Butterfly Effect | Han Taesan

1.

In the late hours of the night, there sat a sleep deprived university student rushing her projects for the following week.

With a combination of heavy eye bags and blood-shot eyes, Kim Saneul found herself typing away on her laptop. Typing was an understatement. She was spamming away at her keyboard at a speed that would make professional e-sports players shaken with fear. God knows how long has it been since she last left that position. University was slowly sucking the soul out of her and school barely started.

The furious sound of typing was interrupted with a loud grumble making Saneul looked away from her essay and taking a quick glance at the clock.

'What the heck it's 2 in the morning and I'm barely done?!' she tiredly exclaims.

Deciding to finally take a break and ease her screaming stomach, she threw on a random hoodie and left to the nearest convenience store from her apartment.

Heading straight to the instant noodle section, she was greeted with an array of choices. Every single option looked delicious to her. Is this the consequences of not eating the whole day?

As she stood there having an internal conversation with every noodle option, the chime of the store's bell indicated that another customer has graced the store with their presence.

The new customer entered the same aisle Saneul was at, making her turn her head at the new presence.

The first flutter - their first encounter.

She was met with a boy who looked around her age, with his hood on and headphones blasting music, isolating himself from the real world.

Observing him, she saw that he picked up an unfamiliar brand of cup noodles and a bottle of cola before heading to the cashier.

She did not know why, but seconds later, she found herself buying the same items the boy did. Usually she does not step out of her comfort zone when it comes to food. After all, familiarity brings comfort to many. However, something pulled her towards that new brand of cup noodles.

Sitting at the table away from the boy, she started slurping away at her noodles. The flavours erupted in her mouth.

'Holy shit, this is so good!' she thought.

Not expecting the noodles to taste so good, she looked up at the boy sitting across her, observing him. She tried to make it discreet that she was basically just staring at the boy.

Something about this boy's aura intrigued her. Little did she know that this short encounter would slowly change her life.