Thursday, March thirteenth 1997.

'The first night we have to organize a sleepover, it's the tradition. We've done it since I entered college last year, we can’t just stop doing it now!’ Yoonji shouted through the phone speaker, leaving Yebin half deaf.

'Sure, sure, tomorrow we'll do a sleepover,' she mumbled. 'But remember that I am not on my spring break yet, so if you arrive before 3PM, I will be in college.'

'Don’t worry about that, my flight leaves at 5PM, and I read it lasts for four hours, but there are always delays of at least one hour. So I'll be there at about 10 or 11PM or so.'

'Thank god tomorrow is my day off. I'll put some post-it notes around the house to remind myself, now I have to hang up. Ddalgi is hungry and I’m out of cat food, plus, I have to buy my dinner.'

'Alright. I just want to arrive to Gwangju, I miss you!’ Yebin laughed.

'I miss you as well. Go to sleep now, or your head will hurt during the flight.'

'Okay, mom~‘ They both laughed softly at Yoonji's tone.

'See you tomorrow, Yoonji.'

'See you tomorrow, unnie.' As she said those words, the line went dead.

Yebin set the phone down on the kitchen counter, picked up her gray wool coat and left her house. An icy wind was waiting for her as soon as she left the gate to the block where her flat was. There had been a noticeable temperature drop comparing to earlier days, and she was careless enough to forget her coat when going to work, she had been lucky to not to catch a cold.

When she entered the store she noticed several things that were off. There was no background music, just the soft buzz of the machines and fluorescent tubes that were still on. Mrs. Go didn’t seem to be there either, in her place behind the counter was a man who was probably in his forties, reading a men's magazine. There also seemed to be more people in the store than usual.

'Good night.' The new employee's eyes moved slightly, but he returned them to his magazine, without answering. Yebin frowned. A little education wouldn’t go amiss.

She passed the usual shelves, picking up her cup of instant food and her Sprite bottle, without seeing anyone. And finally, before going to the cash register she grabbed a bag of cat food. There were several people before her, so she had to wait some more time, however, a few minutes later she was already being attended.

'It's 38000₩.' The man behind the counter said, sticking his sunken eyes on Yebin. She opened her purse, and she became nervous, she didn’t have enough money to pay for everything.

'I only have 30000₩. I'll come here tomorrow and I'll pay you, I promise.'

'You cannot do that, miss. We don’t sell on credit to anyone in this store.'

'But…' She tried to convince him only to be interrupted by another person.

‘I'll pay the rest.’ A deep voice snapped from behind her. Her eyes widened as he saw Kim Taehyung right behind her, his usual buy in his arms, and dressed in the same plain white t-shirt, black jeans, and gray knitted coat.

I thought it was pretty strange to not to see him around here this hour. And in the same clothes as me. However, she didn’t know whether to feel relieved or nervous.

'No, it's not necessary. I'll leave this.’ She pointed to her dinner.

'No, I'm serious; it’s only an 8000₩ difference. I will pay for you.'

'Are you going to decide or can the next client pass?' The employee interfered, annoyed.

'Let me pay, Han Yebin.' Taehyung smiled warmly.

'Okay...' She gave all the money to the cashier, who put her things in a plastic bag and didn’t even bother to thank her for her purchase at the store. She turned around and whispered a 'thank you' to the boy, doing a ninety degree bow and leaving the store quickly, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

But her shame didn’t last long when, in the midst of the sepulchral silence of the street, Yebin heard footsteps. Footsteps that came from behind her. When she reached the crosswalk, she turned her head slightly to see who it was.

Kim Taehyung. He was about three meters away. Her breath got caught in and sped  her pace considerably, but he headed in the same direction as her. Would it possible that he was following me after all? Seeing that as they approached the end of the street, where her apartment was, and the boy was still right behind her, Yebin began worrying and feeling fear. No, terror, this was just like the cases she saw in those American crime programs KBS TV broadcasted. And so far she hasn’t seen a case that had ended well for the poor victim.

She was too busy fearing the worst to notice that the gate of her building was less than ten meters away. She rushed even more to the door, and when she arrived there, she went from being completely terrified to being angry, really angry. Who does he think he is? She gripped the twenty-kilo bag of cat food tightly in her left hand in case she needed a weapon and turned abruptly to Taehyung's surprise.

'Stalker! What do you think you're doing!? Did you really think I wasn’t aware of your intentions!? Why do you act like you don’t notice we always wear the same clothes!? Stop following me and get out of here before I call the police!'

Taehyung frowned as a concern gesture rather than an angry one and approached to Yebin, who raised her left arm slightly, threatening to hit him in the head with the heavy bag of cat food. Nonetheless, seeing the boy's hand on her forehead left her somewhat puzzled, and she ended up dropping the bag.

‘Are you sick? Maybe you shouldn’t stay awake at this late hour.’ The hazel haired boy said, with his eyebrows arched. He brushed his hand away from her forehead.

'What are you talking about? I'm perfectly fine, now go away and stop stalking me or I'll call the police, I'm dead serious.'

'Maybe you should pay yourself a health check. Why would you call the police? I live in the block next door.'

'You're lying.'

'No I'm not. Look.’ He put his bag against his leg and reached into his pocket, several seconds later he pulled out a set of keys from which he chose one. He showed it to Yebin, and her eyes read the number 138 on the back of the key. She looked up to Taehyung, who was now pointing his hand at the gate of the entrance to the apartment block next to hers. Just above the gate was a golden sign that numbered '138'. 'You see? I have seen you near here more than once, and the other day I tried to tell you that I was your neighbor, but you were in such a hurry that you nearly left me with the words hanging in my mouth.’ Taehyung tilted his head, no trace of anger on his beautiful face.

Shame hit her in the face hard. He’s right; I couldn’t have been more stupid. Why would he follow me? Her face turned scarlet red, and she made the quickest of bows before picking up her bags, scattered on the floor before running into her apartment without even apologizing, leaving a confused Taehyung –who found the situation quite funny –in the middle of the sidewalk.