Seulgi peeked from behind, ebony hair draped over Wendy’s shoulder when she tilted her head. Wendy turned her head, slightly, so that her face was facing Seulgi and their noses almost touched.

There’s a skip on Seulgi’s heartbeat, a moment, then she pulled back.

Wendy shrugged to answer Seulgi’s question.

“I have no idea,” she said. Wendy handed the crumpled paper to Seulgi, and she smoothed the rough folds. Her eyes traced the neat handwriting in black ink.

Don’t you think it’s time to go back?

“Some people actually still think that sending message by paper airplane is actually a thing,” Wendy commented in amusement.

 Seulgi didn’t let go of her sight on the handwriting. Suddenly she felt nauseous. Wendy chuckled like it was funny, but there was something else in her voice. Seulgi could sense it beneath her tinkling laughter; uneasiness, worry, fear.

Seulgi had a bad feeling about this.

She hated it that Wendy tried so hard to hide it from her. Hated it that over these years, Seulgi developed a habit of being suspicious to Wendy. Wendy never told her, not really, her past, life before this town and Seulgi. She painted Wendy in her mind, piece by piece from the days they spent together. It was a blurred picture with missing parts all over.

Seulgi truly hated it, but she didn’t voice it out to Wendy.

“Seulgi, hurry up! We’re missing the bus.”

Wendy stomped her feet on the ground, impatient. She reached for the paper in Seulgi’s hands and crumpled it in her fist. Seulgi lifted her eyes and let Wendy held her hand, pulled her running along to the bus stop.

It was when Seulgi saw her.

The uncalculated one, the unanticipated one.

The nightmare and the missing piece.

She was sitting under the shade of bus stop, sunlight kissed her rose petal hair. Her eyes sharp on Seulgi and Wendy who came with ragged breath after running. Wendy was the first one who noticed her, gave her a small nod and asked the girl in red hair to shift so that she could sit down. Instead, the girl stood up. Wendy smiled to her and muttered thank you, then signaled Seulgi to sit beside her.

Seulgi sat down, but she quietly observed the girl. Standing like that, she was tall. Way much taller than Seulgi or Wendy. Her coat was draped over her mid length dress, black stockings wrapped her long legs, ended in a pair of ankle boots Seulgi had seen in fashion magazines.

She was beautiful.

 The girl stepped in front of them, and for a moment Seulgi thought she would speak to them. Perhaps asking about direction, because everything about her was foreign as if she didn’t belong in their world.

But she held out her hand, reached out for Wendy’s face. Her long fingers brushed Wendy’s hair lightly and Seulgi felt the urgency to slap them away. Wendy just stared at her, awkwardly, shifted her position to avoid her touch.

“It’s been a long time,” she murmured. Her voice sounded so sad, heavy with longing and regret.

“Uh, I’m sorry but, who are you?”

Her soft hazel eyes suddenly turned hard, and the next moment she was laughing with a mocking tone.

“Of course you don’t know. You don’t know anything, don’t you? You don’t even know your name,” she spat out. “Ah! Wendy! Yes, you don’t know your name so you made it up, didn’t you? Sneaky little thing.” Her words were venomous, and this time Seulgi could no longer keep shut.

“Get lost.”

The girl glanced at Seulgi, her eyes studied carefully the hard lines on Seulgi’s face. Seulgi’s jaws shut tighter under her examining stare, her blood was boiling in her veins. This didn’t have any right to talk like that to Wendy. Seulgi’s admiration for her vanished in an instant.

“You get lost. I don’t have anything to do with you.”

Seulgi was angry. The girl said it without a trace of annoyance. Just a flat tone, like Seulgi was an insect, a mere dust particle floating around. She was about to explode when Wendy stood up pulled her on her feet.

“Let’s go, Seulgi. This girl is crazy.”

Seulgi heaved out a breath. She threw side-eye stare at the girl as they walked out from the bus stop. For short seconds, Seulgi could glimpse hurt and sadness slipped back to the girl’s eyes, her face softened.

“You are Four Two Eight. We call you Blue, but I prefer Corona after all.” The girl’s voice wasn’t loud, just enough to reach Seulgi’s ears. Enough to stop Wendy’s steps and turned her to a frozen statue.

I'll try to update regularly.