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A BRAND NEW DAY
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Yi-Seo

Present Day

My palms holding tight onto the steering wheel of my car grow sweaty, succumbing to the grip of Seoul’s merciless heatwave as I drive the last few kilometers to reach the destination that I would be calling my home for the next five years, as per the rental agreement at least.

Silver Springs—the residential hub with a bizarre reputation in all of Seoul—is known specifically for its high-end security systems, unlike the other gated communities, and that is where I’m headed to.

The main gate which is situated about a kilometer away from the first row of houses requires a digitized plastic key card for authentication to enter. Failure to produce one means that entry will be denied, no matter who you are.

The security measures here are so tight that even food and other online order package deliveries are only handed over to the security office that’s adjacent to the main gate. However, despite its boast-worthy security system and almost perfect infrastructure and landscaping, Silver Springs is not a very famous housing destination among the popular public faces in Seoul. One of the main reasons for its unpopularity is the location of this gated community, which is not close to the bustling heart of the city.

But that is also precisely why I chose to find residence here—the distance from the hustle of city life is exactly what I need to detox and collect my life together and focus on what I want to do in life. Things haven’t been rosy lately.

The place was also originally a cemetery during the Korean War, and this could possibly be the other major reason why Silver Springs isn’t such a desired place to live in. But I absolutely don’t believe in silly and baseless things such as bad omen and unsatisfied evil spirits looking for revenge, and I usually try to do just the opposite of what others around me try to make me believe. Usually.

Besides, these odd reasons contribute to the rental rates at Silver Springs being considerably lesser than at other popular residential spots in Seoul, and that is another main reason I chose to find my residence here.

The stifling air around me is stagnant, and not a single leaf on any of the branches, in the forest of trees that line the driveway to the residential part of Silver Springs, is moving by even an inch. The humidity of the famed Korean summer is taking its toll on me and making my back sweat bullets, and my clothes are soaking up all the sweat and practically sticking to the seat of my car. The hot breeze blowing in through the rolled-down windows isn’t helping in any way, and the air-conditioning in my old car decided to die this morning, and, well, wow! What a great start to a new life!

After receiving a telephonic confirmation about my identity from my landlord, the suit-clad security person at the front gate hands me the magnetized plastic card—also known as the key card to my new home. The suit that he is wearing looks like a death sentence, and his face is so red that he looks about to explode from all the heat that is baking him under his heavy garments.

He also stuffs my hands with a huge spiral-bound booklet which I have been instructed to read through diligently. The booklet, apparently, lists out all the features within this gated community along with the rules and regulations for the community residents which include permissible noise limits and garbage collection rules among a multitude of other things.

Right now, all I want to do is to head home and get rid of my clothes and throw myself half-naked on my couch and sleep through the rest of the day. Reading the rules listed in this hideous looking book with laminated pages is not even the last thing that is on my to-do list.

The strip of immaculately clean road that I’m driving on is the only thing which separates the posh bungalows each having their own neat little garden on my left from the picturesque man-made lake on my right. These bungalows are quite obviously inhabited by the richest folks breathing and existing in the Silver Springs community.

Soon, my eyes locate my home which is straight ahead, located a few blocks down the road, and it is one out of the two smallest houses in the community—the other one being a similar looking home situated right next to it on its left side. The two houses look like a sad couple that’s standing in the middle of a small forest of neatly groomed juniper trees, and the funny mental picture of the houses as a couple brings a smile to my lips despite the discomfort stemming from the drenching of sweat on my body.

I park my car right in front of my home and turn off the ignition, shaking off the tingles mounting in my arms that have been clutching on to the steering for over an hour now. Rolling up my windows and grabbing my belongings, including the fat book that I was handed over a while ago, I step out of my car and head straight into my new home.

Right beside the doorframe of the front door, there is a state-of-the-art camera arrangement along with a voice message set-up which works bidirectionally. Silver Springs even has its own security app which allows us to remotely monitor the activity at our front door. I highly doubt the day will arrive when I would install that app and make use of it given how poor my association with technology has been.

Swiping the keycard over the sensor on the door, I’m greeted by a long beep sound after which I push open the door and step inside.

All my belongings have already been moved to my new home, and the place undoubtedly smells of stuffy cardboard, but that is the least of my concerns right now. Organizing can be done later because I own very little, and I also don’t have anything better to do later anyway.

I lock the front door, turn on the ceiling fan and head straight to my couch that’s placed in the middle of the living room while unbuttoning my shirt, eagerly awaiting liberation from my soaked clothes.

I take off my glasses and place them on the coffee table in the center. Sliding my arms out of the shirt, I roll it into a ball and discard it in a corner before I throw myself face down on my couch and close my eyes in bliss when the air from the ceiling fan grazes my sweaty back, and a sigh of relief, that sounds like a needy moan, falls from my lips.

“Aaahhh… This is Heaven,” I mumble to myself as I pull all my pitch-black hair up above my head and allow the cool breeze from the ceiling fan to kiss the back of my neck. I even contemplate taking off my bra and jeans, but somehow, I grow too lazy to do that and skip stripping naked.

I have no idea how many minutes pass by, after which I open my eyes because I couldn’t fall asleep even though that is what I originally planned to do. But the moment my eyes open up, I spot the huge ceiling-to-floor window that’s directly opposite to the couch that I’m lying on, and the worst part is that this window stands face-to-face with the same kind of window that’s situated in the exact same position of the house next door.

And, no, neither of the windows are covered with curtains.

Peering my eyes, I notice that there’s a couch in that house as well, and there’s someone sprawled out on the couch—a man, to be precise. But without my glasses, my eyesight is not good enough for me to find out if the person is asleep, or even worse if he’s awake and watching me lying here without my clothes on.

“Shit!” I curse under my breath when I realize that I could have probably given a free show to some creep who lives next door, and I can’t even move out of my spot without exposing more of myself because dramatic me rolled up my shirt and sling-shotted it to a far corner of the living room.

How the hell did I not notice this window when I came house-hunting?

Making a mental note to buy dense curtains to cover the entire expanse of this window, I crawl out of the couch while using my hands to save the remaining fragments of my dignity and run to fetch my shirt, sliding into it soon after. A long breath that I was seemingly holding in all this while finally leaves my lungs, after which my curiosity gets the better of me and guides my feet back to the large window.

I peep in, squinting as I press my face to the glass and discover that the shirtless man lying on the couch in the house next door is sleeping, or more like he has passed out on the couch in a fully drunk state. I open up the glass pane of my window and allow the hot air from outside to graze the interior of my house while I observe closely and see that the man’s hand that’s hanging limp out of the couch is loosely holding onto the neck of a bottle of alcohol. There are more bottles decorating the coffee table in front of the couch, along with a few glasses.

I consider wearing my glasses to get a clearer view, but just as I keep staring at him like a creep, his heavy-lidded eyes shoot open, making my eyes go wide, and my breath catches in my throat. He struggles to keep his eyes open, but despite the drawling movements of his eyelids, a crooked grin makes its way up his lips as he pushes his body up and brings the bottle to his lips, taking a swig out of it and harshly wiping his mouth with the back of his hand thereafter; all the while his eyes stay glued to my form, and it somehow makes my legs tremble.

Great! An alcoholic middle-aged creep as my next-door neighbor isn’t remotely close to what I expected here at Silver Springs.

Life only keeps moving from bad to worse, or sometimes for worse to less worse, and I guess with time we just have to learn to get used to all these curveballs.

⚜
Wishing Taehyung a very happy birthday!!
🤗🥰
Also, I can’t believe my baby, The Art Of Loving You, is a year old already!!
❤

Published on : 12/30/2022