written in the stars | yjw

02 | in a glimpse

CHAPTER TWO

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at the nearby local school, there was a decade-old library with a female student standing loosely on the building's facade, hardly waiting for someone who's about to come by at any moment.

the girl sits down at the corner of the open staircase and helped herself ease her feeble legs. she fixes everything what she could see, from skirt's pleats to the misaligned gold-plated nametag with her name in hangul embedded on it,

lee seoyoon.

it's her permanent identity, the one who often recognized as the shrinking violet anywhere around. she had never been too sociable, nor antisocial, she feels secured when she's with her specific friends, except for one person whom she brought closer to her comfort zone.

seoyoon waits patiently at the staircase and there's an enigmatic expression painted on her face as she looks aimlessly around the spacious view of her environment. but she couldn't see anyone approaching. the street was pretty empty even it's tuesday and the situation in front of her spiked her curiosity around.

"seoyoon!"

her head jerks at one side and sees a boy on its different school uniform running across her. seoyoon's negative expression lightens at the sight of the person she expects to see, standing up and dashes towards her lover whose arms extending away from his body, welcoming her to his arms.

"taehyun!"

taehyun's eyes glimmers at the sight of seoyoon approaching and calling his name from a distance. she abruptly wraps her arms as she touches him and buries her head in his chest, her body language speaks longing for his presence after not being together for three months.

he mirrors her tender movement, clasping her with an endearing hug that he wanted to do it for a long time. three months were kind of too much for them, distanced by homeworks and unpredicted circumstances. nevertheless, it would never be a hindrance for them to get along together.

"how long have you been here?" taehyun asks. seoyoon pulls herself away from him and purses her lips to form a halfhaearted smile.

"not too long." she says, heading back to the to the staircase to retrieve her backpack and approaches him, "shall we go now?"

taehyun takes seoyoon's umbrella that he bought for her and leads the way somewhere around the town. they've been doing this since highschool until seoyoon's first year in college. it's been almost two years since they all began; from a local summer camp back in the woods and found out that they were stargazing on the same cliff they rest themselves after a tiring, day-long activity. taehyun never knew that seoyoon will be her first love, as well as for her.

they stroll together on their way to town, unanimously deciding to eat together on a small book café that seoyoon loved. taehyun orders a pair of blueberry cheesecake slices and two milkshakes as when she sits nearer to the window while waiting for him. it's the perfect day when they are both free from academic stress, spending the favourable time with each other.

seoyoon shares everything what occured in her life for the past three months, same as it goes with taehyun. they talk, giggle, laugh on cracked jokes, and plan ahead of their vague future. although there's a minimal age gap between them, they remain stable and private since taehyun was highly known in their campus, unlike seoyoon; a low-keyed person. but that's what taehyun loves about seoyoon. despite of being reserved, she's everything he wanted.

the time runs to another hour and the couple decides to go on a park. taehyun didn't care if they were caught, he wanted to be with her in the meantime, because he knows it's gonna take a long time before they'll see each other again. he blocks the burning star with an umbrella while ambling on their way onto the park.

seoyoon walks normally, mixing their little moment with casual talks as they enter the garden park. she seems happy, especially when she finally met him after a long time. he holds her arms gently, to guide her along the occupied pavement intersecting the other pavement that leads to a mayor's hall.

her smile continues to stay for more than a minute as she talks to taehyun. but her mind is drifting anywhere. she looks everywhere what surrounds her, responding to her lover's response from time to time. her smile lingers until she sees someone unprecedented.

seoyoon would've been just surprised about recognizing someone she used to know despite of having bad a eyesight from staying up late reading novels and other literatures. she never used glasses nor contacts, she wanted to be natural somehow.

now, her decent smile fades from her creased face before taehyun could even notice. there was nothing except mixed emotions that defines her gaze afar from a distance. she sees someone, the person she expects the least,

jungwon.

they meet their gazes accidentally together, even his place was pretty elevated against her. he was sitting on a stool in front of a gazebo while an unidentified item rests in front of him. his pursed lips was almost forming a subtle smile as his hands touching the keyboard.

vague memories of him starts to run in her mind, too short but somewhat unforgettable. her mind works well at its best, not completely forgetting their enigmatic encounter for the first time in their existence.

she feels saudade of the way they were, but now it's not the time to let it all resurface at once.

that way, she feels violated.

of course, she belongs to someone else, and that's taehyun. seoyoon and jungwon's history wasn't that deep as they remember it, it's short and superficial. there's nothing beyond next. but what made it significant for them to remember those?

they were complete different persons before they met each other. and now, seeing jungwon across the park will be the best option for her to do.

"are you okay?" seoyoon's sense comes back as taehyun asks, averting jungwon's distanced stare. she looks down and shakes her head vigorously to rattle away the stacking thoughts about him.

"i'm fine." she weakly says, tugging taehyun's vest and sticks to him closer, "come on. let's go home after this."

"is there anything wrong?"

"no. i think i saw my brother." she says, rolling her eyes behind her closed eyelids for lying.

let's not forget, seoyoon and taehyun's relationship was unknown to her adamant and stern brother, heeseung. he hated the idea of seeing his younger sister wasting her youth for unfavourable, young love that he despised the most. also, he doesn't want seoyoon to bring any childish men in front of their porch while they are separated from their parents overseas.

taehyun brings her to a nearest shop to drop her off since seoyoon doesn't go with him towards her residence. she smiles and clasps him goodbye before departing from each other. he plants a kiss in her forehead just when she hugs him.

she walks herself to home but then her mind isn't adapting well to her inner peace. she seems, bothered upon seeing jungwon for the first time in years. the memories of them comes back to haunt her for the meantime. they weren't in a relationship before, but almost, almost - and that's when jungwon was nowhere to be found after.

antipathy overlaps nostalgia.

well, she couldn't blame him for breathing and living under the same sky. they met, and that's all it matters for now.