Hwasun One shots

Beach 2

As you all noticed Hyejin has trust issues and I made it that way based on the reality going on.

Yongsun waved to Hyejin every morning as Hyejin sat on her back porch waiting for her flowers to sprout. It had been jarring at first, to have someone give Hyejin the time of day, but after the few weeks they had been acquaintances, Hyejin found she rather enjoyed being considered worthy of that simple morning wave as Yongsun started her jog.

One morning when tiny, green stems with the littlest leaves Hyejin had ever seen started poking out of the ground in her garden boxes, Hyejin couldn't help but smile when Yongsun waved.

Yongsun tripped over her own feet but steadied herself before she could fall, blushed as she stared at Hyejin, and then jogged toward the road with wide eyes and a bright face. Odd.

Hyejinturned back toward her garden boxes to admire the little sprouts of flowers, glad she'd been patient enough to care for them.

It was rewarding to see all of her efforts turn into those little, growing leaves. Hyejin was excited about them. It was real, tangible proof that she could care for a living thing and succeed in that without killing it. Maybe she could learn to take care of herself, too.

Hyejin caressed the infinitesimal leaf of the nearest plant before she finished her coffee and decided that she'd go into town for ingredients for some sort of dessert to bake for Yongsun.

Her debt had gone on long enough.

Small towns were nothing like Seoul. Hyejin was used to people staring at her, phone's pointed at her, crowded by the noise of her fans and the loud cheering of fans when they see her. Hyejin was not accustomed to the people on the sidewalk who smiled and greeted her without knowing her identity.

She wasn't used to people introducing themselves for no other reason than because Hyejin was new in town. She didn't expect for someone to hold the door to the small grocery shop open for her, or for the attendant to show her where everything was because he'd never served Hyejin before.

The people of Jeju seemed to do each other favors at every turn, and Hyejin wondered how they kept up with who owed them in exchange for each favor. Did they have notebooks filled with kind acts they had done? It seemed too complex a currency to keep track of.

The man who had held the door open for Hyejin stood in line behind her, but he only had a loaf of bread and a couple of bananas, so Hyejin suggested he skip her in line. At least she could repay her debt to him immediately.

He smiled brightly at her. "I knew you'd be a good addition to town. So polite," he said as he put his items on the counter. There was no conveyor belt like there was in chain grocery stores, but a plain wooden counter decorated with pins and bumper stickers for Jeju, along with maps for hiking trails in the surrounding forest, and good spots for surfing along the beach.

The ding of the old cash register startled Hyejin, and she jumped a little as the cashier gave the old man his change.

"Ah, I was wondering when you'd stop by! I'm Kei," the woman behind the counter said as Hyejin placed down the various baking items in her basket.

"You were?" Hyejin asked with suspicion.

"Of course! It's not every day a beautiful woman moves into town," she said. "And it looks like you're baking. For anyone in particular?"

Hyejin blushed as images of Yongsun's smile flashed through her mind, and then turned a deeper red at the woman's knowing smile. "Repaying someone a favor."