It was a typical afternoon in the bustling city.
Seoul’s streets were alive with people, each lost in thought, hurrying toward their own destinations.
From the depths of the subway, Sara emerged, her figure cutting through the crowd with a quiet determination.
The weight of her bag shifted slightly on her shoulder as she adjusted it with a swift motion, her stride purposeful, eyes fixed ahead, though a slight furrow of her brow betrayed the anticipation that simmered beneath her composed exterior.
The noise of the city seemed to fade slightly around her, as though she were in a bubble of her own creation, where time moved differently.
Meanwhile, just a few streets away, a taxi screeched to a halt at the curb.
Seon-woo threw open the door, paying the driver in a swift motion before stepping out with the same urgency that seemed to pulse through him.
His jacket was straightened with a quick flick of his wrist, his eyes scanning the street, already knowing where he was headed.
It was as if everything in the city had converged on this moment, on this single point in time when he would meet her.
As they made their way toward each other, the city around them began to blur, the faces of the hurried pedestrians no longer registering, the honking horns and the screeching tires nothing more than distant echoes.
Neither of them looked around, neither of them paused to take in the surroundings.
It was just the two of them, despite the throngs of people that filled the streets.
As they drew nearer, their eyes met.
A softening of their expressions, a hesitant smile that lingered.
The world, for just a fraction of a second, seemed to stop.
It was a simple moment.
Finally, they stood face to face, separated by mere inches, the noise of the city falling away as if the world had momentarily bowed to their meeting.
And in that silence, that pause between breaths, there was only the certainty that they were standing on the edge of something—an unknown inevitable connection.
‘I thought you wouldn’t come until the last minute,’ Seon-woo said, breaking the silence, his voice betraying the slight relief that washed over him.
Sara’s gaze softened, but only slightly, her lips curling into a playful smile.
‘Let me make two things clear to you, although we won’t see each other again,’ she said, her voice filled with a mischievous undertone.
‘Number one: I always pay my debts.
Number two: I am a person of my word.
I never promise anything I can’t keep.’ Seon-woo chuckled, the tension that had been knotted in his chest slowly unraveling.
‘Okay, I shouldn’t have doubted.’ he admitted, his gaze holding hers with something more than just curiosity.
Sara shifted her weight, her gaze narrowing as she teasingly studied him.
‘And now, tell me, what kind of concert are you taking me to at 5 in the afternoon?
A children’s concert, perhaps?’ She tilted her head with playful challenge.
‘I did say anything was okay, but I should have added ‘almost.” Seon-woo’s laugh was genuine.
‘The concert is at 9 p.m.,’ he explained.
‘I asked you to meet at five so we could take a walk around the city.
I assumed you did it these days, but—’ ‘But I haven’t done it with you!’ she interrupted, her words dancing in the air between them.
‘Exactly,’ Seon-woo said, his tone light.
‘Every time I think I have you figured out, you surprise me.
You’re mysterious about some things and direct about others.
Which one is the real Orange Juice?’ Their eyes locked, and in that shared moment, a quiet understanding passed between them—a tacit connection, a recognition that neither of them had anticipated, but both had unknowingly craved.
Sara, sensing the shift in the air, playfully changed the subject.
‘Come on,’ she said.
‘Show me your Seoul.
I just need to make a quick stop nearby to say goodbye to someone.
Do you mind?’ Seon-woo nodded, a spark of curiosity flickering in his eyes.
“Let’s go.” … When they entered Mario Café, a wave of dense and warm aromas embraced them.
Behind the counter, Mario, looked up and greeted them with enthusiasm.
‘Ciao, Mario!’ Sara called out warmly in Italian.
‘Ciao, bella!
Come stai?’ ‘Bene!
Mario, I brought you another true coffee lover.
Treat him well—he’s my friend.’ Mario nodded knowingly and turned to Seon-woo with his usual welcoming demeanor.
‘Would you like a coffee?’ ‘Yes, thank you,’ Seon-woo replied politely.
‘For me, an iced tea.
Both to go, please,’ Sara added before turning to Seon-woo.
‘I have to confess something to you…
I don’t like coffee.’ She whispered.
Seon-woo raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised.
‘You don’t like it?’ ‘I hate it.’ Shaking his head with mock disappointment, he sighed.
‘I knew you weren’t perfect…’ At that moment, Mario returned with their drinks, placing them on the counter with the reverence of someone offering more than just an object.
‘Here you are.’ Sara picked up her cup, hesitated briefly, then looked at Mario with a touch of nostalgia.
‘Mario, today is my last day here.
I came to say goodbye.’ Mario tilted his head slightly, wearing the expression of a man who had seen too many familiar faces leave.
In his native language, he asked with the gentleness of someone who already knows the answer: ‘Quando tornerai in Corea?’ ‘Non lo so, per ora non credo…’she answered with uncertainty.
‘Andrai in Italia?’ ‘Forse, se otteniamo un progetto con la mia azienda.
Vedremo…
Forse ci vedremo in Italia’.
Mario smiled gently, shaking his head.
‘Non credo.
La mia vita è già qui.
Ti aspetto a Seul!’ Seon-woo listened carefully, though he couldn’t understand their words.
However, hearing them mention Italy several times, he put the pieces together in his mind and assumed that Sara was leaving for Italy.
As they stepped out of the café, they were met by the lingering warmth of a summer slowly fading away.
‘Thank you for coming with me,’ Sara said softly.
‘Shall we continue our walk?
It’s one of the last nights of summer… We have to enjoy it.’ Seon-woo took a deep breath, gathering the courage he had been holding back.
The words slipped from his lips like a plea disguised as a joke: ‘Our first and last night…’ And then, without hesitation, he took her hand.
