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Photo #3

"Yah, don't you remember me, the girl from the convenience store?"

I looked closer at the girl's face. Then it hit me.

She was the girl who found me at my worst state. Three years ago.

How can I ever forget this girl?

###

28 November 2015

I sat in a convenience store, seeking warmth and comfort from the bowl of ramyeon I had made in the cold winter night. At every careful bite not to scald my tongue, I puffed out the smoke, misting my browline glasses. Throughout the glass window, people were walking in a hurry to attend to their purposes whereas I had nothing better to do. I would just sit here every night for hours, watched these people passed by me and wondered if they ever thought of how some people in this world weren't even living. Some people, like me. A useless bag of scum who couldn't even pay to eat a proper meal, let alone contribute to this society. A coward who covered herself from the world behind her hoodies and roamed the streets everyday to kill time. I had dreams but I was tired. They were just dreams anyway.

What am I doing in this world?

"Hey, girl! You have to pay for that," I looked around the store lazily to see a buff looking guy standing a foot away from me. He was wearing a uniform, I assumed he was the worker in this convenience store.

I grinned at him, "How much?" In fact, I ran out of cash. I was poor and hungry. I could care less, I just wanted to eat ramyeon.

"1500 won," he barked.

I pretended to rummage into my pocket for some dollars under his fierce glare. I knew he was expecting me unable to fork out money just to allow himself an excuse to give me trouble. Well, I was going to grant him that. Finally, things were about to be different for today.

"Guess what? I don't have 1500 won," I smirked and before the worker could even grasp what I said, I took off in a sprint.

I ran aimlessly, knocking down some people along the way and turning a deaf ear to their curses. I was enjoying this adrenaline. I laughed loudly to myself. It felt so good to feel so alive again.

"Yah, stand there! You punk!" the worker was still chasing after me. I laughed at how funny he had made himself looked. This effort for a 1500 won? Plain stupid. Didn't he have better things to do, like arranging the snacks onto the aisle? I mean he had a job while I didn't.

It all happened too fast. Suddenly, I tripped and fell onto the ground. I gave up running and let the guy grabbed me by my black hoodie with zero sweat.

"Do you really think you can just run away? I'm taking you to the police, punk!" he shouted.

"Go on, I don't care," I flashed him another grin. My nonchalance got under his skin as he lifted a fist, about to smash on my face.

"Too bad, your face is pretty," he gritted his teeth.

"Hey dude, stop right there!" a loud bellow shook the both of us. It came from a young girl, who was just exiting another convenience store with a bag of stuffs. She was wearing a grey hoodie underneath a denim jacket. A black cap hid most of her short brown hair.

The guy realizing he was about to commit a crime, slowly lowered his fist and put me down. I collapsed to the ground again in a loud thud. 

The girl approached us and glared at the man, "What do you think you're doing?"