I ran towards our room. I was very anxious.

129... 

130... 

I'm almost there... I've to pass just one more room. 

These mere seconds were like hours for me. 

When I reached there, I had another panic attack...

The door was open... 

Oh no

No, no, no, no, no... 

Isuel... 

My Iseul...

At this point, my eyes almost welled up due to fear of losing her. I can't lose her. 

No... Never

I rushed to open the door wide...

I couldn't spot her in the main hall. 

The welled-up tears started flowing out of my eyes.

But then... 

I heard some noises coming from the kitchen and I immediately rushed there.

When I entered the kitchen...

I found Iseul.

I found her there... safe and sound... standing in front of the fridge.

She saw me and called me as she asked,

"Where did you keep the butter Momma?" in her innocent voice.

My Iseul is safe. She is alright.

That is the only thing that matters now.

She asked me the whereabouts of butter again. But I couldn't focus much on her words, all I wanted was to make sure if she was really alright, make sure if she really was safe. 

I ran towards her and hugged her tight. All I said was, "You're safe... You're safe... You're really safe..." Only after a few moments and only after I continuously heard Isuel's voice asking me what was wrong and making sure she was fine, did I calm down.

"What's wrong momma?" She asked again.

"Nothing Isuel... I- I just-"

I thought I lost you.

...

"Iseul dear, did you-" I heard another voice walking towards us... Our neighbour, Mrs. Park. A sweet old lady who sells cakes. 

On seeing me, she asked, "Oh, Dayun... You've come? Can you please give me some butter, dear? I ran out of them." She requested.

"Oh... Yeah of course... Of course... I'll bring them." I quickly wiped the tears away and tried to sound as normal as possible. "Please wait a bit." I left to get her some butter.

~

~

~

After having our food, I and Iseul went to sleep. She was sleeping peacefully holding her stuffed toys covered in her Disney princess themed blanket.

I watched her sleep but I couldn't sleep at all. I checked hundreds of times, if not thousands, whether I had locked every door and window properly. 

I watched through the window to see if the guy was still around. I could spot none.

Was it really them? Or was I wrong? 

I desperately wished that it wasn't them and I was wrong. Or even if it was them, I wish he didn't see me. 

All the negative things that came to my mind during those moments when I thought something had happened to Iseul, didn't leave my mind yet. The mere thought of losing her rendered me lifeless.

In middle of such gloom-ridden night, I didn't know when sleep took over me or how I fell asleep. 

~

The next morning when I tried to wake Iseul up for school, she told me that she didn't have school that day. 

Her school's founder's father has died, she said... who I remember to be a very old man who seemed like he had lived a century. 

So, her school was mourning and declared holiday in tribute of all the hard-working fathers of the kids.

Tribute to father, huh?

A weird reason to declare a holiday. 

...

Actually... I always try my best to make Iseul not feel much sad about not having a father. And Iseul never complained much about it either. She had asked me about her father once, and I just said that her father was far... far away, and that we can't see him.

But some days, like Father's Day, I've seen Iseul getting sad about it. And I could do nothing... I've never felt more helpless. I'd feel like a useless mother who can't even give her daughter things she wants. 

"Momma, can I come to your office today?" She asked out of nowhere.

"My office?" I asked, surprised.

I gave it a thought.

Today I won't be that busy because most of our employees have left for canvas. I just have to visit the site with Insoo, nothing else. And I too am a little anxious to leave her out of my sight after what happened yesterday.

...

So, that's how I ended up taking Iseul to my work place. Surprisingly, the girl who never gets ready to school was perfectly ready to go to my office. She was excited for some reason. Good for her though.

I had to leave her with Jae-mi who was more than thrilled to accompany her. And after getting her to safe hands, I went to the said site that I had to visit with my boss.

~

~

"Woah, am I seeing things, or are you really here this early?" I heard Insoo exclaim as soon as he spotted me. 

"Your secretary knows to be punctual too............... Sir." I stated.

"Mm-hmm, that's a good thing." He smiled which felt more like a smirk.

"Why didn't the dealers come yet?" I asked him after looking around a bit, noticing that we were the only standing there.

"Because I asked them to come late, and I'm pretty sure you know." 

I remembered the phone conversation he had back in the store.

"Oh, yeah, right." I half whispered to myself. "You were complaining about me, weren't you?"

"No, I was just stating the routine." He didn't accept.

"But I didn't come late today, now, did I?" I smiled victoriously feeling proud.

"You usually come late." 

"But today, I wasn't late, was I?" 

