II

“Hi,” he says.

“Hey,” she replies, breathless, having had run all the way downstairs once she caught a glimpse of him and his cart. It is the month after she first saw him and she has been watching, waiting, every day since the first time they met, hoping that he would come back, that this was going to be a regular route for him in his ice cream selling.

“Which one do you want this time?” He fixes his eyes on her as she stares at the cart, too shy to meet his eyes.

“The same one,” she says, eyes darting from the cart to his face and back to the cart again.

“Really?” He asks. “It’s… It’s kind of expensive.”

She shakes her head. “I like Magnum.” And it isn’t a lie. “And I also want to help you pay for your classes.”

She doesn’t mean for that last part to slip out. It just did, and she cringes as she realises that she has said too much.

“Seohyun,” he calls, and the way he says her name makes her shiver slightly with pleasure. The way he calls her makes her feel so special. “You don’t have to do this just to help me.”

She nods. “I want to.” He opens his mouth again in protest, but she cuts him off. “Besides, you can’t deny a customer what she wants.”

He closes his mouth, then opens it again as if he has something to say. But all he does is open his cart and hand her the bar of ice cream. She smiles at him in thanks, and shoves the money at him. His hands hesitate, but she waves it in front of him, prompting him to take it, and with a sigh, he reaches over to accept the bills. His fingers brush against hers, and for a moment they stop as a current of electricity passes through them both. Seohyun almost gasps in shock.

“T- thanks,” she blurts out. He blinks, then looks at her in a daze.

“Yeah,” he nods.

“Bye,” she turns on her heels and runs back to her house, not waiting for him to reply. Her heart is pounding in her chest; she can feel her fingers trembling and the blood rushing about her ears. She stares at her hand in awe, remembering the jolt of electricity she felt when Myungsoo touched her.

She almost loses grip of her ice cream as she makes her way further into the house, too consumed with shock at this novel feeling.

--

He comes on the first week of every month, and she waits for him all week like it’s her lifeline.

--

III

She has just stepped out of the shower when she hears the cart rolling along the road. Heart pounding, she resists smiling as she grabs her wallet and runs down the stairs. It is a good thing that her parents always work late, leaving her alone at home until the late hours of the night. It gives her the freedom to meet the boy with the ice cream uninhibited.

The first thing she notices when she steps out of the front gate is that he is not alone. Clinging onto his hand is a young girl of maybe seven, with pale skin and wide eyes. She comes up to only Myungsoo’s hip.

“Hi,” she greets softly, before bending down slightly. “Hello,” she says to the girl.

He nudges the child, who stares up at her with barely hidden awe. “Say hi.”

The girl whispers an inaudible greeting, and Seohyun smiles, extending her hand for her to take. “My name is Seohyun. What’s yours?”

“Dasom,” the girl says, timidly reaching her hand out.

She smiles, shaking the girl’s small, white hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dasom.”

The little girl returns the smile, first hesitantly, then more confidently.

She raises her head to look at him, a question in his eyes. He laughs.

“Dasom is my mentor’s daughter,” he says as he reaches into his cart to bring out her ice cream. “He let me take her out today for my rounds.”

“That’s nice of you,” she says mildly, handing him the bills. She is too distracted by Dasom’s large eyes and long lashes, which somehow, under the moonlight, are even more pronounced. Her fingers are wrapped tightly around Myungsoo’s finger trustingly, and she stands behind him so that she is half hidden by his leg.

She smiles at Da Som as the little girl looks up at her, something like curiosity reflected in her large brown eyes. Myungsoo watches this interaction quietly.

Only when a car drives past the three of them does Seohyun realise that she has been looking at Dasom without a word for at least five minutes. She gasps, muttering an apology for keeping them, and, with a shy smile to Myungsoo and a warm one to Dasom, she walks hurriedly back to her house.

Once back inside, after she has kept the Magnum and is in the safety of her room, she stares out her window, where Myungsoo and Dasom are about to leave. She watches as he hoists her up onto his shoulders, causing her to giggle, the pleasant sound travelling up to reach Seohyun’s ears. Then Myungsoo grabs the handle of the cart, and they walk home. She watches them until they disappear from her street, and from her sight.

