[ EUNJAE P.O.V ]
• day 63 •
"Mom, can I excuse myself? I need to take some fresh morning air by the beach", I say, replacing a pair of chopstick on my bowl's side and wiping the corner of my mouth with a napkin. "besides, I haven't take a stroll around the town for quite a while now, will you let me go mom?". The frown begins to pop on my face as I beg to my mother but when there is barely a response from her, I turn to my father. "Dad, please? I promise I'll take care of myself, I'll just go for an hour and be back instantly".
"Of course you can go, my precious daughter. Just go out to spend your leisure time but as like you said just now, promise that you won't get hurt or anything", Dad replies as he scoops a spoonful of rice, shoving them into his mouth. "Yeah, promise!". I take out my pinky finger while sending him my reassure expression against my face, "How about you mom? Will you let me off this time?", I retort while facing at her with the expression I had earlier.
"Sure Eunjae, you are welcome to go but please stay for a bit to clean the dishes once we're all finish eating. Do you get it?", Mom's eyebrow raises as she speaks fiercely but in a soft tone. "Wash the dishes huh? Why not? I'm used to it by the way. I have becoming a maid for two months surely I gained skills through that", I say, pouring the plain water into the glass to drink. "How was the work? Are you doing okay?", Dad suddenly snaps.
I sip the drink beforehand, quit staring at both of them, "I did. But I already quit the job". My father chokes on his food while my mother widens her eyes at my answer, "What happen, hon? Did something happen to you? They didn't pay enough salary?". I shake my head, disagree, "No, I thought I should be more focus on my studies the next semester. Besides, I still have the saving in my bank, I'll make sure to use them wisely soon".
"You are right. Don't worry about your financial, both of us are still able to support your monthly allowance", Dad says simply. I nod and avert my gaze to the food- I thought he's going nuts, yet he's the most understanding person when it comes to my life hardships. "Thank you, dad, mom. Without your help and support, I'll surely have given up on studying.....", I say.
"Oh my my, quit this drama and eat quickly. I thought you're going to take a stroll later? I'm done eating now, patiently wait for your turn to finish those bowl of rice", Mom says spontaneously, rising up from the seat to pile the dishes in sink. "Mom, please stop. I'm not being a dramatic, I'm telling a fact! Plus why did you put so much rice into my bowl?". I giggle and Dad follows right in when we exchange playful glances. "Because you love rice, hon! I cook so much for you so that you can eat healthily.."
"Oh okay okay! I will eat as much as I want since I didn't get much food while I'm in Seoul. But please don't tease me when I started to gain weight because of your home meals", I reply and shuffle into the kitchen eventually to help her with the dishes.
--
09:35 a.m.
The inner-self has brought me here- the uncrowded beach. I want to feel the peace in order to moving on with my day. Sun kisses and glows against my skin as I'm feeling the grainy sand comforts my bare-feet alongside the shore when I walk. The warm wind blows through my body as I stop my feet from strolling, hands begin to fumble against the phone's screen for a view picture. "Wow, this is surprisingly a beautiful pic", I talk to myself happily.
After taking a few breath-taking pictures of the views, I decided to sit on the sand; not minding that if my peach-coloured dress will end up have a slight dirt on the fabric. I sit on my own butt anyway. It's even crazier how good the day was til I have the urge to talk to myself like an insane, "Eunjae, forget it already! You're going to have an amazing life afterwards so why don't you take a selfie of yourself?".
I giggle cheerfully before I can pose in front of the phone's camera. Fingers set into a mini heart right below my chin as the camera can capture the beautiful smile of mine. "Hmm, Eunjae you don't look that bad eh? Let's try take another random pose". I finally take out a peace sign; a very common pose that everyone loves to do before I snap two pictures of my different smiles. Gladly, there's no one watches my silly actions while I'm relaxing by the beach.
I sigh loudly as I'm done with taking the selfies of my own, eyes begin to admire how stunning the ocean waves dampened the sand. The beach is loud itself, the sound of waves crash, wind tickles against the ears, seagulls chirp peacefully as its search for food to survive yet it's a pleasing sound to hear. And it never tires me as much as the city life does. I realised that living in the city had given me a great opportunity that leads to a wealthy life culture, but not the peaceful ones. I miss this sound, mostly. I miss it.
