And here I am.

Nayeon stood right under the rusty signboard of the old coffee-shop. Nothing was inside, it was empty inside out, as if all the memories were wiped out from this place.

As if it never existed in this first place.

The books that burned bright disappeared, making the shop look even more dull against the ash grey building filled with nothing but emptiness. All the dust coated furniture had vanished, the bookshelf at the back the only last object that laid inside the now vacant shop.

The only thing that still holds memories from last month.

Her fingers grazed gently against the closed sign that hung loosely on its thread, signalizing that the shop that changed her life was not even there anymore.

That she wasn’t even there anymore.

It almost feels as if the newly emerged part of her died after seeing its creator leave too. Her new self that wasn’t coward-like, her new self that wasn’t going to pull others down, her new self that wasn’t going to listen. All of that just straight out of the window.

This just has to happen, doesn’t it?

Nayeon is furious. No scratch that, she’s absolutely fuming. Everything she thought would hold her up, the person who she thought would help her, just disappeared from her life as soon as they appeared.

Does the universe hate me that much?

All she wishes is for one more encounter with the stranger. A look, a breath, anything, just anything. She just wants to see her again. That’s all she wants.

After even a month, there wasn’t even a hint of her anywhere, no soft voices that spoke into her ears hypnotizing her, no hand that held her through her floods, nothing. Everyone she saw around her wasn’t the person she wanted the most.

Can’t I just even see her once?

She felt like crying. She felt like bursting into tears and just giving up, not only on her search but herself. Everything was just so unfair, just when she thought she was changing for the better, something always stops her.

There’s always something.

She dropped to her knees, one hand gripping onto the sign of the shops disappearance while the other was kept firmly on the wet bricks below her. Though the poor school girl felt like screaming her lungs out, she just couldn’t. No words dared to come out of , no tears ready to fall out of her eyes again. She wasn’t ready for this kind of pain.

No one would be.

Get over it Nayeon-ah. She won’t come back, she was probably a dream anyways.

Though she knew that she would never get over this, even if it was all just a illusion, she would keep telling herself. She would still continue to exist even though clearly the universe hates her this much.

She was too scared to even kill herself. Pathetic right?

No, no. Not again. I’m not going back there, I’ll never go back there.

She immediately lifted herself up, ignoring the light bruise that covered her left knee from thumping onto the wet bricks that layer below her. She shook her head violently, desperately in need to get her previous thoughts out of her head.

There was no way she was going back there. That hell hole.

Forget it. I’m going back home.

Her legs pressed against the low puddles that covered the red and black bricks, she shoe soaking the rainwater in the process.

The smell of rain always comforted Nayeon. In a weird, strange way, the rainfall always reminded her of herself. The way she always remained happy and collected when her friends were around, happily dancing around, bottling the feelings as her friends wished the best for her. The way she kept a smile plastered across her face when her brother woke up crying, when he would softly sob against the older girl’s chest, when he would plea for Nayeon’s parents to just get along at least once. Nayeon was always a bright smiling child is what teachers said, but what would she do alone?

She had a hiding spot, a small cave barely the size of a locker, hid in the corners of an abandoned park. To others, this was just another park that kids had hated, another that hadn’t made it onto the children’s heart. However, to the scared disruptive child she was, that place was basically her second home after her grandfather had left her.

After he left the world.

It would be the place she could release all her emotions, where she could finally reveal all her emotions, where she could finally be herself.

Nayeon smiled painfully.

Even though everything hates me, I manage to continue.

I always do.

The now happier Nayeon walked down the road, skipping occasionally to the beat that ran through her head to her veins. No matter how hard life was, she managed to make it out alive nevertheless.

She always had herself. And it would remain that way.

The dirt filled puddles continued to soak her grotty, unclean shoes. Yet all she did was look down and sadly smile. The soft wind blew against her hair, sending the midnight hair floating gently against the breeze.

These would be the days she loved.

The clouds covered the sky, grays and blues coating the scenery infront of her. The emptiness filling her dark, scared heart, the hum of the lights of a nearby shop filling her ears. Everything was just the way she wanted it.

Everything was just perfect.

Only if the stranger was here to make it better.

She shook her head once again. She would never meet her again, that was practically written out by the gods already. Even though that was engraved in her mind, the thought still lingered.

What if she does?

=========================================================

Wooo, another chapter!

I really don’t have much to say other than, thank you for reading my book! Seriously, it means so much to me. These few chapters will be about Nayeon’s past, then the action will start!

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