deceit • Han Seojun x Kang Soojin

45. starlight

함께 설레이던 웃음 짓던 너와 나 다시

(You and I, we were all laughing together)

별이 되어 사라질까 봐

(I'm afraid you'll disappear and turn into a star)

-starlight (chani)

45. starlight

There wasn't a lot to wish for when you were Kang Soojin.

A room to sleep without the incessant banging and loud noises from outside the door. A chance to eat fully without worrying about burning calories. And a simple job, that could help ends meet without excessive worrying.

Needless to say, Kang Soojin had everything she needed. A little place to call home, albeit a little lonely too. She could eat whatever she wanted, and did occasionally. And a job that paid enough, probably a bit mundane but she liked it.

She liked her life. Surely, for a bystander, Kang Soojin's life was a basic ordinary life. It was dull, boring and really unambitious. No one would ever wanna dream about a life as Kang Soojin's.

But she did. She dreamt of a life just as simple and mundane as this. Because there was a time in her life where a basic life as such was a fever dream, a wish, a desperate need.

So, as opposed to others, 28 year old Kang Soojin was perfectly fine with her life, proud even. She had come a long way, all by herself and she wasn't going to take anything for granted. Her outlook towards life had drastically changed, thanks to a certain someone. Now she was more positive and kind. More helpful than demanding, cheerful than cold.

People who worked with her called her a ray of sunshine, and Soojin often chuckled at that tag. She always wondered how the old Soojin would have reacted to such a nickname.

She would have hated it. But secretly she'd be teary eyed.

That being said, no one who knew Soojin back then would recognise the present lively girl. The cold stare was replaced by warm gazes, eyes that carried the smile and a radiance that outshined through others. Her closed off attitude transformed into a welcoming aura and her hands no longer carried any scars from her wars.

Her hands were back to the soft, normal and ordinary hands like everyone else's.

Another ordinary thing she had, that was once impossible to overcome.

Soojin stretched her arms as she lay back on her office chair. A smile on her face and the thought of eating sushi in the afternoon cheering her up. She could also have some crab on the side. Maybe some oyster sauce?

She dropped a text to her roommate, asking him if he was free to eat some lunch with her and sat up to finish the pending work. Now that sushi was running in her mind at a faster pace, she could easily get done with her pending assignment.

Soojin worked for a Non-profit organization that focused on getting basic necessities to the homeless and shelters at a minimum price. Her job was to handle the PR team and come up with creative ideas, try to keep the name of the organisation away from backlashes and highlight the importance of their organisation.

She had worked her management degree at Boston University when she stayed with her aunt. She did her fair share of part time jobs. The barista at the cafe she worked as a cashier reminded her so much about the boy she once liked.

Liked? Loved? Maybe a bit of both.

But she knew for sure she owed him her life.

After graduating from the university, she came back to Korea having no other place to go to. The states were good, but it wasn't what she wanted. She managed to get a place in Busan and toiled to get a little comfort. The remainder of her youth were spend on paying the student loans and trying to make a livelihood.