Chapter 1.

It was such an unexpected meeting. The two of us, right now, at this place. There am I standing not far away from the door when I saw you. You stand on the edge of the rooftop; your teary eyes looking straight at me.

***

The clock has already struck 4 in the morning. A certain bartender had just finished her shift at a local, small pub. She loosens her semi-short hair and tiredly let out a sigh. It was a long night. During the weekends, there would be more customers than usual. Hence, the bar would usually be the most packed area out of anywhere. For 33 years old Kim Taeyeon, her age and rather small, petite body would usually be tired out by the end of the service.

She pours herself a drink inside a small glass filled with a single, round ice that fits perfectly in the middle. “Cheers.” She quietly said to herself before taking a sip of the strong alcoholic drink. She hisses at the bitter aftertaste. A woman approaches her and sits at one of the stools at the bar. Taeyeon pours another glass without bothering to look at the person in front of her. “Bar’s close. Go home now.” She plainly said.

“I’m pretty sure the owner can be here whenever the she wants.” The blonde-haired woman replied harshly. Kim Hyoyeon, the owner of the pub as well as Taeyeon’s close cousin. She has been operating the place since she was in her 20s and have let Taeyeon to work here after she quit her old job around 6 years ago.

“If you’re here to drink, I do not allow that even if you are the owner.” Taeyeon took the bottle away from the counter-top and put it back where it belongs. Hyoyeon scoffs at her. Well, Taeyeon pretty much knew her drinking addiction was so bad back then that the pub almost went bankrupt since the owner did not handle things well. Thankfully, she managed to recovered in just a year and went back to managing the old pub.

“You’ve been working non-stop. I think the last time you took a day off was two months-.” “Three.” Taeyeon corrected her. Hyoyeon raised her eyebrows while mouthing “way worse.”

“For God’s sake, Tae. Take a break once in a while. You’re going to break your bones soon if you kept being a workaholic.” Hyoyeon said. At this point, Taeyeon heard nothing but useless nagging from her cousin.

“Huh, I don’t have anything to do at home. I rather used those time to make money. Besides, I’ve been paid the same amount of money for the past three years. Taking a break is the least of worries.” Taeyeon replied without taking a single look at Hyoyeon who practically has an ugly expression on her right now.

“I’ll just raised your damn salary then. Jeez.”

Taeyeon clicked her tongue. “Don’t bother, I would like the tough way. No breaks. Just working here every day, servicing creepy customers.” She takes the half -filled glass in her hand and leaves Hyoyeon behind who could only shouted “yah!”

As usual, she makes her way upstairs where the rooftop is located. Taeyeon is not much of a smoker. But she does take a puff once in a while and it’s usually after she finishes her tiring shift.

She never likes the idea of her smoking in front of the public. Maybe she just hates the judgemental eyes of those old uncles and aunts. They always say the tiest things about others without realizing their own children were probably a much worse bastard themselves.

She arrives in front of the exit door that led to the rooftop. She walks out; welcomed by the gentle, cold breeze of the city. She shivers a little as she holds her leather jacket tightly around her to gain more warmth. The rooftop is empty. There’s only a few benches and some flower pots with wilted flowers. No one really comes up here except her. It was deemed her personal space, even amongst the staffs in the pub.

With shivering hands, she struggles to take the pack of cigarettes from her jeans. She manages to take it out a few seconds later and takes one cigarette out. Somehow, her hand refuses to work with her today. The cigarette fell from her hand and rolls away after being blown by the breeze. “Oh, come on.” Taeyeon silently grunts in distress. She is about to take a new one only to see an empty pack with only some debris left inside. She scoffs. She indeed has such a bad luck today.

Grunting in dissatisfaction; Taeyeon lazily walks a tad faster to chase over the rolling cigarette. “Gotcha.” She bent down to pick it up and brushes off a bit of dirt on it. She put it between her lips and was about to light it up when she sees a shadow. ‘, is someone else here?’ She looks closely at the unmoving shadow. From the looks of it, it seems like someone is standing at the edge of the building.

Huh?

Taeyeon immediately runs to the other side of the rooftop only to see a brunette standing at the edge of the rooftop. “!” She runs to her but stops when the person turns around to look at her. She seemed young; perhaps still in her mid-twenties. Her eyes look puffy, she must have cried too much earlier on. Even her makeup is completely smudge. Both of them look at one another, except Taeyeon’s eyes filled with worriedness and the other is just completely empty.

