Chapter 10

Daehyun cried when his father told him his work wasn’t good enough. His grades weren’t good enough. Everything he did wasn’t good enough. Nothing was ever good enough for him. Daehyun studied so much that he barely had any friends in school. He knew no one. The only company he had was his mom and sometimes his mom was out. His toys were just empty shells scattered around the house.

He escaped their large house and secretly went outside.

He reached the playground but no one was there.

It was another empty shell.

He sat on the swing and began to sway back and forth.

Tears began filling his eyes and he began sobbing.

“Hey!” He looked up and saw a boy smiling at him.

“My name is Byun Baekhyun. You’re Daehyun right? You’re my classmate. Let’s be friends alright?”

Daehyun woke up the next morning with Eunji in his arms. He quickly pulled away from her and abruptly stood up. He blinked and wondered how long he’d been in that position. He shook his head in exasperation.

Eunji was Baekhyun’s girlfriend.

Baekhyun was Eunji’s light, not him.

He was just borrowed light.

Yes, that was all he was.

Borrowed light.

He went to the kitchen and began preparing their breakfast. He saw that their fridge was abundant with frozen meat, he grabbed some bacon and waited for it to defrost. He cracked some eggs and cooked it scrambled. He prepared some milk and set up the table. He heard Eunji’s footsteps as she walked towards the kitchen while sleepily rubbing her eyes.

“Goodmorning.” She greeted.

“Goodmorning.” He greeted back. “Did you have a better dream last night?” he asked.

“Yeah……I dreamed of meeting you and Baekhyun. I was happy it wasn’t just a dream.” She smiled.

“Same here.” Daehyun told her.

Hyosung sat at a café near her workplace, sipping her caramel machiato. She studied intently the paper in her hands. Across her table, she noticed an unwanted intruder sitting without her permission. A vexed feeling welled up inside her as she saw who the person was. It was Lee Gikwang.

The man she hated most in the world.

“Hey there piggy Hyosung.”

She kicked his leg with no hesitation  as she continued sipping her drink. Gikwang yelped in pain.

“YAH!”

“I regret nothing.” She said as she put her drink down and continued reading her paper.

Gikwang was the man who had ridiculed her as a child. He was the reason she hated herself. He was the reason everyday of her life, she felt ugly. She hated him to the core. She couldn’t measure her spite. He was the reason why children followed suit and also made her life a living hell. He was the reason why she was betrayed by her friends and why she was bullied by her classmates. It was because of the man sitting before her.

She stood up from her seat and left the scene abruptly, not wanting to see the sight of him another minute.

“Aish!” he rested his head on the table. “When will that woman ever come to forgive me?”

He sighed in frustration.

Daehyun started typing on his laptop and ended up erasing everything afterwards when he found that he wasn’t contented with his work. He was all alone in the classroom since class didn’t start until the afternoon. His teacher, who arrived early, came up to him and sat on the arm of the chair beside him.

“Pretty hard working aren’t you, Daehyun..” he commented.

“Professor Bang, if torturing me with this report is giving you any pleasure, I say….just kill me.” He complained.

“Where’s the fun in that?” his professor mocked.

Daehyun shot him a glare.

His professor laughed and ruffled his hair. “I’m not toruturing you, I’m just helping you do better. Students probably call this favoritism I presume.”

“Ha! If this is what you call favoritism, the world has probably gone mad!”

His teacher gave him a proud smile. Daehyun complained a lot but his professor really did want him to grow even more. Daehyun was a natural genius. It was a plus that he was a perfectionist. He liked having his work golden on a platter. He didn’t pass anything half-baked and that’s what his teacher liked about him.

“How are you coping up?” he asked.

Professor Bang knew about Baekhyun. Baekhyun would occasionally visit the class in search for Daehyun and they would sometimes converse while waiting. Professor Bang knew that Baekhyun was very special to Daehyun and the past few days might have been very hard on him, that was the reason he gave the extension. Although he gave Daehyun a rough time asking for it, he was going to eventually give it to him anyways. For some reason, he was just happy that Daehyun was easily back on his feet.

“Living, as much as I can.” Daehyun replied.

“How about the girl, Baekhyun’s girlfriend?”

“I’m living with her.”

Eerie silence flooded the room.

Daehyun began typing on his laptop and ignored whatever expression there was on his teacher’s face. Daehyun knew how people would react to it. It was his best friend’s girl for heaven’s sake. What would people reply to that? How would they reply?

“You can’t replace him, Daehyun. You can never be Baekhyun.”

“I don’t plan to.” He said. “I’m just borrowed light after all.”

“Even the moon has its way of giving light to others, especially in the dark.” His teacher told him.

“Then that’s what I’ll have to be.” Daehyun closed his laptop and stood up. He faced his teacher and smiled. “She doesn’t have to be mine. She just has to be happy, smile and live, that’s all.”

Eunji was transferring flowers outside the shop for display. Luckily her mother was out looking for a job, so avoiding her wouldn’t be as hard. After that, she started arranging flowers into bouquets that were ordered from different customers. She liked it when people gave her bouquet orders. She enjoyed picking flowers for them and letting them know what kind are the best to give to their loved ones. She tells them the meaning of each one and how each compliments the other.

Her favorite flowers were roses.

She thought they were the prettiest of them all.

“Excuse me!”

She looks up and sees a pretty woman entering her store. She looked sophisticated with her business-like clothes but still remained beautiful either way. Eunji paused her arranging and approached the customer.

“Yes?”

“Are you Jung Eunji?” she asked.

“Yes” Eunji nodded. “How may I help you?”

“Our company is hosting a party next next week and we want you to arrange the bouquet for the event.”

“Me?” Eunji clarified in disbelief.

As the woman explained more about the details, she tried to fathom what was happening at the moment. She was going to decorate a hug event with flowers. This was a huge oppurunity for her. She had never done something as great as this.

“I can’t wait. I’ll ask for a large delivery later on for your event.” Eunji smiled at the woman.

“Thanks.” She smiled back. “That would be a great help. My friend told me you’re the best florist in the city yet you’re underrated. I want to at least show people something original, something fresh. A fresh talent.”

Eunji waved her hand in embarassment. “Aniyo…I just really love flowers.”

“Talent comes with passion.” The woman told her. “When you have passion, the talent just comes naturally.”

“Thank you.” Eunji smiled. “I’ll do my best to make your event a success.”

“I will count on it.” The woman told her. “I should probably give you my number, my name is Jeon Hyosung by the way. I’m an editor at  a magazine company.”

“I can see that. It must be a fashion magazine since you’re really pretty.”

“Thank you and you can tell?”

“I have good intuition.”

“So, I’ll follow up on those flowers tomorrow?”

“Anytime!” Eunji replied.

As Hyosung bid Eunji farewell, Eunji grabbed her phone from the counter and started calling Daehyun. She told him about the big offer she got from the company. It was natural that she told Daehyun first. It had always been a habit, even when Baekhyun was still alive. Daehyun was always the first one to know.

“That’s great.” He told her over the line. “Well, I still have classes then after that I’m working part-time. I’ll probably be home late today.”

“Alright,” Eunji told him. “Just be careful ok?”

“I’m the one who should be telling you that.” She could hear him snort from the other end.

“Whatever. Anyways, see ya!”

“Bye.” She ended the call.

Eunji thought that Baekhyun was probably sending her good omens from above. She smiled as she tried to feel if his presence was around.

“Thanks for the oppurtunity Baekhyun. I won’t let you down.” She muttered then continued the work she had paused.