Corporate Strangers

The Favor Thing

"Ri Jeong Hyeok-ssi, I didn't remember anything at all on that day. I sincerely apologize if I caused you trouble" Seri faintly said in absolute remorse as she drank from the can and stared at the center of the park.

"Well, you said you'd open a flower shop" He started. Seri smiled and wearily released a sigh, "That again? Dan and Seung Jun were already getting tired of me drunk-talking them about--"

"Peonies?" he said, finishing her. They both laughed.

As their laughs subsided to silent chuckles, Jeong Hyeok took another drink, throwing back his head in the process before mustering the courage to look at her again,

"You're likeable, Seri-ssi, whoever said that to you clearly needed a check up from me".

"Whatever you say, Doctor Ri" she replied in between chuckles, as she sipped from the can.

This time, it was her turn to stand up and walk towards the public piano warmly illuminated by the street lamps. She was unsure if she could touch some keys considering that it was around 10 in the evening already.

And yet, she still found herself striking the Re softly. The tune sounded seemingly louder than usual as it echoed through the empty park.

She switched to Sol, paused for second, then struck the Sol again as she glided her fingers from La, to Ti, then Do. It was the most basic melody from the starting excerpt of Jeong Hyeok's piece that he exactly played earlier in the afternoon.

Since it was solely based on her memories, some of the notes sounded so off already, much to his amusement. Seri couldn't care less albeit to her, it still had that tune she kept on guessing.

He stood up from the bench and walked to her side, sitting quietly beside as to not disturb her playing. By the time she softly stopped, Jeong Hyeok placed both of his hands and played the bridge of the song, the sound of the basic notes doubled as it enveloped the cold air into a mix of melody and harmony.

They were lost in their own moment, not even the occasional brush of the chilling wind could remind them of how late the night was. As the song came to an end and Jeong Hyeok's fingers finally settled and rested on one of the keys, Seri turned to look at him, to which he responded with a soft glance to hers.

"Did I took the responsibility well, Seri-ssi?" He playfully asked, eliciting a warm smile from her.

"Yes you did. Thank you, Ri Jeong Hyeok-ssi. I would fly myself into a tornado if it would meant that I'd get to repeat this for forever"

"Which part would you exactly repeat?"

He softly moved an inch.

"I-- well when we"

He leaned closer.

"When we what?"

Seri couldn't talk much when the tip of their noses were a hairsbreadth away. He waited.

"We...we should go" she replied in a whisper.

Seri stood up from the seat and slowly walked. She clearly wanted him but the idea of their 'friendship' getting thrown out of the bus and her spending the next days alone, bothered her mind. Pull yourself, this is just you, she thought.

Unbeknownst to her, Jeong Hyeok didn't want to repeat how their moment was ditched earlier by her immense flight response to the situation. It was as clear as the day that the two knew this wasn't the right time to part ways yet. 

He decided to go for it, anyway.

He walked forward, making her cautiously glance at the sound of his footsteps against the grass, then eventually turned around to face his presence.