ʟᴀᴄʜᴇꜱɪꜱᴍ • ᴊᴜɴɢ ᴊᴀᴇʜʏᴜɴ

Part 69

"Sebin!"

"Mom!" The girl called out, dropping her suitcase as she threw herself into her mother's arms.

"Aww my baby." Her mother exclaimed, engulfing her deeply.

"She's here?? No, I haven't finished dinner!" A man appeared in the hallway of the house.

"Dad." Sebin let go of her mother, just to be engulfed in an equally strong hug by her father.

"My little girl." He spoke lightly. "How was the way here?"

"Everything was okay, just some traffic on the highway but the bus ride was overall fine." Sebin explained, as her father nodded along whilst grabbing her suitcase.

"Hurry inside you two, it's cold out!" Her mother hurried them along, closing the door as they entered the familiar home.

It was very standard for that part of the country- it was a relatively large 2-story home with 4 bedrooms in total, with cold stone floors and a large chimney. Its style was something between traditional Korean and post-war building mechanics. Of course, behind the home was a rather big garden, that her mom used to cultivate most of their fruits and vegetables, depending on the season.

"Where's Sunghoon?" Sebin asked curiously as she put down her bag on one of the seats in the kitchen.

"He's probably going around with his friends again. That brat doesn't realize how important it is that you're back in town." Her mother scoffed.

"Oh, that's fine. Would you want me to go fetch him? I need some fresh air anyway, after all that time on that bus." Sebin explained, yet she didn't have to as her parents both smiled.

"Sure, dinner isn't gonna be done for another 45 minutes. You should go get him, I'm sure he'll be very happy." Her father said whilst stirring the broth in the massive pot.

"Alright, I'll be back in a bit." She beamed, turning around to put her shoes back on and leave the house.

The small town had barely changed whatsoever.

The uneven streets were narrow and tilted, the old houses looking like they had leaned to the side. The fresh breeze of the ocean could be felt even from Sebin's home, which brought back many beautiful memories of her time there. She walked in the shade, passing her old school, her old best-friends house, the old mini-market she used to go to and even the old alley way where weird kids smoked during high school. To her surprise, she was still used to the occasional dog suddenly beginning to bark at her from some random garden.

As she walked further into town, the ragged houses turned into larger buildings and more commercial-looking streets. To her surprise, there were even some new, larger buildings like an apartment complex where a park used to sit, and an around 5-story office buildings. This is when the townspeople began to appear, adults and children walking around and laughing. The cold weather didn't seem to bother them, actually the many kids ran around happily with snacks and balloons.

As she walked further, she ended up at the local market and the strong smell of fish hit her nose. Yet it only awakened good memories within her, and she continued walking in, looking at the huge amounts of people yelling for others to buy their stock.

As she was nearly on the other end of the market, she suddenly heard her name being called behind her. She turned, only to see a tall, handsome man standing there, and after narrowing her eyes at him, a light bulb sparked in her head.

"Chungho?"

"It really is you, Sebin!" Chungho exclaimed with a wide smile, striding over and stopping right in front of her. "Oh my god, I haven't seen you since high school!"

"Right." Sebin replied, slightly in awe at his new appearance.

Lee Chungho had been in the same class for the entirety of high school. They had been quite close- hanging out occasionally in and out of school considering that their mothers were close. Actually, the two had been coupled by the entirety of the school, and both had harboured feelings for each other, but had never really acted on them, and by the time that the two had realized their compatibility, Sebin had already left for Seoul.

But what surprised Sebin was Chunghos transformation. In high school he had been a class clown with a cute face but he hadn't had any particular attractive points. Now however, he had grown into a fine young man- he had somehow gotten taller, bulked up and instead of being the sweet and feisty boy that he once was he had turned into a fine young man.

Chungho noticed Sebin's surprised, smirking at it. "I've changed a lot haven't I?"

"Yeah-" She replied, slightly flustered by him having taken notice of her thoughts. "I just need a little time to process."

"I figured." Chungho laughed. "But you've changed a lot yourself. I guess it just comes with age, huh."

"Yeah, I guess." Sebin replied with a small, polite smile.

Despite their closeness in high school, the awkwardness between them was rather obvious. Was it the result of the time they spent apart? Or their previous attraction to each other?

"So, uhm." Chungho cleared his throat, eyes wavering slightly as he raised a hand to scratch the nape of his neck. "Since you're back in town after so long, how about dinner to catch up? My treat."

"Oh, I already have plans-" Sebin stated, and rushed to continue speaking after the spark of disappointment on his face. "But we can get dinner another day. I'm staying here for the holidays, so there should be plenty of time."

Her words seemed to have brightened him up again, and Chungho smiled. "I'm busy tomorrow, so how does the day after sound?"

"Sounds good." Sebin reciprocated his smile. "It'll be nice catching up after being away for a while."

"Yeah." Chungho replied shortly before looking back after someone called his name from the crowd. "I guess I got to go now. Meet me here at 6pm in two days, if that's fine with you."

"Perfectly fine." Sebin accepted, and he lit up once again.

"Okay, see you then!" He called out before turning around and speeding off, towards some unknown to Sebin man.

tbh cant wait till i finish this