She sat at the ledge of the rooftop, wrapping her own knees as the cold wind teasingly blew, tickling her pale skin. She would slightly shiver and her palm along her thin frame, in hoping that the friction would at least give her the little warmth that she longed for. Her wet eyes glistened under the moonlight. She would wipe her trail of tears with the back of her palm, but then new trails would fall again. It was almost useless. How amazing her tears would not stop falling. She had been sitting there for hours with her white headphone. A sorrowful piano piece kept on looping on her music player. She put it on hold. She just wanted to listen to the piece. She tortured herself that way so she would move on the next day and forget about yesterday.

Day one.

It was her first day moving into the building. Her parents were barely home, so she had no one to talk to. She had always been a talkative girl. Being alone in her new apartment, she felt weird and somehow empty. She started to stroll around the eight storey building. Nobody was around, and within two hours, she memorized all the family names of her same floor neighbors. There was a Kim, a Choi, a Lee, a Kwak, and another Kim. She was on the fourth floor and she decided to explore the next floor. She found another Choi family up stair, and she also found a Kwon. She found it amusing how her new apartment building would be so quiet. So she put on the headphone that had been dangling around her neck and pressed on the play button on her iPod. Kara’s Mister was blasting. In the middle of the eighth floor hallway, she danced the infamous dance. She was feeling it, till a middle aged man walked passed her, looking at her with a pair of puzzled eyes. She bowed with a sheepish grin on her face. Then she ran to the stairs, with her face flushed in red. It was embarrassing.

When she was at the stairs, she giggled by herself. How silly of her. She was about to take the stair to go to the fourth floor again when she found the stair would lead her to another floor. She was on the top already, so she figured, it might bring her to the rooftop. Excitedly, she ran up the stairs unrelentingly.

When she reached the top, she pushed the door anxiously. She had always loved the rooftop view. At her last place, she had a balcony outside her room. Most of the time, she would be there. But it was just on the second floor, nothing much she could see. She managed to calm herself while enjoying the wind though. Upon stepping out from the door frame, she found a whole new refreshing view paved before her. She could clearly see the bright sky above her and the view of the city, it was breathtaking. She ran to the ledge and spread her arms widely as if she was flying. She had always wanted to do that. The calm breeze enveloping her body, it was astonishing. She couldn’t help but to giggle with the giddy feelings that triggered her pure heart.

A few hours later, it was already dark. Her parents had gone to bed, probably exhausted after a busy first day of work at a new place. That was the main reason why they moved anyway. Her parents worked at the same place and both of them got promoted and moved to the same place. She ended up being lonely though. She just finished her SAT and she was still waiting for call for college. It had been a month, but she got none. At least back home she got a few friends. She decided to sprawl herself on the rooftop again, her new favorite place.

She closed her eyes, listening to her iPod again. She was listening to a piano piece, a sorrowful piano piece. One of her favorite piece. Her body swayed on its own accord, following the beat. She had a smile on her face. It was past midnight but she was enjoying her time alone.

She was so deep in her own world when she felt her headphone was being tugged and eventually it slid off her head. Her eyes searched for the culprit and it landed on the tall guy beside her. She was mesmerized in his beauty. How his blonde hair danced with the wind, and how he looked at her with such beautiful eyes. He was holding her headphone, but somehow she could hear the music surrounding her. For the first time in her twenty years old life, she felt the world moved slower. As if it was on slow motion, she could feel her stomach churning in a weird way.

“Hello?” The tall guy called for the nth time. Finally, she snapped out of her trance and came back down to earth.

“Sorry” She muttered.

“What for?” He chuckled lowly before putting her headphone back on her head. Involuntarily, he sat down beside her on the hard floor. There was no bench or chair around, so the floor was what they had.

“For… urm..” She couldn’t find any answer, so she decided to keep it to herself.

“It’s late, and cold. What are you doing here alone? I thought you were a ghost for one second” He smiled, but not at her. He wasted his beautiful smile on the open space in front of them. She looked down at her white sleeping gown and bit her lips. Of course, anybody would think she was a ghost. When she didn’t answer, he asked again. “I never saw you before?”

