A/N: I'm so sorry for the delay! There are a lot of holiday preparations going on on top of work so I can only update during weekends.
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Yoon Seri walked over to her favorite bench along the river. This bench gave her a perfectly framed view of the city, which was great at day or night, wasn't too far a walk from the parking and wasn't too close either. It was placed under a tree that bloomed pink blossoms in summer and near a street lamp that illuminated that spot when she visited during the dark.
It was also the bench where she used to meet her one true love.
Sighing, she sat and stared at the river like she always did for the past ten years when she last saw him.
She would never forget all those years ago when she was still a freshman in university.
Seri walked the hallways of this prestigious Seoul university. She was proud to note that she was accepted based on her own merit and not because of the influence of her father. Coming from a small private school, she couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with the vast school grounds and significantly higher number of people that passed her everywhere she went.
As she sat in her first class of her first year, she couldn't help but feel excited about how things would turn out. Studying was always something she enjoyed and studying for university somehow felt more... grownup. Even the classroom was different, with her class being in an amphitheater type room.
Her happy thoughts were interrupted by a nice manly scent that came from the person who took the seat in front of her. He leaned back and his head grazed her hands which were gripping her desk, making her gasp at the contact.
When he turned, her breath caught. This time because she didn't expect the man to look... this good.
"Oh, I'm sorry," he said. "I'm a little unsettled. I hope I didn't hurt your hands."
Yoon Seri blushed. "No, you didn't."
He stood and extended his hand. "I'm Ri Jeong Hyeok."
Taking the hand offered, she shook it and said, "Yoon Seri."
They shared a smile, not saying anything for a few seconds before Jeong Hyeok spoke again. "I'm too tall. I don't want to block your view of the professor. Maybe I should sit beside you?"
Seri wanted to point out that the room was designed to avoid that, no matter how tall he is, but she stayed silent and just smiled. He must have misconstrued the silence as a decline, so he sputtered and started to take back what he said. "I'm sorry... I..."
Students started coming in as the hour to start the class approached and when another person placed a bag on the seat beside her, Seri stopped that person and said, "I"m sorry. This seat is taken." To Ri Jeong Hyeok, she said, "You should move quickly."
His face broke out in a wide smile and his dimples deepened. Retrieving his books and rucksack, he transferred seats and sat beside Seri. "Let's be seatmates for the rest of this class, okay?" he declared.
She nodded. "Okay."
Seri sighed. How different that first meeting was to that last time when he was under the rain, desperately begging her to choose him.
"We can do this. Go with me. Please, Seri! Please?"
She sighed again.
Ten years. Ten years and she still felt the pain, dulled by time but painful nonetheless. Does one ever get over the hurt?
She loved her life and career she built. She would never regret choosing her family and her sister. But, at the same time, she will always rue the day she left her beloved.
Ping!
Her alarm sounded.
Enough musings, time for her to pick up her baby sister Yoon Jisoo.
Jisoo was a surprise addition to their family. Being the youngest for a long time, Seri thought that she would always have to fight her brothers for her place in the family firm. When her parents had Jisoo late in life, Seri was already a teenager but the new baby thrilled her to no end. She stopped hanging around school for long hours with friends and headed home as soon as class was done so that she could spend Jisoo's waking hours playing with her.
Jisoo's arrival also brought her close to her mother, whom she had a contentious relationship with. But their mutual love for the little baby bonded them.
Now, her little baby sister was in college and they rarely spent time together because Jisoo lived in a dormitory on campus, with a few of her friends. Still, when time permitted, Seri and Jisoo met up to have coffee or dinner.
Today was one of those days. As an alumni of the university, she was allowed to enter the premises and she headed to the classroom Jisoo said she would be in at that hour.
Seri chuckled at the call she received from Jisoo the other night. "Seri! Please help me. I really don't understand this inflation deflation thingy!"
Seri did fine with economics but it wasn't her strongest subject. Still, because she had a good student tutor then, she was able to pass the subject with flying colors. "Aish, that's simple. It's like this..."
They spent the night talking about the topic, injecting catching up in between.
"Are you dating someone new?" Jisoo asked.
Seri narrowed her eyes. "You know that I stopped seriously dating a few years ago. There's nothing that works. I guess I'm those eternally single-types."
Jisoo grinned. "Good. Then, you can stay with me forever!"
"Oh you. I'll be the annoying old lady in your home. You'll never get married if I hang around," Seri teased, quietly thrilled that her little sister still felt possessive with her.
"Nope. Any man I marry will have to accept that it's you and me, Sister!" Jisoo declared.
"Like your professor?" Seri teased. Jisoo's best friend, Lisa, dropped hints that Jisoo was so infatuated with their Economics teacher and, to Seri's mind, if he looked anything like Jeong Hyeok, she would understand.
Jisoo chuckled. "I have a giant ass crush on him, sure. I won't marry the guy." Jisoo suddenly turned to Seri with wide eyes. "Maybe I should set you up with my professor!"
