Regret Me Not | 김석진

Two

There were so many trees around her, yet she found it hard to breathe. Maybe it was the emptiness crushing her lungs. Maybe it was the blankness in the way she felt.

Or maybe it was the cigarette in her mouth.

Either way, she felt she had to choke back the oxygen the oaks had given to her. It didn't help that she was sitting on rock-hard concrete—the edge of a large abandoned pool behind Seoul National University. It wasn't even important really, she just enjoyed swinging her legs over the edge as she watched the clouds roll above the trees.

It was pretty quiet there usually. The birds were asleep in the shade respectively at the time she stopped by, and the breeze which wafted over her clothes was like heaven in a nutshell. This place, where splurges of grass tickled her ears and her eyes reflected the sky, she came to be alone; it was the perfect place to do just that. The only downside was when there were tourists or kids or—them.

They almost always interrupted her alone time. There were at least six of them if not more, and whenever she heard their shrewd laughs and yells coming up the mountain, she booked it.

Although, sometimes, she didn't leave. Sometimes she sat in the bushes out of sight and just listened to them giggle and scream and have fun. By the way they sounded, she guessed they were high schoolers. They were loud enough to be, for sure. She'd never had the courage to sneak a glance at them, but she didn't need to.

Something about the good times they had and how much they enjoyed each other's company made her feel a little bit less empty inside.

But she would never admit that.

"Hey."

She almost jumped out of her skin until she realized it was just Iseul who lowered herself into the empty pool from the other side and strolled over to her.

She only nodded while blowing out a puff of smoke as the young girl crawled up to sit next to her. Iseul waved her hand in front of her face, disgusted at the smell which permeated from the lit end. She knew she shouldn't be influencing someone younger, especially a minor, but she couldn't bring herself to care as she took another deep breath and enjoyed her surroundings. Iseul would have to get used to it. It was life.

"Why do you always come here?"

"Be alone." She shrugged before taking a drag. "Smoke a cig."

"Those are so bad for you, Vic..."

Victoria blew out with a smile. "Smoking is bad for you," she mocked. "If only I gave a shit." Iseul only sighed. "The fuck are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?" she mumbled around the rolled up paper.

"Skipped."

Victoria smirked.

"Why aren't you at work?" Iseul asked with a childlike innocence she always carried.

"Called in sick."

The thing was, Victoria loved her job. She loved teaching kids about the Korean war and gaining independence from the Japanese during World War II. She loved working in sarcastic comments and roasting the ones who didn't pay attention.

If any of the other teachers saw that, she'd be fired pretty quickly. Luckily, the kids kept talk to themselves. If they enjoyed her enough to keep her, then they would. It was all fate.

She called in sick primarily because of him. He thought that just because he was a pretty boy, he could get anything he wanted. It was true, but she hated it. And she hated him.

"So I guess we both needed a day off." Victoria only nodded, but as Iseul stared at the small butterfly which fluttered over her head and landed on a plump yellow daisy that had sprung up from the cracks between the concrete, she asked, "Have you seen those boys around?"