"Did you manage to talk to Jongin?"

Krystal shook her head at Luna's question as she let out a sigh.

"He didn't come to class again? I thought he's already been away from classes for the past two days?" Sulli asked with a confused look on her face. "Is he really that sick?"

"Anni. He came to class just now but it's so obvious that he was avoiding me. He did looked paler than usual." Krystal explained as Sulli and Luna gave her their full attention.

"If it's obvious that he's avoiding you, I guess you should just let him be. It's his decision anyway." Luna tried to suggest.

"But I feel like I'm the one who had pushed him away. I made him felt like I was helping him unwillingly." 

"So you feel guilty? Which is why you're trying to reach out to him now?" Sulli asked as Krystal nodded her head slowly. "Even if you did manage to talk to him, what do you plan to do? Apologise for your actions or your words? Then what?"

"Actually, I don't know. Come to think of it, I only thought of apologising for my behaviour and attitude towards him. Other than that, I didn't really thought it through."

"I think, for now, you should just concentrate on what's important. Which is your project and final thesis. I believe, from the note that Jongin wrote, he would be concentrating on that too. Hopefully once everything is completed, you would have the opportunity to talk to him again and settle this issue." Luna said out her thoughts as Krystal could only agree to it.

Meanwhile in Seoul, Eunjin was busy getting her discharge papers done with the help of Yuri and Taeyeon. She was given a week of hospitalisation leave and had appointed Sunny to stand in for her at work.

"Do you think it's okay to ask Sunny to cover for you again?" Taeyeon asked as the three of them made their way to Yuri's car.

"She's the best choice out there whom I could trust. Unless either one of you want to take over her place." Eunjin looked at Yuri and Taeyeon who immediately shook their heads aggressively. "I guess as much."

"It's not our style to take charge of people, Eunjin. We're more of the follower kind. Right, Taeng?" Yuri commented and Taeyeon nodded her head in agreement.

"It's not my style too. But I don't have a choice, right?" Eunjin said with a heavy sigh.

As Yuri drove away from the hospital towards Eunjin's apartment, the girl looked out of the window with a lot of thoughts in her mind.

Eunjin's POV

'Even after working at the company for a few years, I still can't get use to my position and my job. I keep having this thoughts that I'm not good enough to lead the company. And personally, I'm getting tired and unhappy about all these.' I was having my own conversation in my head as the car passed by the buildings and I stared into the clear sky.

"Eunjin, did you inform Krystal about your discharge?"

Yuri's question interrupted my thoughts as I nodded my head. She continuing asking about Krystal's reply and I told her that my girlfriend had yet to reply me.

"I think she's really busy with her final thesis. I shouldn't be bothering her with all these at the moment though." 

"By the way, you told us that you're planning to buy a new car, right? Since you said that Krystal's car is already on the verge of being scrapped." Taeyeon asked.

"Yeah. I was thinking of looking for a bigger apartment too. Or maybe a new house?" My remarks seemed to surprise both girls as they looked at me with disbelief. "Wae? Why do you both looked surprised? Did I say something wrong?"

"Are you planning to settle down the moment Krystal graduates? With a new car and a new house, you sounded like you're getting married soon." Yuri commented as I just laughed it off.

"Of course I'm planning to marry her. But not that soon. We have Sooyoung and Yoona wedding come up soon. I don't want to steal the limelight away from them. Furthermore, Krystal has her dreams to go after first. I'm not in a rush anyway."

"As if you're getting younger by the day." Taeyeon teased as I continued laughing.

************************

"Hey. How are you feeling? Have you eaten?"

A smile appeared on my face as I heard Krystal's voice on the line. I had just finished bathing and was having some trouble buttoning my pyjamas when her call came in.

"I ate before I reach home with Taeyeon and Yuri earlier. I'm actually feeling a little pissed off at the moment."

"Wae? Because I called you?"

"Of course not, pabo. Why would I be pissed off at you?" I chuckled at her reaction as I explained my current state. "My fingers are still in a cast."

"Aigoo. You should have went back to your grandparent's place to stay for the week until your cast is removed. At least there are people over there to help you out in times of need. Now you're all alone and what if you needed help?" Krystal let out a heavy sigh after nagging at me.

"I'll be fine. I will just change to a t-shirt. There's always a solution to all problems."

"Really? Are you sure there's always a solution?" Krystal asked and I sensed that something was bothering her when I heard her tone of voice.

"Is everything okay, sweetheart? You sounded troubled."

