CHAPTER II / Discovery

Again, the woman was puzzled on what the man answered. They kept walking forward as they looked down to see the rain dropping on the asphalt floor and partly on their shoes. After a few steps, they both arrived at the bus stop.

“Where are you going now?” the woman asked as she looked at the man on her right.

“Wherever the wind takes me,” he joked as he closed the blue umbrella and smiled at her.

“His smile’s quite cute,” she thought. She shook her head as she tried to remove the man’s smile off her mind. Slowly, the bus arrived at the bus stop and its doors opened. The other people waiting a while ago quickly went inside as the rain started to get heavier.

“Bye,” he muttered as he raised his hand. The woman smiled as she turned her back on him and walked towards the bus. “Wait!” he said loudly as he chased her.

“Mm?” she asked calmly as she turned around.

“Your umbrella,” he said as he handed out her umbrella.

She looked at it and glanced at him. “You keep it,” she said as she smiled. “I still have my books to cover my head.” She chuckled and said, “Ahnyeong.”

“May I know your name?” he asked as he unintentionally held her wrist to stop her.

“It’s Jinri,” she said.

“Thank you, Jinri,” he said as he bowed several times. This made Jinri laugh sweetly as she covered .

“Ne,” she said with a smile on her face. “I’ll get going now.” The man nodded and she ran inside the bus while the books are on top of her head. She sat at the nearest free seat and looked at the window where drops of rain stayed.

The man waved his hand as he grinned. Jinri waved her hand back and the bus started moving. Jinri didn’t know why she did it to a complete stranger. Her morals told her not to, but a great part of her told her to. Inside of her, she felt that she knew him before. She felt that she could trust him.

The man’s smile won’t wear off even if the bus was already miles away from him. He stood at the bus stop while holding the blue umbrella Jinri gave him. “Jinri…” he muttered as he let out an innocent smile.

Eventually, the rain stopped and the sun appeared again. The man sighed as he thought of who he was before. He was totally clueless, frustrated and sad at the same time. The only thing that kept him from being insane was hope—the hope in his heart that someday he’ll rediscover himself.

~

The busy people hurrying to catch the next train at the subway station woke him up. Throughout the night, he was embracing the blue umbrella that Jinri gave her. He slowly opened his eyes as he rose from the cold tiles and rubbed his eyes. He looked around and noticed that the beggars he was with last night were all gone. A few coins were dropped in front of him. It made him smile as he grabbed them and put it in his pocket. He stood as he gripped Jinri’s umbrella on his right hand. Afterwards, he took the stairs as he welcomed the bright yet void day ahead of him.

~

“And that ends our discussion for art history today. It’s exactly 4PM and you’re all dismissed. Be sure to attend your study hall session later,” Jinri advised to her last class for the day. She started to erase her writings on the blackboard as the students packed their bags up and left the classroom.

“Thank you, Ms. Jinri!” some of her students said.

“Ne. See you tomorrow,” she replied as she continued erasing the writings.

In the school, students believe that Jinri is the frendliest teacher they’ve ever encountered. Despite being conservative, she has managed her students to feel comfortable around her. She sometimes goes outside of the faculty’s pantry during lunch and hangs out with her students to talk to them about the most random things in life. Contrary to what the other teachers said, she earned the students’ utmost respect during her classes.

After she completely erased her writings, she faced her table and arranged her things. But she stopped as she noticed that a student was still on his seat, staring at her. “Taemin, is there something wrong?” she asked.

He wasn’t replying and continued staring at her, looking like he has thoughts in mind that he wanted to share but couldn’t.

“Taemin?” she said.

“Noona…” he said as he got off his seat and walked towards her.

Jinri sighed as she continued arranging her things and put them inside her bag. “Taemin, you know that I don’t—”

“But Mom and Dad are worrying about you. They said that what you’re doing is a complete nonsense,” Taemin said.

“Taemin… please…” she said as she tried to control herself. “Though I respect Mom and Dad, I have my freedom now. I have the right to decide for myself now.”

“But, noona—”

“Taemin… me, Mom, and Dad have already talked about this before, and they agreed to it,” she said. “Go home now and study. Mom and Dad will worry more if you don’t come home early.”

Taemin sighed as he slowly walked towards the door. “As if they’re there always,” he muttered to himself.

Sulli went out of the school minutes after she organized her things. As she was walking along the sidewalk while looking at her feet, she remembered the man he met yesterday. “Where could he be now?” she thought.

As she looked forward, she was surprised to see the man he was thinking of earlier on the other side of the road. He was still wearing the same outfit from yesterday. His hair has gotten messier and his face had smudges of dirt near his cheek. He was still holding the blue umbrella. These observations left a smile on Jinri’s face.

The cars stopped and the pedestrians started to walk to the other side, but Jinri stood still as she looked at the man. The man took a glance around and he was taken aback when he saw Jinri on the other side. He grinned and ran towards her. “Jinri-yah! Jinri-yah!” he shouted as he neared her.

Jinri grinned as well and waved her hand at him. The man stopped and held both of Jinri’s wrists and looked at her like he was a lost kid.

“Jinri-yah…” he said.

“W-Why are you crying?” she asked.

“I-I-I don’t know what to do… I was looking around and… there’s nothing…” he vaguely said as he fidgeted.

“What ‘nothing’?” she asked.

“I-I-I couldn’t remember a single thing,” he said despondently.

And it all made sense to Jinri. The weird questions he was asking to her yesterday all made sense, after all. “Y-Y-You lost your memory…?”

“I don’t know… Yes, probably,” he said.

Jinri looked down as she thought of what to do. She knew that he was lost and doesn’t know anything about himself at all. Leaving him alone in Gwangju would do him nothing but a dark future, and she doesn’t want that. As a teacher, she believes that she’ll do anything she can just to give her student the future he deserves. And same goes for the man in front of him.

She held the man’s wrists and looked at him in the eyes. “Don’t worry… I’m here to help you regain your memory.”

~

FROM: MAXSTEPP

Hello! Sorry if it took me some time before I could update again! :(

So, there's chapter two! :) I hope you guys somehow liked it! I'm sorry if there wasn't enough MinSul moments, but it will have more on the following chapters, I promise! Haha.

Now, do you have any wild guesses on what happened to Minho before? Or on what was Sulli''s relationship with Minho before? ;)

Thank you for the subscriptions, comments and upvotes! :D Please do comment! It makes me more motivated and happy for every day I see a notification here. Haha.

My next update, if not on Sunday, would be on Wednesday. :)

'Til the next update. :)