It was both hesitant and determined gesture, as if trying to capture something that was already slipping away.
Their fingers intertwined, and without a word, they began to walk.
… At the ceramic exhibition hall, each artwork gleamed under the spotlights, its delicate craftsmanship accentuated by the silence that filled the room.
Eu-Jin and Nari walked side by side, quietly observing the pieces.
‘So…Sara is leaving for Spain tomorrow,’ Eu-Jin murmured, his gaze lingering on a porcelain sculpture, its minimalist design almost mirroring his own demeanor.
Nari nodded.
‘That’s right.
Tonight, she had to say goodbye to a friend.’ ‘Ahh,’ he mused, turning slightly toward her.
‘so that’s why you called me… because you didn’t know who else to come with.’ ‘I could have come alone,’ she countered.
‘Or with someone else… But I thought you would appreciate this exhibition.
It’s very minimalist, and I think you appreciate essential things.’ She let the words hang in the air for a moment before adding, almost as an afterthought, ‘Like yourself.’ Eu-Jin tilted his head slightly.
‘What would I be like?
Essential…’ ‘You’re direct, decisive, you know what you want,’ she said thoughtfully.
‘Qualities I sometimes wish I had.’ He exhaled.
‘Sometimes, my decisiveness in relationships means I overlook details.
In my work, it’s the opposite—I analyze even the smallest details.
Being as thoughtful as you is not a bad thing.’ ‘It’s a challenge when indecision and fear hold me back from taking steps forward,’ Nari admitted quietly, as if she were confessing something to herself rather than to him.
Eu-Jin studied her in the dim light, as though reading the fine cracks in a piece of porcelain.
‘And yet, in your career, you’ve achieved significant milestones.
You’re a young professor at the university, and now you’re leading this exhibition project with Spanish artists.’ ‘Yes,’ she admitted, ‘I don’t have many difficulties there.’ He studied her for a moment before speaking again.
‘From what I’ve observed since I met you, you’re always available, generous… you’re very loyal to your friends.’ Eu-Jin hesitated only briefly before continuing.
‘I would like to become a good friend for you, like Yoo and Sang-in.
You’re someone who can be trusted.’ She stopped walking.
Her expression, usually so composed, wavered just slightly.
‘My friend?’ she repeated, as if testing how the word felt between them.
Eu-Jin nodded.
‘The friendship between your mother and mine lasted over thirty years… It would be wonderful if we could have the same.’ Nari turned her gaze back to the ceramics, her fingers trailing absently over the edge of a display case.
After a long moment, she let out a quiet breath and looked at him with a small, bittersweet smile.
‘You’re taking steps in the right direction,’ she said at last, ‘to be my friend.’ Nari wondered if she and Eu-jin had unknowingly crossed that invisible threshold—the point of no return in relationships, where the possibility of romance quietly dissolves into the familiarity of friendship.
That fleeting window of time after meeting someone you might be drawn to, where hesitation could decide of the path.
The potential for something more seemed replaced by an unspoken agreement that they were simply friends, two people who cared for each other.
Now, every lingering glance and almost-confession felt burdened by time, by the weight of what they had already become.
Her fear of disrupting their friendship became stronger than the possibility of something more.
… Sara and Seon-woo stood side by side, captivated by the performance, sharing brief, fleeting glances, enjoying the moment with the temporary, yet false, belief that they would have future concerts to attend together.
As the last notes faded, they stepped out onto the streets, where the cool air refreshed their bodies, still warm from the concert.
‘I’m starving,’ Sara declared, stretching her arms as if to shake off the weight of the evening.
‘Are we going to look for a place to eat?’ ‘I’m starving too,’ Seon-woo admitted, his gaze scanning the streets ahead.
‘You can choose anything you want,’ Sara added playfully, ‘as long as it’s not more than fifteen minutes away.
Otherwise, I might have to resort to eating your arm.’ Seon-woo clutched his arm dramatically.
‘How terrifying!
Confessing cannibalistic instincts on a first date?’ ‘As long as it stays a ‘first,’ I could confess worse things,’ she said with a teasing glint in her eye.
‘I don’t want to hear them,’ he said, covering his ears as he took an exaggerated step away.
Then, with a sudden burst of movement, he dashed forward, his laughter echoing against the quiet facades of the buildings.
Sara chased after him, her laughter ringing through the night.
‘In my other world, I am a witch… who eats…’ ‘No, no!’ Seon-woo cried out, dodging away, though his laughter betrayed his amusement.
Their laughter spilled into the quiet streets until they found themselves at a junction where two eateries beckoned.
To their left, the rich, savory scent of handmade ramyeon curled through the air.
To their right, the tempting sizzle of grilled meat filled the air with aromas that were impossible to ignore.
They stopped, their breaths mingling with the aromas around them.
‘What do you want?’ Seon-woo asked, tilting his head.
‘You choose… after all, you’re the one about to give up Korean food for some hidden reason…’ Sara eyed both restaurants with the deliberation of someone who knew that choosing meant sacrificing something.
‘Do we have to choose?’ her lips curling into a grin.
Seon-woo gave her a puzzled look.
‘What?
Do you want to go to both places?’ ‘Why not?’ she shrugged.
‘You love ramyeon, and this one looks handmade.
And for my last dinner in Korea, we should indulge in some meat, don’t you think?
It’s that simple… no need to choose.’ She eyed him teasingly.
‘Or are you like Cinderella, needing to be home, thin, and in bed by midnight?’ Seon-woo smirked.
‘Let’s do it!
I like it!
We have all night… maybe I won’t have to wait until I’m old to have a tummy.’ ‘That’s the spirit!’ she cheered, and without another word, they made their way toward the restaurants.