Affection's Facade

What we know and do not.

Elera's past Pov

Lost in thought about my future, I stared at my college plan spread out before me. This was supposed to be my ticket to a new life, a new me.  The idea was to finally step out of the cozy but sometimes stifling world of the Kims.

As I scribbled some notes in the margin, lost in my own world, I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder that snapped me back to reality. I turned around to see So-yeon standing there.

She extended a neatly wrapped package toward me. "Tae-Hyung's dad asked me to give this to him," she began, a subtle urgency coloring her voice. "I've got plans this weekend that I really can't get out of. Could you do me a favor and take this to him?"

My eyes darted between the package and So-yeon, as if each could offer an answer to the sudden dilemma before me.

"Is everything okay?" So-yeon's voice gently prodded, pulling me out of my internal monologue.

Caught off guard, I managed to say, "Oh, uh—yeah. I was just... thinking."

I met her eyes, "You're not setting me up for something, are you?" I asked, half-joking but also half-serious.

She laughed, shaking her head. "No, nothing like that. Just a favor from one friend to another."

"So will you?" She arched an eyebrow, with a small smile.

After a moment's hesitation, I finally said, "Sure, no problem," taking the package from her hands.

"So this is my excuse, huh?" I mumbled, more to myself than to her.

She looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing, never mind." I tucked the package under my arm, offering her a slight smile. "I'll make sure it gets to him."

Later that day, snowflakes floated gently from the evening sky, each one a fleeting work of art before it met the city's concrete embrace. Seoul had dressed herself in winter's shawl, a sparkling spectacle of streetlights and store windows. In the midst of it all, I stood—feeling both a part of this sprawling setting and yet incongruously separate.

The train ride had been a cocoon of my own thoughts. Tae-Hyung's life had been unfolding in a separate realm at Seoul National University, a landscape I could imagine but never fully know. At least not yet. As my feet touched down on unfamiliar ground, a sense of vulnerability washed over me, carried by the crisp winter air.

It was darker than I'd anticipated, the dusk a velvet shroud punctuated by stars of neon signage. I located the spot where he and So-yeon were supposed to meet—some nondescript corner awash with academic prestige and youthful aspirations.

And there he was. Tae-Hyung emerged from a building, his laughter mingling in the air with a girl by his side. She was pretty, in the sort of effortless way that can steal your breath if you let it. My hand instinctively rose to wave, hesitating in the air like a petal suspended on a fragile breeze.

"Hey," I called softly. Tae-Hyung caught my eyes, those familiar crescents of warmth, and the world snapped back into focus.

The girl, looked at me with curiosity dancing in her eyes. "Don't we have a project?" She angled her question towards Tae-Hyung, but the words felt like they were floated in the air for me to catch as well.

Caught between the unspoken tension, I pieced together a smile and aimed it at both of them.

"It's okay," I said, forcing a smile as if to assure them—and maybe myself—that their moment wasn't mine to disrupt. "I can just —."