Call My Name by the Stars

CHAPTER 11 pt.1- Already Six Years

Chunyoung found him on the terrace. There were parasols, metal benches, tents, deck chairs, but he stood looking out from the edge, a can on his hand, pocket on the other, the breeze of wind flapping his hair and clothes. He must've been deep in thought, for he hadn't noticed Chunyoung's loud footsteps throwing on the metal stairs, "You were here?"

Min turned, "Oh it's you."

"What's this? Are you finally admiring the view this time? I told you, it's barren but that's what makes it pleasant."

Min smirked subtly, "It's still so dark and empty at night, but dull in the morning. Maybe I'm accepting it as it is, I guess. I don't understand myself too," he chuckled.

"Your thoughts are just random, that's that."

He smiled, "My thoughts are just Maekjoo. (Beer)"

"What?," Chunyoung faced him immediately, mishearing it as Baekjoo instead.

"What?," he shook his half-empty can while tilting his head, and Chunyoung exhaled.

The events of the day had not only conflicted him, but sizzled him.

6 years ago, Min suddenly told the group he wished he could meet her again, despite the rumors that had already begun residing into directionless wind after three months. He once passed her neighborhood on purpose, only to see that the cafe was closed, and her house was put for sale. His persistence to find her resulted in no luck, until he gave up. But now, he had to keep the white lie from him, "I think you might be right that this view starts getting sickening."

"I get tired of it. The sickening old walls, the sickening empty sky, and this sickening can of beer. But I still like it...- Oh sorry, alcohol has made me sentimental... Is it even possible? To get tired of something so much that you end up liking it?"

Baek Munhee put a plate of mango tart on a table already occupied by a cup of nuclear fire noodles, half eaten by his daughter, "Why are you eating that for your dinner? Gosh. Have this for your desert."

Jooah snapped back and smiled, "Ah, okay. It's nice to have a cafe owner as a father."

"Right. You're lucky," he went back to wiping the counter, the cafe already in closing hours, the lights have dimmed out as the natural sunlight also fades away.

"Am I? I think I have the same type of nasty luck as everyone else," she found it strange that she wasn't feeling angry or sad anymore. Maybe she had passed that stage, or skipped. She was always that way since the beginning. Her entire reaction to it was just... numb.

"Suddenly? Why? Did something happen at work? Hyerim told me you're in a new project. How's it?"

"A friend of that boy you met from 6 years ago is there, and he recognizes me... but, it's best you don't know, Dad. I don't want you to worry even more than you already have."

Jooah put on a smile that hid her scattered emotions, "It's fine. Cinematography is a key element for the movie I'm doing, and of course my team did a great job. We get praised often. The staff are all nice people, and the director, writers, and actors also treat us well," she munched happily onto her mango tart as if she was in a good mood.

The owner of Rose Cafe nodded, "Then if it's all good, that's a relief."

When Jooah became Hyojin, when Jangmi Cafe became Rose Cafe, when their addresses changed, her dad was the one who made the most sacrifices. The expenses of living a new life were not peanuts. Connections had to be cut, locations had to be seeked, but the hardest was having to get used to the daughter Kim Hyojin had to be. The events hurt him more than it hurt her, because he chose to carry the guilt for himself, and Jooah could feel somewhat that he must've loathed the world more than she did, but like his daughter, he kept his feelings silent.