𝐌𝐄𝐓 𝐁𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐄𝐓

2. YEOUIDO PARK

My heart started to beat like crazy after hearing that. ‘Oh my god! Shut your freaking mouth you little heart. Calm down. It's gonna be okay.’ I said to myself which was meant to be a mind voice but I realized that I was loud enough to make my co passenger laugh historically even while focusing on his work with EarPods still glued in his ears. -embarrassing-

**********

It was around 12am in my watch when I stepped out of the airport after collecting my baggage, converting my money and getting a new sim. I checked my phone which flashed the current time as 3:30am. ‘Finally, we are here.’ I said to myself taking a deep breath.

As I told, I was well prepared in every aspect. As well as with the language and with the facilities here, in and out. Surfing on the internet for a whole day, I gathered all the information I will be needing while being here. The distance from airport to university was 61km via road and 44km via train. The rate for the particular choice also had this huge difference. Therefore, without any second thoughts, I made my way to the subway to board a train to the university.

After one whole day of flight and one-and-a-half-hour travel by train, I stood in front of the university entrance, completely exhausted. I made my way past the security with my admission details. After going through all the enrolment procedure, I was given a dorm room with 3 other new students. It was early in the morning and none of them were awake when I entered the room. I tip toed my way in and plopped onto the empty bed. The exhaustion from the long journey took over me and soon I went into my dream land.

I woke up hearing too many murmurings near me and when I opened my eyes, I saw another 3 pairs of eyes staring at me up close. My just-woken brain couldn’t register them as humans and I screamed my lungs out on a reflex.

“Oh, my fckng god. Jeez... My ears...” One of them jolted back covering both her ears while the other one covered my mouth. Wait, where is the third one?
"Ouch! My butt...!!!” came a scream from under my bed. Oh! There she is.

That was a pretty good start for me to introduce myself for my roommates and ended up getting a nickname as ‘screamer’ within the first hours itself. We all introduced each other and I came to know that the girl who shouted earlier is Katrin from Singapore, the one who covered my mouth is Eun Ae and the other one is Iseul, both native Korean. Three of them was really friendly and outgoing which I liked. The classes start only a week later and so after having breakfast with everyone, I enquired them about getting a parttime job since I need to earn money for my living expenses.

“I want to ask for a favour. Do you guys in chance know any place offering part times?” “What! You are searching for a job on the second day of landing?” asked Katrin clearly amazed. “Should earn some money for our night outs, right?” “oh yes. We would absolutely need that.” said Iseul with a devilish smile. Luckily Eun Ae said that the café she is working at was looking for an extra hand.

**********

Just like that, after three hours, we four were sitting in Yeouido Hangang park eating ice-cream as a celebration for me getting a job which I could start from tomorrow onwards. “Y/n, what do think of this place?” Iseul asked me while scooping from my Ice cream. “I really like the clear climate and the calmness. This is so nice.” I said in awe. “You now look exactly like a puppy with this big doe eyes.” Eun-Ae said while making a big circle in the air with her hands which made us all laugh hard.

We spent some time there chatting and having fun. This place somehow felt like a safe place for me. Just half an hour away from the university and close to our café, hence I self-noted to visit here frequently. Later the day, we all shared all our stories and with no time, we all became close friends.

The next day, I asked Eun-Ae to help me with the bus routes to the café because we both have classes at opposite timeslots and so our work at cafe is also like that, she in the morning and me in the evening. I tagged along with her and learned the transportation options I had. The day went smooth like a wind. Eun-Ae finished her shift while I roamed around familiarizing the area, eating whatever seemed delicious to me. I liked the work and I did it happily. Before heading back to university, I decided to spend some time alone, since it was only 6:30 and dorm is open till 11. I headed towards the only place I knew, Yeouido Park.

Hangang was pretty much filled with high school students and families. Never leaving out my popping jealousy when seeing the couples of course. Love is in every corner as far as my eyes can see.

I sat on a vacant bench far behind, facing the river, plugging my earphones in and listening my favourite songs from my player. It was refreshing to watch the sunset, the sky slowly turning from yellow to orange, accompanied by the pleasing sound of the flowing water. I was taking in the mesmerising beauty of nature and that’s when I noticed him. As if it was a surreal painting, he was sitting under the huge tree, staring at the flowing river, wearing a bucket hat and dressed in all black.

He looked so calm and composed. But somehow, he looked so lonely even If I could see only his back and that too from far away. I wondered what was going through that young man’s life. My unwanted thread of thoughts was broken by the ringtone of my phone. It was Katrin who called, to check where I was. I packed my bag and started to leave, still my eyes were lingered on to that figure. Even after returning to the dorm and while lying on my bed, the only image that stayed in my eyes were of him.

Why??? Why am I even thinking about some vague figure? Why do I feel so captivated?
Ah y/n...

**********

The days went by, the classes started and it was pretty interesting along with Iseul, who took the same major as mine and I also got a few more friends. Along with the uni, spending an hour at Hangang after my work at the café also became a habit. And every day I would see him, sitting on the same spot, sometimes wearing black, sometimes in grey, sometimes leaving before me and sometimes staying even after I left. He was a complete stranger to me yet I felt happy when I saw him sitting there, even from a distance. The curiosity in me grew as the days went on. I really wanted to know about him.
But why?
No idea.

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