CHAPTER 1

 

— 𝓜 —

 

Haneul was a er for views.

 

The horizon that greeted her on a morning run inspired a bright day to come, with the sun radiant and the soft clouds hanging delicately across the blue sky. The suns warmth reflecting the crystal-like water of the Han River stretched so far it erased the usual gloomy paths she jogged along in winter and welcomed the first few days of spring. It was as if the sun was beaming just for her at a time she was the most uneasy.

 

She halted in her tracks to catch a breath after reaching her usual stopping point in front of a bench, resting her palms on her knees. After jogging for two years - three days a week - you'd think by now the exhaustion would be overcome, however, for Haneul it was the complete opposite case. She could never conquer the sheer tiredness of the distance from her apartment to the designated turn-around point at the Hangang river park. It was not too long of a trek, that is until you account for the jog back to her apartment.

 

A relaxing and soothing playlist with wireless earphones was Haneul's stress reliever when jogging along the beautiful river, but when her legs were feeling heavy it only added to the exhaustion.

 

So there, giving one final smile to the sun and water, Haneul switched to her secret playlist of motivation which was produced in the form of energetic pop songs. She mustered her breath, spinning around to start her gruelling journey back. A journey that was cut short when she collided with another jogger.

 

It took milliseconds for her to register her head bumping against the fleece of a physique that felt like a brick. Her hands originally in a jogging motion were replaced with palms spread out as if it would help to stop the collision.

 

"O-Oh, sorry," she groaned at the impact, hearing a clicking sound on the concrete path and coincidently her thrilling music paused.

 

Out of reflex, Haneul immediately tapped against her empty left ear and crouched down to pick up her missing earphone. Yet Haneul was left frowning with no sign of an earphone. It must have rolled off the pavement and into the sprouting grass, and in her peripheral vision, the person she collided with beginning to jog away.

 

"Yah!" She called out but they did not look back. All she could see was the back of a tall male who was almost two metres away at this point which propelled Haneul to call out again.

 

With no response twice, she decided to sprint forward and grip onto his grey hood, an action that she would later regret.

 

"Hey, did you not hear me?" She confronted, her nerves and confidence in a war.

 

"'Not interested," he was quick to say as he began to turn around again.

 

She was dumbfounded. "H-Hey, wait!" She tugged on the fabric enlacing his arm, "I-I- You've got it all wrong. Did you forget that you just bumped into me?"

 

The man simply took out his own earphones and sighed, explaining his little understanding of the situation. Haneul had never seen this dark-haired man before in the years she jogged along this route. He must be new to the neighbourhood.

 

"I told you I'm not int-"

 

"Interested?" Haneul finished his sentence and raised a brow, "Well, here is something to be interested about. You," she pointed at him, "just bumped into me," she pointed back at herself, "and made me lose an earphone in the grass. Surely you could clearly see me standing there and turning around, and yet you didn't think to move just a little bit to the side. I was frozen for like a solid minute."

 

The look he gave her was pure irritation that equally vexed Haneul. She was observant, noticing how he side-eyed her.

 

Another sigh escaped his lips. "What exactly do you want me to do about it?" He pushed her pointing fingers down.

 

Haneul pulled her hand away and scoffed at his ridiculous question. She believed the answer was clear to anyone with common sense and human decency which he definitely had little of. It was daunting how insignificant this stranger could make her feel. She hated that feeling the most.

 

She ran her fingers across her hair bewildered by the situation. "Well, the least you could do is help me look for it if you're not gonna apologise and accuse me of being interested in you. Which I am not."

 

"I don't have time." He responded nonchalantly.

 

"And you think I do? Whatever, can you at least be decent and say sorry?" She requested, a gleam in her eye starting to form.

 

"Sorry." He said lacking the actual feeling of being sorry. "There? Now could you let me go?”

 

She unknowingly stared at him for a second. Twitching her jaw. In thought. Something was missing.

 

The man rubbed against his temples and snapped her back to reality when he said, "Listen, I don't have time for this. If you're not gonna accept my apology I'm still gonna go."

 

She slightly shook her head in an effort to return her mind back to her physical body. "Oh. Yeah. Go." She nodded.

 

Haneul turned around back to the estimated site of her missing earphone as she heard his footsteps behind her escape. She cursed herself imagining an alternative universe where she had bought the more expensive wireless earphones because at least then she could track them, a function her lower-end device failed to cater. The frustrated woman muttered curses, squating down and feeling the grass in hopes to find the missing left white bud. She checked her right wrist for her smart watch. What a way to start the day at 6.09.am! Haneul shook her head and fixated on the patch of grass. No earphone in sight.

