Girl In The Winter's

Chapter 11

The rain flushed the city of Vancouver from the morning, signifying the winter that had come to replace autumn made everyone have to get ready with thick clothes that can protect their bodies from the piercing cold. Wearing a red winter jacket, Ayumi walks quickly under her transparent umbrella, mingling with other students who do the same to enter the warm campus room.

"Goddessa!" Yuki waved her hand to signal that she had prepared a bench for the girl next to her, "Have you used a bike here?" Yuki asked after seeing Ayumi's jacket get wet enough that she now sipped on the back of her chair, a gust of warm air from the room warmers instantly spoiled her skin.

"Don't be stupid, John will kill me if you dare to use a bike in winter" Ayumi replied as she pulled out a cardingan inside her bag and put it on, although the room was quite warm but he could still feel the cold running through his body.

Yuki laughed at the words of his friend who was now wrapped around a white knitting scarf to protect his neck, "So how can your jacket get wet like that? Aren't you wearing an umbrella?"

Ayumi looked at Yuki while raising her eyebrows, "Dear Yuki, not everyone uses a private car to campus like you, so some people are like me… had to walk to the stop amid the rain and the wind that was strong enough to take the bus up to here, and unfortunately the rain still did not stop when I got off the bus. So here I am, cold with a wet jacket," said Ayumi, taking a deep breath and looking at Yuki, who was looking at her with sympathy.

"Poor child," Yuki said as she patted her best friend on the shoulder, "Is it time for me to be grateful?" Yuki looked at the smiling Ayumi while nodding her head.

"Oh yes, you should be very grateful" Ayumi said as she spread her head on the table.

"Are you okay? You don't look so healthy." Yuki sounded worried looking at Ayumi whose face was very pale.

"No, I'm just sleep-deprived" Ayumi replied with her eyes closed.

"Oh my God, your body is hot." Yuki was aghast when her hand touched Ayumi's hot forehead.

"I'll be fine after a short nap, lately I'm sleep deprived." Ayumi folded her hands on the table to make her head pad, they still had half an hour before starting college.

For a while Yuki looked at Ayumi who looked so tired, she was weighing what she needed to tell her friend about the incident last night? Several times he opened his mouth but he put it back, and finally he decided to tell him.

"Yumy." Yuki called the girl's name very slowly.

"Hm."

"There's something I have to tell you," Yuki said hesitantly.

"What's? Just tell me, I'm listening." Ayumi corrected her position with her eyes still closed.

"Hmm. Last night there was a man who came to see me, he." Ayumi opened her eyes when she heard someone looking for her.

"Searching?" ayumi asked, not understanding why anyone was looking for her through Yuki.

"Yes, she asked for your phone number, but I didn't give it to her" Yuki said quickly as she waved her hand.

Ayumi got up from her position to sit facing Yuki seriously.

"Do I know him? Who's she?"

Ayumi could see Yuki slightly tense and nervous, she looked hesitant to speak.

"She's your late mother's husband" said Yuki slowly, looking at Ayumi who was now silently sculpting.

Some time Ayumi just looked at Yuki hoping that her friend would say that she was just joking and she entered into a candid camera event or whatever it was, it was not like now that he looked at himself with great sympathy and regret for having to deliver the news to him.

"My late mother's husband?" Ayumi again asked with a stutter, she saw Yuki nod and it was enough to make her head feel dizzy, she put her fists on both hands resting on the table, her fingers grabbed her hair slowly.

"Are you okay?" Yuki stroked Ayumi's fragile back, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you." Ayumi shook her head at the words of her friend who sounded very sorry.

"No, it's not your fault" Ayumi took a deep breath, "What does she want from me?"

Ayumi just looked at the line of phone numbers written there and a name she did not know.

"Dr. Choi Jung Woo?" Ayumi furrowed her brows as she read the husband's name from her late mother, "It doesn't seem like a Japanese name."

"No, he's South Korean" Yuki replied, which made Ayumi drop her head on the table quite hard.

"Oh my God, again a Korean man," he said slowly, what is with him that lately always surrounded by Korean men, first Erik, and then, the lecturer who some days he always avoid like the plague of infectious diseases, then Kevin, his new friend who their first meeting reminded him of himself first, and now her late mother's husband wants to meet her.

"I'm sorry, it's none of my business but I was hoping you'd call her who knew she could tell me about your mother, at least you'll know what your real mother looks like and who knows why she left you."

Ayumi is silent at the thought of Yuki's words and all her words are true, but is she ready to accept all the facts that will be plastered before her eyes later on the reason her mother abandoned her when she was a baby? Ayumi again lay her head on the table, closed her eyes trying to solidify the heart that is now split in two, one side she wants to forget all about the woman who has given birth who then left her. He has forgiven all, closed the gloomy sheets of childhood without the affection of a mother and looked to the vast future that lay before him. But on the other hand he wanted to know the truth behind all the actions of his biological mother, but was he ready to accept all the truths that would be displayed before him later? Is his heart ready to get hurt again when someone will scrape the wound that has not even dried up?

