cold wind

Part I

It was like any other monday, the sky was a deep blue and there were barely any clouds in the sky. It was your favorite type of weather, maybe that's why you liked spring so much. You continued on your walk back home, feeling the cool breeze kiss your skin was peaceful. Humming along to the song playing through the headphones, staring at the tall buildings around you was nice, but also nostalgic. In many ways Daegu reminds you of Seoul, the buildings, the people, and the weather. However, Daegu was nothing like Seoul. It didn’t have your favorite coffee shop, your friends weren’t here, and you missed the rain and how it had a certain smell only you could pick out. Sure you found a new coffee shop you frequented, but it wasn’t the same, you found some really good friends here, but none were like the ones you had back in Seoul. As for the weather, you could spend eternity trying to compare each and every cloud.

You had always imagined going back permanently, taking brief trips you took every once in a while wasn’t always ideal but, as of right now, Seoul left a sour taste in your mouth. The last time you went, wasn’t exactly the best trip of your life. Your boyfriend of three years had broken up with you, so Seoul was the last place you wanted to be, but somehow you still longed to be there, hoping you’d see him occupy the places you both once did, also looking for you. You doubted it, but under all the despair you felt without him, hope helped you get through the bad days. Today, you would consider it a good day. Your closest friend here was coming over to spend the afternoon with you and get homework done, and then go see a movie he had been talking about for a week straight.

You finally got to your apartment building and started making your way upstairs, the elevator had been broken for months and no one had been around to fix it, despite the landlord constantly saying he would get it fixed. With a huff you ascended up the steps, while you hated walking so much, it did give a good view of the city. After what felt like hours you finally made it in front of your door, it was cream white with the huge numbers smacked in the middle, you looked down to the doormat your parents had bought to make it more “homey”. It was brown with two frogs on it, naturally sitting on lily pads with big black letters reading “WELCOME TO OUR PAD”. You couldn’t stop laughing when they brought it home, and it's been in use ever since. Getting out the keys to the apartment, you unlocked the door and went inside heading straight for your room. Your parents weren’t home anyways, so you had no reason to stop and talk to anyone. After getting changed, you got out all of your homework and waited for your friend to show up, he had called saying he was running a little late. Ending the call with a sigh, you went over to your couch and sat down, turning on the tv you started watching whatever channel it was on, the news.

After minutes of zoning out, there was a knock at the front door, now coming to, you got up and walked to the door. Opening it you smiled at your friend and let him inside, “Took you long enough!” you called out as he brought his backpack to the table, he laughed.

“Sorry, I had to go shopping for my mom after school, she forgot some things for dinner,” He explained.

“I thought you were staying for dinner?” Maybe you were thinking about a different day.

“I am, but I didn’t really have a choice, but at least I’m here now.” He smiled, you walked over to him and sat with him at the table, the tv still playing faintly in the background.

You both started working on homework, talking a bit here and there, and then going back to silence. You looked up at him, eyebrows furrowed, he was deep in thought, math wasn’t always his favorite subject. He had just recently dyed his hair blonde, the first time you saw it reminded you of when your ex had done it, but it worked for him. “Sunghoon” you said out of nowhere.

He looked up, “yes?”

“Are you thirsty? Want any water?” You were bored and trying to stall, chemistry wasn’t exactly the most exciting subject to you.

“Sure,” He smiled at you again, his pearly white teeth showing through his soft, pink lips.

Getting up, you moved over to the cupboard and grabbed two glasses, you put ice in them and finished at the sink, filling them up with water. You handed one to Sunghoon and sat back down, he took a sip and looked at you, “You okay today? Thinking about… him”

You sighed, knowing he would bring up your ex, “As good as I can be, you know?”

“I understand,” He said, but he didn't. He had never had a girlfriend before, but you knew what he meant.

“Have you spoken to him recently?” Sunghoon asked. You knew the answer but paused to tell him, and he knew that if your ex called the first person you’d tell would be him.

“No, not since the break up,” You responded. It felt like it was yesterday, it also felt like it didn’t even happen and you expected him to call you any minute like nothing had happened and he would tell you about his day.

“I’m sorry,” Sunghoon whispered. He had met your ex a couple times, when he would come to visit you from Seoul you all would go out and do activities together. You wanted him to meet your friends but when he realized it was a guy, he wasn’t the happiest, but that wasn’t the ‘reason’ he broke up with you, if you could even call it that. You were crying and he was crying, you couldn’t remember exactly what he said because your brain had decided to completely lock it up. You can recall him saying something about “distance” and how “hard it was for him” and that you “deserved better”. The basic ‘break up’ responses that your other friend Sunoo described one day at lunch. You thought there was no reason to break up, sure the distance was hard, you didn’t like it either, but you wanted it to work, guessing it got too hard and he just did not. You hated him for that, but a part of you understood, plus you can’t control what he does, no matter how bad you didn’t want to break up, you still couldn’t change his mind, he had reiterated how much he didn’t want to either, but he had said something that stuck with you, that echoed in your mind everyday, “things are better this way”. That meant numerous things to you, but you’ll never really know what he implied. Sunghoon had gone back to his work, you left the inside of your mind when a monotone siren had come from the tv, one you both couldn't recognize.

