It’s been three days since Lee Chaeyeon went to Kwon’s Optical for her new glasses. Despite the long time that had passed and not knowing a single thing about Kwon Eunbi, there has been a blank in Chaeyeon’s mind since then.

Every moment she’s not busy, Chaeyeon would space out, staring into nothing. It’s too obvious that something was bothering her.

This evening, Chae Resto’s last customer for lunch time finally finished their meal. Now, the resto is empty. Only Chaeyeon and Sakura, who is cleaning up the tables, are in there.

Sakura diligently tidied up the plates and wiped the tables while Chaeyeon, for the nth time that day, sat behind the cashier, staring blankly. Sakura wasn’t that bothered with Chaeyeon’s rather peculiar behaviour. It’s actually nothing new for them to spend time minding their own businesses.

“Hey, Sakura.”

Unexpectedly, Chaeyeon called Sakura, starting a conversation.

“Hm?” Sakura answered without turning back, she was completely focused on her work.

“Fifty days… is a long time, right?”

That, however, is a weird enough question to catch Sakura’s interest. Sakura stood up, rearranged the chairs and brought the pile of plates in her arms. She held on them while walking towards Chaeyeon. Once she reached there, she put it on a table.

“Now that’s a question I do not know the answer to.”

“I mean, if you think about it… fifty days equals to one and a half month, right? There’s a lot of thing to do in one and a half month, right?”

“Okay slow down,” Sakura raised her palms, “What the heck are you talking about?”

The girl in glasses slowly turned her head, facing Sakura. Her eyeballs rolled up, it was almost reflex for her to look up above Sakura’s head. The latter girl was confused, she rubbed her hair, thinking that there’s something on top of her.

“There’s nothing,” Chaeyeon talked to herself in her heart and sighed in relief. She can’t help but to think about what had happened that day when her glasses accidentally fell off her face.

Chaeyeon doesn’t share about her power to anyone. She kept it to herself all these years because she knows how unbelievable it is. Not to mention, if someone were to know, it’s almost certain that someone would exploit her because of it. That’s why even Sakura, the only person she can have normal human conversation with, doesn’t know anything about it.

Sakura was confused to say the least when she kept on staring at Chaeyeon’s blank face. It was almost like Chaeyeon isn’t engaging in the conversation she started. Sakura scratched her head and started thinking.

“Uh, fifty days huh? I guess it’s a long time…”

“Right.”

Chaeyeon answered almost immediately, then said nothing again.

Feeling like the conversation isn’t going anywhere, Sakura made the initiative to change the topic.

“You did go to the store I told you right?”

“Yes, I did.”

“How was it?”

“It was… a store.”

Sakura crooked her eyebrows at that rather lame response. She picked up the plate pile that she left on the table before. She then proceeded to walk into the backdoor to clean the plates. After she went in, she kept the door wide open so she can continue talking with her boss.

“Did you get to meet her? My high school friend, I mean.”

“Is her name Kwon… Eunbi?”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s her. She’s charming, isn’t she?”

“I guess you can say so.”

Regarding Kwon Eunbi, Chaeyeon could only think about the number. It left way more impression than anything else. In years, Kwon Eunbi’s number is the first she’s seen. For someone she has no interest in, it’s bothering her way too much.

Chaeyeon took the calendar that sits on her table. She flipped the page, revealing the calendar of November. The date today is 1^st of November. If her calculations are correct, Kwon Eunbi’s death will come at 18^th of December, 47 days from now

#

Although Chae Resto only closes on Sundays, there are sometimes special occasion in which Chaeyeon would leave the resto to Sakura. For example, when busy hours are finished and she knows there will be little to no customer for the time being.

The day is Friday, five days after Chaeyeon’s first visit to Kwon’s Optical. She came to pick up her new glasses exactly the day Kwon Eunbi told her to. After the last customer for the afternoon finished their meal, Chaeyeon immediately went out, leaving everything to her employee. To her surprise, Sakura didn’t seem to mind.

Chaeyeon didn’t immediately enter the shop after arriving. She peeked through the glass door and saw that Eunbi was talking with another customer, unlike the other day when she wasn’t working. Chaeyeon may did it unintentionally, but she was very focused on observing Eunbi. Her blurry vision didn’t help at all, but there was something unexplainable that caught her attention; a warm bright light that covers Eunbi when she talks.

Kwon Eunbi, just as Miyawaki Sakura would describe her, is a very charming person. That body language she uses when talking to others only belongs to someone who can quickly become comfortable with anyone. She can easily communicate with her customers, thus the reason why she is liked by so many people.

“Did she look like that when she talked to me last time?”

Chaeyeon began to talk to herself.

The next thing Chaeyeon saw was what looked like a satisfied customer leaving his seat with a wide smile. She moved aside to make room for him to get out.

“Thank you so much, see you next time!”

Eunbi bid farewell to the customer from the counter with a smile and waved. As the glass door began to close, her eyes caught a figure. A bright haired woman with glasses, looking flustered. A customer like that is sure to leave an impression to anyone. That’s why Eunbi was able to quickly recognise her. She left her counter and walked towards the door and held it to welcome her.

“Hi, welcome back, Chaeyeon.”

“Uh, yeah…”

Chaeyeon didn’t expect to be approached like this. She staggered, but quickly regained her composure. With Eunbi holding the door for her, Chaeyeon walked into the store, like any regular customer.

