~ The Third Movement ~
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Chapter Sixteen - Sonoro


I wasn’t sure how I actually managed to survive my terrifying exams at college – but I had the feeling that I did just well.
Of course it would be just a natural conclusion after practically sleeping with my books in bed for the past weeks but I was still worried about not doing well enough . In the end, it wasn’t as strict as expected.
The bracelet which Byunghee gave me two weeks ago was my good luck charm; constantly telling me that he will cheer for me in his thoughts.
I couldn’t help but touch the small white beads with my fingertip from time to time while taking the exam – somehow it really calmed me down and helped me to focus on the questions.
Every answer was somewhere stuck in my head – and with the help of the bracelet I felt like I’ve found the most of them.
Maybe it was childish to think that something like a good luck charm could help me to get through college – but it worked at least for today. To be honest, I felt much safer and more confident having this small weight around my wrist.
Byunghee was as usually busy with work and we didn’t see each other since the last time when he gave me this present. Probably it was even a good thing that I wasn’t able to see him before exams started – my head was already full enough of him.
It would be easy for me to fall into a daydream, thinking about his scent or his gentle, sweet words for me tho I actually couldn’t effort dwelling on daydreams back then.  This way I was able to work through my piles of books once again; repeating the subject matter endlessly in my head.
Sometimes he gave me a call to chitchat a bit – but I knew that it started to be really busy for him again.
It was my responsibility as his girlfriend to cheer for him, to laugh for him, to encourage him. So I didn’t tell him how much I was afraid of failing the exam to begin with. But as expected Byunghee already knew what I was thinking – and thus he told me that the bracelet shall remind me of how much he loved me.
As I wouldn’t know that already – but it still helped me a lot.
So in the end he was the one who helped me once again.
If I didn’t fail my exams then it was thanks to my boyfriend.



~*~


I had a really bad feeling when I entered the café in which I used to be a waitress for quite some time now.
Maybe I was just oversensitive after my exams or I started to develop some kind of unique, unexplainable and actually unnecessary abilities.
But the café hadn’t changed a bit – still the same bright yellow walls, still the same gloomy looking plants in one corner; and most importantly: the same angry looking chef who started to intensely stare at his employees as soon as they entered their workplace.
I sighed inwardly and closed the door behind me, before I walked into the staff’s room.
At least it wouldn’t be necessary to speak with him with all these customers around who were already sitting inside, deciding which cake they should order.
It neither was the best work nor the best payment I could receive – but I accepted it a long time ago.
I opened my handbag and grabbed my cell phone. As always I was checking if Byunghee had time to send me a message – but, mostly, this wasn’t the case.
No message of him again. Surprise.
I had to smile a bit and dropped my glance to my wrist, staring at the bracelet.
There was no need for him to message me anymore.
Before I could start drifting off into my thoughts I changed my clothes and put my handbag into the closet.
According to my experience it would get busier in one hour and I had to be prepared for everything.
I was already used to unfriendly customers, but keeping up a smiling façade while being scolded by some strangers wasn’t that easy. Even though I had my shy moments, I wasn’t that kind of person who kept their opinions for themselves.
So what’s wrong with a  small strawberry on a slice of cake?
What is so bad about a hot drink when it’s cold outside?
I was positive that it was just this area that had to endure this kind of complaints – it was a business district after all and the people were stressed because of their work.
But it still didn’t give them the right to be that unfriendly towards the waiter or to be like that at all in public.
At least it was never something crucial – and the café had a lot customers on a regular basis.

I avoided the gaze of my chef and directly started to do my usual work - greeting customers, getting food orders and cleaning up empty tables.
But somehow I started to feel worried – like there wasn’t something right.
Okay, if something wasn’t right then it was obviously my head.
There wasn’t anything to be worried about – my chef looked satisfied, the customers enjoyed themselves, the other waiters were working hard and my boyfriend was sitting calmly at one table in the corner.
I slightly sighed and started to clean the next table nearby when I realized what was wrong in this picture.
This had to be a joke – or some kind of hallucination.
I had to assure myself that there wasn’t anyone here who wasn’t supposed to be here to begin with.
But it wasn’t a hallucination.
Byunghee was really sitting at one table – and he wasn’t alone.
Damn it.
I could feel the growing happiness inside me to see him again after two weeks, but at the same time I was ashamed and somehow angry.
He could have told me before that he wanted to visit me at work – at least I would be properly prepared then.
I had to take a second look.
Even though he came to visit me he didn’t seem like he would watching me right now.
To be precise, he was busy with smiling, laughing and talking to the other customer who was sitting at the opposite side of the table.
I inconspicuously tried to move to the next table so that I would be able to see who that other person was.
No, I definitely wasn’t jealous.
I mean – it was only my boyfriend who didn’t notice me but rather talked in a carefree manner to someone else.
Of course it was a lie.
I wanted to pinch my own cheeks for that, trying to remind me that I had a lot of work to do and I shouldn’t bother Byunghee right now when he obviously had some kind of free time.
But I was still curious, because the other person was half behind a wall, blocking the view of his face.
Maybe he wasn’t here to see me after all.
At this moment I wasn’t even sure if I had told him where I was working exactly.