"Yeah, yeah... Whatever..." He moved to check the neighbourhood. I laughed at that.

We walked around the place for sometimes checking and talking about how the show room was to be built. This is the 8th MoonTalks Mobiles Showroom that we're building in the city with over 70 stores across the country. And Moon Insoo being Moon Insoo puts it on himself to check everything beforehand. He doesn't feel satisfied if he hadn't checked it once himself. He often says that you have to keep your eyes open to everything and that a blind man would be fooled easily.

... 

He checked everything to his heart's content. It has been 45 minutes since we arrived and the dealers said they'll be here within five minutes. So, we just waited

"You go there often?" He asked me out of nowhere.

"What?" I wasn't sure what he was talking about.

What is he talking about? Where do I go often? A lot of work-related places came to my mind. But I don't go often 

to any of them.

"The store... Do you go there often?" He asked clearly.

Ohh...

"Oh... That store... No, I often shop at Megacity. I went there that day because I wanted to shop quick and it was only store in the neighbourhood."

"You live in that area?" He asked me a second question.

"Yeah, I don't know if you'd recognise the name but it's near the store, Seouler's apartment. That's where I live." I replied.

"Oh... there..." He said actually recognising the place.

...

"So..." I started. "You go there often?" For some reason, I didn't like the idea 

of this conversation ending. 

We usually never talk anything out of work, but this feels nice in an odd way.

"It's the only store that sells my favourite book, so, of course I'd go there."

"Book? What book?"

"Hmm... Not many people read that book but I love it, it talks about the life journey of a boy who was robbed off his opportunity to achieve his dreams. It's called...

'Light years apart'-"

"Light years apart-" We both said at the same time.

"You read that too?" He didn't see that coming. I could see it in his eyes.

"Yeah of course... It's my favourite! Do Min-gyu is awesome." I was surprised that someone liked that too. 

"Yes!" He was thrilled. "The season 10 is coming out soon too."

You know that nice feeling you feel when you meet someone who shares your same nerd interests. 

Our conversation grew and I told him about another amazing store that sells the copies even more early. He was excited to learn the whereabouts of the store. He looked kinda cute while talking about his favourite book. 

I have never imagined myself having a conversation like this with my boss. It felt oddly nice. I have no idea how 

long we talked.

But our talk was interrupted when we heard a car coming. It's the dealers, I guess.

And a minute later I heard the engine stop, two figures came out of the car. I stood up to approach them. 

Unfortunately, for me, I guess, it's a week where I'd fall every day - A falling week.

As a stone that skipped the sight of my eyes made me trip. I was amused at myself for successfully falling thrice in two days. I'm going straight to take classes on how to walk after this. 

I partially closed my eyes and got ready to face the pain of hitting the ground as I braced myself.

But...

A second passed.

And then, another...

And still, I haven't hit the ground.

...

...

Instead, I felt a pair of arms firmly holding my waist preventing me from hitting the ground.

And the next few moments felt straight out of a cringy romance novel as I slowly opened my eyes only to meet the eyes of the owner of those arms. 

"Be careful... Ro Dayun." He whispered, his voice growing deep with each pronounced letter. 

Shivers ran down my system and just like last time, this time too, his eyes captivated mine. There was something that his eyes held that prevented me from moving my gaze. Something that kept me captivated. And I once again felt the same sense of familiarity in them.

It seemed like he sensed something too, as I felt him trying to recognise my eyes while I tried to recognise his.

...

...

And of course, the dealers were there......... Unfortunately.

"Sir..." One of them called and we were back to our senses. He was the first to quickly move away and remove his arms that surrounded me.

*Coughs* 

I heard him cough the awkwardness away as I simply stood there not knowing what to do. 

It was one tough moment.

"Yeah..." I saw him walk towards them as if nothing happened.

It felt even more tough because I couldn't say the same about me.

I stood there suddenly forgetting to move my feet. And my skin burned like firewood where he held me. 

Even after a couple of minutes, I could 

still feel the warmth of his body and remembered how it made me feel that one thing, I've been yearning to feel............ - To feel safe. 

Thinking about how his arns strongly and securely wrapped me made my palms sweat and my heart raced again... Now, two times for the same man.

I don't have any good opinions about this new way my heart behaves around him......

...

...

'So, he was intentionally watching me fall all along when he could have easily caught me', I changed my thought, in an attempt to divert myself from thinking too deep into that moment.

After a couple of swift self-slaps, my feet quickly worked to catch up with them. 

~

~

~

But...

Little did Dayun know,

That, the feeling she experienced was in fact...

Mutual.

To be continued...