Eunbi closed the door after Chaeyeon got in and took a seat. She walked back to the counter and asked to see Chaeyeon’s receipt.

Without Eunbi saying anything, Chaeyeon took out the receipt folded into small piece of paper from her pocket and gave it to Eunbi.

To be honest, Eunbi didn’t even need the receipt to know which glasses belongs to Chaeyeon. It was clear that Eunbi was excited for Chaeyeon’s return. She was amused to say the least from their last encounter.

Chaeyeon watched from afar as Eunbi went to the cabinet in the back to fetch her glasses. Somehow, her back view amazed Chaeyeon. It portrayed everything but a silly store keeper that loves to customer.

After taking Chaeyeon’s glasses from the top part of the cabinet, Eunbi closed the cabinet door and went back to the counter. She took a small white box and put the glasses in it alongside a piece of cloth. Then, she bended down to take a paper bag to put it in.

Eunbi’s eyes rolled up as her hands worked. She saw that Chaeyeon was looking at her, which took her by surprise.

“You’re like a different person today, Chaeyeon.”   

“Huh? How so?”

“You couldn’t even see me eye to eye the last time. Now you're looking at me like this. Did something change?”

“Ah—” a faint voice escaped Chaeyeon’s mouth.

Chaeyeon was trying to think of a logical answer. She can’t simply say that since she saw her number already, there’s no point in looking away anymore.

Though in the end, Chaeyeon simply answered, “Not really.”

Eunbi puffed her cheeks while nodding. After she finished packing up Chaeyeon’s she pushed it closer to Chaeyeon’s reach, “Here you go~”

Chaeyeon put her hands on it and lifted it up while at the same time, stood up from her seat.

“Thank you,” Chaeyeon said as she prepared to leave the store.

“Ah, wait—”

Chaeyeon turned her head, surprised because Eunbi stopped her from leaving. With her eyes wide open, she asked, “What?”

Eunbi paused. They stared at each other for a moment without saying anything. The situation became awkward as it is filled with awkwardness. After a while, Eunbi suddenly burst into laughter, leaving Chaeyeon in confusion.

“Haha, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh…” said Eunbi as she tried to regain her composure, “You haven’t paid for that, you know.”

Almost immediately Chaeyeon could feel her face going red and hot. She choked on her own breath as she realised how embarrassing she is at the moment. As quickly as possible, she opened her purse, took out some money, and gave it to Eunbi, “I- I’m so sorry—”

Eunbi’s smile slowly became wider as Chaeyeon’s embarrassment became more and more visible. She took the money and bowed in gratitude, “Thank you, Chaeyeon.”

“Yeah…”

“Hey,” once again, Eunbi stopped Chaeyeon from leaving.

Chaeyeon was traumatized by the incident a moment ago, she became stiff and avoided eye contact.

“Come on, don’t be so stiff.” Eunbi let out a small laugh. Then, she jokingly asked, “Are you always like this or does this happen with me only?”

“Sorry, I’m being weird.”

“Oh, please don’t say that. At worst you’re just funny.”

“Um… I’m sorry, I still have work to do so I’ll take my leave. Thank you so much for today.”

“Wait, let’s exchange numbers then,” said Eunbi, out of nowhere.

“—What?”

In response, it was Chaeyeon’s pure expression of confusion. The sudden invitation from Eunbi to become closer wasn’t expected at all.

“Yeah, yeah, sounds like a good idea, right? We can become friends.”

Eunbi walked around the counter, fetching a pen and a piece of paper while nodding the whole process and talking. She didn’t even need Chaeyeon’s approval to do whatever she wanted.

Once she got everything she needed, she went back to her original position and began writing down her number on the paper. Without any sign of uncomfortableness, Eunbi handed over her number.

“Here’s number. Please, anytime you’ve got leisure time, contact me. I’d love to spend more time with you.”

“Uh…”

Though hesitant, Chaeyeon took the paper. Her face was still expressing confusion. Her eye rolled around and gaped. She was thinking about what to say in this situation, but couldn’t think of any good one.

“Thanks,” Chaeyeon said.

Eunbi replied with a smile, “Have a good day, Lee Chaeyeon.”

Chaeyeon didn’t say anything else. She walked, this time slowly and calmly, towards the door while still holding Eunbi’s number and the paper bag on one hand. With the other one, she opened the shop door, causing the bell attached on the door to ring.   

“Hey, Eunbi.”

Chaeyeon, for the first time, called Eunbi by her name. Eunbi looked up in response, “What is it?”

“My resto is just around the corner. Maybe if you’d like to, you can visit sometimes.”

Eunbi’s eyes lighten up and she smiled widely, “Oh, really. Yeah, sure, I’ll find some time.”

After finally getting out of the store, Chaeyeon, for some reason, felt so exhausted. That was the first time she had such conversation with another person other than Sakura. She felt like she’s back to who she was before her power manifested.

Needlessly to say, Chaeyeon went back home bringing something she didn’t plan at all. The seed of friendship, the seed of attachment to someone who’s going to die in 45 days.

Chaeyeon stared onto Eunbi’s number blankly. As she walked down the street, her eyes were fixated on the piece of paper in her hand. People even avoided walking near her because they were scared of her bumping onto them.

Once in a while, Chaeyeon would let out a huge, huge sigh. During the whole trip going home, Chaeyeon kept on repeating the same sentence in her head.

“Lee Chaeyeon… what have you brought yourself into…”

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