beliefs ° 2kim

chapter 2

"hi... i made cookies for you," chaewon says, staring at the ground, handing the container of cookies to the person who answered the door. "thanks."

chaewon looks up with wide eyes when she heard a voice of a man. she tries to pull the container back, not letting him have it. the guy looks at her with a 'what is wrong with you?' face.

"do you know anyone who lives here that goes by the name 'minju'? this is for her," the girl politely says for him to understand.

"oh, hold on a sec."

seconds later, the door opens for the second time, revealing the girl chaewon wished to appear. "it's you again," minju starts and smiles lightly. "yeah, these are for you." chaewon hands her the container.

minju cocks her head to the side as she examines the object she's holding. "they're cookies. i baked them. i hope you'll like them," chaewon says, scratching her nape while looking away. "you didn't have to... but thank you. i truly appreciate it."

honestly, minju wants chaewon to stop giving things to her but she's too weak to admit it, and she can't do anything to repay her but to keep accepting those things. she doesn't want to ask chaewon out. it would make chaewon happy, but she'd think she had given her a chance when it's not like that. it would turn out as a misunderstanding and will break chaewon's heart.

minju comes back inside. "who was that? i thought she's one of my many fans," chanwoo says while scrolling through his phone. "a friend from school." chanwoo shots his head up, and asks, "you have a friend in school?" minju nods. "it's sweet of her to bake you cookies. give me one."

minju didn't want to lie, but she didn't want to tell the truth yet.

──┈ ➳

chaewon barges inside the grocery store, fastly walking towards the 3rd cashier. she doesn't know what to think. 'who was that guy? is he minju's boyfriend?' she never met the guy before, so she's having mixed thoughts. 'is she still single?'

unaware of her surroundings, she trespasses to the counter and lays her head to the cashier's shoulder. "what are you doing here? my duty isn't over yet."

chaewon closes her eyes as beeps of electronic devices fill her ears. "i missed you, nabuki yako," she replies and the girl pushes her head off her shoulder, continueing to scan food tags.

nako smiles awkwardly at the customer standing in front of her as puts the products in a paper bag. chaewon walks away and sits on one of ther benches in the corner to wait. "i received 46,000 won," she says, putting the cash inside the register before giving the change and receipt to the person.

once the person was out of sight, chaewon stands and walks to her best friend once again. "is that the last person?" she asks, looking around, noticing that the store is about to close as the other cashiers are putting chains across the spaces between the counters. "yes."

"okay, good." nako looks at her and says, "you have something you want to tell me, do you?" she tip toes to make her face closer and look deeply into her eyes as if she's reading her mind. chaewon pulls her face away from nako's and nods.

they ended up going the small food court across the grocery store and pick a table located in the middle. "what is it?" nako asks, attempting to take a big bite of her burrito but fails. chaewon laughs at her and starts to tell her what she's been meaning to let out.

after telling her what happened earlier, she rests her elbow on the table and places her palm on her cheek. nako grabs her water bottle and drinks on it. "wow," she says. chaewon looks at her, waiting for what she'll say next. "this burrito is the best, no wonder it's the best seller," nako continues, pointing at her burrito and chaewon groans as she thought she's going to give her some advice.

nako closes her water bottle and puts it back on the table, ready to lecture her friend. "well, you don't have any proofs that he could be her girlfriend, you know."

"but he's in her house!"

"yeah, but it could be her brother. you can't be so sure just by having one proof that you saw him inside her house, and you're just overacting, you're putting malice. maybe he's just her friend. a boy and a girl can hangout in a house. and what happened to what you said? 'i'll be happy for minju if ever she'd be in a relationship, as long as she's happy,'" nako continously says, running out of breath.

chaewon sighs, "a know what her brother looks like, and it's not him." she rans her hand through her hair and continues to talk, "you're right, but that's just how i feel. of course, minju is the person i had the longest crush on. the longer i like her, the more i feel jealous of the people she's with..."

──┈ ➳

6:00 p.m., it is said that girls walking alone at night is dangerous, that's why it is one of chaewon's fears. you never know what's in the dark, or if someone's following you.

shivers go down chaewon's spine. she's getting anxious but she keeps it cool. she doesn't want to show that she's a weak person who gets scared and attacked easily.

silently walking down the sidewalk, her head instantly turns to the side when she heard something in the bushes. it made her more afraid. she turns her head back in the front and tries to get it off her mind as she continues to walk.

moments later, sounds of small steps are getting closer to her, making her turn around this time. there, now in front of her, a cat meows, innocently looking at her. chaewon sighs in relief and bends her knees to see the cat closer.

chaewon smiles and strokes the cat's head lightly with her palm. the cat meows again. "you seem to want to say something. i'll give you food," chaewon says and stands up.

she starts to walk again and looks down at the cat to see if it's following her. they continue to walk around few minutes until they reached chaewon's apartment. chaewon unlocks the door and pushes it widely for the cat to get in. she didn't want to invite the cat inside but it would possibly go away and not have her food if she left it outside.

as she rummages the things on top of her refrigerator to search for food, the cat lays on the floor. once she found a canned tuna sitting on top of a canned corn, she reaches for it. she opens it and comes to the sink to rinse it with water to remove the oil and sodium because they're not good for cats.

after a minute, she comes to the cat and places the can in front of it. the cat opens its eyes when it heard noises and stands to eat the food it saw. chaewon chuckles, "i'm sorry it's the only i can give you right now."

it's a good thing that the cat is good and doesn't scratch or bite. chaewon would be full of scars right then and there if it does. she isn't sure if the cat is lost or not. she'd adopt it if it isn't owned by anyone, but it's kind of obvious it has an owner because it seems well taught and trained, so she knows that the cat won't be with her for long. what she doesn't know is that she already met the real owner of the cat.

⊹ ┈──┈ ⊹