Abigail Kim. It’s a rare name for a Korean 18 years old girl. Her friends had a hard time calling her Abigail so they came up with a nickname on her first day of high school.

“Abigail is hard to pronounce. Why did your parents gave you that name though?”

I don’t know why too, she answered in her mind. Actually, Abigail is the wife of King David in the Hebrew Bible and is described as intelligent and beautiful. Her father gave her that name hoping that she will be like the Abigail too.

“Abigail, Abigail… Abby?”

Uh…

“That’s nice! Abby! Easier to pronounce! From now on we’ll call you Abby,”

She stayed put still processing the name in her head. “Okay,”

Abby. She is intelligent. She scores in every subject and always the top in her class. Her appearance is average. She lives in a happy and loving family.

That was the only positive sides about her. Now, shall we go to the negative sides?

Abby. She is ignorant. She doesn’t care about her surroundings especially about school, friends or any social interactions. She hates loud surroundings, like at school. She spends her days listening to mostly music apart from learning. She has this one huge—not that huge—problem. She can’t remember people’s names. She doesn’t.

“Abby, can you help me with this question?” one of her classmate approached her with a Mathematics workbook in her hand.

Abby looked up and saw her face. She tried to remember her name, “Uh… You are Jimin right?”

They stared at each other for a long one minute.

“Um… I am Hyeri,”

Abby bit her lips and grabbed the book from Hyeri’s grasp, “Which one do you want me to help with?”

She embarrassed herself a lot and decided to just shut up if people ever approach her. In the end, she didn’t make any friends. She didn’t need one because she had her father and mother.

But her father died on the early second year of her high school. Since then she stopped talking, even to her mother. Her father was her best friend. She shared, talked and did everything with him. She lost something that played a big part in her life.

She had been lonely and locked herself up in her room after going back from school. Her mother was concerned about her. She kept telling her to go out, meet some friends and have fun. But, Abby didn’t want to.

Her mother tried everything to make her socialize with people but none of it worked. One day, Abby decided to do something productive so that her mother stopped urging her to go out.

“I want a part-time job,” Abby said. They were on the dining table, eating. Her mother stopped chewing and stared at her daughter, not believing the words she heard.

“At a grocery store nearby,” Abby looked at her mother, anxious. Her mother didn’t say a word but she smiled. Her mother approved and she worked from 7pm to 10pm. She got paid by hour and kept the money to herself.

She wanted the job because the grocery shop is a quiet place. Just right for her personality.

Well, working part-time didn’t really change her attitude. She was still ignorant and quiet but she memorized a name. It was her colleague, Cha Hakyeon. Hakyeon forced her to remember his name on the first day of work if she wants to stay. He was very annoying but he was nice to her.

“Hi Abby,” he would greet every night.

“Hi… uh…oppa,” she smiled awkwardly.

“What oppa?” he leaned in to her with a pair of glaring eyes.

“Um…”

“HAKYEON!” he shouted.

“Ah right! Hakyeon oppa!”

It happened again when she was arranging stocks in the shop.

“Kim Abby~” he hummed, skipping from a distance.

She rolled her eyes, “Yes?”

He cupped his jaw with his hands, “What’s my name again?”

Abby thought for a while and Hakyeon was ready to shout at her but she closed his mouth, “Hakyeon oppa,”

It went on and on until they could finally talk comfortably with each other. Everyone would think that they are friends. She didn’t assume Hakyeon as her friend because he was just her partner for the job. They talked about general things so no, he is not a friend yet.

But, she met her first friend there, at the grocery shop.

That one particular night, Abby decided to stay for a while. She didn’t know why but she did. There was this group of dancers which were their regular customers. Abby would always encounter them after her shift but she didn’t really care about them.

Hakyeon nudged Abby in the elbow, “Look, the dancers are here,”

Abby looked up and saw a group of teenagers walking towards the store. There are more than ten of them.

“I’m glad you’re here. Can you imagine me every night dealing with them?” he whispered and the door bell rang. The dancers went in. It was crowded and noisy after they went in.

“Welcome…” Abby’s voice couldn’t be heard.

“Do you feel sorry for me now?” Hakyeon said out loud because the dancers probably couldn’t hear him.

“No,”

He gasped, “You cold-hearted girl,”

Abby smirked and looked at the crowd in front of her again. One guy caught her eyes and made an eye contact with her. He was tall and pale. His eyes were fox-like. He wore a grey hoodie and jeans. His right hand clutched a duffel bag and the other one holding a can of soda. He looked shocked and familiar.

“Hi,” he placed down the soda on the counter.

“Um… hi?”

“You don’t recognize me do you?”

“You know me?”

“Ofcourse,” he smiled for the first time. “You’re Abby,”

Abby was slightly shocked, “How do you know me?” she took the can of soda and waved it to the scanner. It beeped and the boy paid for it.

“You’re my classmate,” 

It clicked in her mind. That was why he was so familiar. She didn’t remember his name but what’s worse was she couldn’t even recognize him.

“I’m sorry. I’m really bad at remembering people’s name…and face,”

He laughed, “I know. You work here?”

“Yeah,”

“When will you be done?” he asked as he opened the soda.

“Why?”

“Let’s walk home together,”

Abby was so confused. First, he knew her name but of course because he is her classmate. Second, he was asking me to walk home together with him. How did he even know where she lives?

“Oh is he your neighbor, Abby? You can go home now, I can handle this,” Hakyeon winked at her. He was excited to see Abby having a friend. He too knew about her problem with school and friends.

Before she could even protest, Hakyeon was already pushing her out from the counter and took off her apron—their uniform—for her. He grabbed her backpack and shoved it to her. He opened the door and slightly pushed her out of the store, “Bye!”

Abby was still dumbfounded and she stood in front of the store alone. She turned around and saw her classmate talking to one of the dancers. He went out after that, “Sorry I’m late,”

“Uh… it’s okay,”

He walked and stopped beside her, “Let’s go,”