The first thing Jieun noticed the next morning was how pale Chanyeol looked. In fact, he kept glancing at her way, and whenever they made eye-contact, he would quickly looked away, pretending as if he wasn't looking at her. Frowning, she tapped Jungkook's shoulder, who was eating a piece of toast.

"Hey," she said softly, "did anything happen yesterday?"

"Anything? At the party?" Jungkook glanced up at the ceilings. "I don't think so, but…" He glared at her. "Why are you eating breakfast at our house? Shouldn't you already be at school?"

"I invited her," Kiha said, coming into the kitchen. He tuned a whistle. "Chanyeol, where's my breakfast?"

"Coming," Chanyeol said, slipping the egg from the fry pan to the plate. "An egg, two toast, and two piece of sausage."

"Thank you," Kiha said, smiling. He sat down, ready to dig in. "Anyway, I don't think it's bad for your teacher to eat breakfast with us."

"I just need one day without seeing her in my life," Jungkook muttered.

"You didn't see her yesterday—"

"Uncle Kiha, I'm serious!" Jungkook cried out.

"I'm just saying," Kiha said.

"You seem to be in a very good mood today," Jieun said.

"I am! I didn't need to attend the stupid party yesterday," Kiha exclaimed. "I should make dinner for everyone. Bring those two other friends, Minah and Jiho!"

Jieun nearly choked on her food. She looked at Kiha with wide eyes while drinking some water.

"M-Minah and Jiho?" she stuttered. "W-Why…?"

"What? The drama is doing well and I'm in a good mood. I just think that it's more proper to invite them," Kiha said. He turned to Chanyeol. "Hey, Chanyeol, are you busy after school?"

"No, sir. I don't have janitorial duties today. Someone else has them," Chanyeol said. "I have a few day-time part-time jobs, though. I'll be available in the evening."

"Great! Go get the groceries!" Kiha exclaimed. "Here." He handed Chanyeol some money. "Use this and buy something good."

"Why can't you do it?" Jungkook asked his uncle.

"Webtoon."

Everyone gave Kiha a dumbfounded stare. He gave them a cheesy smile while he sipped his tea in a calm manner.

Jieun turned to Chanyeol once again. The boy, startled, froze up and twirled around. She frowned. She knew that something was up, but she couldn't quite figure it out. It was hard, especially since Chanyeol kept looking away.

Did I do something to make him hate me? she wondered.

"Jieun, why don't you go with Chanyeol?" Kiha suggested. Everyone widened their eyes. "That is, if you're not busy."

"I-I'm not," Jieun murmured, glancing at Chanyeol. He looked away again. Okay, something is definitely up.

"Wait, I want to go, too!" Jungkook said.

"You have tutor," Kiha said.

Jungkook groaned. "Uncle Kiha, come on. I'm one of the top students—"

"Tutor," Kiha repeated. He watched his nephew grumble something while looking down at his plate. Then, he glanced at Jieun and gave her a small wink.

Oh. He knows that there's something wrong with Chanyeol, too, she realized. She gave him a small nod before quietly finishing up her breakfast with the rest of the households.

• • •

Just like Chanyeol and Jieun planned, the two met after school and started heading towards the market. By chance, they ended up meeting Minah and Jiho at the supermarket, who were wrapping up the drama scene at the supermarket. Minah and Jiho were obvious shocked to see Jieun and Chanyeol alone. Before the two got out of the market with the groceries, Minah quickly finished up her last scene and chased after the two with Jiho.

"Don't you have to perfect the scene before you can leave?" Chanyeol asked.

"Are you saying that I wasn't perfect?" Minah snapped, glaring at him. "Besides, I don't care about that. What I care about is protecting my friends."

"It's not like I was thinking of hurting her anymore," he murmured.

"We still don't trust you," Jiho said. He gave him a cold eye. "Well, can you blame us? After all the things you did…"

"I'm sorry," Chanyeol said, hanging his head low.

"If you're really sorry, you should show it," Jiho told him. He walked away from him and gently pushed Jieun away from Chanyeol.

"Anyway, Kiha sent us a text," Minah said to Jieun. "Dinner at his house, right?"

"It's almost time, too," Jiho said, checking his watch. "Let's just go altogether."

Jieun made an awkward smile. "Sure, let's go."

"Looks like it's going to rain soon," Minah said, glancing up at the cloudy skies. "We should head back fast."

Jiho nodded in agreement. I haven't asked Chanyeol about what he's so worried about.

