||Koi No Yokan|| Park Seonghwa

||Chapter 35||

Sweet dreams.

Those were his last words to her, written on a piece of paper that she still held tightly in her hand long after he had disappeared. She sat in the reading area for longer than she should have, staring at it as if it would've changed something as if it would've eased the heaviness in her chest. Although she had stopped crying, her eyes were still puffy and red. She shoved the piece of paper in the front pocket of her jeans and headed to the bathroom, hoping that some cold water could've erased the signs of her recent emotional breakdown.

She wished she could tell someone, anyone, about what she was going through, but she could never do that: either they would've thought she was crazy or laughed in her face, then thought she was crazy. The weight of all that was happening crushed her little by little, and even though she told herself that it was all for the greater good it became harder and harder to bear.

The people around her were starting to notice: her mother called her a lot more frequently (just that morning she was talking to her while driving to work), her father offered to stay for the afternoon shift so that she could have that time off: she had not heard from Yeri yet, but because of her imminent departure-she didn't even want to bother her with her problems. Sure, there was Seonghwa, but it just didn't feel right to dump all her fears on him knowing that he shared most of them.

And so, she was stuck. There was no one, truly no one to talk to. Not now that Hongjoong was gone.

So, she did the only reasonable thing she could think of: she kept busy.

When the first people started coming in, she had taken care of the inventory, swept the floor upstairs, and rearranged the new arrivals again because she didn't do it right the first time.

The little human interactions with various costumers felt so foreign now, mechanic: greet them, tell the price, accept cash, give the change, thank the customer, repeat.

Lunchtime came before she realized: after her lunch break, it would've only been another two hours before her dad would've walked in and forced her to leave.

What was she to do then? Call Yeri? Her parents?

Her mind was just about to go spiraling when she heard the front door open.

"Sorry, we're...closed"

She sighed as she saw Yeosang standing in front of her: seeing him dressed in mortal clothes for the first time in a while felt foreign, but she didn't focus that much on his attire as her attention immediately drifted to the person behind him.

A black woman with strawberry blonde hair styled in box braids that reached almost to her waist was standing with her arms behind her back. Her eyes were a light shade of reddish-brown, that scanned the room until they finally reached her. She was sure- but maybe she was just imagining it- they lit up, even if she didn't know why.

Instinctively, she smiled at her.

"Hi" the woman waved at her as she spoke. Her voice felt familiar: it reminded her of her mother, and Yeri, a little bit.

"Hi" she greeted back, then she shifted her attention back to Yeosang.

"Popped in for a quick visit" he chirped "How are you?"

"I'm good, thanks" she replied, even though the words left a sour taste in her mouth.

"Even after our friend Hongjoong came to visit?"

"How...No, he was never here-" she tried to say but was interrupted by the woman letting out a sonorous laugh of genuine amusement.

"Oh, honey...we know my brother was here. He told us, but we swore not to tell anyone else"