"Saltstick" || Junhoe

Chapter 5

The following days were pretty much the same.

They kept on trying to find someone who knew Yu Ni.

Jinhwan went to the police station almost daily and asked about new missing reports. There were some but none of them was searching for Yu Ni. 

Her and Junhoe also hanged out new flyers in- and outside of Seoul but there were still no calls. Even after three had weeks passed there was no sign of people knowing Yu Ni.
Eventually they gave up and tried thinking of another solution. Jinhwan tried to at least find work for her, but that turned out to be even more difficult than he thought it would. Not knowing what to do anymore they simply tried living their lives normally. For Jinhwan it worked quite well but for Junhoe... he kind of got used to living with Yu Ni. Waking up early every day, making breakfast for two then going to work and finding a bored Yu Ni when he came back home. At first he couldn't adjust to the new lifestyle at all. Before Yu Ni barged into his life, Junhoe would've always skipped breakfast, work until late at night. Sometimes he wouldn't even go home. Now everything changed and his daily life was turned upside down. But he got used to it. He got used to waking up earlier, makníng and eating breakfast together with Yu Ni and also seeing her overjoyed face, whenever he came back from work. It became a part of his routine. She became a part of his life.

One night Junhoe and Yu Ni went for a stroll outside. They were walking near the lake they found her at.
Junhoe put his hands into the pockets of his black, ripped jeans and took a deep breath.

"It's been quite some time since I've last been here..." He said, going down the street and sitting down on the bench. 
"Were you often here before?" She asked him, sitting down next to him.
"Yeah, Jinhwan and I used to take this way home."
"Why don't you do that anymore?"
"Lately we've been pretty busy at work. Especially since Jinhwan and I decided to work temporarily in another compartment."
"Oh... why? And what do you even do? You never told me..."

Because It would only harm you.

"I work for a company."
"As what?"
"...Simply as an office worker."
"You're lying!"
"No, I'm not."
"Oh Junhoe come on... Just tell me now. I'm curious!"
"I already told you. I work for a company. It's nothing special."
"But with the income of a normal office worker you'd never be able to live in that apartment AND own that car."
"As you can see... I can. Now stop bugging me about my work. I have my reasons, why I don't want to talk about it."
"Fine..." She said and pouted, as she looked at the beautiful scenery in front of her.

Junhoe let out a sigh of relief, when Yu Ni stopped asking him about his work. He couldn't tell her. But even if he could he wouldn't have told her. It would have put her in danger. It would have destroyed their good relationship. His life, too, would probably go back to the way it was before she appeared. Cold. Lightless. Emotionless. He wouldn't find any joy in life again. The thought of going back scared him. Junhoe knew that one day she would find out. One day everything would go back to the way it was. One day he'd have to go back to that dark and cold place he couldn't escape from. Even now it was still there. The guilt. The nightmares. The muffled echoes of people crying, screaming. It was all still there. Deep inside him. But since he started spending time with Yu Ni it all seemed to move further and further away from him. Her presence distracted him from everything that had happened in the past. Since she was there with him he had no time to lose himself in his own thoughts about everything that happened. He had no time to fall back into depression. 

"Hey, are you even listening? What are you thinking about?" Yu Ni looked at him.
"What? Did you say something?"
"Ugh, forget it! Let's go home."
Yu Ni said and got up.
"Are you coming?"
Junhoe sighed and did the same.
"Yeah..."

On the way back Junhoe didn't say a lot and just listened to Yu Ni who was complaining about some stupid female lead character from a drama. 
When they arrived at Junhoe's place Yu Ni changed into more comfortable clothes and sat down on the sofa.

"Do you really have to always wear my clothes?"
"Yep!!"

Junhoe sighed and sat down next to her.

"Oh yeah right... I forgot to tell you. A friend of mine will come tomorrow."
"Who?"