Gary sat outside the bakery and bite into a piece of freshly baked, warm cinnamon roll. Hye Won and Gary had planned to visit the local craft store to get some materials needed for their 3D garden landscape project that the entire class was tasked to do. They were given two weeks to do it and unfortunately, it was yet again another individual assignment.
They had planned to meet at 9am but ten minutes have passed since the agreed meeting time and she was still a no-show. He has been sending text messages to her but she has yet to read any of it.
"I'm not going to wait any longer. Find me at the craft store." Gary texted her before shoving his phone into his pocket.
"Oppa!" He raised his head and his eyes met her gaze.
"Jihyo? Why are you here?" He asked with a quizzed look.
"Hye Won unnie told me you will be here waiting for her so I came. She won't be able to make it today. She requested for my help to gather the materials that she required and besides, I need to get some stuff for myself as well. " Jihyo explained.
Gary said nothing but just passed her the brown paper bag containing the extra cinnamon roll that he bought.
She gave him a puzzle look. "You looked like you rushed down from home. I'm guessing you have yet to eat breakfast so take this." He extended her arm and placed the bag in her hand.
"Ah.. Thank you." Jihyo mumbled. She took a bite and felt a warm, fuzzy feeling going through her body but it wasn't because of the cinnamon roll.
"Aren't you coming?" His voice snapped her out of her thoughts.
She looked at Gary who was walking ahead of her. She clutched the paper bag in her hand and catch up to him.
***
The craft store was bigger than she had expected. Both of them took a shopping basket each and went separate ways to search for the things that they needed. One by one, Jihyo loaded the items into the basket and struck them off the list that Hye Won had passed to her.
"Have you gotten all the stuff that you need?" Gary walked over to her and asked. Within a few minutes, he was already done and his basket was filled with some paintbrushes, a medium-sized sketch pad and some short wooden sticks.
Jihyo scanned the list and looked around the store. "I just need some white cardboards," she told him and continued to walk straight down the aisle.
"You're going to the wrong direction. Follow me." Gary said. Jihyo was surprised when Gary led her to the exact location of where the cardboards were.
"How did you know that it's here?" She asked and grabbed a few small cardboards, and put them into her basket.
"I've been frequenting this place for the past five years. " He replied and gave her a smirk. They walked to the electronic, self-service cashier and did a self-checkout.
Gary offered to accompany her back to her house since she was still not quite familiar with the vicinity. Jihyo invited him into her house to have a little rest. She made him a cup of coffee and they chatted for quite awhile before Gary had to leave.
She walked him to the door and passed him a bottle of yogurt drink. "Oppa, thanks for your help today." She said.
"It's nothing much," he replied and looked at her. "See you around, mong ji." He smiled and headed to the lift lobby. He turned to look at her once more and she was still standing in the doorway, looking dazed. He entered the lift and pressed the lift button to the first floor. He scratched the back of his neck as he thought about what he said to her. Mong ji. The word just slipped out from his mouth without him realizing.
Jihyo continued to stare at the empty space where Gary was standing at just seconds ago. "Mong..ji..?" She mumbled and blinked a few times. She looked to the direction of the lift lobby but Gary was already gone. She closed the door and leaned against it.
"Mong ji," she repeated again and felt her heart skipped a beat. She touched her cheeks and could feel them flushing hot.
"It can't be.." She mumbled and shook off whatever that she was thinking in her head, and went to clear the cup on the coffee table.
