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Yuta and I both sit at the bench in front of the lake. The lake that I was eager to see before. It is beautiful indeed, same like what I had imagined before. But now it just feels like a remnant of memory.
This is where I met you for the first time, Areum.
I snap from my thoughts when a woman that looks like in her 40s approach me and Yuta.
"Jung Jaehyun?" She asks uncertainly, looking back and forth between us.
"Are you Areum's mother? The one that called me yesterday?" Yuta asks her back.
"Yes. I'm Areum's mother."
"Hi aunty. Nice to meet you. I'm Yuta." Yuta introduces himself as he shakes hand with Areum's mother. I remain silent. I don't know what to do.
"Nice to meet you too Yuta. Then, you must be Jung Jaehyun. How are you, son? You looks so thin and pale." She asks me with soft tone.
I'm dumbfounded to see her kindness towards me. Yuta excuses himself, saying that he'll just wait in the car. Areum's mother just nod before sit besides me, occupying Yuta's previous spot.
I quickly avert my gaze to my shoes. Then, I feel her pat my shoulders, making me to look at her. "You still didn't answer me just now. How have you been?"
"Don't you hate me?" I don't mean to blurt out that question but it just simply slip out from my mouth. I notice that she's stunned with my bluntness but she quickly recover herself.
Her lips stretch into a smile. It such a sincere smile, a kind of smile a mother bestows on her child when they are curious about something. I falter. And I don't know why but her smile warms my heavy heart.
