this is for b2utyfulbbc, she has been my friend the longest~ and i love her with all my heart <3 hopefully, this story will show it ><

(yes it is another yukwon story, belinda and b2utyful both like yukwon heehee~)

She zipped up her jacket as she stepped out of the locker room that the café had in the back. Kangbae had just finished her shift that day and was ready for some needed rest. It was about 9.30 when one of the workers stopped her.

“Kangbae-yah!” Jieun shouted, holding out a red envelope.

She looked over at her friend. “Yeah, eonni?”

“Someone left this for you.” Jieun explained as Kangbae examined the envelope. “I don’t know who he was.”

Her eyebrows rose in a questioning manner and she opened it up to see a white letter inside.

“Hello.” It read. “Don’t be scared, okay? Let’s play a game. Under the table in the corner, there’s an envelope. Open it up and do what it says. Don’t worry; it’s nothing creepy. Just have fun!”

Kangbae looked over to the table in the corner of the café. On it were two plates and one bubble tea. The thin plates held two large and crumbling cookies. The scene made her smile.

“Thanks, Sena-eonni.”

She gave Jieun a small grin and walked to the table and placed her hand under it. It felt like everyone was looking at her, doing an odd act of feeling under a table. But, it seemed fun and kind of scary. It was probably nothing, Kangbae told herself. Scary and intense stuff never happened to her. As her fingertips ran under the tabletop, she felt the edge of another envelope. She ripped off the envelope and peeled off the tape. Another letter and it read:

“Awesome! You’ve made it this far~ good job, good job. Now, there’s a bus pass inside this envelope, use it and take the 9:45 bus to the Han River. Oh yeah, and take some food if you want.”

Kangbae took out the blue bus pass with a pink heart sticker on it and smiled with amusement. It sounds like she was going on a hunt. Really all she was doing that day was staying home, she wanted to spend the day with Yukwon, but he was busy. Thinking about that again, made her sad; she was really looking forward to doing something with him.

She grabbed a cookie and said goodbye to all the employees at the store. Making her way to the bus stop across the street, Kangbae wondered what would happen that day. It was cute, really. She split the cookie in two and began to eat on the bus stop bench. Once the bus came, Kangbae gave the pass to the bus driver.

The older man scanned the pass and saw the sticker. “Ah, I see. You’re finally here.” He leaned over to his side and picked up a bag. “A young man left this for you. Can’t tell you, who though.” He added with a small chuckle.

“That’s okay.” The girl replied. “Thank you very much.”

“No problem.”

And with that, the bus driver closed the door and Kangbae went to her seat. She inspected the bag. It was a bright yellow bag with white tissues jutting out from the top. She shifted through the white tissue and saw a long black box. With excited hands, she took off the lid and saw a gold chain necklace wrapped around a treble clef. She picked up the glossy clef and stared at its simple beauty. Though she wanted to put it on, she kept it in its box and saw in the yellow bag another envelope.

She opened the envelope and read what it said,

“I can see you’re on the bus now? Keep up the good work, all right? Here’s some money, take a bike around to the park to a bench. You’ll know which one. Another envelope will be behind the bench. Good luck!”

Kangbae finished the cookie as she watched the view flying by the bus window. An ordinary Sunday certainly turned into an adventure that sounded very familiar to her. She thought about all the memories that had been brought to the surface because of the circumstances that Sunday. Soon the scenery out the window turned from her suburban neighborhood to the shimmering waters of the Han River.

When the bus finally stopped, Kangbae said her goodbye to the bus driver and looked for the bike rentals. It took her a while, considering she never really went to Han River, she did go once. Once she finally found it, she paid and began on her tour through the park. Every bench she passed, she thought perhaps that’s the one the mystery man was talking about.

Finally, though Kangbae drove by a bench with Christmas lights wrapped around it. It was the middle of summer. She swerved toward it and looked behind the bench. On the back of the bench, there was an envelope tapped onto it. She ripped it off and took out the letter.

“Yay! You found the right bench! Was it the Christmas lights? Here’s a gift for you! I hope you like it~ Take the bus pass and make another trip to Myeong-dong! Once you get there, go to the Productive Emotion store.”

Kangbae saw that in the envelope there was a flower clip inside. It was a yellow flower and at the sight of it Kangbae giggled at an unforgotten memory. She remembered what she had done that day and it sent shivers down her spine. She spun the pin around in her fingers before she placed it behind her ears. She envisioned a secret moment and went back to the bus stop to catch the first bus there. She couldn’t wait to see what awaited her at Myeong-dong.