“What’s that?” Sunghoon asked, putting his pencil down he turned around to glance at the tv behind you both.

“I’m not too sure, I’ve never heard that before.” You were also looking, squinting to read the “Breaking News” plastered all over the screen.

Sunghoon turned back to you, “Hey, I’m sorry for asking about him, I shouldn’t have done that.”

You gave him a questioning look, “It’s okay, I know you meant well.”

He smiled, the blonde boy opened his mouth to say something else, but he was interrupted by furious knocking from your front door. Startling you, Sunghoon offered to answer the door. He got up slowly, taking his time to make it to the door. Sunghoon turned back to you before opening it, you nodded, allowing him to do so. He gradually opened up the door, only for it to burst open, your mutual friend Sunoo rushing towards your tv. The black haired boy, dawning a black shirt and blue jeans with his beat up converse, grabbed the remote, turning up the volume. He threw the remote down, and put his hands on his knees and took a couple deep breaths.

“Sunoo?” You got up from your seat moving towards him with Sunghoon following you. “What are you doing here? Why did you just plow through my house like that?”

He gulped, you now noticed how distraught he looked, “I tried calling you, didn’t answer, I got here as fast as I could.”

You were getting worried now, “What’s going on?” automatically wiping your now sweaty hands on your jeans.

“Did you not see the news?” He panicked, now grabbing your hand to lead you in front of the tv.

“We were doing homework,” you explained to him, “we heard an alarm but didn’t really care enough to look.”

Sunoo sighed, “You might want to look.”

Sunghoon was now standing next to you, all three of you now focused on the news. It was the same news anchor you’d see every day when watching the news with your father. Today she wore a colorful shirt, but she didn’t seem serious. She looked worried, talking fast you could barely pick up what she was saying. Your eyes followed the banner at the bottom, which explained what was happening.

You turned to Sunoo, “This has to be a joke right?” He didn’t say anything, you grabbed the remote from where he tossed it onto the couch and turned the channel, only for it to be playing another “Breaking News” segment. You kept changing the channels, some weren’t working and some were just reiterating the same news. You turned back to your sweaty friend, now feeling hot yourself, “Sunoo, this is a joke right?”

“That's what I thought at first too, but I don’t think so, they say that there is scientific evidence. The numbers are all online, I’ve looked at it myself. I can show you.” He started digging in his pocket for his phone. You turned to Sunghoon while Sunoo looked for what he was talking about.

“There’s no way…” Sunghoon whispered in disbelief, obviously finding the news doubtful too. You didn’t say anything to him, but you both turned back to the tv, listening to what the news anchor had to say about the situation. You tried to process as much as you could, stay in doors, don’t panic, and the asteroid heading right towards Earth, confirmed by NASA. You were listening, but you couldn’t handle this. Sunoo shoved his phone in your hands, you grabbed it and Sunghoon moved closer, also wanting to look. You glanced at the documents, published by some university in the States, you could barely understand what it explained, too scientific for you. “What does all of this mean?”

“That the calculations are correct, everything they are saying on the news is correct. There’s an asteroid heading straight for us. We’re doomed.” Sunoo explained, distraught. Sunghoon was already on the phone with what you figured were his parents. You placed the remote back onto the table, moving back towards where your homework sat, amongst all the papers, you grabbed your phone.

Social media is showing everything, it's now all everyone can talk about. You ignore it, knowing that feeding into it will make you become more paranoid and staying calm is what you need to be doing. You took a deep breath and opened your contacts, going through them all you stopped at your ex, hovering over his name, you clicked it. You probably shouldn’t have, but in the back of your mind, it was all you could think about. You brought the phone up to your ear, hearing it ring. Your anxiety rose when it went straight to voicemail. You sighed and called your parents, obviously they didn’t believe it, and you told them you were going to Seoul.

You walked back towards your friends, “Sunghoon, what did your parents say?”

“That it’s just a scam or that even if it is real, the government will take care of it.” He said, now sitting down with his head in his hands, obviously nervous.

“Mine said the same,” You sat down next to him.

“Me too,” Sunoo said, now sitting down too.

Now in complete silence, only the tv provided sound about the predicament. You all took a couple minutes to calm down, Sunghoon sighed and looked at the both of you. “What are we going to do?”