Cinnamon Bliss | Seokjin

chapter i. chance encounter

Because there had been nothing more that you had ever wanted than to bring back the colour and light in both of their lives. Not only to have the precious little girl smile as brightly as the sun again, but also to slowly erase the pain that you would always see sparkling in the eyes of the broken man that had always been there to hold his little girl tightly in his arms.

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One Year Ago...

There was something about the weather that day that felt daunting. Even the air felt so hollow that it made it hard for you to breathe without feeling your chest caving in. There was something in the air that day that made you feel like there was a void inside you that you had not felt for a long time.

Usually, you would relish the beauty of winter. The white snow could never intimidate you when you were sheltered inside your small cafe, where it was warm and cozy and serene, with the scent of coffee and roasted sugar and cinnamon wafting in the air like a security blanket wrapped around you.

But as you looked out the window, the beautiful sight of the white snow was not giving you the effect that it usually would.

As if the universe was crying and you could hear the voice. You could even feel it in your soul as you were sitting there, waiting for something to drop, only because the air suddenly grew tense, letting you know that something was about to happen.

And then he came to your line of sight, just when you were trying to get lost in the scenery of the falling snow outside your cafe to ease up before the figure trudging through the snow stole your attention. The man who walked with his head held high even when his eyes were clouded, and the sight of him was enough to draw you in, unable to look away.

For a moment, you wondered if he was a part of what the universe was trying to show you. Even from the distance, it was easy to see the somber mood he had fallen into and that he was carrying it with him, something that was a complete contradiction to the joyful and festive mood that was being shared by everyone around you.

The jiggle sound of the bell when the front door was pushed open seemed like fate, answering your questions.

You got lost in marvelling in the sight of him right that moment that you made no move to welcome your guest. While you had called him an archangel ever since that very day, your friends had called him the 'ice prince', when his entrance had been accompanied by a stream of snow and the cold breeze from outside seemed to linger around him as he walked past the door.

Then your eyes fell on the little girl he was carrying in his arms, her face pressed against his chest as if she was trying to hide from the world. It was a heart-wrenching sight to see, but it was nothing compared to what you found when you finally had a good look at her—the solemn look, the trembling lips, the glossy eyes and the hollowness in her gaze that pinched at your heartstrings—and that was when your legs began to move. Time seemed to slow down as you approached the pair, and for whatever reason that you could not possibly understand, you felt the need to tread carefully as you came to them. Standing right there at the center of the cafe, they appeared so fragile, and they appeared to you as if they were holding onto each other the best they could not to fall apart. So you approached them warily, giving them the friendliest smile that you could muster as you greeted the beautiful man that you assumed as the father.

"Welcome," you gently said, and the man returned your smile with one of his own. That was when you finally noticed the little details about him that they both seemed to share—the tired eyes he was sporting and the bags that had formed under them, the grim smile he was trying to break free from, and the pain emitting from his gaze when he spoke next, "Hi, is there somewhere we could sit?"