“We… can’t meet for now.”

And that’s what we did. Again. It’s been weeks since we saw each other. I was always waiting at café in case he’d just suddenly show up, but he didn’t. Sending texts like I’m okay, don’t worry was harder and harder and saying it on the phone was the hardest. I knew I had to be strong because of him but I was getting worried I would fail.

I went to visit my parents on one Saturday morning. It was nice day so I stayed longer as usual and on way back I bought something for lunch. I was sitting in the park, eating sandwich.

I was looking around when I noticed that nurse that always looked suspicious to me. She saw me too and looked at me in a way she always did. But there was something different now…

She left and I sighed. About half an hour later someone stopped next to me.

“Jae Min?”

I looked up at the person.

“Hyun Suk?”

“We meet again. What a coincidence, right?”

“Yes,” I smiled.

“So, how have you been?”

“Fine.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to be rude or something but… you don’t look like you’re really okay.”

“It’s nothing, really.”

“Okay, if you say so. But if there’s something, you know you can tell me, right?”

I didn’t say anything just sipped the ice coffee I had and looked in front of me at the small pond.

“Would you like to go for a walk?” he asked when I finished the sandwich.

“Sounds nice.”

“Wait,” he stopped me when I wanted to stand up. I froze when he touched my face and brushed the corner of my lips with his thumb. “You had something there,” he smiled and stood up as if nothing happened. “Let’s go.”

I stood up slowly and followed him.

We were walking for a long time and talked. I shivered every time we accidently touched each other.

“I’ll walk you home.”

“Oh, no, there’s no need. I need to go back to work and… you sure have something else to do…”

“You don’t want to go home, right? Are reporters still there?”

I bit my lip and nodded.

“Then… do you want to go to my place? I have one spare room. You can stay as long as you want.”

“No. No way. It’s not that bad.”

“Are you afraid of me?” he teased me. “Come on, Jae Min, I just wanted to help you. I know you have a really hard time now…”

“Thanks for your offer but I will stay at my home.”

“Okay, but I’ll walk you home.”

I wanted to object, but he was pulling me with him already.

He walked me home and left. I surprisingly didn’t see any reports so I was at peace.

The hot bath helped me to relax. Then I took ice cream, cuddled into blanket on the sofa and watched a movie. It was perfect date for lonely person…

“Thank you for helping me again,” said Nana when we finished baking cakes late at night.

“It’s