I went down the stairs feeling unlucky. I expected to have a good night, but that ship had sailed. Instead, it was ruined by someone whose name I didn't know. We never got to that part, and I was grateful for that. I pushed the door slightly and stepped outside. I turned to see the Alchemist's sign shining brightly. The sign flickered into different colours.
"Too bad," I whispered to myself. I liked the place. There weren't many people around. The man who was rude walked out, almost hitting me with the door. I stumbled back that I almost fell. But someone held me back from the embarrassment that would've come with the fall. The rude man scurried away immediately.
"Thank you."I said politely as I turned to see who helped me. He wore a white cap with a dark grey hoodie. It reminded me of the rooftop producer I had met at Aether. But I couldn't exactly have said, "Are you the Mr. Stranger producer guy from Aether." It would have been very rude and would be a huge coincidence. So I bended my head and murmured thank you repeatedly. I tried to steal a glance of him, but every time I did, he looked away. He didn't say anything. He just bent respectfully and headed to the entrance. I turned while I checked for cabs online. I moved my feet up and down. It was a small dance that I loved to do whenever I felt nervous or uncomfortable. I was nervous. I had to be. The cabs were busy, so it took a lot of time to get a ride. I felt more nervous and paranoid, the more the ride seemed further away from me. I tightened my hands against my jacket, hoping for the cab to come through earlier. I stared straight ahead and saw the rude man from earlier, lurk around. He was staring at me. I wondered if it was too late to head up the stairs and be a third wheel for Han Jisoo and April. I shrugged that idea from my mind. I hid my face under my coat for a second as I hoped that I would go unnoticed or my cab could pass by and I could leave. But neither happened. The rude man walked creepily towards where I stood. I felt adrenaline kick in as I prepared to run. I kept wondering where in hell Han Jisoo picked him up from and hoped that he would somehow miraculously get a ticket back there. He wasn't normal and sane. He had clearly said I wasn't his type. So I didn't understand why he was staring at me so begrudgingly and creepily. He then suddenly stopped and turned away as if scared by something or someone. I turned to see the cctv that was on top of the doorway that I hadn't noticed before, and below that was the capped man. For some unknown reason, I felt much safer with him standing there. In such cases, I would've run so fast, but I didn't want to. A part of me related him to the rooftop stranger, but what were the chances that he could be him? He played with a golden lighter by turning multiple times in his fingers, almost like how the stranger from Aether played with his cigarette. It was almost similar and familiar. It was the same, but I couldn't ask. What if I was wrong? Even if he was the stranger, considering how anonymous he preferred to be, he wouldn't have stepped a foot in the Alchemist Pub.
"Thank you. " I stammered. He flicked the lighter open, releasing a small flame that pierced the darkness. He slammed it shut, extinguishing the flame.
"Your uber. " He said, pointing at the car that had driven by and stopped before me, but i was too engulfed in my thoughts to notice it. I immediately checked my phone to check whether the number plate was the same. I nodded, but he had entered the pub already. I entered the car absentmindedly. The driver drove off, and we were on the highway. It then hit me. His voice. His voice was exactly the same as the producer's. I turned to see the pub but it was far beyond my reach. It was impossible to have seen it.
"Did you forget something?" The driver asked, making me recoil back abruptly.
"We can go back. But it will cost you. " The driver added.
"No. It's okay. I didn't leave anything." I confirmed. I thought the chances were slim, but I guessed wrong. My heart jumped. No way. It couldn't be him...Could it?It was surprising that I thought it wouldn't be his scenery. I had forgotten that when we first met, he smoked irresponsibly at Aether. I paid the taxi driver immediately we arrived and went straight to my apartment. I walked in and closed the door tightly behind me. I wasn't sure whether April would come home early, and I didn't expect her to. Contrary to what happened to me, I expected her to have a good time with Han Jisoo. I took out some snacks I had saved earlier and ate that. I was planning to laze around stress free and sleep the whole of Sunday, too.
