SCENE VII.
HELIOCENTRIC THEORY
the sun in the form of man.

JUST LIKE that, everything about that night was sickening.

︎ ︎When he was of short breath and temper, it was eight in the evening. The streets were barely enveloped with people on his way home. The wind was cold enough to give him a shiver and the lights, fairly lit enough to guide the people walking around. Jungwon knew the earth was wearing out— he knew he was wearing out, sensing it from his own stiff body like he'd been swallowing rocks to his stomach all this time, contributing to the imbalance of earthly minerals. His lips have never been so arid, that even a quick lick on them would do no good as they'd instantly dry up. He would look at the houses and establishments with all the fatigue he had devoured, wandering as if was carrying the entire world behind his arched spine.

︎ ︎ ︎Everything about that neighborhood was what Jungwon loved. As a child, he would run around and his mother would chase him as his father was on a call with business affinþities at home. Knees and elbows scratched, clothes and skin smudged with dust, he would run back home- to his mother, rambling; cries followed by a motherly chuckle and care. As a family of three, they were once adored for being almost perfect.

︎ ︎ ︎However, just as one swings from the fantastical eras of youth to gruesome adolescence, a blur was found dividing them from happiness. Call it cliche, yet his dad was drawn to errands abroad, and his mother, to an inevitable disease. This perfect family seemed to have perpetuated distance, only leaving a man, a child, and a lifeless relationship almost too impossible to revive.

︎ ︎ ︎For the second time, Jungwon doused his lips, still unsuccessful as the dampness would immediately vanish away.

︎ ︎ ︎When he was only a few blocks from home, he halted across the flower shop. The good-old flower shop that reminded him of flowers with thorns, or perhaps, seedlings of great disgrace. The shop had already been closed, earlier than it typically does. Sometimes, he would question himself about the whereabouts of the sole boy who worked there, or how life would have gone for him for being the only one trusted to take care of the shop. Was he lonely? Was he contentful? Was he genuinely determined? Pushed? All he knew was that he's been doing it for five years now. The lonely being he is, he, at some point, could only ponder about people's lives.

︎ ︎ ︎He does surely wonder a lot. About all possibilities there could ever be, about all that could ever come at hand, but Jungwon never knew. He never knew that he was looking right at where a twist had recently happened. That he was wondering about the only man who crafted this twist into the interesting story he was walking with. Hae knew nothing more regarding that shop, those flowers, and that man.

︎ ︎ ︎ Lethargic and close at home, Jungwon proceeded. One, two, three— he was just steps away, anyway. He couldn't wait to fall into the hands of rapture and break free from its grip as the sun bids hello. His bed and pillows longed for him, and so did he, for them.

...

︎ ︎ ︎"I've got a job offer!"

︎ ︎ ︎"I've finally enrolled!"

︎ ︎ ︎There was a simultaneous release of serotonin through a verbal medium as breakfast happened at the Yang household when the sun decided to take another day off that day. Amid the rain and the nimbus, murky clouds hindering their companionship with light, the sun seemed to have never been gone, for the youth rejoiced with the tiny little victories they had acquired in the war of life.

︎ ︎ ︎"Huh? What? How? Where? When? Why?" As he sat back down, Jungwon came in to query such silly questions for Yerim.

︎ ︎ ︎He wouldn't know, of course.

︎ ︎ ︎"Let's just say I escaped." Then, Yerim followed to crouch back down on the floor, legs crossed & hands all settled on the table. "Your friend earned a new friend!"

︎ ︎ ︎"We're not friends." Jungwon rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it, though."

︎ ︎ ︎"Hmm."

︎ ︎ ︎Recreating yesterday's events in her mind was like reminiscing the mere exposition of a hurricane. For her yesterday was wrapped with instances that— for once— never came to her before, the tempest blew itself towards her direction and soon left a colorful imprint as it culminated its own entity.

︎ ︎ ︎A rainbow.

︎ ︎ Doors opened, bells rang, and Yerim's cherry-colored lips were painted with a smile, meeting the eyes of a latter who had the smile of the sun. "Welcome to Baragi blossoms! What can I do for you, Ma'am?" Yerim wondered if the flowers have once envied the rose-headed figure of the person who approached her, putting away his cleaning essentials as he was eager to entertain her. A day of the hurricane, eventually slipped away into rainbows of flowers and gardens— most of all, the grand entrance of the sun.

︎ ︎ ︎They say the sun lies at the central point of the solar system.

︎ ︎ ︎Whereas planets created of dissimilar nature merely orbit around it within their individual period of revolution.

