Jonghyun had been hustling. He hadn't been here long, but with nearly nothing in his pockets, he felt uneasy whenever he let himself stop and rest. Today was another day of work, and after arranging some new arrivals and organizing this month’s bestsellers, he took a seat at the counter, chewing on a roll of kimbap while scrolling through his phone attempting to find some sort of app or website that people here on the island would use to hire part-time staff or task-doers.
It wasn’t long before he felt restless again, and he ignored the slightly stuffy feeling near the top of his stomach from shoving his lunch down too quickly, and dragged out another box of new photography albums from the back to begin sliding into the shelves.
He finally got to find out who he was when he arrived onto this island, a place he somehow stumbled across, found, but never quite understood why. He knew he was different from others somehow, and while he knew exactly how now, he was hesitant to reach out to his mother, whom had also settled down here recently. It all seemed like fate - no, destiny - that he was to be here right when she decided to stay, and he knew it came from her blessing. So to show his gratitude, he wanted to hold off meeting her until he deemed himself somewhat presentable and dignified. Not right after what had just happened a few weeks ago back in Seoul, no.
Yet he never considered the fact that Brigid would come and seek him herself, and time seemed to have stopped when the bell chimed at the push of the front door. He wondered how she would be like, how odd it would be to face a complete stranger and call her his mother, but his doubts have all been wiped out, and all that was left was a sense of relief, even comfort. He felt complied to rely on her, and he didn’t want that just yet.
He bit at his lip to hold back the rush of emotions, yet his eyes remained fixed on his mother’s beautiful face, shoulders rising and falling from heavy breathing. “If I deserve it, that is,” he managed after a long pause, the words themselves sounding spiteful but they were anything but. Before his mother, he became vulnerable and helpless, and after all, he was just a young man who occasionally needed someone to lean on.