April came back a bit later, but she didn't talk to me. I guessed she was feeling sort of bad and didn't know how to face me. I understood her. Maybe I just needed to give her time.
Sunday passed easily. Then came Monday, my least favourite day of the week. I walked into the office as usual. I greeted everyone before heading to my seating area. I could tell Han jisoo was acting awkwardly. He evaded my eyes when I greeted everyone. I saw him take some water from his bag and drank it. He debated whether to talk to me. He tapped the pen he held on his lips. I smiled as I sat down in my chair.
"Maria, about Saturday..." He then cleared his throat.
"It's not your fault. "I comforted.
"I'm ashamed."He said. "He is my neighbour. I don't know him well."He explained.
"Then it really isn't your fault. " I repeated. Before he could say something more, "It really isn't. " I said. "Don't worry about it. We are good." I comforted. After he heard tose words from me, he relaxed. I sighed as I opened my computer. I really had a lot to do today. Tests and code checks. Everything about saturday was long gone and forgotten when I started my work. I didn't bother to go for lunch. Lexy passed by for a small conversation, but she was also busy. She just wanted to let me know how Karaoke was fun and encouraged me to go next time. But I wasn't considering it. With that, and Mondays being Mondays, I went to the washroom and back to my seat. I was too focused to notice the time. Everyone had left the office but me. I sighed as I took the stairs to the rooftop, grabbing a cup of coffee from the kitchen and a snack bar that I always carry up there. Maybe I hoped to see the producer smoking up there. But he wasn't, and it made sense. He really didn't have to work nine to five if he was a producer. I sighed as I at my snack bar in peace as the night sky turned from a light shade of blue to a dark shade of blue with orange streaks across the sky to complete darkness. It was beautiful. I had always thought so. A few stars light up the night sky and seemed a few kilometres apart but were most likely a hundred light years apart. I decided to continue the rest of the work tomorrow. I felt exhausted. I massaged my legs a bit. That was the effect of sitting all day. I woke up and ambled towards the elevator that took me straight to the second floor. I didn't know, but somehow I kept checking behind me, I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching me. And when I turned my head, there was nothing. I called a cab and went straight home. I found an apology dinner made by yours truly, April Summers. She really was afraid of coming forward to talk to me after saturday. She must have felt really guilty. I wanted to go to her room, but I could see she had turned her lights off. She had probably bought this dinner because April Summers couldn't cook. She was the worst cook, but it was the thought that counted. I took a sniff of the rice noodles she ordered with beef stew. It was nicely cooked and left at the right temperature. I really didn't need to warm it, and I was grateful for that. I went to my room, washed up, and went straight to bed. My last thought was that I had to talk to April soon.
The next day came and I was almost late for work. I couldn't even pass by to get some coffee from Starbucks Korea. I walked into the office finding that I wasn't the only one who was slightly late. But there was some traffic, so it made a lot of sense. But half my team hadn't shown up. And other teams too; also, Alexis hadn't shown up.
I sat down as I tried to finish the pending work i had left the previous day. I suddenly heard a call and directed it to my phone.
"The WiFi is not working." That voice again. I was surprised. I thought he worked only the evenings.
"Let me restart it. " I said. I was about to thank him for the other night, but he hanged up in a rush. I walked towards the networking room and restarted the router. I checked my phone in the process, but it wasn't working either. I heard footsteps coming and thought it was someone from the networking team. I sighed gratefully. I had crouched down next to the router to check whether the wires were connected properly. The footsteps outside the networking room were slow and steady. I heard the last few steps and figured they stood outside the door of the networking room.
"You are here. " I said almost excitedly. "At least you can fix it. " I stated.
"I'm just checking on the progress." I stopped my movements and turned my head around while still crouched down. There he was. His tall, lithe figure calmly leaned on the door frame. I could see his sharp jawline, although he had covered himself with a hoodie. Who was he? I wondered secretly as I turned back to the dusty router. Clearly, the networking team didn't care about cleanliness, and I was glad I wore a black shirt instead of a white one.