 

 

The morning had barely passed when Haneul had to attend her shift as a registered nurse. Morning shifts were Haneul's favorite as they made her feel like she had more time to spend on the rest of her day than any other shift. Aside from not working an average 9-5 job, Haneul also enjoyed the ambience of the hospital during the day when it was bustling.

 

It was almost around brunch when visitors started to pile at the hospital in desperation to see their loved ones, and under Haneul's care, there was a particular patient as desperate as a visitor to see her loved one.

 

Although she often frequented the hospital because she was quite clumsy with her frail structure, Jeong Somin aged like fine wine at fifty-nine years old. Haneul noted she had the most impeccable skin for her age. She was also a poised woman with refined mannerisms that Haneul admired, all whilst being humble about her personal and work life even when Haneul knew her salary would be fifty times more than hers. After all, she was in the care of doctors and nurses employed by South Korea's finest private hospital.

 

Haneul admired the perfectly handcrafted bouquet of carnations that was always beside her bed sent from the son she would fondly speak of at times.

 

Haneul had been taking care of the woman for only a week since she got admitted, however, she was yet to see the son the woman describes as handsome, charming and well-raised. In fact, she had asked nurses previously assigned to the patient if the son regularly visited but she was always let down by shaking heads. They say his visits are rare and at times none at all with only the beautifully arranged bouquet of carnations for his mother to remember him by. This news was disappointing knowing how Somin would constantly ask about her son's whereabouts and Haneul could not give a distinctive answer.

 

"I-Is my son coming today? Do you know?" She would restlessly ask immediately when Haneul entered her room.

 

"I'm just gonna check your vitals if that's alright, Somin," Haneul would divert, hauling in the observation machine. Referring to her senior by first name was quite inproper, but Somin hated formalities and would rave on to treat her as a friend, not a patient nor superior. "How was your lunch?" She would make conversation to distract Somin.

 

"Well darling, pardon my language but it was as ty as lunch you'd get in a public hospital," Haneul giggled as the woman threw her hands in the air. "You know, I guess I get fed in the end so I can't complain." She bobbed her head down, but it doesn't stay down for long. "But if I'm spending a fortune for this hospital I'd expect better food."

 

"Well, the kitchen is coming around for snacks soon so perhaps you could order your favorite cheese and crackers," Haneul suggested, wrapping the cuff around Somin's upper arm. Somin was a sweet patient and always patiently allowed the nurses to take her vitals with zero complaints, but as soon as Haneul was finished she would pounce again with more questions.

 

"Haneul, are you sure my son is not coming today?" She pouted, clasping Haneul's hands.

 

Haneul bit down on her lips trying to conjure a new excuse to tell the poor woman. "Somin your son is-... Here."

 

Maybe by coincidence, a colleague had poked her head through the door at the perfect time to introduce someone. "Hey sister, this is the son."

 

And maybe by coincidence, that son just so happened to be the jogger she collided with this spring morning.

 

 

His appearance seemed to noticeably change from their morning run encounter. This time he appeared more presentable than a hoodie and gym shorts, styling a tie and dress shoes instead just like an average classy businessman. His brunette hair was now gelled swept back, however, it still gave the illusion that it barely took much effort to do so as strands of hair resting on his forehead found ways to let loose. As if he woke up with perfect hair. Even if he was simply standing at the door frame a distance away, Haneul swore you could catch a whiff of his woody and musky scented cologne. He was as handsome as his mother made him out to be.

 

When observing a person, the most identifiable part of them is their expression. An expression can tell thousands of stories and if they are happy, sad, angry, frustrated or even heartbroken. Expressions are a conduit for emotions, and not that Haneul's nursing experience gave her the power to read people’s faces, but it could be assumed his face told the story of someone who is a little confused and mostly annoyed. He undoubtedly recognised her.

 

"Is something wrong, sister?" The nurse asked, shaking Haneul back to reality.

 

"No, not at all," she cleared . "Thank you, sister. Please, go along." She dismissed her with a courteous wave of her hand.

 

"Jaehyun!" Somin called out from behind her, opening her arms wide for a hug that her son embarrasingly rejected.

 

Jaehyun was truly what his appearance made him embody; a macho man. He shook off his mother's endearing advancements and stood by the side of her bed opposite to Haneul who was just about finished checking Somin's vitals. His hands thoroughly fished through his trouser pockets to pull out a buzzing phone. He was the type of man who spoke on his own accord and not others. The type of man who paraded with authority. He was definitely a businessman, all right.

 

"Have you been well?" His mother asked in a voice laced with honey, patting his arm.

 

"Mom, I'm really busy," he said with a sigh checking his phone. "I came to show my face this once so you don't lose your mind, but I don't have any time to come to the hospital anymore."

 

Haneul was stunned at how he could say all that to his mother, in that tone, whilst still checking his phone. She was positive any son would be worried sick and showering their hospitalised mother with love and attention but no, not him. Once again, she found another telling expression, and this time on his mother's angelic face that had gone sullen. His mother was heartbroken.

