One thing I would always remember is the smell of her.
A curious mix of lavender, tea, honey.
I remember, that smell which I could not place at first.
There was something there. Something underneath the light fragrance of lavender, the brew of tea, the nectar of honey.
But now I knew what it was.
It was not a smell. More accurately, it was a feeling. A feeling so strong that it emanated around the shop like an aura.
It was the feeling of loneliness.
It was of a wait so patient that it would probably have gone on to the ends of infinity had I not entered that shop.
Some might say, that harsh winter was what caused me to be in this state now.
This wallowing shell left in a corner of the world. Left alone though, not left behind.
But I never, and will never, regret a second of the short span of days we spent together.
It made me, as much as it destroyed me.
Instead of thinking of it as the end of me, I like to think of it as a new beginning.
The mere 10 days; they were more than enough for two people to get acquainted, become friends and fall so deep into a love so strong it broke everything.
I shall set my story in ink.
It is, not was, a story of a special love that took place within 10 days, but one that I am sure will last for the centuries to come.
It is the love story between the wind and the swaying trees, the whispers between the river and the stones lining the shores.
My name is Yoona, and this is our story.
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I was looking for a Christmas present I could get for my friend. A collector of quaint little toys, imagine the trouble I had to go through to look for a “special” present for her. What kind of shopkeeper nowadays still sells old traditional toys? Now, all things are valued for their “newness”.
Picture a lone young woman in a coat, stalking the frozen snowy streets of the city, freezing herself all over just for the sake of a toy.
Thus imagine my relief when I finally saw a sign in the more artsy (and poorer) sector of the city.
Handcrafted Traditional Toys and Other Odd Objects
It was as if I had met my savior.
Rushing giddily to the small and undecorated wooden door squashed between an art studio and a beauty parlor, I paused slightly as my hand rested on the doorknob.
Truthfully, I felt slightly antsy with anticipation and scared at the same time.
On one hand, I was excited to meet a shopkeeper that would actually still sell items like these. You could say that an image of a respectable bespectacled grandfatherly shopkeeper pops up in my head, probably offering me tea and candies and whatnots. But on the other hand, what if the shopkeeper is weird? Well that actually isn’t that bizarre if you think of it. I mean, what kind of person would want to invest in toys that would probably never sell out already?
Taking a breath to steady myself, I slowly turned the doorknob, feeling the friction of the rough wood beneath my fingers as the door creaked inward.
