PART 4 ~ 1

A flash of light. A blink of an eye. A glimpse of that smile. I saw him again. Among the crowd. A hint of his hair colour. I turned back. There he was. Yes, it was certainly him. It could not have been anyone else. I held my breath.

He had both of his hands in his coat to keep warm. He had a bright coloured scarf wrapped around his neck. A little different. But there was no doubt about it. Young and bright, with a cheerful smile on his face.

“Hoseok,” I whispered under my breath.

There was no alarm clock. I had no need of it. The sunlight had just started to seep through the curtains on the window. I was already awake. I opened my eyes and tried to sit up. My stiff joints crackled as if they were about to break. I stepped on the floor and made sure my legs could take on my weight. My knees groaned. I felt as old as time. Oh wait, I was.

Without realizing it, I have lived through the years. About 40 years, to be exact. I was 75, I had had a hard life, I did not take care of myself enough, I thought I might drop dead at any moment. Maybe a day out in the sun would be good for me. I pulled back the curtains. It was a sunny day out. I closed the curtains before the blinding light hurt my eyes.

I washed myself and spend some extra time in front of the wardrobe. After some time, I finally picked a pair of simple black pants, and a light green shirt. I put the fabric to my nose and took a deep breath. It smelled of old stuff.

I took a few days off work. Oh wait, I was given the few days of holidays. I should be retired now. I told my boss that I needed the money, to survive. He couldn’t turn me down after I literally begged him for it. Being an old friend, he agreed to let me work. But I wasn’t entirely honest with him. I couldn’t tell him the real reason for doing this. It was the only thing to keep me busy throughout the day. Most of the times, I was so tired that I dropped dead on the bed. No dreams or nightmares. And definitely no sight of him.

Apparently, the hard and continuous work wasn’t really meant for me after all. I was old and worn. And I probably didn’t look too good because my boss insisted that I at least take a few weeks off. Get some rest and live your life, was what he told me. I couldn’t really argue with h