“Good-bye, have a good day!” Kangbae said to the driver as she exited out of the bus.

The sun shone brightly in the cloudless sky down onto all the shops and stores in the district. She searched around the shops and saw many that caught her eyes; she remembered when her and Yukwon had their dates there. It was so kind of Yukwon to go to Myeong-dong with Kangbae, even though he never really wanted to go. She smiled once she saw the sign that said “Productive Emotion.”

Kangbae was greeted by the slow music that they played in the store, even though she was just outside in the busy and loud street, she was suddenly surrounded by a young man singing a ballad. Kangbae glanced at all the clothes, wondering what the man wanted her to do there.

“Hello.” A bright smile lit the face of the woman who welcomed her. “Are you looking for a present with an envelope?” She asked with an enthusiastic voice.

“Umm… Maybe? Probably.” Kangbae responded.

“C’mon with me then.” The employee said as she brought Kangbae to the door leading to the storage area. She reached over to a box and gave it to Kangbae. The box was a pale pink with a sky blue ribbon and a red envelope on top.

“Thank you.” Kangbae said as she looked over the small box. “Thank you so much.”

The giddy woman hummed pleasantly at Kangbae. “You’re welcome. If you excuse me, I have to get back to work.” She walked away from Kangbae leaving her with the present.

She took out the envelope and undid the ribbon. She opened the lid of the box and saw a thick, dark blue scarf folded inside. She grabbed the scarf and rubbed her thumb against its soft texture. He got one for her.

The young girl stared again at the present and took out the letter out of the envelope. “You wore the yellow flower pin, because I told the woman to look for that pin. So you like it? I thought you would. You’re almost done; I need you to take the first bus that comes to your bus stop and take it until the very last stop. I hope today was fun!”

Her adventure was coming to an end. It was kind of sad, but considering how fast the sun was coming toward the horizon, I guess it couldn’t have been helped. It had to end. She placed the yellow bag into the box and walked to the closets bus stop.

t was already getting very dark and she was finally back in her neighborhood. She remembered this stop. Once she got off, she turned around and saw “Le Souhait” across the street. From the wide windows, Kangbae saw that the open mic had started. She ran toward the café and opened the door. A young girl turned around and smiled at her.

“Hey, Kangbae-eonni.”

“Hey, Juni-yah~”

“You came just in time.” Juni said as she clapped for the performance that had just ended. “Yukwon was just about to get on stage.”

Kangbae giggled to herself. “Oh really? I didn’t know.”

Just as she said that, Yukwon walked on stage and searched Kangbae’s face in the dark crowd. And once he saw her, his face lit up and his girlfriend couldn’t help but laugh. She gave him a secret thumbs up; after that, Yukwon felt complete.

“Ah…” Yukwon spoke into the mic. “This song is a song my girlfriend made and it’s called ‘Without You.’ I hope you like it as much as I do.”

Shouts and claps of encouragement filled the café as Yukwon grabbed his guitar, sitting onto the dull red stool on stage. And when he started to sing, Kangbae felt like the luckiest girl in the world. Every word he said held a truth to it; she could hear the sincerity in his voice. She wrote it about him, and seeing him singing the same words, they felt the same. Without Yukwon, she felt like a forgotten doll that got tossed aside by other children. Without him, she could never function correctly. She never wanted Yukwon to leave her, because if he did, she would become undone. Every time, Yukwon looked up from the chords, he would just stare at Kangbae, no one else.

“Stay with me…because I can’t live without you.” Yukwon strummed the last chord and the audience burst with their claps.

Yukwon didn’t even give a moment of praise to himself and he just ran from the stage to Kangbae. She grabbed her boyfriend and wrapped her arms around him. Yukwon was the sweetest person in the world and she wanted to try to give him everything that he had done to her ever since they have met.

“Thank you, Yukwon.”

He chuckled in Kangbae’s ear and combed his hands through her thick black hair. “Thanks for being my girlfriend, Kangbae.”

The young girl shook her head as she cuddled into Yukwon’s neck. “So…all those things?”

“Yes…it was.”

Kangbae twirled her fingers around the golden necklace. “Our first date.”

“When you sang to me.” Yukwon added. He touched the yellow flower pin in her hair and smiled. “Our first kiss.”

“After you put the wild flower in my hair.” Kangbae replied with a wide smile. “And the scarf…”

“The first time we said we loved each other.” Yukwon looked his girlfriend in the eye and pressed his nose up to her’s. “Happy one year anniversary, Kangbae.”

“Happy one year anniversary, Yukwon.”

And they kissed.