Eternal life

Chapter 7

It was around noon, but it was gloomy. Young Saeng was laying in very uncomfortable position, with one leg above the couch back rest. He moved rapidly, like he was having a bad dream and finally woke up by falling from the couch hardly to the floor. He sat up massaging his lower back and mouthing some 'ouch' words.

He took few deep breaths, stood up and went to the bathroom to refresh himself. He couldn't sleep well this night, because of weird dreams he had, which he didn't remember anymore, resulting in missing the time, when Aeri was leaving the flat. He walked out, drying his face and headed to the kitchen. On the table there was some rice and side dishes wrapped, beside them there was a note, written with neat handwriting.

'Young Saeng!

You slept so well, so I didn't wake you up. Gone to work. Eat something. After work going to get things done, I'll get you a phone number. I'm going to be back around eight, eat something without me. Allowance money is in cupboard beside fridge. The code to the door is 7639.

Kim Ae Ri – mom'

Young Saeng caught himself reading it out loud, so he smiled. He looked at the clock to check when actually Aeri left and gasped in shock, that it was already so late.

'This is what you get, when you finally fall asleep at dawn...' He said it, sat down and took chopsticks. 'Bon Appetit!' He started to eat, but he rather didn't have any appetite. He put the cutlery down and sighed. 'What to do...'

After fifteen minutes, he wrapped the uneaten food and put it into the fridge. He went to the couch, folded the blanket and placed it beside the pillow. Then he approached the pile of clothes and scanning them he picked some black trousers, different type from those he wore yesterday, but still black, white t-shirt and reddish, plaid shirt to put on the t-shirt. He also chose the black baseball cap and tried on track shoes – they were slightly loose, but still fitting him. He checked his appearance in the mirror, which was next to the entrance, went to the cupboard near the fridge and took the money. Aeri was generous, so he smiled. When everything was set he walked out.

As he left the building he was hit with sun ray. He squinted his eyes. Earlier the sun was hidden behind the heavy clouds and when he was getting ready he didn't notice it got clear. Then he registered the noise coming to his ears. There were birds singing and kids laughing, screaming and talking in the nearby playground.

He took a minute to breath the air, which wasn't the freshest and cleanest, but still it was his first breath having so much of freedom. He neatened the hat, putting it more onto forehead to give more shadow, looked into the direction of the kids and smiled. They were having so much fun, they were free. He felt an urge to join them, but then he shook his head. 'Am I a kid, like them?' He thought and glanced about.

He was standing still with hat on, so few moments later some mothers sitting on the bench started pointing at him and whisper between each other. Young Saeng realized how it may look, so he decide to go in random direction, just to get away from that place.

He walked and looked around, not noticing people around him, therefore he often bumped onto passers-by and he repeated 'sorry, sorry', but he still was not careful. He passed the café and smelled the coffee, as he took a long sniff savouring the aroma. He decided to walk into the store.

It was his first coffee after regaining consciousness. In hospital it wasn't maybe forbidden, but rather inadvisable. He didn't even think about drinking it and even if he would, it would come from simple vending machine, making the coffee not so special as this one prepared by barista. But after smelling it, the one coming from this cafe, he couldn't resist. He ordered the most popular item which was iced coffee, asked for a take-out and made an exit to continue the walk. He took a sip of the beverage, which had strong, bitter flavour but still was drinkable.