Byunghee was turning his head, obviously looking for a waiter and I instantly moved forward his table before someone else did it.
At first he didn’t see me – but then his lips formed a bright smile, as soon as he realized that it was really me who was coming closer to his table.
I smiled a bit, a typical reaction to his perfect, adorable smile.
“Sangmi”, he said with a gentle voice and I could see that the other customer was leaning forward to look at my face.
I knew that person.
He had a similar sense for clothes in public like Byunghee – he was wearing sunglasses, a blue cap and decent clothes. And I saw him before.
“She’s prettier than I remember her”, he said with a overly exciting voice, with a big smile around his lips.
“I told you she’s pretty”, Byunghee said and he seemed rather proud about it.
I had to blush a bit because I realized that it was the first time when Byunghee actually considered me as ‘pretty’.
“What are you doing here?”, I asked him and he just innocently nodded to the other customer while a grin appeared on his lips.
“He was curious about you.”

“Hi, I’m Bang Cheolyong.”
His smile was even wider than Byunghee’s and as I thought he was the same person who I saw with Byunghee three months ago.
This made me kind of embarrassed, thinking about the circumstances of our first meeting.
“Don’t worry – I told him a lot about you”, Byunghee said as if he was able to read my mind.
“He can’t stop talking about you the whole day – he’s really getting on our nerves”, Cheolyong added and his smile got even wider, which really wasn’t physically possible.
Byunghee seemed to be embarrassed about it, trying to cover it with a small laugh – but I thought it was really cute of him.
“So what has he told you?”, I asked his friend with a lightly smile, ignoring for a moment that I should do my work instead.
“That you’re the best girlfriend in the entire world. And that he’s madly in love with you and that he wants to…”
“Stop it already”, Byunghee interrupted him with a shy laugh. “This is embarrassing.”
He tried to punch him over the table, but Cheolyong just laughed and dodged his playful fist.
Seeing him acting with his friend like that made me feel really relieved.
It was obvious that they both were good friends and it was good to know that someone could be beside him when I couldn’t.
I had to chuckle a bit and looked happily at their now confused faces.
“Your friendship is really strong, isn’t it?”, I asked and smiled at them.
They both remembered me somehow at me and Jinhee – because we were acting the same way when we’re together.
“Of course it is. It’s like that with everyone ”, Byunghee replied and his hand reached for my own.
My fingers touched his own, before he wrapped my small hand in his – for the first time in two weeks.
I felt that my heart started beating loudly again, a typical reaction to his touches.
He gently over the back of my hand, staring at me from behind his sunglasses.
It was the same as always – we didn’t need words to confirm our feelings for each other.
“I’m getting really jealous”, Cheolyong said with excitement and moved a bit on his seat. “Hyung, please find me a good girlfriend too.”
Both Byunghee and I started to laugh – but at the same time it seemed like both of us were a bit more shy than usual.

“Someone is angrily staring at your back, Sangmi. He’s sending out some dark aura, if you ask me”, Byunghee abruptly said, but without letting my hand go.
I sighed and didn’t even want to turn my head to confirm my assumption.
“What does he looks like?”, I asked.
“He wears a blue apron, has a small beard and short brown hair.”
“Nice, that’s my boss who is probably thinking about shorting my allowance – and he’s probably thinking about kicking you both out.”
I forced myself to smile a bit, while the young men were laughing – but it wasn’t a joke. I was dead serious.
“Then you should get to work”, Byunghee said now with a more worried face expression. “We didn’t mean to give you trouble.”
“I know”, I simply replied and shrugged. “But he’s the devil in person, if you know what I mean.”
“I know someone else who is being a devil in person”, Cheolyong added and he grinned at Byunghee like they would share some kind of insider joke I wouldn’t be able to understand.
“Anyway, do you want to order something?”, I asked them in order not to geo empty handed to my boss.
“Any cake is fine”, Byunghee said and watched his friend carefully.
“Alright.”
“Strawberry cake. But I would suggest that you don’t give your boyfriend something with a lot calories. He got chubbier you know”, Cheolyong added and had to laugh again.
“What’s that supposed to mean”, Byunghee instantly asked him, starting a discussion in which I didn’t want to interfere.
They seemed so close, that I just didn’t feel like that would be necessary.