𝙵𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚎

🅒🅗🅐🅟🅣🅔🅡 ➍

"Gone from our sight, but never from our hearts."

A month had passed, and I'd settled into a new routine. Wake up, eat breakfast, go to work, walk home, stopping occasionally to check out a store, eat dinner, and head to bed.

The guy I had met, Min-Jun? After our walk, I hadn't seen him again.

We had fun walking around. Tried on glasses and clothes. Ate ice cream by a river. Talked about silly little things, like his favorite color, dark green; his favorite food, kimbap; how he spent free time drawing buildings he saw in Incheon or researched online. I had forgotten how fun it was to get to know someone new. It was good while it lasted.

Or so I thought. Annoyed by the amount of time Mr. Nam had tried speaking to me, tried touching my arm or hair and tried to hint at going out with me this week, I was ready to go off on all men. The good affi suffa fi the bad. Jamaica has taught me that much.

But there he was on a Friday evening, at the gates of the school where I taught. Waiting.

Part of me was glad I got to see him again, glad he was waiting for me, but the other part of me wished I never saw him.

Despite my obvious attempts to keep him at a distance, he was persistent. He didn't even have my number. what if I had left already? He was being an idiot and if I wasn't one myself, I'd hate him for it.

He looked up from his phone, seeing me, he started easing up from where he was leaning against the concrete post of the gate. Slipped his phone into his pocket and started walking towards me with an amused grin on his face. I decided to meet him halfway there.

"This could count as stalking, you know. I didn't tell you where I worked so you could show up and wait on me." Was the first thing that popped out of my mouth once he was within earshot.

He smiled even wider and took my tote bag that was hanging on my arm and slung it over his shoulder. "Well, I'm already here, so might as well go grab something to eat?" He tucked his hands into his jeans pocket and jerked his head in a "let's go" gesture. I furrowed my eyebrows, shook my head, and started walking in the direction of my apartment. I don't want to encourage him, but I also wanted food. Who could say no to food?

"It has to be somewhere near my place." I said aloud.

He didn't indicate having heard me, but he caught up to me quickly and started to walk by my side in silence. Occasionally, I glance up at him, and I can't deny that this little stalker of mine, was quite handsome. His brown eyes stood out in a subtle way against his monolids, his jawline sharp but not overly so, his hair slightly curly, lips plump but thin and his ears, his ears weren't big but they were protruding and frames his face well. I liked guys with protruding ears, I don't know why, I just do.

As we walked, he started to apologize, and then he began to tell me about what he had been up to in the past month. He was getting adjusted to college, he said. Since it was his third year, he was a lot busier than he had expected. Remembering my years of studying architecture, I could understand, but I just nodded instead, telling him that he didn't owe me any excuses.

He was undeterred by my lack of responses and enthusiasm. He shared why he loved buildings. I realized he was much smarter than me in that regard. I had done architecture because I liked art. But my mom hated the school I wanted to study at, so I chose a different one and pursued something similar in name — "ARTchitecture."

I told him that before I could catch my tongue and he laughed, It was deep and hearty, a dimple on his left cheek popping in to say hello. I couldn't help laugh along with him, drawn in to his rhythm, and lost in his sincerity, nowhere I had planned to be.