5.40 P.M.

She is standing outside, looking around hoping to recognize him though she never met him before. 'Geez, it will be too awkward. Should I just ditch him and be a coward as I usually am?', she thought. But then she spots him. He is wearing a striped tee, blue jeans, and jet black hair. He looks so lost in his thoughts but what makes Hayi so drawn to him is the sad eyes. Hayi has never met people who tried to hide their pain so hard it shows in their eyes. She tightens her grip on her bag. 'This looks bad', she murmured to herself.

She starts walking away from the place they are supposed to meet. She plans to say sorry to Jennie later. She opens her phone and starts to type something for Jaewon. She types words like sorry, urgent matters, and hope we have another chance to meet without really wishing it to happen at all. But before she can send it to Jaewon, she gets a text message from Jennie.

Hayi... I'm sorry to get you into this date. I know you are comfortable being alone and prefer to meet someone more naturally. All those things I said to you was just excuses I made to justify my true intention. This is actually me asking for your help. Jaewon and I were inseparable, but ever since things got awkward between us, we didn't really hang out again. If you had seen him, you know that he is a lonely person. He pushed people away for some reasons I never got to know. I'm sorry for this selfish request but I hope you two can be friends. Thank you. I owe you a lot.

She stops after reading Jennie's message. Now she is feeling more guilty for walking away. Damn her and her empathy. It has led her into uncomfortable feelings since her first social encounter. She clenches her fist and turns around. She's now heading to the place they are supposed to meet. She has decided to meet him.

Jaewon looks up to her who has been offering a handshake since minutes ago. 'So, this is Lee Hayi who watches star wars' is what running inside his thoughts. He holds her hand after realizing he has been ignoring her handshake offer. "Hi, I'm Jung Jaewon. It's okay, you're not late. I'm just thankful you didn't ditch me", he said jokingly.

She just laughs it off awkwardly. Then she asked, "I'm going to order something first. Do you want to order anything?"

"Uh... it's okay I can order mine after you're done with yours."

"Okay, sure", she said.

He looks at her from behind. She is wearing white tee and black jeans. Her hair is mid length black hair and has been waving gracefully as she moved. She was so straightforward when she introduced herself. 'Hi, I'm Lee Hayi. Sorry for being late.' It makes him smile. Most girls he met before would say a lot of things when they first met him but this girl was actually just giving information about her name and saying sorry for being late before excusing herself to buy something. It almost looks like she is trying to defer any conversations which may start between them. She is just as nervous as he is. It is comforting.

When she got back with her order. Jaewon excused himself to get one for his own. And when he came back, she hasn't started eating yet. She said that it's not okay to start first when eating with other people, they should start together. To which he responds with smile.

"So... you work as a software engineer?"

"Yea, and you as a doctor?" she smirked.

He laughs a little, "Sorry, I'm so foreign with this whole concept of meeting new people. I haven't met new people since I was too busy with my fellowship. I don't really know what we should talk about."

"Yea, me too actually," she paused to sip her orange juice, "I don't actually prefer to put myself into this kind of situation normally."

"So, this is not normal for you?" he asked.

She laughs, "I mean... you can see how awkward I am when I try to introduce myself to you right."

"To be fair it is rather normal to compare with my slow reaction though..."

Then it is a long silence. Both Hayi and Jaewon seem like they are thinking of some scenario to continue the conversation. But neither is brave enough to spit something out of their mind.

"I heard you watch star wars?" he broke the silence.

"Yup, and Mulan... and Moana... and other Disney princesses too. Jennie must have told you that. She thinks it is so special for a gal to like star wars franchise. I mean you like something because it is fun and makes you happy right? How about you? Do you have any favorite show?" she asked.

"Hm... I don't really watch things. But I play some instruments and read books if I do have time. But I rarely get any these days."

"You don't get any free time or... you don't allow yourself to have free time," she looked at him, "I mean... when I started my first job I was so drawn into pouring my heart for my work to the point I felt guilty to have a leisure time for myself. After working for a few months, I got stressed, so I decided to quit and gave myself some time to think about my career and what I want to do in life. So which one are you?"

"Hm... I never really think about it before," he remembers though—the time he chose to stay in hospital rather than going home. He remembers avoiding his father. He remembers he overworked himself to suppress his anger and disappointment. But he can't say it to her so openly about it. Practically she is a stranger he just come to know a few minutes ago. Although it starts to feel natural to talk with her.

"Well, sometimes it is not fair to blame it on our limited time when we are the one who should have the power to control what we can do in those given times." she said, "After all our time is not endless. It is limited. And that's a fact. It is stupid for blaming on something we cannot change."

Her words slapped him in the face. He was always blaming on time for taking away his mom, when in fact it is him who didn't try hard enough to spend more time with her. He was in denial that his mom's time in this world was limited. He is aware of those things, but now that someone actually says that to his face, it feels like a wake-up call. It is him. The problem lies within him.

"But...," she continues, "when we fail to use our time wisely, it doesn't mean we are the problem. We're bound to be confused by time and make mistakes. It's okay because time will also help us to fix it."

And then he lifts his head and just stares at her eyes as she continues. He wants to say 'Thank you Hayi for being a good person'. But the only thing that he does is nodding at her words.