City Wall | K.Sn

| 8 |

I looked at the few coins in the envelope Mark handed me. It wasn't much to make a living on, but it was still quite a lot. I had smiled softly at him before thanking him and rushing down to my room and looking out the window. It had been a few days since I last saw Sunoo in his room, and with September just around the corner I was beginning to doubt we could continue to send the balloon back and forth as the wind got worse. 

I sighed before walking over to my bed and emptying the envelope on my duvet, to count the coins. But instead a small note fell out along with the coins. A frown grew on my face as curiousity grabbed me and I opened the small note. There was no doubt the moment I opened it, it was Tania's handwriting.

'If you really want to meet that westerner go to the graveyard. Granny told me that Westerners can visit graves that's in DDR, but easterners can't cross over to visit graves in BDR. He just needs his passport to prove he's from BDR and not DDR.'

My eyes slowly widened as I stared at the note and rushed to my window in hopes of seeing Sunoo, but he still wasn't there. I was beginning to think he either had gotten scared from seeing the escape attempt, that the Eastern authorities had gotten permission to lead an investigation against him and his dad or hopefully the best case scenario he was either at school or taking care of Asahi along with his dad.

A small bubble of hope rose up in me as I grabbed the coins and my coat before rushing out of the door, after assuring myself that I did have my keys in my pocket.

Running down to a nearby kid's store I rushed in and over towards the baby section. The least I could do after Sunoo took in Asahi was help them find clothes and such to him. So if there was a possibility that we could meet in the graveyard, then I could hand it over and help in that way. If not, then I'll keep it until I one day have a valid reason to travel to the West. Maybe somehow a miracle will happen and I'll get the permission.

"May I help you miss?" a voice spoke up and I looked over to an elderly woman smiling warmly at me.

"Please do," I nodded at her and she raised her eyebrows in an expecting manner, waiting for me to tell her what I was searching, "you see I wanted to gift my baby cousin something now that fall is beginning to come. But I don't know what."

"How old is this cousin?" the woman questioned and began looking through the racks.

"He was born in February," I happily replied and the woman nodded as she ventured over towards another rack and pulled out a few things to hand me.

"Look through these, they should all be in his size," the woman kindly informed and I smiled happily before thanking her and looking through the differnt clothes before setting my mind on a thick blue jacket, that definitely would keep him warm long into the winter as well, plus it was cheaper than the coins I had, which meant that maybe, just maybe I could buy something for Sunoo or for my mom as well. But right now this jacket surely was my priority.

The woman smiled warmly at me as I walked up to the counter to pay for the jacket. She carefully placed it in a small bag for me before asking if I needed anything else.

"Are those chocolates?" I questioned and pointed to a bowl beside her and she nodded at me, "give me the amount I can get for the money I have left after the jacket," I urged and she smiled as I handed her the coins and she quickly counted them before just grabbing a handful of chocolates and threw them in the bag.

"I think I might've accidentally put a few extra chocolates in there for you," she whispered with a small wink and I smiled widely as she handed me the bag and wished me a nice day.

Surely there was enough chocolates for me to taste one before handing the bag over, if that ever became a possibility. It had been long since I had chocolates after all. It wasn't exactly something mom and I had the money to buy on a daily basis if we wanted to save up money to visit my mom's parents back in China.

I almost skipped back home after having bought the small jacket. Running up seven floors of stairs I for once didn't feel one bit exhausted as I reached the top and locked myself back into the appartment and rushed straight to my room. I placed the small bag on my desk before hearing a small tap from my window.

By now I had gotten so used to the sound that I knew what it was within a heartbeat. There was absolutely no doubt, Sunoo was back.

I happily rushed towards the window and fetched the balloon inside and opened the note that had been attached to the branch.

'I've been gone lately, I hope it's alright. We're adjusting everything for Asahi. Dad said we should give him a Korean name so it doesn't seem suspicious, so now he's Kim Seojun. Please tell me you're safe after the incident with that police officer the day of the escape'

I smiled softly to myself before walking over to my desk and letting my eyes fall on the small note Tania had written. I quickly sat down to write a reply.

'Please keep him safe. I'm just fine since the incident, I've learned to lie my way around the police here. The note I attached is from my friend, she goes to West Berlin once in a while, to visit her granny.'

I carefully attacked both notes to the branch and checked the guard tower before sending it back to Sunoo, who was sitting quietly by his desk. I quickly ducked down and hid as I peeked up and just saw Sunoo happily opening the window and pulling the balloon in. 

His expression changed immediately as he read one of the notes before quickly writing something back and pushing the balloon so harshly that it flew across to me, far faster than it have ever done before. I could see a sheepish grin spread on Sunoo's face as it did so, and I couldn't help but smile at it either.

I easily pulled the balloon inside and grabbed the note, which was scribbled down VERY fast seeing at how messy the handwriting was.

'Sunday, 10am, Stay on the main path.

Keep the balloon for now. The guard in the tower glanced up at it, and if we can keep meeting on the graveyard it won't be necessary'

I smiled softly and looked up at Sunoo who just looked at me in return and I immediately nodded. In a flash his nervous expression was replaced with a wide smile and I could see him jump a bit around before just disappearing from the view.

A small excitement immediately bubbled up in me as I looked back towards the small bag on my desk. I would actually get to hand it over.