Light. Such a little, unimportant thing. Light, the thing that pierces the heart of darkness. Light, the gentle and comforting mother to the cold, distant child. Light. What a curious thing. Lamp posts hold light in a small space. They constrict the power of light to a tiny area. I looked above me to the yellow light behind crystal glass. It called to me, hypnotized me, saved me. The light touched my brown hair and fell upon my face. I doubt my face looked better under that light than it did any other light. Cold wind pressed up against my back, invading my thin sweater. I shivered, as the sweater did nothing to contain warmth. The light above me didn't help either. I decided I should probably walk a bit, so as not to accidentally fall asleep while standing. It was hard. As I paced away, my heart ached. It used to be impossible for me to find light. I would walk for miles around the city at night, running into drunken men, scandalous women, and rebellious children. Their eyes would search me, wondering whether to accept me as a person of the night or scold me for being out too late. They would stare for a rather long time as I hobbled past. Perhaps they were confused to see such a well dressed man, clearly sober and his clearly overly stuffed wallet tucked in his back pocket. 

The men would slowly lean in to me and say, You wouldn't have another b-b-bot-tle on you, wo-o-ould you-u?  The women would twirl their silky feather boas, wrap their skinny arms around my neck and say, It's too late for a handsome guy like yourself to be wandering around out here. Come inside with me, I'll keep you nice and warm. The children would laugh and ask ridiculous questions. Hey mister, hey! Hey! What are you doing out so late? Why do you have a suit on? Are you a business man or somethin'? Why do you look so sad? 

I felt a rather small drop of water fall onto my nose. I looked up to see the sky full of tiny stars. It suddenly started pouring rain, as if the tiny drop was the single warning sign of the oncoming storm. I ran, away from the rain, away from the people, away from the light. There were plenty of shop overhangs to hide underneath. None of the shops were open, the owners having locked up and gone home hours ago.  I huddled underneath a shop called 'Terada's', the single shop with its lights still on. My eyes couldn't help but peek inside and what I saw was fantastical. The shop was completely full top to bottom with beautiful, intricately designed clocks. My reflection glowed within the golden gears, but as I stared into the yellow depths, a different face came up behind me. 
"Do you like them?" 
I turned towards the soft voice. 
"I polish them day and night. Do you like them?" 
I didn't reply, I only looked at the man. Clearly he was not from here, his Korean sounding very rusty with a foreign accent, and belonged in the night just as much as I did. His suit was ruffled, the tie missing and the buttons ignored. It clashed with his bright blonde hair, a bit messy, but altogether well kept. The man bowed. 
"My name is Mr. Terada. I own this shop. I was just locking up and happened to see you standing outside my window. Would you like to come in? The rain will probably not stop until morning. I sleep up above my shop and I'm sure my bed is big enough for the both of us." 
The loud tapping of the rain could be heard above us. "If it doesn't bother you-" I said, looking down at my wet shoes. 
"Oh it doesn't bother me at all! Please, you are welcome." 
His smile was as bright as his clocks. He opened the door and motioned me to go inside. I bowed, and slowly stepped into the shop. I heard the door shut behind me and the man quickly turn a key into the lock. "You're not from here," I awkwardly began, taking off my shoes and placing them by the door. 
"No, how did you know? I am originally from Japan. My business wasn't exactly popular there, so I moved to Seoul in order to figure out my life. I'm actually considering getting rid of these old clocks and starting my life over. Perhaps even getting a proper paying job as well."
I waited, while Mr. Terada took off his equally soaked shoes and watched as he placed them next to mine. I paced around, looking at the clocks and wondering how long, how many hours, days, months, even years it took to finish just one of them. "Why would you do that? To just throw them away like that...it seems..." 
"Wasteful? Yes." 
I turned to him. His eyes looked sad, even though that bright smile was pasted across his face. 
"But money is important and my clocks are not." 
He walked up to the clock nearest me and delicately touched its golden numbers. 
"Time is the most important thing in the world to me, and to everyone else it is meaningless." 
His hand quickly dropped off of the clock, as if taken out of a trance. 
"Anyhow, I don't believe I got your name!" 
The smile was back. 
"What is your name? You must be from here, your Korean is much better than mine." 
"My name...my name is Joon Jae. Lee Joon Jae." 
He outstretched his hand to me. 
"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Joon Jae." 
When I wouldn't take his hand, he gently reached down and grabbed mine and shook it. The handshake was longer than I expected. Not that I had never shook another person's hand before, but this one was different. His hands were so soft, so warm, so perfect. I quickly disconnected our hands. His eyes flashed sadness for a spilt second, but were filled with light just a moment later. 
"Here, my bed is upstairs. I apologize if it's too small! I need to find a new apartment to stay in."
He guided me up the stairs to the single other room in the store. There sat a bed, not too small for the two of them, and Mr. Terada jumped onto it, making it sway and shake a little. 
"I was just about to go to bed! I am too tired to change out of my suit, I hope you don't mind! Wait! Let me turn off the light."
He got up, ran over to switch off the light, and, with me still standing there not knowing what to do, jumped back onto the farthest side of the bed. 
"You can sleep here!"
He pointed next to him. I slowly laid down where he pointed. He giggled and turned over, facing the wall. My eyes were about to close when I heard a small, bright sound float amongst the darkness. 
"Good night, Joon Jae. It was nice meeting you." 
I turned my head to face him, but he was still facing the wall. I thought he had fallen asleep, until that same voice appeared once again. This time I could almost hear his smile poke out from beneath his soft words. 
"Oh, and please, call me Takuya."