Taehui, who was smiling brightly with her hand over her mouth,
immediately took a cigarette out of her pocket and put it between her lips
I couldn’t open the window, nor could I start the car,
and just froze there, staring at the two of them in their cozy harmony
If I started the car here,
it was obvious Taehui would leave right away
At the sight of Taehui’s smile, after so long,
for some reason, my heart ached in one corner
I blankly watched that eye-smile,
when the car door suddenly opened with a clunk,I startled and flinched
“Why aren’t you starting the car?”
“Wouldn’t that waste gas?”
Only after Taehui left did I start the car
Sunlight streaming in through the window
painted everything yellow
Again, I thought of the days I’d spent with that kid
I bit my lip tightly and, quiet enough that no one could hear,
let out a very small sigh
The sunset, falling on the road, as if it might touch it but not quite,
stung my eyes
“I’m going~”
“Oh, bye”
After Jaehyeong left,
I turned on the song I’d been humming to myself all day
I wondered if I should stop by the convenience store for a pudding to make do with for dinner,
or just buy a simple lunch box instead,
and pulled over in front of the convenience store
“Welcome~”
With a ding, the door opened
In the quiet convenience store, there were no voices at all,
and only the songs that are popular these days were playing
After hesitating for a moment with the pudding and lunch box in front of me,
I picked the only pudding left
On the way to the counter, I bumped hard into a small woman
“Oh, uh... sorry”
A familiar voice
The woman with her hood up
lifted her head and looked up at me
It was Taehui
She was holding a pile of snacks in her arms
Should I pretend to know her, or just pretend not to and walk past?
My frozen lips only gaped helplessly
“Long time no see. You used to avoid me all the time.”
“When did I ever?”
Caught off guard for a moment, rough words slipped out before I knew it
Taehui gave a mysterious little smile, then
dumped the snacks in her arms all over the counter
Until the barcode beeping stopped,
I stared blankly at that small back of hers
“That’ll be 14,700 won. Do you have points?”
“No, I don’t”
Below the short shorts, shorter even than my underwear,
her pale legs were exposed
I swallowed once,
then moved my gaze somewhere else
“Thank you, come again~”
The door closed, and a small bell rang
