As long as I could remember, I’ve been called worthless, stupid, or a mistake; in another word, I am useless. My whole life was a big pile of garbage, and I felt miserable every day. Sometimes I would wonder how people can say those words to another person, but then I realized that this was my reality. A harsh reality that I wished I could escape from. My wish came true when I met him. The person who brought me out of my misery for a moment. The only person who loves me. The only person whom I’ve ever love.

                I was sitting on the park bench in the morning, contemplating about my life and feeling sorry for myself, when an old man came and set next to me. “The weather today is beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked me as he looked at the gray sky and smile. I looked up at the sky then looked at him. He could see that I thought he was crazy from the way I was looking at him. He smiled at me and said, “It’s not about the appearance. It’s about the feeling.”

                “I mean I guess,” I shrugged. There was a long paused between us.

                “What is your name?” the old man asked me. I was feeling a little annoyed because I wasn’t used to the feeling of having a conversation with someone without being criticized.

                However, I didn’t want to be rude to an old person so I answered him, “My name is Park Jiyeon.”

                “Wow, that is a very beautiful name,” he smiled.

                “Thank you.” I said to him, “You’re the first person to ever say that. ” Before I knew it, it was already two o’clock in the afternoon. I had been chatting with the old man for almost five hours but it only felt like it had been thirty minutes. It was the first time in my life that I enjoyed talking to someone. “Wow, it’s already two,” I said. “The time went by fast.”

                “Oh my, you’re right. I guess we lost track of time,” he said as he looked at his watch. “I had a good time talking to you, young lady.”

                “Me too,” I smiled.

                “Dad, there you are,” a voice said from behind me. I turned around to see who it was and saw a lady coming toward us. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you,” she said.

                “Why are you so worried? I’m just enjoying the beautiful day. It’s not like I’m doing something illegal,” the old man said as he smiled and nudge me. We laughed. The old man got up and walked slowly toward the lady. “See you again young lady,” he greeted me.

                The next day I went to the same place hoping to see the old man, but he didn’t come. I continued going, but I never saw him again. After a while, I stopped going and I went back to feeling a lone and miserable. “He was the first person that made me happy,” I thought to myself. I felt like a crazy person missing someone whom I barely knew and on top of that, he was really old. I decided that I was going to go one last time to see if he was there, but like usual, he wasn’t there.

                I sat on that same bench, looking at the sky and thinking about my life. This time, a young man came and sat next to me. I looked at him and he looked at me. “Can I help you?” he asked.

                “I should be the one asking that question.” I replied. “There’s a lot of other benches. Why don’t you go sit on the ones that are not taken?” He let out a small snicker. I was feeling completely annoyed with him.

                “I always see you sitting on this bench whenever I come here so I figured that this bench must be the best bench to sit on,” he said in a mocking tone. I let out a big sigh to show him that I was annoyed. He looked at me and laugh. “Am I making you mad?” he asked.

                “Yes. Yes, you are,” I replied in a frustrated tone.

                “You must be Park Jiyeon,” he said. “Nice to meet you,” he extended his arm for a handshake. I looked at him, shocked. He could see that I was shocked, so to make things worse, he leaned toward me and whispered, “I’m an undercover FBI, and I am here to warn you that you’re in danger.” I stared at him and he stared at me. The staring went on for a good thirty second until he started to laugh. I rolled my eyes and I was about to leave when he said, “I’m the grandson of Kim Jin Wook.”

                “Do I supposed to know who that is,” I asked sarcastically.

                “You should,” he replied. “He’s your sugar daddy after all.”

                “Excuse me?” I yelled.

                “I’m just messing with you,” he smiled. “I see you don’t even know his name. The old man that you were talking to a couple of weeks ago.” My eyes widen. I couldn’t believe how a rude and extremely odd person like him could be the grandson of the old man. “He passed away a few days after he met you. You know, he kept talking about. As if he just met his soulmate,” he winked. “This place was the last place he came before he passed so I come here from time to time. Every time I come here I see you sitting on that bench so I figured you must’ve been the girl that he was talking about.”

                “You know we were just friends,” I tried to explain even though the whole situation was ridiculous. “He was..”

Before I could finish my explanation, he cut me off saying, “I know. I’m kidding. I was just trying to make you feel uncomfortable. You were the first friend he had since my grandmother passed away. It’s good that he met you before he passed. He hadn’t been that happy for a while now.” Hearing that he passed away broke my heart. He was also the first friend I’d ever had. I find myself wanting to cry but I held back.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” was the only thing I could say to the young man.

“I’m sorry too,” he said. “You only knew him for a while but I can tell that he made a deep impression on you. In a way, you two are similar. Both broken in some way.” He saw right through me. Every words he said was right. The atmosphere started to get cold after he said that so he quickly tried to change the subject. “Anyways,” he continued, “I got to go. Got places to be, people to see, things to do..” he kept going on and on.

“Yeah I didn’t ask,” I said.

“I’m sorry,” he said as his face turned serious. “I just didn’t want to go because I don’t know when I will meet such a beautiful girl again.” He looked right into my eyes and I looked into his. I felt my heart dropped. As we were staring into one another’s soul he laughed. I knew it. He was messing with me. “I’m just kidding. I’ve seen a lot better,” he said as he looked at me from head to toe. At that moment, I wanted to scream. “Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Kang Joon. Seo Kang Joon,” he showed me a big smile.

“I didn’t ask,” I said in a monotonous tone and he smiled at me.