Life suddenly brings two old acquaintances together, who were separated due to a tragedy. Hwang Seohyun (황 서현) meets her classmate again after so long.
Their worlds that were different for 7 years collide once again and become one. Unexpected secret...
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"Hwang Aecha, I'm home!" I called out for my older sister as I reached the main entrance door of my house and pushed the grill door open. When I stepped inside the house, I saw her climb down the stairs to the living room and sit on the couch.
"You're early today, you usually come after the sunset. Did you take the bus, Seohyun?" She looked at me as I sat beside her, putting my bag down.
"No, you already know I never take the bus" I replied faintly, tying my hair into a loose bun as I tried to ignore the shift in her facial expressions upon understanding the meaning behind my words. I quietly watched her purse her lips together, struggling to put a smile on her face. When she couldn't do that, she simply stood up without voicing out anything. I could tell that she was trying to fight back her tears when she turned away from me but I didn't point it out.
I let out a sigh, watching her disappear into the kitchen. I realized, I shouldn't have mentioned that. I was still regretting my words, when I saw Aecha walk out the kitchen with a tray of bowls. I let her see my wide smile as I quickly took the tray from her hand. She let out a laugh at me and went there again as I waited for her to come back with another tray. Soon, she was back and we headed into our backyard.
"Aww, my little ones!" I cooed at the cute creatures, watching them run towards me as my sister opened the catio. I remember, Aecha and I built it together for the cats exactly five years ago when I had been living in Seoul for two years.
"Aish, you need to stop adopting more abandoned cats. I'm tired of taking care of them!" My sister complained as usual, sighing heavily as she placed the bowls of cat food infront of the clowder of cats.
"Yet you're the first one to get worried when there's a slightest change in their behaviour." I denied, softly petting the kittens as I lovingly watched them lick from the bowl.
I've loved cats since my teenhood and now that I'm twenty five, I owned five of them. I adopted one each year since I began living here, all of them were abandoned. I guess, I just felt a strange sense of completeness and homeliness with cats, especially abandoned ones. I admire it when homes are alive and I think cats become the souls of the house, giving it a life.
Giving home to those who make a house feel like a home is all I've wanted to do.
"Yes, that's because I'm professionally a vet. I can't run away from my responsibilities that come out of my profession." She refused to admit.
"How professional of you to do that" I clapped my hands together sarcastically, "Whether you accept it or not, it's because you love them." She clearly was attached to the cats more than me but couldn't seem to accept it. I glanced at her, catching her crouch down to the kitten we adopted last year. The kitten was blind and Aecha loved her the most, she took care of her more than herself. I smiled to myself, she's so loving.
"May I divert your attention from your child, woman?" I joked, making her look at me.
"Yah, what woman?!" She smacked my head, "and this child is named Hayun. You must call her by her name only." She's always so serious about kittens and their names although, I was the one to name them.
"I'm not good with remembering names, how do you even expect me to remember all of their names?!" I gasped with widened eyes as I pointed at the five cats who sat eating peacefully. We both laughed together for sometime and in that little moment, I let all of my thoughts and worries drift away; again busy staring at the kittens with the soft echo of wind passing through me as I continued to pet them for awhile but a thought rose in me shortly, I ended up recalling what I told my producer about bringing the short stories.
I looked up at Aecha and asked, "Can you look through the shelves in my room, please? I need a notepad from there, it should be named 'Jiyeon's writings'.
When she heard me, she stopped playing with the kittens and looked at me with disbelief in her eyes. "Your shelves?!" She scoffed dramatically, "You think I can survive your shelves that are overloading with unnecessary things that you don't even need to put on a shelf? No, I can't. I'm afraid I might not have enough courage to face your overflowing shelves." She paused for a second, "You know, you should throw a few things from there, Don't tell me you're never going to do that like you always do."
"Why even bother to ask when you already know?" I shrugged my shoulders, "I have my memories joined with them. People leave, time runs but things and memories stay. I'll keep on cherishing those things and memories."
"I blame our parents for building this habit of holding onto things and memories in you" she smiled faintly.
"It's not nice to blame dead people." The words slipped out my mouth, instantly making me regret as I waited for her to tear up again but she didn't.
She stared at me with pursed lips, trying to put on a smile and this time, she was able to force out a smile as she spoke; "you're really strong, Seohyun" Sometimes, it surprised me to see how she could be both strong and fragile.
"Yes, I've to be when the people around me are weak." I laughed, trying to lighten up the atmosphere a little.
She slightly smacked my head when she understood my words, "Yah, you disrespectful kid!"
I laughed while rubbing my head, "okay, enough! I'll go look for the notepad now. This world would be a nicer place if people helped eachother, wouldn't it?" I ran away from her before she could hit me again.
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Take this chapter as an introduction to our protagonist's personality.
