Chereads / Mari-am / Chapter 6 - Chapter-6

Chapter 6 - Chapter-6

Saeng returns to reality and visits the café as she wants to drink their cafe's special coffee, to which she has been habituated to.

She orders the special coffee at the reception table, and then U-ram comes to her and sits in front of her, and asks her with a friendly tone," How is your day until now? I heard that Yeong and you went together to your special spot, which you visit weekly once. I hope it was good, as Yeong is quite an adorable kid".

Saeng normally nods yes and tells him, " It was a good experience, I guess. Yeong is sweet and cheery just like Mi-Ok. I am sure, Mi-Ok's child will be cheery, and sweet like her and passionate like you".

U-ram's eyes soften at her answer, and he smiles warmly at her, and speaks, " You already saw our future. But, whatever, our future might be, we, the trio will be always together, and, you will be always special to us, no one will come between our trio. Right?".

Saeng replies with a neutral expression," Yes, we will be always together. Do you know, what Yeong did to come along with me" Then, she narrates the whole incident, and also showed him pictures that she took on her phone. U-ram listens to her with full focus on her story, and she looked same as the before for him and she will always remain a dear friend.

Then Mi-Ok joins them and extends her hand and presents a beautiful gift-wrapped medium-sized box in front of her.

Mi-Ok thanked her for being their cafe's regular customer, and also for supporting this cafe from the starting days.

Saeng accepts the gift and greets them with respect for the gift as she respects their dedication and ambition for their café from the beginning.

Then she shares her yesterday's incident with Mi- Ok too, as she shares everything with each of them as she feels habituated to tell them everything, except for sensitive private matters.

Both of them giggle loudly after listening to her and also tease her, still, the villain remains neutral but her face and body language looks more relaxed than the rest of the time.

Mi-Ok hugs her tightly but Saeng just pats her shoulder, which she has been taught by Mi-Ok only as she doesn't know much about these emotions and didn't feel emotion from birth.

Saeng puts the gift inside her bag, then wishes them a good day and goes back to her clinic via her scooter.

Saeng starts her work as soon as she opens her clinic because one by one people just came in with their pet patients. Today was a bit busy day for her as many people visited her clinic. She didn't eat her lunch as she was really busy today.

Saeng felt her stomach roaring, making hungry noises, she grabs out a baked snack packet from her handbag and munches it slowly with satisfaction, and her stomach was already calm right now. She observes that her clinic time will soon end as evening is starting to set in the sky.

Saeng relaxes for a while, and she steps out of her clinic to observe the sky. She notices that the road was silent and a little bit empty, which is strange as this place is always crowdy till nighttime. But, today, before the evening time, there were only a few people on the streets and around the shops.

Then after some time, one lady carrying a hamster in her hands walks up to her clinic.

Saeng then greets her with respect and welcomes her into the clinic.

Saeng checks the hamster carefully, and also listens to the lady, who is explaining the issue with the hamster, she then finds the cause of the issue and gives her some medicines to give to the hamster for a few weeks.

That lady genuinely asks about her tonight's plan.

Saeng then inquires her," Is today something special ?", to which that lady with a playful and innocent expression, informs her that today is 'Family Thanksgiving Day' in South Korea.

Saeng just hums and ignores the fact, and that lady suggests she close her clinic early and spend some time and eat dinner together with her family by either taking them to some restaurant or just simply eating dinner at home and enjoying tonight. Then, that lady along with her hamster walks away.

Saeng just hums again, she just blankly looks ahead and her black pupil becomes dark and intense yet dull.

Saeng rides her scooter and leaves it at the vehicle repair shop, as her scooter has some engine issues, the shop owner asks her to take her scooter after two days as there are other problems too in the scooter

She agrees and starts walking from there, passing through streets, and also bypassing the main local market.

Saeng while passing via Sky Road, stops at a convenience store, where she buys some grocery items, snacks, drinks, and some special food items.

She also noticed that most of the customers were family together and came to shop there.

Saeng noticed more families eating and laughing together at open restaurants and cafés.

And the street lights were decorated with tiny hanging lamp items, and wishing "Thanksgiving Day" banners are present at the entrance of most shops.

She also notices some people wearing Hanbok (traditional dress)walking in the streets.

Fireworks were blooming in the sky continuously, and the streets looked livelier and more beautiful today.

Saeng is indifferent to their expressions, and togetherness, she just feels nothing inside like a muted living being.

Saeng continues to walk, carrying those grocery bags in her hand.

While walking something catches her attention, and that is a park named " 행복의 정원 ( Garden of Happiness )". She walks in and sits on a bench.

Saeng checks her phone, the garden feels peaceful even though there are many people and noises around her. She admires the beautiful flowers hanging in the trees like a jewelry piece, and the cool breeze caresses her hair, making her feel relaxed and comfortable.

Then, she gazes back at her phone and notices 10 missed calls from an unknown number, she ignores it and clears the call history, and then she just gazes at the sunset scene and captures it in her mind.

She also observes children celebrating thanksgiving day by having a family picnic in the park and they also decorate their sitting place with beautiful decorations items like a small modern lantern-shaped lamp and tiny dolls around them and flower-shaped ribbons tied around the tree near them.

Those people looked happy and satisfied, which was obvious through their facial expressions and body language, and she doesn't understand what is this emotion but she has deeply learned about human psychology

After a few minutes, Saeng leaves the park and takes a bus to a place whose route is different from her home address.

Once she arrived, she steps out of the bus, and observes children in the park, enjoying themselves with their families.

Here, too the street is decorated with beautiful items, she continues to walk via the familiar street, turning left and right turns until she stops when she recognizes a house.

She is standing at a far distance, looking straight at an old yet well-conditioned house, the house is wide, and has a small garden at the entrance, the outer walls are painted with a warm orange color, and detailed traditional hanja letter carvings are present on the door.

She walks towards the house with an intense gaze and stands in front of the door.

Saeng leans her ear on the door, and then hears laughing sounds, and a sweet and delicious aroma of dishes coming out of the window near the door, she feels a little bit relaxed at hearing them sound happy without her

She then takes out a packaged special food item and a small gift from her grocery bag, and places both of the gifts on the mat, in front of the door. And, she turns around, slowly walking away from that house.

Suddenly, the door opens with a loud thud sound, the people living in that house come outside and see Saeng walking away from them, their eyes had a longing and sad glint in them.

They were a middle-aged married couple, who came out of that house. That middle-aged woman was going to shout out Saeng's name and invite her to their house, but that woman's husband stops her from calling Saeng back and tells her to leave her alone as she is happy alone without them.

That woman tears up and starts sobbing, then her husband consoles her, they turn back, then their gaze falls upon the ground, they notice a plastic-wrapped special cooked food item and two small gifts wrapped boxes beside it, they pick it up and went back inside the house and gives one glance outside before closing the door.

Then, that woman and her husband both get a message on their phone, when they both read the message, they are in shock, and that message was short and direct, and sent by Saeng.

And, the message was: "해피 추수 감사절, 엄마 ( Happy Thanksgiving Day, mom) ", and, " 행복한 추수 감사절, 아빠 ( Happy Thanksgiving Day, dad)".