Silent Chapter
INTRODUCTION...
The first thing people noticed about her…
was that she didn’t try to be noticed.
No laughter.
No unnecessary movement.
No effort to belong.
And yet—
every room shifted when she walked in.
She stood near the far end of the hallway, half-shadowed by the tall glass windows that let in Seoul’s pale morning light. Students passed by in clusters, loud, careless, alive in a way she never was.
She didn’t look at them.
Didn’t care to.
Black coat.
Sharp posture.
Eyes that didn’t linger.
If someone brushed past her, they apologized.
If someone met her gaze, they looked away first.
No one knew her name.
And somehow…
no one asked.Ren noticed her on a Tuesday.
He wasn’t supposed to.
He had his routine—
head down, quiet steps, avoiding eye contact like it might burn him. Just another invisible face in a school that never really saw him.
But that day…
he looked up.
And she was there.
Still. Silent. Untouchable.
Like she existed in a different world that had somehow slipped into his.
He didn’t mean to stare.
He really didn’t.
But there was something wrong about her presence.
Not dangerous.
Not loud.
Just… wrong.
Like she wasn’t meant to be here.
—
She felt it.
Of course she did.
His stare.
Soft. Lingering. Careless in a way most people weren’t brave enough to be around her.
Her eyes shifted.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
And for the first time that morning—
she looked at someone.
Him.
Ren froze.
Completely.
Like his body forgot how to function.
His fingers tightened around the strap of his bag. His throat went dry. His heart—traitor that it was—started racing like it had something to prove.
She didn’t smile.
Didn’t frown.
Didn’t react at all.
But she didn’t look away either.
Not immediately.
And that…
that was enough to ruin him.
Because in that single moment—
Ren Takahashi made a mistake.
He looked at her…
and didn’t stop.
—
And Seraphina Vale—
noticed.
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I stood in front of 고요한 장 Goyohan Jang bookstore staring the window glass absently, the only one thing I cared about, my diary...the diary Sara gave me before she closed her eyes forever... I tried writing a lot in it but these words!? never formed...I thought maybe I need a new place? a new environment in which I don't have to think about this world for a few hours... I stepped inside the store, not looking around, I didn't need to I don't care anyway. I sat on a table far away in the corner, the books gulping my form, I sank in the chair, opening the heavy thick black book with blank pages that never got filled even if I tried to. there was bunch of pens in the lavender penholder, I stared at them what felt like forever and finally picked a single pen, sharp, thin, enough to cut through a paper, I might be looking like a crazy woman staring at nothing but a pen?. The tip of the pen was still hovering above the page , twisting , turning the pen in my hand .
I felt the jingle of the bell on the door like someone entered, I didn't look up, didn't want to, I just felt the presence of something which is hard to find in this world these days... softness. " Annyeonghaseyo!" a soft voice rang through my ears as the boy whom I didn't look up at yet said something in Korean to probably to his coworkers?...I don't care. I was still fidgeting with the pen in my hand , one hand running through my hairs in frustration, I could feel the soft chattering of the coworkers in the far corner, I could still hear that soft voice of the boy who entered few minutes ago, but I could feel that there was a shiver in his voice, like he's speaking so carefully as if he said something wrong the world will swallow him alive.
Subconsciously the pen in my hand started writing, two lines, that's it, nothing else...but those two lines? were enough to make my heart stop. I finally looked up, curiosity reaching its peek as I kept hearing his voice, again and again and...again. I looked up... a smirk played on my lips as I took in his face, his smaller frame, shivering slightly as if afraid the world will crush him, and his eyes- ocean blue...already staring at me...a little longer than needed. He was in a casual brown color long loose sweater, hairs wet as if he came running inside the store, The moment he saw my eyes locked on his? his breath hitched slightly, his chest raising a little faster.
I didn't smile, I didn't blink...but, I didn't look away either, there was something in his gaze that made my body ease a little even though I made his body stiff. I stared at him for a long time, watching the raising and falling of his chest "a-annyeong…" his voice barely above a whisper, I didn't respond, I didn't look away either, I kept staring at him until one of his coworkers called him from behind, he flinched lightly and turned towards the coworker. I looked back at my notebook, and this time, I kept writing and when my hand stopped...I ended the poem with one word...Mine.
