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– Ma Young Ae? Yang Ok Geum? – called Se Ri, looking anxiously around the dark strip malls, but her companions were nowhere to be seen. – Na Wol Suk?
She just lingered at the counter for a couple of minutes, looking closely at the tea cups. It was impossible to find more than two cups similar to each other in the house of Ri Jeong Hyuk, but for some reason she wanted a service for six people. Well, all the sets of dishes that were offered to buy here hardly deserved the proud title of services, but still… Six cups - just for all the boys, Jeong Hyeok and herself. And, imagining how she would place these white cups – with symbolic roses painted on them – on the table, she did not notice that she was left at the counter alone.
People fled past her, sellers talked loudly among themselves, called on buyers. Se Ri looked around the malls, only in some places illuminated by a variety of oil lamps on the shelves, trying to figure out where to go now to get home. All the dark alleys visible from the market square seemed equally unfamiliar.
– Auntie, – she turned to the tradeswoman behind the counter, – did you notice where my company was heading?
The merchant shrugged.
– It seems they turned onto that street. And where are you from?
– The military town.
– Well, then that's right, – the merchant nodded. – Just go through there.
– Thank you, – Se Ri breathed a sigh of relief and ran to the side street she was pointed to.
Indeed, the company was walking along a dark street in the distance.
«Have I looked at the cups for so long? – Se Ri thought in surprise. – They’ve gone so far».
– Ma Young Ae!
It seemed to her that one of them waved her hand in response, and Se Ri ran forward. Well, she did not run, she just tried. Running in the dark on an unpaved road was simply dangerous.
«No big deal, – she thought. – I'll catch them up gradually».
They walked ahead, talking about something and laughing, turned into an alley. Then into the second. Se Ri lost them in the third.
She wandered for a long time along the dark narrow streets – between solid walls, fences and dark windows. A couple of times she knocked on some gates to ask how to return to the market, but no one answered, and she did not dare to call again. She wanted to cry. She rambled in the indifferent darkness, not even knowing whether she was moving away from the market she wanted to return to so much. The sky above looked at her – just as silently and impassively as then, on the seashore, on her half-forgotten birthday...
***
Jeong Hyeok was returning home, thinking only about how he could look Yoon Se Ri in the eye now. How to explain that she misunderstood his… concern for her. Yes, his concern, which has been generated by his responsible attitude both to the fate of his subordinates and to her own life. The desire to soften the hardships that fell to her lot. To make her unplanned visit to a foreign country as comfortable as possible and…
– Captain Ri! Captain Ri!
The women who were waiting at the gate rushed to him, and he really did not like something in the expressions of their faces. Either the fear in the eyes of always frivolous Yang Ok Geum, or the ingratiating smile of Na Wol Suk, usually so self-confident.
– What happened?
– We were looking for you, – Na Wol Suk began. – Because of your fiancee... You see, we were at the market together, but she disappeared somewhere…
– Disappeared? – Jeong Hyeok asked bewildered.
– She was with us all the time, – Yang Ok Geum continued. – And then suddenly disappeared. And it was already getting dark. We could not find her, so...
He did not listen further. He stumbled and ran to the village.
«She doesn’t like dark places. She is always afraid of darkness».
How frightened she was that first evening when the lights went out. How she burst into tears when she saw him. How she wiped the tears away – with the sleeve of his shirt. And besides that shirt, she only had a towel on. On the head.
Jeong Hyeok shook his head in displeasure, trying to erase the picture that appeared before his eyes, and firmly decided to never again remember it. He tried to figure out where to look for Se Ri. What could she need in the market?
He remembered how she looked dissatisfiedly at her nails the day before: «I urgently need a nail polish». He remembered how she combed her hair in front of the bathroom mirror when he looked there, not knowing why. «Ri Jeong Hyeok! – She exclaimed, depicting indignation. – What if I undressed here?!». She laughed, and he thought it was good that she did not get up early usually. He thought about how she comes to the bathroom every morning, bringing warm water. How she washes herself, looking in his mirror. How she fills the bathtub with water and bends over it, rinsing her hair, tearing wet heavy strands with her fingers... It's good that there was a shower in the barracks.
The market was still crowded and quite noisy, but Se Ri was not at the counters where Jeong Hyeok thought it was possible to buy some nail polish. He walked through the rows, asking about a young woman who had lost her friends. Tried to figure out how to describe her. «She's beautiful. She has long hair – heavy, silky. Eyes dark as night. Pointy nose. Kind smile. Oh, what a nonsense…». Words were powerless. Se Ri was just herself. And he... he had to take care of her. He wanted to take care of her and did not want to lose her. Under no circumstances.
– Ah, so small and sharp-nosed? – One tradeswoman, who packed some plates in a box, nodded to him. – Yes, she was here. An hour ago, it seems. She was looking for her friends and ran after them into that alley.
***
Se Ri was persuading herself not to cry. She was tired of wandering in the dark through the endless maze of unlit streets and decided to wait for the morning. She sat on the steps at the gate of another dark silent house, tried not to think about the oppressive darkness, counting – uttering the numbers in a whisper.
«I will find the way at dawn, – she tried to assure herself. – But Jeong Hyeok will be angry. Probably».
She sniffed and wrapped herself tightly in her sweater. «Don't be angry, I was looking for cups for us... for you». What a nonsense... And all because the lights are constantly turned off here.
At that moment, she heard a voice in the distance.
– Yoon Se Ri? – Jeong Hyeok called her. – Where are you, Yoon Se Ri?
She jumped up and froze, not understanding where to go.
– I'm here!
He immediately asked again:
– Where exactly?
– If only I knew.
– Tell me what you see.
She looked around in the dark.
– The gates, – she said with conviction. – The house behind the gates. Some trees... It seems that is all.
– Keep talking.
– There is a puddle in the middle of the road. And the sky is above my head. Ri Jeong Hyuk?
– What?
– Where are you?
– Look to the right, – judging by the tone, he smiled.
A small light floated over the fences to her right. Se Ri sobbed.
«How does he manage to find me all the time? No, I do not mind at all. It's just... supernatural».
– How did you find me, Ri Jeong Hyeok?
– I bought you a candle, – he ignored the question, but she was already used to the fact that he seemed embarrassed to answer some questions.
– Aromatic? – She asked, also smiling.
– Of course.
He stepped out of the darkness of the alley and handed her a candle – a greenish wax in a glass cup, smelling of herbs.
– Oh, finally I'll take a bath properly! – She grabbed the candle and lifted it to see his face. – Ri Jeong Hyeok...
– What?
– Thank you.
The stuffy darkness receded. He looked at her face a little bewildered, even brought his hand close to her cheek, as if he wanted to touch it with his fingers, but for some reason thought it over.
– Ri Jeong Hyeok?
– Don't cry… – he said. – I found you…
– I'm not crying, – Se Ri wiped her cheeks. – Not anymore.
***
She thought she would definitely come to him tonight, put her forehead on his shoulder and fall asleep without pills – as always next to him.
He was firmly convinced that he would tell her about Seo Dan and sleep on the floor.
They say «if you want to make the universe laugh, tell it about your plans».