obliviate

her small fingers tugged the collar of her jacket closer to her chin, the night wind blowing a gust of cold air and rain into her face. despite the fact it was july, the heat of the day had worn off as night fell, the temperature drop coming with a drizzle that had started as soon as jieun had left the campus. this factor was forcing her to be faster than normal to avoid being drenched.

jieun normally never took night classes at her university, but problems with her hours at the cafe and visiting family members meant she simply had no time during the day. her distaste for late classes came from what she had to do currently - walking from the university to her nearby apartment, knowingly scared of what could possibly happen to her. jieun knew gang activity near the university was very low, due to the security surrounding it, but there was still a risk.

with a quickened pace, jieun hurried to get past the entrance to the dark alleyway in front of her, arms wrapping tighter around herself habitually her own flimsy form of protection. jieun slightly regretted not driving her car to the university, but it would have been a waste of gas and she always told herself she needed the excercise.

jieun was finally past the alley when a muffled bang came from the previously mentioned, pitch black path. she almost shrieked in surprise, stopping dead in her tracks with a hand over her mouth. that was not a trash can being knocked over, or pipes clanging together in the rainy wind, and jieun desperately hoped it wasn't what she thought it to be.

every single cell in her body told her to quietly get away from that alley as quickly as humanly possible, but a worry for whoever - or whatever - was in the dark path stopped her from sprinting away immediately. if someone was injured, and they could somehow use her help, it would eat away at jieun's conscience for not checking it out at the very least. she made her way to the edge of the brick wall, her heartbeat quickening as she peered around the corner.

a man stood over the limp body of another, their silhouettes lit by an overhead light as if the horrific scene was coming directly from a movie. there was no movement of any kind from the body laying on the concrete, and jieun could see a pool of dark liquid - oh god, there was so much of it - forming around the lifeless man's head, the rain falling around them mixing and spreading the blood further down the dirty ground of the alleyway.

jieun struggled to keep a hold of all her books while weaving through the large crowd of people around her. spending an afternoon in seoul's largest public library was not the ideal day for most people her age, but it was a stress reliever like no other for jieun.

the rush of strangers flowing past on the sidewalk jostled jieun back and forth unknowingly, the pile of novels in her arm teetering dangerously close to falling. jieun cursed her horrible decision making, thinking that parking her car a good 3 blocks from the library would somehow benefit her. something to do with less competition to find an actual spot, or whatever. it was a rash decision that she really regretted.

her mood brightened considerably when she finally spotted the white hood of her car through the hustle of bodies, practically a glowing beacon of relief. those feelings crashed back down when she spotted the still back of a police officer next to her car, scribbling something down on a colored notepad. a parking ticket. just what she needed.

"ah, officer - excuse me, miss, sorry - this is my-" jieun's urgent rambling to stop the man, interrupted by a woman scurrying in front of her, came as she pushed through the crowd and rushed towards her car. the officer turned towards her as the ticket was ripped from it's pad, and jieun almost stopped in her tracks as a wave of nostalgia flowed over her.

afternoons at the cafe were always jieun's least favorite time of day at work. loud, stupid teenagers, just coming out of the nearby private school, flooded the small business with their pompous demeanor and sneering remarks. she really doesn't mind teenagers in general - when they had the right attitude.

jieun could understand if someone was having a bad day, and that would show through their mannerisms. but these conceited rich kids treated her and the other servers like they were dirt under their feet, carelessly criticizing the food they were given, and that did not make them very good people in jieun's eyes.

a customer was a customer, however, is what her manager drilled into their heads every day. their money was more important than their attitude was his repeated message, and from a business standpoint, jieun had to agree.

as the rush of customers finally started to slow down a little, a coworker of jieun's nudged her quickly and pointed to a young man sitting at a table near the window, blandly flipping through the small menu provided. "go help him, he just sat down," the woman beside her mumbled before scurrying off to place another order.

jieun watched him for a few more moments, the bored way he stared at the menu and the other customers around him with no interest. he looked young enough to be in his last year of high school, but jieun could tell he was much older just by the way he held himself.