 

The young nurse cleared to announce her presence and her leave. "Well, I'm all done checking your vitals. I'll get going now."

 

"H-Hang on!" She grasped Haneul's scrubs before tapping on her son, "Jaehyun this is Haneul, the lovely nurse I've been telling you about."

 

He took a moment to glance at her while her eyes trailed everywhere but to him, not wanting to be recognised if there was the slightest chance he did not. "Oh. Yeah," and again he was fixated on scrolling through the digital screen which left the two women awkward. It was as if he still had earphones in and was not able to hear a single sound even if you were to cause an explosion near his ear drums. The character Haneul had seen reigned in arrogance, yet she could not quite put her finger on a word most fitting for him.

 

"See you later, Somin," Haneul gingerly smiled, rolling the observation machine and herself out the door. She almost made it a few inches out of the unsettling room till she was stopped for one more time.

 

Haneul didn't mean to eavesdrop outside the door she was seconds away from closing but she just couldn't help it when she heard Somin say to her arrogant son; "What do you think about Haneul?" Of course, there was no response and most likely aired out with a shrug, but the door was only an inch open when she continued with; "She's a nice girl and works hard to take care of me. She's really pretty too, isn't she?..." His eyes have probably rolled at her with a sigh following. "Come on Jaehyun, I'm not getting any younger and I sure as hell am not getting any better. Jaehyun, I really wish you would just settle down and-"

 

"I seriously can't have this conversation with you right now, mom," he cut her off, "I'm gonna hop out for a sec, I have a call from a client to take soon." His thunderous footsteps were coming closer and closer. Then the door hinges swung open and in instinct Haneul fiddled with the observation machine, tracing her hand on the screen and pretending to analyse Somin's vitals. She wore a sugarcoated smile to the man exiting the room hoping he'd just pass but instead he looked straight at her. "Where do I dispose of this bouquet, Miss Haneul?" Jaehyun asked, waving the carnations.

 

"Sorry?" Haneul's smile became more timid. "That bouquet was sent only yesterday."

 

"They're wilting."

 

"I'm no expert on flowers but they should be fine if you put them in a vase with water for a few more days, or so I've been told." Haneul assured with the flowers still being in great condition despite the tiniest signs of withering but he simply shook his head.

 

Upon inspection, she really could not tell what the problem was with the flowers as they remained as beautiful as the day they arrived. Perhaps a few brown spots but still beautiful. She could, however, make the judgement that Jaehyun was a nitpicky person. It even translated from the shiny and polished dress shoes on his feet to his dry-cleaned suit without a crimp in sight. Everything about him was as professional as Haneul's work ethic. Haneul discovered this all from the early morning to afternoon lunch.

 

"Mr Jeong, I'll take care of those flowers for you," she said with a gentle voice. "It would be a waste to throw away pretty flowers so soon. I'll put them in a vase myself for your mother to enjoy."

 

He shrugged his shoulders. "Just chuck them and I'll buy new ones."

 

"Please, I insist. Your mother has been adoring these flowers since she got them." Her doe eyes pleaded at him.

 

Jaehyun did not mutter a word or make an expression to give her an answer. Rather, he was distracted by the buzzing in his pockets again, pulling the phone to his ear and answering a person who was probably miles away rather than the person in front of him.

 

In a matter of seconds, Haneul found the bouquet shoved in her hands as the busy man walked away. She scoffed at the sight of his back, a sight she could not stand since this morning, and in her mind, Haneul was spewing profanities like a machine gun to tell him off for his callous behaviour.

 

And with these profanities, Haneul had finally found the word most fitting for him.

 

Jeong Jaehyun is an .

 

— 𝓜 —

 

Beads of sweat were trickling down Haneul's forehead more than usual on a breezy morning run.

 

Haneul could not shake off the feeling of loss from the week prior which was even more noticeable when she began to increase her pace of running. She had not seen her beloved earphone since that fateful day, but she also had not seen him which put her mind at ease. Yet she couldn't help but think there was no telling if one morning he would collide with her once again and put her in a foul mood.

 

"So your patient's hot and succesful son is the same guy you met on your morning run last week?" Asked Haru, a nosy jogger Haneul befriended forever ago.

 

Haneul elbowed her friend. "Hey, in which sentence did I ever say he was hot? And did you miss the part he lost my earphone?" Haneul huffed, side-eyeing her as they jogged parallel.

 

The girl tried to hide her mischievous grin, "Sure I did, I even payed close attention when you described the impact as bumping into rock hard abs."

 

"I said it was like bumping into a brick. Nothing about abs." Haneul nudged her in disbelief. The woman was grieving.

 

Haru's grin grew