The man put his hands in the pockets of his pants and coolly looked at her. A tint of amusement revealed in his grey sharped-eyes. It wasn't dark inside the train station they were at, as there were lights throughout to brighten up the location. He could see the little woman before him clearly. Her amber eyes, although they were reddened from crying, were dazzling. They were clear; they showed complete sincerity, indicating that she was serious. It was a shame that he wasn't planning to fulfil her wish.
"Death is not something to joke around with."
Her smile fell. "I know."
"Then why are you doing this?" the man asked.
That question, Mavis only put a wry look at hearing it. He wasn't the only one who had asked her the question; she had been told by many people but she never had a proper answer as to why she was doing what she was doing. However, such a question could barely stop her from doing it.
"What other reason could it be but craving for death? I merely want to die."
She didn't know why, but this time she had given someone a long answer, albeit a lacking one. She would usually shrug carelessly and dodge the question. But, in some way, the man's expression had made her unable to completely avoid it.
The man found her answer somewhat funny. "If it is like that... Why me?"
Out of the blue, a chilled breeze swept past her, forcing her to shut her eyes. She instantly wrapped her arms around herself to warm up from the cold sensation she received from the wind. Opening her eyes, she looked straight at the man once again with a tint of sadness.
"They rejected me."
The man didn't know exactly what she meant by that, yet at the same time, he did. The little woman had done the same thing as what she was doing to him at the moment with other people before him. How many, he didn't know and by observing her action, he would doubtfully be able to find out about it in the future. Nevertheless, the fact that he was able to see her again couldn't be changed.
Noting his silence from the other side, Mavis mustered up her courage and spoke. "Killing me isn't bad. The police won't be able to find the culprit and you will still be a freeman. Nothing bad is going to happen to you. So, what do you say?"
She watched his lips gradually forming into a loose smile. As he stuck out the tip of his tongue, he swept it against his upper lip. Next, his smile grew wider and he threw two words out of his mouth. "No way."
Her body slightly jolted as she widened her eyes at his rejection. Her lips parted a bit. "Why?" With her soft voice, she asked him again, "Why won't you?"
The man nonchalantly replied, "Not interested."
"That's not a valid reason!" Mavis raised her voice.
Lightheartedly shrugging, the man shook his head. "That there, is none of my concern."
Mavis was downcast, she clenched her hands into fists and unclenched them. What the man had said, he was right; he was simply a stranger and an ordinary person. Just like most people, where would he have a good reason to kill a stranger like her? But it was better to ask than waiting in silence for someone to kill her. She could not keep persuading people like him to accomplish her goal when killing is a crime. After all, she wanted a person who was willing to end her. If asking didn't work, then maybe she wasn't destined to die in that way.
"Alright," she finally said. "No is no. Then, I'll be going now. It was nice knowing you, Mr. Hyun."
She turned around to walk towards a bench to sit and wait for the next train that would arrive in the next five hours. Although it was cold in the station, she had to bear with it as she refused to take the taxi. She had no problem with waiting or being alone. Besides, she could sit and play mobile games while waiting.
Once she took a seat on the bench, she looked at the direction where the man stood but she didn't see his figure anywhere. Retracting her eyes to her lap, she pulled out her smartphone from her pocket in front of her and unlocked it.
As she played a game, she was taken aback by the abrupt warm touch against her cheek. She froze for a brief moment before she looked at the side where she felt it. There, she saw the man holding two takeaway cups. He had reached out one of the cups to her cheek. Mavis thought he had left for good and not expecting for him to come back, she wore a puzzled expression.
She looked at the cup and asked him with an uncertain tone, "This is?"
"Take it. It's for you." The man handed over the cup to her. Seeing her taking the cup, the man took a seat beside her, leaving Mavis even more puzzled.
"Are you not going home, Mr. Hyun?"
"I am." He took a sip out of his cup before he added, "Just like you, I missed the train."
Mavis let out an understanding sound. The silence quickly engulfed the atmosphere, they wordlessly sat on the bench. Looking at the cup she was holding with both of her hands, she lifted it against her lips and sipped the content inside. Feeling the familiar sweetness flowing inside her mouth, she was taken aback because what she drank was hot chocolate. The drink was bought at a convenience store similar to 7-Eleven, but it was still hot chocolate that she wasn't able to drink earlier. She carried on with drinking and no longer felt as cold. This little action of hers was noticed by the man beside her.
"No hesitation. Aren't you afraid I did something to the drink?"
Swallowing the creamy, smooth liquid, Mavis raised her head to look at him. "Not at all." She began to unconsciously dangle her legs that did not reach to the ground. "In fact, I would be elated if you poisoned me."