"I know you'd be here". I miss that sound too, the hoarse voice that was coming from the man that I loved. I know it was only my instinct, it was my illustration, my mind screams that he's here but he isn't. It's way too impossible for him to be here. My brain cooperates the sound of his husky voice and replays the sight of him inside. "Eunjae, I'm sorry". The voice meets my eardrum again, it was coming from behind. It wasn't illustration when I'm turning around. I'm not hallucinating yet he's really here.
Jeon Wonwoo- he's really right behind me, standing cluelessly while flashing an awkward smile at me. His hand waves in a good manner as he finally mutters, "Hi, I know I'd end up meeting you here". I watch his every movement with my widened eyes when he's making a step towards me, giving him my odd look. "Wonwoo, how did you know I'm here?", I ask.
I sit up, brushing off the sand and dust from the dress as I manage to stand on my own heels to have a proper talk with him. Wonwoo chuckles slowly, in fact he couldn't spread a smile widely as there's a slight purple bruise at the edge of his lips. "I'm asking the home address from Ji Eun. I drive all the way here just to see how's your condition. I arrived in front of your house early in the morning, waiting for you to come out of the house and finally you did. I followed your every step slowly without getting caught, watching that you're trying to start a good day at the beach"
"But I couldn't wait any longer Eunjae. I brace myself just to approach you and I know the moment you heard my voice out of nowhere, you'd hate to see the sight of me again but I really wish you can give me some time to hear me out at this moment. I had so many things to confess to you, please will you listen to me, just for once?". I return the softened look to him before nodding, giving him a green light to explain. "Yeah, I'll listen to you, slowly now".
Wonwoo exhales a deep breath before he can proceed the half-way explanation, "First of all, I'd like to apologize for everything I did that has hurt you, in the deep of my heart. You were never wrong, Eunjae. It was my fault that I've been treating you the way I shouldn't be. You are perfect in every inch, your smile, your kindness, your hardwork, your sacrifices towards me..... I just--".
"Just what Jeon Wonwoo? Just let everything out of your heart, I wanna listen to you without any doubt. I know you had so much right now in your mind but please be a straightforward", I say while making a step closer to where he is. "I just love you and I miss you, so fucking much. That's it. I love you Lee Eunjae, I'm not even kidding this time. I miss talking you. I miss the sight of you in my house, doing the chores so that I can watch you secretly", Wonwoo snorts in between the sentence, "I miss the annoying you, the lovely you, the clumsy you, just everything...".
The tears unknowingly roll against my right cheek when I slowly wrap a pair of arms around Wonwoo's waist, "I felt the same way but at the same time I want to get away from you, trying to avoid the thoughts of you but I just can't", I stutter, almost tremble against his chest but I remove my face briskly, don't want his shirt to stain with my disgusting tears. He hugs me even tighter when I insist to get away from him, tighter that I found myself breathless but I don't really mind at all.
"Wonwoo, stop blaming yourself. Remember the previous night when you dropped me home? I should've give you some space and more time to explain every single thing that you wanted to pour..... but I didn't listen", I mumble, lifting my head to turn up to him, "I regretted it too, for being too selfish, I never listened to you. I should always have to". Wonwoo avert his gaze right to my eyes and wipes my tears away with his gigantic thumb. "Forget it Eunjae. Atleast I'm a free bird now, the burden loosens a little as I finally confess to you", says Wonwoo.
"Why are you crying? Are you surprised that I'm here to see you?". He continues again teasingly when he notices that another clear bead of tear pops at the verge of my eye. Of course I miss to be with him like this again but I couldn't stop staring at how handsome he is in our warm embrace, making my unblinking eye produces a single tear. "Just because the heavy wind blows into my eyes, that's why I'm tearing up", I chime.
"By the way, what happened to your face, Wonwoo? You have a little bruise at the corner of your lips, are you okay?", I ask whilst trying to touch the slight purplish-skinned with the tip of my finger. "Not much, I'll tell you later and I'm really not fine right now. Seriously.", Wonwoo's face changes momentarily, lips curl a smirk when I send him a frown. "Not fine now? What do you mean?".
"What happened to your hair? I'm seriously not okay seeing how drastic and cute the transformation you've made when you left Seoul", Wonwoo says, both of his thumbs rub the surface of my wet cheeks. "You're look even cuter in short hair, I love you even more by looking at how cheeky you are right now. In front of me. At this perfect place. With a perfect weather. On the perfect time".
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[ A/N ]
yasss sorry for the late update & i'll surely to update asap for the next chapters! i rlly love you guys its already reached 3k reads :'> THANKSSSSS SO MUCH AND DONT FORGET TO COMMENT (dont be a silent reader) xoxo ♥