Capítulo 12: Ordinary Things [3]
"What's about to happen in front of my house? Are you shooting a movie here?" Someone asked from behind, their voice impatient and demanding which jolted us apart in a jiffy.
I turned away, clearing the fake lump in my throat and patting my hair like it was messy.
"What's going on here?" The voice continued and I took a turn to see who it was.
An elderly woman with grocery bags wedged in her hands, she had a questioning look tattooed on her face and my guess was…
Hyun Min's mom?
Hyun Min rushed up to her pulling the bags out of her hands.
"H-How long have you been standing here for?" He stuttered, avoiding eye contact with her.
"Why does that seem to bother you? Is this how a gentleman should behave, Hyun Min? Is this how you've been fooling around with girls?" She continued, her tone rising a little bit, but I was all for a little scolding.
"Mom, what do you mean girls… it's Aera."
She stopped turning towards me sharply.
"It's you?" She inquired.
And all I did was give her a little bow while holding my hair stylishly so it wouldn't fall across my face.
"Good day…
Mother?
Ma?
What should I say next?
Before I could max up to a final resolve, she had interrupted me by pulling me into a warm hug.
"Is it really you Aera? I've always wanted to know who makes Hyun Min giggle like a hyena everytime he comes back from school. I'm so glad you're here, child."
"Mom!" Hyun Min sulked at how his mom had just revealed a secret.
I smiled.
It was definitely heartwarming to hear her say that.
We have you all surrounded, Hyun Min.
I looked at him and my smile deepened while I carefully gave his mom small scrubs on her back.
It was a lot more awkward than I thought it would be.
That moment was like a dolphin hugging a tilapia fish.
But…
She smelt nice.
And her hug was comforting.
She pulled me out of the hug and gave me the brightest smile.
Figures, Hyun Min got this from his mom.
It was bright and melting.
"You've not had lunch yet, right?" She inquired, rubbing my shoulders a little.
"Yes, I haven't." I softly replied hoping to give her the best of my soft side.
"Play around a little with Hyun Min, I will make something for you really quickly." She continued, her voice sounding genuinely motherly and comforting.
"No, you don't have to." I tried to reject the offer because it definitely doesn't feel entirely right to accept such.
Ignoring my words, she walked back to Hyun Min and slashed him a scolding look while she tried to collect the grocery bags from him.
"I will help you take it in." He frowned, seemingly not happy his little secret had been told to me.
°~°~°~°
"I'm sorry about earlier." Hyun Min said, breaking through the fog of silence that was smeared in between us.
"Did something happen?" I asked feigning ignorance.
"I mean… my sister pulling your hair and…" He paused as soon as he realized he was handling a hand description of that situation. "She's a brat, okay? Don't mind her too much." He continued with a nervous laugh.
"First impressions matter the most they say." I teased.
"I apologize on her behalf."
"Where are we going again?" I finally asked, not quite sure where the path we were walking on would lead us to.
"The last place of our adventure today."
Wait!...
There's more?
After leaving his house, we have played around on a bicycle at a park, blowed bubbles, got coupons for visiting a coffee shop, laughed a lot till our cheeks hurt so much, chewed on some cotton candy, played multiple games at the game mart, rode a rollercoaster, and also we took instant photos in an empty photo booth.
They were all so precious and ordinary.
Should I have lived this kind of life back then?
Should I have paid attention to ordinary things when I had all the time in the world to myself then?
Now… My motive for coming back to this life's phase is to make corrections.
Will I ever have that time to enjoy all these ordinary things to the fullest?
Will my choices help me change my future?
Holding my hands in his without notice, his subtle act jolted me out of the bus that conveyed me with my eons of thoughts.
"A round trip ticket for two, please." Hyun Min said to the ticket master.
"That will be 19,000 won." [13.68 dollars]
He paid for the tickets and it was issued to him immediately.
"Let's go." He turned holding my hand again and we walked towards a cable car.