︎ ︎ ︎Yerim could say she was a planet by that time. Could she be Jupiter? Mars? Saturn? Venus? Earth? No one knew. She didn't. He didn't. One thing was for sure; she was orbiting a sun. She was witnessing its glow as she spoke.

︎ ︎ ︎But why was the sun suddenly relevant now? Wasn't it just a colossal entity of the galaxy, living as a terrifying giant with temperatures ranging around fifteen million degrees celsius? Wasn't it just a star?

︎ ︎ ︎If the universe had stars, this sun had flowers. Flowers that blew a dewy fragrance out of themselves, packed with ethereal clouds of dust of the lovely wind. Yoo Yerim would find herself unconsciously stumbling, as the tip of her toes deliberately inch its way towards him— so, so scared to death she would trip off and fall out of orbit.

︎ ︎ ︎Following the disastrous hurricane of constant downfall, the sun glistened with pleasure upon the face of the willow, succumbing to the storm which had long yearned to destroy her.

︎ ︎ ︎"Ah," For reasons of all sorts, Yerim was evidently trembling. She could only say such to beat an awkward impression she amusingly failed. "I'll be watching the flowers, yeah?"

︎ ︎ ︎"Sure!" A head— his head turned sideways, hair skimming through the basket tray where everything was stacked and grabbed one. "Here's a basket."

︎ ︎ ︎"Ah, no no. I'll just be scouring everything for today. Unfortunately, I have nothing to pay with yet."

︎ ︎ ︎The flowers already looked so enticing, as if they were whispering to her to spawn her right in front of their lovely stems and petals. But she didn't understand how she found them less pretty now— was it because the sun had finally evolved to be a viewable entity of the milky way? Because mankind, before, thought they'd lose their sight to a floating ball of gas, their glassy skin to its harmful rays, the same ball of gas still glowed more than the flowers ever would, handing them the life of light and warmth they have always needed to endure.

︎ ︎ ︎"Oh, sorry. Let me assist you with that then."

︎ ︎ ︎His charisma triggered a trillion joules worth of sunlight. Like the sun, he never failed to glow from the very first moment they crossed paths.

︎ ︎ ︎Yerim never saw him before, never read him, never knew what was buried beneath his smiles.

︎ ︎ ︎But she knew for sure she's never seen someone smile quite as the daylight would.

︎ ︎ ︎"Thank you,"

︎ ︎ ︎A wave of thoughts hit the shores of her mind- his name, what about his name? She couldn't bring herself to thank him without his name. As she opted to know this, she brought her eyes down to this tiny piece of silver where hangul characters of various sorts formed one name.

︎ ︎ ︎"Mr. Kim Sunoo."

︎ ︎ ︎His name was Kim Sunoo, just like the sun.

︎ ︎ ︎The sun in the form of man.

︎ ︎ ︎"Yoo Yerim." By Jungwon's call, her devious imagination of the great unknown had been broken. Her body knew she was basically just holding a pair of chopsticks, chewing on food, yet her wits and heart knew further. It drew her 8.3 light-years from her own earth, and to a galaxy of stars the flowers would covet. "You're oddly silent today."

︎ ︎ ︎"People change, Yang." And when her pool of eyes met his, the thought of florets and stars had died down. "We're humans, hence, we're subject to evolution. We change. A Lot." She expressed, constantly grinning at the thought of the boy, whom she thought was the human rendition of the sun.

︎ ︎ ︎︎ ︎ ︎"Thanks for the information, I guess." Jungwon notified after stuffing food into his mouth like he had been unfed for days. "I was asking."

︎ ︎ ︎"What?" Incapable to recall the recent, Yerim lifted her brows, having Jungwon narrowly laughing in turn.

︎ ︎ ︎"How did you get a job?"

︎ ︎ ︎"Well, it was easy...." It wasn't. Yerim knew that and Jungwon had a hunch of her uttering an ultimate lie. "See, I wasn't the one looking for a job. It was the job itself finding its way towards thee Yoo Yerim."

︎ ︎ ︎The thoughts of the sun poured into the broad stretch of her brain one more time, but this time she was sure not to space out and lose her conscience merely to it.

︎ ︎ ︎"Huh?"

︎ ︎ ︎"Are you, perhaps, looking for a job?" For the entire time, Yerim has always deemed two pairs of eyes creep up on her, up and down, left and right, when in fact the employee who had recently approached her, with the name Kim Sunoo, had only been looking at the flowers she was holding. Well, periodically to her, too. He had long yearned for the silence to splatter, other than only giving her descriptions of the flowers. He felt like he was only there for the sole purpose of bugging the woman.