“We… we just moved in…. To..erm.. Today” Her low self esteem was not in much of help that night. She heard his low chuckle. She watched him with her soft gaze. Never once in her life she came across such a beautiful creature.

“I’m Himchan, Kim Himchan. My unit is on the eighth floor” He introduced himself. “I live alone, so this rooftop is practically my second house” He let out another round of chuckle. She didn’t know what was funny, but she found him cute for always chuckling. When he stopped talking and his gaze was fixed on her, she knew it was her cue to introduce herself.

Day eight.

Once again, she waited on the rooftop after her parents had gone to sleep. For the past week, she had been spending her sleepless night with her new found friend, Himchan. Every day she would woke up counting hours, wondering when would the night time fall so she could meet him again. She didn’t know what kind of feeling was it, but she liked it. With Himchan’s presence, she loved it. He always knew how to put a smile on his face. He always knew what to talk about. They shared a never ending fairy tale together and what she liked the most was his smile. She still couldn’t get over it.

She wrapped her body and turned herself into a human ball. She killed her time by humming to herself while listening to songs on her iPod, again. When she felt a company beside her, she opened her eyes. She was greeted by his face.

“You’re late” She complained. A smile crept on her face.

“No, you’re early” He replied. The same smile was on his face, but she noticed something was wrong with his face.

Right then, she spotted the bruise and a few cuts on his lips and his nose bridge. She frowned before finding her hand touching the bruise, he winced under her touch.

“What happened?” She asked.

“I fell” A stupid lie, but she was innocent enough to believe.

“Wait here, I’ll go get first aid kit” She passed him her headphone and iPod before charging towards her floor.

She came up later with a soaked towel and the first aid kit in her hands. She smiled and took a sit on her original spot, beside Himchan. He was enjoying the music on her iPod, so he pulled down the headphone and placed it on the concreted ground.

She touched his chin, slightly tilting his face around to inspect on his bruises and cuts. Softly, she took the wet cloth and dashed it on his bruised and cuts. He yelped on her first touch before he later got used to it. She carefully spread the iodine across his cuts which earned another round of wincing and hissing from him. Carefully, she placed the cartoon plaster on top of his cuts. She giggled upon seeing him that way.

Day twelve.

After dinner, she ran to the rooftop with stream of tears running down her face. It was still early, but the rooftop was the only place she could escape. Fortunately, the familiar figure was sitting near the ledge when she thought he wouldn’t. Upon hearing the loud bang from the door, he spun around only to be greeted by the crying friend of his. She stood there in front of the door, frozen in her state. She didn’t really want him to see her in that state. At the lowest point of her life. She didn’t want him to see that.

He stood up, facing her now. Without a word said, he opened his arm, inviting her into his arm. Her trembling lips let out a small mourn before she ran towards him, eventually throwing herself into his arms. Inevitably, his arms coiled around her waist as she threw her arms around his neck. With his height, she had no choice but to stand on the tip of her toe. Her tears fell like bullets down her face. She sobbed in his hold. He didn’t say anything, but his on her back was enough to calm her down. When she finally stopped crying, he pulled her to sit down. She was still having hard time breathing from the hiccupping, the aftermath of hard crying.  He handed her his napkin. She took it, wiping her tears and her runny nose. He didn’t mind, at least she had stopped. Somehow, it broke his heart seeing her that way. There was a dark spot on his gray shirt. It was drenched in her tears a while ago. He ignored it although it was one of his favorite shirts.

“You’re eyes going to explode if you kept on crying” He said. She giggled by his words. His lips tugged into a smile. That sweet sound of giggles again.

She finally told him the reason of her tears fell just now. With her head rested on his shoulder, she began to tell him how her parents had fought and they were advocating a divorce. She was used to their bickering, but that night was not the same. It seemed like they were serious about splitting up.

“You can live with me if they decided to do so?” He joked. She looked at him with a pout on her face. “I’m just saying” He chuckled. That earned him a light punch from her. “At least your parents are still alive” He uttered. That drew her attention.

He then began to tell her his history. It pained her heart to hear how agonizing his life was. His parents left him alone in this huge world at the age of 15 and he had been living on his own. He said he was used to being lonely. With that, she placed her hand on his cheek, caressing it softly.

“You don’t have to be alone anymore” She smiled.