From Afar | Winrina

18 | Behind The Lines

| Yu Jimin

Weeks ago.

I'm here again, in this place.

The convenience store.

It's been what, 9? 10 years? So many years have passed and I'm still waiting. I'm still trying to find her.

The girl with ice cream and pink pringles.

Kim Minjeong.

I sighed, remembering her name again.

Kim Minjeong, one of my schoolmates in SM University. She's not that popular, but she's quite known for being so mysterious. Added to the fact that she's friends with the volleyball player, Uchinaga Aeri, no doubt that her name would be known to everyone.

Including me, but with a different reason.

Kim Minjeong have the same name with the girl that I met before. She also looks like her, she really does. I would've thought of her as that kid if there wasn't any difference, but there is. 

The Kim Minjeong that I met before is cheerful and optimistic. She's very different from the Kim Minjeong that I met in school. 

My friends also know her. They know that I'm trying to find a girl named Kim Minjeong. Chaeryeong was the reason why I found out about her since she's friends with Ryujin.

It's still not enough. I need a clue. I need something to happen so that I can believe that she's Minjeong, the kid who comforted me before. 

I was feeling stressed. I overthink a lot about her. My schoolworks and my responsibilities in the council didn't help either. 

I need her presence. I want to go back to the past and be with that kid again.

But I know I can't.

So I went to the convenience store, where everything started. 

I seldom buy anything here since I don't like snacks. I only come here because I'm waiting for Minjeong, and because of the ice cream.

Cookies and cream flavored.

She said before that Ice cream makes people happy. It does, it makes me happy.

But it's not because of the ice cream itself.

It's because of the person who introduced it to me. That everytime I took a bite of that drumstick, I would remember her comforting smile. I would remember how she made me smile. 

Even just remembering her makes me smile, like now. 

I shook my head and went out of my car. I'm not planning to buy an ice cream today. It's too cold. I'll just wait here, in case fate lets us meet together once again. 

I was about to walk inside the store when I saw someone.

Kim Minjeong, the mysterious girl in school, is inside the store. She's wearing a jacket, her short hair is tied up, and she's taking cans of pringles with her.

The pink one.

The pink pringles. 

At that moment, I just knew that fate heard my wish.

It decided to be kind and gave me this one big hint. 

I smiled. I smiled so wide that my cheeks started to hurt but I didn't care.

I finally saw her—no.

I finally knew that it was her.

Kim Minjeong and her favorite pink pringles.