︎ ︎ ︎"Right." Hesitating, Yerim turned her head to pay attentiveness.

︎ ︎ ︎"We— I mean, I was actually just about to open an application. Would you like to apply here, Ma'am?" The man proposed, fishing his pocket for something before lending it out to her. "Here's my business card."

︎ ︎ ︎"I don't have a valid I.D with me, I fear." She beamed, attention centered on the card, fretting soon after.

︎ ︎ ︎"You may bri—"

︎ ︎ ︎"Not that it's left at home." In between those said words, Yerim would take time to breathe in hesitation and anxiety. She immediately knew what the man was about to say. An easy flow of absurdity wouldn't be something, anyone, as a stranger, would believe, after all. She had to lie, lie, and lie multiple times to save. If there was one thing that pained her the most for aiming what she wanted to was constantly painting herself into a canvas of dishonesty, into a landscape of murky silhouettes and inky skies where it had become the protagonist of the hall of lies. "I just left it. Somewhere else. I currently cannot reach. I don't even have any legal documents with me."

︎ ︎ ︎"I see." He smiled, showcasing his of one a kind smile again, engulfing the very being of Yoo Yerim with a duvet of comfort. She figured this sweet smile of plump cheeks and eager lips was a genuine sentiment she had to reckon as an innovation to comfort, jolting her out from the inky canvas. "An interview will do. Besides, I just need someone to assist me."

︎ ︎ ︎"You're kidding." Chuckled her.

︎ ︎ ︎"No, really. You may come back any time once you've already made your decision."

︎ ︎ ︎"I'll see to it." Uttered with a nod, she offered him a sluggish beam. Sluggish, but genuine. "Thank you so much for today, Mr. Kim Sunoo."

︎ ︎ ︎"Mr. Kim will do. At your service, Ma'am."

︎ ︎ ︎There it went again. His smile arose as the sun had just exploded. Not that he was tired. Not that he's had enough. But because he needed to. He felt an immense energy rushing in his core like it never did before. She no longer felt the need to watch the blossoms, for she had already found one in the corner of her eyes, a dazzling figure incomparable to any of those species scattered all over the expanse to which not even the most beautiful ones were as close as the magnificence of him.

︎ ︎ ︎"And he just read your mind like that?"

︎ ︎ ︎"Mhm. There's something about that guy."

︎ ︎ ︎"Yeah, other than his enthusiastic aura?"

︎ ︎ ︎︎ ︎ ︎The flower shop was a nearby stall he would use to visit every day with his mom in company. Not long ago, it had only been an old man killing time through newspapers and store duties which would welcome their acquaintance at any time of day, with a weak beam and amazing service.

︎ ︎ ︎And not long ago, a huge portion of her gain would be for impermanent plants, with a little bit of hope and effort for them to last longer than they used to be.

︎ ︎ ︎Dwelling in that dreadful hospital for so long, portions of income eventually became hospital bills, the flowers' stems to pieces of hope that she'd live. That she would survive. That she'd be able to stand up and bring him to that flower shop every day again. That just as willows represent, she would linger near life for longer than he hoped she would be.

︎ ︎ ︎"Definitely. Other than that." Lips curling into a smile, she drew the edge of the glass near them, sipping on water as the trance in her mind began to wander free like wildfire.

︎ ︎ ︎Unsettled by the atmospheric change between them was the man who couldn't look at Yoo Yerim in the eyes, his figure wholly engulfed by dubious emotions he yearned to get rid of.

︎ ︎ ︎"You still have something cooking over there?" In the means to change the topic, Jungwon queried. "Smells familiar."

︎ ︎ ︎"Oh, right. Wait till you know what it is! Guess it's already cooked."

︎ ︎ ︎Yerim excused herself momentarily for this to be dealt with, walking away with such excitement as if she was excited about something. She picked up the boiling hot pot with a consistent release of air from her mouth, blowing the heat off the dish.

︎ ︎ ︎"Here's the curry I owe you. I couldn't buy anything with empty pockets but you have a fridge literally filled with all the ingredients." Slowly but harshly, she placed it on top of a pot holder as Jungwon meant to look at it as soon as he heard curry. It occurred to him that this curry was no ordinary curry, but was one that gave him an ocean of deja vu. "I've never made curry before and even if I had, it would've only been for rare occasions. So consider this a mini celebration too. Because, damn, we're halfway through a quarter of everything."

︎ ︎ The scent itself was enough to entice his every being. He brought a spoon into the depths of the curry's soup, portions of the silverware embedded with orange, as he brought it in between his lips where it had reached his tongue. It began with a scoop, then hesitation— quite a long one for tasting, but was in fact as brief as the speed of light— followed by another one, then another one, until the plate had only appeared as if it had been smudged by curry soup.

