The Echoes Of Autumn | Minseok

Chapter Nine

       
25th January 2015 - The Past

I left the house that morning in a rush knowing I would be late for my shift at the coffee shop.. You see the problem was that I was I hadn't worked there for the past two years so I was relying on a very faded memory of what time my shifts were.

After our deep conversation last night and falling asleep I didn't see Shinwon this morning, in fact, it was as if he was never even there at my apartment at all... He had left or vanished without a trace so I was truly questioning whether we actually spoke last night or if I was imagining things.

But my mind was still heavily focussed on the dream I had that night and all the other questions that I had stuck in my head.

I sighed deeply as I walked down the crowded streets with a faint breeze from the wind rustling through my hair. I shivered and tucked my head into my scarf even more and stopped outside the coffee shop. I forced myself to take a hand out from my pocket and stretched it towards the door when suddenly the door was pushed open from the other side hitting my head. I lost my balance and tripped over my own feet stumbling to the ground.

My head throbbed in pain until I heard a soft familiar but panicky voice.

"Oh my god.. I am so sorry... I didn't even see you on other side and I was too busy stuck in thought..." She continued rambling on and I began to get up from the ground dusting myself off.

"Sumi, I'm fine calm down.." I chuckled slightly at her rambling that I missed.

She froze and abruptly stopped talking before looking at me with flushed pink cheeks in embarrassment.

"Heh sorry I tend to have this habit of rambling on and on..." She looked towards the ground and then looked up making eye contact with me.

I found myself getting lost in those chestnut coloured eyes and the sounds of the busy streets seemed to fade out. Her eyes were the most beautiful pair of brown eyes that my eyes had ever seen and I could lose myself in them for seconds, minutes or hours.

I was so busy staring into her eyes that I did not catch a word of what she had just said to me. I felt her fingertips brush my hair to the side and press against my forehead tearing me away from the ridiculous trance I was in.

"Well, that looks sore...I think we should go get some ice on it before it gets worse.." She flicked her eyes away from the bump towards me.

All I could do was nod my head at her and she stepped away from me. I was about to go with her without remembering I technically had work today at the coffee shop.

"Sumi, I'll be fine... I've got work today; I'll just grab some ice from there." I explained.

"I'll come with you! Think of this as my way of repaying you for the plaster.." She giggled slightly causing a pit of butterflies to form in my stomach.

She moved back over to the door opening it and again it nearly hit me in the process...

"You haven't changed one bit..."I thought to myself and stepped inside the coffee shop.

Sumi went up to the counter and I went to grab a seat somewhere in the shop right at the back. I soon spotted Sumi heading towards me holding a cloth with ice she stopped in front of me and I assumed she was going to pass the ice over to me.

Instead, she carefully brushed my hair aside and gently placed the cloth over my forehead. I sharply hissed in pain when the cold ice hit my warm skin and sat there looking up at Sumi who was concentrating on holding the ice there.