love knot.

i. convenient convenience store

I. CONVENIENT CONVENIENCE STORE

❝Your pretty voice
I listened to it
until my ears grew tired
All you spoke about was others. ❞
21 by DEAN

Shit I shouldn't have drank that much.

Sooyoung clutched her purse as the other hand grabbed her aching head, walking along the poorly lit bar in an attempt to find her friend.

Her search came to an end as she witnessed her friend getting away with a boy. Sooyoung tried to follow them through the sea of sweaty and dancing people, but failed.

Sighing as she looked down on her heeled feet, she slightly regret wearing them in the first place. As if things couldn't get any worse, she realized her friend was her ride.

Great, fucking great.

She was suppose to be enjoying herself but ended up blabbering her hearts content to the poor bartender—who just listened quietly and fill her glass to the brim per request—and ultimately ended up being ditched by her best friend.

Scanning the bar area, she noticed the lack of sitted customers. Sighing, she picked up her coat from the bar stool and decided it would be best to go home.

Barely walking straight, Sooyoung made her way out the cheap bar and attempted to call an Uber. Her red cheeks from the alcohol seemed to be more prominent as she was filled with impatience and annoyance.

"No signal? What's that suppose to mean?!"

Out of anger and for all the bad things that had happened to her in a span of two hours, Sooyoung stomped her feet like a child—frustrated and only wanted to go home.

She tried to dial her friend but that too was unsuccessful, as were her endless tries to ring up an Uber.

Sooyoung felt alone at that moment. She felt so cold and foreign, to the chilly night of Seoul.

Only having graduated, she had thought good grades would guarantee a good to decent job. But that too, seemed to be unsuccessful.

She had even left Jeju, along with her friends and family, in hopes of finding a future here in Seoul. Perhaps it was because she was too accustomed living there, but Seoul never felt like home, it felt more like a destination for opportunities.

Sooyoung sat down at on a bench, wincing slightly at the contact of the cold surface.

It had already been two months since she moved here, but she had always found herself wondering about the people at home and what her future would be like if she was there.

Every day she would wake up searching for jobs, preparing and going to interviews, while working a night shift at the diner downstairs to pay for rent.

It was hard—this life wasn't what Sooyoung expected at all—but at least she was fortunate to have a roof over her head and was able to eat three meals a day.

It wasn't ideal but she was going through days with desire and perseverance. To see her family often and land a decent paying job. Nothing too grand, but it was taking a lot more longer and harder.

She stood up from her the bench, stretching her neck slightly. Sooyoung walked further away from the bar—every now and then rubbing her palms together.

Her eyes lit up as she read the sign of the store infront of her. It was good timing too, her stomach was already grumbling from hunger.

She had forgotten she hadn't eat dinner yet, per request of her friend as they planned to end the night with a meal.

The warmth of the store greeted Sooyoung as she heard a faint bell sound coming from the now closed door. She immediately went to the noodles section and scanned the rack of instant food.

"Why didn't they have these back then?" Sooyoung mumbled as she stared blankly at the bulgogi flavored noodles.

She picked up the noodles and proceeded to the counter but not before getting banana milk and a bottle of water.

Sooyoung looked around, to notice the store was empty, she figured people wouldn't have been having meals here at this hour.

She set up her food at a table and patiently waited for the noodles to cook. Taking a sip of water, she closes her eyes and slightly begin to feel sober.

She devoured the food in an instant, but her stomach seemed to be unsatisfied and demanded more. In the mood for ice cream, she stood up again and threw out the empty noodle cup.

"Hmm...this looks good." Sooyoung found herself staring at the endless pints of delicious ice treats. Good thing they had mint chocolate.

She reached out to grabbed the pint of ice cream, but not before noticing something in her peripheral view.

Someone?

Nonetheless of that, she looked to the side and started screaming. A man wearing a black hoodie and mask.

Is this how I die?

Sooyoung seemed to freeze—no pun intended—at the wrong time. While she was seen to be exercising her vocals, she didn't even move an inch and just continued to stare at the person infront of her.

A few seconds flew and neither of the two moved from their place. Sooyoung now stopped busting her vocals and clutched the slightly melt ice cream in her hands.

Well, this is awkward.

She cleared her throat shamelessly and managed to let out a small,"Sorry about that."

The man only let out an even more small nod and proceeded to walk away from her. After he was out of Sooyoung's line of view, she hit her head softly with her palm.

"You crazy bitch." She mumbled and proceed to hit her head.

No—wait, I'll get more dumb if I keep hitting myself.

She sighed and brushed her hair with her fingers, while walking to the counter to pay for the soft ice cream.

She was paying and looked around at nowhere in particular, like the free gum on the counter or the man sitted outside.

Isn't that the same man I screamed at earlier?

She flinched and thought she would bury that memory far far down. Sooyoung then thought—an either dumb or nice idea—how about she buy the man, ice cream?

She then used her brain more, she remembered seeing him look at the frozen treats section but didn't get anything because of a certain crazy person. She then over thought—

What if he was allergic to ice cream? Wait is anyone even allergic to them? That's really sad if that's the case.

Sooyoung just picked out vanilla, to be safe. I mean, who didn't love vanilla ice cream?

She walked out of the store with a relaxed posture, taking her time before embarrassing herself again to the same stranger.

Like a crazy person, she plopped the ice cream on his table and hastily said, "Hi, here's a treat. I'm so sorry, I promise it's not poisoned."

Then rushed like a madman, she wasn't exactly running, but was walking really fast. She looked back and saw the little figure of the convenience store.

Did I really just give ice cream to a stranger like a kidnapper offering candy?

She sat down on a swing and waited for the ride she had ringed up earlier while eating. Sooyoung went back to what just happened, she didn't really look at the man's face while talking really fast, but had caught a glimpse—he looked familiar.