Chapter 15: What happened...
'She's beautiful to boot…' The though to myself, a detached, aesthetic assessment my brain made before I could stop it. The girl in the doorway was striking in a severe, artistic way. The stark contrast of the black hair and makeup against her pale skin, the sharp lines of her eyeliner, the confidence in her posture, it all spoke of someone who had carefully constructed their own image.
'I'm sure she isn't unpopular with guys, either.' A quiet, helpless chuckle echoed in my head. The thought was followed immediately by a firm mental dismissal.
'Not that it matters.' I abandoned any thoughts of being related to her in any way, That was a given. Beyond the obvious gulf in our apparent lifestyles, me with my luggage of defeat, her looking like she owned the sleek apartment behind her, I had no idea what type of person she actually was. She could be a serial killer who accessorized with eyeliner for all I knew.
Her silent, appraising stare was starting to stretch into uncomfortable territory. I cleared my throat, the sound too loud in the hushed hallway.
"Umm, I'm terribly sorry for intruding," I began, forcing a polite, uncertain smile. "But could you please direct me towards Miss Sarah Lee's residence? I was told she lives here, in B4."
The woman raised a brow. Her scarlet-lined eyes, a color that had to be from contacts, swept over me again, head to toe, lingering on my worn sneakers and my luggage.
"And why are you looking for her?" Her voice was lower than I expected, cool and flat, devoid of the warmth.
"Oh, well, that's simple," I said, trying to sound breezy and unthreatening. "Miss Lee told me to come over. She's expecting me."
"With a luggage?" She nodded her chin toward my wheeled carrier, her gaze sharpening. It felt less like a question and more like an accusation.
"It's… a bit of a personal matter."
The excuse sounded lame even to my own ears. What personal matter involved showing up at a near-stranger's luxury apartment with all your worldly belongings at ten in the morning?
"Personal?" she repeated, the single word dripping with skepticism. My attempt at vagueness did nothing to ease her expression. If anything, I think it made things worse.
Her stance subtly shifted, one hand coming to rest on the edge of the door, her body blocking more of the entrance. I saw her glance past me, down the hall, as if checking for accomplices. I was clearly being profiled as a potential scam artist, a door-to-door salesman, or worse.
'Great. Just great. I get evicted, and my first interaction at my new, temporary sanctuary is with a goth security guard who thinks I'm here to case the joint.'
"Julian! You made it, and right on time!"
But all of a sudden, I heard a voice I believed was my lifeline. A familiar melody that sliced through the icy tension.
I turned, my heart lifting with profound relief. There, walking briskly down the hall from the direction of the elevators, was Sarah Noona.
Now seeing her in person after all these year's, I realized that time had been kind to her. No, that wasn't right—time seemed to have made a special exception for Sarah Lee.
She was still as pretty as always, but her beauty had deepened, matured like fine wine. Her white hair was styled in a sleek, professional bob.
She wore a tailored pantsuit in a soft grey, a crisp white blouse underneath, and low heels that clicked with each confident stride she made.
The professional attire gave her beauty a sort of grounded, capable air, a world apart from the fleeting, glossy beauty of the young women I passed on campus.
Unlike theirs, Hers was the beauty of competence and care, and for a moment, it had me in a slight trance.
'Is it me, or has she not aged a day? If anything, she looks… more.'
Her face broke into a wide, genuine smile as she hurried over, her earlier professional demeanor melting away into pure, aunt-like delight. Before I could even utter a greeting, she enveloped me in a tight, fragrant hug. I was suddenly buried in the soft, expensive wool of her blazer and the subtle, clean scent of her perfume.
"Oof—Noona, I can't breathe—" I managed to choke out, but it was half-hearted. She laughe warmly and squeezed tighter, pressing my head firmly against the wonderfully soft, unmistakable cushion of her breasts.
It was a feeling I remembered all too well from childhood hugs and my clumsy teenage years.
And as always, her skin, where my cheek pressed against her neck, was cool and refreshing, like frozen snow on a hot day. A strange, a cold that had me feeling clear headed all of a sudden.
'Aunty really hasn't changed a bit.' My lips arched into a subtle, involuntary grin against her blouse, the first real smile I'd felt in days.
For a second, the eviction, the missions, the empty bank account, it all receded, replaced by the simple, safe feeling of being someone's kid again.
"Julian…? No… Oppa?"
The word, spoken in that same cool, flat voice but now laced with a shock so profound it cracked the icy delivery, made my brain stutter.
'Huh?' My mind reeled.
'Oppa?'
I tried to extract myself from Sarah's embrace, gently pushing against her shoulders. Fortunately, she released me, beaming, her hands coming to rest on my arms as she looked between me and the girl in the doorway.
"Oppa?" I muttered aloud, my confusion written plainly on my face as I turned to stare at the goth girl. Her own expression was a complex mask of shock, disbelief, and dawning, horrified recognition.
The aloof, suspicious guard was gone. In her place was someone who looked like she'd just seen a ghost wearing her childhood pajamas.
"I'm so glad you two have already met each other!" Sarah Noona chirped, looking back and forth between us with uncontainable joy, completely mis
sing the nuclear bomb of tension she'd just walked into. "Saves me the introductions!"