--

IV

“Thanks,” she says as he hands her the bar of Magnum. She doesn’t even need to tell him what she wants when she comes running out of her house. He just hands it to her silently with a small smile on his face.

“Are you really eating all of this?” He asks, marveling at how such a small girl could stomach so much Magnum.

She giggles and shrugs, ripping open the package and taking a bite right in front of him. There is silence as she chews and swallows.

“I think that answers your question,” she laughs.

Myungsoo stares at her in admiration. Usually girls their age would be all about fat free and low carbs and diets and all that nonsense. But here she was, munching away on the ice cream like it was the tastiest thing ever.

“Besides,” she continues. “I only eat this once a month.”

“You only come once a month” is what she wants to say, but she bites her tongue before she can continue, because she knows her face will flame in embarrassment if she lets that statement slip out.

Myungsoo’s eyebrows perk in amusement, and he sits on the curb, motioning her to do the same. She looks behind her back, checking that her parents still haven’t gotten home, before joining him on the side of the road. There is comfortable silence as she her ice cream. Myungsoo stares, and she clears self-consciously.

Blinking, he looks away abruptly, mind fumbling for something to say.

“You- You’re really good with Dasom.” She glances at him, and he nods. “She usually won’t talk to anyone but her parents and a of a few of us at the Home cos she’s so shy.”

Seohyun smiles as she remembers the little child. “She’s adorable.” She finishes the bar of ice cream (a part of her cringes at how fast she ate—she must look like a pig in front of him), using the wooden ice cream stick to trace the gravel on the ground. “So innocent and shy.” He nods in agreement. “She kind of reminds me of me,” she says, chuckling.

“Hmm?” Myungsoo says, interested, and she blushes slightly, ducking her head into her arms to avoid meeting his gaze.

“I was really shy when I was young,” she offered after a pause. “Still am, actually.”

Myungsoo notices the slight crack in her voice and knows there has to be more than her just being shy. He’s always thought that she looks like a loner, from the way her voice is soft and the way her shoulder sag ever so slightly, and he knows there must be a story behind it.

“There’s nothing wrong with being shy,” he offers. “Rather, shy people are kind of endearing, don’t you think? They look and listen but they don’t assert their opinions on you.”

Seohyun smiles at him, using this opportunity to glance at his brown eyes, his straight nose, his full lips, before forcing herself to look away before she starts feeling indecent.

--

V

He notices the visible spring in her steps as she runs out of her house to meet him.

“I’ll buy two today,” she sings.

It has been five months since their first meeting, and this is the first time she has bought more than once bar of ice cream from him.

“Why so happy?” He says with a smile as he hands the Magnum to her.

She catches herself, a little self-conscious that she is being so joyous, and he wants to chuckle at her innocence.

“It’s a beautiful night.” She says, beaming as she fishes around her wallet for money. “My parents are both away for the week. I found a four leaf clover today. The clouds are gone and you can see the stars from here.” She points to the sky. “Look.”

He squints his eyes. Truthfully, he had never bothered looking at the stars before. There were too many things in his life, too many problems that kept him too preoccupied for him to notice the twinkling constellations above him.

“I don’t see much,” he observes.

“Oh,” She looks back at him. “It helps if you cup your eyes.” She places her hands around her eyes and stares back at the sky. “See?”

Laughing softly, he mimicks her and looks up, surprise causing him to gasp as he realizes that he could see millions of twinkling stars above. “Whoa,” he breathes out. “That’s…”

There are no words to describe it, this simple display of beauty that dots the inky black sky. Myungsoo is enthralled.

“Beautiful, huh?”

Seohyun looks back at him, face flushed with excitement and wonder, her eyes twinkling, stars in all their own right.

And suddenly he has a strong urge to brush her hair back, to tuck that loose strand behind her ear, to her cheek like how he those stray kittens he saved, softly, gently. His fingers twitch.

They stand looking into each other’s eyes for a moment, before she tears hers away from his, face red in embarrassment.

“I should get home,” She says hurriedly. “Sorry to keep you.”

“No,” he says, just a tad too quick, and she looks up at him in slight bewilderment. “It’s fine.” He offers a smile. “Those were beautiful stars.”

She returns his smile, waving to him as she walks back to her house.

He watches her go, and whispers a silent thank you to no one in particular.