2011

A full brick of papers were in her hold as she walked across town, block by block, and plastered them whenever she could on either windows of random shops or on the light posts at the corner of each street or even handing them out to the people that were passing her by.

Even though it was winter with the snow falling and the wind blowing, it didn’t stop Seonya on her quest to get the message of her flyers out in public.

To the outside world, she may have looked like one of those crazy activist girls but to herself, she was just someone in distress and on the verge of a breakdown.

As she kept on walking down the street, she suddenly tripped over an open crack of the cement and fell down, letting the papers fly from left to right with only a few still hanging in her hand. On her knees, she cursed at herself and quickly tried to pick what was left and slowly felt herself shaking when she looked down at her hand. Once small sniff from the nose and the tears were about to fall down her cold cheeks.

“Are you alright?”

Lifting her head up, she saw a young man crouching in front of her as he helped her pick up the rest of her flyers. Once he was done, he handed them to her as she thanked him and looked up only to have a pair of brown eyes staring at her with a worried gaze.

“Do you need help with these?”

“Hmm, no, i-it’s fine-”

“You’re sure? You seem a little bit lost…”

She still stared at him, confused and gave a quick glance around her before looking back at him. “C-can I help you with something?”

The stranger chuckled as he stretched his hand out for a greeting. “I’m Hyunseung.”

Out of courtesy, she stretched out her hand to meet his and quickly shook it before pulling it back to herself while embracing against her chest the small pile of flyers. “I’m Seonya…”

“It may sound strange but hmm… How about I buy you some coffee? You look like you need a break…”

“I’d love too but I need to get these done-”

“Can I help you with them and later we can maybe get some coffee?” The smile on his face made her slightly huff in amusement. She didn’t feel like he was about to back down and simply gave in to the idea of having some help for putting out the missing’s person flyers.

“I’d say yes to the help and we’ll see about that coffee later, sounds good?”

“Sounds perfect to me~”

She handed him half of the pile making him take a good look at the content before looking back up at Seonya.

“It’s my father… He’s been missing for a week now and not even the police knows where he is. I’d hire a private detective but I don’t really have the money too afford that now so… yea…”

“I’m sorry to hear this; is there something I can do to help?”

“If that something is magically making my dad reappear then yes…” She breathed out to calm herself and glanced at the ground before looking back up at the boy.

“I’m sorry if I sounded rude it’s just nerve wracking, especially when you ask for help and you get sh*t for it…”

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it.”

Once the flyers were completely gone, Seonya finally agreed on having a cup of coffee with the new boy she just met a few hours ago.

They were sitting at a table and facing each other while they were engrossed in a conversation, letting them get to know the other. Slowly, the stress and worry she carried during the day was starting to dissipate only to be replaced with a sense of ease that was washing over.

For now, a faint smile was plastered on her lips enjoying the warm company with her new friend. She was glad to have found some distraction for the moment knowing that once this was over, she had to go back to an empty house with all her fear and worries tagging along.

Noticing the disappearance of her smile, Hyunseung lightly tilted his head to the side as he asked if she was okay.

“I’m boring, aren’t I?”

“Huh?”

“You look like you were somewhere else.”

“Oh, sorry about that… a-and you’re not boring, don’t worry.” She tried to make it seem as if everything was alright but he saw directly through her. He leaned closer towards the table and placed his hand above hers, catching her attention as she stared at his hand before looking back up at him the moment he started to speak.

“Do you want to leave? You don’t seem like you’re in a mood to stay.”

“It may sound weird but… I don’t want to go back home… Not now at least.” She looked back down on his hand that was still placed above hers as she lightly bit her bottom lip. “Do you think it will be okay if you hmm… keep me company for a while?”

Looking back up at him, she saw his smile while he nodded, agreeing to her request. “How about we get out of here and find some real food to eat, mhmm?”

After saying yes, they got up from their seats and left the coffee shop with Hyunseung lending his arms for her to grab onto as he lead her to the closest restaurant, while promising her that he would take her mind off of everything that troubles her, even though it was only for a night.

From that day, they haven’t lost touch with each other.

Friends to lovers, Hyunseung has been the only man that was able to make her smile and make her worries fade away. Despite not having found her father ‘til this day, the missing piece in her heart was able to be filled with the care of her lovely boyfriend, courtesy of his support and love for her.

It still didn’t change the small fact that she had no family left, but for the moment, she was content with the love life that kept her awake during the day and lead her to some good nights sleep.