Chapter Text
She shrugged off her shoulders as she saw some couples passing by her in this quiet railway station. They looked cute. She couldn’t think of anything than that. Well, that didn’t matter for her, at least for now. She had broken up with her boyfriend four years ago, and still, she had no one to replace him. It was not because she couldn’t forget him, it’s just because she was not ready to be in a relationship for one more time.
She wondered what would happen to her if she met someone who totally took her attention.
Ah, she should forget her desire to meet someone attractive in this railway station. She was just here for 40 minutes anyway, waiting for her train to come. And well, she was also waiting for her partner, Hansol, to come. Today they had a trip to Busan, they got a holiday from their boss. Hansol probably came 10 minutes before the train went to another destination.
Well.
She tried to put her attention to a self-motivation book she always brought everywhere which had a yellow hardcover. She needed to kill the time. It was no use since she had her mind on something else which she didn’t even know. Probably she was still thinking about those couples. Or, the scenario she wanted to happen.
“Ah, young lady.” She almost jerked from her chair as she had a woman smiled at her politely. She then fixed the way she sat and smiled back at the older woman. The woman was probably 40 years old and looked so beautiful. She was immersed in the beauty of the older woman before she realized that the older woman was not alone. The older woman was with two little girls, who one of them was probably 4 years old.
“Can I help you?” she asked the older woman. The older woman nodded quickly without any hesitation.
“Could you please take care of my nieces for a while? I need to use the toilet.” The older woman replied, smiling shyly. “I hope you don’t mind that I disturb your activity.”
She shook her head and smiled widely. “It’s okay. I will take care of them.” she glanced at two little girls in front of her. They looked so cute and they looked confused to find a stranger like her. well, she didn’t think she looked scary but these kids maybe thought that she did.
The older woman nodded, smiling. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.” she giggled.
“Where’s the toilet?”
“Ah, it’s over there.”
The older woman left, now it was just her and these little girls. They looked nice, she thought.
“Just wait here until Auntie comes back, okay?” she told them. They nodded slowly in response. She smiled a little but didn’t understand why she didn’t want to have a chat with them as she always did to every kid she met. Today was different, she guessed, and she wasn’t in the mood to talk with kids. She led them to sit next to her. And just like that, she was once again busy with her book. This time, she was really immersed in her reading, and then she felt a pat on her hand. She turned around and saw one of the little girls, who was 6 years old, looked at her confused.
“Hey,” she greeted the little girl,” where is your sister?” she asked when she didn’t find the other girl behind.
“I want to ask you, Miss. Where is she? She was here with you.” the little girl said,” I bought her candies there.” The little girl pointed at a kiosk near the exit door. “When I came back here, you were alone and she was gone.”
She felt her heart dropped. She looked around her and she just realized that another little girl was not with her. She was so shocked until her palms went cold and wet. What? The little girl is missing? Oh, God! What should she say to their Aunt? The girls were her responsibility at the time their Aunt left them with her. She was so careless! All she could do at the time was just cursing herself, she was so careless, and she was so stupid.
Stupid
Stupid
There was nothing she could do except…
She took the little girl’s hand with her shaky hand. “Come on, we have to find your sister.”
It took time to wander around this railway station to find a little girl. People have come to this place, and it was hard to find the little girl among these adults. She grew panicked all the time when they reached a place but they couldn’t find the little girl. She kept cursing herself why she was so careless while she asked some people about the missing little girl. They said they didn’t know about the girl, which made her even frustrated. She was thinking places probably the little girl went but then a thought came, that probably the little girl was kidnapped.
NO! she argued mentally with herself. No, she can’t be kidnapped. NO.
She had imagined how the Aunty reacted over this. She must be blamed by the Aunt and all the family members. She must be hated by all of the people.
Oh, no, she was freaking scared.
As the answer to her prayer, she then heard the little girl with her squalled.
“Ah, she’s there!”
The 4-year-old girl was playing with kids around her age, they played paper windmill together. The little girl looked so happy, yeah, she didn’t even realize that she was missing.
She let out a relieved sigh as she let the girl reaching her little sister. She hid her face with her palms. She was really thankful that finally the little girl was found. As soon as she led the kids to the wooden chair, where their Aunt met her, the fear was gone. The Aunt had been waiting for them. She decided not to tell the Aunt about the missing of one of her nieces. The aunt said thank you, and then they left. It was her all alone once again, and in a minute, Hansol came.
“What’s with your face? You look pale.” He commented.
She got up from her seat. “Nothing. Come on. We almost miss the train.”
“Let me bring your luggage.” Hansol cheerfully offered. She just nodded. She felt like she lost all her energy this morning. She was daydreaming when they got on the train and when they found their seats. She was like a zombie, she was still shocked and quiet. Hansol didn’t realize her weird action until the train left the station.
“Are you okay? You are like you’ve seen ghosts or something.” He said as he waved his hand in front of her.
She tried to smile. “I’m okay, no need to worry.”
Hansol pouted. “Of course I worried. You look pale as a paper.”
“Don’t make fun of me, Hansol.” She chuckled. She then heard someone in front of her also chuckled. She realized that it was not just her and Hansol here. There was another passenger.
She tried to focus her sight. She saw a guy with wet brownish hair had a seat in front of her. He smiled warmly at her, making her had butterflies in her stomach. Oh my God, what is this feeling? She thought. Who is he?
“Oh, sorry to make you confused.” Hansol then interrupted. “This is Wonwoo, my college friend. We just met again on this train after some years.” He giggled happily like a little boy as he pointed at the stranger guy in front of her. “And, Wonwoo, this is my friend. We work in the same company, and she’s my partner.”
She saw that Wonwoo guy stretch out his hand. She then shook his hand. She didn’t get it why she was all groggy in front of him.
“N-nice to meet you.”
That Wonwoo guy smiled even warmly. “Nice to meet you, too.”
Why did it have to be awkward like this? she thought. She tried to smile politely. She was surprised when suddenly Wonwoo said
“I’ve seen you before. You were the one who looked for a missing little girl, right?”
She blinked.
How did he know that?
That only meant one thing.
He saw her at that time.
Wonwoo was still smiling, sweet, and warm.
O-oh, it’s hard not to fall for the guy.