Hate You, Love You. | Jenlisa

77

Working in the bakery is actually not so bad. It's just like Aunt Jiwon said, the busiest periods are in the mornings, things cool down in the afternoons and the place is next to empty in the evenings.

I won't complain though because at least I have a job up until I graduate and figure out where my life is headed.

Hyejun breezes in by 6pm when the bakery is next to empty and I'm taking a much needed break. He slides in the chair next to me and drops his leather bag on the table.

"You smell like pound cake."

"Hello to you too," I say with a frown. "I feel like pound cake too." I've been unemployed for 2 months and I've forgotten how it feels like to stand for hours and run from one table to the next dropping off ceramic plate filled with food, well in this case pastries. My feet are killing me and I just want to go to bed and sleep.

"You look tired too," he points out. I peer up at him across from me and my mind drifts to the conversation that Aunt Jiwon and I had hours ago.

I can tell when a man likes a woman,

I take in his eyes, the thickness of his lashes, the arch of his brows, his nose and the shape of his lips all in a bid to see what Aunt Jiwon sees but I just can't see it. Or maybe I refuse to see it because I can't fathom it.

"Uhm, Jennie," Hyejun says warily. "You're creeping me out here. Are you alright?"

I put my head down and try to hide the heat gracing my cheeks. "Sorry, I was just thinking about something."

"Ohh... kay?"

"I brought what you requested from me." I slip my hand into the front pocket of my apron and hand him the folded handwritten note. "Here."

I slide it over to him and he opens it. Kai gave that to me during our 5 month anniversary. Again, it feels like forever ago but I can vividly remember everything that happened that day, from us barely watching Mulan down to him handing me the card to him promising me that we'd go someplace special to celebrate.

I still remember the contents of the note. I've read it so many times that I branded it like a tramp stamp in my brain. It's one of the few notes he has handed to me and now the nostalgia is hitting me hard.

'Forever a beauty
You shine brighter than the diamonds of the world
I'm so lucky
To have you in my life
No one knows what the future holds
But one thing is true
Jennie Rubyjane Kim
There's no one but you.'

Things where so simple back then. Back then, I thought I had it all figured out and now things are like this. If I had a time machine, I'd go back and ask him if all the lying and keeping secrets was really worth it. I'd go back and ask him if everything he wrote in this note was true or it was all a lie, like the rest of him.

"No one knows what the future holds," Hyejun muses and safely puts the letter in his bag. "He was right about that."

"How soon would you get it examined?"

"I'm not so sure. I can only hope it's as soon as you expect."

I narrow my eyes. "These things take time, bureaucracy and all. But rest assured we'd get to the bottom of it. I talked to them, they said Hi by the way, and we agreed that we'd have the note." He pats his back. "Now notes tested. Maybe even have a handwriting expert look it over."

"Oh."

"When do you get off?"

"Seven."

"I'll drop you off."