One Day At A Time [ATEEZ]

Nine

2014, July

My hands are in my pockets, my head is down and my eyes are set on the pebble I've been kicking since I came out of the building. I let out a breath as I try to remember the list Mom gave me.

I kick the pebble harder this time, causing it to hit the tree at the corner of the road. When I finally look up, I see a familiar woman walking toward me, but she's too busy with her groceries to notice me.

It's Mrs. Han... Her groceries look too heavy. I take my hands out of my pockets and quicken my pace so that I can reach her faster. She looks up from her groceries and smiles at me. "Good morning, Mrs. Han," I give her my best smile, letting my dimples go as deep as they can.

"Good morning to you as well, San. Are you here to run some errands?"

"Yes, my mom told me to buy some things."

"Is that so? What a nice boy."

"Ah, it's not that..." I let out an embarrassed laugh, running my hand through my hair. "It looks heavy, let me carry them for you."

"It's alright, I can manage."

"No, please. Let me help you." I reach out to take the plastic bags from her and after resisting for a while, she finally lets me take two.

"Fine, if you insist," Mrs. Han shakes her head as she leads the way back to the apartment.

I glance at the content inside the plastic bags and end up smiling when I see that one of them is filled with chocolate ice cream bars.

Mrs. Han must've noticed as she says, "Yena has a serious case of chocolate addiction. Chocolate is her true love and she only eats chocolate ice cream. She hates every other flavor."

"Is that so?" I chuckle, remembering how the only things Yena eats at school are chocolate flavored.

"I don't know who she got that from... probably her dad. He loves sweets and desserts too much."

It takes no time for us to enter our apartment and get on the elevator.

"You didn't have to come all the way back. You could've just handed them to me at the elevator."

"It's alright, I'll bring them to your house and then go run Mom's errands," I smile at her.

"You're a really nice boy," Mrs. Han pats my arm. "No wonder Yena is friends with you."

My smile becomes bigger as I hear that from her, "thank you, Mrs. Han."

"Just call me Auntie."

The elevator door opens and we walk out.

"Alright, Auntie," as we stand in front of their door, I realize something. This is the first time I'm going inside Yena's house...

"This is the first time you're coming inside, right?" Mrs. Han goes in and holds the door open for me.

My heart beats faster for no reason as I step inside Yena's house. I take my shoes off and follow Mrs. Han.

"Sorry, our house is a bit messy. We didn't know our guest would come sooner," Mrs. Han chuckles as she leads me toward the kitchen.

I carefully place the groceries on the island, where she put the rest, and then turn to look at the house. Their house is much cozier than ours, probably because they've been living here for years while we moved in just six months ago.

The living room is occupied by four brown couches in different sizes and there's a white coffee table in the middle. On the coffee table, there are different containers filled with cookies and other snacks along with empty cups and glasses.