Leo, Hyerin (OC) / Fluff, Angst / Request

The raindrops scratched the surface of the glass window through which the man sitting opposite her was looking through. She had left her wet umbrella hanging on the back of her seat, and ordered a hot chocolate. He glanced at her and suddenly sat up straight, as she pushed her chair back loudly.

“Ah, Hyerin. You’ve arrived.”, Leo spoke, a blank expression on his face. He started stirring his lukewarm coffee.

“What were you looking at?”, she had a bored tone, and pouted a little.

“Nothing.”

Hyerin sulked in her seat. From a mere onlooker, it might have seemed that the couple were having a big argument and were now ignoring each other, but for Hyerin, it was just a day in the life of Leo’s girlfriend.

She met Leo in the same coffee shop they were sitting in. Hyerin had been working at the coffee shop for the past two years, and the tall, soft-spoken man had been a regular customer of the shop for a longer time. He carried a mysterious aura, and usually sat with his earpiece plugged in listening to music, watching whatever was outside at the corner of the coffee shop.

He was almost invisible to everyone else. He never spoke or moved, and never did anything to attract attention, but to Hyerin, he bore a heavy presence. The slight twitch of his hand, his quick glances to the counter, and his vague smile and quiet words of appreciation were enough to fuel Hyerin’s curiosity.

The slightly warmer smile and the pale, pink tinge through his almost translucent skin when she had attempted to confess had resulted in the overexcited, ecstatic girl skipping home, smiling idiotically.

“He asked if I was free on Sunday!!”, she had told her colleague, who had offered to take her Sunday shift for Hyerin when she heard the news.

That Sunday had passed, and more Sundays had passed, and she had anticipated Sundays for the first few months, but the appeal of Sundays had slowly faded, just as did the novelty of dating Leo, as the weeks passed.

It was Sunday, and he sat slightly slouched over, hand supporting his head as his glazed eyes followed the refracted traffic lights. They had sat about fifteen minutes in silence. In that fifteen minutes, she had been glancing over at him as she sipped her hot chocolate, which had arrived five minutes into their silence.

In the minutes between her sips of hot chocolate, she checked her schedule on her phone. There were many things she could do this Sunday, instead of sitting opposite a man who seemed uninterested in her. She could do the paper that was due on Tuesday, could fetch her sister from school and have a nice dinner with her, or do the pile of laundry that was stacking up in her dorm.

Hyerin stood up abruptly, knocking her chair down in the process. Leo’s eyes widened slightly and he watched as she glanced at him for a second – the edges of her lips were turned down, and her eyes welled with small tears, her face filled with frustration mixed with guilt and disappointment – and left the coffee shop.

The rain fell heavily, like bullets boring through her, weighing her down. It was difficult to see and she wrapped her trench coat tightly around her. A raining, six degree Seoul was not the place Hyerin had expected to walk out to. The taxis sped past, and the buses were delayed, and there was no way she could walk home without catching a cold.

It would have been nice if in that moment, strong arms wrapped around her, and a thin voice whispered “Are you okay?”, “You look cold.”, or “Come on, don’t be unhappy, I’ll fetch you home.”, into her ear, but it did not happen like Hyerin wanted it to, and the small teardrops fell on her cheeks, immediately washed away by the heavy raindrops.

The trench coat was wrapped tighter around her body, as she made her way to the bus stop.

*         *         *

Leo walked up to the counter after Hyerin had left. It was the frown on his face and his dangerously soft voice – when he had asked for Yujin, Hyerin’s closest colleague, to take a break from her shift to discuss something, nobody had dared to defy.

“Dude, she looked angry. What did you do?”, Yujin asked, concern seeping into her voice.

“Nothing.”

“Maybe that’s why, dude. You’re always doing nothing.”, Yujin shrugged.

*         *         *

It was Sunday. A week had passed without any contact from Leo. Hyerin had checked her inbox for the tenth time in the last thirty minutes, as she put on her makeup and chose her outfit. She bit her lip and paused.

“Should I go? Should I stay…?”

It was Sunday, and nobody she called knew if Leo would be there. Hyerin decided to take her chances.

*         *         *

When Hyerin arrived, the coffee shop was closed. She sighed, and entered the shop through the back door. The shop was not usually closed on Sundays, and her boss had not said anything about it. Her boss had a habit of falling asleep if he stayed up the previous night, and might have fallen asleep inside.

Hyerin entered, and the shop was empty. She pulled out a wooden chair, sat herself down, and sighed heavily. She examined the empty coffee shop, and with the absence of the aroma of coffee, the sound of scribblings of notes on foolscap paper, and the bustling atmosphere of a normal cafe, it seemed quite lonely.

“입이 떨어지지 않아서 발이 떨어지지 않아서…”, a soft voice sung sweetly through the silence. The lyrics of K.Will’s “Speechless” melted into the atmosphere, and Hyerin jumped from her seat.

The owner of the soft, sweet voice held a bouquet of roses, and his face matched the color of the roses he was holding. Hyerin stood stunned, and staring at Leo had brought him to his knees, as he started laughing, pressing his chest to his thighs, presenting the flowers to her. Hyerin opened her lips like she wanted to say something, but nothing came out of . She laughed warmly, and embraced him.

“I’m… s-sorry about that day.”, Leo stuttered, “I don’t really know… how to act around you.” His words were punctuated with tentative pauses, and his words chosen carefully.

“I don’t know… many things.. about you, so I don’t know how to start conversations, and you make me… overly aware of myself, and how I act. It’s… easier to just pretend you’re not there…” It was the most Hyerin had heard Leo speak. She withdrew herself from his chest, and he looked down, averting her gaze.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to say much. I think I understand.”

Leo smiled warmly, and looked at Hyerin like how any girl would love to be looked at. A silence followed, and Hyerin learned that Leo’s silences were as meaningful as the words he chose to speak.

*         *         *

He bent down and tied the laces of her boots.

“You don’t know how to tie them do you? They’re always untied.”

They walked through the small park, the sunlight shining down on the snow. She was happy, for he noticed the small things about her, and it was his way of being affectionate. Leo’s silences made his words mean so much more, and for that Hyerin was grateful. Hyerin loved him. Hyerin loved his silences, his words, and his small expressions of affection. It made her lips turn up, her eyes curve slightly, and her stride extend a little wider.

They sat themselves down on the park bench, quietly watching strangers walk by. Leo draped his left arm across the bench and gently Hyerin’s hair, as they sat in their personal bubble of unspoken but understood words.

It was Sunday, and Hyerin had started to love Sundays a little more.

 

 

by winter