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Pieces of My Hearto 1 7 ;
"Is she the girl you were telling me about?"
The young man smiled to himself as he took the seat next to his grandfather, which was previously occupied by a girl who had left the room in a hurry. He couldn't help but to stare at her back figure, until she eventually escaped from his sight.
"Yeah. A stunner, isn't she?"
The old man chuckled loudly as he patted his grandson's arm lightly. "What are you still doing here, not chasing after her?"
He paused for a moment, before saying,
"I don't want to scare her away for the second time."
~
It started raining heavily all of a sudden, so I hurriedly seek refugee in the nearest cafe that I could find. It was practically deserted, except for the last table at the very end, already taken by a young school boy completely engrossed in his book. And another one near the door, where a sleeping figure was already slumped, her long hair covering almost half of the table.
I chose a seat somewhere near the middle and set my bag down next to my left. Instead of immediately placing my order, I threw my gaze out of the window, listening intently to the sound of droplets hitting against the glass panel.
"Your hot chocolate and brownie, Ms."
Whirling around, I quickly said, "But I didn't order - "
I stopped short when I realised whose pair of warm hazel eyes I were looking into.
Regaining back my composure, I turned away from the delicious smelling drink, and very tempting dessert, much to my unwillingness. "You got the wrong table."
But of course, he isn't him if he's not trying to create troubles for me. To my dismay, he slid in the booth opposite of mine and shoved his face directly in front of me.
"This is on the house. You shouldn't be passing up free food."
"I should, when it comes from you," I replied coolly.
Woohyun made a low disgruntled sound and pushed the plate nearer to me. "Eat it, Park Chorong. I know you want to."
"No, I don't."
"Yes, you do."
I shot him a glare. "Why are you always so annoying?"
"I wouldn't be if it wasn't so hard trying to impress you."
I thought I heard him wrong. "What?"
"Nothing." He quickly looked away, and then standing up abruptly. "Just...take it please. As a peace offering, from me to you."
I raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Seriously?"
He shrugged, smile a little, and asked, "Did you like the flowers?"
I decided to make him sweat, just slightly. Picking up the fork which had been provided beside the plate, I cut off a small piece of the brownie and slowly inserted it inside my mouth.
I took my time chewing it, with Woohyun watching me closely the whole time. After finally swallowing, I coyly said, "What flowers?"
"The flowers...the red ones," he said slowly, fiddling with the hem of his waiter's apron as he did so. "I had it delivered to your house, a few days ago."
I pretended to think about it for a moment.
"Ah, so those were from you?" At his nod, I just smirked. "I had my cousin threw it away. I'm allergic to flowers."
"You are?" He sounded genuinely surprised, with his mouth hanging slightly open as he stared at me in disbelief. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't know."
I finished up the last bit of the brownie and dabbed at the corner of my mouth with the given serviette.
"Do you mind packing this up for me, please?" I asked, pointing towards the hot chocolate.
Woohyun blinked his eyes for a couple of times, before he finally came back to his senses and nodded his head. "Sure, I'll be right back."
As soon as he disappered behind the counter, I let out a loud sigh and buried my face in the palm of my hands. Honestly, I was still thinking about the mysterious guy I had met earlier at the welfare home. There was this nagging feeling inside of me, like I was supposed to remember something - but I wasn't getting it and it was seriously bugging my conscience.
When I heard footsteps approaching, and a second later, someone settling down on the seat in front of mine - I easily thought it was Woohyun and so I said, "Thanks for the treat by the way. Maybe you can do this for me again the next time I drop by."
"Uh, I was just thinking of treating you, but I haven't exactly done it."
At the sound of a completely new, stranger's voice, my eyes flew open as I lifted up my head curiously.
"You?!"
~
He was having the time of his life. First, surprising her at the welfare home. And now, he couldn't believe his luck of running into her again at the cafe - so he decided not to let the opportunity slip by.
"Hello," he greeted her calmly, with a happy grin on his face. "Nice seeing you again so soon."
"What are you doing here?" she hissed, tone as though she was accusing him of following her. Not that he minded - he actually loved seeing her getting all worked up and angry.
It made her even more beautiful.
"Just picking something up for my harabeoji. He loves the snacks here."
"He does?"
"Yeap. I always have to sneak them in though. Nana would probably ban me from visiting him if she knew that I've been feeding him sweets."
He saw her expression softening. "I'd love to talk to your grandfather more."
"And you're welcome to do so."
She studied his face carefully. "You still haven't tell me your name."
"Ah, so you remembered."
She shrugged. "It's fine if you're not telling."
She was acting all indifferent about it, but from the look of her eyes - he knew it was killing her inside to know who he actually is. She has never realised it, but she has this tell-tale sign that will give her away when she's lying or hiding something. And it was one of the many things he had learnt about her when they used to hang out together during those days.
Park Chorong has never changed.
He took his wallet out from the back pocket of his jeans and opened it up in front of her, revealing the two small passport photos which were kept inside. One, was a current picture of his twenty-one age self, and the other was taken when he was about 11 years old - during the time when he had met her.
"Do you remember this boy?" he asked, pointing towards the picture of his younger self, wearing black thick-rimmed glasses, smiling bashfully for the camera.
She leaned foward in her own seat to take a closer look. At first, she furrowed her brows together, nose scrunched up as she thought hard about where she had seen the boy. "I don't think - "
He expected it. Even when he had his hopes up, even when he has never given up on searching for her, even when he promised himself that he will find her - he still wasn't angry that Chorong doesn't remember him. He told himself that he wouldn't get angry.
He wouldn't blame Chorong, and he wouldn't force her.
He started to smile, as painful as it was, as heartbreaking as it felt. "I know - "
Suddenly, she gasped out loud.
"No...no way..."
She looked up from the picture she had been staring at and locked eyes with him; as though trying to search for that coward, nerdy boy she used to know during middle school, and instead finding a grown up, confident young man in place of the boy who used to stutter.
"J-Joonmyun?"
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