Ayumi took a deep breath, her head was throbbing violently, the feeling of being physically and mentally exhausted that she felt lately had reached its peak, her body could no longer be compromised, she said, this was the limit of his body's defense that had now started to feel tired and in pain. For now he has decided he will forget all the problems that come his way, he will give his body and mind time to rest and recover before facing all the problems that have lined up neatly in front.

The plan was to stay, apparently God had a better plan for the little girl, the desire to rest her heart and mind had collapsed when someone was waiting for her in front of the girl's apartment building.

"Of the hell?"

For a moment he just silently stared at the middle-aged man in official blue dongker clothes complete with brown coat and scarf wrapped around his neck giving warmth amid the piercing cold air.

"Yes." Yeah." In a nervous manner he finally managed to answer the question of a foreign man who immediately smiled gently when he heard his words.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Choi Jung Woo, your mother's husband," said the man who immediately made Ayumi turn pale, her chest pounding even her legs felt weak just to support her own frail body.

***

Erik parked his car in front of a simple whitewashed apartment building that had faded away. Almost every night he did that, gazing towards the window on the second floor hoping to see the silhouette of the girl's body that these few days eluded him. Call him a coward or whatever for hurting the girl who has brought the other side of him who has been imprisoned at the bottom of his subconscious.

Truly he did not mean to hurt the girl, all that was said that day just came out when he imagined the girl sleeping on the lap of another man, but all was done, already, the words that have been spoken can not be pulled anymore, the sword that has been stuck will still leave a wound.

That morning he intended to apologize and improve the situation but what was presented before him was beyond the plan he had prepared, he said, when he saw the girl in the arms of another man gone was the apology that would be spoken, there was only anger that rose in the chest and selfishness re-occupied the heart, like a coward who lost before fighting he turned around leaving the girl dissolved in the problems she created herself.

Now he knows everything the man, Kevin, is just a colleague of Ayumi's at the cafe where she works but it's too late, the girl avoids him like she's a dangerous patient. Erik breathed heavily considering that these few days he could only see Ayumi from a distance, he had tried several times to get the girl to talk but always met with failure.

He restarted his white Jeep Ranegade car engine preparing to leave the place to return to his apartment not far from there, but his eyes caught the figure of the girl who had unknowingly taken control of his mind and heart was sitting in the cafe which was on the street corner facing a middle-aged man. Erik squinted his eyes trying to see the figure of the man clearly, but he did not recognize him this was the first time Erik saw the man who still looked handsome in his mid-fifties, from a distance he could see Ayumi looking nervous, her face pale under the spotlight of the cafe lights, wanted to feel he approached them and asked who the man was? But he put it away, he had no right to it all he could do was sit behind the wheel watching from a distance.

The few minutes that were missed were already like endless torment for Erik from having to watch the girl who had lately seized his attention sitting alone with a much older man in a cafe. His right leg twitched, his fingers tapped at the wheel of the car, his patience almost exhausted and he prepared to come out of his hiding place when he saw the two men standing up and started walking out of the cafe.

Erik focused his eyes towards the two of them, his chest skipping as their steps approached where he was, until finally a black Mercy car stopped in front of them. Erik furrowed his brows staring with a glare of sharp eyes, his heartbeat quickened, negative thoughts began to enter his head, he set his breath trying to expel all those thoughts, he said, and finally Erik could breathe a sigh of relief after he saw only the man who got into the car and left Ayumi who was still standing by himself.

Erik again watched Ayumi who was now walking staggered until finally the girl leaned on the street light pole but a few moments later the girl's body collapsed as if her legs were no longer strong to support the body tiny, without Erik commandeered as fast as lightning out of the car, running towards the body that is now sitting helplessly covered with cold winter night air that pierced the body.

"Are you okay?"

Erik crouched down before Ayumi who was now looking at him with a pushy look, his heart was sore at the sight of the girl who was full of suffering, suffering, erik gently helped Ayumi stand up though with great difficulty the girl finally managed to stand up, for a while Ayumi was just silently silent while looking down, not daring to raise her head just to look into the eyes of the man before her. His two tiny hands clasped Erik's jacket tightly as if looking for something to support his tired and aching body.

"Ayumi, are you okay?" Erik again asked in a whisper-like voice, but the girl just bowed while shaking her head weakly, her body began to tremble not because of the coldness she felt. As if understanding the feeling the little girl was now experiencing, Erik pulled her into an embrace providing warmth and comfort.

Like finding a comfortable hiding place Ayumi poked her head into the warmth of Erik's chest field and began to sob to spill all the fatigue that was squeezing her chest earlier. Realizing how injured the girl was, Erik tightened his arms to provide comfort, for a moment hiding the girl from the darkness of the night and the cold, bone-chilling air, until finally he felt the tiny body go unconscious in his arms.

***