It had that familiar tinge of nostalgia to it, as if she had been there a thousand times before. That feeling hit her the moment she opened the door and took in the smells and sounds. Even a brief scan of the layout of the entire place seemed to stir something within Yeojin. There was just something about the quaint little family restaurant that made her feel relaxed as if she were right at home. She felt like she had been transported back in time, back to when she was a little girl growing up in that very neighborhood. “It seems really good, doesn’t it?” she asked looking at Jinyoung, her boyfriend, by her side.

            “It does,” he said nodding in agreement as he scanned the restaurant as well. “How did you find this place?”

            “I don’t know,” she said shrugging her shoulders. “I just stumbled upon it accidentally one day coming home from work.”

            “Well it must’ve been a good find.”

            “I mean, I used to live around this neighborhood when I was younger, but I don’t really remember much about this restaurant or even coming here at all,” she shyly confessed. “But it looked like a nice place and the people that I saw inside of the window always seemed like they were enjoying themselves therefore I wanted to try it with you.”

            “I’m glad you had,” he said with a gentle smile. “I’m always up for trying new things.”

            Yeojin gave her boyfriend a smile and looked around the place one more in an attempt to pinpoint how she might have known about it. She wondered if it could have possibly been a recommendation one of her friends had given her before. However, it had been years since she went back to her old neighborhood. The last time she could actually remember being back was when she was in high school, her senior year. But after that, her family moved out of the country and she never really had the opportunity to visit. That all changed just a couple of months ago.

            It just so happened that a couple of months ago Yeojin was lucky enough to come across a job in the area. It was a dream job that she had wanted for a while and it was luckily close enough to her boyfriend that they agreed to move in together. While Yeojin was hesitant at first to take such a big step, she was finally happy that it felt like all of the pieces of her life were finally fitting together. However, no matter how much she thought about the restaurant, nothing came to mind and she eventually came to the conclusion that perhaps the place was a new establishment that appeared after she had moved away.

            “How does it feel to be back in your hometown?” Jinyoung wondered after they placed their orders. “Do you think you’ll see anyone that you knew from back then?”

            “It feels weird,” she confessed, “and I don’t think I really knew many people back then. I was more focused on studying.” Yeojin sighed as she thought about her high school days. If she knew she would have this much regret about not doing anything fun or extravagant, she’d try hard to go out and have fun with friends, do things that other high schoolers do. Instead the only thing she remembered doing was studying. Every day after school she’d visit various academies and get extra tutoring in order to give her the extra push to please her seemingly always disapproving parents.

            “What about a crush? You had to have at least one of those, everyone does.” Yeojin tried to think about the possibility and felt her cheeks start to become red, flustering her even further since she didn’t know the exact reason for them. “There must’ve been,” Jinyoung playfully commented as he noticed her red cheeks. “It’s alright if you did. I won’t be jealous. After all, I’ll admit, I had some crushes back during my school days, too.”

            “You sound like you’re an old man,” Yeojin joked in an attempt to change the subject.

            “You’re not getting off that easily,” Jinyoung said amused. “So, you think you did like someone?”

            “I think I did…” Yeojin finally began, “but I don’t really remember who it was. I mean, it was like practically five years ago.”

            “You sound like you’re getting old,” Jinyoung said mimicking Yeojin from her statement earlier. “But I guess if you were doing all of that studying he probably wasn’t important enough to remember.” Jinyoung sighed for a moment looking around before looking back at Yeojin with a playful twinkle in his eye. “So then was this mystery man your first love?”

            “Weren’t you the one that just said he must’ve not been important since I don’t remember?” Yeojin asked feigning annoyance. In fact, she loved that she was able to joke around with Jinyoung like that. Most people around him thought that he was just someone cold and unfriendly but that was simply his professional persona. During his private time he was someone who loved to joke around and play pranks. To Yeojin, he was possibly the warmest man she had ever met before. When she was with him she felt a sense of security and safeness, one she had never felt from any man before. There was just something about Jinyoung that made her so comfortable she never wanted to leave his side and always felt a little sad in the morning when they had to part and go their separate ways.

            “Still, I want to know more about you. Despite us being together for three years I don’t know much about your past,” Jinyoung confessed. “I like to take every opportunity to learn more about you and I want to keep learning about you for as long as you let me.”

            Yeojin slightly melted at his words before she regained her composure as she tried to think about the mystery man. “I think it was just a one-sided crush,” she simply said shrugging her shoulders, eventually giving up on trying to recall a memory about the strange and unidentifiable figure she was kind of thinking of. “Nothing really came out of it. I’m an amateur in relationships, remember? I told you that when I first met you. You’re my first boyfriend.”

            “Hey, that doesn’t mean that you couldn’t have had a crush on anyone during school. Remember, everyone has someone from their past.”

            “Well how about you? Doesn’t that mean you had to have a couple during school then?” Yeojin asked raising an eyebrow and leaning forward on the table.

            “What is it that you want to know about me?” Jinyoung asked intertwining his fingers and leaning forward on the table to match. “I’m an open book to you.”