Before Jieun was able to follow, Chanyeol grabbed her shirt. She turned around and looked at him, at first a bit frightened with his odd behavior, but later gave him a more gentle expression.

"Yes?" she asked.

"We need to talk," he told her, "in private."

Jieun looked at the group, who stopped and stared at her. "Um, do we have to talk now?"

"I want to talk now," he declared firmly. He held onto her shirt, not letting her go. "Please?"

"Why—"

"It's about Jiyong," Chanyeol blurted. She stared at him. "I met him. We talked." He looked down at his feet. "We talked about you."

Jieun gasped a little. Her heart raced a little, feeling a bit curious as to what the two boys could've talked about. She glanced at Jiho and Minah, who kept their eyes on Jieun and Chanyeol.

"Um…" She gently tugged her shirt, gesturing him to let go. He did, causing Jiho and Minah to ease up a bit. "I don't think it's a good idea for the two of us to be alone and talk in private. As much as I want to hear what you have to say, I don't think those two—" she pointed at Minah and Jiho "—would want me to be alone with you. Also, I don't really trust you…"

"I want to talk to you in private, though," Chanyeol muttered. He looked around before spotting a nearby café. He pointed at the coffee shop. "Can we talk in there? Your friends are only worried if I'm going to do anything to you. They can sit a few tables away or watch us from the window."

Jieun looked at the coffee shop. Then, with a deep breath, she slowly nodded her head and turned to Jiho and Minah, who gave her an uneasy look.

• • •

Chanyeol brought over two lattes and sat across from Jieun, who thanked him for the drink. The two remained oddly quiet, mostly because Jiho and Minah wouldn't stop being obvious and kept glaring at their direction. They were only three or four tables away, but they wouldn't be able to hear anything since there were people around them chatting.

He took a deep breath through his nose, playing with his hands nervously while trying to figure out the right words to say. Jieun, who noticed his unusual behavior, pressed her lips together before deciding that she should be the one to talk first.

"It's a good thing we came in here," Jieun said lightly. She looked outside, noticing that it was starting to sprinkle.

"Hm? Oh, yeah," Chanyeol said, staring at the drizzling sky.

Silence returned to their conversation. They continued to remain awkward, unsure of what to say. Jieun gathered her courage and decided to speak up once again.

"How did you meet Jiyong?" she asked him softly.

Chanyeol looked down at his drink, ashamed. "Kiha's invitation. The party was hosted by Jiyong himself."

So close, Jieun thought. I was so close, and I didn't even see that kind of opportunity.

"I saw the host's name and I was thinking of having you go with Jungkook, but… Well, something told me that it wouldn't feel right if I let you go and see him. I felt like I had personal matters to deal with him, too." He lowered his head. "I should've…"

"Tell me everything," she ordered.

Chanyeol seemed really hesitant. He avoided her eyes, trying to figure out where to start. Jieun patiently waited for him to speak. He took another deep breath, exhaled slowly, then finally met her eyes with a painful expression.

“He’s…married. You know, Jiyong.”

There was a short pause between the two. Chanyeol continued to look down at the table, folding his fingers into a tight fist. His heart squeezed, knowing that there wasn’t much for him to do or say. All he could do was wait for Jieun’s response—her long, awaited response.

When the silence moment paused, Chanyeol heard her pick up a spoon and stir her coffee. He sealed his lips, still waiting for her to say something. He figured that she was thinking about what he had just said. He was sure that she would ask him if he was serious, or ask him something to confirm the truth.

However, when Chanyeol glanced upward to peek, he saw a small smile appear on her lips. Her eyes were sad, but they weren’t as dreaded as Chanyeol had expected. She seemed rather calm about the situation, as if the news was only a small surprise.

“He’s married, I see. Does he have any kids?” she inquired curiously.

“Two so far. One loud boy and a genius daughter. They’re expected the third child to be born in three months,” he explained.

“They’re…? Oh, you mean Jiyong and his wife. His wife is… Sandara, right?” Jieun questioned him. Chanyeol’s eyes widened, surprised to know that she knew of the wife’s name. “I’ve met her before. She came to take Jiyong away back in the days when he lived the poor style of life.”

“You’ve met her, and you just allowed to take Jiyong away?” Chanyeol asked.

“Well, I didn’t just allow her to. I begged him to stay, and I tried to fight back. She was a tough opponent, though. It was only reasonable for the woman he was engaged to do bring him back. I was just in the way of their relationship,” Jieun said. She took a sip of coffee from the small mug. “She’s a good woman. I don’t think I have any regrets having her take him.”

