This is a story about two strangers:

 

In the quiet secluded streets of the outskirts of Seoul, there was a tiny café called Eternity. It wasn't fancy, in fact, it seemed to blend right into the dull grey surroundings, a far cry from what it used to be. Its glory days were over, and the shopkeeper, now in her forties, depended on her long-time customers for a living. This evening, as with any other evening, she sat behind the till and counted the crumpled bills over and over, trying to make it all add up. Her young assistants busied themselves fetching more beer for what few customers they had that day, leaving first year high-schooler Amber to clear the tables.

 

It was a terrible job, but what could she do? She needed the money to make ends meet. As part of her routine, she grabbed the mugs with her right hand and wiped the table with the old and dirty rag with her left half-heartedly, staring out of the shop, yearning for 10pm to come. 

 

Out of nowhere, a suave-looking boy appeared at the doors of the shop.

 

That boy. 

 

Those broad shoulders, that milky white skin, those dark, soulful eyes. Even the hairstyle was the same. It was amazing how he had the same chubby cheeks as her brother. 

 

It's amazing how there could be someone so much like Henry.

 

He turned, and their eyes met. She looked into those eyes and smiled subconsciously. 

 

His friends seemed to have misunderstood the situation as they started whistling and cat-calling. With his face reddened and back stiffened, he turned back sharply and yelled, "BE QUIET."

 

She released the her right hand grip and the mugs fell to the floor. The glass shattered.

 

Everything froze.

 

Henry had said the same thing in that exact same tone three years ago.

 

"BE QUIET." He hissed. He cupped his hand over and glared at her, as if daring her to make another sound. "Stop whining."

 

Rebelliously, she pulled the hand smothering her away with all her might. Tears streamed down her dirt-stained cheeks as she took in the tiny cot, its thin wooden legs buckled under the weight of the fallen cupboards. 

 

"What are you going to do if I hid in there? The furniture are broken the doors blocked, where are you going to hide? They're going to find you, catch you, oh what are we going to do?" She blabbered, in a raised voice, crying hysterically at the same time. 

 

"Go in there, NOW." He turned his red-rimmed eyes to avoid her gaze and commanded as sternly as he could, but there was no way to stop his desperation from creeping into his voice. She looked beyond his strong facade and saw the pain, the worry, the agony he had tried so hard to stifle. But no matter how hard she fought against him, no matter how much she cried and begged, Henry's strong arms picked her up and shoved her into the cracks between the collapsed cot...

 

"Are you okay?" Henry's doppelganger asked worriedly. When did he get here? She nodded awkwardly and bent down ungracefully to pick the glass shards up with her bare hands. 

 

Surveying him at such close distance, he wasn't as much like Henry as she originally thought he was. His ears were sharper, his eyebrows thicker and his arms more muscular. Yet those eyes looked so familiar.

 

He bent down to help collect the glass pieces. "You're afraid of getting scolded by your boss lady aren't you? Don't worry, just say I broke them. She can't yell at a customer." She returned his bright grin with a tiny smile of gratitude. It was as if a thin, flickering ray of hope had penetrated the solid walls of her grey, cobwebbed heart. 

 

When all of the pieces have been picked up, she stood up and straightened out her waitress uniform. He waited for her patiently, then made a distorted funny face. Upon seeing it, Amber laughed. In that moment, it was as if all her burden had been lifted from her shoulders. "Come, let's go explain things."

 

As the boy bartered with the ferocious lady, Amber seized the chance to look around. Her gaze fell upon the boy's friends. They were hiding in a corner, observing their every move! What a childish, immature bunch, she thought. Nonetheless, the corners of her lips twitched upwards, and it was all she could do to not burst out laughing at the boys' serious faces in front of her fuming boss. 

 

For the first time in years, she realized how long she hadn't felt joy in. I should thank him, this familiar stranger.

 

After calming the scary lady down, the duo walked away. At the door, the boy stopped and faced Amber. "Uh, miss, you know... Can I have your number?"

 

She froze.

 

This mysterious boy who looked so much like her brother seemed to have they keys to her highly guarded and tightly secured heart.

 

She really wanted to be happy again, to fearlessly make a new friend, to form friendships again.

 

She wanted to trust him.

 

"Sure, but just as friends, don't go let your imagination take over," she joked whilst writing her number onto the back of his hand. The beauty of friendship.

 

My first friend after his death.

 

Thank you, familiar stranger for saving me from the depths of self-denial. Thank you for bringing my heart back out to the open meadows of beautiful greenery. Even though you might never know it, you've changed my life. I might never have been able to walk out of the dark gloomy days if not for you.

 

In Eternity café that fateful day, Amber finally came out of depression, away from the storm clouds that seemed to always hover over her, into a brighter future filled with hope and dreams. 

 

Outside Eternity café that fateful day, Henry walked towards the white van stiffly, his expression pained and his fists clenched. 

 

In the white van, the seven "friends" put on their white lab coats and fished out their leaflets of paper, secured with clipboards. One of them sighed,"Pity we had to get back in time, his sister's real cute."

 

"What's there to pity him about? He's living purely out of luck and sheer determination; if they can't pay the hospital bills, he's gotta work for us, be our lab rat."

 

"But for twenty years? Sigh, if he's supposed to be living a life of isolation, with no contact with the outside world, there's no use getting the girl's number."

 

"Whatever. Anyway, is our next experiment the one with the pollen grains?"

 

"Three people have died from that, I wish him luck. Hopefully the tweaks we've made to it is just right this time."

 

In the van, the young medical researchers discussed the scene that they had just witnessed with absolute concentration. Outside the van, an orphaned, brother-sister pair was cruelly separated once again, for the second time.

 

This is a story about two strangers.

A/N: How did you guys like it? Do you think I should make a full length fic on this story? Do comment~