Status: Awkward

Chapter 25

Choi Junghoon's POV

I was too excited to get the educational scholarship and go to Seoul so I could get my mother better medical services and assistance. Of course, she is my number one priority yet it seemed to me that I never did my best. It felt like I was never enough.

Making ends meet while still at school forced me to forget about the things that young boys like me use to experience...like love and all its forms.

Not until I met Byulyi.

"You were the one busking with the patients, right? I was there during the donation drive with my grandpa. I'm Moon Byulyi. Thank you for doing it."

I don't know how I would describe the feeling, but it was overwhelming. Her eyes, her smile, everything about her screams like my mother, she is pretty.

"Junghoon-ah, is there someone you like? You seem so happy these past few days."

"Mom, I just met a girl outside the hospital. She is friends with one of the patients here. You remember the cute girl at the private ward we used to have the same schedule for your check-ups."

"Si-ah's friend? Did you ask for her name?"

I never asked for her name, she said it to me clearly.

'I'm Moon Byulyi."

I barely talk about her since then. As an only child from a single mother, I knew she wanted me to spend my youth doing the things that boys usually do rather than tend to a sick mother.

"So you like Moon Byulyi?" Junghwan, one of my friends, asked.

"No!"

"Lie to my face and I will not help you. She is my neighbor. I can get you with her."

How could I deny it when I was staring at her that whole time as she warm-up with her teammates at the field. She seems like a fun and easy-going person.

"Moon Byulyi!" Junghwan shouted as he waves at her. The way she turned to our direction felt like the whole world turned into slow motion. It was like a movie scene when the main characters of a romantic story meet at love at first sight, yet the moment went comic when I fell off the bench. So, it ended with me picking up my things, running in shame.

I cannot help but smile at how absurd I might have been that time. I am a different kind of awkward. I become clumsy around girls and would choose to avoid them at all cost, but Byulyi is a special one.

"I think you've adjusted quite well here in the city." Byulyi said as soon as we reach the columbarium.

I look at her as her grip on the flowers tighten. She seem to be nervous and is quite trembling. I would not want to point it out and start a fraught conversation so I respond to her casually.

"Thank you for visiting mom with me."

"Don't mention it. Your mother and I are friends."

Mother would have been so happy to see her but it's more than a year late now. I believe she is smiling from ear to ear looking down at us from heaven.

"Happy Birthday, Ma'am!" as she places the flowers she bought for her. "Daisies, your favorite."

"You still remember?" I surprisingly asked.

Though she really liked the girl, mother doesn't want someone who would bring me so much trouble. And here I am, after all the years I've spent without her, still smitten.