"I'm not from the networking side." I replied.
"Clearly. " He said, and I could see his feet move as he leaned further onto the wall. He seemed relaxed as he waited for me to fix the network. Suddenly, I thought of the scenery up on the rooftop. He seemed just as cool as he did then. The only thing that was missing was a cigarette.
"Where is everybody?" He asked.
"Rush Hour. " I replied. " They are late. Somehow, today everybody is getting late." I explained in detail. I didn't want him to go to his superiors and report that I was the only one here. I didn't think he would do that, but you can never be too sure. But that meant I had to fix the router no matter what. I checked on the laptop that was situated on a small desk on my right. I knew I had to restart the router with some codes that I had learned in university. I used the software configuration booting skills to restart the router or rather reload it. The IPs looked fine. Therefore, I didn't need to call the service provider, and I was grateful for that. I didn't know Korean, and the service provider was Korean based. Therefore, it would've been hard to communicate. Even though I literally had a guy who could literally translate, I didn't want to bother him with that. I crouched in front of the router with the laptop. I was grateful for most of the departments in the IT section. Everything in terms of passwords was the same so that one of us could back up other teams if the other teams weren't around. I opened PuTTY. The network was still down, and I felt a headache forming as I tried to remember every single code. I quickly typed in the router IP address and connected via SSH. The screen flickered to life. I had to put the admin name, which was admin and the password. I clicked enter. I typed the command reload and pressed enter again. It asked me whether to proceed with reload, which I confirmed. The networking room was quiet for some time with only the hum of the servers that pierced the silence. Seconds later, the Internet came back on.
"For someone not from the networking department, you sure have skills. " He complimented. My heart pounded in my chest , and I almost jumped. I had completely forgotten that he was behind me.
"Was that a compliment?" I asked shyly.
" Maybe. " He sighed as I heard his iPhone ringtone for messages come in one by one. He must've talked to a lot of people, and I guessed those people to be girls. It had to be.
"Thanks. " He said as he walked away from me, his eyes focused on his phone. I then remembered to thank him about Saturday. I suddenly moved towards the door to check up on him. I could only see his back as he walked away further. I couldn't exactly call him by his name that I didn't know, and I didn't want to shout. His hood fell down his back, revealing his jet black hair. Some part of me deep down thought he had to be an idol, but after seeing his hair, I was convinced otherwise. I had suspected that he was Lee Taewon, but Lee Taewon had dyed his hair blonde. I knew it wasn't him. But I was curious. Maybe if I ran and caught up to him, I would unveil the mystery. But I also thought that everybody had their secrets. He would let me know when he wanted to. I just knew I found him interesting. He was rude and antisocial. What's so interesting about that?Yet, I couldn't help it. He dashed into the elevators. I walked towards my seat. I saw the floors of the elevator that he had entered stop on the fifth floor. I smiled unwillingly. So he was indeed a producer. At least the mystery of whether he worked there had been solved. Maybe he was just the kind who found it cool to be introverted, and it worked for him. I concentrated on my work. As time passed by, my section started filling up with more people. All of them had experienced the same traffic. Lunch time finally arrived, and I was eager to go and get a coffee. I took the same path towards the balcony with my coffee and sat at the edge. Alexis joined me.
"This is a first. " Lexy said. She was right. I never came up here during lunchtime. I was either too busy to or I felt uncomfortable. Sometimes, some people would like to ask questions about my hair, which was about two years ago when I started working at Aether. I never wanted to answer that question, so I stopped going to the rooftop during lunchtime altogether.
"I had no choice. " I said as I stared down at my coffee.
"Rush Hour, huh? " She asked as Han Jisoo came and joined us almost immediately.
"This is a first. " Han jisoo said, looking at me. Lexy and I looked at each other and laughed. Han Jisoo was confused as he took out his lunch.
"She just told me the exact same thing. " I replied. "Oh," he mouthed as he took a bit of his homemade lunch.
