For a few days, Jiyong did nothing to Yuri’s number. The only thing he did was saved her number under the name “Girl” and leaves it at that. He is exhausted for the day and he didn’t think he would be seeing Yuri any sooner. He drops himself on his bed. Before five seconds pass, soft snores could be heard.

Not long after (or it seems like it to him), Soohyuk shouts.

“Jiyong- ah! Your mom!” Surprised by the sudden 4 octave in his eardrums, it is impossible to not wake up.  Refusing to open his eyes, he shuffles his fringe, mumbling how loud Soohyuk is.  He twists open his door knob and heads to the living room. “Your mom.” Soohyuk repeats while he tilts his head to the mobile phone on the dining table while he nibbles on some fast food in front of the tv, watching some stupid reality show. Jiyong mutters a curse. “You can’t be any louder, huh?” Soohyuk shrugs, insincere apology follows after. “That’s what friends are for.”

Friends, my arse.

“Hello?”

“Oh, Jiyong!” His mum happily greets.

“Hi mum. How are you?” Jiyong parades to the couch and sits beside Soohyuk. Ah, this kid is watching Monumental Mysteries.

“I’m fine, thank you. And how about you?” His mum chirps. His family is all about decency and politeness.

“Life’s doing great, really. Only my boss is rushing for us to finish our old docs so we can start up a new term.” He steals one of Soohyuk’s potato chips before Soohyuk smacks his pretty hands. “Ouch!” cries Jiyong. “.” Soohyuk scoffs.

“What was that?” His mom asks, distracted by the noise at the background.

“Soohyuk was what happened. Oh, and don’t mind asking about him. He’s still a douche.” Jiyong sticks out his tongue. Soohyuk snatches Jiyong’s mobile phone and yelps, “Mum, look at Jiyong! He bullies me!”  Soohyuk’s left hand trying to distant Jiyong from the mobile phone. Being housemates for quite sometime, their family visited their treasured single sons every other times and both of them are comfortable enough to consider the other's family as theirs. 

“Mum, don’t listen to him!” “Lalalalala..” Soohyuk singsongs as Jiyong’s voice drowns. Jiyong hits Soohyuk with the nearest magazine he could grab on the head. “Ouch! Okay, okay!’ His left palms soothing his cranium while he surrenders Jiyong the phone. “Dang, you hit hard.” Jiyong rolls his eyes.

“Hello? Mum, are you still there?” His mother bursts into laughter.

“Ji- ah, don’t fight with Soohyuk. He’s still like a child. He’s mentally a five years old.” She manages to advice amidst her chuckles.

“I did not get paid to babysit him.” Soohyuk balls up a fist and jokingly displays it to Jiyong’s sight. Jiyong pretends he didn’t see it. “Oh yeah mum, how’s Junghye?” He mentions the dear sister.

“She’s fine. Do you want to talk to her?”

Jiyong glances at the round clock on their empty white walls. It's late already. “Nah. I think I’ll pass. I’m sure she’s fatigue of the school works and stuffs and all. I’ll let her rest.”

“You too okay? Take good care of yourself okay? Drink enough water. Sleep 8 hours and remember to not skip your meals.” His mom reminds him.

“Okay. You too, mum.”

“I will.“ She hangs up without saying goodbye. It must’ve been a custom or something as he never listens to his mum saying farewell after a phone call. She must’ve loathed the idea of parting with people.

And days went by as normal (boring) as Jiyong’s typical day. Wake up sleep deprived, eat cold cereal because Soohyuk forgot to warm the milk, fake a smile as he bows his office mates ‘hello’, finishes docs for the day, eat lunch, continue finishing up docs, go home, skip dinner, sleep and repeat.

For a few days, nothing was special. No fascinating boards, no interesting girl.

Nothing.

Passing by the same place where Yuri sat every day on his way home, he secretly looked forward to meeting the young girl again. With no luck, the girl was nowhere to be seen.

Ah, he is an airhead! He could have just call her and suggests for them to meet up.

But he don’t know what to say or what to text. He is too shy to ask for the girl’s whereabouts. Is she gone yet? Where is she now? Tibet? Russia? Kazakhstan? Or has she arrived in stunning Maldives?

Oh, what the hell. It’s not like I have anything to lose.

 

“To: Girl

Hello. I don’t know if you remember me or not, but I’m Jiyong Kwon? The horrid looking guy. We talked last week in front of a closed shop.

“

 

Laying on his bed, he rests his right calves on his left knees and shakes it nervously as he waits for her reply. His phone vibrates soon after.