"It's nothing. I..." Krystal paused for a moment as I waited for her to continue. "Actually, there is. It's about Jongin."

My eyebrows immediately went up when I heard his name as I listened quietly to everything that Krystal was telling me. About how she's been treating him, about the minor collision and about what happened at the library, including the note that Jongin gave to her.

"The past few days, I've been trying to reach out to him but he's just blatantly avoiding me. It makes me feel more guilty by the day."

Silence crept in as I heard Krystal letting out a heavy sigh. I was trying to gather my thoughts about the whole situation when Krystal started apologising for troubling me with her problem.

"You don't have to apologise. It's always better to share your worries with me rather than going through it alone." I replied as I bit my lips to think of what to say. "With regards to your situation with Jongin, since you said that he's avoiding you on purpose, maybe it's best that you leave him alone at the moment. Maybe he needs that time apart which is why he made the decision to stay away from you."

"That was what Luna said too. And what do you mean by time apart? You made it sound like as if I was in a relationship with him."

I laughed at her words as I could imagine her pouting when she said it. "I'm so sorry. I couldn't find a better term when trying to explain what I meant."

"Pabo." Krystal replied as both of us ended up laughing at each other. "I miss you."

"I miss you too, sweetheart. You should stop worrying too much. You have your papers to think about and I don't want you to have added stress because of all this."

"Arraseo. I will just focus on my final thesis and project. Do my best, graduate and run all the way back into your arms. How about that?" Krystal's giggles were heard at the end of her sentence.

"I love that. And I love you." I replied with a big smile on my face.

"I love you too. You should go and rest now. I'm heading to my next class soon."

We ended the call and I went to change into a t-shirt. Climbing up onto my bed and grabbing my laptop, I made myself comfortable before switching the device on to go through my emails. After staring at the laptop for 20mins, I suddenly closed the laptop and chucked it onto the bed.

'There's always a solution to all problems'

Those words echoed throught my head as I thought about my current situation. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the company, about my position and also about my dreams. My own dreams. I realised that ever since my relationship with my grandfather had improved, it had slowly turned me away from going after my dreams.

"Appa didn't want to take over the company because he was chasing his own dreams. So why did I give up my own dreams to be in the position that Appa was avoiding all his life?"

I asked myself as I thought back about all the past incidents. One thing led to another and without me realizing it, I eventually took over the company. My dreams were getting further and further away from me as I changed my focus to look after the company.

"Han Eunjin.... Is this what you want in your life? Are you happy with how your life turns out to be?" I started talking to myself before letting out a sigh and leaning my head against the headboard.

Yuri's POV

"Woahhh.... This place is nice. Super nice." Jessica commented as she continued to look around the apartment. 

Eunjin and I just followed her from behind as the sales agent explained about the benefits and facilities of the apartment. After about 30mins wandering throughout the whole space, the agent left us alone to continue viewing the place as she had another customer to attend to at the apartment above us.

"How did you manage to know about this place?" I asked Eunjin as she replied that her secretary was the one who helped her with it.

"I like this place because it's location is strategic for both me and Krystal to get to work. It's not that far from both our workplace. Furthermore, the facilties here are quite good." Eunjin continued explaining as I just nodded my head.

It's been two days since Eunjin was discharged from the hospital. I was quite surprised when she told me yesterday that she needed me and Jessica to accompany her to view an apartment after both of us were done with our work. Since Eunjin's bike was still at the workshop and she couldn't drive due to her finger cast, I fetched her from her place after fetching Jessica.

"So what Yuri told me is true. You really sounded like you're ready to settle down." Jessica commented as I just broke into a smile. "Does Soojung knows that you're planning to move out?"

Eunjin shook her head and said that she was planning to surprise her when she returned to Seoul.

"But this apartment is really spacious. One master bedroom, two guest rooms and a huge living room that has a view of the Hangang River. If its only for you and Krystal to stay, won't it be a waste?" I asked as I leaned against the wall.

"If I was only thinking about just me and Krystal, my current apartment is good enough for both of us. But we have extended family members and friends to think of too. With this apartment, they will always be welcome to hang out at our place and stay the night." Eunjin replied.

"So I can always come here to have a sisterly bonding time with Soojung, right?" Jessica asked with a teasing grin as Eunjin showed a thumbs up. "My future sister-in-law is so considerate."

We laughed at Jessica's comment before I remembered something else.

"By the way, did you finalise on what car you're getting?" I asked as Eunjin nodded her head.

"Why don't we talk about that over dinner? I'm starting to get hungry." Jessica suggested as Eunjin and I agreed to it.

