Chereads / Mari-am / Chapter 13 - Chapter- 13

Chapter 13 - Chapter- 13

The pet campaign continues for more than two days, and during those days, Saeng used to come and do her duty, she also gained a good number of customers due to her discipline and sincere work but also with the help of certain people who appreciate her and her work.

Within those days, Si-U seems to find reasons to stay with her and watch her work and try to analyze her.

Si-U appreciates her presence as she is the dearest friend to her sister, who was kind of a little lonely type during her childhood time despite having many friends and being a good girl still, her sister was always lonely at heart as she never had a real friend.

But after school years, at the time of college period she found a girl who is different and emotionless, never got angry or hurt her or used her instead she was like the support she always needed.

After that, her sister became more open, happy, and nicer and also found herself a boy through the help of Saeng.

He always heard her name being mentioned many times by Mi-Ok but he never got a chance to meet her as his sister told him that she is out of his understanding and she doesn't like to interact much on a personal level except quite a few.

That's why Si-U respected his sister's decision, so he never requested her to make him meet with her.

But now, he knew and has seen his sister's best friend, whom he has seen many times before and who has captured his attention every time.

So, Si-U made a thank you note, where he expressed his gratitude for being there for his sister.

And kept it secretly inside some kind of notebook placed on her table while everyone was busy eating during lunch break time.

After a few days, he can't stop thinking about Saeng and has some weird urge to meet her and know more about her.

So, on Thursday, Si-U was completing his assignments along with his friends in his room, his friends were busy writing and he had completed half of the assignment and felt thirsty.

So, he called her sister to bring them some juices to his room as he can't come out of his room because he feels a little tired. Her sister brings in a tray with glasses of juices for them.

Out of curiosity, suddenly Si-U asks Mi-OK, " Nuna, if you need my help in taking Wanja to the clinic for a check-up, then I can go instead of you". His sister denied it.

Then Si-U became lost in his thoughts, Kwang shrieked out of fear upon seeing a medium-sized spider climbing on the wall beside him.

Si-U recalls the moment when he also panicked out of fear of seeing an insect, and he crashed upon her and she held him, which brought us nearby, he saw her eyes widen in shock then he closed his eyes in fear and after few seconds, he caught a glimpse of her smile for few seconds and then sudden confusion fills in her eyes and then she became neutral.

Si-U was overwhelmed by her expressions and confused because of the description of Saeng given by her sister and his observations, she never shows any emotion and always has a neutral expression.

Suddenly he hears giggling and laughing sounds around him, then he retreats into reality and observes that his friends and his sister are laughing at something.

Si-U asks them the reason for laughing but none of them answered which irritated him a little and made him give up on his curiosity.

He resumed his assignment work and others have already finished, so they were busy talking with his sister in the hall room.

After completing the assignment, his friends and Si-U went outside for playing basketball in the basketball playground nearby their street.

At dinner time, Si-U came back with a sorry smile displayed to his sister when she opened the door.

Mi-Ok then questions him for what, then suddenly an old couple with angry expressions on their faces came forward and explained, " This boy was annoying our dear daughter, Ah-In(raccoon), our Ah-In was so scared of him, she injured herself while running away from him. Ms. Mi-OK, we are deeply hurt by your brother's immature act. Please tell your brother to stay away from our daughter".

Mi-Ok apologized to them on behalf of her brother, they forgive her but gave her brother a warning to stay away otherwise he will be punished next time.

U-ram scolded Si-U a lot but his sister interrupted him by tightly hugging him and being emotional for an unknown reason, which made her brother and her boyfriend confused and worried for her.

She then gives a reason by giving a summary of her childhood incident but not a full story. Si-U comforts his sister and also gets emotional in the meantime, then U-ram handles them with care and affection making them forget and shifting the mood into a lighter environment.

All of them share some past incidents, about which they never told each other.

After that, U-ram goes back to his apartment which is just a little far away from their house. Specifically more near Saeng's parent's house.

While walking towards his apartment, bypassing Saeng's parent's home, he noticed an old couple sitting in the park alone with a longing look in their eyes as if waiting for someone for a quite long time.

Then he observes them with a keen gaze and realizes that the old couple was Saeng's parents, who were waiting for their emotionless daughter, who never felt any emotion, not even for her parents.

U-ram then recalls something when he notices a flower has fallen a little away from his feet. He picks it up and caresses the soft petals and mumbles a name softly," Saeng-sacho" then looks at Saeng's parents, feeling sorry for them.

