5. RUNNING OUT OF TIME

Before I noticed it, the first week was coming to an end. And I had managed to write… barely anything.

My aunt had been more than happy about the bike. She hadn’t gotten a chance to see it earlier, so one day after I’d gotten back from the harbor, she had surprised me with a hug and told me that she absolutely loved it. I had told her that it was nothing, that it had been on sale.

I was basically throwing lies in every direction. I lied to Hanbin, multiple times a day, whenever he asked how I was doing or if I was bothered by something he did, like sudden closeness (which by the way never lead to anything more) or accidental touches in the water while swimming. The truth was, that I was still bothered by pretty much everything.

I lied to Chaeyoung when I finally brought myself to call her. I told her that I was doing excellent. Which was clearly bull. I also told her that I was almost finished with my drafts. Bull that too. I might have even mentioned that I was actually enjoying myself, like I was on a holiday. That had put me thinking. Because in a way, I was enjoying myself, every day. Like yesterday, Hanbin had taken me to see an old temple in the woods. He knew everything about it, so it was like a guided tourist-sightseeing-ride by the coast. He knew every little detail, about the secret passageways and about the people who had once lived there, the people who had actually used those exact passageways.

But when it came to writing, I was way behind my schedule. I really needed to get those words out if I wanted to keep my job. Or if I wanted to ever move on from my current one, which .

The second week started off horridly. I woke up in the middle of the night, screeching my lungs out like an injured animal that had been trapped. That didn’t help much, when it came to hiding my terrifying secret from my aunt. She rushed in my room, her tanned shoulders glistening of sweat. Her night gown was once again falling off her petite shoulders.

She didn’t say anything, just sat next to me on the bed and brushed her fingers through my hair, so gently that it didn’t bring any bad memories up in my head. All I could think of was my mom’s gentle lullaby, that she used to sing to me when I was little. My aunt didn’t sing, but she hummed so quietly that I could barely hear it. I fell asleep almost immediately.

In the morning she confronted me though, asking if I had had a nightmare.

”Yeah”, I said, swallowing the truth. It hadn’t been a nightmare, but a bunch of memories stuffed up into a film. A black and white video.

”Pretty vivid nightmare”, she said, her voice crackling. ”You sounded so terrified. I thought that someone had sneaked in and done something to you.”

I tried to pull off an amused smile, but I felt like it came out as a grimace. ”Oh no. It was just a bad dream.”

”Yeah?” Aunt arched a brow. Her sharp senses could detect something in me. ”You’re not stressed about the whole work-thing?”

I decided to play it safe. ”It could be that. It is a little challenging. I’m behind on my schedule.”

”Do you need help with it?”

”No, I’ve already gotten some-” I poured out.

”You have? From whom?”

I was drying the dishes while aunt Kim was washing them. ”From a friend. His name is Kim Hanbin, the guy with the long neck”, I reminded her.

”Oh, the pub worker.”

”That makes it sound like he’s some male e.”

”Oh nonsense. He’s a bartender?” She passed me a bunch of washed plates.

”Yeah.”

”Have you tried the pub where he works at?” She raised a brow.

”No… pubs aren’t really my cup of tea.” I’d never been a huge party-person, which explained the fact that I did’t really do clubs. Or bars, or pubs or anything like that. I was more of a cafe-kinda-girl.

”Oh you have to go there, once at least”, she insisted. ”They have a great selection of liquors, wines, whiskeys, anything you have a tooth for.”

”I don’t really drink”, I said. The idea of getting drunk in a town that I didn’t know, with my experiences, didn’t feel like a good idea. My aunt kept trying to persuade me, but I kept telling her no. Only if she had known the situation, she would’ve kept me locked up.

That morning I also taught her to put on her bra correctly. And she succeeded just fine. I didn’t have to buckle them up in the bus this time.

I met Hanbin at the harbor, like I’d done every day. We never agreed on doing so, but it somehow worked, like a silent agreement. He knew I was going to be there, and I knew he was going to be there. If he wasn’t there, he would come there later and I would sit at the cafe, trying to come up with words while drinking an americano.

Today I felt a weird sadness when I saw him sitting there, hanging his feet from the edge of the dock, his shoulders crouched as he stared at the fish beneath him. We had one week. Seven days to do whatever we wanted, whatever we could, together. But that was it. After that, I would have to go back to Seoul, back to my boss who would most likely throw my drafts into a rubbish bin like he’d done last time. Just thinking about it made me frown.

I walked up to him and sat on the dock, throwing my feet off the edge towards the water. Once Hanbin noticed me, a smile took over his face and he nudged me with his elbow. His smile was contagious. I grinned back at him.

”You look tired. Did you get any sleep?”

”No I didn’t and thank you very much. You don’t look so well rested either”, I shot back at him.

”That’s because I don’t sleep. I had to work until five in the morning last night.”

”On a Sunday?”

Hanbin wiggled his brows. ”Tell me about it. The fishermen came back from the sea and threw some landing party. I know, sounds fun, I’m sorry you weren’t invited.”

Our conversations had definitely gotten more witty once we had gotten closer. The comfort between us was now something else, I felt like I’d known him for a long time instead of one week. ”My aunt actually tried to persuade me into going there some evening.”

”Yeah, you should”, Hanbin said. ”When I’m not tied to the bar counter.”

”Maybe I pick a night when you’re working. You know, just to tease you on the other side of the counter.”

Hanbin shot me a sideways look. Then he shook his head slightly. ”You wouldn’t dare.”

I laughed. Laughing was easy. In the daylight. With him. ”You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

”You think so? Let me remind you that you have one; stolen a bike in my presence, two; punched me in my face for trying to comfort you. I think I know what you’re capable of.”

”You make it all sound like I’m some cruel monster.”

”Aren’t you?”

I pushed him gently. ”Watch it farm boy.”

Hanbin chuckled. ”I’ve lived my whole life in an apartment building. You can’t call me a farm boy.”

And yet I had, and I knew I would, in the future. I would save him in my phone as farm boy. I would probably send him a Christmas car, addressed to Farm Boy.

”What do you wanna do today?” Hanbin interrupted my thoughts. The sky looked like it could give us anything, from sunshine to pouring rain and even thunder. I had my writing equipment with me, if the sky wouldn’t allow us to be outside.

”I’m down for anything”, I said, feeling a little anxious because of my delay in writing. I would have to sit down at some point, to write.

Hanbin puckered his lips. That was his thinking face. ”I do have to run one errand before work today.”

I nodded. ”Yeah, okay. I’ll just catch the earlier bus home then.”

”Or you could come with me?” He suggested. Hanbin knew that I was leaving in a week. He was probably having the exact same thoughts as I was having. We were running out of time. ”If you want to?”

”Sure”, I said with a shrug. I didn’t even know what this errand was. Was it related to his work?

My answer seemed to brighten him up even more. ”Awesome.” He quickly jumped up and tamped all the dust off his pants. He offered his hand to boost me up. I took it without a doubt.

***

The day turned out to be the sunniest one so far. We had to go lie down in the shadow so that we wouldn’t have fainted in the heat. Hanbin had an amazing gift of being able to fall asleep anywhere. At any time. I figured it had something to do with his late night shifts. He was always tired.

I lied on my side, leaning my head against my palm. The dry earth beneath me felt cool and comfortable, something I thought I’d never think of a dirty ground. In Seoul, I usually didn’t sit on the bare ground. I always had a picnic blanket with me. Now I was skin against the earth and I liked it. I also had grown to like the smell of the ground. The earthly scent got to my hair and my skin and in the evenings when I put on