“But Jieun, if we work together, we might be able to make you and Jiyong end up together. You two might see each other!” Chanyeol exclaimed.

Jieun let out a quiet scoff. “See him…? I think that’s too risky for me, Chanyeol. I miss him a lot, but if I ever meet him, I might break down again.”

“It’s okay! If…If I work hard, then I might be able to get Jungkook to give me some kind of position in his father's business. At that rate, I might be a regular guest at Jiyong’s parties and in a few years, I might be able to invite him to any of my business parties. When that happens, I can bring you along and you two can talk or just look at each other.”

“Chanyeol, I appreciate you doing all this for me, but there’s no way that Jiyong and I can get back together. Think of his children. They’d be mortified to know that their father left them for some other woman.”

At this moment, Chanyeol began to feel frustrated. Why couldn’t she just submit to him and go along with his plan? Why was she holding in the pain that she had been bearing since the moment Jiyong left her life? Here was an opportunity to meet him, to see him! Why wasn’t she taking it?

Jieun noticed Chanyeol’s angered expression. She pressed her lips together, and looked out the window. The rain continued to pour, thunder rolling into the busy city. Her eyes became distant as she watched for particular nothing except for movement. Her long, pale fingers gripped around the warm coffee mug as she inhaled softly through her nose.

“Chanyeol, Jiyong has simply moved on. He’s been doing the right thing. It’s me who’s been lagging behind. You should be mad at me for sticking in the past rather than pursuing the future.” A pause. Then, she broke into a pitiful smile. “You know, I can understand why I should be crying, but why are you crying?”

The taller boy continued to look down at his lap, watching drops of tears fall on his dark jeans. Dots decorated his pants, as his fingers curled to wrinkle the fabric. When he sniffed, the sound of mucus rolling back up roared in the room, and all he could do was quietly sit down, stiff with sadness.

“I… I can’t do anything right for you,” Chanyeol confessed. “I… I can’t do anything to make you happy. It frustrates me to know that I can never give you the happiness you deserve. I couldn’t make you happy back when we were dating, and I still can’t make you happy by matching you up with the guy you loved. I… I just feel so damn stupid! I can’t make you happy, and it sickens me!

“I’ve beaten you up, and you cried. I’ve thrown you against the ground, and you cried. I’ve even thrown chairs down at you and made you unconscious at the hospital, and you still cried. Every damn thing I did, you kept forgiving me. The only good thing I thought I did for you was breaking up with you, but that didn’t seem to work out too well. I thought you were going to be happy with Jiyong, but I still made you cry when he left you. All it seems like I can do is make you cry, and honestly, I just want to be forgiven by you.

“And you were so kind to me. You never reported to the hospital or police. You’ve only talked to your problems with Jiho or Jiyong, and I was always jealous of that. I always wondered why you couldn’t tell me anything, and I could only figure out the answer at the end that I was your problem. I hate myself for not sitting down and talking to you rather than kicking you against the wall. I hate myself for giving these memories—these terrible memories that still haunts me in my dreams—to you. Every time I sleep, I wonder if you still fear me coming back to beat you up with some other wild object, and I fear meeting you and ending up hurting you.

“Honestly, I thought that if I could have you and Jiyong meet, then you would finally happy. I thought that if I did what I thought was right, then you could finally smile for once. You wouldn’t cry. I always made you cry. I thought that if I could make you happy with Jiyong, then for the first time in your life, you would sincerely be happy, and I would sincerely congratulate that happiness for you. But no, I can’t. I can’t seem to ever make you happy. I’m so sorry, Jieun. I’m really sorry.”

Chanyeol never felt so heavy-hearted in his life. He kept crying, blurting out the first things that came into his head. Words drizzled out of his mouth like the rain outside. For the first time in his life, Chanyeol finally began to use his words to convey his thoughts. His emotions ran wild, ranging from sorrowful regret to burning desires. He never thought that he could speak like this to anyone, especially to his ex-girlfriend.

By now, Jieun had tears running down her cheeks. She sniffed, wiping her flat nose with a nearby tissue. Her eyes were red and swollen, as she had cried a lot from hearing Chanyeol’s earnest feelings. The small smile grew bigger; she tried to grin in order to have him notice that she was happy deep inside.

“Chanyeol, you had always made me happy,” Jieun croaked out. “When we first met and during those first years that we dated, I was very happy. When we ran away, I was really happy. I might’ve not been as happy as we were when we ran away from our parents, but I was truly happy.”

