"It's quiet tonight..." Heejin muttered while gazing out the window. Even the street looks emptier that night.

"good for us. I always like a quiet night." Yoonjung replied. 

"oh! is that snow?" Heejin jumped off the chair and walked around the counter to look outside the window, "it is snowing! first snow!" 

Yoonjung joined Heejin. They stayed there for a while, watching the first snows dropped. 

"Oh, look. Your boyfriend is here."

Kang arrived on his motorbike and he parked on his usual spot on the side of the store. He took off his helmet but didn't get off the motorbike rightaway, instead checking on his phone.

"Must be nice to have a boyfriend that handsome." Heejin sighed. 

Yoongjun can only laughed while on her way outside to greet Kang. 

Kang was still sitting on his bike, head down focusing on his phone. There was something different about him that night. She couldn't tell exactly why, but he just did. She hated that feeling, like she was about to lose something. 

"Hi." She said.

Kang looked up abruptly, as if he was not expecting her at all. "Oh, hi." 

"Are you okay?" 

"Huh? yeah, no... my friend, she got into accident." he said restlessly. 

"Oh no." She reached out for his hand, "is she okay? do you need to go?" 

"I think I should." He put his helmet back on and started the engine. "I'm sorry. I'll call you later, ok?"

and just like that, he left.

Heejin came over after seeing Kang left, "What happened?" 

"He went to see his friend who just got into an accident..." Yoonjung said while staring at the direction where Kang drove off an disappeared into the night. 

"Oh no. I hope everything is ok."

"Yah... me too..." Yoonjung replied thoughtlessly. 

 

---------------------------------

 

Yoonjung's head is in pain. She didn't get even a second of sleep last night. She waited and waited, but Kang never called her. He didn't reply her text either. She looked at the time and she was supposed to be out to do delivery half an hour ago, but she is still stuck in bed. 

After much effort, and not wanting to worry her grandma, she finally dragged herself out of the bed. 

She kept her phones at all times. Upon hearing any notification alerts, she would frantically check to see if it's a message or a call from Kang. She wanted to call him so badly, but she didn't want to act clingy or disturb him if it wasn't a good time for him to talk.

It wasn't until later that day when she finally received a reply from Kang. It was a short one, too. Only said 'Sorry for the late reply. Everything is ok. I will see you tonight in the park at 8.' 

Despite what he said, she doesn't think that things are ok, not at all. But she had no choice but to wait for him to see her tonight. 

"Yoonjung." a familiar voice called out to her from near distance. 

Yoonjung looked up and saw Seojoon was walking passed by. 

"Seojoon." she smiled.

"It's been a while." he sat down on the swing next to her.  

"Yah it has." 

After she was officially in a relationship with Kang, she decided it was only fair to stop meeting Seojoon privately. They still talked occassionally, but no longer spent time just the two of them alone. 

"It's so sad... now that you have a boyfriend, you dont want to hang out with me anymore." Seojoon spoke with a fake whine.

"Sorry. I just don't think it's nice to do that, looking at our history."

"Still, it's not like there's anything between us anymore. I am sure he doesn't mind." 

"But I mind..." she said while looking straight to his eyes. She knew very well what it is like to worry about someone, she wouldn't want to cause her partner to have the same feeling. 

Seojoon sighed, "When they said 'you really don't know what you got until it's gone', it's really true." 

"Stop saying that already. You need to move on." Yoonjung replied with a small laugh. 

"You look a bit pale, though. Are you okay?" Seojoon stopped the swing from moving and moved closer to Yoonjung. 

"Yoonjung." Kang's voice interrupted. 

Both Seojoon and Yoonjung responsively moved away from each other. 

"Hi. It's nice to see you again." Seojoon stood up and reached his hand out, but Kang was unmoving. 

"Kang..." Yoonjung was about to interfered, but Seojoon quickly stopped her. 

"I go first ok? call me if you need anything." he winked at her. 

Yoonjung missed it, but Seojoon gave Kang a glare before he left. 

"Sorry, I'm late." Kang's mood quickly changed, unlike one minute before when Seojoon was there. He spoke to Yoonjung gently, didn't even ask about Seojoon being there with her. He sat on the swing that was previously occupied by Seojoon.

"How is your friend?" she asked. 

Kang didnt answer rightaway.

"Is it Arin?" She asked, surprised by her own courage to find out the truth.

He nodded. 

It felt like someone grabbed her heart and squeezed it, but she controlled herself not to show it. 

"What happened to her?" 

"She fell down the stairs at work and broke her leg." 

"so you were with her all night and all day today?" 

He nodded again. 

"What about her family?"

"Her family are overseas. They heard about the accident, but they can't fly back right now." 

Does it mean you have to take care of her? the question that she wanted to ask but held back. She didn't want to hear the answer to that question because if he said yes, she wouldn't know what to say or do.

"Because of that... I mean... not all the time, but I might have to..." Kang was trailing, it was the first time Yoonjung saw him talking in riddles."... help her out a little bit." 

"What do you mean 'help her out'?" now that he has said it, there is no choice for her to ask more questions. 

"I need to help her go home from the hospital, and a little bit more after, to get her settle at home. She said she already arranged for someone to come and help her, but the person won't come until next week."

"Ok."

"Is that ok?"

"Ok." Yoonjung repeated.

No. it is not ok, it is definitely not ok. She hated herself for not being able to say it out loud. She hated that she couldn't put her own feeling over someone she didn't even know.        

 

 

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