She opens her hazel eyes, their color glowing as the sun's rays fall upon them.
She brushes aside her medium-length, light brown hair.
She stands on the cold wooden floor with bare feet, rubbing her eyes in annoyance, heading towards the white curtains and closing them.
Then, she hears her friend's voice screaming, urging her to come and eat her food.
"Coming, coming, wait a little!"
She quickly heads to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face.
She changes out of her white, nightgown like clothes.
Into a dress in shades of yellowish-white, its fabric adorned with many violet flowers.
She styles her silky hair, tying the upper part with a piece of silk fabric to form a cute bow in the same color as the dress.
"Didn't I tell you to finish your breakfast?! How can you leave before finishing it?!"
"It's okay, Kenji, won't you serve me food at the shop later?"
"Yes, but..."
"Come on, we have to hurry, Uncle Baek will come to open the shop for customers!"
Kenji walks a few steps ahead of me. I see her opening the shop door, standing there in shock, motionless, and I can feel her anger rising.
"Kenji, what's happening?"
I say this sentence while standing and watching her.
"Move away, you're blocking my view."
I say to her calmly while standing beside her, looking at her. The other girl takes my hand, placing me behind her, making her body a wall in front of me.
Then Mr. Baek enters.
"Hello, my daughter, Bon. Hello, my daughter, Kenji."
Kenji says angrily,
"Sir, what is he doing here?"
She says this while pointing at the one sitting on the hard plastic chair in front of us, who is staring at Kenji with a strange look, smiling a smirk.
It's the same man with relatively long hair.
"Kenji, don't yell at him, he's a respectful young man who wanted to help this old man, which is me!"
Mr. Baek continues,
"He wanted to help me with some warehouse work!"
"No need now, I'm here, I'm the one who will help, there's no need for this respectable gentleman to be here!"
Kenji says this, grinding her teeth.
Mr. Baek says,
"No need, you and Seji will go arrange the shelves and clean the floor in the shop."
He says this, pointing at Seji, who was standing behind me.
I think he was late because he didn't wake up on time.
Seji smiles at me while ruffling my hair.
"Did you sleep well, my cute cat?"
"Yes, what about you, my squirrel?"
I say this, playing with his disheveled hair.
Mr. Baek shouts,
"Seji! ... Leave my little Bong-Bong and go to work!"
Kenji shouts, kicking Seji on his behind,
"If you play with my little one again, I'll break your hand!"
"You're right, my fiery one... she's my little one too!"
"Stop this and go to work!"
Mr. Baek yells at them, then comes towards me, patting my back.
"Bong-Yeon, can you go with Mr. Jon to help? The warehouse needs organizing and cleaning."
He says this, and I turn my gaze towards the one standing there, looking at me.
I had forgotten he was there!
"Then I'll take your silence as an agreement!"
He gives me the warehouse keys, pushing me gently towards the outside.
I stand in front of the warehouse door, trying to find the warehouse key among the other keys.
Meanwhile, the disheveled-haired man stands behind me, making me nervous.
I stand behind her, watching her body tremble slightly as she searches for the key among the other keys.
She then clears her throat and enters the warehouse.
It was a medium-sized warehouse, crammed with things, and some dust.
"I'll carry those things, and you can carry those items."
She points to me, heading towards one of the corners.
I take off my sleeveless shirt, and begin carrying those heavy boxes.
While I hear no sound from her, it's her habit, it's fine.
She didn't even look at me.
I sit on the ground, wearing my shirt again, which has become dirty with dust.
While I watch her clean those shelves.
She climbs the rusty ladder, cleaning the top shelf.
Well, everything here is old, even the area we live in is an old area, inhabited only by some elderly people and a small percentage of young people.
I stand up from my spot, heading towards her.
"Bong-Yeon, come down!"
I say this sharply while wiping my sweat.
She looks at me with her hazel eyes.
"Who? I mean, how do you know my name?"
"Didn't that old man call you by it!"
She nods to continue her work.
"Come down, I'll clean the top shelf!"
"No worries, sir, you're already tired, I'll clean it...!"
She doesn't finish her sentence as one of her feet slips.
I quickly catch her.
I look at her crumpled facial features, my eyes following hers.
"Damn it, your arm!"
"Sir, I'm fine, I just got scratched because of that nail sticking out of the ladder."
"You call this a scratch?!"
I shout this, tearing a piece from one of the clean cloths I brought, wrapping it around her arm.
Moments later, I hear that loud girl screaming, hitting the iron door hard.
"You scoundrel, what did you do to her, you immoral brute, you donkey?! Get away, or I'll kill you! Get away from her!!"
I look at the source of the sound, seeing her run towards me, kicking me.
While running towards the one looking at me and the other, she explains,
"Kenji, I'm really fine... he helped me, I almost fell from the top of the ladder, nothing happened to me, I'm fine."
She extends her hand to her, and the other takes it.
"Let's go back to the shop, I'll take care of the rest."
We walk towards the shop, with Mr. Jon walking behind us.
I can hear his angry breaths.
I enter the shop, and Seji quickly rushes towards me, holding my arm carefully.
"What happened to your arm?!"
I feel him pulling my arm, heading to one of the shop sections, grabbing gauze and disinfectant.
"Mr. Jon, I'm really fine, no need."
He glares at me sharply.
Kenji pulls my arm from him.
"Didn't I already warn you not to come near her or touch her! Don't you understand?!"
"What's happening? What's all this noise?!"
Mr. Baek hurries towards me, taking my arm from Kenji's hand.
"Leave her and go outside and fight. Not here!"
He shouts at them sharply.
He takes me to his side.
I grab him by his shirt fiercely, shaking him violently, making his body move back and forth.
"You crazy, Jon, you scoundrel, get away from her, or I'll kill you! I've told you repeatedly not to come near her or even think about her, don't you understand? Or are you deaf?!"
I shout at him intensely, pushing him while he glares at me sharply.
"And who are you to order me to stay away from her? I do what I want, and this doesn't concern you... You truly don't know who you're dealing with, so get out of my way, or I'll hurt you!"
His voice was sharp, filled with anger mixed with a latent threat, as if he carried a storm gathering in his chest.
"You're truly crazy, I won't let you get near her, you're a vile monster."
She challenged him with confidence not devoid of a disturbing tenderness, as if standing on the edge of pain and strength at once.
"I swear if I'm a monster, I'll be a monster in front of everyone but her! And you know this, so stop blocking my way, you've blocked it more than enough!"
He pushed me violently, moving me out of his way, leaving me behind him like a powerless shadow.
I won't leave her, even if I die. Then I'll haunt her like all the ghosts that don't sleep.