Sooo, yeah, I have a thing for EXO's winter songs.
This story is a product of my hopeless fantasies and imaginations. I don't even have a concrete plan for this story. I jisy write whatever scenario comes to my mind.
My English sucks, its not my mother language 😊😊😊
By the way, the title for each chapter is the song I am listening to while writing this.
Hugs and kisses,
Daphnejoe 💕
************************************
Chapter 1
Ali’s POV
“Hey Ali! I can’t eat dinner with you tonight. Peniel and I have a dinner date. I’m sorry. Don’t stay too late at work. There’s a good movie in the cinema. Go and watch it. I’ll see you tonight. Love love.”
I rolled my eyes after reading Shin’s text. I knew it. Peniel and Shin had been dating for the past 6 months but still acting as if they are still on the “getting to know each other” stage. Whatever.
I checked my wristwatch. It’s already 6:00 PM. A few minutes ago, I am ready to go home but now, going home seems like a bad idea. The apartment is empty and I don’t feel like eating dinner alone.
At times like this that I misses Shin’s presence. Friday night used to be our date night, you know, the night where she and I would be home early to cook Filipino dishes and have a few shots of soju, talking trash about our work, how we miss our families in the Philippines, how we will spend the weekend, things like that.
Now, we rarely do that. She’s got a boyfriend now and they want to spend time together and I am now married to my work.
I turned my attention back to my laptop. I just finished writing the scipt for tomorrow’s radio program. Earlier, I am satisfied with my work, now, I feel like editing it. Hours passed and before I knew it, it’s already past 10:00 PM KST. I sighed. There’s no more work left for me to do now. l already edited scripts, prepared the screenplays and other things. I shut my laptop off then gathered my things. Shin said she’ll be home before 12:00 AM. I never thought dinner would last for more than five hours.
Our apartment is just a walking distance from where we are working. We have a car (company privilege) but i prefer walking. It gives me time to think and reflect. Lesser people are littered on the streets. Probably because its Friday night, everyone were busy getting wild on bas and clubs.
I saw a potato tornado stand and my stomached grumbled. I haven’t eaten dinner yet. I bought two sticks and walked to the nearest bench. The left side of the bench was occupied by a guy who is wearing an oversized gray sweater with a print saying prive’. The sweater’s hood is pulled over his head. When I sat down on the right side of the bench, I noticed the sweater guy (let me call him or her that) is sleeping.
While eating my potato tornado, I observed the guy sitting or sleeping next to me. He is wearing a glasses with big frames. The earphones stucked to his ears are too loud that I can even hear the music playing. His breathing is steady based on the movements of his chest. He could be the same age as me. His face bothers me. He sort of looked familliar but I can’t pinpoint where did I saw or met him. His eyes fluttered open and he caught me staring at him. I saw the panic etched across his face. I just nodded at him and continued eating my potato tornado. I can feel my face burning but I can’t show him that I am embarassed. Slowly, the guy moved and adjusted his glasses and pulled his hood tighter over his head, as if wanting to cover his whole face.
I waited for him to stand and walk away but he remained sitting on the left side of the bench. I can feel his panic fade. From my peripheral vision I saw him looking at me. I felt bad eating beside him so I offered him the last stick of my potato tornado out of politeness, good thing I bought two sticks. I expected him to refused my potato but he accepted them.
“Thank you. I am not really allowed to eat this kind of food as I am on diet but it looks really delicious.” He said and gave me a small smile.
"You’re not fat, why do you have to go on a diet?” I asked. Other times, I would just nod but he sounded friendly that i can’t help but respond. He looks so lanky that I don’t understand why he is starving himself. “Keeping ourselves alive is already hard, why make it harder?”
The stranger laugh. “You’re right. But I don’t have much options." He said while eating the fried potato. “Life is only a path full of efforts.”
“Big words. I don’t know what kind of work you have but for me, if you are giving too much effort onto your work, you should always have a full stomache. You can’t give your best if your tummy is starving. Food comes first.” I don’t know but I am having an easy conversation with a random stranger.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” He said. We sat there side by side, not talking, just eating the fried potato.
The quietness feels relaxing. We watched the people passed us by. I glanced on my wrist watch and it says 11:15 PM. Shin would be home in the next few minutes.
“It’s already late and I heve to go home now.” I rummaged through my bag and pulled out a kitkat chocolate bar. The chocolate cover says ‘Break in case ______’. I took out a pen and wrote “ you don’t wanna starve” on the blank space. I handed it to the stranger.
“Here, take this. I don’t like it when people starve themselves.”
He accepted it and murmured his thanks. And then he stood up. “I should go too. I’d been out for more than two hours now.”
And out of the blue he asked “You’re not Korean, are you?”
“Yeah, Im not. I’m an alien from the Philippines.” I said jokingly. There’s something about him that makes me feel talkative. The side of the stranger’s mouth twitched in amusement when I said the word “alien.”
“Ah, Philippines. I’ll be going there next month.”
“Oh, really? Vacation?”
“Ah... no. Because of work actually.”
“Okay. Anyway, I’ll be going. Bye. It’s nice talking to a stranger, by the way.”
“Me too. Thank you for the potato tornado and the chocolate.” He said while holding the Kitkat bar. “You want me to call a taxi for you?”
“No need. I’ll just walk.” I declined
He checked his wristwatched. “No way. It’s almost midnight already. Where do you live? I’ll walk you home.”
I smiled and say “I live in the middle of nowhere.”
He smiled back and say “I live in the middle of everywhere.”
I nodded and walk towards the direction of my apartment. He insisted on walking me home but I declined. As much as he is nice, I still can’t show him where I live. Giving away address to a total stranger is not smart.
==================================================================
Baekhyun's POV is coming next!
