The Kims heard the news about the ruin from one of the neighbors. They quickly rushed to meet them. They were very relieved to know that nobody was hurt. Even though Sooyoung’s house was quite far from other houses, a lot of people went to express their condolences.

“How did this happen?” asked Mr. Kim.

“I was holding a bottle of kerosene when I suddenly felt dizzy. Maybe when I fell, the bottle broke and the kerosene spilled from the fire towards the stored firewood. This is my entire fault. My daughter was almost died because of me,” answered Mr. Park and cried. Sooyoung hugged him.

“Aniyo, appa. Don’t blame yourself. Maybe this is our fate,” said Sooyoung to calm her father.

“That’s okay. You can stay at our house for the time being. We don’t mind if you want to stay there for a long time. It’s a pleasure for us. You don’t have to find other place to stay,” said Mr. Kim.

“We can’t do that. We’ll stay at your house for now, until I manage to find another house,” said Mr. Park.

“It’s up to you, but it’s really an honor for us if you stay with us,” said Mrs. Kim. Sooyoung walked towards the remaining of her house. She searched for things that weren’t destroyed by the fire. When she found her burnt tennis racquet, her tears fell. She remembered how difficult her father was when he collected the money just to buy the racquet for her birthday three years ago. She felt a hand touched her shoulder. When she saw Mrs. Kim stood there, she quickly wiped her tears.

“Appa gave me this on my sixteenth birthday. I love this racquet so much. My games will screw if I don’t use this racquet,” she said in a sad voice. Tears still came out from her eyes. Mrs. Kim wiped her tears and hugged her. When she let Sooyoung go, she continued her searching. Her friends could only watch from the distance because they knew how sad she was. Every single thing that she thought could still be used, she’ll take it.

It’s been four days since her house was burnt, but she still hasn’t changed. She had become a quiet and dull person. The laughter that always accompanied her had gone. Nothing that her friends did changed her.

“What should we do now? We’ve done a lot of things and none of them work,” said Hyesoon.

“I have no idea,” said Sunggyu.

“Do you think we should ask Myungsoo for help?” suggested Sungyeol.

“When he’s the person that she hates the most in this world? I don’t think so,” answered Hyejung.

“We can try. Besides, they’re living in the same house,” Hoya agreed with Sungyeol.

“Yeah, I think we can try that,” said Dongwoo.

“Do you think he’ll help us?” asked Hyesoon. Everyone nod their heads.

*

At the same time, Sooyoung was sitting alone on a bench under a tree. She was busy reading the novel to notice that someone was watching her. About 100 meters away from her, Myungsoo had been watching her for almost 15 minutes. He didn’t know why he always wasting his time watching her when she was the one who had been fighting with him since their first meeting. Her silence had attracted him to know more about her.

In the class, everyone was curious because both Sooyoung and Myungsoo were missing. Even the teacher asked about them, but nobody knew where they were.

“Do you think they’re on a date?” asked Hyejung.

“I don’t think so. I think both of them are having problems right now,” answered Hyesoon.

“What trouble could that jerk has?” asked Hyejung.

“I don’t know. Maybe his girlfriend in Canada had dumped him,” said Hyesoon. After hearing that, both of them had to bite their tongue to avoid them from laughing.