- One -

Chorong first met Joonmyun at one of those rundown bus stations – not waiting for a bus, but instead he was lying down on the bench, taking up the whole space by himself and only leaving a little spot for her. He was curled up due to the freezing weather, body shivering and lips trembling. The thin piece of clothing hadn’t been much of a help either. He had his eyes closed, but Chorong doubted that he was in a deep sleep.

Slowly and carefully, she reached out her hand and tapped him on the shoulder lightly.

He jerked her hand away, still refusing to open up his eyes. Instead, he turned the other way so that his back was facing the road.

Chorong shot him a peculiar look and glanced down at her wrist watch. It was already thirty minutes past ten at night, and she should really get home soon. But somehow, she knew that she couldn’t just leave him stranded with nothing to protect him against the cold.

At the very last second, she slipped out of her jacket and wrapped it around his shivering body. After making sure he was comfortably tucked in, Chorong casted one last forlorn look at him, before standing up and hailed down the last bus which was just approaching.

As she climbed up the steps, she glanced over her shoulder for one more time, but he hadn’t budged from his position at all.

The jacket was still in place too.

~

The next day, right after breakfast, Chorong hurried down towards the bus stop anxiously. Part of her hoped that he had somehow found another comfortable place to sleep in, but another part of her was also hoping that she would still find him at the same spot.

She was all out of breath by the time she reached her destination, having chosen to run instead of taking the bus (which took so long to come). She saw no one initially, much to her disappointment.

Chorong waited for a few minutes, praying that maybe he’ll pop out of nowhere all of a sudden but nothing happened and nobody came.

With a heavy heart, she started to turn around slowly, about to head home with a sinking feeling – when suddenly, she heard some scuffing noise and a second later, someone clearing his throat loudly.

“This is yours, isn’t it?”

Chorong whirled back around with widened eyes.

It was him; the boy from the night before.

~

“Come home with me,” Chorong suggested, after learning that he had run away from the orphanage he was staying in and was currently homeless. Asking him to go back to that place was totally out of the question – but she won’t let him sleep at the station for the second night in a row.

He let out a soft grunt.

“You shouldn’t make that kind of offer to a stranger you have just met.”

“You’re not a stranger,” she said easily. “I know your name, Joonmyun. And you know mine.”

He shot her a look of disbelief. “Is your definition of ‘stranger’ that easy and naive?”

She shook her head. “Come on. I’m not going to leave you behind here,” she ignored his question. “So you might as well come home with me.”

“You’re crazy,” he snorted and stood up abruptly, his little backpack already slung over his shoulder. “You should run along now. It’s getting late.”

“Wait.” Without thinking, Chorong grabbed his wrist and held on to it tightly. “Humour me, please.”

“Why should I?” he asked back, gaze down on her hand on his. Chorong noticed it, but she didn’t make a move to pull it away.

“Let me have a peaceful sleep tonight.”

“Why are you so worried about me? You barely know me. And besides, I don’t want to be crashing at your place for free.”

He yanked his hand out of her grasp.

Chorong stood up too. “Who said I was going to let you stay for free?”

He stared at her in confusion, to which she replied with an amused grin.

“Come on,” she took his hand again, and thankfully this time, he didn’t try to pull away for the second time. “I’m not taking a ‘no’ for an answer.”