At the end of the day, Sari and Soohoon managed to enjoy each other's company despite the serious conversation that went on. Even so, she felt as if she was able to get closer to him and realized that they were connected somehow. No matter how tragic the connection turned out to be.
"I hope we don't get to meet by chance again next time," Soohoon said, making Sari face him with a confused expression. But he only smiled and continued walking.
"It's not like we asked to be busy with our daily lives and our jobs, you know. But yes, I do hope it won't be by chance next time..."
Her voice trailed off. She didn't want to sound too gloomy or too enthusiastic about her plans. The professor must have sensed something else in her thoughts since his face lit up.
"What are you thinking?" He suddenly stopped mid stride and looked at her. She took a step back.
"Nothing much!" she answered.
"I can tell your mind is thinking of something more."
"I don't think you have to know for now, Professor."
Both of them smiled soon after that and she shook her head. Soohoon combed his hair with his hand. He really seemed to be enjoying this time with her... But then why did she keep having these weird feelings whenever their eyes met? Was it just because he looked so handsome?
No. It couldn't be true. There has to be something more to that. Something that wasn't related to their work...
Sari sighed and started walking again. She hoped he wouldn't ask any more questions. Or worse, that he would notice something wrong with her. Maybe he would think she was crazy.
Maybe she was crazy.
She didn't dare look at him.
It soon came to her that they had walked all the way to the nearby bus stop. Sari looked at the professor at the side of her eyes and saw him looking on the other side of the road. That concentrated look on his face was something else ㅡ enough for her heart to pound loudly once again, along with the urge inside her to hold him and never let him go.
Her eyes widened at that sudden rush of thought. 'Where did that thought come from?'
"Are you okay?" Soohoon asked, snapping her back to reality. He gave her an apologetic smile. "Did I say something strange earlier?"
She tried hard to control her breathing before answering.
"No. Sorry. A sudden thought just surprised me a little."
"Is there anything troubling you right now?"
His question made her stop. She could tell him the truth, right? But anything about the truth was never easy and she was aware of that. So she shook her head.
"Not really. But... I guess some stuff just keeps crossing my mind, that's all."
He nodded and looked down. They stood there quietly, until some passengers got on the bus that just arrived and the doors shut in front of them. Then again, they weren't even in a hurry to go home.
Or at least for her, it felt that way.
Soohoon suddenly raised his head and looked behind her. She followed his gaze and spotted a group of girls standing outside the convenience store and watching them closely. They whispered among themselves, pointing in between the two. One of them giggled while her friends kept staring at them with huge but conspiratory smiles.
Sari’s eyes narrowed as she tried to recall where she could have seen them.
"They're from Gangbeodeul University, right?"
"Yes. And I don't like the look on their faces as they look at us." She knew she couldn't keep her annoyance at the sight.
"I'll let my sister know to watch out for them. Who knows what kind of trouble they could cause to you." The professor reached into one pocket of his baggy jacket and pulled out a phone. Sari wondered what kind of information he needed to send to his sister in a message, but she didn't have to wonder anymore when he sent a quick text.
The professor was soon done texting on his phone and put it back into the bag.
"You should probably go home now. You've been out for a long time today."
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"And I'm sorry for keeping you here."
"Don't worry about it. I enjoyed myself. And I got to know you at least a little because of what you told me. I'm glad I got to do this with you."
"Me too."
They both smiled at each other.
"Well, I guess I'll see you around."
She nodded and gave a small bow before Soohoon got into the bus heading to the route where his apartment was. Her gaze fell on his departing figure.
Was he smiling right now or merely looking at her through the glass window?
The last thing she saw before turning around herself was Soohoon waving his hand at her. She waved back without really knowing what it meant.
She wasn't sure if the gesture was appropriate since they were still strangers to each other. Strangers, as they don't really see each other as often as people in the getting to know stage would do.
But for some reason, she didn't care. At least at the moment. She only wanted to spend another evening with him ㅡ and perhaps even longer than that.