︎ ︎ ︎ ︎"Where the hell did you even get the recipe for this?"

︎ ︎ ︎"Duh. I just followed everything from the book which stated about how you like curries to be." Yerim rolled her eyes, leaning forwards. "Now tell me, how's it?"

︎ ︎ ︎"Even the book knows stuff I don't know the recipe for."

︎ ︎ ︎"Of course, silly. Whoever wrote that book was the one that made you and everything here. I've read it all." Chuckled the female youngling. "I know everything about you."

︎ ︎ ︎Disgruntled with the statement, yet content with what his taste buds had recently encountered, Jungwon placed his spoon on top of his plate, a sharp noise created from the interaction of materials.

︎ ︎ ︎"No, you don't." He laughed.

...

Following that hazy day of a man's grief and a woman's eruption of encouragement, Yerim brought herself to where her heart led her, rather than trusting what her organs had decided for her that day. Although it was a Sunday, she earnestly prayed that Baragi blossoms would be in service and that by the end of the day she would not be in mere regret as per her lingering insistence to get interviewed that specific day.

︎ ︎ ︎At the glassy threshold of the mart was a woman's uncertainty, doe eyes peering via the transparent material, looking forward for a trace of Kim Sunoo. It was an early hour, so it had only been the flowers sitting down in their designated areas and zero customers in existence. Given no cue other than her instincts, she went inside like the previous way she did, still ringing the store bells which summoned him in no time. Sunoo made not quite a grand entrance this time, yet never failed to enrapture the lady with his enthusiasm. He came in with a pot of daisies in between the rubber gloves enveloping his hands with warmth, a soiled gray apron, and a folded white blouse tucked into his dark pants. His hair was still of refined rose gold and his smile was worth the implication of grace.

︎ ︎ ︎"Welcome to Ba— oh, good morning, miss!" Eventually enthusiastic at the sight of her, he shrieked, the two taking time to address their respectful gestures. "How may I help you?"

︎ ︎ ︎"Good morning Mr. Kim." Yerim treaded forwards, fingers from both hands bashfully interlocked in front of her dangling figure. "I've dropped by for the job interview."

︎ ︎ ︎"Ah, right." Hurriedly setting his equipment aside, he blurted. He may have only projected normalcy from the outside but what was going on within him was an infinitesimal amount of excitement. "Kindly follow me this way.." Granting access to the staff room, Kim Sunoo walked towards her direction and beyond, purposely doing this just so he could close the store by shifting the status from opened to close. This was for the purpose that anyone won't be able to interrupt the ongoing interview. The floor seemed to almost have slipped beneath her feet the closer this man approached him.

︎ ︎ ︎Yerim never thought that she would be as inquisitive in a guy as this— under the circumstances of the flowery essence and sunny smiles. She never could even process the thought that someone as mortal as the humans would be the closest thing comparable to one of the cosmos' largest stars. All her life of books and wordy ventures was never for the influence of romance, but for the glow of the mind and the soul as they begin to correspond at some juncture of their own existence.

︎ ︎ ︎For a few seconds that felt like an everlasting burden, she would ponder, scrambling through her thoughts like a rocket in the galaxy only to end her million light-year journey encountering the vision of a colossal white star.

︎ ︎ ︎Finally awakened from her subconscious, Yerim caught herself in front of Kim Sunoo, who was recently settled down the moment her eyes flickered open in a blink. It was a (not too) petite vicinity they were in, where folders and files found meaning within themselves as they classified in cubicles. Indoor plants were also scattered here and there. A smile lingered on his lips for a while, staring at the woman whom he could say was definitely pleased with everything she was seeing.

︎ ︎ ︎"So, tell me about yourself." The man began after vacating his throat. His fingers were clustered and closed upon his word, inclining to her direction to signify that he was keen.

︎ ︎ ︎Had it not been for the novelty of the heart and the stunningness of the blooms, Yerim wouldn't be in orbit right now. The heart's power is something quite simply incredible to her. It's crazy how powerful it could get. Hers does not succumb to any conscious decisions over a cluster of flowers. To say the least, it was a paradox of magnificence and eerieness for her.

︎ ︎ ︎"I'm Yoo Yerim. Nineteen. I live just by the little neighborhood up the hill." She said. "So you shouldn't have anything to worry regarding my punctuality at work."

Nabi's log! 
I was stuck. On this chapter.
For months. I didn't know what
to do. And it turned out pretty bad.
Unfortunately. But what can I expect.
I am me.