 

“From: Girl

I talked to many “horrid looking guys” but yeah I remember you, Mr. Damn, it took you too long to text me huh?

“

 

He is surprised by the last sentence. Man, this girl has some foul mouth.

 

“To: Girl

Oi, watch your words, girl. Don’t your parents teach you some manners?

“

“From: Girl

They did but who cares? :>

“

 

Jiyong scoffs. This girl need some straighten up to begin with.

 

“To: Girl

Oh yeah, I was wondering, where are you? Not Seoul?

“

 

“From: Girl

Still in miserable Seoul. I’m doing some projects.

“

 

Jiyong furrows his brow. There are other projects than being a traveler?

 

“To: Girl

What project? Is it fun? Can I joiiiiiiiiiiiiiin??? ;);)

“

 

He adds on winky emoticons to break the ice.

“From: Girl

Secret. Yep it’s fun. No, you can’t join (mommy said not to trust strangers with pedo emoticons lolololol)

“

 

He snickers. Pedo emoticons? Are you kidding me?

 

“To: Girl

You’re not even cute enough for me to be pedo with LMAO

“

 

“From: Girl

This number is out of range. Try again, letter.

“

 

Jiyong cracks up.

 

“To: Girl

You misspelled ‘later’, idiot girl.

“

 

“From: Girl

Psh whatever.

Oh, and if you still want to join my FUN project, be at the Burger King- Metro intersection tomorrow. I’ll be there the whole day. Come!

“

 

And he leaves the conversation hanging like that. It’s good enough to know where she’s at. He didn’t decide yet to whether go and stop at her place.

 

That night, he sleeps with a clear head.

 

Waking up that morning, he repeats his daily routine. It wasn’t until lunch hour when it is brought to his mind about the girl. Should I go see her after work? He sips his coffee and types away his uncompleted reports.

Later after his work ends, he clears up his cubicle, and collects some paper work he needs to check at home and crams it into his suitcase. Haih, his suitcase needs to be sorted out too, he sighs. I’ll do it later.

As he paces home, he remembered to stop by the Burger King- Metro junction. Though it was the long way to reach his apartment, he wishes it will worth the journey.

Nearing the junction, he cranes his neck to look for the girl. Not having to walk far, he recognizes the girl sitting yet again on the floor with her face partially covered by the book in her hands. He spots a basket full of novels and books next to her. Aish, what is this girl up to this time. Curious, he advances forward.

“Hey girl.” Yuri looks up. “Hello Mr.! Thought you’d never come!” Ecstatic could be heard in her slightly low voice.

“I just finished working.” He fakes a cold greet.

“Oh, I’m sorry that you wanted to be here. Totally my fault.”  She jeers as she gets back at Jiyong's cruel prank. He teehees.

“What are you up to this time?” Yuri pulls his hand to let him sit beside her on a red piece of cloth. “No, I don’t want to sit with you, girl.”

“Oh, c’mon, sooner or later you’re gonna have to sit. You’re worn out, having to just came back from office.” The girl insists. The girl got a point. He raises white flag as he bends down when Yuri scoots over.  A silent ‘yay’ can be heard from the girl.

“So, what’s with the books?” Jiyong hugs his knees closer to his chest. He looks into the basket and flips some random novels and books. He was never a reader -he was more of a movie guy. Nevertheless, he still enjoys light magazine and self motivation books. There are wide known genres in her basket. Comical, romance, sci-fi, fantasy, non- fiction books and some other he doesn’t bother to look. Jiyong settles with a random book. “Kill You Last by Todd Strasser”

Talk about spooky.

“Don’t you read this?” The girl takes out her board and displays it to Jiyong with a ‘duh’ look on her face. I didn’t notice it just now, though?

“Pick a book and I’ll give you the book and a review for $1”

He snickers. “Really? Again?” Bewildered, she denies. “What do you mean ‘again’? This is the first time I do this kind of thing. Unless you’ve seen me before this week- which I didn’t.” Jiyong shooks his head. “No. I had no idea you were here.” Yuri nods acknowledgingly.

“How many dollars have you earned?” Jiyong changes the topic while he tosses the thriller novel in his hands.

“$20.” She shortly answers. Jiyong gawks.

“$20? Maybe I should consider quitting my job.” He gags when Yuri lets out an appreciative chuckle. “Maybe you should.”

“Honestly, how’d you do that? Luring people into giving their money to you?”

“Nothing, really. It’s just that I noted that in this metropolitan city, that everybody moves fast. Acts fast. Ignoring their surroundings and only focusing on their work. Work, work, work. Must feed my child. Oh, another meeting to attend. Another agreement to sign. They have little to none time to enjoy little things like these- books.” She pauses before adding, “Kind of like you, Mr.”