"A pity for you," He scratched his cheek with his index finger, "I didn't."
"It truly is a pity."
The man didn't speak so Mavis stayed quiet. In honesty, she was glad that he didn't continue to talk to her. Otherwise, she would feel tired to continue talking and even feel more uncomfortable to keep having a conversation with a person she barely knew. Her stomach was churning, making her want to escape so she could be alone and get rid of the nervousness. Meanwhile, the man seemed more relaxed and unbothered with his unknown thoughts. Not sensing him making a move for a while, Mavis stole a glance at him.
As she did, he rose from the bench and swiftly stepped in front of her, having her body slightly jolt from his sudden movement. He towered over Mavis and looked down at her with an impassive face. His imposing body intimidated her and she slightly furrowed her brows at the current situation she was in. He was too close to her, and she didn't feel very restful about it.
Mavis cautiously asked, "What are you doing?"
No response from him. He simply kept looking at her with an intention she had no clue what it was. Mavis wasn't sure if she ever wanted to find out anyways.
The longer he kept silent, the more she became uneasy. Mavis couldn't help but wonder if he had any ear problems and was unable to hear her question. She was certain that it wasn't because of her voice being too low as she made sure to raise her voice enough for a person to be able to hear her. The further she thought about it, the more she was convinced that her reasoning sounded right—almost. Mavis quickly inwardly shook her head.
'It's obvious that he chose not to answer my question. Quite rude, actually.'
Mavis decided to ask him the same question again. Much to her relief, he answered her this time. Although it wasn't what she wanted to hear.
"Nothing. I changed my mind." He moved his eyes away from her before he threw her a question. "Want to enter a store or something with me? Waiting here for hours is not very appealing."
Pursing her lips, Mavis thought, 'What do you mean you changed your mind? This is absurd! At least tell me what you intended to do at first...'
"No thank you, I want to stay here."
The man raised a brow, glancing at her now shaky hands. "You're freezing. You will catch a cold if you stay."
She looked down because she knew he was right, she was cold; she would happily be inside a warm place, away from the coldness. So she nodded her head. "Okay, I'll go with you..."
Just like that, the two of them walked together to find a place to stay until it was time for them to take the train. Oddly enough, Mavis never thought that following a person she had just met was a mistake for her to do. And never was she going to think otherwise until later in the future, where things would change her life for the better or the worse.
"Oh, my stars!" A squeaky voice sounded out from behind a dumpster across the street from an arcade.
"For fuck's sake, could you be any louder?" Different from the squeaky voice from before, the voice was hoarse, as if a person with it had a cold.
"Oopsie-daisy!"
"... Tell me the reason why we are behind a stinky dumpster again?" The hoarse voice belonged to a lanky man that wore a pastel pink mouth mask. With heavy bags under his green eyes, his pale skin and his long black messy hair in a low ponytail, the man looked like a fragile, sick patient.
Crouching beside him was a rather short and chubby man with bushy eyebrows. His childlike voice and act contrasted sharply with his sense of fashion; he was clad in a fashionable grey coat with a black Homburg hat.
The two of them planned to go to the pharmacy to pick up some medicine however, on their way there, one of them dragged the other to hide behind the dumpster nearby.
"Don't be so grumpy, Isa," The chubby man shook his head dramatically. "let me tell you, I just saw that person entering the arcade!"
Hearing the last part, the lanky man, Isa, froze for a second. His eyes narrowed dangerously at the chubby man. "You better not trick me."
"Pu-pu," the chubby man pouted, feeling wronged. "I'm telling the truth, okay. That person was together with someone."
Isa shifted his eyes towards the arcade across the street, scanning the neon-glowing place with muffled game noises leaking out from the inside. "Why would that person enter such a place, though? I heard that the person doesn't like loud and crowded places."
"Pfft, Isa, you stupid? How should I know?" The chubby man looked at the other with an annoyed laughing face.
Taking a deep breath, the lanky man tried to control his urge to beat the chubby man up for making him seem like a total idiot. Being made fun of by someone like that weirdo? It strangely pissed him off more than needed. The chubby man watched the lanky man walking away from the hiding place, he shrugged with a smug on his face before he followed after him.
"Wow, wait for me, Isa-Isa!"
Not getting any response, he didn't stop. "Aren't we going to look for that person? If we don't, someone won't be happy if they know about this!"
"Keep your mouth shut, please."
Finally able to catch up to him, the chubby man tilted his head and asked, "What are you going to do, ah? We have to–"
"No need to fuss about it," the lanky man cut him off, "we will meet that person soon, anyways."
Confused about what he heard, the chubby man enquired but in the end, he got silenced and could only sulk.