"No! The last time I agreed for you to find me a date, you hooked me up with a man you knew I would never like!" Seri shot back.
"Hey! He was nice. I didn't know he wanted a wife that didn't have a career! Which is fine... it's just not you," Jisoo replied, defensively. Changing her tone, she looked at her beautiful sister, who hasn't seemed to age. "Do you think you'll ever forget about your Mr. Hawk?"
Mr. Hawk.
That's how Jisoo thought of him. Seri never uttered his name again when they parted and the last time Jisoo heard Seri call out to him was when she was very young. With her limited vocabulary at that age, she could only understand "hawk".
Jisoo did not know much but she recalled Seri walking on air when he was around and Seri not having a smile on her face when he left.
Seri smiled sadly. "Hey, don't distract me. Focus on your essay."
Seri was certain she gave great information and could not wait to hear Jisoo praised for their efforts. Imagine her surprise when she arrived at the classroom just in time to hear Jisoo's professor say, "It's not wrong but the interpretation is not so straightforward... Perhaps your sister needs to freshen up on inflation as well."
"EXCUSE ME?!" Seri barged in before giving it a second thought.
The sight that welcomed her made her gasp...
The face she had been longing to see again for the past ten years.
"Ri Jeong Hyeok."
His face immediately hardened and he took a step back, placing him further from both women.
Jisoo stared at her sister and then her professor and back again. Seri's face looked wistful as his lovingly gazed at the face of this man. Mr. Ri was clenching his jaw, staring at the papers on his desk, with his fists closed at his side. "You two know each other?"
"I --" Seri started but was cut off by Jeong Hyeok. "We were classmates in this University."
Resuming his task of fixing his papers on the desk and stuffing them in his bag, Jeong Hyeok bid them goodbye and headed out.
Seri stopped his progress. "Won't it be more helpful to the student if you provided a detailed feedback?"
"Excuse me?" Jeong Hyeok said, turning. He didn't want to look at her but also did not want to disrespect anyone.
"Not wrong but not so straightforward," Seri repeated. "That's not very helpful, is it?"
"Fine. Then, I shall discuss it further if Yoon Jisoo would wish," Jeong Hyeok agreed. "You know my office," he said to Jisoo.
As he exited, Seri called out again, "Wait."
This time, Jeong Hyeok stopped but did not turn.
"When did you get back?" Seri asked, quietly.
"I don't respond to personal questions, Ms. Yoon. Have a good day."
With that, he was gone.
Jisoo approached and wrapped her arms around her sister. "Let's have dinner?" When Seri nodded, she continued, "Are you going to tell me now about your Mr. Hawk?"
Seri pulled back looking shocked.
Jisoo grinned. "I may not understand inflation but I'm smart about relationships, you know? Besides, I love you very much and I know you well, Unnie."
Seri allowed Jisoo to take her to a nearby restaurant.
While they waited for their food to arrive, Jisoo placed her face in her hands and asked, "So, you and Mr. Ri were classmates in university."
"Yes," Seri replied, quietly.
"Did you immediately find him cute? How long did you date? Was he your first time in bed?!"
"JISOO-ah!"
Jisoo laughed out loud at the horrified look on her sister's face. "You're blushing!"
"I am shocked!" Seri answered.
"Start telling me or else I'm going to write my own version of the story and I'm going to make it steamy!" Jisoo threatened, lightly.
Seri shook her head, laughing. "Oh you. Fine." Taking a deep breath, she continued, "Yes, I immediately found him cute. We had a few classes together and from the first day, we would always sit beside each other. He did well in those Economics and Math classes, while I took the lead in our Literature and Marketing ones."
"Did you immediately start dating?" Jisoo asked.
"No," Seri smiled. "He was so shy and so was I. We would only meet in school, talk about homework and projects... but... eventually we'd have meals together."
"That must have been the most boring meal," Jisoo commented. At Seri's surprised look, she said, "Mr. Ri is jaw-dropping-ly handsome but he's got no jam."
"WHAT? He's the funniest person!" Seri replied, defending Jeong Hyeok.
"No he's not," Jisoo said.
"He is!" Seri said. "I loved those meals. He's the most interesting man I met... but, admittedly, I hadn't dated before that so I didn't know for sure. But now... it still holds. He's still the most interesting man and he listened to me and my ramblings, making me feel like what I said was important."
"He does have that talent," Jisoo agreed. "He's patient even with the dumbest ideas of my classmates."
"Jisoo, be nice."
"Okay," Jisoo said, contrite. "But some of the ideas were dumb."
"Psh," Seri said, pinching her cheeks. "Eat. You're getting too thin. Are you eating well when I'm not around?"
"Yes," Jisoo said. "Now, continue with your story. When did you realize you were falling for Mr. Ri?"
Seri blushed. "Like I said, we mostly met up at school, but then there was this one time..."
TO BE CONTINUED