After a ticket check at the delta point, we headed into the awaiting car and sat in it while the shutter door closed once we had settled in and the ride began.
"Where does this take us to?" I had asked, looking around for clues.
"Namsan tower."
"N Seoul Tower?"
"You've never been up here? Even in your last life?" Hyun Min asked, a little bit taken aback.
I shrugged, shaking my head.
"Not even once."
He sighed, seemingly not believing a girl as rich as I am could not make it to the most popular place of amusement in South Korea.
"I'm glad I'm the one who brings you here first." He said, clearing his throat.
"Uh?!" I panicked a little trying to process the intent behind his words.
And then, I looked away from him trying so much to avoid making eye contact with him.
Not at this moment.
We are all alone in the cable car…
And it was suddenly getting heated.
I clammed my hands over my legs and nervously sucked my lips in.
Probably noticing how nervous I was, Hyun Min smiled and the cable car came to a stop.
He got out of her car first and held his hand out for me to hold.
"I can get off alone though." I winced cutely, finally taking his hand.
After walking around the tower for a while, I was indeed mesmerized by how beautiful the center was. I could see the beautiful city of Seoul from afar and tall buildings that stretched across the canva.
It was beautiful.
Really beautiful.
I kept on watching this scenery that I didn't notice Hyun Min had left my side and when he came back, he was bearing a padlock in his palm.
"What's this?" I asked, unable to hide my smile.
Panting a little due to his urgency to get the item, he replied.
"In Paris, there's Pont des Arts…" He began to say still catching his breath but by bit.
"Uh?!" I smiled with an unbelieving scoff.
He continued, returning my smile.
"In Germany, there's the Hohenzollern Bridge and In Seoul, there's the N Seoul Tower… Do you know what they all have in common?"
"Love padlocks?" I replied, almost kicking a laughing bucket.
He nodded satisfied with my answer.
"But there's no river to toss the key into around here." I continued.
"Hmm… then you will keep the key with you."
How lovely.
Hyun Min is an ocean of comfort and happiness.
I smiled so much that my cheeks began to hurt.
"The little problem about this is that there's no engraver for our initials." He confessed, his smile drowning slowly.
"What's wrong with being different?" I shrugged, collecting the lock from him and turning around to etch a momentum into the railings. "We can always come back to engrave our names."
Perfect!
He gave me a little nod while a smile graced his beautiful face again.
And then…
It slowly died down again.
What could be wrong?
"Why did you bring me here today to do all these things?" I inquired, my tone suddenly taking firm seriousness.
"These things?" He returned feigning ignorance.
"I mean… riding a bicycle, eating ice cream, blowing bubbles, taking photos and all. Why…"
He made me jump into a stop-hole with his next words.
"Do they make your heart flutter?"
I was…
Oh…
I couldn't say a word.
Nothing was going to come outrightly from my mouth as a response.
I just stood there.
Staring at him like we were in a contest.
But not as rivals.
…
And then, he smiled, stroking his fingers through my hair.
It was nice.
"I just wanted to make you enjoy ordinary things in this life. I know you're a little overwhelmed with how things suddenly turned out after you got betrayed by your close family, and you coming back into your younger self is a lot to take in, but I wanted to take your mind off that for a minute… just for a minute." He confessed.
"Is that all?"
"The tables have started to turn in your house, right?" He asked.
"How do you know this?"
"You didn't go to school in a fancy car today, rather you took a crap bus." He smiled.
Was all this to keep my mind away from Areum?
Was all this to buy time for more fun?
To stay away from the ones who had hurt me once?
Oh, Hyun Min.
Are you a blessing to me?
Did we face the same fate death served us in our past lives just to cross paths in this new life?
Are you the blessing heaven brought me back here to meet?
Noticing my brief silence, Hyun Min pulled me to himself and embraced me in a warm hug.
I loved it.
And I would readily spend an eternity in his arms.
He softly patted my hair and I could cry with how comforting that moment was.
But…
Who is going to comfort him?
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