chapter seven

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I dazed off and played with the pale pink ribbons on the bags in the café as I stood at the cashier. Chan-yeol occasionally looked over his shoulder at me to make sure I wasn’t messing up any orders, and surprisingly, I hadn’t yelled at any customers that day.

“What’s with you? You’re all... nice.” Chan-yeol asked as we went to the changing room. I smiled and chuckled to myself, “Nothing. Today’s just a beautiful day!”

Chan-yeol snickered, “Something must have happened between you and Sa-rang in order for you to be so happy during the winter. What did you two do? Kiss?” I shook my head, “I already told you that we didn’t do anything.”

I looked at my phone that lay on the top shelf of my locker and I grabbed it and saw that I had a message from Sa-rang. I slid my thumb across my screen and furrowed my brows at the message.

I can’t make it today. Something came up, and I had to take a flight back to China. I’m really sorry.

I bit my lower lip and looked up at Chan-yeol, “What’s wrong now? You look like your usual self.” I scoffed, “Nothing. Nothing happened.” I slammed my locker and stormed out of the café.

Why was I so mad? Why did I even care that Sa-rang couldn’t make it? It’s not like she’s my girlfriend or anything! I just wanted to make it up to her because I’ve been such a—

“Look out!”

A girl shoved herself into me and pushed both of us to the sidewalk. She laid her head on my chest, and I could feel her panting heavily. Her tight grip on my arms surprised me, and I shook her off of me.

“Are you okay?” She asked. As she looked up, I held my breath in shock. Her dark playful eyes stared up at me with concern, and her cheeks grew rouge from the bitter cold. Her raven-colored hair curled at the tips, and her bangs made her face look young and mysterious.

We sat on the sidewalk staring at each other listening to the loud chatter amongst the crowd and the traffic pass by. My eyes would not tear from hers, and my hands shook as she smiled.

“I hope you’re okay. Come on; let’s get up because people are staring at us now.” The girl hoisted herself up and held out her hand to me before she even considered wiping off the dirt and snow off of herself.

I reluctantly gripped onto her petite hand and pulled myself up, and I noticed how tall she was. The girl had to be at least a few centimeters shorter than I, and she tilted her chin upwards as she smiled at me, “Are you alright?”

I could feel my Adam’s apple bob up and down nervously as I gulped. I wiped the nervous sweat off of my clammy hands along the sides of my pants, and I exhaled slowly seeing my breath slowly rise to the sky.

I nodded my head and grunted slightly bowing to her, “Thank you for saving me,” I mumbled and began to turn, but she began to speak again, “You’re welcome. My name is Yoon Young-hee.”

The name clicked in my head, but I couldn’t decipher whether she was a past classmate of mine or a female I met in my younger years as an adolescent.

“Kim Jong-dae,” I simply grumbled, but my eyes widened as she giggled and replied, “I already know you.”

The world seemed to stop in its time, and I could feel my heart beat violently punch itself against my chest as if wanting to escape the horrid ice cage it’s been held against all of these years. I tightly closed my fists together and dug them deeply into my pockets, “But I don’t know you.”

Young-hee walked towards me, and I took a step back, “It’s okay because you’ll know me soon. Good-bye, Kim Jong-dae.”

Before I even blinked, Young-hee vanished into thin air. I searched all around, but she was nowhere to be found. I looked in my closed fist and saw a necklace with a small pearl hanging from it.

I dropped it in one of my pockets, and found a small ripped paper. There were words cut off the backside of it as if it belonged to a letter someone wrote, and I read the side that was clean with only her name.

Yoon Young-hee.

I returned to my apartment finding it cold and barren like I had left it before Sa-rang entered my life. I threw my jackets on the arm of the couch in the main room, and my scarf was discarded onto the floor.

The crimson colored scarf lied on the ragged wood floor like a stain among all of the bland colors of white and brown.

I leaped onto the couch with my face buried in the white cushions and inhaled the unfamiliar smell of Sa-rang’s perfume. It was strange to be able to smell her even though she wasn’t exactly sleeping at my apartment.

I rolled onto my back and slid my arm under my head to give my neck some sort of comfort. I stared up at the smooth ceiling of my apartment, shocked to not find any sorts of cracks or stains among the surface.

Yoon Young-hee.

Why did her name sound so familiar?

I sprang up in realization and raced to my large bookcase in my bedroom searching for my high school yearbook. I ran my fingers across the hard bindings of the books I possessed on my bookshelves, and I came across my last high school yearbook I bought.

I quickly pulled it out of its place and I jumped onto my bed and furiously flipped through the many pages of unfamiliar faces in black and white.

Yoon.

My eyes skimmed the pages trying to find Yoon Young-hee, but I couldn’t find her playful eyes or her name. As I was about to give up, on the last page of the yearbook, I found her picture by itself with a caption under it.

“Yoon Young-hee. Age seventeen. Fourth Year:

Yoon Young-hee has been in a coma due to a recent car accident in Seoul. She has been in the coma since January 23, 2009. She still hasn’t woken up, but many still stand by her side until she awakes.”

I closed the yearbook and found myself staring off at the wall.

Yoon Young-hee.