THEN

2011, Early January, University Rooftop

She’s right there. Like always. Her purple thermos cup and her bento box. Her routine; places her lunch down the bench beside her and removes her work cap to tie her long hair up in a bun to keep it away from when she’s eating. Kyungsoo had memorized her. He wasn’t a creep nor a stalker to anyone. He’s a regular here. He hangs out—more so to hide from everybody—on the rooftop at the same time everyday to study and have lunch, just as this lady does. They are always three benches away. The rooftop is a beautiful landscape garden that has benches surrounding the actual garden and giving the beautiful university view for people who sat.

Usually, there’s some people on the rooftop with them, some student couples making out and some using the special space to practice performances—for whatever reason—and film school projects. Today was quite different. It’s a chilly day and so it was only him. . . and her. He was surprised to even see her here today. She must really like it here, he always thought. Closing the book on his lap, Kyungsoo fully shifted his head to glance at her direction. What’s your name? The question he had always wanted to ask ever since she caught her attention which wasn’t so long ago.

Of course, in the beginning, he never cared about anyone hanging out on the rooftop, let alone an employee of the university’s coffee shop. It was only until about a month ago when he went for a coffee at their shop and she was the one who served his drink, she did latte art on it and on the small plate placed a sticky note cut in half. She wrote a simple message that he had seen before from other people here, he assumed she usually does it for fun sometimes.

The note said ‘You always study hard. Enjoy the drink and take a break, rooftop guy.’

He gazed back down to his book and looked at his now bookmark – the sticky note. He reread the message and the sides of his lips immediately curved up into a smile. He does study hard, way too hard in fact. Sometimes, he loses track of reality and asks himself why he’s studying at all in the first place. It was a bliss to have at least someone acknowledging that he works hard, even if it’s from a stranger. Like her. Mustering up the courage, he cleared his throat once. Did it twice and a couple more.

“Hey.” A simple call finally rolled off his tongue. Before he could even smile with anticipation, he realized she had her earphones on. He doubted if she even heard him. The coward inside of him gulped hard as he tilted his head lower to check if it’s possible for her to catch his eyes. After a couple of tries, he gave up. “Never mind.” He looked away and gathered all of his books into his bag. He’s ready to leave after humiliating himself like that. There was no one else there but he felt humiliated by himself, he’s judging himself for even trying.

What will he do after Hey? He has no clue. Why did he even do it in the first place?

He stood up and started walking to the door the leads to the stairs and exit.

“Are you sure a piece of croissant is enough for your three-inch textbooks? I’d go crazy. No, my tummy would go crazy.” His world stopped. It was her talking. It was her voice that he recognized from the coffee shop.  With a huge amount of hesitation in the back of his mind, he turned around to look. “E-excuse me?” His voice surprisingly came out hoarse and stammered, he was nervous. He didn’t know why at all. He doesn’t usually get nervous; people had always known him to have a very strong personality.

Her smile. Her smile was pointing right at him, she was smiling for him and their eyes were locked.

“I heard you and I was just teasing you. What’s up?” She asked before taking a sip on her cup. Kyungsoo remained standing, frozen and panicking inside. He really did not think this through. What is he supposed to say now? “I—well—I don’t know.” He failed to say a proper sentence but his feet began walking towards her bench and he still doesn’t know why. “Oh, okay. Have a good day then.” She didn’t try any longer seeing the huge discomfort written on his face. She turned back to her food and started eating again.

Kyungsoo gulped hard while looking at her back figure. He really wants to say something or at least know her name but the coward in him kept asking all these questions that make him doubt himself.

Why do you need to know her anyway?

Why does this even matter at all?

Why aren’t you back in class yet?

Why is your heart beating so fast right now?

Why are you so pretty?

She suddenly turned her head to look at him in surprise. “Sorry?” She asked but warm pigment began spreading on her already rosy cheeks. Kyungsoo closed his mouth realizing it had just moved. Did he just say the last question out loud? He’s dead. No, he’d rather be dead right now. “Your—I mean—like not—your thermos is pretty. P-purple is good color.” He blurted out the first excuse he could come up with. She glanced down to her cup and smiled. “Thank you, I actually drew on it, this isn’t an actual design so unfortunately, you can’t buy it anywhere if you’re interested. This was just a plain purple color but I doodled on it. Thank you for noticing.” She grinned, obviously taking his lame excuse.

He managed to give her a nod. He needed to be out of here as soon as he could. He is terrible in socializing, he hated people, for the most part. This will never turn out good, never. He knew for a fact. He awkwardly lifted his hand to do a single wave to her before turning around to walk away, holding the temptation to actually run.

That was until her sweet innocent voice waved through his ears again that made him stop before he could grab the door handle. “What’s your name? I’m Kwon Yerin.”

NOW

His eyes darted down his coffee mug on his table. He’s in his man-cave right now, his home office. It’s almost two in the morning and he’s working, still. He got home a couple of hours ago; managed to take a shower, have dinner and take an hour nap before going in to continue where he had left off in the office. Before he could even start, his phone beeped – a continuous beeping that indicated a phone call. He pick it up from the table quickly took a glance at the screen before answering, it was his mother.

“Hey, Eomma. Why are you still awake at this hour?” He immediately