Jiyong smiles bitterly. Ugly truth, it is. “Do you like books that much?”

“Yes, I like books that much. Reading books, I have set my foot in America, Canada, breath taking Australia, killed a man, kissed a girl, been betrayed, lived in a dorm. Being a reader, I don’t live a boring Kwon Yuri life. Instead, I lived a thousand intriguing life."

"You know, books are like a figment of our imagination. It’s like a television, only it’s in our head, you get what I mean? We just picture how the characters look like, how their house appeared like. By reading, we know their feelings, their point of view to the world. Thus we don’t fall in love with their physical appearance. Instead, we fall in love with their words, their thoughts, their hearts. Frankly, I could go on forever expressing my undying love to books.” The girl lectures. This is too much, Jiyong thinks.

“Did you rehearsed that?”

She giggles. “A little bit. You know, I need to sound like an adult, just in case a pedestrian asks me like you did.”

He flips back the novel he has been holding onto ever since he sits his bottom down. “Well then, can you give me a review of this book?”

Yuri peeks at the cover before exclaiming, “Ah! Todd Strasser. Nice book, this one.” She flips a few pages before giving it back to Jiyong. He rests his chin on his right palms.

“I don’t quite remember the storyline, since I bought it in my last year of middle school but basically, it was about Shelby Sloan trying to convince everyone –including herself- his father had nothing to do with the disappearance of three random girls. It’s hard to prove though, seeing as the three girls had no other connections other than they had been photographed by Shelby’s father, a model photographer. You see, the thing is, none of the girls has model qualities- not height, not face, not nothing. That’s why Shelbi thought it was weird how his father accepted them to be photographed.” Jiyong listens attentively when Yuri suddenly stops.

“That’s it?”

“Find out yourself.” She extends her palms asking for the $1 agreed. Jiyong tsk-ed while he sneaks his brown leather purse and gives her the money. Yuri studies the money with a satisfied expression before shoving it into her pocket. “Girl, you got me curious there. Finish up your story. Was Shelbi wrong? Was her father really guilty? Did someone betray him? What happened to the three missing girls? Come on, girl. Finish up your story.”

“No, can’t do.” She shakes her head left and right, refusing to spill the story. “Tsk, you could have just proceed your story.” Jiyong looks down at the book, slightly disappointed.

“Hey, Mr. , you can bring that book with you. Read it when you have time. Trust me, it’s a really nice book. Gets your brain churning real fast, you know?” Yuri points her index finger to her temples.

Jiyong backs down. He knows, nothing in the world can make the girl to reveal the whole story. “I’ll skin you alive if the book is not as satisfying as you made it sound like.” Jiyong threatens. “Skin me alive, throw my heart to a hungry alligator, hang my head to the public, do anything because that won’t happen.” Yuri reassures.

We’ll see.

After a few moments, they chatter by themselves and time went by as fast as they would never expect. When Yuri finally realized the sun was nowhere to be seen from the far horizon, she reminds Jiyong of how a young girl like her should be home by now.

“Okay. Are you going to take the train?” Jiyongs asks while he gets up and folds the red cloth they both sat not long ago before picking up his suitcase on the side. Jiyong later plants Yuri’s “Kill You Last” in his suitcase. I’m going to read ‘em when I’m free - if I ever will. Yuri dusts the bottom of her jeans. “Nope. I’ll take a cab ride home.” She picks up her basket. Jiyong puts the neatly folded cloth in her basket and takes the basket in his arms.

“Come. I’ll tag along until you catch a taxi. I’ll be in trouble if you don’t reach home.” He leads both of them. Yuri chirps. “Okay.”

After finally hailing a cab, Yuri takes the basket from Jiyong. “See you soon, alright?” Haish, girl, it’s not like I have time to waste, Jiyong silently thought. He peers at the cab driver when the man lowers his window. “Good evening, Mr. Can you please drive my sister here safely to her house? If she requests to roam somewhere else, just tell her off and ask her to shut up, okay?” Jiyong jokes. The taxi driver smiles and nods a few times, replying ‘no problem’ in every of his nod. Yuri sneers from the behind seat.

“It’s not like I’m going anywhere after this.”

Jiyong cuts. “So you say now.”

“Whatever.”

When the cab takes off, Jiyong puts both of his hands in his pockets with a smile on his face. Somehow, whenever he sees Yuri, somehow she changed his view for the world.

His world seems brighter now.