<1>

See you tomorrow.

He looks up to the ceiling, wondering what is going on. He did want to spend his time alone in here, he thought he would be alone so he cut off anyone’s plans and invitations to fly to Jeju. And what he just did is ridiculously opposite to what is supposed to be in his scenery. Jiyong also got confused at how she agreed to his invitation without hesitance, as if he was a life-saver who appeared out of no where when she was drowning in Atlantic. Jiyong never thought he would think about Atlantic, but for the first time he did, he supposes that today might be just an absurd day. Right, meeting someone like her in Jeju is odd enough, and what triggers him is that tomorrow he will have to hang around with her.

They’re never friends, he supposes. He thought he could get close to her (though he didn’t insist) through that TV show, but then he thought he didn’t because she didn’t let him though. And right now, they just texted each other as if they were close friends who happened to meet at one place and came up to a random plan of going out together.

For the first time, he wishes to go to bed early and he really does. The only thing he isn’t sure what causes him is that, if it is because of how he wanted it to be just a dream, or how he wished the next day will come faster.

<2>

She slowly wakes up by the chirping noises coming from her window. Jeju has a way to say good morning to her, and she likes it because it makes her feel like a princess. Too bad, a prince is too luxurious for her to get in this circumstance. Suddenly at the time that thinking is streaming over her mind, a text comes up and she almost drops her phone on her face, as if a prince really comes.

“Oh .”

She dashes as quick as possible to the bathroom because she doesn’t want to cause a scenery; she cannot make a guy, especially someone like him, to wait for a girl like her.

Sorry, sunbae. Can you give me 15 minutes? I overslept.

She texts in a hurry while trying to curling her messy short hair which is always ruined in the morning. This happens too often and she still doesn’t take a lesson; maybe this time she will really do, or else.

So in fifteen minutes, she’s still proud that she could choose a best outfit for today: a long jean romper with regular tee. She barely remembers how she ended up packing this because she realizes that it takes too much of place in her luggage, but it turns out to be a good combo for the weather. And when she sees him standing in front of a hotel, for the first time he looks like a regular man with basic T-shirt and a mask to cover his face. Wait, why does she now feel this thing a bit weird? She’s not supposed to go out with him, because they’re never friends. Yet, she suddenly nodded yesterday to go around with him. And now when it happens, she feels reluctant. Will she cause a mess just because she wasn’t in a right mind yesterday, and now she was thinking that if she should just turn him down and explore Jeju alone instead. Hasn’t been finishing her mind, he already has noticed her and starts to walk closer to her.

“I’m screwed.” Muttered her.

<3>

After thirty minutes of standing like two statues (and barely saying anything) with the excuses of him trying to find places on his phone, they eventually decides to have a walk in a forest to the east. She supposes that he knows this place, but actually he has heard people talking about how huge and high the trees are in that forest, but he never tries. When he scrolled over it, he unconsciously said the name; but surprisingly, she seemed interested to it. Suddenly, having her around becomes a motive pushing him to go for it, which he thinks that it’s odd.

“Why… are you here alone, sunbae?”

He moves his eyes a bit to her side, but not intending to look into her face; he supposes he could make an eye contact if he did.

“It’s resting time.”

They’re still walking on the road in a Saturday morning, and since it is so the street is probably empty. And when she walks, she tends to look down on her feet, counting the step that she takes. She always does that when she’s nervous (or uncomfortable, she supposes).

“Shouldn't you call me oppa?” Jiyong suddenly stops, putting his hands under his pockets.

Jieun stops too, probably is caused by surprise. She wonders if she really should.

“…A…ah… Should I?”

“No?” Jiyong bends his head again.

“Then… op…..oppa?” Jieun feels like her tongue being frozen, whether from embarrassment or uneasiness.

When he smiles, she tells herself to restrain from it. Because, she couldn’t understand why that smile somehow looked like a smile that hasn’t been formed for such a long time. Or, she might be wrong because she never really pays much attention to his smile.

She walks with her eyes looking straightforward to the road, so she doesn’t have to notice anything else on his face. She’s being cautious.

<4>

“Do you often travel alone like this?”

Jiyong turns his head this time to look at her at the other end, when they are sitting on a bench to observe the greenness of the view, and to inhale the fresh air that she yearns for. And, they look just like being on an blind date forced by the parents that he always sees on movies, for some reasons he starts to think of it and curses himself for making nonsense assumption.

“I do, sometimes. How about Jieun-ssi?”

“I…” Then suddenly she laughs. “I hate traveling alone.”

That makes him curious, but at the same time he assumes that he got it since last time when she was pissing off toward her best friend’s prank.

“Why?”

“Isn’t it… more lonely if you do so?”

Whenever he’s in Jeju, he prefers to be alone. He resents the fact that there’s anyone who shows up out of nowhere and bumps into him, because he has to end up inviting them for joining for being polite (That’s odd because he hate people who do that to him) and when they suddenly accept it, he knows he’s screwed for believing that people may have the ability to read his face. He’s not sure if this career has made him to be accustomed to solitude, or just because he’s still sustaining it right now. But then he realizes that maybe he really does prefer being isolated, especially in his favorite place.

But for the first time, when he looks at this girl, observing how small her shoulder is, how soft her figure is, how sad her eyes are, and how tiny she is right now in a mad world, a world that he has been ed up for many times he has stopped counting, he feels like he could share some of his loneliness to her.

“It is.” Said he, when she turns her head to the other side of the bench. “It really is.”