************************

It was my first time taking a cab to my grandparent's place. It felt awkward having to stop outside the gate and walking up to the main door. Harabeoji never allowed anyone unfamiliar into the house and since I took a cab, I could only stopped outside.

But it was a good experience. Walking past the garden and breathing in the fresh air, I felt a sense of freedom. I was so used to riding all the way to the garage or to the main door, that I never ever stopped once to admire the beautiful garden landscape.

After ringing the doorbell, I was ushered to the living room by one of the housemaid. She told me to take a seat first while she informed Harabeoji and Halmeoni about my arrival.

I took out my phone to play some games and only stopped when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Looking up, my vision paused momentarily at what I saw.

The new housemaid was helping Halmeoni down the stairs slowly as the elderly lady smiled at me. At that moment, I noticed how fragile she had became. It's been awhile since I came to see them since they were away for a cruise tour and had only came back about two weeks ago.The only recent time that I saw them was when they came to see me at the hospital after the accident.

"Halmeoni." I immediately stood up and made my way towards her to help her to have a seat at the armchair. "Are you okay? Why do you look so fragile? You look so much better when you came to see me at the hospital."

She laughed at my remarks before instructing the housemaid to prepare some drinks. 

"After coming back from that world-tour cruise last two weeks, my knee seemed to have grown weaker. It's old age problem. You don't have to worry."

"Where's Harabeoji? Did he went out to play golf or fishing?" I tried to guess but Halmeoni shook her head.

"He's upstairs. Getting some rest. He's not been feeling well too." Halmeoni replied with a slight low tone with a smile, trying to hide her worries.

"He's not well? What happened? Why was I not informed about it?" I started to become worried. "I did noticed that he was coughing a lot when he came to visit me that day."

"He was already not that well when we came to visit you at the hospital but we didn't want to worry you any further. His coughing has gotten worse since two days ago but Doctor Ahn had been monitoring him. She said that it might be due to climate change since we've been travelling a lot." Halmeoni explained as I nodded my head. "By the way, why are you here without informing us beforehand? I would have asked them to cook delicious food for you."

"I actually wanted to talk to Harabeoji about something but since he is not well, I think I'll just do it another time." 

"Is it because of the company?" Halmeoni's question seemed to hit straight to the heart. "Uncle Park had actually mentioned it to us before when he came to visit. He told us about the long conversation that both of you had when you went to look for him in Japan."

"So he told you and Harabeoji about it?" I had a frown on my face and pouted a little. "He was not suppose to do so. It was supposed to be a random discussion between the two of us. Is Harabeoji angry with me because of that? Since I actually went to Uncle Park instead of him to talk about the company."

"He was, initially. But I managed to talk things out with him. I could understand where you are coming from, Eunjin. I saw how happy you were when you were still working in that garage." Halmeoni gave me a warm smile as I let out a sigh.

"Eunjin."

Both of us looked up when we heard a groggy voice from the second floor. Harabeoji was standing against the railing, looking down on us.

"Meet me in my study room."

He left after saying those words, which I presumed he was making his way towards the room. I turned to face Halmeoni who gave me an assuring nod before I climbed up the stairs.

When I pushed open the door after knocking on it, Harabeoji was already seated at his desk. Making my way towards him, I noticed that he kept coughing before he took a deep breathe.

"Are you okay, Harabeoji? Do you need me to get you some drinks? Have you taken your medications?" Questions after questions shot out from my mouth as I tried to cover the nervousness in my system.

"I'm fine. Sit down."

I immediately complied and waited for him to continue talking.

"What is your dream, Eunjin?"

I blinked my eyes rapidly at Harabeoji and was dumbfounded momentarily with his question. He stared at me, waiting for my answer as I swallowed my saliva.

"To open up my own car workshop." I replied as I saw him nodding his head.

"To be your own boss?" Harabeoji asked again and I understood what he was referring to.

"It's more about working on cars, repairing them and making sure that they're in good condition for the customers." I explained in further details. "My dream was something of a smaller scale, Harabeoji. Just a small workshop that I could use my skills and knowledge on."

"I see. You like to be the owner and the worker at the same time." 

I nodded my head slowly as Harabeoji became silent, causing the atmosphere to become a little tense.

"Why didn't you alk to me about all this before? I thought we had gotten closer over the years but when Park told me about your conversatiom with him, I felt a little left out." Harabeoji expressed his feelings before he let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry, Harabeoji. I didn't mean to hide these things from you. I just didn't know what to expect if I was to tell you about it, especially since it concerns the company. You don't expect me to come up to you and said that I didn't want to manage the company, right?" I asked as Harabeoji suddenly chuckled.

