"Hyukjae, your shift is over in an hour." his female office co-worker said, poking her head into Eunhyuk's cubicle before quickly disappearing behind her brisk steps, making clacking noises down the hallway from her high heels.

Lee Hyukjae, a 25 year old administrative assistant has been hunkered down his stiff position all morning and all afternoon tapping the keyboard promptly with his fingertips. 

Working was what he did for a living.

Literally.

He was a centered workaholic and everyone around him quickly took to that fact after working just a few weeks with him. He didn't mind though, it was the only thing in his life he can do right now.

He finished college three years ago and every since then he has been living a life of anti-socialism. His friends branched out to every contry in the world imaginable so all that was left was him and his shadow. He didn't have room for girlfriends either due to the amount of time he spent inside this isolated building on the outskirts of Busan. Although he had gotten quite used to life this way, he couldn't help but feel lonesome sometimes due to the lack of contact with the outside world.

The past few years of his life had been, well...boring. Nothing happens to him anymore now that he has zero companionship.

Sure he had his parents but they lived way out of town and what difference did it make? His parents were his parents...they weren't friends or girlfriends.

His very existance had been dull for awhile too. He was a man of very few words and it took a lot of convincing to get him to say something.

He was afraid his life was wasting away slowly. After all, life was a gift, but why didn't he feel that way?

The answer was quite simple, due to his reserved nature it was hard to make friends being the way that he was.

Plus, living in a small town like this didn't help his social interaction skills as people were scattered throughout town occupying about 4-5 persons per mile. It wasn't easy living like this, but stepping out of his shell was difficult. 

He glanced at the window preceeding his desk, feeling the leftover rays of sunset fall over his face.

What a beautiful day, he thought wistfully.

Before he knew it, an hour had passed by just like the seconds of a stopwatch. It was time to go, time to complete the last step of the day by day routine.

He stood up abruptly and grabbed his suit case before striding out of the front door of the bank, coworkers unaware of his absence obviously by not greeting him goodbye. 

He strolled the streets of the familiar town, looking for the one mini restaurant where he silently eats his dinner every evening.

He took quick glances at the distant and rare passerby and noted all the different emotions; a little girl riding a bike with a huge smile on her face, a young couple holding onto each other as they walked the streets, a man under a stand of freshly picked oranges selling to a woman holding a baby carriage.

Then he imagined looking at himself, void of all emotions. It was a shame really, how he was always just content, never happy. 

He crossed the road that ran straight through the heart of town and found himself in front of his favorite Korean glass noodle hut. He loved the food here because of all the wonderful tastes and the reminiscent feeling it gave him; how friends used to invite him over to eat homemade chapchae with him, made by their own parents.

Plus, they served strawberry milk in this noodle hut, something he also loved very much.

He took a seat down his usual spot before the ajusshi that ran the place asked him, 

"The regular chapchae today with soy sauce on the side and strawberry milk?"

Eunhyuk nodded his head in response before watching the old man cook the noodles a few feet away from him.

In minutes, the meal was ready and placed in front of him. He humbly twirled his chopsticks around the noodles and propped them into his mouth, chewing and  enjoying every last bit. Sipping his strawberry milk, he continued eating quietly.

Shyly, he thanked the man that had served him and left the money on the counter before continuing the long walk back home to his townhouse where he can finally get some rest. 

Suddenly, as he was taking his first turn to go left near the busy intersection, something caught his eye that hadn't been there before.

A new store had opened up, selling strawberry milk and all sorts of other milk there is down from vanilla to avocado.

The sign posted above the door read 'Milk City Korea'.

Haltingly, he pushed open the door and bowed his head before being greeted by a noona at the front counter,

"Annyeong! We just opened up today a few hours ago, you're one of our first customers!"

"Kamsahaminda..."

Eunhyuk wound his way around the store awkwardly, feeling atypical that he was the only person shopping around for milk. Then again, this town wasn't very heavily populated, so it's pretty normal being the only one in a store sometimes.

Still, he felt like he was a social repellent to people everywhere. Usually when new stores open up they're supposed to be bustling with excited customers.

He ran his eyes up and down the glass fridges, trying to find that familiar pink tint of strawberry milk.

At the corner of the last row of milk, he finally found it.

He swooped up a one half gallon jug before placing it on the counter and purchasing it.

He could use half a gallon of strawberry milk inside the fridge instead of having to run to the convienience store now and again to buy single packaged boxed ones.

Plus, he thought it was a good idea to pick up some before work every week to save time walking home, therefore he could always have it around. Afterall, he ran through this drink pretty fast.

He thanked the noona behind the counter before exiting the door and walking down the commonplace path that led to his home, thinking about how his usual day went;

That was a good lunch... I wonder if I can buy from that miarket again and still make it to work on time, maybe.Anything to snap out of this boring everyday standardation. Stll, I just wish something would actually happen in this boring little town. 

He walked the sharp corner turning the street before raising his hand up to wave to the neighboring old woman that lived at the court. Eunhyuk enjoyed every one of his neighbors' company but couldn't help but sometimes feel a bit...lonely.

A friend was what he needed, someone he can actually rely on and talk to about stuff on his mind. Not that he had much on his mind anyway, but still, he would've given the world to just have someone to communicate with.

He turned another intersection of streets before finally reaching his townhouse on the right but quickly stopped in his tracks as he saw what had been reposing at his front door.

A man, not far from his age with bright chestnut hair had been collapsed on his welcome mat, lying on his side with eyes half open before slowly, his eyelids began to close.