Time to walk down memory lane
I tried rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand to wipe away the tears, and I also bit my lips tightly and squeezed my eyes shut. But none of these actions were enough to stop the tear ducts from flowing once they had burst.
“Don’t cry. Your pretty face will be ruined.”
Perhaps it was because his voice, his tone of voice, was so affectionate. He was the same, unnecessarily affectionate to someone he'd just met. Lee Jun was like this man... no, maybe even more affectionate than this man.
My face flushed, my breathing sobbing so hard I could barely breathe. It was thanks to Min Yoongi, who was working the same part-time job across from me, that I finally stopped crying. He quickly ran over and looked back and forth between me and the man, as if trying to grasp the situation. As soon as he saw the man's face, Min Yoongi furrowed his brow slightly. He, too, was reminded of someone like me.
Min Yoongi bowed his head to the man once to express his apology, then stood in front of me.
"Kim Yeo-ju, come to your senses. You can't be here like this."
“But, but… Lee Jun…”
“…There’s no way he’d be here, heroine. Right?”
Min Yoongi is right. Lee Joon can't be here. I know that better than anyone else, but even knowing that, I couldn't calm down. Min Yoongi, who knows Lee Joon and me better than anyone else, has a deep...He took a deep breath and exhaled, then sat me down on a nearby bench.
“Sit down and rest for a bit. I’ll take the pictures.”
As Min Yoongi pulled away from me, tears still streamed down my face. I covered my face with my hands, like a child who had lost his mother. The name "Lee Joon" kept lingering on my lips.
Just as my tears finally stopped and I was sniffling, I saw someone holding out a can of apple-flavored drink in front of me. My gaze, which had been directed towards my toes, gradually moved upwards and met the eyes of the person who had handed me the can.The man standing before me was the same man from earlier. The man who looked exactly like Lee Jun. The moment I saw him, tears welled up in my eyes again. These tears—there was definitely something hurting.
““You cried when you saw me earlier, didn’t you?”
The difference between Lee Jun and that man. He was quicker on the uptake than Lee Jun. Well… he started crying the moment he saw his face, so even if he wasn't conscious, he should have known. Instead of answering the man's question, a tear fell. As my tears fell, the man pressed an apple-flavored drink into my hand.
"I don't know the exact reason, but don't cry. It's prettier to laugh than to cry. You must be thirsty, so drink this too."
Laughing is prettier than crying… I don't know why those words are so sad. The Lee Jun who said those same words that day keeps flashing back to the man in front of me, and for some reason, tears well up in my eyes.
“Oh, I told you not to cry…”
"excuse me…!"
I unconsciously grabbed the man's hand. I felt like I'd regret it if I let him go. Without even realizing it, I grabbed him.
"… what's your name?"
“Jeon Jungkook. It’s Jeon Jungkook.”
He replied with a grin. The man's name wasn't Lee Joon, but Jeon Jungkook. Even as I engraved this in my head, I couldn't let go of his hand. Lee Joon… and Jeon Jungkook. This was the first time since Lee Joon left that someone other than Lee Joon had invaded my mind.
