The Daughter ↬ SUNGJOY [EDITING!]

➳ forty-nine

A super-awkward 5-second lock of eyes was shared before both of them looked away. Another 15-second awkward silence and Joy can't even eat because her body became rigid.

"Uh...Good evening," A super awkward and 'too formal to handle' greeting broke the silence coming from a very stiff Sungjae from the other side of the table. Three empty stools separates the two of them and it's weird because why is no one there to save them from such awkward situation.

"Right. It's evening," Joy mumbled and she the realized how that sounded so dumb so she quickly cleared her throat and replied, "I-I mean good evening to you too." She looked up to check how Sungjae reacted to her stupid response but to her surprise, Sungjae is staring on his noodles.

He probably feels weird too. This is their first time to be alone. Just the two of them. Without a fight or bad feelings in between and it's really gonna make your face heat.

Joy didn't know how she managed to avert her attention to eating her ramyeon wholeheartedly. Maybe it's because she's too hungry that she was able to completely forget about Sungjae's existence some few centimeters apart from her.

Sungjae who hasn't leave yet. Sitting awkwardly while waiting for the girl to finish eating to her heart's content.

Even Sungjae have no idea why he's waiting patiently like a godly trained dog but he figured it's the manners and the assurance that she'll be safe to go home.

And speaking of home, where is Areum? He also didn't saw Areum yesterday. If before, he'll die of a heart attack seeing that his daughter is nowhere near her Eomma, now he think he can ask Joy later. 

Later when he either walk Joy to her car or if he's lucky enough, walk her to her house.

When Joy finished eating, she was startled to see Sungjae still sitting there while looking at her. She could just ignore him and leave but her mouth forgot to shut up, "You're still here?" It came out very naturally and Joy made a mental note to give herself a pat on the shoulder later.

"Huh?" Sungjae looked dumbfounded after hearing Joy talk, "Oh, yeah. I was waiting for you," He replied like it's the most obvious thing in the world. The two are doing a great job on acting as if they were never each other's greatest heartbreak.

To Joy's surprise, she expected the answer. She knew he's gonna say that that's why she successfully made a neutral expression, "Ahh... Well, I'm good now. Thanks," A small smile escaped her lips as the two of them got up from their seats. Joy took the plastic bag on the table and Sungjae eyed what's inside.

Canned beers?

He contemplated on whether to ask about it because clearly, it's not his business and he doesn't want to make Joy think think that he's interfering with her life choices. He followed her until outside and when Joy stopped, he also stopped.

"Are you going there again tonight?" Joy asked, not looking at him. Again, he was surprised with how Joy is starting a conversation with him but this is way better than awkward silence.

"Where?" Sungjae replied. He doesn't have the slightest idea of where 'there' is at.

"That tree in front of our house," Joy answered.

Oh the outpost he made for himself.

"Yes," he replied shortly.

"Well let's walk together then," Joy stated and started walking. She didn't gave Sungjae a chance to react because it might lead to another series of uncomfortable exchange of question. And this is not for Sungjae anyway, this is for herself.