U-ram also feels a pain resurfacing in his heart, so he puts that flower in his pocket and rushes to his apartment.

After an hour, he is seen talking on the phone with Mi-Ok with a soft smile on his lips, then after a few minutes, his gaze fell upon the flower resting on the table, which he picked up while coming back to his apartment.

Then after the call ends, he is seen drinking a full glass of Soju (An alcoholic beverage) as he feels that pain resurfacing again whenever he stares for long at that flower.

Then a flashback memory unfolds in his head, which is related to Saeng and Mi-Ok, and only a blurred memory of the incident is replaying in his head with missing cut scenes.

Then U-ram slowly falls asleep withholding the Saeng-sacho flower in his hand but slowly his grip loses and the flower falls while adjusting himself in sleep, one of his legs slides down the sofa, crushing the flower, and when he wakes up, finds it torn and damaged.

U-ram then throws it out of the window and he feels a little relieved as he didn't want to recall those painful memories.

He then gets freshened up and leaves to reach his and Mi-Ok's café for work. U-ram and Mi-Ok reach their café at the same time and start their day with a warm cup of coffee and its aroma in their café.

U-ram tells Mi-OK, "Mi-OK, yesterday, I saw Saeng's parents sitting alone in the park and they were looking so sad and lonely. They had a longing look in their eyes. They miss their daughter a lot. But, your best friend doesn't care about them at all. I feel sorry for them, It is so difficult to be Saeng's parents, she always remains emotionless and causes emotional turbulence in others. I need to talk to Saeng, she should take care of them and appreciate that her parents love her so much even after her ignorant behavior".

Mi-Ok comments, "U-ram, I understand you. But Saeng is not emotionless, she is just neutral, there is a difference between being emotionless and neutral.

She does care for people, it is just that her way of expressing her care is like some encrypted code, which needs little attention to decrypt the code.

So, U-ram, don't worry, I am sure someday, she will learn to express herself more simply. She is the same as when we met her. Never changed. But I just hope she is happy and if not, then may happiness bless her and bring her closer to her parents. They love her a lot".

They hear some clapping sounds, they try to recognize the source and reason for clapping, they notice a famous Korean actress clapping for them along with some customers beside her, they were confused and excited at the same time to see a celebrity.

That actress along with her co-workers praises them for their warm and sweet service and for making the customers feel comfortable and safe and most important, for permitting them to shoot in their café for 5 days consistently, and the cafe needs to be closed to the public for 5 days. That actress gave them a small token of appreciation. After that, they took selfies with the crew and wished good luck for their film.

On the other hand, Si-U had become a frequent visitor to Saeng's clinic and for that, he requested his classmates to let him take their pets if any present to the clinic for a health check-up. His friends too help him in this act.

Saeng remained neutral upon Si-U's visits. But somewhere deep in her heart, she felt something weird which she tagged as some kind of sickness or illness.

That's why she attended a medical check-up appointment but didn't find anything in the result except the fact that her blood cell count increased to some extent. She ignored this weird feeling as some kind of deficit like her other deficits.

Si-U gets to know her more day by day by spending his leisure time in her clinic, having single-statement conversations with her, and observing her with adoration.

Saeng remains unbothered and uninterested in the frequent visits of Si-U, who asks her many questions but she answers them with straight and simple answers.

Saeng as her usual routine returns home after closing her clinic, she faces Yeong when she opened the door, and Yeong is smiling at her, she sighs then and asks him, " Yeong, what are you doing here? Did you do your homework? Do you need something?".

Yeong requests to play with him and wants to spend time with his teacher even after his request has been rejected many times, he still tries. But this time, Saeng lets Yeong in as she needs to give something to his mother.

Saeng gives him a gift of a knitting kit, as his mother is fond of knitting, and tells Yeong, " Yeong-a, give this to your mother, and inform her that this is like a payment for cooking and taking care of her sometimes whenever she is sick, and now everything is even between them".

Yeong asks her," What about me? Don't I deserve a gift as well? I also want a gift from my teacher" Saeng replies," For what reason, do I need to give a gift to you? If you want a gift, then do your best in practicing and learning music lessons well ".

Yeong looks at her with an innocent look but Saeng is unaffected by this, so, she just looks at him with a neutral expression and continues doing her remaining household chores.

Yeong then rushes out of her house, which Saeng noticed, and she closes the door.