The Second Chapter of Jessica Finding It.



••——


The latent beauty of the seemingly sturdy looking fixture amazed Jessica in the sense of gawking at it the first glance. She parked her car by the driveway, moldy looking plants climbed the top of her annoying list as she hunch in the topic of having to scrape the fenders later. However, the cottage screams delight. Not much of a pocket blower just enough for a fragile little new girl in town.


“Will this cottage suffice? Not extravagant like those villas on top of the neighborhood but this will definitely make a cut in your city girl Persona I might presume?” Little did Mr. Lim knew how in love she is in her new loft.


“No worries Mr. Lim. I’ll take it.”


“Alright. I’ll just hand you this map, small town. Everyone knows everybody. You should visit the town diner for some local sightings. Be well Miss Jung.”


He left in a whiff. Mr. Lim apparently still drives a 1998 Ford Mustang, and Jessica wanted to ask him about some things related to hardware. In fact she wanted a small railing of sorts by her headboard. Just a slab of wood to hold some pictures. A thing she learnt from taking classes in interior design with Taeyeon.

But seeing the taste in Mr. Lim’s car, she likes Mustangs. Even Taeyeon owns one of those however it does not come with a rope tied bumper and scotch tape infested windshield.

But she disobeyed those instincts, besides the old man is practically the only breathing reptile she knew in this small town of Hillsborough.

“Mr. Lim?”


“Yes dear?”


“Do you perhaps knows a hardware shop here?” Jessica asked meekly, hiding the blush in her cheeks as the man stopped in his tracks to digest the question. More importantly he might feel offended.


“Are you asking me that now?”


Yup. Offended.


“No I am just trying to ask, since..”


“Oh just messing up with you. We have one by the mainstreet. Choi’s. You wouldn’t miss it. Tall family I might say.”



And so She had put the Choi’s in her appointment.



—-

A Dash of Jessica’s Point of View in her first encounter with It.


••——


When the lights dim and everybody that surrounds me turned into a brief pause, I sense the moment of calm. I cradled her picture in my bedside, my baby smiling like a daydream. Taeyeon looked happy, might as well I should start being one too?


There are tears as I hug her pillow to sleep. Such things can’t be left behind, Immediately. I began this voyage to start a new life away from everything in Taeyeon’s shadow. However like the moon’s glow, it haunted me in the dark. Serving as my light in the path. I still need her. Badly.


“Good Morning Taengoo.”


Talking to my dead girlfriend has been my routine for as long as I can remember. As if She would appear even in a hazy form of a ghost to reply with a simple smile. But I should start my day with her, obviously.


I groaned when I witnessed my muddy car, ing sake. A white BMW can never do justice in this terrain. And so I still dashed towards the Choi’s hardware.


Almost a rundown looking establishment blemished with scraped paints and a reclining sign. It looks like a rundown ware not a hardware. Nevertheless, I have no choice.


“Hello?” That soft melodic greeting made me feel like I am stepping into a land mine as it welcomed me back with an eerie squeak.


“Welcome to Choi’s! Oh you are the new girl!” Tall, rather bulky and toned. His almost ash brown hair draped on his eyes. He is handsome well to masculine for my taste. My Taengoo is cute, I like cute fluffy things.



And he knew that I am the new girl. Creepy.


“Ugh.”


“Small town everyone knows everybody.” He grinned, adjusting his sleeves.


“Oh, so well, I am here to buy some wooden slabs for, I don’t exactly know the term for that but just a wooden slab.” I grinned at him for the lack of knowledge. Just give me a ing wooden slab kid.


“Oh are you an interior designer perhaps?”


“No.” indifferently, I replied with pout. The smile blossomed from his face and I attested that he is not somewhat cute. He is a bulky kid with a cute charming smile.


“Because I have a hunch that you might be using them for some house decor