I slumped myself on the cushioned seat inside the bus and I could feel my tensed muscles and sore back relaxed. Being the first to board the bus, I sat by the window at the very back of the bus, enjoying the evening view outside. At least, the evening view distracted my thoughts from the stressful works and assignments that I need to work on, and some other life problems that I wished would go away because they were slowly turning my life into a mess. I let out a heavy sigh, exhausted by the thoughts of it.

                Later the bus was slowly filled with people, but I didn’t give any attention until a man walked through the aisle and heading towards an empty seat next to me. The way he looked had gained attention from me. Despite his quite handsome face, he had his brows furrowed as if there were thousands of knots inside his skull that sickened him. His shoulders were hunched as if some weight was pressing on them, as his hands were holding some thin books. I stared at him when he sat beside me, and I could hear he heaved a sigh, a sort of exhausted one. For the first time I was intrigued by a stranger.

                I ran my gaze to his stuffs that he put on his laps, but he secured them with his hands so I could not see clearly on what those thin books were. Except from the handwritten Lee Howon of which I guess was his name. He gripped onto them so hard and from my observation I guessed he was just as stressed as I was. As the bus moved, he was restless. First he crossed his arms, then he loosened them and crossed his legs, but later he sat with his straightened legs as he rested his head to the back of the seat. He kept moving in his seat, and I was about to offer him some sweets to make him relax a bit  when the bus stopped and he suddenly stood up.

                A tad of regret hit me when I saw him rushed out of the bus, before I even got the chance to start a conversation with him. So, I stared at the strawberry sweets in my palms, blaming myself for being a little too late. But then, my eyes caught something that wasn’t belonged to me, on the floor of the bus. It was a dark brown book, and obviously was nobody’s since I was the only one at the back seats. I grabbed it, and flipped few of the pages. But after reading the first few lines on top of the book I stopped. Looking at the dates, the recorded weather, detailed descriptions of the days and some other writings, I concluded that it was a diary. And at the bottom of each page was a name. Lee Howon.

                I knew it’s wrong, it’s like a crime to read about someone’s private life. But my eyes weren’t obliging my mind as they skimmed down the page, and my hands were flipping to further pages. They were all filled with very poetic words but still describing his life. It’s interesting to know that a man does write a diary. Until certain words at the very last page widened my eyes.

                My life .

                Everything’s a mess.

                There should be an ending to all of this.

                The lake nearby the old all-boy school should be the perfect place.

                I silently cursed myself at how ignorant I was even after observing how suspicious his acts were before that. I looked around but the bus has left the previous stop long ago, and I’m already too far from where that Howon guy boarded off. However, I felt like I was given the responsibility to find him, so as fast as I could, I pressed the bell and got off the bus. It seemed funny that an already stressed-by-life girl was about to save another man in the same condition, but I paid no heed to such thoughts, as all I was thinking about was whether I can make it before this man do anything stupid. The surrounding got darker, everyone was walking so fast and it was quite crowded but I quickened my pace and thankfully I knew the one and only all-boy school with a lake behind it.

                The moment I arrived at the lake, as expected everything was black and dark. I squinted my eyes so hard, trying to catch a glimpse of figure as my heart prayed I do not accidentally see something in white or whatsoever. It didn’t take long before I saw someone, clearly him under the shady tree by the lake. As dramatic as it could be, I dashed towards him with all my might.

                “Stop there! Don’t be stupid, man!” I shouted, embarrassingly loud that my voice echoed but I did not regret it as he looked behind, sort of shocked by my presence.

                “W-what.. are you doing here?” He muttered, facing me who was already standing beside him. I snorted, ridiculed by his puzzled expression.

                “You.. are about to do something stupid, right?” I pointed my index finger at him as I sounded like a detective who caught the criminal red-handed. But, he questioningly tilted his head to the side.

                “Is listening to music here considered as something stupid?” He asked back, and when he raised the MP3 player for me to see, I was muted. But it did not last long before I ranted about the things he wrote on his diary, on how stressed he was back in the bus and at how the words had really led me to the idea of him going to end his life here because I understood him since I was dealing with some stressful stuff too. He then chuckled in amusement as he took his diary from my hands.

                “Know what? Yes, I’m indeed was stressed. But I came here to end it in a better way than how you had imagined. I mean, look around. And you’ll know how this ends my stressed thoughts.” He said, almost in a whisper and I wondered why, but when I looked around the answer me.

                It was dark earlier when I arrived, but as silence turned the surrounding into tranquillity, I could see a very beautiful scene. The lake was soon illuminated with little glowing lights in yellow, some were moving around slowly. It’s like a miracle that I found the darkness became brighter, serenely eased my mind as if all my burdening thoughts and problems had gone away.

                “Beautiful.” I murmured, mesmerized completely by the view.

                “Yeah. Fireflies illuminate the darkness. Showing that there are hopes instead of giving up. They are small, but when gathered, they wonderfully turned the darkness into something very amazing. They inspired me to move on and settle everything in a better way. You should too, miss..”

                “Jinhee.. and you’re Lee Howon, right?” I said. He looked at me, and I could see him smiling even though the only source of light was from those glowing fireflies.

                The moment he smiled at me, I already forgot how his stressed expression looked like. I beamed back at him, totally glad at how this unexpected encounter with him lead to the beginning of solution to my problems. The fireflies did their wonder to him, and somehow, to me too.