"Want a bite? " He asked both of us, and we shook our heads. I wasn't that hungry, just a bit tired. He continued eating as I finished my coffee.
"You guys finish. " I said as I threw the disposable coffee cup into a litter bin and walked out, getting back to work. I was determined to finish earlier than everybody else and leave, but things didn't work out for me. The code was working fine, but I had encountered an error that I couldn't solve no matter what I did. I was so engrossed that I hadn't noticed the time again. It was making me a bit aggressive. I took a break the moment I wanted to hit my computer. I jumped into the elevator and pressed the rooftop button. It was my comfort place. I walked slowly as the cool air comforted me by teasing my hands coldly. I reached the balcony and placed my hands on the railing. I sighed loudly. If it wasn't for my experience in technology, I would have sworn, I would have screamed the whole building down. It was frustrating when the code refused to work, but sometimes it was also a reminder that I needed a break. The break would have helped me to look at things at a different angle.
"You must really like this place." That voice again. That deep, raspy voice had become in tune with my body. It sent shivers down my spine. I wouldn't be able to forget it if I tried. I turned, and he was right behind me. He had a golden lighter on his hand. He clicked it open, revealing a small flame, then snapped it shut. The same way he did, outside the pub. It was him.
"It's refreshing. " I replied as I turned away from him to look at the night sky and the city lights looming below us. It was beautiful. I breathed in deeply.
"Thank you. " I finally thanked him.
"For what? " He asked.
" For saving me, " I paused for a few seconds as I thought about saturday, "On Saturday. "I had met a whole lot of crazy on that day, but he was there for me unexpectedly, and I appreciated it. I wondered if he was the karma that attacked the rude man, but I couldn't make sense of it. A person couldn't be at two places all at once.
"How will you thank me?" He bluntantly asked. His voice was a bit deeper than usual. I laughed nervously.
"What do you want? " I asked.
"Can you afford it? " He questioned almost amused.
"If it's reasonable." I curtly answered.
"What is reasonable? " He teased.
"I don't know, " I gave up as I tapped onto the railings.
"That's wrong. " He replied, his voice a bit deeper.
"What is? " I asked, amused.
"How about an I owe you? " He asked. I smiled.
"That's like a devil's deal. " I stated. "I'm Christian. Things like that scare me. " I explained. He chuckled.
"Well, you can rest assured. " He paused, making me feel intense feelings that I couldn't quite place. " I'm human. " He said seriously. It almost seemed like a whisper only for me to hear.
"How can I owe someone whose name I don't know?" I asked as I turned.
"Whose face is hidden? " I added another question this time trying to steal a glance. But I failed. I sighed, turning back to look at the city below me.
"I could fabricate a name, you know. " He replied seriously.
"What about your face? " I asked. You couldn't possibly fabricate your face.
"Not yet." He replied as he opened the lighter, the clicking sound cutting through the darkness.
"When? " I asked.
"It could be today. " He said. "It could be tomorrow."
"Why not now?"I asked.
"You wouldn't believe it. " He said almost to himself.
"Don't you like mystery?"He asked.
"Not really. " I replied.
"Does it matter what I look like?" He asked, his voice deeping into something unreadable.
"No, it doesn't. I should at least know who I am talking to. "I replied. I felt something movement from behind me.
"It makes sense. " He said.
"You work overtime all the time?" He asked.
"Sort of. " I replied. " I was supposed to finish earlier today, but I got met with an error." I replied, my eyes staring down at the city lights.
" An error?" He asked.
" I would call it a headache. " I responded. He chuckled loudly, making me turn once more. I stumbled and tightly held on to the railing. I could feel the air rush through my lungs and my heart beating in my chest, loud and fast. I swallowed slowly. He had removed his hood and cap. I couldn't believe it. Sharp jaw. Perfect pointed nose. Hazel almond shaped eyes that gleamed under the moonlight. Pink colored lips. Nothing had prepared me for this. The moon cast a shadow upon his face. His hair parted in the middle, which he ramaged through with his hand. It was him.