“H-hey, let’s not do any rash decisions. C-come here… to me.” Taeyeon cautiously spoke. One wrong word and that woman would step forward to her death.

“I’m…” The stranger paused for a short moment. “I don’t even remember how I got here.” She answered in a rather slow pace.

Why me? That is the only question Taeyeon could have think of. She is very bad at talking with people. Communication is what she lacks the most. Pretty surprising for a bartender working at an always packed pub. She doesn’t really know how to handle this. Her mind is completely blank.

“I…” The woman turns back her gaze down below where the streets are still filled with cars. “I think I just came up here to see the beautiful view. The lights, the buzz, the crowd…”

“M-me too!” Taeyeon raised her voice accidentally due to anxiousness. She slaps shut and shook her head violently to calm herself down. “Me too. I love the view.” She once again spoke; this time with much gentle tone.

“Ah, really?” The stranger did not move an inch. But her eyes are still glued at the concrete floor way down below. “I wonder…how does it feels to just land there? Would it hurt? It’s always in my mind.”

Taeyeon gulps nervously. She needs to act on her own and she needs to do it fast. This woman would jump at any moment if she waits for any help. Following her guts, Taeyeon slowly steps forward but in a very slow, cautious pace. She did not want to surprise her and make her stumble nor did she want her to leap forward when she starts running.

“You know, you should get down. Let’s talk.”

But it seems the words were not the right one. A single tear drops down the brunette’s cheek. “They all said the same thing. Over and over again. I heard it a thousand times. It makes me more suffocated.”

“Fine, let’s not talk then.” Taeyeon spoke as she gets closer and closer. She looks so near yet so far. It feels like she is travelling 300 kilometres away. Her rapid heart beat did not help at all.

“Then, what do we do now?” The brunette asked.

“I want you… to come down.” Taeyeon said. This time, it made her turns her head around to look at her again. Her eyes once again releasing tears like a flowing faucet. Taeyeon stops at her current spot. She is not tall but she knows for sure she can grab her by the waist quick if she ever tries to jump.

“Why would I come down when I can just…” The brunette takes a bit step forward.

“STOP!” Taeyeon shouted. “Stop- don’t do it. Don’t… it’s not worth it.”

The woman scoffs sarcastically at her words. “Why…? You’re basically just a stranger, aren’t you? Even if I die, it won’t concern you at all.”

“I know.” Taeyeon answered. “But it is still my concern. I don’t know who you are but I want you to not do it.”

“I don’t find any reason to listen to your words… It feels painful. Everything does. I felt so much pain that it numbs me. I feel as if I am a living corpse.”

“What’s your name?”

The brunette got taken aback by her question. “Jung…Jessica. Jung Jessica.” She replied.

“Alright, Jessica. I do not want to see a young woman like you died in vain because you felt defeated by life. I know there’s so much ed up things in this world. But I promised you. If you get down now, I will be here.”

Jessica’s eyes seemed to show emotions now. Unlike earlier where it’s completely soulless. “B-but it’s all lies in the end, right?” She is smiling yet crying. Her emotions are so messed up she doesn’t know which one she should express.

Taeyeon shook her head; maintaining eye contact with Jessica. “Look, I won’t say a thing. I won’t advice you or give you encouragements. But I’ll be damn sure to be here to listen to every ed-up problem you have inside your mind. No judgements. No critics. I’ll be your listener.”

Jessica looks at her with a different gaze. It seems she has gained back her sanity. Taeyeon continues on. “Save your tears.” She said softly as she reaches her hand out to Jessica. “I’m here.”

Jessica, although a bit hesitant, still reaches her hand out. As she gets nearer, Taeyeon tries to be as quick as possible and grabs her by the waist. She pulls her from the edge with all her body weight. They both fell down onto the cold floor with Jessica landing on top of Taeyeon’s body.

“God…Ouch.” Taeyeon grunted in pain. She looks at the person she is holding and her nose immediately pick up a strong scent of alcohol. “You’re drunk, huh.” Taeyeon sighed. It seemed Jessica have already passed out. Since she is taller, Taeyeon could not move or even budged. She sighs back in defeat.

“Guess we need help.” Taeyeon said.

Such a wild Saturday night.

***

Hello! The first chapter has been posted! This is more towards an intro so it is short. I did planned to write short chapters unless I suddenly swerved towards writing a 20 pages one. Well, I hope you guys enjoy reading the first part of the story. Thank you so much for subscribing and thank you for the wishes as well. <3