I know the feeling of being neglected by everyone when I wasn't mature enough, until the time I finally realized and started scraping together everything of mine and kept them inside me, took myself, and promised to never let anyone hold any power on me. After years of me just having everything to myself, never letting anyone gain control over my emotions He appeared as a flower in the winter. When I expected nothing to be left on the dry branches the flowers bloomed. I want to give my all just to him, that's how he made me feel.
He held out his hand and said," Let's drop you home, you seem drunk enough". Me? Drunk? I barely finished my beer but I was feeling my cheeks burn though. So I agreed.
I got up and looked into his eyes. My heart was tickling and a weird smile just flashed which I couldn't hide. I wanted to say I like you.
For the first 5 minutes, there was absolute silence and we just shared small eye contacts in the middle. It wasn't awkward nor was it too overwhelming. Suddenly he asked, "You came to Seoul this month?"
"Yes, but.....I practically lived here for the past 7 years. I just left last year for my job in New York."
"So, you will go back?" I looked his way while he faced away from me.
"No. Now I have my company here" His steps got smaller and he was taking time to walk. I looked at his feet.
"What do you do?", he asked
"Fashion designing and Art direction"
He flashed a tiny smile towards me as his hair danced in the freezing breeze. My eyes were stuck on my feet now, I kept digging my head in my muffler as the cold was trying to get me. He asked, " Do you live alone?"
"Yep, I do"
"Guess we'll meet again, my name is Ryu Taek. I was expecting you to ask me"
How stupid am I? I am walking with a guy who has my phone number, apartment address, and my bicycle whose name I don't know. I panicked and shook my head in tiny from inside my fluffy muffler and said, "O..oO...I...I am sorry (nervous laughter) so..sorry I didn't ask. I guess I'm a little drunk"
He let out a peal of small laughter and his eyes became smaller.
He asked, "What do you do in your free time?"
I found myself confused and fished for answers in my head as I made faces.
"Nothing actually...I just moved in. So, I plan to renovate my apartment a bit."
"I live near, I can help out if you want" and gave a look towards me which waited for approval.
"Sure." I quickly replied. Of course, I want him to come over and spend time with me. I might seem shameless and this might sound weird but I already want him around me 24/7. His gentle behavior and handsome face made me think about him but are they enough to fall all in for him? Absolutely not!
We reached my place. I walked forward and turned to face him. His eyes met mine and I smiled getting back a forming smile on his face. I said,
" So, here we are. We'll meet soon. Bye?"
"Hmm? Yep! Bye for now." He glanced at my apartment and looked towards me. "I'll text you", he said. I folded my lips trying to hide my smile and quickly looked down nodding my head.
Unlocking the door, I straight-headed towards my fridge, grabbed a bottle of water, and kept chugging till I saw the bottom. The feeling was priceless.
The thought of pampering myself with a nice hot bath and skincare followed. I went in for a good bath to wash away all my fatigue and think about Taek more intensely. While soaking myself in the bathtub our conversation was replaying in my head and I tried to edit it to make it look more interactive. "we are good, Aster. we are good", I told myself.
As I came out my phone was shaking up in terror. Zzzzzzz. pause. Zzzzzzz. pause. Zzzzzz. What the hell? 5 texts back to back. I opened my phone,
~You reached home? ~I just reached home. I'm more on the shyer awkward side, and I am shy now anyway... ~This is my number. ~Good night
Is he real? Why is he shy? I kept laughing with my nose. He sounded unbelievably cute. I started imagining him saying "I am shy" in his deep voice which sounded like a lie but...okay. Now how should I reply? Is there any right response to this message? There isn't so I ignored him being shy and typed,
~Good night to you too
He didn't see the text, guess he was sleeping. The night seemed white with snow, the wind kept knocking on my window. Seoul looked as beautiful as ever. I stood by the window for a while and went to bed, falling asleep as soon as I closed my eyes.
and there it was a crisp whisper saying goodnight in my ears, gently cooling down my nerves.
YOU ARE READING
Holding Aster
RomanceA heartwarming story of Aster; a lone heart who discovered her blue and grey allies come to meet at a warm place. He is the saturation of her heartwarming days in Winter. She brings her story to life as she starts to realize herself. A journey fuele...
