sunshine || JUNG HOSEOK

1// "Look at the sun, Picasso. Isn't it so pretty?"//

Lee Ji Eun sat in the comfort of her bedroom, working diligently on her college assignments on a Saturday. Her cat, Picasso, lay beside her sleeping. The curtains that covered her window were opened a sliver, letting the smallest bit of sunlight cascade onto the wood floors. She sighed in exasperation. "Look at the sun, Picasso. Isn't it so pretty?" She pet the cat's soft head.

"Ji Eun, come downstairs for a second!" Her mother yelled up the stairs. Ji Eun sighed but started to make her way down to see what her mother needed.

"Yes?" She questioned when she found her mother in the kitchen.

"What would you like for lunch, sweetie? I'm about to go to the store."

"Whatever you want is fine mom," Ji Eun said as she dusted off the counter.

Ji Eun and her mother, Eun Ae, had been alone in their house for twenty years. Ji Eun's father had walked out on his family when Ji Eun was only three. She has a condition where if she were to be touched by direct sunlight her skin would react by getting rashes in those places. This condition served to be "too much" for her father. He couldn't deal with the having to watch Ji Eun closely anytime they were outside. He wanted a simple life, not a "defective daughter." Ji Eun had not spoken to him since she was eighteen, when she decided to track him down to confront him. That exchange didn't end well as Ji Eun had originally planned for it to, although she didn't care anymore, anyway.

Her father's leaving had left a mark on Ji Eun, though. Her trust for men diminished greatly the moment he left her and her mother to fend for themselves. All of her friends were girls, boys had tried to make their way into her life but they always ended up leaving because of her lack of opening up to them in any way. She had a boyfriend at one time. This boy had found a way to get through the wall that Ji Eun had built up just enough to weasel his way into her life. He ended up cheating on her about a month into the relationship, which didn't help Ji Eun's trust issues in the slightest. Between both of these experiences Ji Eun made a point to just keep her distance from men in general.

•••

Ji Eun's mother got back about an hour later and made lunch. Her mother was off on Saturdays and Sundays, usually, any other day of the week it wasn't unusual for Ji Eun and her mother to not even see each other. So, these times they got to actually sit down and eat together were cherished, only that didn't stop Ji Eun from leaving once the sun fell below the horizon.

"I'm going out tonight, by the way." Ji Eun said before she scooped a spoonful of rice into her mouth.

"With who?" Eun Ae inquired like she wasn't expecting Ji Eun to leave anyway.

"Seoyeon and Boyoung." Her mother only nodded her head in return.

This was a normal day for Lee Ji Eun; stay inside all day, while working on homework and then leave that evening once the sun went down. Ji Eun rarely chose to venture out during the day due to her condition, it was just easier that way. Her friends didn't mind that this was how things went, they were usually busy during the days with work anyway.

Ji Eun had had a job at the beginning of the year, but at the start of summer she decided that she wanted to further her degree. So, she quit her job and enrolled in more classes. Most of her classes were online, so she didn't have to leave the comfort of her home. She despised having to cover up if she went out during the day. She could, she just much rathered not so she made it a mission everyday to not walk out the front door with the sun up.

•••

The second the sun fell and the moon rose, Ji Eun was out the door. Her friends were waiting for her at the diner down the street. They always met there before making their way to their desired destination. Sometimes they stayed at the diner and just ate a simple dinner together and called it a night, but tonight was a Saturday night so they wanted to do something "a little more exciting" as Ji Eun's friends had put it.

"You know what would be fun to do tonight?" Seoyeon asked aloud. Ji Eun and her other friend, Boyoung only turned their heads to Seoyeon in interest. "It would be fun to find some boys."

"No," Ji Eun answered without hesitation, turning and rolling her eyes at her friend.

"Oh, come on, live a little Ji Eun." Seoyeon nudged her, jokingly.

"I am living and I don't need a guy to do it."

"You know one day you're going to have to trust at least one guy, Ji Eun," Boyoung said in a quiet voice.

"I have trusted guys before, Boyoung. Look where it got me: fatherless and cheated on. Men are just lying jerks." Ji Eun's voice rose a little as she said this.

Boyoung and Seoyeon had heard this exact thing said by Ji Eun too many times to count and had yet to find an answer back to it. So, the air settled into an awkward silence. They stood in front of the small diner still not really knowing what to do anymore.

"Do you guys just want to go in and eat here for tonight?" Boyoung asked breaking the silence. Ji Eun and Seoyeon mumbled quiet agreeances.

After they sat inside a booth they just returned to speaking as though Ji Eun's small outburst hadn't happened. They had a nice time just talking about random topics that came up for the remainder of the night.