"Look, I like you very, very much and…" Cha Young aggressively pulled her hand back and Jun-ho sighed, leaning back in his chair. "You are an amazing girl, but your personality is too much for me, I'm sorry but I can't handle it."
Cha Young just nodded, looking away from him, trying her best to contain her tears.
"We can remain friends right?" he questioned.
"hm, sure." Cha Young replied with her broken voice.
"I'm sorry."
" It's fine" She stated trying to show a smile. "I should go." Cha Young got up.
"Oh, okay." He got up too. "Do you need me to accompany you?"
"No need, my dad's office is close by, thanks." She bowed politely and left as quickly as possible, turning her back without looking at him one last time.
Cha Young felt her heart break, it wasn't all Jun-ho's fault, her personality was too extravagant for some people but still she couldn't help the sadness that welled up inside her. Cha Young tried to tell herself that it was okay to be herself.
She walked for about half an hour until she reached the Plaza, she had lied, it wasn't close, but Cha Young needed to clear her head and certainly she wouldn't be able to with her ex boyfriend taking her.
Before entering the building she wiped away the tears that had fallen on the way there, Cha Young was aware of how red her eyes were, but there was nothing she could do after all her dad wouldn't even notice anyway.
Cha Young opened the Japuragi door to find her father and Mr. Nam looking a bit worried as they looked through some papers.
"Ah, Miss Hong, hello." Mr.Nam said as soon as he saw her enter, opening a friendly smile that Cha Young soon returned.
"You came back early." Her father said not taking his eyes off the sheet of paper he held, not looking at her.
"Hmhm, Jun-Ho was busy." She lied, she definitely didn't wanted to explain to her father that she was left because of her personality. "Did something happen?" She questioned curiously, their worried faces said yes.
Yu Chan sighed "A Korean-Italian decided to buy the building."
Cha Young furrowed her brows in confusion, why would a foreigner buy the plaza? It was just an old building with half a dozen residents and a few stores, it wasn't a good investment, it didn't bring in much money, she definitely couldn't understand, maybe he would sell the building, maybe he intended to turn it into a source of tourism. What Cha Young didn't know is that her butterfly effect was about to begin.
"But why?"
"I don't know, I don't even know him, we were just notified by a letter, the residents are very worried about it." He responded by sighing again and rubbing his eyes.
"Do you think he will sell the building?" She questioned, starting to get worried, her father had fought so hard to make this dream come true, he didn't deserve that.
"I hope not, I need a cigarette, I'll be right back." He responded by walking out of the office with a pack of cigarettes in his hand.
"Miss Hong your birthday is next week right? Are you excited?" Mr.Nam asked breaking the silence that had been installed.
"Hmm, I guess." She shrugged, feigning indifference, but in reality it was her first birthday with friends, during the three years of university just her boyfriend celebrated with her, but now she had more people, more than enough to organize a party, of course she was excited.
…
A week had passed and the long-awaited day that Cha Young had been waiting for arrived, she didn't remember being so excited for her birthday, only in her childhood when her mother was still alive and did her best so that her daughter had the best day of her life.
Cha Young always woke up with the table ready with her favorite foods, a cake and several gifts, but her favorites were the hugs and kisses she received from her parents.
"𝘊𝘩𝘢 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨?" 𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮.
𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘢 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨, 7 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘭𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘥.
"𝘌𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢?" 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘶𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴.
"𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦." 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘢 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.
"𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘌𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢." 𝘊𝘩𝘢 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘵.
"𝘏𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘉𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦." 𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘨, 𝘊𝘩𝘢 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬.
"𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘵?" 𝘠𝘶 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳.
"𝘠𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘢." 𝘊𝘩𝘢 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥.
"𝘏𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵." 𝘠𝘶 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦.
Cha Young didn't even realize she was crying until she felt something wet running down her face, she quickly got rid of the tears interrupting her memory of when she was happy with her parents together.
She got up quickly from the bed leaving the room and heading towards the kitchen, analyzing every corner with her eyes, but there was nothing, the table was empty as well as the house since her father had left for work, it was not like before and Cha Young couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness and a tightness in her chest, part of her wished her father had left at least a happy birthday note or even a message, but not even that.
Unfortunately for her the rest of the day had been just like any other, Cha Young spent the day at college looking away from her ex boyfriend who at least had the kindness to wish her a happy birthday, she attended classes and talked with some classmates about the final tests.
Of course her friends wished her happy birthday, but nothing else, there were no gifts or letters or a photo on social media, much less a party, maybe people didn't cared anymore about birthdays or maybe they didn't care enough about her, Cha Young thought dejectedly to herself, she couldn't blame anyone for her failed expectations, things would never go back to the way they were and she just had to deal with it.
After leaving college, Cha Young walked down the street on his way home without stopping by his father's office this time, as they were quite busy with locals, so she decided to stop at a small bakery in the village and buy a simple cake, she didn't have anyone, but that didn't mean she couldn't celebrate alone right?
Sitting at the kitchen table eating her cake, which was definitely not on the first slice, but who cares?
She needed to drown her sorrows somehow. Cha Young looked out the window watching the movement in the street, she hadn't seen her father enter the house until he had placed a kiss on the top of her head.
"Happy birthday Cha Young."
"Thank you abeoji." She forced a smile.
"Have you eaten?" he questioned.
Cha Young just nodded, it wasn't entirely a lie, she had eaten cake.
"Ah, I almost forgot" Yu Chan took a white envelope out of his coat pocket, which Cha Young observed curiously.
"This was in the mail, it's for you" he placed the envelope on top of the
table beside her before leaving the kitchen and patting her on the shoulder goodbye.
Cha Young opened the envelope carefully and observed the paper in her hands, at the beginning of the sheet was written Wusang Lawyers, it was from the office that she had sent her candidacy to intern.
She almost choked reading the paper's content, Cha Young had been accepted to do her internship at one of the biggest law firms in Korea, maybe her life was finally working out.
