He’s not even settled yet. He can’t find his old shooting range and decides walking will do him some, which felt relatively strange in the months he stopped driving himself. It was a good view actually. The pavement ahead of him instead of a stranger in the rear view mirror, stealing glances at his every call, and stopping at his every request. Tokyo was still far colder than Seoul but it doesn’t explain why he’s shivering beyond character. He was well and fully clothed. Fully capable of killing the next person who brushes past him, only this time it was more than a brush. Next thing you know there’s a fist on his cheek and of all possible ways to react, he finds himself laughing.
“What was that? You felt like stretching or something?” He merely pats the area and angles his gaze towards her fist, unsurprised by the damage compared to what his cheek was used to. For the first time in months he has no idea what to say. She doesn’t make him nervous. Only uncomfortable in the way she makes him sound like a cheating boyfriend out on these streets. “Well don’t look at me, I didn’t tell you to punch. Anyway what’d I do? Shouldn’t you be in kpop prison?”
The reaction was even more irritating than his odor. Like it was Satan taking a stroll and Earth to pick on the first person in misfortune so he can laugh at them, and it so happens to be her. She imagined him dead, for some reason. Because his whole absence felt like he stopped existing altogether. No calls, no texts. She didn’t expect it but through the end of their friendship that lacked closure, she was at least given hints on a leave. But like a dead body that turns to ash, he faded away. Was this really the same person?
Second guessing became out of the question as soon as he shares a witty yet annoying remark. She gnarls at him savagely, even lunging forward but stopping midway to circle around him like a bloodhound. “Sure, I was!” she says in an aggressive manner but she pouts at the sight of her fist. Another punch? No, she didn’t want both hands injured. He wasn’t worth it. “Who would I look at then, genius? Tall and scraggly over there?” she points at a random stranger behind to back her sarcastic comment. “You just disappeared. Do you think that makes you mysterious?” eyes roll at the male but her palm is offered. “Where’s my gift? For Christmas, New Year, for my birthday soon.”