"Now that's a strange feeling." She chuckled bitterly at that. 'Why would I think like that?'
xxxxxx
When Sari reached home, it was already night time. But she didn't mind as she was already used to it. What she wasn't used to was seeing a package in front of her doorstep, placed inside the door's mailbox that rarely even received anything.
Not that she was complaining. But even so, it was unexpected.
'I wonder who it's from, though.' She took it from the mailbox and soon entered the apartment.
She did a few more routines ㅡ turning the lights on, putting the already prepared and ready-to-heat meal in the microwave oven, changing her clothes to that of an oversize shirt and pajamas ㅡ before she paid attention to the package she got.
It was wrapped in a brown paper with only her name and address written. The handwriting was unfamiliar and the content seemed to be quite heavy.
With a sigh, Sarina started ripping the brown wrapping paper. She frowned, however, at the sight of a green expanding envelope with a garter. Even with the presence of that garter, the envelope itself was taped.
"Now this is a lot of tape to use just to keep this safe," she commented and inspected it and didn't find anything out of the ordinary.
But to be honest, she was tired and all she wanted to do at the moment was to eat and sleep so she wouldn't have anything to worry about the next day before she headed to work.
Maybe she could bring the envelope and open it while she was in Professor Geunhee's office during her break time.
Sari went to the kitchen and started preparing her microwaved dinner on a proper plate, still thinking about what could be contained in that envelope. She felt that something else might be there if she really opened it up but she couldn't remember any details about what that would entail.
But at the moment, her hungry stomach mattered the most ㅡ as funny and childish as it sounded.
xxxxxx
"You know, I can't believe how fate works sometimes."
Sari could only roll her eyes upon hearing Riyoung's comment when she told her and the others about what happened the other day. They were in the cafeteria together for their lunch break.
"You're seriously calling that fate?"
"Of course!" Riyoung exclaimed and squealed almost inaudibly. "What else would you call it? Just when we were about to give up for not having a chance to talk to the professor, something would happen and before we knew it, he and Sari ended up actually meeting again."
She clapped her hands happily.
Seoha and Sejin exchanged looks among themselves. While Sari sighed and continued eating silently.
"You're being too dramatic, Riyoung. You know that?" Seoha commented.
"Dramatic or not, at least something happened. And if I'm looking at Sari’s expression..." Riyoung paused and looked at Sari. "You found out some things about him and those sketches, huh?"
She nodded and faced her friends who were now looking at her. As soon as she took a deep breath, she began telling them the details that she found out from Soohoon.
Of course, she did it without actually mentioning the professor's name. She recalled the girls who saw her and the professor at the bus stop that day. For some reason, she doesn't feel good about it at all.
She didn't hesitate to mention that to her friends, as well.
"For something similar to occur to both of you when you were younger, I don't know what to make of it, to be honest," Sejin started after a few moments of silence.
Sari sighed. "Even I couldn't think properly when I first realized the similarity. But the visions about his past lives mostly started with those items. And he said that it was one reason why those items were the firsts that he managed to draw back then. They kept appearing in his mind, and so each time he would draw them, they became more detailed."
"That's freaky, if you ask me," Riyoung soon commented. "But very smart of him to draw them for reference's sake."
"Did he mention anything about anything that he'd sketched recently?" Seoha asked this time.
Sari shook her head with a frown. "Not really. It didn't come to mind, so I never asked him anything along those lines. Why did you ask?"
"Well, you said that each time he would have those visions, the images he'd sketched become clearer, right? Maybe he'd come to draw the people in his dreams, as well. Who knows?"
She remained quiet for several moments before facing the others. "I guess I shouldn't be asking any questions about it for now. It might come in handy someday... but I think I'm going to wait for the time to come and ask him about it."
"Good idea," Sejin said with a nod. "We can't just barge him with questions about things that only the four of us would understand. Especially since it has something to do with Sari’s ability and the professor's past lives."
Sari shrugged.
"At least I'll be careful. He hasn't given me any signs that I've been giving him bad impressions yet either. Besides, I'd hate myself if we caused him more problems during this journey. It's already annoying enough dealing with them."
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