            “Okay, never mind,” Yeojin said retreating back to her original spot.

            Jinyoung chuckled to himself as he eventually leaned back in his seat as well.

 

            On the other side of the restaurant, Lee Junghwan, or Sandeul as he was called by his family and friends, was watching their conversation intently. Rather, he was more focused on the female in question as he stood behind the counter. He could only see her from the back but that was more than enough to ignite his memory and make him walk down paths that he hadn’t walked down in years. “No way, it can’t be,” he muttered to himself as he kept trying to get a better angle of her but it was almost impossible. Her back faced him directly and the only way he would be able to figure out if it was actually who he thought it was would be to go around to the other side. However, that would seem weird and he knew that. he knew that he couldn’t just go up to her and ask her who she was, that was against everything he had lived for so far. It had taken him a long time to be able to get to the spot he was at, a spot he was comfortable with and he didn’t want to try to ruin it.

            He didn’t want to try to ruin it by going and investigating something that might not be true. Plus, if it turned out that she wasn’t who he thought she was then he had meaninglessly gotten his hopes up for nothing. That was probably his worst fear of all. Sandeul made a vow to himself years ago and there was no way he was going to risk it all.

            But why would it be her, he ended up wondering to himself or maybe it was a way for him to try to talk him out of doing something crazy. He knew that she had yet to show her face in town or anywhere even close to there in years so what would cause her to suddenly show up now? He just couldn’t come up with any answer or explanation why, or at least nothing sounded good enough. Actually, one such thought did come to mind but he quickly dismissed it, he didn’t like to think about that one.

            “Junghwan-ah,” his aunt said coming up next to him.

            “Sandeul,” Sandeul repeated. “I like being called that.”

            “Well I like calling you by Junghwan, so I’ll continue to do so,” she said with a smile. “Can you take these to that nice couple over there?”

            “Huh?” he asked in confusion as he looked at the tray that was being handed to him. He subconsciously took it into his hands as his aunt continued to explain.

            “That couple right there,” she said motioning with her head. “Take it to them for me. I have to go check on a shipment that was supposed to come in today.”

            “Oh, yeah, sure.” With his eyes focused on her once again, Sandeul slowly made his way over with the tray.

            With every step he took, it felt like his insides were going to explode or his heart was going to burst out of his chest. His hands were sweating and clammy and he hoped and prayed that he wouldn’t end up spilling the tray of food on anyone or anything. The nervousness kept increasing as he slowly got closer to the table but with a couple of deep breaths, Sandeul tried to calm himself down before he made a fool of himself.

            By the time he finally got to the table, it felt like all of the air had been out of his chest as he finally laid eyes and got a proper look at the girl that was sitting at the table, Jo Yeojin. The girl that he had been waiting for.

            “Here’s your food,” Sandeul said as he attempted to keep his cool as he served the couple.

            “Ah, yes, thank you,” Jinyoung said as he helped to distribute the food.

            A thousand thoughts went through Sandeul’s head at once. He wondered if he should attempt to make some conversation with her, try to make it natural like they were old friends. He thought that one would be impossible. There was no way she’d remember him anyway. The other option, which he dreaded, was to just let them be. It was obvious that the man with her was her boyfriend and he didn’t want to intrude and make a fool of himself. But on the other hand, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, an opportunity he was sure would never reveal itself again. It had take him five years to get to that point.

            “Is there something wrong?” Yeojin wondered as she looked at the server’s face. He was staring at her with sad eyes that left her confused.

            “Oh, no, there’s nothing wrong. You just…” Sandeul began but he wasn’t sure how to finish. Her eyes held sympathy for him and that was when he reached up to touch his own eyes that were beginning to well with tears.

            “Just…what?” Yeojin asked, curious.

            Sandeul took a deep breath as he tried to think of a plausible excuse, just anything that would come to mind. “You just…you just look a lot like someone I used to know,” Sandeul softly said. “Well, please enjoy,” he quickly added as he bowed and scurried away to the back where he proceeded to die with embarrassment yet also scolded himself for letting such an opportune moment go to waste.

            Once he finally was able to catch his breath he placed his hand over his heart to feel just how fast it was beating. Waiting until his breathing calmed, Sandeul closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall. There she was, Jo Yeojin, the girl he had been waiting five years for. The girl that he had just wanted to catch a glimpse of, even if it was only once. And even though it was a little painful to see her with a boyfriend, it wasn’t like he could be angry at that.

            She was happy, he thought to himself and those words brought a smile to his face. She was in a happy relationship with a guy that looked leagues upon himself. She was having a nice conversation and looked to be better than she ever appeared to be before. But together with Sandeul’s content of being able to know how she was, there was also a small twang of jealousy of knowing that that could’ve been him.

            “Well,” he sighed looking down at his hands and speaking to an empty space, “it was at least nice to see you again, at least you’re doing well.” After giving himself one more minute to compose himself Sandeul left the back to find another task in an attempt to occupy his mind and consume all thoughts of Jo Yeojin.

