7pm || Jitzu

Chapter 1

Jihyo studies fashion design at Seoul's women university and works part-time at a 7/11 near the Han River. Every single day at 7pm for the last 2 months, a girl with long black hair, dark eyes, and the fairest skin she's ever seen enter the store, pays for a cup of ramyon, sits down to eat, and by 7:30pm she's gone, not having spoken a single word.

The first 2 days Jihyo doesn't think anything about it. Working this late, she has to deal with many people like this. By the 2nd week, she thinks this girl is really arrogant. She could at least say thank you or goodbye.

It's been 2 months and she hates this girl now but then an incident happens at the store.

The girl gets her ramyon, cooks it at one of the machines in the store and when she's going towards a table to sit and eat, a drunk man enters the store and stumbles upon her making her fall down. Jihyo sees all of it from the counter and gasps when it happens. She runs towards the girl. Luckily the hot water didn't fall on her but onto the table in front of them. Jihyo expects the man to apologize but instead, he gets mad and starts blaming the girl who still doesn't say a word. Jihyo doesn't know what to do; the girl is on the floor, not moving or talking, and this man that made her fall is getting on her nerves. "Doesn't he see it's his fault? She could have hurt herself badly if the boiling water had fallen on her!". Jihyo gets herself together and goes towards the girl, ignoring the drunken man still complaining next to them.

"Are you ok?" Jihyo asks but the girl does not answer.

"Let me help you get up" Jihyo says holding her right arm. The girl finally gets up with her help. She's ok but has a few stains on her clothes from the splashes of the noodles that went everywhere.

She doesn't say thank you or sorry or anything whatsoever but she looks at Jihyo, pouts, and looks down.

"It's ok. I'll clean everything." Jihyo says feeling bad for her.

The girl nods. Jihyo doesn't understand this girl. She wants to think she's rude for not even thanking her but something tells her she's wrong. This girl's expression when everything happened and the fact that she didn't confront the man nor did she even get up from the floor by herself makes her think there's something more to it and she feels sympathetic towards the girl.

"I'll get you another cup of noodles, ok? Please wait here" she says moving the girl to another table and sitting her down. The girl follows her silently and sits down.

Jihyo doesn't want to but she apologizes to the man so he finally leaves them alone and goes get her cleaning supplies. She cleans the mess and keeps taking glances at the girl. She's not doing anything other than look at the window. "What a strange girl. Is she still shocked at what happened?" Jihyo thinks. She's done cleaning and gets 2 cups of ramyon, cooks them, and sits down with the girl to eat with her since no one is coming and she's already hungry. The girl is startled when Jihyo sits down next to her. She looks Jihyo in the eye, nods, and smiles. Jihyo is mesmerized seeing her this close. "Is it her way of saying thank you?" she thinks.

Jihyo looks back at the girl, wanting to see her pretty eyes up close again but the girl already started eating. "She must be really hungry" Jihyo thinks and gets up. She knows she's going to have to pay for all of this with her own money but she still goes get the girl a hardboiled egg and a drink. She gives them to the mysterious girl who smiles, looking at her ramyon instead of back at her.

Jihyo is a bit sad that the girl is not even looking at her after all but she sits down and eats her ramyon fast, she can't leave the shop unattended for long, and if a client enters she will have to run to the counter. They both end eating and get up at the same time almost bumping into each other. "Oh, sorry" Jihyo says and moves a bit to the side. The girl nods again but this time she looks Jihyo in the eyes again. The girl is not talking but Jihyo can see every word the girl wants to say through her mesmerizing eyes. It must have been just seconds but to Jihyo it felt like hours. She gets out of her trance the moment the girl starts moving. She bows to her and leaves the store. Jihyo doesn't say bye to the girl, too entranced and confused by the whole situation to react.