“Can I ask you something?
Anything.
Why is it every time we say goodnight, it feels like goodbye?”

― Lang Leav

 

Hi.

He was there again.

Never without fail, the hooded-figure would make his arrival to the mellow neighbourhood. It was like a routine of his: to cover himself in black and wait outside solemnly.

And so, he was there again.

Soojin saw him again: resting on the steps of the abandoned building opposite where she worked at. And he wore the same dark expression on his alluring face. Between his lips held a cigarette and he took long drags, languidly inhaling the bad.

Soojin would glance at him apprehensively, eyes flickering left and right. But in the short time their gazes locked, the world seemed to stop.

Time seemed to be infinite.

He had such magic on her, sending chills down her hollow bones. How lucid.

The world was a mess of black and white, meshed of vulnerability, broken glasses and torn hearts.

And in that split second when they locked their eyes, he let the ashy clouds of smoke escape from cracks between his chapped lips. He mouthed something without a change of expression.

Hi.



Through the tinted smoke, he observed her hide her feelings. She needed to stop being so tentative.

She always hid her feelings.

But it went the same for him too.  

“Do you know him?”

Soojin jolted up in surprise, caught off-guard by his sudden arrival. She rolled her eyes at her colleague (and friend) for giving her a fright.

Yet, she tried to remain indifferent, diverting her attention back to the stranger outside while searching for an answer in her mind.

The boy was still there. He hadn’t left yet.

Soojin couldn’t bear to look at him anymore. “No,” then she turned back to the latter.” Why?”

Why did it matter?

“I didn’t think you would,” a smirk tugged at her colleague’s lips.

From the corner of his eye, he took a second glance at the dishevelled boy and his attitude took for a change. He hissed hostility, “He’s no good and dangerous. And weird for always staring inside. You should stay away from gangsters like him.”

“Gangsters?” A scoff escaped from the edges of Soojin’s lips. She inclined her head at the latter, amused by the term he had used on the guy.

“He’s the leader of a gang who loiters around this area and the next street frequently. That’s a reason to stay away from him. He’s not safe, be careful. And it seems like he’s eyeing you.”

“Woohyun,” Soojin whispered softly, pivoted on her heels and furrowed her eyebrows. She couldn’t stand to be in that guy’s presence any longer. She could feel eyes on her skin, cold and hard, him sending daggers of threat.

“Yeah?”

“What’s his name?”

“L.Joe.”