PURSUE {Park Jihoon & Kang Daniel}

34

"Tha- whait what?!" I had a bad feeling about this. "You mean that he doesn't know that he will meet me here?" I couldn't help but slightly panic. "Yes I forgot to tell him. But is that a problem for you?" Mrs Kang asked. I didn't want her to know that her son and I didn't exactly get along at the moment, so I pretended that I didn't hear what she had said and walked out of the room.

I didn't have the option of running away so I had to think of what to say to him. Or could I hide? No no, that probably wouldn't work.

I took care of customers and checked every shelf at least 10 times out of plain boredom. Because, for some reason, I had this feeling of longing.
I mean, it had already been two hours and he still hadn't come. It made me feel somewhat irritated. Couldn't he just come now so that we could get this over with. The waiting was painful.

I sat behind the desk with my armbows resting on it and then also rested my head on my palms. "..Hey.." I called out to Mrs Kang who were sitting with a bunch documents on the other side of the corner of the wall. "How long will he stay?" I asked her.
I heard how she struggled with all of the pappers that I wouldn't think were in the best of order. Still she answered my question. "Ehm..He didn't say exactly." She said and I sighed. "But for a few days I believe."
If that was true then I didn't know what to do.

About another hour later it began to get darker outside and several customers had hurried here all at once to avoid walking in the dark, then most likely also hurried home afterwards. Many people had come, but not Daniel, not yet.

Half an hour passed again and my worktime was soon over. Perhaps he would be so late that I would leave before he got here. That's what I wished.
I sat on the same spot behind the desk and stared out the window. After some time I happened to focus on a shadow that moved closer and closer but I couldn't see where it came from since it was walking on the sidewalk along the building. My whole body became slightly colder as the shadow grew and then stood outside the door.

He didn't step inside but instead looked oddly at the outside of the shop. I could see a smile form on his face. It was dark and I couldn't see very clearly who it was, but I knew.
I stood up from the chair and took a step back. He slowly opened the door and before stepping inside he looked around.
We met eyes for a short second and he immediatly shut the door. I could see him out the window and he was still holding the handle but looked down at the ground, he took a deep breath before opening the door again. But was I really that horrible to see that he had to "shut the door in my face" and calm down?

With heavy steps he quickly walked pass the desk were I was standing and directly to the back room. I could hear him greet his mother in excitement and suddenly I got this pressing feeling in my chest.

"Have you greeted Anna yet?" Mrs Kang asked Daniel happily but his reaction to the question surely wasn't happy. "I saw her yes."
At that moment I sneaked up and stood a few meters behind them and when Daniel noticed me he nodded and then looked away, I did the same.

"So how is everything going here mom?" He asked and I believe that he wanted to hear something positive and gladly he got to.
"It's going well thanks to Anna." She said, a bit shaken by that specific question, and tapped me on the shoulder. He didn't look at me when she did and only continued to talk with his mother without even glancing my way. So I walked away from them.
When I turned by the corner I caught his loud whisper, and what he said made the pain in my chest disappear.

"Did she really do all this?"

"Yes." Mrs Kang answered.

"Heh.. Of course she did."

I don't know why but I took it as a compliment. Also what he said made me look around the room. Had I made such a big change here? Personally I think it pretty much looked like it did before. Except for new lamps, clean windows, new sign, new decor, new shelfs... Okay maybe I had changed a few things. I hadn't thought about that before.

Since I figured that I wasn't very welcomed to join their conversation I began to pack things up and closed the shop. After about half an hour I had finished it all and was planning on going home for the day, I just had to tell Mrs Kang that I was leaving.
With my new thick, warm jacket and boots I stomped back to them both and disturbed their family moment.
"Uhm Mrs Kang? It's time for me to go." I told her and grabbed my bag that I had put in the opposite corner of the room.

When I was about to go she stopped me and began to fumble with her documents that layed beside her on the table. "Wait! I have some things to do before I leave but I can't allow you to go alone in the dark." When she said that I feared the worst. "Daniel. You follow her home." It sounded more of a command then a proposal and he didn't seem more pleased than I did.
"Oh nono" I tried but she insisted and Daniel didn't say a word, but to my surprise he took my bag from me and told me to hurry.

When he was done to go and we walked out of the place, both of us moved fast and didn't say a word to each other. Until we realised that what we were doing was riddiculus and began walking in a normal slow pace. We still didn't talk for another 15 meters. But after that he couldn't seem to hold himself.
"Why did you run?"

How were you
introduced to kpop?

5 tests this week and 2
of them are national tests.
Mon: music test
Tue: nothing
Wed: Swedish national
Thu: Biologi test
Fri: English national
My mom tells me to sleep more..