 

            “You definitely made a good choice, Jo Yeojin,” Jinyoung said as soon as he took the first bite. “This is really good.”

            Yeojin nodded her head in agreement. She was happy that he approved of her restaurant choice since she was kind of afraid that he wouldn’t like it for some reason. There was just something about it that caused her to worry. It wasn’t like Jinyoung was a particularly picky eater, he ate everything rather well and rarely complained about anything. If anything, she felt that the problem would be herself. However, her initial anxiety about the place melted away with every bite she took and every moment longer she stayed there. But there was something else that had begun to take its place, something else that started to sting her mind and that was the server that she just saw.

            “Hmm, is there something wrong?” Jinyoung asked as he noticed Yeojin had stopped eating and had a worried look on her face. “Do you not feel well or something?”

            “Huh?” Yeojin asked unaware of what she had been doing. “Oh, no, I’m just…it’s just…I don’t really know,” she finally decided upon. “There’s just something poking at the back of my mind but I’m not really sure.”

            “Maybe you recognized that guy?” he wondered, referring to their server. “Do you think he went to your high school or something? A friend’s younger brother? A distant family friend?”

            “I don’t really remember after all of these years,” she said with a light chuckle. “I was too focused in textbooks to really take notice of those that were around me. therefore I’m not sure.”

            “Our little smart Yeojin,” Jinyoung chuckled, reaching over the table to pat her on the head. “What do you want to do after this?” he wondered. It was a rare day where they both were off and he wanted to make sure that it was worth it.

           “I was just thinking about going with the flow? See where the day takes us?” she hesitantly suggested. She knew that the two of them were so used to schedules and planned days that for just one day she wanted to see where life took her, to live like how everyone else seemingly lived.

            Jinyoung responded after a couple of moments of silence. “That sounds like a great plan. Seeing where the day just takes us, I love it.”

            The couple finished their food and paid their bill, exiting the restaurant after staying there for a little over an hour. It was convenient that the restaurant was near a shopping and tourist district so the two opted to walk around, leaving Jinyoung’s car parked near the restaurant.

            “Do you think you’re going to see someone you know or remember?” Jinyoung wondered as he took Yeojin’s hand into his. She shrugged her shoulders and moved a bit close rto him. “More importantly, do you think anyone will actually want to talk to you,” he joked, lightning the mood.

            “I had no enemies back then,” Yojin said playfully defending herself.

            “Everyone has their demons,” Jinyoung said, letting the air take his words away.

            Yeojin didn’t say anything in response. She already knew some of Jinyoung’s past and didn’t want to open up any old wounds or start unwanted conversations and thereby ruin the nice day that they were already having. Instead, she opted to switch the topic to something more pleasant to talk about.

            “How is your new work coming along?” she asked knowing that Jinyoung was passionate when it came to the topic of music. It was a topic he never seemed to get tired of and she could easily see why he was so great at what he did.

            Jinyoung’s job was actually that of a singer, songwriter, and producer. Once in a while he would sing himself but he was mostly a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. He loved creating music and watching it all come together with a group. There was one particular idol group that he was focused on producing for full time and he really liked their energy and sound. Currently he was working on his own solo project to be released shortly while also managing the idol group. It was a very busy time for him.

            “There needs to be a little touching up, a couple of things that I need to tweak here or there. Other than that, though, it’s coming along great,” he said with a gigantic smile. “Hopefully we’ll be able to release it before the end of the year, maybe?”

            “You’re talking about your own composition for yourself, right?” Jinyoung nodded his head. “And how’s ASMR doing?”

            “ASMR? They’re doing great, too,” Jinyoung said with a smile plastered on his face. He felt that the group was part of his own creation. He watched them grow ever since they first debuted into the powerful and immensely group they became so he was very proud of their accomplishments. “I have a couple of things that we’re going to go over soon at our next meeting. They might be out with something before me.”

            “That’s really nice,” Yeojin said with a relaxed smile. And that was the truth, Yeojin was really happy for him. She was happy that he was fulfilling his dreams of being a singer and songwriter and just hoped for the best. Yet there was something inside of her that didn’t feel right. It wasn’t that she wasn’t happy for him, but it was a feeling like she was missing out on something. Of course she had a good job and she loved doing it, but there were times when it felt as though she was missing out on something important that should’ve been there. She would never tell Jinyoung or her parents. It was a self-questioning that she kept inside, she didn’t want to worry them. Also it was a point in life she figured everyone had to go through at some point, everyone had to question themselves and their life sometimes.

            “Why don’t we look around here?” Jinyoung asked as they walked by a small shop that sold little trinkets of cute small items, things that he knew Yeojin enjoyed decorating with. Ever since Yeojin moved into his house she had sprinkled some all around the house. It wouldn’t be a lie to say that Jinyoung enjoyed the feminine touches around his apartment. More importantly, he loved being able to spend every waking moment with the person he loved the most in the world.

            “Sure, that sounds great,” she said with a gigantic smile that melted Jinyoung’s heart at the sight of it.

            “Good,” he said leading her into the shop.