“I-I still don’t understand why you don’t punish me,” Chanyeol whimpered out. “Why don’t you hit me like how I did? Why don’t you yell at me like how I did? Why don’t you reveal the truth about me? I’ve acknowledged myself to be a monster. Haven’t you?”

Jieun wiped her tears with the palm of her hand. “It’s true that I wanted to hate you. I wanted to ruin your life, just like how you ruined mine. However, when I wasn’t with you anymore, I realized that there was much more to my life and yours compared to the events we shared. There were so much more for both of us to do.” She forced a smile. "Kiha has been teaching me a lot of things, and I think I should finally use what I've learned from him to move on."

Chanyeol squeezed his eyes, knowing exactly what was coming. “Please don’t, Jieun… I don’t deserve it!”

“Chanyeol,” she said gently. With tears still running down to her chin, she forced a very weak smile. “For all the reasons I can give, I forgive you.”

“B…But I haven’t done anything y…yet,” Chanyeol cried, putting his thumb and index finger over his eyes. “I haven’t done anything to make you happy yet…!”

“There is no reason for me to hold grudges against you now,” Jieun revealed. “Chanyeol… I've decided to move on, too.”

• • •

When the rain stopped, the four gathered to leave. Although Minah and Jiho were confused as to why the other two were crying, they remained quiet and consoled Jieun, leaving Chanyeol to recompose himself on his own. It wasn't until a few minute later when Jieun kept saying that she was fine and that she wanted to talk to Chanyeol alone.

"Why did you do all those things to me?" Jieun asked Chanyeol after Jiho and Minah walked in front of them.

Chanyeol looked up at the sky. "I think it's because once you started to act on your own, you became less beautiful to me. The more independent you became, the more I was afraid that you would leave me. We left everything together, so I was afraid of being the one left behind."

"That's stupid."

"It was. The more I hit you, the more you seemed to better submit to me and were willing to stay with me. I just couldn't see that I was hurting you and that you were actually drifting away from me more with every blow." Chanyeol stopped himself. "When you left me and when I dropped out of high school, I lost all our money to gambling. I wasted everything and became homeless, eventually digging through trash to find anything to eat or to sell. I was ready to live that I kind of life because I knew I deserved that kind of lifestyle, but Kiha saw me and gave me a second chance."

"And then Kiha gave you a job and everything, right?" she asked.

"Yeah. He gave me a reason to clean up my act and figure myself out. I owe him a lot."

As the group walked, Jieun started to sense someone familiar. She stopped her tracks, causing the other three to stop as well. She glanced up, noticing a familiar man holding two pairs of umbrella in one hand and an opened umbrella in his other hand. 

"Kiha," she blurted. Chanyeol, Minah, and Jiho looked up and saw Kiha casually walking up to them.

"It was raining and I thought you guys needed on," Kiha said. He handed Jiho and Chanyeol each an umbrella. "You two share with the ladies."

Chanyeol looked at the umbrella. Then, he handed it to Minah, who took it by surprise.

"Are you not going to use it?" Kiha asked.

"I'm…going to go," Chanyeol said. He turned to Jieun. "By the way, just because we made up, I have no intentions of being friends with you."

Jieun gave him a gentle smile. "Same."

"What are you going to do?" Kiha asked him.

"Work," Chanyeol replied.

"Again?"

Chanyeol gave Kiha a small smile. "It's not work that will get me money."

"Oh. That kind of work." Kiha nodded. "Alright. Go on ahead."

"Thank you. Excuse me." Chanyeol walked away, running off to reflect on himself.

Jiho glanced at Jieun, who didn't have an umbrella with her at all. He blushed a little and was about to share umbrellas with her until she walked up to Kiha.

"May I share the umbrella with you?" she asked.

Kiha, though a bit surprised, nodded his head anyway. He tilted the umbrella closer to Jieun so that she was fully protected from the small rain. Jieun gave him a warm smile as the two walked side by side, heading back to Kiha's house.

Jiho stared at Jieun. Minah approached besides him and opened her umbrella, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"She's changed, hasn't she?" Minah asked. "She got a bit…bolder, I guess?"

"Mm…" Jiho gave her a gentle expression. "As long as she's happy, I'm fine with that."

"Put up your umbrella, mister," she said, "or else you'll get sick."

"Yeah, yeah," Jiho mumbled. As he opened his umbrella, he glanced at Minah. "So when are you planning to get a boyfriend?"

Minah only laughed and walked away while Jiho followed behind her.