Sounds of employees walking around, heading to their respective workplaces on this windy morning filled the air, accompanied by the noises of the honking cars and screeching of tires. The sun seemed to have been covered by layers of gray clouds, making the landscape appear duller and darker than ever, the bright orange, red and yellow colors of the trees doing nothing to enlighten its surroundings. Trudging to the building after getting out of the cab, I released a heavy sigh.

After one week of missing work, I would eventually have to come back sooner or later. My heels clicked underneath as I enter the elevator, pressing the button with the number 6. The lift rode up, picking up more and more passengers with every level we stopped on. Luckily, my station was placed on a rather low level of the building. If not, I would’ve suffocated in that cramp box.

Upon arriving on my floor, I immediately report myself to the supervisor of the level, bringing with me the letter of absence that I had already asked from the CEO two weeks before with the excuse of personal family matters. I still couldn’t believe I was given the permission to be absent for one week so easily.

Strutting to my cubicle situated by the window facing the large park across the street, I placed my belongings on the table, letting out a frustrated sigh to see the large stack of paperwork that had to be done. Before I could even sit back and process how long it’ll take for me to finish all of it, my colleague, Sunyoung whom I’ve known for 4 years peeked from above the cubicle.

“So, Hyejin,” The 23-year-old lady asked, her long fingers gripping onto the top of the cubicle, “I heard you met Sehun again. How is he?”

It’s not a surprise to hear that question coming out through her lips. Ever since she saw the family picture from 7 years ago, Sunyoung wouldn’t stop asking about my family, especially Sehun since she saw the 16 year old Sehun who she swore has seen him from somewhere before and also not to mention, quite an eye candy in the picture.

That photo was the last photo our family took together. We were only 16 when our parents decided to divorce. They have never gotten along that well, if I may say so myself. Whenever moment they don’t scream their lungs out at each other, those are the moments when I thought that maybe, ‘hey, we’re a normal family after all.’ But that turned into just a dream that could never be real when they announced their divorce to us.

Due to being under 18 years old, it took several days going in and out of the court to settle the custody issue; who’ll be under the care of whom. Eventually, it was decided that I would live with dad and Sehun would live with mom.

I hadn’t heard anything about Sehun in 7 years due to the fact that mom, now remarried, moved away to Incheon while dad and I stayed in the house in Seoul. So, meeting with Sehun last week was kind of a big deal for me.

“Sehun’s fine,” I replied, taking the first sheets of papers from the stack on my right to check them, “He’s living with me now.”

Apparently, he was transferred to the head office of the police department since he was promoted. And coincidentally, it was located in Seoul, where my current apartment was. Although I found it strange on how he found my apartment which I just moved in last month and haven’t even told anyone about, I kind of felt relieved that he still remembered he had a sister.

I could almost laugh at how much Sunyoung’s face brightened up, a smile grazing upon her small red lips.

“I need to meet him,” she beamed as she pointed at one of the papers that had a big red ‘IMPORTANT’ stamp on it. “Please?”

“We’ll see about it,” I chuckled, telling her to get back to work so that I could finally focus on the humongous pile of paperwork. Being in the IT department of a bank company would be one of the most frustrating yet fun jobs to have in the company. I think I would’ve quitted if I were placed in the accounting department.

After almost two hours of constant checking and marking, I stretched my hands to the front, relaxing the strain muscles. Leaning back against the chair, I looked out the window. The sky hasn’t cleared yet and I doubt they’d clear any time soon.

From the corner of my eye, I could see the red folder sitting comfortably inside my workbag. Taking it out, I flipped through the pages over and over again, grimacing at some of the parts as I thought back at all the information I’ve gathered, which was little to none.

Why wouldn’t anyone tell me anything when I thought I was the one who’s supposed to know the most?

I managed to blink the tears away before finally continuing my work, once in a while glancing back at the red folder I placed on my left side, reminding myself of Hanna and her unsolved story.

-.-

Work had finally ended and I stretched my arms towards the sky, gazing at the countless amount of dark clouds floating in the air, trying it’s best to block every ray of sunshine to reach the ground as it finally lets out big heavy droplets of water to the ground. Soon enough, the pitter patter of the rain resounded through the busy street as the workers bring up their umbrellas above their heads, protecting them from the almost harmless water droplets.

Beside me sat Sunyoung under the shelter of the bus stop in front of the building, her smile still lingering on her face. I had told her that Sehun would come to pick me up from work and she was pretty excited to hear that.

“I can’t wait to meet this brother of yours,” she excitedly remarked, glancing at the road from both directions, once in a while asking if this or that was Sehun’s car.

After several minutes of waiting in the rain that was getting heavier and heavier, I finally spotted his silver Kia Visto pulling to a stop a few meters ahead of us. Almost immediately after it fully braked, Sehun came out of the car, a blue umbrella in his hand and his hood covering his head as he ran towards us.

He was panting slightly when he reached to our stop, handing me the umbrella as he brushed off the few droplets of water that were stuck on his clothing.

“I’m sorry I was late. Had a lot of work to do,” he said as he pulled down his hood, revealing his rather disheveled light brown hair as he ruffled it, eyes still on the ground.

“That’s okay,” I replied as I pulled Sunyoung to my side, “I want to introduce to you one of my closest colleagues, Kim Sunyoung,” I said, introducing Sunyoung to him as he lifted his head and raised his arm to greet her.

But his eyes widened in what I saw were recognition.

written by teenme14  (10.01.2015)

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