"Actually, I did expect you to do so in the early stages when you took over the company. That was what your Appa did after one week of reporting to work in the company." He continued chuckling as I looked surprised.

"Appa did that? But didn't you say that he left the house even before you ask him to take over?" I questioned Harabeoji about it

"It was during one of his semester break from school. I told him that he should just work part time at the company but after a week in my office, he came to me and said that he can't take the workload. He ended up working part time as a mechanic at a small workshop." 

"Just one week and he gave up?" 

Harabeoji nodded his head before telling me that I was better than my father. He said that he was actually proud of me for giving my best to the company.

"I know thatit has never been a smooth journey for you, especially during those times when things seemed to be going down the drain. But you managed to pull though. Halmeoni mentioned to me about how she missed seeing those sparkling look in your eyes when you were still working at the workshop with the other girls. She said you looked more relaxed and happier those days."

"It's not that I'm unhappy now, Harabeoji." I tried to explain but Harabeoji lifted up his hands to stop me.

"I understand, Eunjin. You don't have to explain yourself. I'm not angry or disappointed in you." Harabeoji said before breaking into a warm smile. "I believe you came here today to talk about this issue with me, right?"

************************

"Oh my god. I can't believe that it's finally over."

Krystal just smiled as she observed Sulli twirling around the school park with her hands up in the air, showing her gesture of freedom.

"Yah!! Behave. All the students are looking at you as if you had just lost your mind." Luna started nagging at their excited friend who just grinned cheekily.

"I don't care. After submitting my final thesis earlier, I felt a whole lot of burden leaving my shoulders. Two more weeks and I'll be back to my beloved home. My mother had promised to cook my favourite dishes when I'm back for one whole month." Sulli laughed at her own remarks.

"You should start learning to cook on your own. Don't have to keep troubling your mother." Krystal commented before Sulli turned to face her with a teasing smile.

"It's not like I'm getting married and having to prepare food for my partner. Unlike someone, who's all so ready to be a full time housewife." Sulli started laughing after ending her sentence.

"Yah!!! Who says I'm planning to be a full time housewife?" Krystal smacked Sulli's shoulder as the poor girl winced in pain. "I've got my dreams to go after. But then again, not working for a while seems like a good idea too."

"Of course you can do that. You have a stable financial supporter. I wish I can get a partner as rich as Eunjin too." Luna responded.

"It has to be as rich and caring as Eunjin. But I think it's difficult to find such people. You're so lucky, Krys." Sulli said in a dreamy tone as Krystal just smiled.

"By the way, did you manage to talk to Jongin after submitting your final project just now?" Luna asked Krystal who was about to answer her when her phone suddenly rang.

Krystal excused herself to answer the call. After replying with short answers to the person on the line and nodding her head a few times, she ended the conversation.

"Who was that?" Luna and Sulli asked at the same time.

"It was Jongin. He said that he knew I've been trying to reach out to him and told me that he's going to give me the chance to do so by meeting up with him over dinner tonight."

"Huh? Why does it sound like he was just plainly asking you out for dinner? And what does he mean by gving you a chance?" Sulli asked blatantly as both Krystal and Luna just kept quiet with frowns on their faces. "I don't feel confortable with this arrangement."

"Me too. Which was why I told him that I wanted to bring you and Luna along. He said it's either we have a private talk between the two of us or he won't meet up with me at all. Before ending the conversation, he commented that he was not the one who's feeling guilty about the whole situation. Which I assumed that he was indirectly implying that I should be the one feeling guilty." Krystal explained before letting out a sigh.

"He said that? Oh my god. I almost thought that he was actually a better person when he gave you that letter but he is still as snobbish as expected. Why is he so adamant about wanting to meet you alone anyway? Does he have something up his sleeves?" Luna asked but Krystal could only shrugged her shoulders.

"If I were you, I would just continue ignoring him. It's true that you might feel a little guilty for your attitude towards him but it's not as if you didn't make an effort to make amends. You did agree to go for the dinner provided both of us come along which I don't see a problem to that." Sulli gave her opinion which Luna agreed to. 

"I seriously don't understand his intention at all. The phone conversation was going along well until his final remarks at the end which actually puts me off. That remarks came after I said that I wanted to bring both of you along to the dinner." Krystal let out a sigh as she turned to look at both her friends. "Should I just ignore him or should I just meet him for dinner, which could be the first and last dinner for both of us?"